Regular installation (Python Package Index)

In this example, we will use an existing virtual environment named .venv located in C:Userswkheisenberglabscript-suite. Skip the first two lines/steps if continuing on from the instructions to set up this environment.

Quick start

C:\Users\wkheisenberg\labscript-suite> .venv\Scripts\activate
(.venv) C:\Users\wkheisenberg\labscript-suite> python -m pip install --upgrade pip setuptools wheel
(.venv) C:\Users\wkheisenberg\labscript-suite> pip install labscript-suite
(.venv) C:\Users\wkheisenberg\labscript-suite> pip install PyQt5
(.venv) C:\Users\wkheisenberg\labscript-suite> labscript-profile-create
(.venv) C:\Users\wkheisenberg\labscript-suite> desktop-app install blacs lyse runmanager runviewer

Detailed instructions

  1. Activate the virtual environment (this step is OS specific, e.g. on Linux it’s source .venv/bin/activate).

C:\Users\wkheisenberg\labscript-suite> .venv\Scripts\activate

  1. Update the Python package installer and other installation packages of your virtual environment.

(.venv) C:\Users\wkheisenberg\labscript-suite> python -m pip install --upgrade pip setuptools wheel

  1. Install the meta-package (labscript-suite) from PyPI. This will install blacs, labscript, labscript-devices, labscript-utils, lyse, runmanager, runviewer, and all dependencies:

(.venv) C:\Users\wkheisenberg\labscript-suite> pip install labscript-suite

  1. Install PyQt5, the bindings to the GUI toolkit (not installed above for licensing reasons):

(.venv) C:\Users\wkheisenberg\labscript-suite> pip install PyQt5

  1. Create (or populate) a profile directory in your home directory (the location of user data; see Changes in labscript suite v3):

(.venv) C:\Users\wkheisenberg\labscript-suite> labscript-profile-create

  1. (Optional) Create shortcuts for the GUI applications (blacs, lyse, runmanager, and runviewer) and place them in the start-menu (or non-Windows OS equivalent).

    (.venv) C:\Users\wkheisenberg\labscript-suite> desktop-app install blacs lyse runmanager runviewer

    These will be named, e.g. ‘runmanager – the labcript suite’ which when clicked on will:

    • Launch the application without a terminal window, using the virtual environment the above command was called in.

    • Display the application with an application-specific shortcut in the taskbar (which can be pinned, like any other desktop application).

Note

Virtual environments named anything other than .venv will be included in the name of the shortcut, e.g. ‘runmanager – the labscript suite (py38)’ for a virtual environment named py38.

Alternatively, you can launch the applications from a terminal, e.g.

(.venv) C:\> runmanager

This will print debugging information to the console.

To launch the applications detached from the console, suffix the application name with -gui, e.g.

(.venv) C:\> runmanager-gui

Note

You must have activated the virtual environment in which the labscript suite was installed to use these commands.

Updating a regular installation

Individual components of the labscript suite can be updated using the --upgrade (-U) flag of pip. For example:

(.venv) C:\Users\wkheisenberg\labscript-suite> pip install -U runmanager

To upgrade to a pre-release version, you can use the --pre (pre-relase) flag:

(.venv) C:\Users\wkheisenberg\labscript-suite> pip install -U --pre runmanager

If updating multiple components, use a single pip install command to assist dependency resolution:

(.venv) C:\Users\wkheisenberg\labscript-suite> pip install -U labscript lyse runmanager

You can also update (or downgrade) to a specific version:

(.venv) C:\Users\wkheisenberg\labscript-suite> pip install runmanager==2.5.0