Are there extensions already built that I could use to control the movement, camera settings, and illumination intensity, or do I have to build my own. Do extensions add functionality and GUI elements to openflexure connect, or are they separate things?
Also I find the navigation interface hard to use when looking at a t-25 flask contents because you can’t interrupt a move command. I want to just push an up down button without having to type in numbers each time, but I also want the Z axis number shown on the screen. These are some of the things I need for my project I’m wondering if someone already has solutions for these features.
The software documentation is not totally clear on how some of these things work. We are also in the middle of a complete overhaul of the software to version 3.
The software structure is that a server running on the Pi in the microscope handles the functions of the microscope and responds to http requests. The user interface is a web app that can run locally on the Pi over a virtual network, or in a browser on any PC on the network with the Pi. Openflexure Connect is just a helper application that searches for active microscopes and launches a browser window.
Extensions run in the server and add extra http request actions. They often add functikns in the web app to access those functions. There is for example an extension that uses the extra functions in Sangaboard v0.5 and gives brightness control etc.
As everything runs on http requests, you can also make your own scripts in any language that can do http. There are libraries available for a Python client, a Matlab client and there is a Blockly interface.
For z-motion you can use and to move. You can set the distance for each keypress in the navigation tab of the web app. There is also an extension that lets you use a SNES game controller instead of a keyboard for motion and image capture.
If you are using a Sangaboard the Sangaboard extension (Filip Ayazi / Sangaboard Extension · GitLab) gives you access to illumination brightness control (the constant current driver has 32 steps) and it also has a Stop button which allows you to stop ongoing moves (it’s a bit awkward because it’s on a different screen, one workaround could be having it open on a different tab, as William said it’s just a web interface so you can open it in browser).
You can control the z axis using the keyboard (pg up and pg down if I remember correctly) or using the scroll wheel. Years ago I also wrote an extension to use a joystick/game controller on the client side but I haven’t used that in ages so I don’t know if it still works.