Managing Process Icons



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Process Set Modules

Selecting and Moving Process Icons

Arranging Process Icons

To Load, Save, Arrange and Remove Process Icons

Process Icons Tool Bar

Main Window's Context Menu

Process > Process Icons Main Menu Item

The Process Icon Context Menu

Launch Interface

Execute Global

Set Icon Identifier

Delete Selected Icons



Process Set Modules

A process set module is a special disk file that you can use to store a set of process icons in PixInsight. You can save your icons as a process set module, which you can share or reuse for new processing projects.

Process icon set modules carry the ".pi-psm" file extension. PixInsight's pi-psm proprietary format includes a process versioning system, ensuring that modules created with current versions of PixInsight will work in future versions as well. In addition, the pi-psm format is modular, which means that the user can define new process classes through the API and they will work automatically with existing implementations.

pi-psm files generated with PixInsight LE will be accepted without any problem in PixInsight Standard. However, the reverse transfer is not guaranteed to work, since standard editions define processes that have not been included in limited editions, and there is no way to define a new process with a limited edition.

The pi-psm proprietary format specification will eventually become publicly available. However, there is no plan to do so as of the present date.


Selecting and Moving Process Icons

PixInsight's main window works much the same way as the Window's desktop. You can define a selection rectangle with the mouse to include some process icons. This way you can have a set of selected process icons to apply some actions to them. When a process icon is selected, it paints itself with a distinctive color. For example:

If you only want to select a single process icon, just click it. When you have one or more icons selected, click on a selected icon and drag the mouse cursor to move the selected set anywhere on the main window's work area:


Arranging Process Icons

The entire set of existing process icons at a given moment is sorted according to the position of each icon within the main window's work area. A process icon's position is given by the screen coordinates of its top left corner relative to the main window's top left corner. Ordering of icons is performed from top to bottom and from left to right, that is, vertical position takes precedence over horizontal position.

Ordering of process icons is often important, because some processes may be intended to be applied before others, and the precise sequencing can be essential. The Arrange Process Icons menu option takes into account the existing positional order, so you should make sure your icons are properly ordered on the screen whenever you are storing them to share a processing procedure, or to reuse them after some time, when you may fail to remember what you can see clearly now.

You define how your icons are ordered by simply moving them: just take into account the top-to-bottom-left-to-right rule, and all will be fine.


To Load, Save, Arrange and Remove Process Icons

The Load and Save options will read and write, respectively, a process set module from/to a .pi-psm file. To merge a .pi-psm file's icon set with the existing icon set, hold the Shift key pressed while activating the Load option (either by clicking a tool button or by selecting a menu item).

The Arrange option will organize your icons by packing and relocating them close to the bottom right corner of the main window's work area. The current positional order of icons is always preserved.

Finally, the Remove option will destroy the entire set of existing process icons.

Whether you are removing icons or loading a process set module without merging it with existing icons, appropriate warning messages and confirmation requests are generated.

  • Process Icons Tool Bar

If the Process Icons tool bar is not visible, use Window > Tool Bars > Process Icons to show it.

  • Main Window's Context Menu
    To show this menu, right-click on the main window's background:

  • Process > Process Icons Main Menu Item


The Process Icon Context Menu

By right-clicking on a process icon, you open the Process Icon context menu. On this menu you can select some options to work with the icon or set of selected icons:

  • Launch Interface
    This option is enabled if the icon's process has an associated processing window or other user interface system where you can edit the process parameters. For example, a process like Invert has no interface, since it has no parameter.

The Launch Interface function can also be executed by double-clicking a process icon:

  • Execute Global
    This option is only enabled for processes that can be executed globally. The Preferences process is a good example. When you execute a process globally, it changes something in the global program context, but does not affect any specific image in a direct manner (although it can affect images indirectly). Usually, globally executable processes cannot be executed on images or previews, though there can be exceptions (e.g., RGBSpaceParameters). This topic is covered in more depth by a specific documentation section.
  • Set Icon Identifier
    With this option you can change an icon's identifier at your will, but of course you must meet identifier syntax rules. This option launches a dialog box where you type in a new identifier.
  • Delete Selected Icons
    Be aware that icon deletion cannot be undone. There is no warning message or confirmation request when you use this option, so important processing parameters can be lost if you don't pay the necessary attention.


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