GSoC/2024/StatusReports/IsraelGaladima

Improve Python Interoperability with LabPlot

LabPlot is a data analysis and visualisation application in KDE. Since Python is heavily used within the data science community, this project aims to make LabPlot a more "Python-friendly" application. The project goals are to:

• Create Python bindings to LabPlot's C++ backend, and
• Enable Python programs to control a running LabPlot application.

These goals will respectively allow users to:

• Access LabPlot's data analysis and visualisation tools from a Python program, and
• Create complex workflows using Python within a running LabPlot application.

Work report

Week 1

• Continued reading about shiboken2 and pyside2
• Set up the cmake build for generating python bindings for a few classes in the backend folder
• Removed the -DQT_STRICT_ITERATORS compilation flag since it was conflicting with the shiboken2 c++ output

Week 2

• Fixed an issue with circular dependencies in the bindings generation by moving some class members to pimpl classes
• Generated python bindings for more classes from the backend folder

Week 3

• Fixed an issue in the bindings generation for some classes by building pyside2 and shiboken2 from source
• Created a MR containing minor fixes to the codebase needed for the bindings generation 1

Links to Blogs and other writing

• Blog Post #1
• Blog Post #2
• Blog Post #3