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[WSG21] Daily study group on creating custom user interfaces

POSTED BY: Abrita Chakravarty
87 Replies
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Gerald Dorfman
Gerald Dorfman
Posted 4 years ago
POSTED BY: Gerald Dorfman
Gerald Dorfman
Gerald Dorfman
Posted 4 years ago
POSTED BY: Gerald Dorfman
Rohit Namjoshi
Rohit Namjoshi
Posted 4 years ago

Hi Gerald,

You were close.

Manipulate[
 Grid[
  {{Style["a = " <> ToString@a, 20]},
   {ContourPlot3D[x^2 + y^2 + a z^3 == 1, {x, -2, 2}, {y, -2, 2}, {z, -2, 2}, 
     Mesh -> None, 
     ImageSize -> Medium]}
   }],
 {{a, -2, Style["a", 16]}, -2, 2}]

Also increased the size of the label for the control.
POSTED BY: Rohit Namjoshi

Thank you so much, Jayanta.

Pål
POSTED BY: Pål Lillevold

John again,

No need to answer. On viewing the last session recording I learned callKernel is a dummy variable.

Thanks for the very useful / helpful course materials.
POSTED BY: John Burgers

I'm having trouble finding further information on the use of "callKernel" in the Wolfram documentation. I'm hoping someone can direct me to further my understanding or provide an explanation so that I understand more how it functions in examples such as in Session 13 Tip and Tricks for Effective UI design example of a Button disabled until computation finishes ...

DynamicModule[{enabled = True},
 Button["Print",
  enabled = False;
  Pause[2]; Print[TimeObject[]];
  enabled = True;
  ,
  Method -> "Queued",
  Enabled -> Dynamic[callKernel; enabled]
  ]
 ]
POSTED BY: John Burgers
POSTED BY: Pål Lillevold
POSTED BY: Jayanta Phadikar

Thank you so much, Vincent!
POSTED BY: Pål Lillevold
Tom Blanton
Tom Blanton
Posted 4 years ago
POSTED BY: Tom Blanton

Yes, for me it was a very strong course as well.Thanks to all people who made this experience possible!

POSTED BY: Andreas Rudolph

Hi,

When the following code: checkboxBarTest = CheckboxBar[{i, 0, 20, 2}, {i, 0, 20, 2}] is deployed to a CDF, the CDF when opened responds with an undesired "Enable Dynamics" confirmation request.

How can this be avoided?

Thank you in advance and best regards

Attachments:
checkboxBarTest.cdf
checkboxBarTest.nb
POSTED BY: Pål Lillevold

Hi, there, you can try go to preference dialog, at the security tab, under notebook security, edit trusted directories, put your cdf under one of these trusted directories, then open the cdf files again, the enable dynamic will disappear. this is the simplest way to do it as a Mathematica user,

here are the two technical links on this topic: stackexchange newsgrouparchive
POSTED BY: vincent feng
Tom Blanton
Tom Blanton
Posted 4 years ago

Is there a way to verify that my quiz results have been recorded?
POSTED BY: Tom Blanton
POSTED BY: vincent feng

Hi Tom,

As long as you see a passing score after hitting "Get Results", your score has been sent to a Databin for review by the Wolfram U team. Quiz scores will be reviewed the week of Oct. 4th and certificates sent shortly thereafter. If you do not receive your certificate, please send an email to wolfram-u@wolfram.com, we can pull the data and double check at that time.

POSTED BY: Cassidy Hinkle
POSTED BY: Matthew Heaney
Doug Beveridge
Doug Beveridge
Posted 4 years ago

can somebody please confirm if recording was made?
POSTED BY: Doug Beveridge
POSTED BY: Cassidy Hinkle

Week 3 Recap, Live UI Development and Mini Projects Solutions is not available.
POSTED BY: Artin Hatzikioseyian
Gerald Dorfman
Gerald Dorfman
Posted 4 years ago
POSTED BY: Gerald Dorfman

We will be distributing the solutions to the projects in Session 14.
POSTED BY: Jayanta Phadikar
Rohit Namjoshi
Rohit Namjoshi
Posted 4 years ago

Hi Gerald,

I see a couple of typos. Dyanmic[input] should be Dynamic[input], and BaseStyle -> BackGround -> White should be BaseStyle -> Background -> White
POSTED BY: Rohit Namjoshi

Attendees in the daily study group had asked about the palette used to delete outputs during presentation. DeleteAllOutputPalette is now present in the Wolfram Function Repository. https://resources.wolframcloud.com/FunctionRepository/resources/DeleteAllOutputPalette/
POSTED BY: Kunal Khadke

I experiment with PaneSelector command with a toy example which works as expected: i.e.

DynamicModule[
 {x = 1},
 Column[{
   SetterBar[Dynamic[x], {"Don't press this", 1, 2, 100, "Hi there"}],
   PaneSelector[{"Don't press this" -> "I said DONT PRESS !!!", 
     1 -> "One", 2 -> "Two", 100 -> "You Pressed One Hundred", 
     "Hi there" -> "What is your name ?"}, Dynamic[x]]
   }]

However when I wrap the Speak function around the text to hear the message it is played directly once and is not executed when pressing the tab.

DynamicModule[
 {x = 1},
 Column[{
   SetterBar[Dynamic[x], {"Don't press this", 1, 2, 100, "Hi there"}],
   PaneSelector[{"Don't press this" -> Speak["I said DONT PRESS !!!"],
      1 -> "One", 2 -> "Two", 100 -> "You Pressed One Hundred", 
     "Hi there" -> "What is your name ?"}, Dynamic[x]]
   }]
 ]
 ]

What is going on here ?
POSTED BY: Artin Hatzikioseyian
Rohit Namjoshi
Rohit Namjoshi
Posted 4 years ago

PaneSelector evaluates its arguments before the selector is rendered, they are not re-evaluated when a selection is made. e.g. the random values do not change

DynamicModule[{x = 1}, 
 Column[{SetterBar[Dynamic[x], {"Don't press this", 1, 2, 100, "Hi there"}], 
   PaneSelector[{"Don't press this" -> "I said DONT PRESS !!!", 
     1 -> RandomInteger[10], 2 -> RandomReal[], 100 -> "You Pressed One Hundred", 
     "Hi there" -> "What is your name ?"}, Dynamic[x]]}]]
POSTED BY: Rohit Namjoshi
POSTED BY: Artin Hatzikioseyian

Use the second argument of Dynamic:

DynamicModule[{x = 1},
 Column[
  {
   SetterBar[
    Dynamic[x, 
     If[# == "Don't press this", Speak["I said DONT PRESS !!!"]; 
       x = #, x = #] &],
    {"Don't press this", 1, 2, 100, "Hi there"}],
   PaneSelector[
    {"Don't press this" -> "", 1 -> "One", 2 -> "Two", 
     100 -> "You Pressed One Hundred", 
     "Hi there" -> "What is your name ?"}, Dynamic[x]
    ]
   }
  ]
 ]
POSTED BY: Jayanta Phadikar

Question: Today you pointed out that ImageSize -> Automatic helps speed up slow interfaces. Could you please explain why?
POSTED BY: Zbigniew Kabala

Wrapping the contents with Dynamic and setting ImageSize->Automatic make the contents evaluate only when the particular tabs are clicked. Without these settings, TabView or PaneSelector evaluates all the contents before displaying. Thus the settings help in reducing the initial loading time.

Some more details can be found here: tutorial/Views#23068646
POSTED BY: Jayanta Phadikar

Thank you everyone for your continued and enthusiastic participation in this week's sessions.

Now that we have covered the fundamental concepts of UI development and looked at various UI examples, in the next week we will focus on best practices and various general tips and tricks.

We will start with various deployment practices, then move on to a host of tips & tricks for speeding up interfaces, making our interfaces aesthetically pleasing, improving the user experience, and more.

Looking forward to your active participation in the next week!

We appreciate all the feedback that you have been giving (either positive or negative). These encourage us to continue to serve our user community, and do it even better in the future!!!
POSTED BY: Jayanta Phadikar
Tom Blanton
Tom Blanton
Posted 4 years ago

Thanks, Jayanta. Very helpful. Looking forward to Session 10.
POSTED BY: Tom Blanton
Tom Blanton
Tom Blanton
Posted 4 years ago

I would like to develop UI's that clients can use with Wolfram Player. From the class yesterday it seems that DynamicModule could be used in this way. Is this correct?

ETA: I would like to keep my functions proprietary, i.e. the client would not be able to see the code.
POSTED BY: Tom Blanton
POSTED BY: Jayanta Phadikar
Rohit Namjoshi
Rohit Namjoshi
Posted 4 years ago

Hi Pål,

Something like this?

{x = c; PopupMenu[Dynamic[x], {a, b, c, d}], Dynamic[x]}
POSTED BY: Rohit Namjoshi

How to control the display of an initial value in PopupMenu? Thank you in advance!
POSTED BY: Pål Lillevold
Doug Beveridge
Doug Beveridge
Posted 4 years ago

Jayanta where can we find that utility you use to close the output windows?

enter image description here
POSTED BY: Doug Beveridge

After you downloaded/unpacked the course material you find it as "OutputDeleteUtility.wl" in folder "Supporting Files"
POSTED BY: Andreas Rudolph
jeremy kirton
jeremy kirton
Posted 4 years ago

I am trying, without much success, to set a local DynamicModule Variable (x) when a global variable (y) is changed :

y = 1 ;

DynamicModule[{x},
 Dynamic[y; Print["called"]; x=100, TrackedSymbols :> {y}]; 
 Dynamic@x,
 Initialization :> (x = 3*y)]

Where am I going wrong?
POSTED BY: jeremy kirton
Updating Name
Updating Name
Posted 4 years ago

Maybe try this

y = 1;
DynamicModule[{},
 Dynamic[x],
 Initialization :> (x := 3*y)]
POSTED BY: Updating Name
Gerrie Shults
Gerrie Shults
Posted 4 years ago
POSTED BY: Gerrie Shults
POSTED BY: Jayanta Phadikar

Is it permissible to Overlay a control onto a graphic?

For the "Car Game" I created a background image as a graphic object and the "start"/"Stop" controller

background = Graphic[...] control = ... which toggles as in the car game demo,

But the control can't be used when these are packaged together using 

Overlay[{
  background,
  control
  }, Alignment -> {Center, Bottom}]

Thanks.
POSTED BY: John Burgers
POSTED BY: Jayanta Phadikar

Thank-you, I saw that example but it wasn't immediately apparent how it works. One remaining question .. Does this mean that only one of the overlays can contain controls ?
POSTED BY: John Burgers
POSTED BY: Jayanta Phadikar

Where should I put the Dynamic to control the appearence or not of the frame in this toy manipulate example:

Manipulate[
 x,
 {x, 0, 1},
 {{frmd, False}, {True, False}},
 Paneled -> frmd
 ]
POSTED BY: Artin Hatzikioseyian

Manipulate being based on top-level code can be tricky sometimes. It seems that we can't use Dynamic around option values e.g. Paneled -> Dynamic[frmd].

Here is a method:

Dynamic[Manipulate[x, {x, 0, 1}, {{frmd, False}, {True, False}}, 
  Paneled -> frmd, LocalizeVariables -> False]]

The disadvantage here is that the entire Manipulate is updated when the checkbox is used. We can use our own frames so that we don't rely on the Paneled option:

Framed[
 Manipulate[
  Framed[x, FrameStyle -> Dynamic[If[frameInner, Gray, None]], 
   ImageSize -> {Scaled[1], Automatic}],
  {x, 0, 1},
  {{frameInner, False}, {True, False}},
  {{frameOuter, False}, {True, False}},
  Paneled -> False, LocalizeVariables -> False
  ],
 FrameStyle -> Dynamic[If[frameOuter, Gray, None]]
 ]

This one will update only the frames and not the entire Manipulate content.
POSTED BY: Jayanta Phadikar

Jayanta, thank you very much for the instructive reply.

POSTED BY: Artin Hatzikioseyian
Raymond Low
Raymond Low
Posted 4 years ago
POSTED BY: Raymond Low
POSTED BY: Abrita Chakravarty

How would you set up two columns where the left column is text and the right column is Mathematica commands such as In/Out. This is format was used by S. Wolfram in his Mathematica Book 4th edition.
POSTED BY: Charles Glover
Rohit Namjoshi
Rohit Namjoshi
Posted 4 years ago

Hi Charles,

I think what you are looking for is an undocumented function MakeBilateral from the AuthorTools package. Check this thread on MSE.

One of the comments in that thread

MakeBilateral is to make documents or parts of documents like the style of Wolfram's old printed "The Mathematica Book", with explanatory text alongside Input/Output cell pairs
POSTED BY: Rohit Namjoshi

Thanks - I'll check it out
POSTED BY: Charles Glover

Jayanta, Rohit, Many thanks for your help.

Jorge O
POSTED BY: Jorge O. Garcia L
Rohit Namjoshi
Rohit Namjoshi
Posted 4 years ago

Jorge,

I believe the differences you are seeing are because the visual appearance of controls matches the default appearance of controls in the underlying operating system. The one on the left is Mac OS, the one on the right is Windows. I don't think there is an easy way to make them look identical.
POSTED BY: Rohit Namjoshi

Dear Friends, how can I obtain the same type of sliders and light gray color in the final graphic if I'm using the same code? Do I need to change some initial setting?

Many thanks.

Attachment

Attachments:
Sliders.png
POSTED BY: Jorge O. Garcia L
POSTED BY: Jayanta Phadikar

Thank you for your reply. I think in the option inspector should be "somewhere" an option for the default FontSize to be set at 12 globally or for a notebook.

POSTED BY: Artin Hatzikioseyian
POSTED BY: Artin Hatzikioseyian
Rohit Namjoshi
Rohit Namjoshi
Posted 4 years ago

I don't use Windows so I cannot help with the first issue. For the second one the styling can be changed e.g.

Manipulate[x, {x, 1, 3}, 
 LabelStyle -> Directive[Red, FontSize -> 24, FontFamily -> "Verdana"]]
POSTED BY: Rohit Namjoshi
Rohit Namjoshi
Rohit Namjoshi
Posted 4 years ago

The name is just text that is intended to describe whatever is relevant to all the available actions. It is not a default selection. It is up to the programmer to use text that is appropriate and not misleading. A name of "10!" is misleading since that is not the only available action. In the documented example perhaps a better name would be "Select a factorial to compute". Or maybe

Table[ActionMenu[
  Tooltip["Factorials", "Select a factorial to compute"],
  {"4!" :> Print[4!], "7!" :> Print[7!], "10!" :> Print[10!]}, 
  Appearance -> a], {a, {None, Automatic, "PopupMenu", "Button"}}]

This results in a very bad user experience because the menu label matches one of the choices

Right, so don't do that. :-)

Perhaps ActionMenu is not the right control to use for what you are trying to accomplish. Can you describe the behavior of the UI that you need?
POSTED BY: Rohit Namjoshi
Updating Name
Updating Name
Posted 4 years ago

Either the documentation is wrong or the implementation is wrong (a bug).

I understand the actual behavior, now. My initial question had to do with understanding what the documentation meant. The responses I've received have ignored the documentation of the PopupMenu option and only described actual behavior.

The description "display like a popup menu with initial value name" says this looks and acts like a PopupMenu, but it doesn't. In PopupMenu, the first argument, name, does set the initial value for the menu. I don't have to manually make a selection—what I see is what I get. With ActionMenu and the Appearance->"PopupMenu" option, I get a menu that looks exactly like an ordinary PopuMenu, but does not behave the same. It seems that either the documentation author erroneously assumed equivalent behavior, or that equivalent behavior was intended as documented, and the actual behavior is a bug. At this point I would declare it a bug, since if it looks like a PopupMenu it ought to act like one. If Wolfram doesn't consider it a bug, I would call it a design defect, and the ActionMenu documentation should clarify how the PopupMenu option differs from an ordinary PopupMenu.

My pursuit of this might seem nit-picky, but put yourself in my place. You asked what behavior I need. The answer is, "I don't know yet." I'm developing an application for which I want a UI that doesn't require typing expressions into a notebook. I'm so far very pleased with what I'm learning in this study group, but my purpose here is to try to understand the whole tool set that is available to me. When the implementation doesn't behave as described in the documentation, I waste my precious time trying to figure why I can't make it work, and I waste your precious time trying to help me.
POSTED BY: Updating Name

I agree that the documentation could be more clear on this regard. I am forwarding a request to our Technical Support department so that a suggestion report could be filed and the documentation/function could be improved in the future.

Note that we can always add our own code on top of the existing function for extending the set of features. Here is an example of a custom ActionMenu which I think is closer to what you need:

SetAttributes[myActionMenu, HoldRest];
myActionMenu[name_, list_] :=
 DynamicModule[{x = name},
  PopupMenu[
   Dynamic[
    x,
    (x = #; list[[Position[list[[All, 1]], x][[1, 1]], 2]]
      ) &], list[[All, 1]]
   ]
  ]

The following will behave like an ActionMenu, however the "name" or "7!" will be pre-selected in the menu:

myActionMenu["7!", {"4!" :> Print[4!], "7!" :> Print[7!], 
  "10!" :> Print[10!]}]

I should mention that I have not spent a lot of time in ensuring that the function is stable in different circumstances. The purpose was to give a hint for the solution.

Examples of such custom control objects can be found in the Wolfram Function Repository (I believe that Soumya had discussed during the presentation as well) - see e.g. StyledCheckboxBar.
POSTED BY: Jayanta Phadikar
Gerrie Shults
Gerrie Shults
Posted 4 years ago

Thank you, Jayanta. I appreciate the example. I'm still learning what I can do without customization, but when I'm finally building something, I may also want to customize.
POSTED BY: Gerrie Shults
Rohit Namjoshi
Rohit Namjoshi
Posted 4 years ago
POSTED BY: Rohit Namjoshi
Gerrie Shults
Gerrie Shults
Posted 4 years ago
POSTED BY: Gerrie Shults
Gerrie Shults
Gerrie Shults
Posted 4 years ago

I asked the question in today's session:

The documentation for ActionMenu says that Appearance->"Popover" will let you select the default value, but I can't find out how to do that.

I was referring to the following setting choice for the Appearance option:

"PopupMenu" display like a popup menu with initial value name

Where can I specify name?
POSTED BY: Gerrie Shults

Is it safe to try the quiz now? Is it grading correctly?
POSTED BY: James Choi

I am sorry, could someone post the link to the quiz? I can not find it on the group. Thank you and sorry for the added noise!
POSTED BY: Rui Alves
Gerald Dorfman
Gerald Dorfman
Posted 4 years ago
POSTED BY: Gerald Dorfman
Rohit Namjoshi
Rohit Namjoshi
Posted 4 years ago

It does not work because of a typo. Delimiter, not Delimeter.
POSTED BY: Rohit Namjoshi
POSTED BY: Jayanta Phadikar
Avery Kramer
Avery Kramer
Posted 4 years ago
POSTED BY: Avery Kramer
POSTED BY: Jayanta Phadikar
Gerrie Shults
Gerrie Shults
Posted 4 years ago
POSTED BY: Gerrie Shults
Gerrie Shults
Gerrie Shults
Posted 4 years ago

Also, according to the Day 1 notebook, Introduction, slide 8, item 2 under Entirely cloud-based interfaces, the answer to question 3 is being graded incorrectly.
POSTED BY: Gerrie Shults

Any idea when the quiz is due? I don't see a due date listed in any of the materials. Thanks.
POSTED BY: Timothy Ewing
Rohit Namjoshi
Rohit Namjoshi
Posted 4 years ago
POSTED BY: Rohit Namjoshi

I have the same issue. In other study groups the due date came after the course was finished.So, it is probably not an issue in this regards.
POSTED BY: Andreas Rudolph

Hi Everyone,

Just wanted to confirm Quiz 1 should be working as expected. Our apologies for the issues you faced with the quiz last week.

Also we'd like to request that you not post the link to the quizzes here in the public forum. We've created the quizzes specifically for our study group attendees. But we are happy to discuss any questions you may have about the quizzes, here.

Thank you, Abrita
POSTED BY: Abrita Chakravarty
Tom Blanton
Tom Blanton
Posted 4 years ago
POSTED BY: Tom Blanton 
Dynamic[
 If[stop == 0,
  Button[Style["Start", 20], stop = 1, Background -> LightGreen, 
   ImageSize -> {80, 40}],
  Button[Style["Stop", 20], stop = 0, Background -> LightRed, 
   ImageSize -> {80, 40}]]
 ]
POSTED BY: Timothy Ewing

The approach suggested by Mr. Choi is correct.

The standalone version of the built-in LAB color palette can be seen using:

CellPrint[FrontEndResource["LABColorValueSelector"]]

This particular palette works by replacing the selection, and is thus hard to integrate with a Manipulate.

It is possible to emulate the built-in LAB color setter using top level code, but that would require some work.
POSTED BY: Jayanta Phadikar

Looking for something like this?

Manipulate[
 Graphics[{
   LABColor[lightness, a, b],
   Opacity[opac],
   Disk[]}],
 {lightness, 0, 1}, {{a, 0}, -1, 1},
 {{b, 0}, -1, 1}, {{opac, 1}, 0, 1}]
POSTED BY: James Choi

I am wondering is there a way to vary what type of color setter is presented to the user with the Manipulate function. For example, is it possible to use a LAB Color setter instead of the default color selector in the Manipulate function? enter image description here
POSTED BY: Peter Burbery

It's gratifying to see so many people excited to learn about user interface technologies available in the Wolfram Language. Looking forward to the enthusiasm at this upcoming study group!
POSTED BY: Lou D'Andria
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