Caster_command_hud

A more configurable HUD (window displaying said commands) implementation for Caster. Used as a base was the hud.py file, from the Caster DropPy2 branch.

Customization Examples:

Windows	Linux

Usage Examples:

Dragging by background	Clicking through backgroundless window

Usage Instructions:

With Caster

• You have to be using Caster with hud support. Currently that's the DropPy2 branch.
• In settings.toml (user dir docs) change HUD_PATH to point to the hud.py gotten from this repo.
• If Caster is already running with a hud instance. Close hud and reboot caster.

Testing

• Running test_runner.py will open 4 windows with different settings (like in the screenshots)
• requirements.txt in Caster master doesn't include PySide2, so you might need to install it. If needed run pip install PySide2 or python -m pip install PySide2.

Settings explanation:

window

• WINDOW_FRAMELESS <bool> - setting to True, disables window decorations (frame, titlebar) (macOS and Windows require this to be True, for a transparent background)
• WIDTH <int> - width of the window
• HEIGHT <int> - height of the window
• WINDOW_OFFSET_X <int> - horizontal offset away from screen edge
• WINDOW_OFFSET_Y <int> - vertical offset away from screen edge
• WINDOW_ALIGNMENT <PySide2.QtCore.Qt.Alignment> - alignment of the window position on the screen (ex. Qt.AlignBottom | Qt.AlignRight, would align it to the bottom right corner of the screen)
• SCREEN <int> - screen on which to open window, invalid values default to 0

command log

• DIRECTION <PySide2.QtWidgets.QBoxLayout.Direction> - direction in which command text edits are laid out (ex. QVBoxLayout.TopToBottom, would make new command text edits be added below previous ones)
• ALIGNMENT <PySide2.QtCore.Qt.Alignment> - alignment of the command text edits in the window (ex. Qt.AlignRight | Qt.AlignBottom would start filling command text edits from bottom to top, and align them to the right side of the window)
• SCROLL_BAR_OFF <bool> - setting to True, disables scroll_bar
• DRAW_FRAME <bool> - setting to True, draws a simple frame around the main widget (different from the window frame, which allows to resize windows. This one is purely visual)
• BORDER_RADIUS <float> - radius of the rectangle's corners (uses absolute measurements)
• RECT_OUTLINE_COLOR <tuple*> - rectangle outline color
• RECT_OUTLINE_WIDTH <float> - rectangle outline width, setting to 0 disables outline
• RECT_MARGINS <float> - margins of the command text edits
• SPACING <float> - spacing between command text edits
• FORCE_DISABLE_BACKGROUND <bool> - sets a mask which disables the background of the window (required on linux, to be able to click through the window. For Windows and MacOS (testing needed) it's better to set background_color alpha to 0). Might also disable window decorations on some setups and cause jittery updates.

* RECT_OUTLINE_COLOR (is tuple of ints (R, G, B, A), but maybe should be PySide2.QtGui.QColor)

palette

• BACKGROUND_COLOR <tuple*> - the background color of the window (ex. (50, 0, 0, 10), would be a lightly red almost fully transparent window.) Setting the alpha of this to 0 is the preferred way to disable the background on Windows and MacOS (testing needed)

• TEXT_COLOR <tuple*> - the color of the text

• FONT_SIZE <float> - size of the font in points

• FONT_FAMILY <str> - the family name of the font

  The family name may optionally also include a foundry name, e.g. “Helvetica [Cronyx]”. If the family is available from more than one foundry and the foundry isn’t specified, an arbitrary foundry is chosen. If the family isn’t available a family will be set using the font matching algorithm.

  cited from qt docs

• RECT_COLOR <tuple*> - color of the rectangle

• FONT_SUBPIXEL_AA <bool> - setting to True enables subpixel anti aliasing

* BACKGROUND_COLOR, TEXT_COLOR, RECT_COLOR (are tuple of ints (R, G, B, A), but maybe should be PySide2.QtGui.QColor)

Other info. Known quirks.

1. Setting FORCE_DISABLE_BACKGROUND to True and WINDOW_FRAMELESS to False.
   • On Plasma removes titlebar.
   • On Ubuntu keeps decorations, but isn't click through-able.
   • On Windows (10 at least), results in qt (snapshoted) decorations, that don't look quite right.
   • But on xfce, looks and works as expected (click through-able with decorations).
2. When the window has a fully transparent or forcefully disabled background. A Scrolling point is drawn under the mouse when scrolling. Without it, scrolling and the mouse hitting a transparent area, stops the scrolling.
3. Scrolling point is visible (opaque black), when the window has decorations and platform doesn't support transparency for framed windows.
4. Append occasionally looks jittery, happens because command (blue) gets sent before rdescript (red). And added with a delay, though most get added in pairs.
5. FORCE_DISABLE_BACKGROUND causes jittery updates, when the mask gets updated. Might be exaggerated 4.