For developers

The following notes (to be expanded) are for developers who would like to contribute to the development of SBEMimage. Questions? Please contact btitze ÄT protonmail.ch.

General

Use Python 3.6 and PyQt 5, and see requirements.txt for dependencies.

Folder structure:

  • cfg: Contains default configuration files default.ini and system.cfg, and all custom user and system configuration files. Also, status.dat is saved here when SBEMimage is closed; it contains the file name of the last configuration used. When using the Windows uninstaller, this directory will be preserved.
  • dm: Scripts for DigitalMicrograph (in a proprietary language) for both GMS 2 and GMS 3.
  • docs: Documentation (reStructuredText; HTML output generated with Sphinx and hosted on https://sbemimage.readthedocs.io)
  • gui: All PyQT user interface files (.ui), created with Qt Designer (bundled with Anaconda)
  • img: Various images and icons
  • magc: MagC (wafer imaging) example data from Thomas Templier
  • src: All Python source files including tests (starting with test_)

In the root folder:

  • .gitattributes and .gitignore for GitHub
  • LICENSE: Text of MIT License
  • README.md: Readme file (Markdown) for GitHub
  • requirements.txt: Required libraries, currently listed without version specifications
  • installer.cfg and installer.nsi: Configuration files for building the installer with pynsist/NSIS installer
  • SBEMimage.bat: Windows batch file to run SBEMimage (works for both the system Python and the Python interpreter (+ packages) installed by the NSIS installer)

Conventions

  • Use PEP8 (https://pep8.org) as a general guideline.
  • Use four spaces as one unit of indentation. Don’t mix spaces and tabs.
  • Use ‘snake_case’ for all variable names, functions and filenames: grid_index, very_long_variable_name, load_parameters(), my_module.py.
  • Note that PyQt uses camelCase style: pushButton, setWindowIcon()… You can keep this style when naming PyQt GUI elements.
  • Follow established naming patterns and conventions and aim for consistency with existing code, for example: When referring to the index of a tile, use tile_index (and not tile or tile_number).

Architecture overview

The application is launched from sbemimage.py. The Main Controls window is created first as a QMainWindow, and the Viewport window is created from Main Controls as a QWidget. Dialog windows associated with Main Controls are implemented in main_controls_dlg_windows.py, those associated with the Viewport in viewport_dlg_windows.py.

main_controls.py contains the startup routine and the Main Controls GUI. viewport.py contains all code for the Viewport, the Slice-by-slice Viewer and the Acquisition Monitor.

The acquisition loop run() in acquisition.py is started from Main Controls and runs in a thread.

The elements to be acquired and/or to be displayed are managed by:

  • grid_manager: for the tile grids
  • overview_manager: for the ROI overviews and the stub overview
  • imported_images: for imported (single) images

The abbreviations self.gm and self.ovm for the instances of grid_manager and overview_mamager are used throughout SBEMimage.

For SEM and microtome control, base classes are provided in sem_control.py and microtome_control.py. Implementations for different manufacturers have the same name followed by _ and the brand name of the device(s), for example: sem_control_zeiss.py

image_inspector.py provides image integrity and quality checks (including debris detection) for overview and tile images.

coordinate_system.py provides functionality to convert between stage, SEM and viewport coordinates.

utils.py contains various constants and helper functions.

Git workflow

The ‘master’ branch contains tested code ready for production use. It is protected, currently only btitze can push to this branch.

The dev branch is used for all ongoing development. Several developers who are familiar with the code base can work directly on that branch. Pull requests to that branch are welcome, ideally from short-lived feature branches. If you wish to develop new functionality or suggest larger (structural) changes, it is recommended to contact btitze ÄT protonmail.ch first to discuss what you have in mind, or post a message on SBEMimage’s GitHub Issues page.