[PyKDE] How to do *INTERACTIVE* plotting with PyQt (or PyQwt)

[Peter Lipa]

Hi,
First, let me thank you for providing and maintaining the PyQt package!  As a feedback, we compiled and installed sucessfully your package and demos
for the commercial Qt3.0.4 and Qt3.0.5 versions on Win2K (the latest PyQt 3.3 and sip3.3.2 versions!).

Now my problem, which I think is a very fundamental one, that needs to be resolved to make a  PyQt  based, interactive
plotting package:
I am banging my head against the wall in trying to get PyQt (or PyQwt) to allow for INTERACTIVE plotting
such as with the scipy.gplt (using gnuplot) or scipy.plt (using wxWindows)  packages. I want a similar API as matlab plotting commands or 
the scipy.plt API but based on PyQt (and/or PyQwt but the problem is at the PyQt eventloop and threading level). 

All examples with PyQt (and PyQwt demos etc) assume that one has only
ONE pyqt app running and, if called as a script, block the python interpreter until the PyQt window is closed -- or one runs each demo as a stand alone app.
In order to do INTERACTIVE plotting one needs to issue plot commands from the  python interpeter command line such as:
>>>  import qplt

>>> x = [0,1,2,3, 4]; y = [0,1.5,3,1.5,0]

>>> fig1 = qplt.plot(x,y)   # creates a figure window with default axes and line plot with x versus y and returns control to the interpreter

>>> qplt.xlabel("x-axis")  # adds a x-label to the current axes in the current figure

>>> qplt.ylabel("y-axis")  # adds a y-label to the current axes in the current figure

>>> fig2 = qplt.figure()    #  creates a second figure window and all subsequent commands (plot(), xlabel() etc.)  apply to this new window

etc, etc

In order to get such functionality one needs to create a qt qApp singleton, a figure main-window, start the eventloop in a separate thread (either python thread or QThread) and gives control back to the interpeter to let the user issue new commands (e.g. another figure main-window) interactively.

This seems to be a simple and natural approach to interactive plotting, but I have not found any example or idea based on pyQt that would give me a hint how to prevent the Qt eventloop qApp.exec_loop() blocking the interpreter or how to add new QMainWindows from the interpreter after the eventloop is already running in a separate python thread.

 So far I have managed to to open a pyqt figure-window from the interpreter by wrapping the main()  with the eventloop qApp.exec_loop() into a python thread; but then I can't open another window from the main thread. Using the QThread class didn't help at all: the subclassed myQThread.run() does never give control back to the interpeter if it contains the qApp.exec_loop(), and myQThread.start() does never call myQThread.run() but the dummy QThread.run().  It is not clear from the Qt (and PyQt) docu if it is possible to run the main Qt eventloop in a QThread; in my experiments it always blocked 
any GUI.

I have tried and tried (using all possible varaints of python threads as well as QThread ) and can't figure out how to do it.
Do you have any idea how to do real *INTERACTIVE* plotting with PyQt? Essentially all that needs to be done is to start a qApp and qt eventloop in a separate thread and launch several figure windows and  from the python interpreter thread.
Since this is a fundamental problem that many people in the scientific area need resolved I hope that someone on this list (or maybe someone you know) knows alread how to do this!
Any pointers, ideas or sample code would be GREAT!

Thanks in advance,
Peter Lipa
porl3141 at hotmail.com


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