GUI components

The desktop suite is built with PySide6 and shares a common visual language, theme and lifecycle model.

Architecture overview

The Experiment Browser is the main window: FileSelector opens experiment scripts, the central QMdiArea hosts one or more ExperimentWindow panes, and the top dock area manages the experiment queue, preparation station and looper. ExperimentManager is the execution engine that consumes tasks and drives each run through its lifecycle.

flowchart TB
    subgraph Browser[Experiment Browser - main window]
        FS[FileSelector<br/>experiment file tree]
        MDI[QMdiArea<br/>experiment pane container]
        EW[ExperimentWindow<br/>single-experiment control]
        DOCKS[Top dock area<br/>queue / preparation / looper]
        FS --> MDI
        MDI --> EW
        DOCKS --> MDI
    end

    EM[ExperimentManager<br/>execution engine]
    QUEUE[Experiment queue / scans]
    PROC[Process Manager]

    EW --> EM
    DOCKS --> EM
    EM --> QUEUE
    EM --> PROC

ExperimentWindow owns the parameter panel, submission and scan entry points. ExperimentManager does not draw the UI; it consumes tasks from the queue and tracks their run state. The Process Manager starts and supervises the independent GUI, driver and service processes.

Design conventions

• Every window can be opened independently or through the launcher.
• Closing the launcher’s last window prompts for full application exit and stops all services.
• Windows that create background work release it in closeEvent; hidden windows pause refresh timers rather than stopping data clients.
• Help and About pages are per-window and bilingual.
• The interface follows the operating system’s font scaling and light/dark appearance.

Extending the GUI

Reusable building blocks live under quatm/GUI/widgets and quatm/GUI/infra. Project-specific windows belong in the project’s GUI/ directory and are registered in configfile.json. The application identity table controls window names, icons and desktop launchers.