Task Runner Module

Architecture

• Dock system
• Task execution thread

Device Interfaces

Any device may implement a Task Runner interface that provides the user a graphical interface for controlling that device from the Task Runner. The basic API for this interface is defined in the TaskGui base class (acq4/devices/Device.py).

Online Analysis

The Task Runner provides a plugin interface for developing online analysis modules. The basic API for this interface is defined in the AnalysisModule base class (acq4/modules/TaskRunner/analysisModules/AnalysisModule.py). The task runner generates its list of available modules by searching the acq4/modules/TaskRunner/analysisModules directory for importable modules. Each module must define a subclass of AnalysisModule.

Example 1: we can create a very simple analysis module that prints the data structures collected by the task runner:

1. Create a directory acq4/modules/TaskRunner/analysisModules/TestAnalysis/

2. Create a new file acq4/modules/TaskRunner/analysisModules/TestAnalysis/__init__.py

3. Within this file, define a subclass of AnalysisModule:

   from ..AnalysisModule import AnalysisModule
   from pprint import pprint
   
   class TestAnalysisModule(AnalysisModule):
       def newFrame(self, data):
           print("== Received new task results ==")
           pprint(data)
   

4. Start up ACQ4, load a TaskRunner, and then check “TestAnalysis”. An empty dock will appear (we did not define a user interface), and running the task will cause information about the task to be printed on the console.