INI Settings

Video Tutorial

Note

The following Flex GUI settings are all located in the [DISPLAY] section of your LinuxCNC .ini file.

To use the Flex GUI (as opposed to Axis or others), change the DISPLAY value to

DISPLAY = flexgui

If no GUI is specificed then the default GUI will be used.

Note

Any Flex GUI .ui and .qss files must be in the same LinuxCNC configuration directory as the .ini file.

To use your .ui file (created with Qt Designer), add a GUI key to the .ini with its filename:

GUI = my-file-name.ui

Stylesheets

To use a built-in input stylesheet with no color changes choose one of the following

INPUT = touch
INPUT = keyboard

To use a built in theme with coloring choose one of the following

THEME = blue
THEME = blue-touch
THEME = dark
THEME = dark-touch

Note

Touch themes use tabs set to South for rounding and non touch use tabs set to North.

To use a custom .qss style sheet you created named lightflex.qss

QSS = lightflex.qss

Note

INPUT is checked first then THEME then QSS so the first entry found is used.

Startup File

To automatically open a NC file on startup, add the OPEN_FILE key with any valid path. Use ~/ as a shortcut to the users home directory. Use ./ to indicate that the file is in the configuration directory

Full Path to the file
OPEN_FILE = /home/john/linuxcnc/configs/myconfig/welcome.ngc
or use the ~ for the users home directory
OPEN_FILE = ~/linuxcnc/configs/flex_examples/probe_sim/square.ngc
or use the ./ to use the current configuration directory
OPEN_FILE = ./welcome.ngc
or ust the ../ to use the parent directory of the configuration
OPEN_FILE = ../welcome.ngc

File Location

Likewise, to specify a default loction for NC files, add the PROGRAM_PREFIX item.

PROGRAM_PREFIX = /home/john/linuxcnc/configs/myconfig
or
PROGRAM_PREFIX = ~/linuxcnc/configs/flex_examples/probe_sim
or
PROGRAM_PREFIX = ./
or
PROGRAM_PREFIX = ../

Tool Table Editor

To specify a differnent tool table editor add an entry to the [DISPLAY] section. If no entry is found then the default tool editor is used

TOOL_EDITOR = tooledit

To control the columns displayed by the default tool editor add any of the valid column specifiers seperated by a space.

TOOL_EDITOR = tooledit x y z a b c u v w diam front back orien

If no entry is found then the axes in the configuration and diameter are shown. Tool, Pocket and Comment are always shown.

Resource File

To use a .py resource file (to add images to buttons with your qss stylesheet) place the .py resource file in the configuration directory and add the following line to the .ini file

RESOURCES = resources.py

See the section on Resources for more info.

File Extensions

The keyboard file dialog defaults to *.ngc and this ignores case. To specify the file extensions you want the file dialog to show, add an EXTENSIONS key with the desired extensions seperated by a comma. The extensions must be in the format *.ext with the asterisk and dot

EXTENSIONS = `*.nc`, `*.G-code`, `*.ngc`, `*.txt`

To control the initial size of the screen, add either:

SIZE = minimized
SIZE = normal
SIZE = maximized
SIZE = full

Warning

Full size screen does not have any window controls. Make sure there is a way to close the GUI like an Exit button or you may not be able to close the application. As a last-resort, pressing ALT-F4 will close it.

Plotter

The plotter background color can be set in the [FLEX] section of the ini. The value is the Red,Greed,Blue color numbers from 0 to 1 with no space. So an entry of 0.0,0.0,0.0 is black and 1.0,1.0,1.0 is white. Use a RGB 0-1 Color Picker to select the RGB values.

[FLEX]
PLOT_BACKGROUND_COLOR = 0.0,0.0,0.0

Colors

The E-Stop and Power Buttons can have a static color for Open and Closed. The Power Button can have a static color for Off and On.

Create a key in the ini file called FLEX_COLORS and use the following to control the static color of these items. The value can be any valid color specification; it’s suggested to use RGB or Hex colors:

[FLEX_COLORS]
ESTOP_OPEN = rgb(128, 255, 128)
ESTOP_CLOSED = rgb(255, 77, 77)
POWER_OFF = rgb(255, 128, 128)
POWER_ON = #00FF00

Another way to achieve this is is via adding and editing a .qss stylesheet file. See the StyleSheet section for more info.