Creating Custom Views

The SpikeInterface GUI can be extended with custom views through a plugin system using Python’s entry points. This allows you to create specialized visualizations or analysis tools that integrate seamlessly with the GUI.

Overview

A custom view plugin is a Python package that:

  1. Contains one or more view classes that inherit from ViewBase

  2. Registers these views using entry points in pyproject.toml

  3. Can be installed via pip and automatically discovered by the GUI

The plugin system supports both the Qt (desktop) and Panel (web) backends.

Creating a Custom View Plugin

Plugin Structure

A minimal plugin package has the following structure:

my_custom_view_plugin/
├── my_custom_view_plugin/
│   ├── __init__.py
│   ├── customview1.py
│   └── customview2.py
├── pyproject.toml
├── LICENSE
└── README.md

Minimal View Example

Here’s a minimal example of a custom view class:

from spikeinterface_gui.view_base import ViewBase

class MyAwesomeView(ViewBase):
    # Unique identifier for this view (used in layouts)
    id = "myawesome"

    # Supported backends: ['qt'], ['panel'], or ['qt', 'panel']
    _supported_backend = ['qt']

    # Help text displayed to users
    _gui_help_txt = "My custom view that displays unit information"

    # Optional settings (None if no settings needed)
    _settings = None

    def _qt_make_layout(self):
        """Create the Qt widget layout (called once during initialization)"""
        from spikeinterface_gui.myqt import QT

        self.layout = QT.QVBoxLayout()
        self.qt_widget.setLayout(self.layout)

        self.label = QT.QLabel("Hello from custom view!")
        self.layout.addWidget(self.label)

    def _qt_refresh(self):
        """Update the view with current data (called when data changes)"""
        unit_count = len(self.controller.get_visible_unit_ids())
        self.label.setText(f"Visible units: {unit_count}")

Package Configuration

In your pyproject.toml file, configure the package and register the entry points:

[project]
name = "my-custom-view-plugin"
version = "0.1.0"
authors = [
  { name="Your Name", email="your.email@example.com" },
]
description = "Custom view plugin for SpikeInterface GUI"
requires-python = ">=3.10"
dependencies = [
    "spikeinterface-gui>=0.12.0",
]

[build-system]
requires = ["setuptools>=62.0"]
build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"

[tool.setuptools]
packages = ["my_custom_view_plugin"]

# Register your custom views
[project.entry-points."spikeinterface_gui.views"]
myawesome1 = "my_custom_view_plugin.customview1:MyAwesomeView1"
myawesome2 = "my_custom_view_plugin.customview2:MyAwesomeView2"

The entry point format is: view_id = "package.module:ClassName"

  • view_id: The identifier used to reference the view in layouts

  • package.module:ClassName: The import path to your view class

Installation and Usage

Installing Your Plugin

Install the plugin in development mode for testing:

cd my_custom_view_plugin
pip install -e .

Or install from PyPI (after publishing):

pip install my-custom-view-plugin

Using Custom Views

Once installed, custom views are automatically discovered and can be used in layouts:

from spikeinterface_gui import run_mainwindow

app = run_mainwindow(
    analyzer,
    layout={
        'zone1': ['unitlist', 'myawesome1'],
        'zone2': ['waveform'],
        'zone3': ['myawesome2']
    },
    mode='desktop'
)

Verifying Installation

Check that your views are discovered:

import spikeinterface_gui as sigui

# List all available views
print(sigui.viewlist.possible_class_views.keys())

# Check if your view is loaded
assert 'myawesome1' in sigui.viewlist.possible_class_views