Setting up Development Environment#

Getting started with DataLab development is easy.

Here is what you will need:

  1. An integrated development environment (IDE) for Python. We recommend Spyder or Visual Studio Code, but any IDE will do.

  2. A Python distribution. We recommend WinPython, on Windows, or Anaconda, on Linux or Mac. But, again, any Python distribution will do.

  3. A clean project structure (see below).

  4. Test data (see below).

  5. Environment variables (see below).

  6. Third-party software (see below).

Development Environment#

If you are using Spyder, thank you for supporting the scientific open-source Python community!

If you are using Visual Studio Code, that’s also an excellent choice (for other reasons). We recommend installing the following extensions:

Extension

Description

gettext

Gettext syntax highlighting

Pylance

Python language server

Python

Python extension

reStructuredText Syntax highlighting

reStructuredText syntax highlighting

Ruff

Extremely fast Python linter and code formatter

Todo Tree

Todo tree

Insert GUID

Insert GUID

XML Tools

XML Tools

Python Environment#

DataLab requires the following :

  • Python (e.g. WinPython)

  • Additional Python packages

Installing all required packages :

pip install --upgrade -r dev\requirements.txt

ℹ️ See Installation for more details on reference Python and Qt versions.

If you are using WinPython, thank you for supporting the scientific open-source Python community!

The following table lists the currently officially used Python distributions:

Python version

Status

WinPython version

3.8

OK

3.8.10.0

3.9

OK

3.9.10.0

3.10

OK

3.10.11.1

3.11

OK

3.11.5.0

3.12

OK

3.12.0.1

⚠ We strongly recommend using the .dot versions of WinPython which are lightweight and can be customized to your needs (using pip install -r requirements.txt).

✅ We also recommend using a dedicated WinPython instance for DataLab.

Test data#

DataLab test data are located in different folders, depending on their nature or origin.

Required data for unit tests are located in “cdl\data\tests” (public data).

A second folder %CDL_DATA% (optional) may be defined for additional tests which are still under development (or for confidential data).

Specific environment variables#

Enable the “debug” mode (no stdin/stdout redirection towards internal console):

@REM Mode DEBUG
set DEBUG=1

Building PDF documentation requires LaTeX. On Windows, the following environment:

@REM LaTeX executable must be in Windows PATH, for mathematical equations rendering
@REM Example with MiKTeX :
set PATH=C:\\Apps\\miktex-portable\\texmfs\\install\\miktex\\bin\\x64;%PATH%

Visual Studio Code configuration used in launch.json and tasks.json (examples) :

@REM Development environment
set CDL_PYTHONEXE=C:\C2OIQ-DevCDL\python-3.8.10.amd64\python.exe
@REM Folder containing additional working test data
set CDL_DATA=C:\Dev\Projets\CDL_data

Visual Studio Code .env file:

  • This file is used to set environment variables for the application.

  • It is used to set the PYTHONPATH environment variable to the root of the project.

  • This is required to be able to import the project modules from within VS Code.

  • To create this file, copy the .env.template file to .env (and eventually add your own paths).

Windows installer#

The Windows installer is built using WiX Toolset V4.0.5. Using the WiX Toolset requires .NET SDK V6.0 minimum.

You may install .NET SDK using winget:

winget install Microsoft.DotNet.SDK.8

Once .NET SDK is installed, the WiX Toolset can be installed and configured using the following commands:

dotnet tool install --global wix --version 4.0.5
wix extension add WixToolset.UI.wixext/4.0.5

First, you need to generate the installer script from a generic template:

python wix/makewxs.py

Building the installer is done using the following command:

wix build .\wix\DataLab.wxs -ext WixToolset.UI.wixext

Third-party Software#

The following software may be required for maintaining the project:

Software

Description

gettext

Translations

Git

Version control system

ImageMagick

Image manipulation utilities

Inkscape

Vector graphics editor

MikTeX

LaTeX distribution on Windows
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