class mpcurses.MPcurses

MPcurses.init(…)

Class constuctor

function

callable - The target function to execute.

If you intend to use MPcurses screen capabilities then ensure the function implements logging. In general, to display data to the screen you need to add a log statement for the data item and define a corresponding category for it in the screen_layout. MPcurses will create a log handler that will send all log messages to a thread-safe queue, upon execution it will start a background Process to execute the function, as the messages get emitted and queued, the main process will read messages off of the queue and update the curses screen according to the categories you define in screen_layout.

The target function must accept two arguments; the first argument for process_data and the second argument for shared_data.

This parameter is required.

process_data

list - A list of dictionaries. Each individual dictionary will be passed to the target function for the respective process being executed. Thus the data defined in the dictionary should be intended to the process executing it. This is necessary if you wish to scale the execution of the target function across multiple processes, where each process is responsible for executing the target function on a unique set of data. The total number of elements in the list represent the total number of processes that will be executed.

For example, specifying a value of: [{'name': 'one'}, {'name': 'two'}, {'name': 'three'}]

Will result in the following:

• A total of 3 processes will be executed
• Process #1 will execute the target function with first argument of: {'name': 'one'}
• Process #2 will execute the target function with first argument of: {'name': 'two'}
• Process #3 will execute the target function with first argument of: {'name': 'three'}

If not specified a single process will be executed for the target function specified.

If the function returns an object then the return value will be added to the result key in the respective dictionary. This will happen after all processes complete, for example: [{'name': 'one', 'result': 1}, {'name': 'two', 'result': 2}, {'name': 'three', 'result': 3}]

Default value: [{}]

shared_data

dict - A dictionary of key value pairs that will be passed to the target function for every process being executed. Thus if you have a set of data that all processes should be know then assign that data to this parameter; all processes will receive this data.

Default value: {}

processes_to_start

int - The number of processes to execute simultaneously. If this number is less than the number of elements in the process_data list, then the remaining elements in the list will be queued for execution. As a process completes the next element will be popped from the queue and executed. This number should not be greater than the number of elements in the process_data list.

If no value is specified and process_data is provided, then this number will default to the length of the process_data list

Default value: len(process_data) if process_data is provided

screen_layout

dict - A dictionary describing the layout and elements of the curses screen. Refer to the screen layout directives for the elements that can be configured.

Default value: {}

init_messages

list - A list of strings, each string represents a message that MPcurses will process and update the screen upon execution. MPcurses will automatically add the start time as an init message in the form of %m/%d/%Y %H:%M:%S.

Default value: []

get_process_data

callable - A function to call that will set the value of process_data. This is useful if the value of process_data takes some time to compute. The function must include a docstr describing the purpose of the function. Upon execution, the value of the function’s docstring will be displayed in the curses screen while it is being executed.

The function must accept as a first argument a dictionary, if the function requires arguments, then specify them in shared_data as execution will pass this to the function.

Note that get_process_data and process_data are mutually exclusive and cannot both be set at the same time; setting both will incur a ValueError. If setting this value then you must all set screen_layout.

Default value: None

MPcurses.execute()

Initiate execution of the MPcurses instance.