High level pylabrobot resource library (PLR-RL) discussion

resources
4

And lastly - Camillo raised following as well, so let me show you some code, enough of my waffle in above :slightly_smiling_face:

This will always be a pain. Automate a unique naming scheme based on attributes I’d say. It’ll be sort of user-readable. Let me just give you a very simple Django-based implementation to show what I mean when I talk about ‘plates on a database’.

from django.contrib.auth.models import User
from django.db import models

class GenericPlateType(models.Model):
    """
    Mock base data model for a plate instance
    """

    #Store who contributed the definition so you can shout at them
    #Likewise, would add a "validated_by" field
    #Django has an extensive User registration setup, you get that for free.
    contributed_by= models.ForeignKey(
        User,
        blank=False,
        null=True,
        on_delete=models.SET_NULL,  # Do not delete when user disappears
    )

    manufacturer = models.CharField(
        unique=False,
        null=False,
        max_length=100,
        help_text="Manufacturer name",
    )

    catalogId = models.CharField(
        unique=True,   #auto-checks for duplicates
        null=False,        # we won't allow null in the db
        max_length=100,
        help_text="Additional information: catalog id",
    )

    nx = models.PositiveSmallIntegerField(
        null=False,
        default=12,
        unique=False,
        validators=[MinValueValidator(1),MaxValueValidator(12)],
        verbose_name=_("Number of X wells"),
        help_text="number of wells in X direction",
    )

    ny = models.PositiveSmallIntegerField(
        null=False,
        default=8,
        unique=False,
        validators=[MinValueValidator(1),MaxValueValidator(8)],
        verbose_name=_("Number of Y wells"),
        help_text="number of wells in Y direction",
    )

    def __str__(self):
        s="%s__%s__%d__%d"%(self.manufacturer, self.catalogId, self.nx, self.ny)
        return s

    def getUniqueName(self):
        """
        The catalogId is unique so this will be a unique identifier too
        """
        return str(self)

    #All PLR plate functionality (variables, functions) goes here in 
    #the model definition (basically, everything that is in the current base class).

This is overly simplistic, and I skip some Django setup details, but I hope you get the gist.
Here’s how to use it:

#Create a new Greiner 96w plate type on the database by setting all its info 
#and storing it
my96wplatetype = GenericPlateType(nx=12,ny=8,catalogId="bla",manufacturer="Greiner")
my96wplatetype.save()  #Now it is stored on the database

#User example:
#Find a 96w Greiner plate and use the first one for whatever you do with PLR
#The mygreiner instance is now a plate object that can be used as you 
#would a usual PLR plate.
greiner96w_list = GenericPlateType.objects.filter(manufacturer="Greiner",nx=12,ny=8)
mygreiner = greiner96w_list.first()   

#print its unique identifier
print( mygreiner.getUniqueName() )