A caixa de ferramentas¶

O diálogo do algoritmo¶

Once you double-click on the name of the algorithm that you want to execute, a dialog similar to that in the figure below is shown (in this case, the dialog corresponds to the SAGA ‘Convergence index’ algorithm).

Figure Processing 7:

Diálogo dos Parâmetros

This dialog is used to set the input values that the algorithm needs to be executed. It shows a table where input values and configuration parameters are to be set. It of course has a different content, depending on the requirements of the algorithm to be executed, and is created automatically based on those requirements. On the left side, the name of the parameter is shown. On the right side, the value of the parameter can be set.

Although the number and type of parameters depend on the characteristics of the algorithm, the structure is similar for all of them. The parameters found in the table can be of one of the following types.

• A raster layer, to select from a list of all such layers available (currently opened) in QGIS. The selector contains as well a button on its right-hand side, to let you select filenames that represent layers currently not loaded in QGIS.

• A vector layer, to select from a list of all vector layers available in QGIS. Layers not loaded in QGIS can be selected as well, as in the case of raster layers, but only if the algorithm does not require a table field selected from the attributes table of the layer. In that case, only opened layers can be selected, since they need to be open so as to retrieve the list of field names available.

  Irá ver um botão por cada seleccionador de camada vectorial, como é exibido na figura em baixo.

Figure Processing 8:

Botão de interacção vectorial

If the algorithm contains several of them, you will be able to toggle just one of them. If the button corresponding to a vector input is toggled, the algorithm will be executed iteratively on each one of its features, instead of just once for the whole layer, producing as many outputs as times the algorithm is executed. This allows for automating the process when all features in a layer have to be processed separately.

• A table, to select from a list of all available in QGIS. Non-spatial tables are loaded into QGIS like vector layers, and in fact they are treated as such by the program. Currently, the list of available tables that you will see when executing an algorithm that needs one of them is restricted to tables coming from files in dBase (.dbf) or Comma-Separated Values (.csv) formats.

• Uma opção, a escolher de uma lista de selecção de uma lista de opções possíveis.

• A numerical value, to be introduced in a text box. You will find a button by its side. Clicking on it, you will see a dialog that allows you to enter a mathematical expression, so you can use it as a handy calculator. Some useful variables related to data loaded into QGIS can be added to your expression, so you can select a value derived from any of these variables, such as the cell size of a layer or the northernmost coordinate of another one.

Figure Processing 9:

Seleccionador de Números

• Um intervalo, com valores min e máx para serem introduzidos em duas caixas de texto.

• Uma cadeia de texto, a ser introduzida na caixa de texto.

• Um campo, para escolher a partir de uma tabela de atributos de uma camada vectorial ou uma tabela única de outro parâmetro.

• A coordinate reference system. You can type the EPSG code directly in the text box, or select it from the CRS selection dialog that appears when you click on the button on the right-hand side.

• An extent, to be entered by four numbers representing its xmin, xmax, ymin, ymax limits. Clicking on the button on the right-hand side of the value selector, a pop-up menu will appear, giving you two options: to select the value from a layer or the current canvas extent, or to define it by dragging directly onto the map canvas.

  Figure Processing 10

  

  Seleccionador de Extensão

  Se seleccione a primeira opção, irá ver uma janela igual a próxima.

  Figure Processing 11

  

  Lista de Extensão

  Se seleccionar o segundo, os parâmetros da janela irão esconder-se, para que possa clicar e arrastar para o enquadramento. Uma vez definido o rectângulo seleccionado, o diálogo irá reaparecer, contendo os valores na caixa de texto da extensão.

  Figure Processing 12:

  

  Arrastamento para Extensão

• A list of elements (whether raster layers, vector layers or tables), to select from the list of such layers available in QGIS. To make the selection, click on the small button on the left side of the corresponding row to see a dialog like the following one.

  Figure Processing 13:

  

  Múltipla Selecção

• Uma pequena tabela para ser editada pelo utilizador. Estes são usados para definir os parâmetros como tabelas lookup ou kernels de convolução, entre outros.

  Clique no botão do lado direito para ver a tabela e editar os seus valores.

  Figure Processing 14:

  

  Tabela Fixa

  Depending on the algorithm, the number of rows can be modified or not by using the buttons on the right side of the window.

You will find a [Help] tab in the the parameters dialog. If a help file is available, it will be shown, giving you more information about the algorithm and detailed descriptions of what each parameter does. Unfortunately, most algorithms lack good documentation, but if you feel like contributing to the project, this would be a good place to start.

Objecto de dados gerados por algoritmos¶

Objectos de dados gerado por um algoritmo podem ser dos seguintes tipos:

• Uma camada raster

• Uma camada vectorial

• Uma tabela

• Um ficheiro HTML (usado para ficheiro de saída de texto e gráficos)

These are all saved to disk, and the parameters table will contain a text box corresponding to each one of these outputs, where you can type the output channel to use for saving it. An output channel contains the information needed to save the resulting object somewhere. In the most usual case, you will save it to a file, but the architecture allows for any other way of storing it. For instance, a vector layer can be stored in a database or even uploaded to a remote server using a WFS-T service. Although solutions like these are not yet implemented, the processing framework is prepared to handle them, and we expect to add new kinds of output channels in a near feature.

To select an output channel, just click on the button on the right side of the text box. That will open a save file dialog, where you can select the desired file path. Supported file extensions are shown in the file format selector of the dialog, depending on the kind of output and the algorithm.

The format of the output is defined by the filename extension. The supported formats depend on what is supported by the algorithm itself. To select a format, just select the corresponding file extension (or add it, if you are directly typing the file path instead). If the extension of the file path you entered does not match any of the supported formats, a default extension (usually .dbf` for tables, .tif for raster layers and .shp for vector layers) will be appended to the file path, and the file format corresponding to that extension will be used to save the layer or table.

If you do not enter any filename, the result will be saved as a temporary file in the corresponding default file format, and it will be deleted once you exit QGIS (take care with that, in case you save your project and it contains temporary layers).

You can set a default folder for output data objects. Go to the configuration dialog (you can open it from the Processing menu), and in the General group, you will find a parameter named Output folder. This output folder is used as the default path in case you type just a filename with no path (i.e., myfile.shp) when executing an algorithm.

When running an algorithm that uses a vector layer in iterative mode, the entered file path is used as the base path for all generated files, which are named using the base name and appending a number representing the index of the iteration. The file extension (and format) is used for all such generated files.

Apart from raster layers and tables, algorithms also generate graphics and text as HTML files. These results are shown at the end of the algorithm execution in a new dialog. This dialog will keep the results produced by any algorithm during the current session, and can be shown at any time by selecting Processing ‣ Results viewer from the QGIS main menu.

Some external applications might have files (with no particular extension restrictions) as output, but they do not belong to any of the categories above. Those output files will not be processed by QGIS (opened or included into the current QGIS project), since most of the time they correspond to file formats or elements not supported by QGIS. This is, for instance, the case with LAS files used for LiDAR data. The files get created, but you won’t see anything new in your QGIS working session.

For all the other types of output, you will find a checkbox that you can use to tell the algorithm whether to load the file once it is generated by the algorithm or not. By default, all files are opened.

Optional outputs are not supported. That is, all outputs are created. However, you can uncheck the corresponding checkbox if you are not interested in a given output, which essentially makes it behave like an optional output (in other words, the layer is created anyway, but if you leave the text box empty, it will be saved to a temporary file and deleted once you exit QGIS).

Configurando a infraestrutura do processamento¶

Como foi mencionado, o menu de configuração dá acesso a um novo diálogo onde pode configurar a forma como o algoritmo trabalha. Os parâmetros de configuração são estruturados em blocos separados que podem ser seleccionados no lado esquerdo do diálogo.

Juntamente com o que já foi mencionada da entrada Pasta de saída, o bloco Geral contem parâmetros para configuração de estilos de renderização padrão para camadas de saída (ou seja, camadas geradas pela utilização de algoritmo de qualquer componente da infraestrutura do GUI). Basta criar um estilo que quer usar no QGIS, guarda-lo num ficheiro, e de seguida introduzir um caminho para o ficheiro nas configurações para que sejam usado pelos algoritmos. Cada vez que a camada for carregada pelo SEXTANTE e adicionada ao enquadramento do QGIS, esta será renderizada com esse estilo.

Os estilos de renderização podem ser configurados individualmente para cada algoritmo e cada um para os seus ficheiros de saída. Apenas clique com o direito do rato no nome do algoritmo na caixa de ferramentas e seleccione Editar estilos de renderização. Irá ver um diálogo como o que é exibido a seguir.

Figure Processing 15:

Estilos de Renderização

Seleccione o ficheiro de estilo (.qml) que quer para cada ficheiro de saída e pressione [OK].

Os outros parâmetros de configuração no grupo Geral estão em baixo referidos:

• Use filename as layer name. The name of each resulting layer created by an algorithm is defined by the algorithm itself. In some cases, a fixed name might be used, meaning that the same output name will be used, no matter which input layer is used. In other cases, the name might depend on the name of the input layer or some of the parameters used to run the algorithm. If this checkbox is checked, the name will be taken from the output filename instead. Notice that, if the output is saved to a temporary file, the filename of this temporary file is usually a long and meaningless one intended to avoid collision with other already existing filenames.
• Use only selected features. If this option is selected, whenever a vector layer is used as input for an algorithm, only its selected features will be used. If the layer has no selected features, all features will be used.
• Pre-execution script file and Post-execution script file. These parameters refer to scripts written using the processing scripting functionality, and are explained in the section covering scripting and the console.

Apart from the General block in the settings dialog, you will also find a block for algorithm providers. Each entry in this block contains an Activate item that you can use to make algorithms appear or not in the toolbox. Also, some algorithm providers have their own configuration items, which we will explain later when covering particular algorithm providers.