SASBDB ↔ SasView Integration

[wpotrzebowski]

Use cases

• Assist in depositing results (Anne has datasets to deposit).
• Import models/metadata from SASBDB for fitting.

MVP

• “Prepare for deposit” helper: package metadata, attach fit artifacts, create checklist.
• Search/fetch by accession or metadata → load into SasView (model + I(q), PDB, annotations).

Tasks

• Write tutorials and update documentation
• Map fields (accession, sample, solvent, I(q), model params)
• Implement importer/exporter prototypes

[wpotrzebowski]

• The idea is to start simple and provide as much information as possible from the already existing SASView parameters/metadata. This means that some entries required by SASBDB may be empty but having them as an “legit” SasView entries will help SASBDB curators with their processes of accepting entries.
• Shaple2SAS may not be the best option to represent. A simple shape image will work better, as people tend to regenerate scattering curves from the dummy models, which may lead to an incorrect result.
• Rg, MW will be tricky to provide in some SasView cases
• Illustrating some form factors, polydispersity and structure factors will be tricky and probably only some cases can be covered.
• JSON project files should be provided as additional data
• Instrument information is missing in the majority of cases but NXCanSAS should contain it.
• It will be good to start with a relatively simple case i.e. close to what will be expected from the submission form at SASBDB. Then gradually add more complicated systems

[wpotrzebowski]

For reference: https://github.com/orgs/SasView/discussions/3168

[wpotrzebowski]

Proposal: Integrate “Shape Visualizer” into SasView for Per‑Model PNG Previews

Background

I’ve been playing with a generalized shape visualizer in sasmodels. It uses each model’s existing modelinfo metadata (name, category, parameters, etc.) to pick an appropriate geometry visualizer (sphere, cylinder, core–shell, bicelle, etc.), builds a 3D mesh via matplotlib, and renders:

• A 3D view of the particle geometry (solid or wireframe)
• Optional 2D cross‑section subplots (XY, XZ, YZ) with dimension annotations

A few examples below:

This already works well for a subset of sasmodels, but not all models are geometrically visualizable — for example shape independent modes.

Proposed Feature

Add an optional “Shape preview” / “Generate PNG” button to the SasView model GUI that:

1. Uses the proposed sasmodels visualizer infrastructure to generate:
   • A 3D view (and optionally cross‑sections)
   • A PNG (or SVG/PNG) snapshot
2. Displays the rendered image in the SasView model panel and optionally allows the user to save/export it.

At the sasmodels layer the idea is to introduce:

• New model capability flag, for example:

  # in each model module
  has_shape_visualization = True  # or False if not supported

From the user’s perspective:

• On the Model page in SasView (e.g. when selecting a model in the Fitting perspective), there would be an additional UI element:
  • A “Preview shape” button and possibly a small embedded preview pane.
  • Optionally a “Save PNG…” button next to it.
• When clicked:
  1. SasView queries the current model’s ModelInfo and parameter values (either defaults or current fit values).
  2. It calls into the sasmodels_shape_visualizer
  3. The resulting PNG is displayed in an image widget in SasView (or opened in a separate viewer).
  4. The inage can also be appended to the report