Core Concepts

The Ginga reference viewer operation is organized around several basic concepts: workspaces, channels, plugins, and modes. Understanding these will greatly aid in using and modifying Ginga.


Workspaces

Ginga has a flexible workspace layout algorithm that allows customizing the appearance of the program. The majority of the Ginga interface is constructed as hierarchical series of horizontally or vertically-adjustable panels. Each panel usually terminates eventually into one or more workspaces.

Each workspace is implemented by a GUI toolkit container widget such as a notebook widget, where each item in the workspace is identified by a tab. However, workspaces can also take the form of a stack (like a tabbed widget but with no tabs showing), or a Multiple Document Interface (MDI) style container (subwindow desktop-style layout), or a grid layout.

Workspaces typically contain either a channel viewer, a plugin UI or another workspace. In its default configuration, Ginga starts up with a single row (horizontal) panel of three workspaces, as shown in the image below.

../_images/gingadefault.png

The panel is sandwiched vertically between a menu bar and a tool bar. The left workspace is further subdivided into an upper and lower, and there are also thin horizontal workspaces below the central workspace. The central workspace is mainly used for viewers, while the other workspaces hold the plugin UIs.

Some workspaces can be converted dynamically between the different types. If the workspace contains a workspace toolbar, the workspace type selector can be used to change the type:

../_images/wstype_selector.png

The main workspace configured as “Tabs” (tabbed notebook, the default):

../_images/ginga_ws_tabs.png

The main workspace configured as “Grid”:

../_images/ginga_ws_grid.png

The main workspace configured as “Stack” (need to use workspace toolbar left/right arrows to switch between subwindows):

../_images/ginga_ws_stack.png

The main workspace configured as “MDI” (individual windows can be sized and moved around the workspace area):

../_images/ginga_ws_mdi.png

In the MDI configuration, the “MDI” menu in the workspace toolbar is enabled and can be used to tile or cascade the subwindows.

Workspaces can be nested. In the example shown below, we show a cutout of the main workspace (type “MDI”) which has sub-workspaces: ws1, configured as type Tabs and has two channels, and ws2, configured as type “Grid” and containing four channels.

../_images/nested_workspaces.png

The initial layout of the workspaces is controlled by a table in the Ginga startup script (see Customizing Ginga). By changing this table the layout can be substantially altered.


Channels

Another core tenet of Ginga is that that data content is organized into channels. A channel can be thought of as simply a named category under which similar types of data might be organized. A few examples are:

  • A channel for each type of instrument at a telescope

  • A channel for each observation or calibration target

  • Channels based on time or program or proposal identifier

If no channels are specified when Ginga starts up it simply creates a default channel named Image. New channels can be created using the Channel/Add channel menu item. Pressing the + button in the workspace menu also adds a new channel using the name specified in the text box just to the left of the button, or using a default prefix, if no name is specified. Clicking - removes the currently selected channel. Clicking the left or right arrow buttons changes which channel is selected in the workspace.

In the case where multiple channels are present, they are usually visually organized as tabs, a stack of windows, a grid, or an MDI interface within the workspace as described in the section above, depending on how the workspace is configured.

../_images/channels.png

To change channels you simply click on the tab of the channel you want to view, or press the left or right arrow buttons in the workspace menu. There is also a channel selector in the plugin manager toolbar at the bottom of the center pane. You can change the channel by using the drop-down menu or by simply scrolling the mouse wheel on the control.

../_images/channel_selector.png

Channels occupy a flat namespace, i.e., there is no hierarchy in channel names.

Channel Viewers

A channel always has an image viewer associated with it, and may additionally have viewers for tables or other content. Only one viewer is active at a time per channel. The channel viewer is what you see in the window representing that channel. The viewer will display the content of the currently selected data item in that channel, and the appropriate viewer will be change according to the type of the currently selected item in the channel (e.g. the table viewer will be activated when a table is selected, the image viewer when an image is selected and so on).

In the Toolbar plugin, just above the status bar near the bottom of the window, clicking the up or down arrows moves between items within the selected channel. The ordering of the items in the channel is by default determined by the order in which they were added, but can be changed to alphanumeric sorted ordering if desired (this is a channel preference that can be set under the “General” category in the channel preferences).

../_images/select_item_in_channel.png

By default, images are loaded into the same channel you are currently viewing (unless your viewer has been customized to load images according to special rules).

Note

To keep items organized, simply change to the desired channel before opening a new item or drag the file to the desired channel viewer.

Channel Settings

Many preferences in Ginga are set on a per-channel basis. Some per-channel settings include:

  • Color distribution algorithm

  • Color map

  • Intensity map

  • Cut levels

  • Auto cut levels algorithm

  • Transforms (flip, swap)

  • Rotation

  • WCS display coordinates

  • Zoom algorithm

  • Scale

  • Interpolation type

  • Pan position

A new channel will generally inherit the settings for the generic Image channel until new preferences are defined and saved for that channel.

If you create a new channel and had previously saved preferences for a channel with that name, the new channel will adopt those preferences. Thus you can set up channels configured for certain telescopes or for types of data and easily reuse them in later sessions.

Another idea embodied in the channel concept is that the user should not have to manage memory usage too explicitly. Each channel has a setting that limits how many images it should keep in memory. If the number of images exceeds the limit then Ginga will remove older images and load them back in as needed without user intervention.

Note

Many channel settings can be set and saved using the “Preferences” plugin.


Plugins

Almost all functionality in Ginga is achieved through the use of a plugin architecture.

Plugins are quasi-independent Python modules that can optionally have a Graphical User Interface. If they do have a GUI, it can be loaded at program startup or be dynamically opened and closed during the duration of the viewer’s execution.

Plugins can be global, in which case they don’t have any particular affiliation with a channel and are generally invoked singularly, or local in which case they can be invoked in multiple instances–one per channel. Global plugins are often written in a way that they respond to the action of the user changing channels. As an example, the “Pan” plugin will change its image to match the image shown in the selected channel.

In this documentation we will also use the word operation to describe activating a plugin. For example, a “pick” operation would use the Pick plugin.

Plugins are written as encapsulated Python modules that are loaded dynamically when Ginga starts. There is an API for programming plugins (see Developing with Ginga).

The plugins are each described in more detail in Plugins.

For those plugins that do have a visible interface, the Ginga startup script can map them to certain workspaces. By manipulating this mapping (and manipulating the workspace layout) we can customize the reference viewer to achieve flexible layouts.

In the image at the top, the left workspace contains UIs for two global plugins: Pan (shown under the tab “Info”) and Info (somewhat confusingly, shown under the tab “Synopsis”–the tab name for a plugin can be different from it’s canonical name). The middle workspace holds all the viewing panes for each channel. The right workspace has the Dialogs, Thumbs, Contents and Error panes. The operation of these plugins is described in Plugins.


Modes

Ginga provides a number of default bindings for key and pointer actions. However, there are too many different actions to bind to a limited set of keys and pointer buttons. Modes allow us to overcome this limitation.

Modes are a mechanism that allow Ginga to accommodate many key and pointer bindings for a large number of possible operations.

Modes are set on a per-channel basis. A mode is activated by pressing a particular key combination when the focus is in the viewer, or by clicking an appropriate button in the Toolbar plugin. When the viewer is in a mode, the behavior is that some special key, pointer and scroll bindings will be activated and override the default ones. An adjacent viewer for a different channel may be in a different mode, or no mode.

Note

If a mode does not override a particular binding, the default binding will still be active.

Modes have an associated mode type which can be set to one of:

  • held: The mode is active while the activating key is held down

  • oneshot: The mode is released by initiating and finishing a cursor drag, or when Esc is pressed, if no cursor drag is performed

  • locked: The mode is locked until the mode key is pressed again (or Esc)

  • softlock: The mode is locked until another mode key is pressed (or Esc)

By default most modes are activated in “locked” type.

Modes are usually indicated by a small black rectangle with the mode name and mode type in one corner of the viewer, usually in the lower right corner of the viewer.

Note

When the lock is active it is signified by an additional “[L]” (locked) appearing in the mode indicator. Soft locked mode is indicated by “[SL]” and oneshot by “[O]”.

../_images/mode_indicator.png

In the above figure, you can see the mode indicator showing that the viewer is in “contrast” mode, with the lock on. The same information can be seen in the Toolbar plugin. On the Toolbar plugin you can click to set the mode and toggle the lock on/off.