RFE: fetch map for session if appropriate

[Tristan Croll]

The following bug report has been submitted:
Platform:        Windows-10-10.0.22631
ChimeraX Version: 1.8 (2024-06-10 23:15:52 UTC)
Description
If I save a session file with a reference to a map fetched from the EMDB (using the "open xxxxxx from emdb" command) and then try to load it on a machine where that map hasn't previously been downloaded, ChimeraX gives a generic dialog asking me to point to the map location. It might be a nice touch (especially for less experienced users) if ChimeraX were to recognise this scenario, and offer to fetch the map from the EMDB.

OpenGL version: 3.3.0 NVIDIA 555.85
OpenGL renderer: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU/PCIe/SSE2
OpenGL vendor: NVIDIA Corporation

Python: 3.11.4
Locale: en_GB.cp1252
Qt version: PyQt6 6.6.1, Qt 6.6.1
Qt runtime version: 6.6.3
Qt platform: windows

Manufacturer: HP
Model: HP ZBook Studio 15.6 inch G8 Mobile Workstation PC
OS: Microsoft Windows 11 Pro (Build 22631)
Memory: 34,007,068,672
MaxProcessMemory: 137,438,953,344
CPU: 16 11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-11800H @ 2.30GHz
OSLanguage: en-GB

Installed Packages:
    alabaster: 0.7.16
    appdirs: 1.4.4
    asttokens: 2.4.1
    Babel: 2.15.0
    beautifulsoup4: 4.12.3
    blockdiag: 3.0.0
    blosc2: 2.0.0
    build: 1.2.1
    certifi: 2024.6.2
    cftime: 1.6.4
    charset-normalizer: 3.3.2
    ChimeraX-AddCharge: 1.5.17
    ChimeraX-AddH: 2.2.6
    ChimeraX-AlignmentAlgorithms: 2.0.2
    ChimeraX-AlignmentHdrs: 3.5
    ChimeraX-AlignmentMatrices: 2.1
    ChimeraX-Alignments: 2.12.7
    ChimeraX-AlphaFold: 1.0
    ChimeraX-AltlocExplorer: 1.1.1
    ChimeraX-AmberInfo: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Arrays: 1.1
    ChimeraX-Atomic: 1.57.1
    ChimeraX-AtomicLibrary: 14.0.6
    ChimeraX-AtomSearch: 2.0.1
    ChimeraX-AxesPlanes: 2.4
    ChimeraX-BasicActions: 1.1.2
    ChimeraX-BILD: 1.0
    ChimeraX-BlastProtein: 2.4.6
    ChimeraX-BondRot: 2.0.4
    ChimeraX-BugReporter: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-BuildStructure: 2.12.1
    ChimeraX-Bumps: 1.0
    ChimeraX-BundleBuilder: 1.2.7
    ChimeraX-ButtonPanel: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-CageBuilder: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-CellPack: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Centroids: 1.4
    ChimeraX-ChangeChains: 1.1
    ChimeraX-CheckWaters: 1.4
    ChimeraX-ChemGroup: 2.0.1
    ChimeraX-Clashes: 2.2.4
    ChimeraX-Clipper: 0.23.1
    ChimeraX-ColorActions: 1.0.5
    ChimeraX-ColorGlobe: 1.0
    ChimeraX-ColorKey: 1.5.6
    ChimeraX-CommandLine: 1.2.5
    ChimeraX-ConnectStructure: 2.0.1
    ChimeraX-Contacts: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-Core: 1.8
    ChimeraX-CoreFormats: 1.2
    ChimeraX-coulombic: 1.4.3
    ChimeraX-Crosslinks: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Crystal: 1.0
    ChimeraX-CrystalContacts: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-DataFormats: 1.2.3
    ChimeraX-Dicom: 1.2.4
    ChimeraX-DiffPlot: 1.0
    ChimeraX-DistMonitor: 1.4.2
    ChimeraX-DockPrep: 1.1.3
    ChimeraX-Dssp: 2.0
    ChimeraX-EMDB-SFF: 1.0
    ChimeraX-ESMFold: 1.0
    ChimeraX-FileHistory: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-FunctionKey: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-Geometry: 1.3
    ChimeraX-gltf: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Graphics: 1.1.1
    ChimeraX-Hbonds: 2.4
    ChimeraX-Help: 1.2.2
    ChimeraX-HKCage: 1.3
    ChimeraX-IHM: 1.1
    ChimeraX-ImageFormats: 1.2
    ChimeraX-IMOD: 1.0
    ChimeraX-IO: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-ISOLDE: 1.8
    ChimeraX-ItemsInspection: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-IUPAC: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Label: 1.1.10
    ChimeraX-ListInfo: 1.2.2
    ChimeraX-Log: 1.1.6
    ChimeraX-LookingGlass: 1.1
    ChimeraX-Maestro: 1.9.1
    ChimeraX-Map: 1.2
    ChimeraX-MapData: 2.0
    ChimeraX-MapEraser: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-MapFilter: 2.0.1
    ChimeraX-MapFit: 2.0
    ChimeraX-MapSeries: 2.1.1
    ChimeraX-Markers: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-Mask: 1.0.2
    ChimeraX-MatchMaker: 2.1.3
    ChimeraX-MCopy: 1.0
    ChimeraX-MDcrds: 2.7.1
    ChimeraX-MedicalToolbar: 1.0.3
    ChimeraX-Meeting: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-MLP: 1.1.1
    ChimeraX-mmCIF: 2.14.1
    ChimeraX-MMTF: 2.2
    ChimeraX-Modeller: 1.5.17
    ChimeraX-ModelPanel: 1.5
    ChimeraX-ModelSeries: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-Mol2: 2.0.3
    ChimeraX-Mole: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Morph: 1.0.2
    ChimeraX-MouseModes: 1.2
    ChimeraX-Movie: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Neuron: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Nifti: 1.2
    ChimeraX-NMRSTAR: 1.0.2
    ChimeraX-NRRD: 1.2
    ChimeraX-Nucleotides: 2.0.3
    ChimeraX-OpenCommand: 1.13.5
    ChimeraX-PDB: 2.7.5
    ChimeraX-PDBBio: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-PDBLibrary: 1.0.4
    ChimeraX-PDBMatrices: 1.0
    ChimeraX-PickBlobs: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-Positions: 1.0
    ChimeraX-PresetMgr: 1.1.1
    ChimeraX-PubChem: 2.2
    ChimeraX-ReadPbonds: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-Registration: 1.1.2
    ChimeraX-RemoteControl: 1.0
    ChimeraX-RenderByAttr: 1.4.1
    ChimeraX-RenumberResidues: 1.1
    ChimeraX-ResidueFit: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-RestServer: 1.2
    ChimeraX-RNALayout: 1.0
    ChimeraX-RotamerLibMgr: 4.0
    ChimeraX-RotamerLibsDunbrack: 2.0
    ChimeraX-RotamerLibsDynameomics: 2.0
    ChimeraX-RotamerLibsRichardson: 2.0
    ChimeraX-SaveCommand: 1.5.1
    ChimeraX-SchemeMgr: 1.0
    ChimeraX-SDF: 2.0.2
    ChimeraX-Segger: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Segment: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-Segmentations: 3.0.15
    ChimeraX-SelInspector: 1.0
    ChimeraX-SeqView: 2.11.2
    ChimeraX-Shape: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-Shell: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-Shortcuts: 1.1.1
    ChimeraX-ShowSequences: 1.0.3
    ChimeraX-SideView: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-Smiles: 2.1.2
    ChimeraX-SmoothLines: 1.0
    ChimeraX-SpaceNavigator: 1.0
    ChimeraX-StdCommands: 1.16.5
    ChimeraX-STL: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-Storm: 1.0
    ChimeraX-StructMeasure: 1.2.1
    ChimeraX-Struts: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-Surface: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-SwapAA: 2.0.1
    ChimeraX-SwapRes: 2.5
    ChimeraX-TapeMeasure: 1.0
    ChimeraX-TaskManager: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Test: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Toolbar: 1.1.2
    ChimeraX-ToolshedUtils: 1.2.4
    ChimeraX-Topography: 1.0
    ChimeraX-ToQuest: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Tug: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-UI: 1.39.1
    ChimeraX-uniprot: 2.3
    ChimeraX-UnitCell: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-ViewDockX: 1.4.3
    ChimeraX-VIPERdb: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Vive: 1.1
    ChimeraX-VolumeMenu: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-vrml: 1.0
    ChimeraX-VTK: 1.0
    ChimeraX-WavefrontOBJ: 1.0
    ChimeraX-WebCam: 1.0.2
    ChimeraX-WebServices: 1.1.4
    ChimeraX-Zone: 1.0.1
    colorama: 0.4.6
    comm: 0.2.2
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    Cython: 3.0.10
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[Tom Goddard]

When you save a session with the intent of copying it to another machine you probably should use the "includeMaps true" option to save all the maps in the session file.

save mysession.cxs includeMaps true

That does make the session file large, but if you intend to move the session to another machine you will probably be missing the maps. While it is true that if the user was only using EMDB maps then they could be fetched, ChimeraX doesn't know whether the map was fetched from EMDB, all it knows is its path on the file system. Special code could guess that if the path is ~/Downloads/ChimeraX/EMDB/emd_xxx.map then it was fetched. Or I could try to make ChimeraX remember in its data structures that the map comes from EMDB. This seems all too hacky, and not worth the trouble given that the use case is rare and has such an easy existing solution "includeMaps true".

Long explanation why I don't foresee adding this.