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Project Setup

The front-end (Graphical User Interface or GUI) of SODA is built with Electron, an open-source framework developed and maintained by GitHub that conveniently combines Node.js, HTML, CSS, and Javascript, while the back-end is developed in Python (v3.9). The application is inspired by a GitHub repository and a Medium blog. All source codes and files are shared with an open-source license (MIT) to permit user modification without restrictions. The folder structure for the source code is based on the Electron standards and similar to the Electron Demo Application.

Download source code from the GitHub repository​

Either download the zip folder from the GitHub repository or run the following command from your bash shell

git clone https://github.com/fairdataihub/SODA-for-SPARC.git

Prerequisites​

We use Anaconda to keep track of the high level dependencies required to create this application. You can download it here: Anaconda Individual Edition

Setting up your environment​

The environment files required to generate the dev environment have been provided with the repository in the tools/anaconda-env folder.

Each operating system requires its own environment to develop in. To facilitate this task we have provided platform specific environment files. Use the one that is relevant for your system.

For Windows
conda env create -f ./tools/anaconda-env/environment-Windows.yml
conda activate env-electron-python
npm install
For macOS
conda env create -f ./tools/anaconda-env/environment-MAC.yml
conda activate env-electron-python
npm install
For linux
conda env create -f ./tools/anaconda-env/environment-Linux.yml
conda activate env-electron-python
npm install
caution

For Windows, you also need the win-node-env package. This should automatically have been installed as an optional dependency from the package.json but if it doesn't you can use the following command to add it to your project:

npm install -g win-node-env

Running the application​

You can now launch the application with the following command for all Operating Systems.

npm start

Installing packages​

Python​

For python packages we prefer that you use conda-forge if possible. This makes exporting your new environment file much easier. If a package that you require is not available here, you can also use pip to install your package.

conda install -c conda-forge <package-name>
pip install <package-name>

NodeJS​

You can use the vast library provided via npm to add any funcionality via JavaScript.

yarn add <package-name>

Language and framework versions​

The minimum required programming language and compiler versions are provided below. Please be aware that this is subject to change.

  • Python: 3.9
  • Nodejs: ^10.13.0

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