Using Python in ADS Design Environment

The ADS Design Environment includes an embedded Python interpreter and can be accessed from the Tools > Python Console… top-level menu or by using the Ctrl-Shift-P keyboard shortcut. If the interpreter window is already displayed, the shortcut will bring the window to the foreground.

Jupyter Console

The Jupyter console has both tooltips and tab-completion.

Note

Completion assistance does not pop up automatically. Invoke it by pressing the TAB key.

The Jupyter console supports IPython’s magic commands for IPython. For example:

%clear: clear the current window

%alias: create shortcut commands

%matplotlib inline: render matplotlib plots in the console window

%matplotlib auto: reset the handling of matplotlib plots

Full reference: IPython Magic Commands.

Customizing the ADS UI

Customization of ADS, like adding menus, can be done using the keysight.ads.de.app module.

Creating user interfaces, like dialog windows, can be done using PySide2.

# Copyright Keysight Technologies 2023 - 2023
from typing import Union

from PySide2.QtWidgets import QDialog, QPlainTextEdit, QVBoxLayout, QWidget


class Form(QDialog):
    def __init__(self, parent: Union[QWidget, None] = None):
        super().__init__(parent)
        self.setWindowTitle("My Customization Example")
        layout = QVBoxLayout()
        editor = QPlainTextEdit()
        editor.setPlainText("Text")
        layout.addWidget(editor)
        self.setLayout(layout)


form = Form()
form.show()

Note

PySide2 is installed and available when using Python inside ADS.

Add-ons

Python-implemented addons are supported by ADS using a similar mechanism as AEL-implemented addons and can be implemented as a package where __init__.py contains three optional, well-known, functions.

__init__.py

# Optionally defined setup function for the addon (Do not invoke UI elements here).
def setup_addon(addon: "Addon") -> None: ...
# Optionally defined shutdown function for the addon (Do not invoke UI elements here).
def shutdown_addon(addon: "Addon") -> None: ...
# Optionally defined function for generating custom menus
def generate_menu(addon: "Addon", win_def: "WindowDefinition") -> None: ...

See Creating Custom Menus Using an Addon for a working example of a Python addon.

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