uic not in Qt shim

[Tristan Croll]

The following bug report has been submitted:
Platform:        Windows-10-10.0.19041
ChimeraX Version: 1.4.dev202203110419 (2022-03-11 04:19:32 UTC)
Description
I still have one import that I have to do via `from PyQt6 import ...` because it's not available via the Qt shim. It's the `uic` module, used to create the GUI from a Qt Designer .ui file. See below... not sure if the equivalent is available from PySide2?

        from PyQt6 import uic
        uifile = os.path.join(basedir, 'ui', 'IsoldeFrame.ui')
        from Qt import QtWidgets, QtGui, QtCore
        #from . import isoldewidget
        import os
        QtCore.QDir.addSearchPath('icons', os.path.join(os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__)), 'resources'))
        #from .resources import resources_rc
        mw = self.mainwin = QtWidgets.QFrame(parent=parent)
        iw = self.iw = uic.loadUi(uifile, mw)

OpenGL version: 3.3.0 NVIDIA 497.29
OpenGL renderer: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080/PCIe/SSE2
OpenGL vendor: NVIDIA Corporation

Locale: en_GB.cp1252
Qt version: PyQt6 6.2.3, Qt 6.2.3
Qt platform: windows

Manufacturer: Notebook                        
Model: P7xxTM1
OS: Microsoft Windows 10 Education (Build 19041)
Memory: 68,654,501,888
MaxProcessMemory: 137,438,953,344
CPU: 16 Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-9900K CPU @ 3.60GHz
OSLanguage: en-GB

Installed Packages:
    -himerax-isolde: 1.4.dev0
    alabaster: 0.7.12
    appdirs: 1.4.4
    Babel: 2.9.1
    backcall: 0.2.0
    blockdiag: 3.0.0
    certifi: 2021.10.8
    cftime: 1.6.0
    charset-normalizer: 2.0.12
    ChimeraX-AddCharge: 1.2.3
    ChimeraX-AddH: 2.1.11
    ChimeraX-AlignmentAlgorithms: 2.0
    ChimeraX-AlignmentHdrs: 3.2.1
    ChimeraX-AlignmentMatrices: 2.0
    ChimeraX-Alignments: 2.2.3
    ChimeraX-AlphaFold: 1.0
    ChimeraX-AltlocExplorer: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-AmberInfo: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Arrays: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Atomic: 1.36.2
    ChimeraX-AtomicLibrary: 6.1.1
    ChimeraX-AtomSearch: 2.0.1
    ChimeraX-AxesPlanes: 2.1
    ChimeraX-BasicActions: 1.1
    ChimeraX-BILD: 1.0
    ChimeraX-BlastProtein: 2.0
    ChimeraX-BondRot: 2.0
    ChimeraX-BugReporter: 1.0
    ChimeraX-BuildStructure: 2.6.1
    ChimeraX-Bumps: 1.0
    ChimeraX-BundleBuilder: 1.1
    ChimeraX-ButtonPanel: 1.0
    ChimeraX-CageBuilder: 1.0
    ChimeraX-CellPack: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Centroids: 1.2
    ChimeraX-ChemGroup: 2.0
    ChimeraX-Clashes: 2.2.2
    ChimeraX-Clipper: 0.18.0
    ChimeraX-ColorActions: 1.0
    ChimeraX-ColorGlobe: 1.0
    ChimeraX-ColorKey: 1.5.1
    ChimeraX-CommandLine: 1.2.1
    ChimeraX-ConnectStructure: 2.0.1
    ChimeraX-Contacts: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Core: 1.4.dev202203110419
    ChimeraX-CoreFormats: 1.1
    ChimeraX-coulombic: 1.3.2
    ChimeraX-Crosslinks: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Crystal: 1.0
    ChimeraX-CrystalContacts: 1.0
    ChimeraX-DataFormats: 1.2.2
    ChimeraX-Dicom: 1.0
    ChimeraX-DistMonitor: 1.1.5
    ChimeraX-Dssp: 2.0
    ChimeraX-EMDB-SFF: 1.0
    ChimeraX-ExperimentalCommands: 1.0
    ChimeraX-FileHistory: 1.0
    ChimeraX-FunctionKey: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Geometry: 1.1
    ChimeraX-gltf: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Graphics: 1.1
    ChimeraX-Hbonds: 2.1.2
    ChimeraX-Help: 1.2
    ChimeraX-HKCage: 1.3
    ChimeraX-IHM: 1.1
    ChimeraX-ImageFormats: 1.2
    ChimeraX-IMOD: 1.0
    ChimeraX-IO: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-ISOLDE: 1.4.dev0
    ChimeraX-ItemsInspection: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Label: 1.1
    ChimeraX-ListInfo: 1.1.1
    ChimeraX-Log: 1.1.5
    ChimeraX-LookingGlass: 1.1
    ChimeraX-Maestro: 1.8.1
    ChimeraX-Map: 1.1
    ChimeraX-MapData: 2.0
    ChimeraX-MapEraser: 1.0
    ChimeraX-MapFilter: 2.0
    ChimeraX-MapFit: 2.0
    ChimeraX-MapSeries: 2.1
    ChimeraX-Markers: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Mask: 1.0
    ChimeraX-MatchMaker: 2.0.6
    ChimeraX-MDcrds: 2.6
    ChimeraX-MedicalToolbar: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-Meeting: 1.0
    ChimeraX-MLP: 1.1
    ChimeraX-mmCIF: 2.7
    ChimeraX-MMTF: 2.1
    ChimeraX-Modeller: 1.5.3
    ChimeraX-ModelPanel: 1.3.2
    ChimeraX-ModelSeries: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Mol2: 2.0
    ChimeraX-Morph: 1.0
    ChimeraX-MouseModes: 1.1
    ChimeraX-Movie: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Neuron: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Nucleotides: 2.0.2
    ChimeraX-OpenCommand: 1.8
    ChimeraX-PDB: 2.6.6
    ChimeraX-PDBBio: 1.0
    ChimeraX-PDBLibrary: 1.0.2
    ChimeraX-PDBMatrices: 1.0
    ChimeraX-PickBlobs: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Positions: 1.0
    ChimeraX-PresetMgr: 1.1
    ChimeraX-PubChem: 2.1
    ChimeraX-ReadPbonds: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-Registration: 1.1
    ChimeraX-RemoteControl: 1.0
    ChimeraX-ResidueFit: 1.0
    ChimeraX-RestServer: 1.1
    ChimeraX-RNALayout: 1.0
    ChimeraX-RotamerLibMgr: 2.0.1
    ChimeraX-RotamerLibsDunbrack: 2.0
    ChimeraX-RotamerLibsDynameomics: 2.0
    ChimeraX-RotamerLibsRichardson: 2.0
    ChimeraX-SaveCommand: 1.5
    ChimeraX-SchemeMgr: 1.0
    ChimeraX-SDF: 2.0
    ChimeraX-Segger: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Segment: 1.0
    ChimeraX-SelInspector: 1.0
    ChimeraX-SeqView: 2.4.8
    ChimeraX-Shape: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-Shell: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Shortcuts: 1.1
    ChimeraX-ShowAttr: 1.0
    ChimeraX-ShowSequences: 1.0
    ChimeraX-SideView: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Smiles: 2.1
    ChimeraX-SmoothLines: 1.0
    ChimeraX-SpaceNavigator: 1.0
    ChimeraX-StdCommands: 1.8
    ChimeraX-STL: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Storm: 1.0
    ChimeraX-StructMeasure: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-Struts: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-Surface: 1.0
    ChimeraX-SwapAA: 2.0
    ChimeraX-SwapRes: 2.1.1
    ChimeraX-TapeMeasure: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Test: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Toolbar: 1.1
    ChimeraX-ToolshedUtils: 1.2.1
    ChimeraX-Tug: 1.0
    ChimeraX-UI: 1.16.2
    ChimeraX-uniprot: 2.2
    ChimeraX-UnitCell: 1.0
    ChimeraX-ViewDockX: 1.1.2
    ChimeraX-VIPERdb: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Vive: 1.1
    ChimeraX-VolumeMenu: 1.0
    ChimeraX-VTK: 1.0
    ChimeraX-WavefrontOBJ: 1.0
    ChimeraX-WebCam: 1.0
    ChimeraX-WebServices: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Zone: 1.0
    colorama: 0.4.4
    comtypes: 1.1.10
    cxservices: 1.1
    cycler: 0.11.0
    Cython: 0.29.26
    debugpy: 1.5.1
    decorator: 5.1.1
    docutils: 0.17.1
    entrypoints: 0.4
    filelock: 3.4.2
    fonttools: 4.30.0
    funcparserlib: 1.0.0a0
    grako: 3.16.5
    h5py: 3.6.0
    html2text: 2020.1.16
    idna: 3.3
    igraph: 0.9.9
    ihm: 0.26
    imagecodecs: 2021.11.20
    imagesize: 1.3.0
    ipykernel: 6.6.1
    ipython: 7.31.1
    ipython-genutils: 0.2.0
    jedi: 0.18.1
    Jinja2: 3.0.3
    jupyter-client: 7.1.0
    jupyter-core: 4.9.2
    kiwisolver: 1.3.2
    line-profiler: 3.4.0
    lxml: 4.7.1
    lz4: 3.1.10
    MarkupSafe: 2.1.0
    matplotlib: 3.5.1
    matplotlib-inline: 0.1.3
    msgpack: 1.0.3
    nest-asyncio: 1.5.4
    netCDF4: 1.5.8
    networkx: 2.6.3
    numexpr: 2.8.1
    numpy: 1.22.1
    openvr: 1.16.802
    packaging: 21.3
    ParmEd: 3.4.3
    parso: 0.8.3
    pickleshare: 0.7.5
    Pillow: 9.0.0
    pip: 21.3.1
    pkginfo: 1.8.2
    prompt-toolkit: 3.0.28
    psutil: 5.9.0
    pycollada: 0.7.2
    pydicom: 2.2.2
    Pygments: 2.11.2
    PyOpenGL: 3.1.5
    PyOpenGL-accelerate: 3.1.5
    pyparsing: 3.0.7
    PyQt6-commercial: 6.2.3
    PyQt6-sip: 13.2.0
    PyQt6-WebEngine-commercial: 6.2.1
    python-dateutil: 2.8.2
    pytz: 2021.3
    pywin32: 303
    pyzmq: 22.3.0
    qtconsole: 5.2.2
    QtPy: 2.0.1
    RandomWords: 0.3.0
    requests: 2.27.1
    scipy: 1.7.3
    setuptools: 59.8.0
    sfftk-rw: 0.7.1
    six: 1.16.0
    snowballstemmer: 2.2.0
    sortedcontainers: 2.4.0
    Sphinx: 4.3.2
    sphinx-autodoc-typehints: 1.15.2
    sphinxcontrib-applehelp: 1.0.2
    sphinxcontrib-blockdiag: 3.0.0
    sphinxcontrib-devhelp: 1.0.2
    sphinxcontrib-htmlhelp: 2.0.0
    sphinxcontrib-jsmath: 1.0.1
    sphinxcontrib-qthelp: 1.0.3
    sphinxcontrib-serializinghtml: 1.1.5
    suds-community: 1.0.0
    tables: 3.7.0
    texttable: 1.6.4
    tifffile: 2021.11.2
    tinyarray: 1.2.4
    tornado: 6.1
    traitlets: 5.1.1
    urllib3: 1.26.8
    wcwidth: 0.2.5
    webcolors: 1.11.1
    wheel: 0.37.1
    wheel-filename: 1.3.0
    WMI: 1.5.1

[Tristan Croll]

... although I may end up having to stop using the uic approach anyway (not sure yet). Seems that pyrcc (the module taking the place of Qt's rcc, compiling all the images registered in Qt Designer into a single resource file) is no longer being supported, and has been removed from PyQt6. The GUI's kinda-sorta loading, but all the icons are blank. Various other things going wrong... the pre-filled values in some of the drop-down menus seem to be ignored.

I've known for quite some time that relying on Qt Designer for ISOLDE's GUI was a dead end - was useful for prototyping, but it's gotten ever more unwieldy. Guess this should be my wake-up call to finally do it properly.

[Tom Goddard]

Let us know if you are able to continue using Qt uic (User Interface Compiler) for ISOLDE. If not, then I am inclined not to add it to our Qt shim. But if you do wish to continue using it we can add it to the shim easily. For now you can see if you can get it to work using "from PyQt6 import uic".

We will never be using PySide2 which is Qt 5. But we may well switch to PySide6 in the future since that would avoid paying thousands of dollars for the PyQt6 commercial license. But ChimeraX 1.4 will be using PyQt6 unless we find some show-stopper Qt 6 bugs which would make us fall back to PyQt5.

Zach is handling our update from Qt 5 to Qt 6 so I have reassigned this ticket to him.

[Tom Goddard]

Dam auto-correct keeps deciding to change Zach's user name from zjp to zip! I need to turn off auto-correct on this new laptop.

[Zach Pearson]

Changed to awaiting user feedback pending Tristan's report on whether he'll continue using the uic module.

[Tristan Croll]

Most likely not... I found a slightly hacky workaround at https://github.com/domarm-comat/pyqt6rc, but (a) that involves pre-converting the .ui file to Python a la pyuic and hence won't use the internal uic module, and (b) I'm not really keen to use it. About time I finally committed myself to properly cleaning up the GUI code.

________________________________
From: ChimeraX <ChimeraX-bugs-admin@cgl.ucsf.edu>
Sent: 17 March 2022 17:34
Cc: goddard@cgl.ucsf.edu <goddard@cgl.ucsf.edu>; Tristan Croll <tic20@cam.ac.uk>; zjp@cgl.ucsf.edu <zjp@cgl.ucsf.edu>
Subject: Re: [ChimeraX] #6362: uic not in Qt shim

#6362: uic not in Qt shim
-------------------------------------+--------------------------
          Reporter:  Tristan Croll   |      Owner:  Zach Pearson
              Type:  defect          |     Status:  feedback
          Priority:  normal          |  Milestone:
         Component:  Window Toolkit  |    Version:
        Resolution:                  |   Keywords:
        Blocked By:                  |   Blocking:
Notify when closed:                  |   Platform:  all
           Project:  ChimeraX        |
-------------------------------------+--------------------------
Changes (by Zach Pearson):

 * status:  assigned => feedback


Comment:

 Changed to awaiting user feedback pending Tristan's report on whether
 he'll continue using the {{{uic}}} module.

--
Ticket URL: <https://www.rbvi.ucsf.edu/trac/ChimeraX/ticket/6362#comment:5>
ChimeraX <https://www.rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimerax/>
ChimeraX Issue Tracker

[Zach Pearson]

OK, closing for now but feel free to send me an email if you need me to add it to the shim.