how to stabilize the speed of my wx.Gauge - python-3.5

Question

the speed of my gauge varies according to the instructions of the thread that is running with it. when the instructions are simple my gauge goes very fast but when it is necessary to read a file my gauge is very slow. I want to stabilize it at the same pace.
Even worse when you have to extract text from an image file the gauge crashes. and plant the GUI
wx.Gauge(self, -1, 20, pos=(150, 300), size=(250, 25), style = wx.GA_HORIZONTAL)
I have already changed Range with more value (now Range=20) but nothing

Answer 1

Your example didn't include anything that showed how you were reading the files, but I'll assume based on the description of your problem that they were called from the main thread. There are many examples of how and why you need to run blocking functions from another thread to keep the UI responsive. If you run a function from the main thread it blocks the event loop, meaning none of your normal events (like EVT_TIMER) get called until the function finishes. Here is your example with a simulated long running task in its own thread.
import time
import datetime
import wx
import threading
class Example(wx.Frame):
def __init__(self, *args, **kw):
super(Example, self).__init__(*args, **kw)
self.Bind(wx.EVT_TIMER, self.OnTimer)
self.gspeed = 20
self.timer = wx.Timer(self)
self.timer.Start(self.gspeed)
self.star = True
self.start_time = time.time()
self.thread = None
self.InitUI()
self.start_long_running_task()
def start_long_running_task(self):
"""
:return: starts the long running task in its own thread to keep the UI responsive
:rtype:
"""
self.thread = threading.Thread(target=self.long_running_task)
self.thread.start()
def long_running_task(self):
"""
:return: simulated long running task
:rtype:
"""
print("long running task has started")
# checks if the window has been closed and if the timer is still running
while bool(self) and self.timer.IsRunning():
# do something
time.sleep(1)
# the timer was stopped or the window was closed
print("long running task is exiting")
def InitUI(self):
pnl = wx.Panel(self)
vbox = wx.BoxSizer(wx.VERTICAL)
hbox1 = wx.BoxSizer(wx.HORIZONTAL)
hbox2 = wx.BoxSizer(wx.HORIZONTAL)
hbox3 = wx.BoxSizer(wx.HORIZONTAL)
self.btn2 = wx.Button(pnl, wx.ID_STOP)
self.text = wx.StaticText(pnl)
self.count = wx.StaticText(pnl)
self.Bind(wx.EVT_BUTTON, self.OnStop, self.btn2)
self.gauge = wx.Gauge(pnl, 20, size=(250, -1), style=wx.GA_HORIZONTAL)
hbox1.Add(self.gauge, proportion=1, flag=wx.ALIGN_CENTRE)
hbox2.Add(self.btn2, proportion=1)
hbox3.Add(self.text, proportion=1, flag=wx.RIGHT, border=50)
hbox3.Add(self.count, proportion=1)
vbox.Add((0, 30))
vbox.Add(hbox1, flag=wx.ALIGN_CENTRE)
vbox.Add((0, 20))
vbox.Add(hbox2, proportion=1, flag=wx.ALIGN_CENTRE)
vbox.Add(hbox3, proportion=1, flag=wx.ALIGN_CENTRE)
pnl.SetSizer(vbox)
self.SetTitle('Gauge')
self.Centre()
def OnStop(self, e):
self.timer.Stop()
self.text.SetLabel('Task Interrupted')
def OnTimer(self, e):
self.gauge.Pulse()
self.SetTimeLabel()
def get_elapsed_time(self):
val = round(time.time() - self.start_time, 1)
hours = val / 3600
minutes = (val % 3600) / 60
seconds = val % 60
strs = ("%lu:%02lu:%02lu") % (hours, minutes, seconds)
return strs
def SetTimeLabel(self):
self.text.SetLabel("{elapsed} seconds elapsed".format(elapsed=self.get_elapsed_time()))
def main():
app = wx.App()
ex = Example(None)
ex.Show()
app.MainLoop()
if __name__ == '__main__':
main()

Answer 2

This is an example based on the code I recommended in my comment.
The Start/Stop button will start or stop the file loading.
The Other task button simply prints the contents of the textctrl boxes as proof that the program is not locked by the file loading thread.
import wx
import time
from threading import Thread
import wx.lib.newevent
progress_event, EVT_PROGRESS_EVENT = wx.lib.newevent.NewEvent()
load_status=["File Loading","File Loaded","Cancelled"]
class Model(Thread):
def __init__(self,parent):
Thread.__init__(self)
self.stopthread = 0
self.target = parent
#self.start()
def run(self):
line_counter = 0
with open('../xxx.html', 'r') as f:
while not self.stopthread:
line = f.readline()
if not line:
break
line_counter += 1
print(line_counter)
if self.stopthread:
break
time.sleep(0.05)
evt = progress_event(count=line_counter, status=self.stopthread)
wx.PostEvent(self.target, evt)
if self.stopthread == 0:
self.stopthread = 1
evt = progress_event(count=line_counter, status=self.stopthread)
wx.PostEvent(self.target, evt)
def terminate(self):
self.stopthread = 2
class View(wx.Frame):
def __init__(self, parent, title):
super(View, self).__init__(parent, title=title, size=(400, 400))
self.InitUI()
def InitUI(self):
self.vbox = wx.BoxSizer(wx.VERTICAL)
self.fgs = wx.FlexGridSizer(6, 2, 10, 25)
id = wx.StaticText(self, label="ID:")
firstName = wx.StaticText(self, label="First name:")
lastName = wx.StaticText(self, label="Last name:")
self.id = wx.TextCtrl(self)
self.firstName = wx.TextCtrl(self)
self.lastName = wx.TextCtrl(self)
self.stop = wx.Button(self, -1, "Start")
self.other = wx.Button(self, -1, "Other task")
self.fgs.AddMany([id, (self.id, 1, wx.EXPAND),
firstName, (self.firstName, 1, wx.EXPAND),
lastName, (self.lastName, 1, wx.EXPAND),
(self.stop,1,wx.EXPAND),
(self.other,1,wx.EXPAND)])
self.vbox.Add(self.fgs, proportion=1, flag=wx.ALL | wx.EXPAND,border=15)
#Bind to the progress event issued by the thread
self.Bind(EVT_PROGRESS_EVENT, self.OnProgress)
#Bind to Stop button
self.stop.Bind(wx.EVT_BUTTON, self.OnStartStop)
#Bind to Other task button
self.other.Bind(wx.EVT_BUTTON, self.OnOther)
#Bind to Exit on frame close
self.Bind(wx.EVT_CLOSE, self.OnExit)
self.SetSizer(self.vbox)
self.Layout()
self.statusbar = self.CreateStatusBar(2)
self.text = wx.StaticText(self.statusbar,-1,("No File loaded"))
self.progress = wx.Gauge(self.statusbar, range=20)
sizer = wx.BoxSizer(wx.HORIZONTAL)
sizer.Add(self.text, 0, wx.ALIGN_TOP|wx.ALL, 5)
sizer.Add(self.progress, 1, wx.ALIGN_TOP|wx.ALL, 5)
self.statusbar.SetSizer(sizer)
#wx.BeginBusyCursor()
self.loadthread = Model(self)
def OnProgress(self, event):
self.text.SetLabel(load_status[event.status])
#self.progress.SetValue(event.count)
#or for indeterminate progress
self.progress.Pulse()
if event.status != 0:
wx.EndBusyCursor()
self.Update()
time.sleep(1)
#self.statusbar.Hide()
#Re-set thread in case it needs to be restarted
self.loadthread = Model(self)
self.stop.SetLabel("Start")
self.progress.SetValue(0)
self.text.SetLabel("")
def OnStartStop(self, event):
if self.loadthread.isAlive():
self.loadthread.terminate() # Shutdown the thread
self.loadthread.join() # Wait for it to finish
#Re-set thread in case it needs to be restarted
self.loadthread = Model(self)
self.stop.SetLabel("Start")
self.progress.SetValue(0)
self.text.SetLabel("")
else:
wx.BeginBusyCursor()
self.loadthread.start()
self.stop.SetLabel("Stop")
def OnExit(self, event):
if self.loadthread.isAlive():
self.loadthread.terminate() # Shutdown the thread
self.loadthread.join() # Wait for it to finish
self.Destroy()
def OnOther(self, event):
print("Other Task")
print(self.id.GetValue())
print(self.firstName.GetValue())
print(self.lastName.GetValue())
class Controller:
def __init__(self):
self.view = View(None, title='Test')
self.view.Show()
def main():
app = wx.App()
controller = Controller()
app.MainLoop()
if __name__ == '__main__':
main()

Answer 3

This gauge runs with a Thread that reads the file. When you have to read a Txt file the gauge goes fast but when you have to read the Docx the gauge slows down worse when you have to read the texts of an image the gauge crashes the GUI. I want to avoid my GUI crashes. If possible stabilize the speed of the gauge.
import time
import datetime
class Example(wx.Frame):
def __init__(self, *args, **kw):
super(Example, self).__init__(*args, **kw)
self.Bind(wx.EVT_TIMER, self.OnTimer)
self.gspeed = 20
self.timer = wx.Timer(self)
self.timer.Start(self.gspeed)
self.star = True
self.start_time = time.time()
self.InitUI()
def InitUI(self):
pnl = wx.Panel(self)
vbox = wx.BoxSizer(wx.VERTICAL)
hbox1 = wx.BoxSizer(wx.HORIZONTAL)
hbox2 = wx.BoxSizer(wx.HORIZONTAL)
hbox3 = wx.BoxSizer(wx.HORIZONTAL)
self.btn2 = wx.Button(pnl, wx.ID_STOP)
self.text = wx.StaticText(pnl)
self.count = wx.StaticText(pnl)
self.Bind(wx.EVT_BUTTON, self.OnStop, self.btn2)
self.gauge = wx.Gauge(pnl,20, size=(250, -1), style = wx.GA_HORIZONTAL)
hbox1.Add(self.gauge, proportion=1, flag=wx.ALIGN_CENTRE)
hbox2.Add(self.btn2, proportion=1)
hbox3.Add(self.text, proportion=1, flag=wx.RIGHT, border=50)
hbox3.Add(self.count, proportion=1)
vbox.Add((0, 30))
vbox.Add(hbox1, flag=wx.ALIGN_CENTRE)
vbox.Add((0, 20))
vbox.Add(hbox2, proportion=1, flag=wx.ALIGN_CENTRE)
vbox.Add(hbox3, proportion=1, flag=wx.ALIGN_CENTRE)
pnl.SetSizer(vbox)
self.SetTitle('Gauge')
self.Centre()
def OnStop(self, e):
self.timer.Stop()
self.text.SetLabel('Task Interrupted')
def OnTimer(self, e):
self.gauge.Pulse()
self.SetTimeLabel()
def get_elapsed_time(self):
val = round(time.time() - self.start_time, 1)
hours = val/3600
minutes = (val%3600)/60
seconds = val%60
strs = ("%lu:%02lu:%02lu")%(hours, minutes, seconds)
return strs
def SetTimeLabel(self):
self.text.SetLabel("{elapsed} seconds elapsed".format(elapsed=self.get_elapsed_time()))
def main():
app = wx.App()
ex = Example(None)
ex.Show()
app.MainLoop()
if __name__ == '__main__':
main()