Plugins for Cura printing window.

[Daid 304]

(Cross post from google group, https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/ultimaker/onoGspTCwjs )

 

The USB printing interface has been a bit of a pain in the ass for me. I've neglected it for quite a while, it does not really fit basic use, or expert use.

 

So I've worked a bit on it. First, I've created a "basic printing window", which is a very simple window. It's just a few buttons to connect, print, cancel and a progress bar. I figured this would suit the basic user that just wants to print. It looks like this:

http://i.imgur.com/lSEV37L.png

 

So... that's quite basic. And won't suit the more advanced users. So I'm introducing the printer window plugins. With printer window plugins, you can customize the window just the way you want it.

I've made an initial example build from the Pronterface UI:

https://github.com/daid/Cura/tree/SteamEngine/plugins/PronterfaceUI

 

It consists out of 2 images and a script file.

The first image, "image.png" https://github.com/daid/Cura/blob/SteamEngine/plugins/PronterfaceUI/image.png , is how the window looks. So you can draw anything you want on here. It's just visual.

The second image, "map.png" https://github.com/daid/Cura/blob/SteamEngine/plugins/PronterfaceUI/map.png , is where all the buttons and actions are located. Each button has it's own color.

Finally, the script, https://github.com/daid/Cura/blob/SteamEngine/plugins/PronterfaceUI/script.py , ties everything together. It tells Cura what each color does.

 

So, if you want to add a button that turn on the fan. You can draw it on the map.png, add a:

addButton(R, G, B, 'Fan ON', sendGCode, "M106")

To the script, and you have a fan button.

 

Now, my initial Pronterface inspired window most likely isn't as good as it can be. But I'm sure someone will pick it up and make something wonderful.

 

 

(I'm still finishing the code, the windows work, but I still need to add proper preferences to select the window to use)

 

[chopmeister 0]

Awesome idea. I'm a bit rusty with python, but I'll definitely try my hand on this as soon as I find the time.

Great job, as always, and I really like the simplicity of the 2 PNGs! It will be interesting to see what people come up with.