Getting started

1. Launching the application

  1. Open the project folder in Spyder (or another Python 3.8 environment with PySide6).
  2. Set the working directory to the SigGer root (the folder that contains main.py and SigGer.png).
  3. Run main.py (F5 in Spyder).

The first window is a narrow vertical control bar (about 175 × 920 pixels). It is a single-document interface: it does not embed the instrument panels. Those open as separate windows beside the bar.

EnvironmentNotes
PythonDeveloped against Anaconda Python 3.8.5
Qt bindingsPySide6 6.4.x (do not rely on APIs added after 6.4)
NumericsNumPy for synthesis; h5py / pyarrow / SciPy I/O via ScyIO_UnB

2. Control bar

ControlAction
SigGer logo Opens the identity card: name, version 0.01 – 2026, author, department, university, and the current date and time.
Periodic signals Popup of eight repeating waveforms. Click an icon to open that instrument window.
Non-periodic signals Popup of ten finite-support or chirp/envelope signals.
White noise Popup of Gaussian, uniform, and Laplacian noise generators.
Configuration Opens the Configuration window. Configure default parameters sets folder, format, sample count, sampling frequency, and signal type (sigger_config.json). Configure the system appearance sets fonts, colors, and named themes (sigger_appearance.json). Both files are read at startup if they exist.
Help Opens this documentation in a non-modal window.
About Opens an About window with three choices: Summary (what SigGer does), Acknowledgments (partner logos from ack.jpg plus thanks), and The author (portrait FAON.jpg and biography from Author.txt).
Exit Closes the control bar and every open instrument window.

On Windows you can drag the control bar by pressing on empty chrome (not on push-buttons or tool-buttons). The native title bar still works as usual.

3. Opening an instrument window

Click a mode button, then click a waveform icon. SigGer waits until the popup has closed before showing the editor, so the new window is not dismissed with the popup. The editor is placed to the right of the control bar when space allows.

Each waveform type keeps a single cached window: opening the same type again raises the existing editor instead of creating a second copy.

4. Recommended first run

  1. Open Sine wave.
  2. Leave floating-point selected, amplitude 1 V, frequency 1 kHz, fs = 48 kHz, N = 1024.
  3. Click Browse… and choose a destination folder.
  4. Optionally set a signal name (default sine_wave).
  5. Choose HDF5, Parquet, or Matlab on the target-format tumbler.
  6. Click Run. The gauge should step 10 % at a time to 100 %.
  7. The Status pane prints the saved path. See Saving files.
Destination is required. Run is refused with a warning if the destination folder field is empty.