GSoC 2020: GRASS GIS startup mechanism

Title:	Creation of a new GRASS GIS startup mechanism
Student Name:	Linda Kladivova
Organization:	​OSGeo - Open Source Geospatial Foundation
Mentor Name:	Anna Petrasova, Martin Landa, Vaclav Petras, Moritz Lennert
GSoC proposal:	​View proposal
GitHub Repository:	​view repository

Abstract

This project will focus on the creation of a more user-friendly GRASS GIS startup. The general idea is to make the initial user’s contact easier and with a less steep learning curve. While programming new GRASS startup GUI several tasks will be solved – changes in Location wizard structure, Data Catalog as well as general GUI.

Goal

GRASS GIS comes with the concept of Location and Mapset which is not going to be replaced because of its advantages such as organized structure. The goal of this project is to make this concept more user-friendly (especially in terms of the welcome screen). The motion is that the Data Catalog will be expanded so that in addition to raster and vector data, it can manage even Locations and Mapsets. Then this widget could be used in the welcome screen. The work schedule below has been compiled on the basis of the Roadmap available here: ​https://trac.osgeo.org/grass/wiki/wxGUIDevelopment/New_Startup#PragueRoadmap.

To sum up the schedule: From June 1st to June 28th (4 weeks), I plan to work on the Location wizard (the topic for the first evaluation), from June 29th to July 19th (3 weeks) I plan to program the new form of the Data Catalog (the topic for the second evaluation). From July 20th to August 23rd I will work on creating the new welcome page itself by integrating the improved components.

Timeline

Time Period	Milestones
	Tasks	Status
May 4 - June 1 Community Bonding	Introduce myself in dev list, get in contact with my mentors and discuss the design of functions Prepare the wiki page about the project Set up the GitHub repository of the project Setup GRASS GIS developer environment Familiarize with the code in wxPython and with the development process Discuss the elements of the startup window and get acquainted with the whole design (video call on May 14) Contribute small features related to Location Wizard (see week 1) (first PR already created, see ​https://github.com/OSGeo/grass/pull/493)	Ok Ok Ok Ok Ok Ok Ok
June 1 - June 7 Week 1	Location wizard - first page Major code refactoring Remove map picture (see ​https://github.com/OSGeo/grass/pull/657) Database directory not editable but mentioned Location name marked as required Location title (renamed as description) marked as optional "Set default region and resolution" removed and set automatically if info is available "Create user mapset" removed (user can do it from the data catalog in the future, now with a button in the startup window) (see ​https://github.com/OSGeo/grass/pull/646)	Ok Ok Ok Ok Ok Ok Ok

June 8 - June 14 Week 2	Location wizard - EPSG page - (see ​https://github.com/OSGeo/grass/pull/670 (still in progress)): Remove path to "/usr/share/proj/epsg" Merge search and EPSG code text inputs Add a link to epsg.io. Possibly put text from the text field into a query part of the URL. Show the matching CSRs as user types EPSG or any text (like now), if only a number, assume it is EPSG (don't search through definition) "to WGS" dialog as an additional Create grassdata automatically on the first GUI startup (see ​https://github.com/OSGeo/grass/pull/705, see ​https://github.com/OSGeo/grass/issues/682 Startup GUI automatic detection of grassdata: make case independent (see ​https://github.com/OSGeo/grass/pull/664, see ​https://github.com/OSGeo/grass/issues/644)	Ok Ok Ok Ok ? Ok (extra) Ok (extra)

June 15 - June 21 Week 3	Location wizard Choose projection page (Projection from a list choice) Rename to something like “Define custom”, esp. if a search is removed from the EPSG page. Final page: Try harder to show EPSG, e.g. in the case file was used PROJ.4 definition - add mechanisms to show WKT for new versions Proj Location download functionality Show data catalog but from a metadata file Action there is downloading the whole location	TBD

June 22 - June 28 Week 4	Finishing the implementation of Location wizard Testing and documentation	TBD

June 29 - July 5 Week 5	Data catalog: Another toolbar on the side Load/show data button on the side A choice in context menu to load the data for part of the tree Support multiple databases to data catalog	First evaluation Submission deadline: 3 July TBD

July 6 - July 12 Week 6	Data catalog: Add button to add existing or new database New location action from context menu on a database node (#3578) New mapset action from context menu on a location node (#3579)	TBD

July 13 - July 19 Week 7	Finishing the implementation of Data catalog Testing and documentation	TBD

July 20 - July 26 Week 8	General GUI: CLI parameters for g.gui: load (display) all data in location as layers prompt user to import more data To be used after new location created by the startup script	TBD

July 27 - August 2 Week 9	General GUI: Collect "recent info" and "used info" Mapset and database recorded at the same time when GRASS GIS is started or switched to a mapset. Workspace is recorded when opened or saved. Check if the item is already in the list. Consider making the Data tab in Layer Manager the first tab or the default tab	TBD

August 3 - August 9 Week 10	General GUI: Finishing up Testing Documentation Integrating the components into the new welcome page	TBD

August 10 - August 16 Week 11	Integrating the components into the new welcome page (continued)	TBD

August 17 - August 23 Week 12	Finishing up, testing, documentation	TBD

August 24 - August 31 Week 13	Finalizing the existing work Submitting the final work	TBD

Bonding period report

Introduce myself in dev list, get in contact with my mentors and discuss the design of functions
After being accepted as a student for GSoC 2020, I introduced myself to grass dev lists on May 13. Also, I got in contact with my mentors - Martin Landa, Anna Petrasova, Vaclav Petras and Moritz Lennert. On May 14 we set up the video call where we discussed how to set up my GRASS dev environment and how to proceed with future work.

Prepare the wiki page about the project
I created my project wiki page (2) and added the link to the GSoC 2018 Accepted proposals page (3). The wiki page includes - General information about the project (title, mentors, links to the proposal and GitHub repository, etc.), a brief description of the project, goal, and timeline of tasks and deliverables. I will keep my wiki page up to date and will add weekly reports following the instructions in the GSoC Recommendations for Student page (4).

Set up the GitHub repository of the project
I have chosen GitHub (5) as a public repository for the development of this project. I added the link to the GSoC 2020 Accepted proposals page (3), to my wiki page (2) and I shared it with my mentors. My repository is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0, according to the license of GRASS GIS.

Set up a developer environment
I checked and updated my developer environment so as to be ready to start coding after the bonding period.

Four PR already created
I created two PR related to the First Page of Location Wizard: ​https://github.com/OSGeo/grass/pull/493 and ​https://github.com/OSGeo/grass/pull/646. Both of them are already closed. In those PR the layout of this page was changed quite significantly. The database directory was mentioned as the last attribute and can be changed. The Location Name was marked as required. Location Title was renamed as Description and marked as optional (also in the Summary Page this was renamed). Both checkboxes "Set default region and resolution" and "Create user mapset" were removed.

I also created a single PR related to removing the picture of the world: ​https://github.com/OSGeo/grass/pull/657 which is still open and made one improvement related to automatic detection of case-independent cases of grassdata directory that is not literally mentioned in the roadmap: ​https://github.com/OSGeo/grass/pull/664 (issue: ​https://github.com/OSGeo/grass/issues/644.)

(1) ​https://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/grass-dev/2018-April/088262.html
(2) ​https://trac.osgeo.org/grass/wiki/GSoC/2020/StartupWindow
(3) ​https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Google_Summer_of_Code_2020_Accepted
(4) ​https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Google_Summer_of_Code_Recommendations_for_Students
(5) ​https://github.com/lindakladivova/grass

Weekly reports

Week 1

1) What did I complete this week?
I created a single PR related to the bigger topic related to changes in EPSG page (see ​https://github.com/OSGeo/grass/pull/670). I made a change in layout definition. Now it is defined by boxSizer instead of gridBagSizer. Also, path to usr/share/proj/epsg was removed. Search and EPSG code text inputs were merged into one search input. An informative link to epsg.io was added. Removing the picture of the world: ​https://github.com/OSGeo/grass/pull/657 was already merged into master. Similarly, I am already done with the automatic detection of case-independent cases of grassdata directory: ​https://github.com/OSGeo/grass/pull/664 (issue: ​https://github.com/OSGeo/grass/issues/644.)

2) What am I going to achieve for next week?
Next week I am going to continue on PR regarding the EPSG page (see ​https://github.com/OSGeo/grass/pull/670). The layout is done, now I am gonna focus on events. There are several requirements:

• searching in a list on the fly
• choose automatically the first row and permit "next" button
• if epsg code is empty, nothing is selected and "next" button is not active
• change informative URL according to a query string

Furthermore, I am gonna work on improvement when GRASS should create a grassdata directory in the default path for its platform automatically (see ​https://github.com/OSGeo/grass/issues/682).

3) Is there any blocking issue?
No, it isn't.

Week 2

1) What did I complete this week?

2) What am I going to achieve for next week?

3) Is there any blocking issue?