Managing and developing applications¶
General information¶
- Applications are simply folders which are made importable by Python by adding an
__init__.py
file. pyLCI loadsmain.py
file residing in that folder. It needs aninit_app()
function inside the main.py file. It also expects a variable calledcallback
which is called when the application is activated by launching it from the menu, and a variable namedmenu_name
which contains a name that’ll be shown in the main menu. - You can combine UI elements in many different ways, including making nested menus, which makes apps less cluttered.
- pyLCI main menu can have submenus. Submenu is just a folder which has
__init__.py
file in it, but doesn’t have amain.py
file. It can store both application folders and child submenu folders.- To set a main menu name for your submenu, you need to add
_menu_name = "Pretty name"
in__init__.py
file of a submenu. - Submenus can be nested - just create another folder inside a submenu folder. However, submenu inside an application folder won’t be detected.
- To set a main menu name for your submenu, you need to add
- All application modules are loading when pyLCI loads. When choosing an application in the main menu/submenu, its global
callback
is called. It’s usually set as theactivate()
method of application’s main UI element, such as a menu. - You can prevent any application from autoloading (but still have an option to load it manually) by placing a
do_not_load
file (with any contents) in application’s folder (for example, see skeleton application folder).
Development tips¶
- For starters, take a look at the skeleton app
- You can launch pyLCI in a “single application mode” using
main.py -a apps/app_folder_path
. There’ll be no main menu constructed, and exiting the application exits pyLCI. - You should not set input callbacks or output to screen while your application is not the one active. It’ll cause screen contents set from another application to be overwritten, which is bad user experience. Make sure your application is the one currently active before outputting things and setting callbacks.