PyDM Launcher

PyDM provides a command-line launcher that makes it easier for users to quickly run UI files as well as code based screens. The launcher is responsible for setting up the Python logging module but it mainly just parses the command line parameters and sends them to the instantiated PyDMApplication.

The Launcher is available for Linux, OSX and Windows and it can be called using the command line:

pydm

This will result in the PyDM Main Window being displayed.

Command Line Arguments

The PyDM Launcher accepts many command line arguments, here they are:

pydm [-h] [--perfmon] [--hide-nav-bar] [--hide-menu-bar]
     [--hide-status-bar] [--fullscreen] [--read-only]
     [--log_level {DEBUG,INFO,WARNING,ERROR,CRITICAL}] [--version]
     [-m MACRO] [--stylesheet STYLESHEET]
     [displayfile] ...

Where:

Argument	Description
-h, –help	Show the help message and exit
–perfmon	Enable performance monitoring, and print CPU usage to the terminal
–hide-nav-bar	Start PyDM with the navigation bar hidden
–hide-menu-bar	Start PyDM with the menu bar hidden
–hide-status-bar	Start PyDM with the status bar hidden
–fullscreen	Start PyDM in full screen mode.
–read-only	Start PyDM in a Read-Only mode
–log_level	Configure the level of the display logger.
–version	Show PyDM’s version number and exit
-m MACRO, –macro MACRO	Specify macro replacements to use, in JSON object format
–stylesheet STYLESHEET	Provide the full path to a CSS stylesheet file, which contains styles to be applied to specific Qt/PyDM widgets.
displayfile (positional)	A PyDM file to display. Can be either a Qt (.ui) file or a Python (.py) file
display_args (positional)	Arguments to be passed to the PyDM client application and displays.

Note

It is not mandatory to use the PyDM Launcher to run your screen, but keep in mind that without it you will need to handle command line arguments, logging setup, and the instantiation of the PyDMApplication in your own code.