MMM-PythonPrint customisation

[RobCee]

I’m not sure why, as I did manage to get it working at one point, but I think the issue is that I am using the MM OS Docker image to run all this.
I think this means that the path expectations are different from the assumptions that I am making.
I may have to give in and just build the whole thing manually - it will probably be quicker than trying to fault find the install, given it’s obfuscation.

[sdetweil]

@RobCee yes, docker paths and if OUTSIDE the MM tree, then YOU have to add new volume statements to the docker setup to map them

[RobCee]

@sdetweil yeah, I am deliberately keeping all the module paths in the default place, but it still doesn’t like it.
But if I go into the docker container, it doesn’t seem to have access to Python, so maybe that’s the problem.
It is all rather confusing. (More so from your end, no doubt)

[sdetweil]

@RobCee this.file(filename) will prepend the file system path to the module folder

I just pushed a fix to do the same in the module, instead of the __dirname prefix

[RobCee]

@sdetweil But if I exec into a bash console in the docker container, it doesn’t seem to have access to Python, so maybe that’s the problem.
It is all rather confusing. (More so from your end, no doubt)

[sdetweil]

@RobCee you had to install python in the container if it wasn’t as part of the instance

[RobCee]

@sdetweil I have just had that lightbulb switch on in my head…

[sdetweil]

@RobCee i don’t think the image has python installed

[RobCee]

@sdetweil you are correct. It doesn’t have python installed with it.
My next challenge is to work out how to get that up and running.

Once I have it running I will get back to you on your module.

[sdetweil]

@RobCee short term while u are execed in, install python as usual

if you are using https://gitlab.com/khassel/magicmirror

he doesn’t provide a mechanism to add system components like python

[RobCee]

@sdetweil that works, but the setup refreshes itself by default, so it wouldn’t last too long.
I will work it through. Thanks

[sdetweil]

@RobCee while its challenging, its possible

I might open an issue of the docker image to allow a folder/file with additional packages to install at startup…

seems a waste to do it every refresh time tho

long ago and far away (2015) I had a product to install in an image, 1.5 GIG of product, and didn’t want to make a separate image for the different versions…

so I figured out how to install and capture that as a tarfile, and then
untar it as part of the startup…

then the start script passed that as a parm to startup, so I could change the product on the fly, using the same tiny image…

[RobCee]

@sdetweil it may just be quicker for me to learn how to do what my python code does in .js
It probably isn’t that complex. It is only reading stuff from web services and reporting it locally. I had hoped I could skip that stage, but I guess there are no short-cuts.

[sdetweil]

@RobCee you can do most of the dev and test using a local file , outside of MM

xxx.js
then
node xxx.js

at least to get your main function working…

this code would work in the node helper

[RobCee]

@sdetweil super. thanks for the pointer.

[karsten13]

@sdetweil

the docker image karsten13/magicmirror:latest doesn’t contain python. Simplest solution for this is to use the fat image karsten13/magicmirror:fat, for more infos: https://khassel.gitlab.io/magicmirror/images/

[sdetweil]

@karsten13 thanks… the doc needs help tho

The difference between latest and fat is image size and installed

those words are not used above that sentence, and so didn’t mean anything to me…

I would propose adding in front of that sentence

There are two images of each type created

latest and fat 
docker pull image_name:latest 
or
docker pull image_name:fat 

and then I would add a new line between these sentences

debian packages. For most use cases the latest image is sufficient. 
Some modules need dependencies which are not includes in latest, e.g

[karsten13]

@sdetweil

yes, the docs … no native english speaker so docs are always a struggle. Thanks for the hints, will update …

[sdetweil]

@karsten13 and I missed the latest/fat under the TAG column of your table… tldr(lol), my apologies

[RobCee]

@sdetweil I have started fresh and am still having the same issue.
New install of buster, fully updated.
Installed all the MM and node successfully.
MM runs as expected.
Checked that python and python3 are both available to the OS.
Added the MMM-PythonPrint to the modules dir.

[12.04.2022 11:22.45.613] [LOG]   MMM-PythonPrint received a socket notification: CONFIG - Payload: [object Object]
[12.04.2022 11:22.45.619] [ERROR] Whoops! There was an uncaught exception...
[12.04.2022 11:22.45.640] [ERROR] ReferenceError: _this is not defined
    at Class.startit (/home/pi/MagicMirror/modules/MMM-PythonPrint/node_helper.js:27:24)
    at Class.socketNotificationReceived (/home/pi/MagicMirror/modules/MMM-PythonPrint/node_helper.js:46:9)
    at Socket.<anonymous> (/home/pi/MagicMirror/js/node_helper.js:109:11)
    at Socket.emit (node:events:390:28)
    at Socket.emitUntyped (/home/pi/MagicMirror/node_modules/socket.io/dist/typed-events.js:69:22)
    at /home/pi/MagicMirror/node_modules/socket.io/dist/socket.js:466:39
    at processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:78:11)

This is my config section:

		{
			module:"MMM-PythonPrint",
			position:"center",
			disabled:false,
			config: {
				// name of the python process to execute (could be python3)
				pythonName: 'python',
				// command file in module folder
				// if false, YOU will provide the full path to the python program
				localfolder: true,

				// spawn a python pgm that writes over and over (timed maybe), but keeps running
				command: 'printit.py',
				repetative: true,

				// spawn a one time output  script, but relaunch it every cycletime milliseconds

				// repretative: false,
				// command: 'printitonce.py',
				cycletime: 2000,

				// print debugging messages from the node_helper
				debug: true
			}
		 },