SigimaX - Reusable GUI Framework for Scientific Applications

SigimaX is an open-source Python framework for building Qt-based scientific desktop applications. It provides a reusable application skeleton — main window, configuration system, embedded widgets, and HDF5 infrastructure — so that developers can focus on domain-specific features.

🔬 Developed by the DataLab Platform Developers, SigimaX is extracted from DataLab and powers its GUI layer.

🌟 Project & Sponsors

Project/Sponsor	Description
	Open-source platform for scientific signal and image processing, built on SigimaX.
	European non-profit supporting open-source and internet projects. SigimaX has received funding from NLnet for its development, through the DataLab project.

✨ Highlights

• Extensible configuration system — OptionField-based settings with get()/set()/context() API and JSON persistence
• Rich widget catalog — 15 ready-to-use scientific widgets: curve fitting, peak detection, signal baseline, HDF5 browser, log viewer, wizard dialogs, and more
• Complete HDF5 infrastructure — built-in file browser, importer, and workspace save/load
• Embedded Python console — DockableConsole with error-to-console routing and configurable namespace
• Production-grade status bar — memory usage monitoring with alarm threshold, console toggle
• PlotPy integration — DockablePlotWidget and adapters for signal/image/ROI objects
• Derivation pattern — subclass SigimaXOptions + SGMXMainWindow + call run() to build a full app in minutes

💡 Use Cases

SigimaX is meant to be:

• A framework for building scientific desktop apps with Qt
• A reusable main window with menus, toolbars, docks, and HDF5 workspace management
• A widget library for signal/image analysis dialogs (fitting, peak detection, baseline, cursor, delta-X)
• A configuration backbone for apps that need persistent user preferences

📖 Design Philosophy

SigimaX separates the generic application skeleton from domain-specific logic. Derived applications follow a three-step pattern:

1. Subclass SigimaXOptions to add application-specific configuration fields
2. Subclass SGMXMainWindow to customize menus, toolbars, and dock widgets
3. Call sigimax.app.run() to launch the application with splash screen support

This architecture is proven in production: DataLab is built entirely on this derivation pattern.

Position in the Stack

End-user apps (DataLab, custom scientific apps)
         ↓  subclass / configure
      SigimaX            ← THIS PROJECT (framework layer)
         ↓  depends on
   Sigima (computation) + PlotPy + guidata + PythonQwt
         ↓
     NumPy / SciPy / Qt

🚀 Quick Start

from sigimax.app import run
from sigimax.config import CONF as Conf, SigimaXOptions, EnumOptionField, _
from sigimax.mainwindow import SGMXMainWindow
from sigimax.widgets.plotdock import DockablePlotWidget
from sigimax.config import TypedOptionField
from plotpy.constants import PlotType

# A missing option may be initialized on first read:
color_mode = Conf.color_mode.get("auto")


# 1. Define custom options
class MyAppOptions(SigimaXOptions):
    def __init__(self):
        super().__init__()
        self.app_name.set("MyApp")
        self.greeting = TypedOptionField(
            self,
            "greeting",
            default="Hello!",
            expected_type=str,
            description="Startup message",
        )


# 2. Customize the main window
class MyAppMainWindow(SGMXMainWindow):
    def __init__(self, console=None, hide_on_close=False):
        Conf.app_name.set("MyApp")
        super().__init__(console=console, hide_on_close=hide_on_close)
        # Add a dockable curve plot
        self.curve_dock = DockablePlotWidget(self, PlotType.CURVE)
        dock, loc = self.curve_dock.create_dockwidget(_("Curve Viewer"))
        self.addDockWidget(loc, dock)


# 3. Launch
run(window_class=MyAppMainWindow)

⚙️ Architecture

sigimax/
├── app.py              # Application launcher (create / run)
├── config.py           # Configuration system (SigimaXOptions, CONF singleton)
├── env.py              # Runtime environment (verbosity, unattended mode)
├── mainwindow.py       # SGMXMainWindow (generic main window)
├── widgets/            # Reusable Qt widgets
│   ├── plotdock.py     # DockablePlotWidget
│   ├── splashscreen.py # Configurable splash screen
│   ├── h5browser.py    # HDF5 file browser
│   ├── logviewer.py    # Log viewer dialog
│   ├── status.py       # Status bar widgets (memory, console)
│   ├── fitdialog.py    # Curve fitting dialogs
│   ├── signalpeak.py   # Signal peak detection
│   ├── signalbaseline.py # Signal baseline selection
│   ├── signalcursor.py # Signal cursor selection
│   ├── signaldeltax.py # Signal delta-X measurement
│   ├── wizard.py       # Multi-page wizard dialog
│   └── ...             # File dialogs, warning/error boxes
├── h5/                 # HDF5 I/O (read/write/import)
├── adapters_plotpy/    # Converters between PlotPy/guidata and Sigima objects
├── utils/              # Qt helpers, config dir resolution
├── data/               # Icons, resources
└── locale/             # Translations (EN, FR)

📦 Installation

pip install sigimax

Or in a development environment:

git clone https://github.com/DataLab-Platform/SigimaX.git
cd SigimaX
pip install -e .

📚 Documentation

📖 Full documentation (in progress) is available at: 👉 https://sigimax.readthedocs.io/

Want to use SigimaX as part of the full DataLab platform? Check out: DataLab

🧪 Testing

SigimaX comes with a comprehensive test suite based on pytest (155 tests).

✅ Validated Environments

The test suite has been checked with the following matrix:

• Python: 3.10, 3.11, 3.12, 3.13, 3.14
• Operating systems: Windows, Linux
• Qt bindings: PyQt5, PyQt6, PySide6 (future fix needed)

⚠️ Note: PySide6 is currently known to be not fully working in this matrix.

# Run all tests (offscreen, no GUI)
python scripts/run_with_env.py python -m pytest

# Show Qt windows during tests
python scripts/run_with_env.py python -m pytest --show-windows

🧠 License

SigimaX is distributed under the terms of the BSD 3-Clause license. See LICENSE for details.

🤝 Contributing

Bug reports, feature requests and pull requests are welcome! See the CONTRIBUTING guide to get started.

© DataLab Platform Developers