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  • v1.0.0.0

    BETSEE 1.0.0.0 (Mighty Maxwell) released.
    
    Significant changes include:
    
    * Custom tissue profiles. Users may now define an arbitrary number of
      custom tissue profiles (i.e., contiguous regions of the cell cluster),
      each of which assigns all cells residing in that region the same
      simulation configuration settings -- including membrane diffusion
      constants for all available ions (e.g., sodium, potassium, chloride).
    * Custom exports. Users may define an arbitrary number of custom exports
      (i.e., files saved to disk when one or more checkboxes beneath the
      "Export?" column in the "Phase Playlist" section are checked). For
      usability, the top-level tree widget now sports a nested subtree of
      export-specific tree items, complete with suitable vector-based
      iconography and human-readable tooltips. This includes:
      * Comma-separated value (CSV) files.
      * Cell cluster animations (i.e., compressed videos visualizing a
        single measurable quantity across the entire cell cluster at all
        simulation time steps).
      * Cell cluster plots (i.e., single images visualizing a single
        measurable quantity across the entire cell cluster at the last
        simulation time step).
      * Single cell plots (i.e., single images visualizing a single
        measurable quantity isolated to a single cell at all simulation time
        steps), where the cell to be visualized is selected by its uniquely
        identifying 0-based index in the currently generated cell cluster.
    * Global export settings. The top-level "Export" item enables settings
      globally applicable to all custom exports to be trivially configured,
      including:
      * Cell index-centric settings,  enabling end users to configure
        whether cell indices are displayed in cell cluster visuals and the
        index of the cell to be displayed in single cell plots.
      * Matplotlib colormaps. The matplotlib-specific colormaps used to
        associate measurable quantities visualized by plots and animations
        (e.g., transmembrane potential) with color values are now globally
        configurable. This includes the default colormaps for intrinsically
        diverging, sequential, streamline, and network data.
    * User-configurable tree list items. Predesignated parent items of the
      top-level tree widget (e.g., "Space/Tissue") now act as dynamically
      resizable lists of child items, each of which is associated with the
      same stacked widget page (e.g., "Custom Tissue Profile"). Likewise,
      end users may interactively add an arbitrary number of new child items
      and remove existing child items from such parent items. Additionally:
      * Automatic prepopulation and depopulation. Child tree items of such
        parent items are now dynamically added (i.e., prepopulated) and
        removed (i.e., depopulated) on opening and closing simulation
        configurations respectively.
      * Guaranteed success. Actions permitting users to append and remove
        child items to and from these lists are conditionally enabled and
        disabled, guaranteeing these actions to always succeed if enabled.
    * Issue resolutions, including:
      * Infinite recursion on pushing undo commands from editable widgets.
      * Overflow error raised by "libshoken" in relation to undo command
        request handling.
      * Erroneous exceptions raised on pushing the "Browse..." buttons
        associated with all dirnames edited by the "Paths" stacked widget
        page.
      * Exceptions with empty messages, which are now displayed in a mildly
        more meaningful manner.
      * "--sim-conf-file" failures. To do so, the newly defined
        QBetseeSimConf.unload() method now provides an orthogonal analogue
        to the existing QBetseeSimConf.load() method, eliminating numerous
        awkward edge cases and subtle chiken-and-egg issues throughout the
        codebase.
    * API generalizations, including:
      * The existing "betsee.gui.simconf.guisimconfundo" submodule, whose
        QBetseeSimConfUndoStack.push_undo_cmd_if_safe() method prevents undo
        commands from being pushed to this stack if no simulation
        configuration is currently open.
      * The existing "betsee.gui.simconf.stack.page" subpackage, which has
        been restructed for maintainability by:
        * Splitting all spatial-centric stacked widget pages into a new
          "betsee.gui.simconf.stack.page.space" subpackage.
        * Splitting all export-centric stacked widget pages into a new
          "betsee.gui.simconf.stack.page.export" subpackage.
      * The existing
        "betsee.gui.simconf.stack.page.space.guisimconfpagertis" submodule,
        which now defines a "QBetseeSimConfPagerTissueABC" superclass
        generally applicable to both default and custom tissue profile
        stacked widget pages.
      * The existing "betsee.gui.simconf.stack.widget.guisimconfcombobox"
        submodule. Notable new classes include:
        * "QBetseeSimConfComboBoxABC", the abstract base class of all
          simulation configuration-specific combo box subclasses.
        * "QBetseeSimConfComboBoxSequence", the concrete subclass of all
          simulation configuration-specific combo boxes backed by a simple
          sequence of raw strings.
      * The existing "betsee.gui.simconf.tree.guisimconftree" submodule,
        whose QBetseeSimConfTreeWidget._init_items() method efficiently and
        explicitly initializes all containers containing tree items,
        including those internally required by the corresponding
        "QBetseeSimConfStackedWidget" instance. This method obsoletes the
        the removed QBetseeSimConfStackedWidget._init_tree_to_stack() and
        QBetseeSimConfTreeWidget._init_items_list_root() methods.
      * The existing "betsee.util.widget.mixin.guiwdg" submodule, whose
        QBetseeObjectMixin.init() method now accepts an optional
        "is_reinitable" parameter permitting application-specific Qt objects
        to be reinitialized in a general-purpose manner. (This is strictly
        required for reinitializing each stacked widget page associated with
        a child tree item providing a dynamic list item immediately before
        that page is displayed on selecting that child tree item.)
      * The existing "betsee.util.widget.stock.tree.guitreewdg" submodule,
        whose "QBetseeTreeWidget" superclass now defines:
        * A get_item_current() method safely retrieving the currently
          selected tree item if any.
      * A new "betsee.gui.data.guidataicon" submodule, serving as an
        application-wide icon store efficiently caching instantiated icons.
        Notable functions include:
        * get_icon_dot(), caching a general-purpose bullet point icon.
      * A new "betsee.util.io.image.guiicon" submodule, providing a seamless
        cache for transparent creation, caching, and retrieval of SVG-based
        "QIcon" objects from arbitrary URIs. Notable functions include:
        * make_icon(), instantiating such icons.
      * A new "betsee.util.widget.abc.control" subpackage containing:
        * The prior "guicontrolabc" submodule, shifted for maintainability.
        * The new "guictlpagerabc" submodule, defining abstract base classes
          and mixins specific to pagers (i.e., stacked widget page
          controllers) -- all of which now subclass these abstract base
          classes and mixins as appropriate.
      * A new "betsee.util.widget.mixin.guiwdgedit" submodule, containing
        the "QBetseeEditWidgetMixin" superclass previously contained within
        the "betsee.util.widget.mixin.guiwdg" submodule. Subclasses of this
        superclass are now required to override the recursion-safe
        _init_safe() method rather than the recursion-unsafe init() method.
      * A new "betsee.util.widget.stock.guicombobox" submodule, whose
        "QBetseeComboBox" superclass generalizes the stock "QComboBox" API
        with improved Pythonics.
      * A new "betsee.util.widget.stock.tree.guitreeitem" submodule
        implementing a high-level tree widget item API encapsulating Qt's
        considerably lower-level "QTreeWidgetItem" API. Notable functions
        include:
        * get_child_item_with_text_path(), enabling callers to obtain
          arbitrary tree items via their absolute first-column text paths
          (i.e., the unique sequence of the first-column text of all items
          leading to the desired tree item, including itself).
        * get_item_preceding_or_none(), contextually retrieving the tree
          item preceding any arbitrary tree item.
      * A new "betsee.util.path.guipathenum" submodule, defining one global
        integer bit mask constant for each Qt-specific "QFileDialog::Option"
        enumeration member, enabling the codebase to trivially enable path
        dialag options in a Pythonic manner. Notably, the
        "betsee.util.path.guidir" and "betsee.util.path.guipath" submodules
        now leverage these constants.
  • v0.9.2.0

    BETSEE 0.9.2.0 (Luckiest Levin) released.
    
    Significant changes include:
    
    * Simulation configuration dialog improvements. Dialogs creating,
      opening, and saving simulation configuration files have been
      significantly sanitized, generalized, and improved across the board.
      Significant changes include:
      * Previously selected dirname persisted. The absolute dirname of the
        most recently selected directory (i.e., the directory containing the
        simulation configuration file selected by the most recent path
        dialog) is now globally persisted to the on-disk backing store of
        application settings and reused as the initially selected directory
        to which the next path dialog opens by default. This dirname is
        persisted across application invocations, effectively serving as a
        poor man's substitute for the traditional "File->Recent..." menu of
        recently opened files in standard desktop GUI applications,
        substantially improving usability.
      * Default selected basename sanitized. The basenames of the files
        opened and saved by the "File->New Simulation..." and "File->Save
        Simulation As..." dialogs now default to sanely YAML-compliant
        basenames (e.g., "sim_config.yaml"), improving usability.
      * Default selected directory safeguarded. The directory to which all
        path dialogs open by default is now effectively guaranteed to exist
        (ignoring filesystem race conditions), significantly improving
        sanity.
      * Simulation configurations creatable. Issue #5, kindly reported by
        the ever-faithful Eric Sinton in exhaustive detail, has now been
        resolved. The "File->New Simulation..." path dialog correctly
        creates new simulation configurations as expected. Thanks, Eric!
    * Dependency initialization sanitized. Third-party application
      dependencies (e.g., PySide2) are now initialized correctly by the
      object-oriented application metadata singleton (i.e., instance of the
      "betse.util.app.meta.metaappabc.MetaAppABC" superclass) rather than
      procedurely by the antiquated "betsee.lib.guilib" submodule.
    * Pip-based installation improved. Setuptools >= 38.2.0, which first
      introduced support for wheels, is now hard-required at installation
      time. Since the Qt Company necessarily distributes PySide2 (the
      principal mandatory dependency of this application) via universal
      wheels, this application always effectively required setuptools 38.2.0
      or newer at installation. This constraint is now contractually
      enforced, substantially improving end user experience (UX) under older
      systems.
    * Application settings API generalized. The existing
      "betsee.util.io.guisettings" submodule now offers the full gamut of
      exception handlers, testers, getters, and setters for manipulating
      individual settings persisted to this application's settings store.
  • v0.9.1.0

    BETSEE 0.9.1.0 (Luckier Levin) released.
    
    Significant changes include:
    
    * The "--cache-policy" command-line option, allowing developers, end
      users, and automated tests to enable alternative XML->Python caching
      strategies. Internally, BETSEE converts XML-formatted Qt
      (Creater|Designer) user interface (UI) files residing under the
      "betsee.data" subpackage into PySide2-based Python submodules residing
      under one of two subpackages:
      * "betsee.data.py", the application-wide cache containing the official
        versions of these submodules bundled with BETSEE itself.
      * "~/.betsee/py", the user-specific cache containing strictly
        unofficial versions of these submodules *NOT* bundled with BETSEE
        itself.
      In both cases, BETSEE itself dynamically regenerates these submodules
      at runtime as needed. The mandatory argument passed to this optional
      option dictates which of these submodules if any are actually
      regenerated:
      * "--cache-policy=dev", the developer-specific caching policy. Under
        this strategy, both the application-wide *AND* user-specific caches
        are regenerated as needed. Raised exceptions are treated as fatal
        errors.
      * "--cache-policy=dev", the end user-specific caching policy. Under
        this strategy, *ONLY* the user-specific cache is regenerated. If any
        exception is raised while doing so, that exception is logged as a
        non-fatal warning and the corresponding submodule from the
        application-wide cache is copied into the user-specific cache --
        ensuring that the latter always exists.
      * "--cache-policy=auto", the default caching policy. This strategy
        detects whether or not BETSEE is currently installed in development
        mode (i.e., tracked by a Git working tree), in which case the
        developer-specific caching policy is deferred to; else, the end
        user-specific caching policy is deferred to.
    * Issue #1 (i.e., "Startup Error") resolved. For both portability and
      efficiency reasons, BETSEE only officially supports the
      (Ana|Mini)conda Python distribution. This support is provided by the
      conda-forge "betsee-feedstock," which necessarily depends on the
      conda-forge "pyside2-feedstock," whose most recent release installs
      only the Qt 5.6.0 pre-pre-release version of PySide2, which predates
      the official Qt 5.11.2 "technical preview" pre-release version of
      PySide2 produced in late Septemeber of this year by the Qt Company.
      Unsurprisingly, the pre-pre-release version of PySide2 distributed by
      (Ana|Mini)conda suffers various game-breaking deficiencies, including
      the failure of the "pyside2uic" package to convert Qt
      (Creater|Designer) user interface (UI) XML files into working
      PySide2-based Python logic. This core defect is circumvented by the
      new by the new "--cache-policy" option, which contextually ignores
      failures during cache regeneration when run as an end user.
    * Issue #2 (i.e., "New Simulation Error") resolved. This release
      circumvents a trivial backward incompatibility with the Qt 5.6 API:
      notably, the failure of Qt < 5.7.0 to pass the "checked" boolean to
      slots connected to the prevalent "QAction.triggered" signal.
    * Caching API centralized. Caching-specific logic previously distributed
      throughout the codebase (e.g., the "betsee.gui.guicache" submodule,
      the "betsee.util.io.xml" subpackage) has now been centralized into the
      new "betse.lib.pyside2.cache" subpackage for maintainability.
    * Pathtree -> MetaAppABC API. The prior procedural-based
      "betsee.guipathtree" submodule has been refactored into the
      object-oriented "betsee.guimetaapp" submodule leveraging the newly
      minted "betse.util.meta.metaappabc" API, reducing DRY (i.e., "Don't
      Repeat Yourself") violations across both codebases.
    * Test suite planning. This release also adds the rudimentary outline
      for what will subsequently be developed into a full-blown continuous
      integration (CI) test suite. While currently non-working, something
      >>>>>>>> nothing.
    
    Thanks to Eric Sinton (@esinton) for voluminously documenting both
    issues and supplying an ad-hoc solution for the first issue. Our
    userbase rocks!
  • v0.9.0.0

    BETSEE 0.9.0.0 (Lucky Levin) released.
    
    Significant changes include:
    
    * Python >= 3.5 required. In accordance with the looming end-of-life
      (EOL) of Python 3.4, BETSEE now strictly requires at least Python 3.5.
    * Simulator phase queueing. Simulator phases (e.g., seed, simulation)
      may now be independently queued and dequeued such that the end user
      clicking the simulator-specific start button now sequentially runs
      each currently queued simulator phase.
    * Simulator phase running. Simulator phases (e.g., seed, simulation)
      may now be independently run, paused, resumed, and stopped in a robust
      manner leveraging our newly introduced thread pool API.
    * Simulator progress. Feedback metadata is now contextually displayed
      (in quasi-realtime) for the current simulator state:
      * Percentage-based progress.
      * Human-readable terse status.
      * Human-readable verbose substatus.
    * Simulator widget synchronization. The internal state of all simulator
      widgets is now explicitly synchronized against the external state of
      both the simulator as a whole and the currently running simulator
      phase if any, substantially improving the User eXperience (UX).
    * Placeholder text excised. Placeholder simulation configuration tree
      items (e.g., "Dynamic Channels", "Network") have now been dynamically
      pruned at runtime, dramatically improving usability.
    * Font sizes normalized. The BETSEE GUI was initially developed on a
      high-DPI system, which understandably resulted in substantially
      smaller font sizes than desirable on standard DPI systems. Font sizes
      are now normalized to conform to standard aesthetic expectations.
    * Stylesheet simplified. The global application stylesheet has now been
      sanitized, simplified, and streamlined: AKA, 3S.
    * Thread pool API. The new "betsee.util.thread.pool" subpackage now
      implements a rather efficient, portable, multithreaded framework for
      independently starting, stopping, pausing, and resuming an arbitrary
      number of arbitrary long-running threads. This framework largely
      obsoletes all prevailing low- and high-level Python and Qt
      parallelization APIs, including (but presumably not limited to):
      * "multiprocessing.dummy".
      * "threading".
      * "PySide2.QtConcurrent".
      * "PySide2.QtCore.QFuture".
      * "PySide2.QtCore.QRunnable".
      * "PySide2.QtCore.QThread".
      * "PySide2.QtCore.QThreadPool".
      Note that this framework is effectively unencumbered by the Global
      Interpreter Lock (GIL), assuming worker threads that routinely defer
      to the canonical QBetseeThreadPoolWorker._halt_work_if_requested()
      method to enable user responsiveness. Naturally, all BETSEE-specific
      worker threads satisfy this sensible constraint.
    * Installation instructions conda-fied. Installation instructions have
      been significantly streamlined to leverage the newly released Anaconda
      package for BETSEE, kindly hosted by the non-profit conda-forge
      organization. The obsolete Ubuntu-specific installation script has
      been removed.
  • v0.8.2.0

    BETSEE 0.8.2.0 (Kindest Kaufmann) released.
    
    Significant changes include:
    
    * Setuptools-based installation sanitized. PySide2 is no longer
      erroneously required at pre-installation time, thus resolving a
      significant blocker for distribution by PyPI and conda-forge.
    * Startup dependency validation sanitized. The application startup process
      now validates the satisfiability (i.e., the importability and sufficient
      version) of BETSE only once rather than twice, thus resolving
      discrepancies between setuptools-specific versioning for BETSE and the
      actual physical version of BETSE on developer machines.
    * Startup errors displayed graphically. Fatal exceptions raised on
      startup are now embedded within a PySide2-based message box.
  • v0.8.1.0

    BETSEE 0.8.1.0 (Kinder Kaufmann) released.
    
    This marks the first stable release of BETSEE. Significant features
    include:
    
    * Creatable simulations. New simulation configurations are trivially
      creatable from within the BETSEE GUI.
    * Loadable and savable simulations. Existing simulation configurations
      are trivially loaded and saved from within the BETSEE GUI.
    * Partially editable simulations. While numerous simulation
      configuration options remain unsupported, this initial release
      attempts to support the most essential such options (e.g., world size,
      simulation duration).
    * Partially runnable simulations. While running specific simulation
      phases (e.g., seed) remains unsupported, this initial release does
      support running all simulation phases in a sequential manner. Each
      such run is isolated to an effectively backgrounded thread preserving
      the usability of the foregrounded GUI.
    * Partially visualized simulation runs. Visualization of the currently
      running simulation phase is limited to:
      * Partially updated progress. A progress bar reflects the current
        state of work completed for the current phase. Only the seed,
        initialization, and simulation phases update progress; exporting
        phases (e.g., "betse plot seed") all ignore progress, currently.