Small desktop widget built in Python using PySimpleGUI to make it easier for desk staff to track simple questions
This widget comes in two flavors: Original (appends data to a monthly .csv file) and LibInsight (sends data to Springshare's LibInsight API to go right into a dataset of your choosing).
Both versions share a front-end interface built using PySimpleGUI (https://www.pysimplegui.org/en/latest/). The widget is designed to be kept on top of all other windows (keep_on_top = True) and the standard title bar is not displayed (no_titlebar = True). It's designed to make it hard to ignore while also being mostly unobtrusive. To close the widget, right-clicking on the window will bring up a menu with the Exit command.
Each of the buttons is labeled for a different category of question, and the resulting data (either in CSV or what's pushed to LibInsight) contains the category as well as any additional entered information.
Much more cumbersome than the LibInsight version, but simpler to get working (because you don't need to have or configure LibInsight).
- This version creates a monthly .csv file and writes to it over the month.
- It will always check for the prescense of a file in the current directory with correct name format including the month.
- If it doesn't find one that matches (like at the start of a new month) it will create a new one.
- You can then do whatever you want with the resulting .csv files.
This version takes the input and sends it to a specified LibInsight Dataset. Springshare has detailed instructions on how to set up a token and work with their API here: https://ask.springshare.com/libinsight/faq/2100
There is a placeholder in the code (line 31) to enter the POST URL, which should look something like: https://YOURDOMAIN.libinsight.com/add.php?wid=#&type=#&token=API_TOKEN_STRING
- You must have a corresponding dataset for the data to go to (when you set up the API access you will associate it with that dataset)
- To view what the fields are listed as in the system go to:
- "Widgets and APIs"
- Find the API you set up for this
- Click on the ... icon at the end of the row
- Select "View Code" to see the sample data and JSON schema
- Your field names in the JSON data MUST MATCH the sample data described above. In the posted code they're listed as "field_4", "field_5", and "field_7" but yours may differ.
- It does seem that Springshare updated this recently, this is set to follow the "Legacy" instructions
If you're curious, my dataset is set up as:
- Type: Reference
- Users can add more than one at a time: No
- Limit "Entered by": No
- Automatically calculate timestamp
- Dataset fields:
- Timestamp (automatically added, required)
- Question type (single select, required)
- Choices for single select correspond to the buttons and variables in my code
- Additional info (text, optional)
- From the free text that users can enter in the widget
- Workstation (single select, optional)
- Choices for single select correspond to the defined workstation names in the config for each workstation