Embed interactive matplotlib widgets? about qtconsole

[wmvanvliet]

The reason it doesn't get much attention is because it's just too difficult. Interactive widgets need a browser with javascript support. The QtConsole is based around a QTextEdit that is a text widget with support for inline images, not a browser. Of course there is the QWebView widget, but how would we go around embedding that inside a QTextEdit? Perhaps there are solutions here I'm not aware of.

[naquad]

Yeah, I get that running not just a browser but a bunch of browsers is a pain.

I've been thinking about an ad-hoc hack for Matplotlib: X11 and Win64 both can do what's called a window embedding. The idea is to add a new matplotlib backend that would render something like MIME embed/window-id with the data = window id and QtConsole would just embed the window using QWidget.createWindowContainer. Actual interaction will be handled by the original process in the kernel. There are still quiet a few unknowns in this (Qt conflicts, potential visual glitches) and limitations (remote interaction will become ridiculously hard) but it is still better than nothing.

Embedding example.

Embedded:

import sys
from PyQt5.QtWidgets import QApplication, QMainWindow, QLabel, QSlider, QVBoxLayout, QWidget
from PyQt5.QtCore import Qt
import ctypes

class MainWindow(QMainWindow):
    def __init__(self):
        super().__init__()

        self.setWindowTitle("Slider Example")
        
        # Create a label to display the slider value
        self.label = QLabel("Slider Value: 0", self)
        self.label.setAlignment(Qt.AlignCenter)

        # Create a horizontal slider
        self.slider = QSlider(Qt.Horizontal, self)
        self.slider.setMinimum(0)
        self.slider.setMaximum(100)
        self.slider.setValue(0)
        self.slider.valueChanged.connect(self.update_label)

        # Set up the layout
        layout = QVBoxLayout()
        layout.addWidget(self.label)
        layout.addWidget(self.slider)

        # Create a central widget and set the layout
        central_widget = QWidget(self)
        central_widget.setLayout(layout)
        self.setCentralWidget(central_widget)

        # Print the native window ID
        window_id = int(self.winId())
        print(f"WinID: {window_id}")

    def update_label(self, value):
        self.label.setText(f"Slider Value: {value}")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    app = QApplication(sys.argv)
    window = MainWindow()
    window.show()
    sys.exit(app.exec_())

An embedder:

import sys
from PyQt6.QtWidgets import QApplication, QWidget, QVBoxLayout
from PyQt6.QtCore import Qt
from PyQt6.QtGui import QWindow

class EmbedExternalWindow(QWidget):
    def __init__(self, win_id):
        super().__init__()

        # Initialize layout
        layout = QVBoxLayout()
        self.setLayout(layout)

        # Create a QWindow object from the external window ID
        external_window = QWindow.fromWinId(win_id)
        external_window.show()
        external_widget = QWidget.createWindowContainer(external_window, self)

        # Add the external window to the layout
        layout.addWidget(external_widget)

        # Window settings
        self.setWindowTitle('Embed External Window')
        self.setGeometry(100, 100, 400, 300)  # Adjust size and position as needed

if __name__ == '__main__':
    app = QApplication(sys.argv)

    main_window = EmbedExternalWindow(int(sys.argv[1]))
    main_window.show()

    sys.exit(app.exec())

Start the embedded and execute the embedder with the argument = output of an embedded.

[wmvanvliet]

Embedding a window in another window is one thing. But can you embed into a TextEdit widget? It all looks very complicated to me.

[naquad]

Well, a quick and dirty try demonstrates that it is possible. There are still quite a few questions regarding the widget geometry, placing, and so forth, but it is doable.