How can I create a frontend for matplotlib?

Question

I feel that I should start this question by mentioning that I am a Chemical Engineer and not a trained programmer (but I am willing to learn).

I process a lot of spectra, which are essentially ASCII files with x,y coordinates produced by spectrometer specific software. A standard software used for analysis is Origin from Originlab but I find it is not user friendly, it has a lot more functions than I need and it is not free.

So I was hoping that there is a way to develop a frontend for matplotlib that allows to use matplotlib with a GUI. I want to be able to read in and plot data from ASCII files, zoom in and out in the plot, call scripts for things such as peak-detection and fitting functions where function specific parameters can be entered in the GUI.

I am simply puzzled where to start, so the question really is: What is the easiest way to develop a frontend/GUI for matplotlib that allows me to program the things that I mentioned above? Also, ultimately, a cross platform application would be nice because many in my group work in Windows.

Answer 1

Check out also good examples from Eli Bendersky's website:

• matplotlib with PyQt GUIs
• More PyQt plotting demos
• matplotlib with wxPython GUIs