Smart snapshot

[lmichel]

Smart Snapshot

This issue does not result from a need I would have now, but from personal though about improving the tool.

Use case

• A user is exploring its dataset with AL
• He/she uses all of the available features
  • Zoom/pan
  • Overlaid
  • colormap
  • transparency
  • etc....
• He/he finally found a setting that perfectly highlights the scientific interest of his data and he/she would like to get a snapshot of it.

The only way he/she has to do it, is to make a screen shot.
This will make the picture reusable, but this won't allow to rebuilt it from a new AL session.

Proposal

Add a button that gives a way the run a sequence that would lead to the same picture.

I can figure out different ways to do it:

1. Provide a status (in JSON likely) giving all picture settings at a give time (Fov, Overlay, colormap, ....)
2. Provide a sequence of JS API commands to would reconstruct the current picture
3. Provide a notebook to would reconstruct the current picture.

It is to be noted that both 2) and 3) can be issued from 1)

[tboch]

To summarize, what you suggest is a smarter "Share" capability.
You want to be able to rebuild the current state, there is no need to store the whole session.

We had similar ideas. Item 3) would require to get a mapping between Aladin Lite state and layers and the corresponding ipyaladin commands.

[lmichel]

The share capability is more advanced in a sense that it would be able to be operated as a script (Notebook or JS).
I believe that a JSON describing the state of the current view would be a both simple and versatile way to start.
It could be used

• as a human readable document
• to generate a note book
• to generate a JS script
• to be consumed by a new TBD AL feature to restore a view