[solved] Problem with FreeCADGui

[adonari]

Hello,
I want to use FreeCAD with python without launching the graphical interface.
Here is a piece of code (which doesn't work in my case...)

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import sys
FREECADPATH = "C:/Program Files/FreeCAD 0.16/bin/"
sys.path.append(FREECADPATH)

import FreeCAD as App
import FreeCADGui as Gui

doc = App.ActiveDocument    
gui_doc = Gui.ActiveDocument
gui_doc.activateWorkbench("myWorkbench")

which generates an error message:

gui_doc = Gui.ActiveDocument
AttributeError: 'module' object has no attribute 'ActiveDocument'

And indeed, when I look at what FreeCADGui offers me :

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print(dir(Gui))
['__doc__', '__file__', '__name__', '__package__', 'embedToWindow', 'exec_loop',
 'setupWithoutGUI', 'showMainWindow']

I also tried with FreeCAD version 0.18, but I have the same problem.

What do I need to do to be able to use FreeCADGui as from the FreeCAD GUI?

Environment tested:
OS: Windows 7 64-bit
FreeCAD Version: 0.16
Python version: 2.7.16
---------------------------
OS: Windows 10 64-bit
FreeCAD Version: 0.18
Python version: 3.7

Thank you in advance.

[openBrain]

That's a bit weird. You want to use FreeCAD without GUI but try to import and use GUI module... Typically, how could there be a GUI active document while there is no GUI???
What are you trying to achieve?

[adonari]

Yes, I'm probably wrong about how to proceed...
I would like to be able to execute my code without running FreeCAD and still visualize the geometries I create. I thought, probably wrongly, that geometry visualization was possible with FreeCADGui...
So, how with a simple code like:

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import Part
cube = Part.makeBox(2,2,2)

visualize the cube ?

Thanks!

[vocx]

...
gui_doc = Gui.ActiveDocument
AttributeError: 'module' object has no attribute 'ActiveDocument'

The problem is that you haven't created a new document. This is the first thing you must do as objects are children of the document.

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import FreeCAD as App

doc = App.newDocument("my_doc")
mybox = doc.addObject("Part::Box", "Box")
mybox.Length = 2
mybox.Width = 2
mybox.Height = 2

doc.FileName = "/home/vocx/Pictures/my_doc.FCStd"
doc.save()

I wouldn't use the Part module directly. It creates internal "Shapes", but it does not create "objects". Objects are what are saved in the document, so for this you'd typically use the addObject method of the document.

Certain workbenches like Draft, Arch, BIM, do create objects using their commands, for example, makeLine, makeStructure, makeWindow, etc., but in the case of Part or PartDesign, you first add the object, and then modify the properties like in the example above.

[wmayer]

I would like to be able to execute my code without running FreeCAD and still visualize the geometries I create.

When loading the FreeCADGui module you must invoke its showMainWindow() method which then internally initializes the module by adding the missing methods.

Now depending on the environment and the way Qt was built it's sufficient that the FreeCAD GUI shows up. There is/was a mechanism in Qt to hook into the event loop of the host application to fetch the events from there and update the FreeCAD GUI. For environments where this doesn't work you must invoke the event_loop() method but this blocks your terminal window, then.

[wmayer]

In our repository under https://github.com/FreeCAD/FreeCAD/tree ... s/embedded some solutions are provided how to integrate the FreeCAD GUI into other tool kits.

Based on the PySide approach you can achieve what you want:

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import sys
from PySide2 import QtCore, QtGui, QtWidgets
import FreeCAD, FreeCADGui

class MainWindow(QtWidgets.QMainWindow):
    def showEvent(self, event):
        FreeCADGui.showMainWindow()
        self.setCentralWidget(FreeCADGui.getMainWindow())

app=QtWidgets.QApplication(sys.argv)
mw=MainWindow()
mw.resize(1200,800)
mw.show()

# must be done a few times to update the GUI
app.processEvents()
app.processEvents()
app.processEvents()

import Part
cube = Part.makeBox(2,2,2)
# creates a document and a Part feature with the cube
Part.show(cube)
app.processEvents()
app.processEvents()

But this way you cannot interact with the GUI, you can only process pending events from time to time to update the GUI.
If you want to interact with FreeCAD then you must call app.exec_(). And inside the FreeCAD Python console you can call app.quit() to get control back to the native Python console.

[adonari]

Thanks a lot for your answers !