Parameters

Adding scalar parameters

There are four types of scalar parameters in sympathy: booleans, integers, floats, and strings. Use the methods set_boolean, set_integer, set_float, and set_string to add each of these types to a parameter group. The following arguments are accepted:

name

First positional argument is the name of the parameter. This is used as a key to get the specific parameter from the parameter group.

value

Default value.

label

Shown next to the parameter editor to help the user identify the different parameters.

description

Shown as a tooltip for each parameter and can contain a longer description for each parameters.

editor

Changes how the parameter can be edited in the configuration GUI. See Editors.

Adding lists

If you need a parameter which at any given time has only one value chosen from a list of available options, you should use one of the scalar parameter types with a combo editor. See All parameters example for an example of this. On the other hand, if you actually want a parameter where the user can select multiple options, a list parameter is what you need. The method set_list adds a list parameter. It has all the arguments of the corresponding methods for adding scalar parameters, but it also accepts a few extra arguments:

list or plist

Two synonyms for specifying all the available options in the list.

value

A list of selected indices.

value_names

A list of selected entries from list/plist.

If list (or plist) is specified and non-empty, but neither value nor value_names is specified, the first element of list will automatically be selected. To avoid this behavior and leave the selection empty you can specify value_names (or value) as an empty list.

Adding groups and pages

To group related parameters together, use the methods create_group and create_page. Creating a group and then adding parameters to that group results in a border around those parameters in the GUI. Each page in the parameters is shown as a tab in the configuration GUI. See All parameters example for examples of how to use groups and pages.

Editors

The available parameter editors are:

Editor name	Description	Usable with data types
lineedit_editor	A single line input.	strings, floats and integers
bounded_lineedit_editor	A single line input with upper and/or lower bounds for input.	floats and integers
spinbox_editor	A line with buttons for increasing and decreasing the value with a predefined step.	floats and integers
bounded_spinbox_editor	A spinbox with upper and/or lower bounds.	floats and integers
decimal_spinbox_editor	A spinbox where the number of decimals can be defined.	floats
decimal_bounded_spinbox_editor	A spinbox both bounded and decimal.	floats
textedit_editor	A text editor with support for multiple lines of text.	strings
code_editor	A text edit suitable for editing code. The extra argument language can be used to specify the language for syntax highlighting.	strings
filename_editor	A line edit and a button to browse for existing files. A filter can be set to limit the types of files shown.	strings
savename_editor	A line edit and a button for choosing a new or existing path. A filter can be set to limit the types of files shown.	strings
directory_editor	A line edit and a button to browse for directories.	strings
combo_editor	A combobox, that is, a drop down list with a single selection.	lists, strings
list_editor	A list with checkboxes for selection.	lists
multilist_editor	A list with checkboxes for selection. Multiple selection enabled.	lists
selectionlist_editor	Deprecated. Use list_editor or multilist_editor instead.	lists
checkbox editor	A box which can be checked and unchecked. The default for boolean parameters.	boolean

All editors can be found in synode.editors. To set the editor of a parameter to for example spinbox_editor, set the parameters editor argument to synode.editors.spinbox_editor(). Once again refer to All parameters example for many examples of choosing and configuring editors.