Configuration info

1. Introduction¶

This section deals with the configuration information of the microfading package. The implementation of a configuration info file gives you the opportunity to define specific default behaviors. These information are stored inside a json file which is located inside the folder of the microfading package. Use the get_config_path() function to obtain the exact location of the configuration info file.

The config_info file contains several dictionaries about different aspects of the microfading package (See Table 1, dictionary keys). To access the contain of the config_info file, use the get_config() function as illustrated in the figure below.

For example, inside dictionary 'colorimetry', you can define the illuminant and the observer, so that every time you will use a function involving the use of an illuminant and an observer, it will automatically use the values you registered.

IMPORTANT !! Whenever you upgrade the microfading package, the config_info is reset to its initial state, i.e. empty dictionaries except for the 'functions' dictionary. This means that you will need to refill the config_info file as it was before the upgrade.

Alt text — Retrieve the content of the config_info file.

Table 1. Description of the dictionary keys.

Dictionary keys	Description
colorimetry	Information about colorimetric coordinates (observer and illuminant)
databases	Information about the databases (see db management)
devices	Information about the microfading devices
exposure	Information about the exposure conditions in museums
filters	Information about optical filters used in microfading systems
functions	Mathematical functions used to fit data
lamps	Information about lamps used in microfading systems
light_dose	Information the unit of light dose energy
institution	Information about the institution using the microfading devices
report_figures	Information about the figures displayed in microfading reports

2. Content update¶

To add or update the information stored inside the config_info.json file, you will need to use the methods that start with the keyword set (See figure below and Table 2). The functions return ipywdigets inside which you will be able to add the requested information. An example is given below for the set_DB function.

Table 2. Description of the 'set' methods.

Function names	Description
set_colorimetry_info	Set the observer and illuminant values
set_DB	Set the databases info enabling a connection between the `msdb` package and the `microfading` package
set_devices_info	Set the info about the microfading devices
set_exposure_conditions	Set information about the exposure conditions in museums
set_light_dose	Set the preferred unit of light dose energy values
set_institution_info	Set information about the institution using the microfading devices
set_report_figures	Set aesthetic choice about the figures displayed in microfading reports

set_DB¶

The set_DB function enables you to connect the microfading package with databases files created by the msdb package. As a pre-requesite, you will need to have created databases files on your local computer (see create_DB section). You can check the databases that you created by looking at the config file of the msdb package.

In the db_name widget, the names of the existing databases should appear when click on the Tab button. In the example below, we can see that I created 5 differents databases. One of them is called 'MFT' and this is the one I will choose for the microfading package. Its then automatically fills in the db_path widget.

Once the microfading package has access to the databases files, it will fetch the information contained in these files and use them in some of the methods of the MFT class.

set_devices_info¶

The set_devices_info function allows you to configure some of the parameters of microfading devices. See the figure below for an example. I have a Fotonowy microfading device with 'MFT2' as device ID number (I don't except to have more than 10 microfading devices over the next 1oo years). I selected the 'MFT_fotonowy' processs function, an average of 10 which is what I normally use when doing analyses and 'WR4' is the ID number of my Fotolon standard, which I previously registered with the help of the msdb package. Ultimately, when I need to process microfading raw files, I just have to indicate to the python function (process_rawdata) that the measurements were made with the 'MFT2' so that the program can select the right process function, add the info about the white standard, and only keep the reflectance values between 400 and 750 nm (just noise outside this wavelength range).