Setup

After cloning the repo, before running the app you need to install required packages. I recommend using virtual environment (venv) for this:

• First create the virtual environment:

  python3 -m venv <your-venv-name>
  

• Then you need to activate the environment:

  MacOS

  source <your-venv-name>/bin/activate
  

  Windows

  • using cmd

    <your-venv-name>/Scripts/activate.bat
    

  • using powershell

    <your-venv-name>/Scripts/Activate.ps1
    

• Once environment is activated, install required packages

  pip install -r requirements.txt
  

• Run the app using

  python3 main.py
  

• To quit the app use the exit button in gui (or Ctrl+C in CLI mode)

• To quit virtual environment, type

  deactivate
  

Arguments

You can run the app with several arguments described below:

command	shortened	arguments	example	description
--set-broker	-sb	host (string), port (int)	python main.py -sb localhost 1883	sets current broker
--add-topic	-at	topic name (string), data format (string), interval [seconds] (float)	python main.py -at "my/topic" "<%randi%>" 10	adds topic to list
--no-gui	-nogui	-	python main.py -nogui	launches app without gui
--verbose	-v	-	python main.py -v	prints logs to console in addition to logs.txt file

Data format

Data format is a string containg formula for a message. Additionally, data format functions can accept arguments. Here is table with each function and argument described

function	accepted arguments	default	example data format	description
randi	min (int), max (int)	min = -2^31, max = 2^31-1	<%randi min=-10 max=10%>	Sends random int from [min; max] range
randu	min (int), max (int)	min = 0, max = 2^32 - 1	<%randu min=10 max=20%>	Sends random uint from [min; max] range
randf	min (float), max (float)	min = 0, max = 1	<%randf min=-1 max=16.9%>	Sends random float from [min; max) range
rands	collection (list of strings), length (int)	length = 10	<%rands collection=["a","ab",'abc']%>	Sends random string from given collection or generates random string with given length. If both arguments are passed, it will prioritize collection.
file	src (string), separator (string)	separator = "None"	<%file src="test.txt" separator="\n"%>	Sends data from given file one, split by given separator (or all of it at once if separator is not specified)
time	-	-	<%time%>	Sends current time (datetime.now().time())
inc	start (int | float), inc (int | float), reset (int | float)	start = 0, inc = 1, reset = None	<%inc start=0 inc=2 reset=10%>	Every time the message is sent, the value is incremented by inc. When the value is more than reset it returns back to start.

Keep in mind that you dont always have to pass in all the arguments. If you skip any (for example max in randi, it will use the default value).

Argument value cannot contain space characters unless it's a string or a list (starts with ', " or [). For example:

• <%rands collection=["x", "y"]%> - OK (collection value uses [ ... ])
• <%rands collection= ["x", "y"]%> - ERROR (space before opening square bracket)
• <%file src="hello world.txt"%> - OK (src value uses " ... ")
• <%randi max= 10%> - ERROR (space after parameter value)

Example

Assume we want to revieve messages with following format

{
    "data": {
        "x": <some int>,
        "y": <some float>,
    }
}

Our Data format would then be

{ "data": { "x": "<%randi%>", "y": "<%randf%>" } }

Manual setup of config file

You can always create config.json file yourself if you think writing it with the command line tool is too tedious - simply follow the format below (uuid is treated as str not uuid type, so you can use whatever unique string you want).

{
    "broker": { 
        "host": "localhost",
        "port": 1883
    },
    "topics": {
        "5b8cf095-c3c6-4730-8618-80811f4506ab": {
            "topic": "topic1"
            "data_format": "<%randi%>",
            "interval": 1,
            "manual": false
        },
        "my-app-unique-id": {
            "topic": "test/topic2",
            "data_format": "{ \"x\": \"<%randu%>\" }",
            "interval": 1.5,
            "manual": false
        }
    }
}

result - app publishes random int value on 'topic1' every second and random uint value on 'test/topic2'

Screenshots

Keep in mind that the look of the app is dependent on user's system - QT uses native components.

Main window

Add topic window