Customising URL Using Custom Adapters in Open Event Front-end

Open-Event Front-end uses Ember data for handling Open Event Orga API which abides by JSON API specs. The API has relationships which represent models in the database, however there are some API endpoints for which the URL is not direct. We make use of custom adapter to build a custom URL for the requests.
In this blog we will see how to Implement relationships which do not have a model in the API server. Lets see how we implemented the admin-statistics-event API using custom adapter?

Creating Order-statistics model
To create a new model we use ember-cli command:

ember g model admin-statistics-event

The generated model:

export default ModelBase.extend({
  draft     : attr('number'),
  published : attr('number'),
  past      : attr('number')
})

The API returns 3 attributes namely draft, published & past which represent the total number of drafted, live and past event in the system. The admin-statistics-event is an admin related model.
Creating custom adapter
To create a new adapter we use ember-cli command:

ember g adapter event-statistics-event

If we try to do a GET request the URL for the request will be ‘v1/admin-statistics-event’ which is an incorrect endpoint. We create a custom adapter to override the buildURL method.

buildURL(modelName, id, snapshot, requestType, query) {
  let url = this._super(modelName, id, snapshot, requestType, query);
  url = url.replace('admin-statistics-event', 'admin/statistics/event');
  return url;
}

We create a new variable url which holds the url generated by the buildURL method of the super adapter. We call the super method using ‘this._super’. We will now replace the ‘admin-statistics-event’ with ‘admin/statistics/event’ in url variable. We return the new url variable. This results in generation of correct URL for the request.
Thank you for reading the blog, you can check the source code for the example here.
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Preparing for Automatic Publishing of Android Apps in Play Store

I spent this week searching through libraries and services which provide a way to publish built apks directly through API so that the repositories for Android apps can trigger publishing automatically after each push on master branch. The projects to be auto-deployed are:

I had eyes on fastlane for a couple of months and it came out to be the best solution for the task. The tool not only allows publishing of APK files, but also Play Store listings, screenshots, and changelogs. And that is only a subset of its capabilities bundled in a subservice supply.

There is a process before getting started to use this service, which I will go through step by step in this blog. The process is also outlined in the README of the supply project.

Enabling API Access

The first step in the process is to enable API access in your Play Store Developer account if you haven’t done so. For that, you have to open the Play Dev Console and go to Settings > Developer Account > API access.

If this is the first time you are opening it, you’ll be presented with a confirmation dialog detailing about the ramifications of the action and if you agree to do so. Read carefully about the terms and click accept if you agree with them. Once you do, you’ll be presented with a setting panel like this:

Creating Service Account

As you can see there is no registered service account here and we need to create one. So, click on CREATE SERVICE ACCOUNT button and this dialog will pop up giving you the instructions on how to do so:

So, open the highlighted link in the new tab and Google API Console will open up, which will look something like this:

Click on Create Service Account and fill in these details:

Account Name: Any name you want

Role: Project > Service Account Actor

And then, select Furnish a new private key and select JSON. Click CREATE.

A new JSON key will be created and downloaded on your device. Keep this secret as anyone with access to it can at least change play store listings of your apps if not upload new apps in place of existing ones (as they are protected by signing keys).

Granting Access

Now return to the Play Console tab (we were there in Figure 2 at the start of Creating Service Account), and click done as you have created the Service Account now. And you should see the created service account listed like this:

Now click on grant access, choose Release Manager from Role dropdown, and select these PERMISSIONS:

Of course you don’t want the fastlane API to access financial data or manage orders. Other than that it is up to you on what to allow or disallow. Same choice with expiry date as we have left it to never expire. Click on ADD USER and you’ll see the Release Manager created in the user list like below:

Now you are ready to use the fastlane service, or any other release management service for that matter.

Using fastlane

Install fastlane by

sudo gem install fastlane

Go to your project folder and run

fastlane supply init

First it will ask the location of the private key JSON file you downloaded, and then the package name of the application you are trying to initialize fastlane for.

Then it will create metadata folder with listing information excluding the images. So you’ll have to download and place the images manually for the first time

After modifying the listing, images or APK, run the command:

fastlane supply run

That’s it. Your app along with the store listing has been updated!

This is a very brief introduction to the capabilities of the supply service. All interactive options can be supplied via command line arguments, certain parts of the metadata can be omitted and alpha beta management along with release rollout can be done in steps! Make sure to check out the links below:

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Implementing Advanced Search Feature In Susper

Susper has been provided ‘Advanced Search’ feature which provides the user a great experience to search for desired results. Advanced search has been implemented in such a way it shows top authors, top providers, and distribution regarding protocols. Users can choose any of these options to get best results.

We receive data of each facet name from Yacy using yacy search endpoint. More about yacy search endpoint can be found here:  http://yacy.searchlab.eu/solr/select?query=india&fl=last_modified&start=0&rows=15&facet=true&facet.mincount=1&facet.field=host_s&facet.field=url_protocol_s&facet.field=author_sxt&facet.field=collection_sxt&wt=yjson

For implementing this feature, we created Actions and Reducers using concepts of Redux. The implemented actions can be found here: https://github.com/fossasia/susper.com/blob/master/src/app/actions/search.ts

Actions have been implemented because these actually represent some kind of event. For e.g. like the beginning of an API call here.

We also have created an interface for search action which can be found here under reducers as filename index.ts: https://github.com/fossasia/susper.com/blob/master/src/app/reducers/index.ts

Reducers are a pure type of function that takes the previous state and an action and returns the next state. We have used Redux to implement actions and reducers for the advanced search.

For advanced search, the reducer file can be found here: https://github.com/fossasia/susper.com/blob/master/src/app/reducers/search.ts

The main logic has been implemented under advancedsearch.component.ts:

export class AdvancedsearchComponent implements OnInit {
  querylook = {}; // array of urls
  navigation$: Observable<any>;
  selectedelements: Array<any> = []; // selected urls by user
changeurl
(modifier, element) {
// based on query urls are fetched
// if an url is selected by user, it is decoded
  this.querylook[‘query’] = this.querylook[‘query’] + ‘+’ + decodeURIComponent(modifier);
  this.selectedelements.push(element);
// according to selected urls
// results are loaded from yacy
  this.route.navigate([‘/search’], {queryParams: this.querylook});
}

// same method is implemented for removing an url
removeurl(modifier) {
  this.querylook[‘query’] = this.querylook[‘query’].replace(‘+’ + decodeURIComponent(modifier), );

  this.route.navigate([‘/search’], {queryParams: this.querylook});
}

 

The changeurl() function replaces the query with a query and selected URL and searches for the results only from the URL provider. The removeurl() function removes URL from the query and works as a normal search, searching for the results from all providers.

The source code for the implementation of advanced search feature can be found here: https://github.com/fossasia/susper.com/tree/master/src/app/advancedsearch

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Using Firebase Test Lab for Testing test cases of Phimpme Android

As now we started writing some test cases for Phimpme Android. While running my instrumentation test case, I saw a tab of Cloud Testing in Android Studio. This is for Firebase Test Lab. Firebase Test Lab provides cloud-based infrastructure for testing Android apps. Everyone doesn’t have every devices of all the android versions. But testing on all of them is equally important.

How I used test lab in Phimpme

  • Run your first test on Firebase

Select Test Lab in your project on the left nav on the Firebase console, and then click Run a Robo test. The Robo test automatically explores your app on wide array of devices to find defects and report any crashes that occur. It doesn’t require you to write test cases. All you need is the app’s APK. Nothing else is needed to use Robo test.

Upload your Application’s APK (app-debug-unaligned.apk) in the next screen and click Continue

Configure the device selection, a wide range of devices and all API levels are present there. You can save the template for future use.

Click on start test to start testing. It will start the tests and show the real time progress as well.

  • Using Firebase Test Lab from Android Studio

It required Android Studio 2.0+. You needs to edit the configuration of Android Instrumentation test.

Select the Firebase Test Lab Device Matrix under the Target. You can configure Matrix, matrix is actually on what virtual and physical devices do you want to run your test. See the below screenshot for details.

Note: You need to enable the firebase in your project

So using test lab on firebase we can easily test the test cases on multiple devices and make our app more scalable.

Resources:

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Generating Map Action Responses in SUSI AI

SUSI AI responds to location related user queries with a Map action response. The different types of responses are referred to as actions which tell the client how to render the answer. One such action type is the Map action type. The map action contains latitude, longitude and zoom values telling the client to correspondingly render a map with the given location.

Let us visit SUSI Web Chat and try it out.

Query: Where is London

Response: (API Response)

The API Response actions contain text describing the specified location, an anchor with text ‘Here is a map` linked to openstreetmaps and a map with the location coordinates.

Let us look at how this is implemented on server.

For location related queries, the key where is used as an identifier. Once the query is matched with this key, a regular expression `where is (?:(?:a )*)(.*)` is used to parse the location name.

"keys"   : ["where"],
"phrases": [
  {"type":"regex", "expression":"where is (?:(?:a )*)(.*)"},
]

The parsed location name is stored in $1$ and is used to make API calls to fetch information about the place and its location. Console process is used to fetch required data from an API.

"process": [
  {
    "type":"console",
    "expression":"SELECT location[0] AS lon, location[1] AS lat FROM locations WHERE query='$1$';"},
  {
    "type":"console",
    "expression":"SELECT object AS locationInfo FROM location-info WHERE query='$1$';"}
],

Here, we need to make two API calls :

  • For getting information about the place
  • For getting the location coordinates

First let us look at how a Console Process works. In a console process we provide the URL needed to fetch data from, the query parameter needed to be passed to the URL and the path to look for the answer in the API response.

  • url = <url>   – the url to the remote json service which will be used to retrieve information. It must contain a $query$ string.
  • test = <parameter> – the parameter that will replace the $query$ string inside the given url. It is required to test the service.

For getting the information about the place, we used Wikipedia API. We name this console process as location-info and added the required attributes to run it and fetch data from the API.

"location-info": {
  "example":"http://127.0.0.1:4000/susi/console.json?q=%22SELECT%20*%20FROM%20location-info%20WHERE%20query=%27london%27;%22",
  "url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php?action=opensearch&limit=1&format=json&search=",
  "test":"london",
  "parser":"json",
  "path":"$.[2]",
  "license":"Copyright by Wikipedia, https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Terms_of_Use/en"
}

The attributes used are :

  • url : The Media WIKI API endpoint
  • test : The Location name which will be appended to the url before making the API call.
  • parser : Specifies the response type for parsing the answer
  • path : Points to the location in the response where the required answer is present

The API endpoint called is of the following format :

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php?action=opensearch&limit=1&format=json&search=LOCATION_NAME

For the query where is london, the API call made returns

[
  "london",
  ["London"],
  ["London  is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom."],
  ["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London"]
]

The path $.[2] points to the third element of the array i.e “London  is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom.” which is stored in $locationInfo$.

Similarly to get the location coordinates, another API call is made to loklak API.

"locations": {
  "example":"http://127.0.0.1:4000/susi/console.json?q=%22SELECT%20*%20FROM%20locations%20WHERE%20query=%27rome%27;%22",
  "url":"http://api.loklak.org/api/console.json?q=SELECT%20*%20FROM%20locations%20WHERE%20location='$query$';",
  "test":"rome",
  "parser":"json",
  "path":"$.data",
  "license":"Copyright by GeoNames"
},

The location coordinates are found in $.data.location in the API response. The location coordinates are stored as latitude and longitude in $lat$ and $lon$ respectively.

Finally we have description about the location and its coordinates, so we create the actions to be put in the server response.

The first action is of type answer and the text to be displayed is given by $locationInfo$ where the data from wikipedia API response is stored.

{
  "type":"answer",
  "select":"random",
  "phrases":["$locationInfo$"]
},

The second action is of type anchor. The text to be displayed is `Here is a map` and it must be hyperlinked to openstreetmaps with the obtained $lat$ and $lon$.

{
  "type":"anchor",
  "link":"https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=13/$lat$/$lon$",
  "text":"Here is a map"
},

The last action is of type map which is populated for latitude and longitude using $lat$ and $lon$ respectively and the zoom value is specified to be 13.

{
  "type":"map",
  "latitude":"$lat$",
  "longitude":"$lon$",
  "zoom":"13"
}

Final output from the server will now contain the three actions with the required data obtained from the respective API calls made. For the sample query `where is london` , the actions will look like :

"actions": [
  {
    "type": "answer",
    "language": "en",
    "expression": "London  is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom."
  },
  {
    "type": "anchor",
    "link":   "https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=13/51.51279067225417/-0.09184009399817228",
    "text": "Here is a map",
    "language": "en"
  },
  {
    "type": "map",
    "latitude": "51.51279067225417",
    "longitude": "-0.09184009399817228",
    "zoom": "13",
    "language": "en"
  }
],

This is how the map action responses are generated for location related queries. The complete code can be found at SUSI AI Server Repository.

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Create Event by Importing JSON files in Open Event Server

Apart from the usual way of creating an event in  FOSSASIA’s Orga Server project by using POST requests in Events API, another way of creating events is importing a zip file which is an archive of multiple JSON files. This way you can create a large event like FOSSASIA with lots of data related to sessions, speakers, microlocations, sponsors just by uploading JSON files to the system. Sample JSON file can be found in the open-event project of FOSSASIA. The basic workflow of importing an event and how it works is as follows:

  • First step is similar to uploading files to the server. We need to send a POST request with a multipart form data with the zipped archive containing the JSON files.
  • The POST request starts a celery task to start importing data from JSON files and storing them in the database.
  • The celery task URL is returned as a response to the POST request. You can use this celery task for polling purposes to get the status. If the status is FAILURE, we get the error text along with it. If status is SUCCESS we get the resulting event data
  • In the celery task, each JSON file is read separately and the data is stored in the db with the proper relations.
  • Sending a GET request to the above mentioned celery task, after the task has been completed returns the event id along with the event URL.

Let’s see how each of these points work in the background.

Uploading ZIP containing JSON Files

For uploading a zip archive instead of sending a JSON data in the POST request we send a multipart form data. The multipart/form-data format of sending data allows an entire file to be sent as a data in the POST request along with the relevant file informations. One can know about various form content types here .

An example cURL request looks something like this:

curl -H "Authorization: JWT <access token>" -X POST -F 'file=@event1.zip' http://localhost:5000/v1/events/import/json

The above cURL request uploads a file event1.zip from your current directory with the key as ‘file’ to the endpoint /v1/events/import/json. The user uploading the feels needs to have a JWT authentication key or in other words be logged in to the system as it is necessary to create an event.

@import_routes.route('/events/import/<string:source_type>', methods=['POST'])
@jwt_required()
def import_event(source_type):
    if source_type == 'json':
        file_path = get_file_from_request(['zip'])
    else:
        file_path = None
        abort(404)
    from helpers.tasks import import_event_task
    task = import_event_task.delay(email=current_identity.email, file=file_path,
                                   source_type=source_type, creator_id=current_identity.id)
    # create import job
    create_import_job(task.id)

    # if testing
    if current_app.config.get('CELERY_ALWAYS_EAGER'):
        TASK_RESULTS[task.id] = {
            'result': task.get(),
            'state': task.state
        }
    return jsonify(
        task_url=url_for('tasks.celery_task', task_id=task.id)
    )


After the request is received we check if a file exists in the key ‘file’ of the form-data. If it is there, we save the file and get the path to the saved file. Then we send this path over to the celery task and run the task with the
.delay() function of celery. After the celery task is started, the corresponding data about the import job is stored in the database for future debugging and logging purposes. After this we return the task url for the celery task that we started.

Celery Task to Import Data

Just like exporting of event, importing is also a time consuming task and we don’t want other application requests to be paused because of this task. Hence, we use a celery queue to execute this task. Whenever an import task is started, it is added to the celery queue. When it comes to the front of the queue it is executed.

For importing, we have created a celery task, import.event which calls the import_event_task_base() function that uses the import helper functions to get the data from JSON files imported and saved in the DB. After the task is completed, we update the import job data in the table with the status as either SUCCESS or FAILURE depending on the outcome of the celery task.

As a result of the celery task, the newly created event’s id and the frontend link from where we can visit the url is returned. This along with the status of the celery task is returned as the response for a GET request on the celery task. If the celery task fails, then the state is changed to FAILURE and the error which the celery faced is returned as the error message in the result key. We also print an error traceback in the celery worker.

@celery.task(base=RequestContextTask, name='import.event', bind=True, throws=(BaseError,))
def import_event_task(self, file, source_type, creator_id):
    """Import Event Task"""
    task_id = self.request.id.__str__()  # str(async result)
    try:
        result = import_event_task_base(self, file, source_type, creator_id)
        update_import_job(task_id, result['id'], 'SUCCESS')
        # return item
    except BaseError as e:
        print(traceback.format_exc())
        update_import_job(task_id, e.message, e.status if hasattr(e, 'status') else 'failure')
        result = {'__error': True, 'result': e.to_dict()}
    except Exception as e:
        print(traceback.format_exc())
        update_import_job(task_id, e.message, e.status if hasattr(e, 'status') else 'failure')
        result = {'__error': True, 'result': ServerError().to_dict()}
    # send email
    send_import_mail(task_id, result)
    # return result
    return result

 

Save Data from JSON

In import helpers, we have the functions which perform the main task of reading the JSON files, creating sqlalchemy model objects from them and saving them in the database. There are few global dictionaries which help maintain the order in which the files are to be imported and saved and also the file vs model mapping. The first JSON file to be imported is the event JSON file. Since all the other tables to be imported are related to the event table so first we read the event JSON file. After that the order in which the files are read is as follows:

  1. SocialLink
  2. CustomForms
  3. Microlocation
  4. Sponsor
  5. Speaker
  6. Track
  7. SessionType
  8. Session

This order helps maintain the foreign constraints. For importing data from these files we use the function create_service_from_json(). It sorts the elements in the data list  based on the key “id”. It then loops over all the elements or dictionaries contained in the data list. In each iteration delete the unnecessary key-value pairs from the dictionary. Then set the event_id for that element to the id of the newly created event from import instead of the old id present in the data.  After all this is done, create a model object based on the mapping with the filename with the dict data. Then save that model data into the database.

def create_service_from_json(task_handle, data, srv, event_id, service_ids=None):
    """
    Given :data as json, create the service on server
    :service_ids are the mapping of ids of already created services.
        Used for mapping old ids to new
    """
    if service_ids is None:
        service_ids = {}
    global CUR_ID
    # sort by id
    data.sort(key=lambda k: k['id'])
    ids = {}
    ct = 0
    total = len(data)
    # start creating
    for obj in data:
        # update status
        ct += 1
        update_state(task_handle, 'Importing %s (%d/%d)' % (srv[0], ct, total))
        # trim id field
        old_id, obj = _trim_id(obj)
        CUR_ID = old_id
        # delete not needed fields
        obj = _delete_fields(srv, obj)
        # related
        obj = _fix_related_fields(srv, obj, service_ids)
        obj['event_id'] = event_id
        # create object
        new_obj = srv[1](**obj)
        db.session.add(new_obj)
        db.session.commit()
        ids[old_id] = new_obj.id
        # add uploads to queue
        _upload_media_queue(srv, new_obj)

    return ids


After the data has been saved, the next thing to do is upload all the media files to the server. This we do using the
_upload_media_queue()  function. It takes paths to upload the files to from the storage.py helper file for APIs. Then it uploads the files using the various helper functions to the static data storage services like AWS S3, Google storage, etc.

Other than this, the import helpers also contains the function to create an import job that keeps a record of all the imports along with the task url and the user id of the user who started the importing task. It also stores the status of the task. Then there is the get_file_from_request()  function which saves the file that is uploaded through the POST request and returns the path to that file.

Get Response about Event Imported

The POST request returns a task url of the form /v1/tasks/ebe07632-392b-4ae9-8501-87ac27258ce5. To get the final result, you need to keep polling this URL. To know more about polling read my previous blog about exporting event or visit this link. So when the task is completed you would get a “result” key along with the status. The state can either be SUCCESS or FAILURE. If it is a FAILURE you will get a corresponding error message due to which the celery task failed. If it is a success then you get data related to the corresponding event that was created because of import. The data returned are the event id, event name and the event url which you can use to visit the event from the frontend. This data is also sent to the user as an email and notification.

An example response looks something like this:

{ 
    “result”: {
“event_name” : “FOSSASIA 2016”,
     “id” : “24”,
     “url” : “https://eventyay.com/events/ab3de6
},
    “state” : “SUCCESS”
}

The corresponding event name and the url is also sent to the user who started the import task. From the frontend, one can use the object value of the result to show the name of the event that is imported along with providing the event url. Since the id and identifier are both present in the result returned one can also make use of them to send GET, PATCH and other API requests to the events/ endpoint and get the corresponding relationship urls from it to query the other APIs. Thus, the entire data that is imported gets available to the frontend as well.

 

Reference Links:

 

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Image Loading in Open Event Organizer Android App using Glide

Open Event Organizer is an Android App for the Event Organizers and Entry Managers. Open Event API Server acts as a backend for this App. The core feature of the App is to scan a QR code from the ticket to validate an attendee’s check in. Other features of the App are to display an overview of sales and ticket management. As per the functionality, the performance of the App is very important. The App should be functional even on a weak network. Talking about the performance, the image loading part in the app should be handled efficiently as it is not an essential part of the functionality of the App. Open Event Organizer uses Glide, a fast and efficient image loading library created by Sam Judd. I will be talking about its implementation in the App in this blog.

First part is the configuration of the glide in the App. The library provides a very easy way to do that. Your app needs to implement a class named AppGlideModule using annotations provided by the library and it generates a glide API which can be used in the app for all the image loading stuff. The AppGlideModule implementation in the Orga App looks like:

@GlideModule
public final class GlideAPI extends AppGlideModule {

   @Override
   public void registerComponents(Context context, Glide glide, Registry registry) {
       registry.replace(GlideUrl.class, InputStream.class, new OkHttpUrlLoader.Factory());
   }

   // TODO: Modify the options here according to the need
   @Override
   public void applyOptions(Context context, GlideBuilder builder) {
       int diskCacheSizeBytes = 1024 * 1024 * 10; // 10mb
       builder.setDiskCache(new InternalCacheDiskCacheFactory(context, diskCacheSizeBytes));
   }

   @Override
   public boolean isManifestParsingEnabled() {
       return false;
   }
}

 

This generates the API named GlideApp by default in the same package which can be used in the whole app. Just make sure to add the annotation @GlideModule to this implementation which is used to find this class in the app. The second part is using the generated API GlideApp in the app to load images using URLs. Orga App uses data binding for layouts. So all the image loading related code is placed at a single place in DataBinding class which is used by the layouts. The class has a method named setGlideImage which takes an image view, an image URL, a placeholder drawable and a transformation. The relevant code is:

private static void setGlideImage(ImageView imageView, String url, Drawable drawable, Transformation<Bitmap> transformation) {
       if (TextUtils.isEmpty(url)) {
           if (drawable != null)
               imageView.setImageDrawable(drawable);
           return;
       }
       GlideRequest<Drawable> request = GlideApp
           .with(imageView.getContext())
           .load(Uri.parse(url));

       if (drawable != null) {
           request
               .placeholder(drawable)
               .error(drawable);
       }
       request
           .centerCrop()
           .transition(withCrossFade())
           .transform(transformation == null ? new CenterCrop() : transformation)
           .into(imageView);
   }

 

The method is very clear. First, the URL is checked for nullability. If null, the drawable is set to the imageview and method returns. Usage of GlideApp is simpler. Pass the URL to the GlideApp using the method with which returns a GlideRequest which has operators to set other required options like transitions, transformations, placeholder etc. Lastly, pass the imageview using into operator. By default, Glide uses HttpURLConnection provided by android to load the image which can be changed to use Okhttp using the extension provided by the library. This is set in the AppGlideModule implementation in the registerComponents method.

Links:
1. Documentation for Glide, an Image Loading Library
2. Documentation for Okhttp, an HTTP client for Android and Java Applications

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Fascinating Experiments with PSLab

PSLab can be extensively used in a variety of experiments ranging from the traditional electrical and electronics experiments to a number of innovative experiments. The PSLab desktop app and the Android app have all the essential features that are needed to perform the experiments. In addition to that there is a large collection of built-in experiments in both these experiments.

This blog is an extension to the blog post mentioned here. This blog lists some of the basic electrical and electronics experiments which are based on the same principles which are mentioned in the previous blog. In addition to that, some interesting and innovative experiments where PSLab can be used are also listed here. The experiments mentioned here require some prerequisite knowledge of electronic elements and basic circuit building. (The links mentioned at the end of the blog will be helpful in this case)

Op-Amp as an Inverting and a Non-Inverting Amplifier

There are two methods of doing this experiment. PSLab already has a built-in experiment dedicated to inverting and non-inverting amplification of op-amps. In the Android App, just navigate to Saved Experiments -> Electronics Experiments -> Op-Amp Circuits -> Inverting/ Non-Inverting. In case of the Desktop app, select Electronics Experiments from the main drop-down at the top of the window and select the Inverting/Non-inverting op-amp experiment.

This experiment can also performed using the basic features of PSLab. The only advantage of this methodology is that it allows much more tweaking of values to observe the Op-Amp behaviour in greater detail. However, the built-in experiment is good enough for most of the cases.

  • Construct the above circuits on a breadboard.
  • For the amplifier, connect the terminals of CH1 and GND of PSLab on the input side i.e. next to Vi and the terminals of CH2 and GND on the output side i.e next to Vo.
  • Usually, an Op-Amp like LM741 have a set of pins, one dedicated for the inverting input and the other dedicated for the non-inverting input. It is recommended to consult the datasheet of the Op-Amp IC used in order to get the pin number with which the input has to be connected.
  • The terminals of W1 and GND are also connected on the input side and they are used to generate a sine wave.
  • The resistors displayed in the figure have the values R1 = 10k and R2 = 51k. Resistance values other than these can also be considered. The gain of the op-amp would depend on the ratio of R2/R1, so it is better to consider values of R2 which are significantly larger than R1 in order to see the gain properly.
  • Use the PSLab Desktop App and open the Waveform Generator in Control. Set the wave type of W1 to Sine and set the frequency at 1 kHz and magnitude to 0.1 V. Then go ahead and open the Oscilloscope.
  • CH1 would display the input waveform and CH2 will display the output waveform and the plots can be observed.
  • If the input is connected to the inverting pin of the op-amp, the output obtained will be amplified and will have a phase difference of 90o with the input waveform whereas when the non-inverting pin is selected, the output is just amplified and no such phase difference is observed.
  • Note: Take proper care while connecting the V+ and V- pins of the op-amp, else the op-amp will be damaged.

Diode as an Integrator and Differentiator

An integrator in measurement and control applications is an element whose output signal is the time integral of its input signal. It accumulates the input quantity over a defined time to produce a representative output.

Integration is an important part of many engineering and scientific applications. Mechanical integrators are the oldest application, and are still used in such as metering of water flow or electric power. Electronic analogue integrators are the basis of analog computers and charge amplifiers. Integration is also performed by digital computing algorithms.

In electronics, a differentiator is a circuit that is designed such that the output of the circuit is approximately directly proportional to the rate of change (the time derivative) of the input. An active differentiator includes some form of amplifier. A passive differentiator circuit is made of only resistors and capacitors.

  • Construct the above circuits on a breadboard.
  • For both the circuits, connect the terminals of CH1 and GND of PSLab on the input side i.e. next to input voltage source and the terminals of CH2 and GND on the output side i.e next to Vo.
  • Ensure that the inverting and the non-inverting terminals of the op-amp are connected correctly. Check for the +/- signs in the diagram. ‘+’ corresponds to non-inverting and ‘-’ corresponds to inverting.
  • The terminals of W1 and GND are also connected on the input side and they are used to generate a sine wave.
  • The resistors displayed in the figure have the values R1 = 10k and R2 = 51k. Resistance values other than these can also be considered. The gain of the op-amp would depend on the ratio of R2/R1, so it is better to consider values of R2 which are significantly larger than R1 in order to see the gain properly.
  • Use the PSLab Desktop App and open the Waveform Generator in Control. Set the wave type of W1 to Sine and set the frequency at 1 kHz and magnitude to 5V (10V peak to peak). Then go ahead and open the Oscilloscope.
  • CH1 would display the input waveform and CH2 will display the output waveform and the plots can be observed.
  • If all the connections are made properly and the values of the parameters are set properly, then the waveform obtained should be as shown below.

Performing experiments involving ICs (Digital circuits)

The experiments mentioned so far including the ones mentioned in the previous blog post involved analog circuits and so they required features like the arbitrary waveform generator. However, digital circuits work using discrete values only. PSLab has the features needed to perform digital experiments which mainly involve the use of a square wave generator with a variable duty cycle.

PSLab board has dedicated pins named SQR1, SQR2, SQR3 and SQR4. The options for configuring these pins is present under the Advanced Control section in the Desktop app and in the Android app Applications->Control->Advanced. The options include selecting the pins which we want to use for digital outputs and then configuring the frequency and duty cycle of the square wave generated from that particular pin.

Innovative Experiments using PSLab

PSLab has quite a good number of interesting built-in experiments. These experiments can be found in the dropdown list at the top in the Desktop App and under the Saved Experiments header in the Android App. The built-in experiments come bundled with good quality documentation having circuit diagrams and detailed procedure to perform the experiments.

Some of the interesting experiments include:

  • Lemon Cell Experiment: In this experiment, the internal resistance and the voltage supplied by the lemon cell are measured.

 

  • Sound Beats: In acoustics, a beat is an interference pattern between two sounds of slightly different frequencies, perceived as a periodic variation in volume whose rate is the difference of the two frequencies.

 

  • When tuning instruments that can produce sustained tones, beats can readily be recognized. Tuning two tones to a unison will present a peculiar effect: when the two tones are close in pitch but not identical, the difference in frequency generates the beating.
  • This experiment requires producing two waves together of different frequencies and connecting them to the same oscilloscope channel. The pattern observed is shown below.

References:

  1. The previous blog on experiments using PSLab – https://blog.fossasia.org/electronics-experiments-with-pslab/
  2. More about op-amps and their characteristics – http://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/opamp/opamp_1.html
  3. Read more about differential and integrator circuits – https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/textbook/semiconductors/chpt-8/differentiator-integrator-circuits/
  4. Experiments involving digital circuits for reference – http://web.iitd.ac.in/~shouri/eep201/experiments.php
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Adding Push Wake Button to SUSI on Raspberry PI

SUSI Linux for Raspberry Pi provides the ability to call SUSI with the help of a Hotword ‘Susi’. Calling via Hotword is a natural way of interaction but it is even handier to invoke SUSI listening mode with the help of a Push button. It enables to call SUSI in a noisy environment where detection of Hotword is not that accurate.

To enable Push Wake button is Susi, we need access to Hardware Pins. Devices like Raspberry PI provides GPIO (General Purpose Input Output) Pins for interacting with Hardware Devices.

In this tutorial, we are adding support for Push Wake Button in Raspberry PI, though similar procedure can be extended to add Wake Button to Orange Pi, Beaglebone Black, and other devices. For adding push wake button, we require:

We now need to do wiring to connect button to Raspberry Pi. The button can be connected to Raspberry Pi following the connection diagram. 

After this, we need to install the Raspberry Pi GPIO Python Library. Install it using:

$ pip3 install RPi.GPIO

Now, we may detect the press of the button in our code. We declare an abstract class for implementing Wake Button. In this way, we can later extend our code to include Wake Buttons for more platforms.

import os
from abc import ABC, abstractclassmethod
from queue import Queue
from threading import Thread

from utils.susi_config import config


class WakeButton(ABC, Thread):
   def __init__(self, detection_callback, callback_queue: Queue):
       super().__init__()
       self.detection_callback = detection_callback
       self.callback_queue = callback_queue
       self.is_active = False

   @abstractclassmethod
   def run(self):
       pass

   def on_detected(self):
       if self.is_active:
           self.callback_queue.put(self.detection_callback)
           os.system('play {0} &'.format(config['detection_bell_sound']))
           self.is_active = False

We defined WakeButton class as a Thread. This is done to ensure that listening to Wake Buttons is done in background thread and it does not disturb the main thread. The callback to be executed on main thread after button press is detected is added to callback queue. Main Thread listens on the callback queue and executes any pending functions from other threads.

We also play an Audio File additionally on detection of a button press to confirm the activation of detection to the user.

Now, we define Raspberry Pi Wake Button class. This class extends from abstract WakeButton declared above.

from queue import Queue

import RPi.GPIO as GPIO
import time
from .wake_button import WakeButton


class RaspberryPiWakeButton(WakeButton):
   def __init__(self, detection_callback, callback_queue: Queue):
       super().__init__(detection_callback, callback_queue)
       GPIO.setmode(GPIO.BCM)
       GPIO.setup(18, GPIO.IN, pull_up_down=GPIO.PUD_UP)

   def run(self):
       while True:
           input_state = GPIO.input(18)
           if not input_state:
               self.on_detected()
               self.is_active = False
               time.sleep(0.2)

This class defines the Wake Button for Raspberry Pi. We continuously poll for the input value of GPIO Pin number 18 on which button is connected. If value is negative, it indicated that button was pressed.

Now, we need to add an option if configuration script to give users a choice to enable or disable wake button. We first need to check, if device is Raspberry Pi, since feature is available on Raspberry PI only. To do this, we try to import RPi.GPIO module. If module loading fails, it indicates that device does not support Raspberry Pi GPIO modes. We set the configuration parameters according to it.

def setup_wake_button():
   try:
       import RPi.GPIO
       print("Device supports RPi.GPIO")
       choice = input("Do you wish to enable hardware wake button? (y/n)")
       if choice == 'y':
           config['WakeButton'] = 'enabled'
           config['Device'] = 'RaspberryPi'
       else:
           config['WakeButton'] = 'disabled'
   except ImportError:
       print("This device does not support RPi.GPIO")
       config['WakeButton'] = 'not available'

Now, we simply use the Raspberry Pi wake button detector in our code.

if config['wake_button'] == 'enabled':
   if config['device'] == 'RaspberryPi':
       from hardware_components import RaspberryPiWakeButton

       wake_button = RaspberryPiWakeButton(callback_queue=callback_queue, detection_callback=start_speech_recognition)
       wake_button.start()

Now, when you need to invoke SUSI Listening Mode, instead of saying ‘SUSI’ as Hotword, you may also press the push button. Ask your query after hearing a small bell and get instant reply from SUSI.

Resources:

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Getting skills by an author in SUSI.AI Skill CMS

The skill description page of any skill in SUSI.AI skill cms displays all the details regarding the skill. It displays image, description, examples and name of author. The skill made by author can impress the users and they might want to know more skills made by that particular author.

We decided to display all the skills by an author. We needed an endpoint from server to get skills by author. This cannot be done on client side as that would result in multiple ajax calls to server for each skill of user. The endpoint used is :

"http://api.susi.ai/cms/getSkillsByAuthor.json?author=" + author

Here the author is the name of the author who published the particular skill. We make an ajax call to the server with the endpoint mentioned above and this is done when the user clicks the author. The ajax call response is as follows(example) :

{
 0:       "/home/susi/susi_skill_data/models/general/Entertainment/en/creator_info.txt",
 1: "/home/susi/susi_skill_data/models/general/Entertainment/en/flip_coin.txt",
 2: "/home/susi/susi_skill_data/models/general/Assistants/en/websearch.txt",
session: {
identity: {
type: "host",
name: "139.5.254.154",
anonymous: true
  }
 }
}

The response contains the list of skills made by author. We parse this response to get the required information. We decided to display a table containing name, category and language of the skill. We used map function on object keys to parse information from every key present in JSON response. Every value corresponding to a key represents a response of following type:

"/home/susi/susi_skill_data/models/general/Category/language/name.txt"

Explanation:

  • Category: There are currently six categories Assistants, Entertainment, Knowledge, Problem Solving, Shopping and Small Talks. Each skill falls under a different category.
  • language: This represents the ISO language code of the language in which skill is written.
  • name: This is the name of the skill.

We want these attributes from the string so we have used the split function:

let parse = data[skill].split('/');

data is JSON response and skill is the key corresponding to which we are parsing information. We store the array returned by split function in variable parse. Now we return the following table in map function:

return (
            <TableRow>
               <TableRowColumn>
                   <div>
                      <Img
                         style={imageStyle}
                         src={[
                              image1,
                              image2
                         ]}
                         unloader={<CircleImage name={name} size="40"/>}
                       />
                       {name}
                    </div>
                </TableRowColumn>
                <TableRowColumn>{parse[6]}</TableRowColumn>
                <TableRowColumn>{isoConv(parse[7])}</TableRowColumn>
             </TableRow>
          )

Here :

    • name: The name of skill converted into Title case by the following code :
let name = parse[8].split('.')[0];
name = name.charAt(0).toUpperCase() + name.slice(1);
  • parse[6]: This represents the category of the skill.
  • isoConv(parse[7]): parse[7] is the ISO code of the language of skill and isoConv is an npm package used to get full form of the language from ISO code.
  • CircleImage: This is a fallback option in case image at the URL is not found. This takes first two words from the name and makes a circular component.

After successful execution of the code, we have the following looking table:

Resources:

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