FabAcademy 2019

INTERFACE AND APPLICATION PROGRAMMING

This week I learn an application that interfaces with an output device that I made, I compared as many tool options as possible I could.

1.Graphical User Interface (GUI)

A graphical user interface (GUI) is an interface through which a user interacts with electronic devices such as computers, hand-held devices and other appliances. This interface uses icons, menus and other visual indicator (graphics) representations to display information and related user controls, unlike text-based interfaces, where data and commands are in text. GUIl representations are manipulated by a pointing device such as a mouse, trackball, stylus, or a finger on a touch screen

The need for GUI became apparent because the first human/computer text interface was through keyboard text creation by what is called a prompt (or DOS prompt). Commands were typed on a keyboard at the DOS prompt to initiate responses from a computer. The use of these commands and the need for exact spelling created a cumbersome and inefficient interface.(see tutorial)

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1.1 choosing the toolkit

• Looks
• Licensing
• Operating System
• Layout managers are software components used in widget toolkits which have the ability to lay out graphical control elements by their relative positions without using distance units
• Accessibility Toolkit (ATK)is an open source software library, part of the GNOME project, which provides application programming interfaces (APIs) for implementing accessibility support in software.
• List of widget toolkits

2. The GTK Project

A GTK, or the GIMP Toolkit, is a multi-platform toolkit for creating graphical user interfaces. Offering a complete set of widgets, GTK is suitable for projects ranging from small one-off tools to complete application suites.

The need for GUI became apparent because the first human/computer text interface was through keyboard text creation by what is called a prompt (or DOS prompt). Commands were typed on a keyboard at the DOS prompt to initiate responses from a computer. The use of these commands and the need for exact spelling created a cumbersome and inefficient interface.(see tutorial)

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2.1 Advantages of GTK toolkits

Everywhere! GTK is cross-platform and boasts an easy to use API, speeding up your development time. Take a look at the screenshots to see a number of platforms GTK will run.

• The languages it supports are:

2.1.1 The languages it supports are:

• Python (especially in combination with the Glade GUI builder)
• C/C++
• Perl

2.1.2 Operating system in which GTK runs:

• Windows
• GNU/Linux
• OSX
• Mobile devices.

2.1.3 Licenses and restrictions of GTK:

GTK is free software and part of the GNU Project. However, the licensing terms for GTK, the GNU LGPL, allow it to be used by all developers, including those developing proprietary software, without any license fees or royalties.

2.2 Installing GTK

to install GTK, in the Ubuntu operating system (linux), it is done through the terminal.

            $ sudo apt-get install libgtk-3-dev
            

3. Glade

A GladeGlade is a RAD tool to enable quick & easy development of user interfaces for the GTK+ toolkit and the GNOME desktop environment..

The user interfaces designed in Glade are saved as XML, and by using the GtkBuilder GTK+ object these can be loaded by applications dynamically as needed.

By using GtkBuilder, Glade XML files can be used in numerous programming languages including C, C++, C#, Vala, Java, Perl, Python,and others.

Glade is Free Software. A see tutorial

3.1 Installing GLADE

to install GLADE, in the Ubuntu operating system (linux), it is done through the terminal.

            $ sudo apt-get install glade
            

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4. PySerial

A PySerial is a Python API module to access the serial port. pySerial provides a uniform API across multiple operating systems, including Windows, Linux, and BSD. This article explains how to use the pySerial API to access a serial port.(more about it)

4.1 Installing PySerial

to install GTK, in the Ubuntu operating system (linux), it is done through the terminal.

            $ pip install pyserial
            

5. Programming a terminal using Python, GTK + 3, Glade and Pyserial

A PySerial is a Python API module to access the serial port. pySerial provides a uniform API across multiple operating systems, including Windows, Linux, and BSD. This article explains how to use the pySerial API to access a serial port.(more about it)

5.1 Used hadward

5.1.1 Fabduino Desing

Using an Atmega328l microcontroller, I designed a circuit for the programming and control of multiple inputs and outputs.

Schematic of the FabDuino

Board of the FabDuino

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5.1.2 FTDI Cable

5.1.3 Arduino code

5.1.4 FILES OF THE PYTHON, GTK + 3, GLADE AND PYSERIAL GUI

Using python the code is made for communication with the Fabduino, through an interface.

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