[Qgis-developer] SAGA Interface

[Paolo Cavallini]

Il giorno mar, 29/03/2011 alle 15.05 -0400, Camilo Polymeris ha
scritto: 
> Hello everyone,
> 
> I am considering implementing this idea:
> http://www.qgis.org/wiki/SAGA_Toolbox_for_QGIS
> I use SAGA often and would like to see a modern interface to it. I
> have no experience with the QGIS code, though. The last few days I
> have been coding a little, just to get a feeling of how difficult that
> integration would be and get to know the QGIS code. So far the plugin
> only fumbles a little with qguis' GUI and loads SAGA libraries. The
> next step will be to display a list of modules and their parameters.
> 
> I'd like to do this in context of GSoC 2011, for that purpose, and if
> you're still interested, I'll submit a proposal during the week.

Please do: I think this is quite interesting. Please note that Gianluca
Massei has started some work on this, so he may be able to start
quicker.
All the best. 

> I started using SAGAs Pyhon interface, which I am more familiar with,
> but switched to C++ now. I think the whole C++ -> Python -> Swig ->
> C++ route is too complicated. C++ to C++ is just cleaner. What is your
> opinion?

I think a C++ plugin has limited chances to be successful, because it
would either require a dependency of QGIS on SAGA, or the recompilation
of the plugin for each distro. Previous experiences in this direction
resulted in wonderful plugins used by very few people.
Python is the way to go IMHO. 

> Do you believe that it is feasible to do the whole implementation
> during 1 GSoC? Else, what aspects should I focus on? (And what could
> be left to post-GSoc)

I think you should be able to complete the interface at least. Adding
all the modules may be postponed, if it proves too long. See the
GdalTools approach for this. Also the GRASS plugin should give you
insights.

> GUI: Any ideas? So far I think I'll just clone SAGA's. 

I think it would be good if you could follow either the GdalTools or the
GRASS plugins approach.

> Distribution:
> Would SAGA's modules and/or the SAGA API be distributed with QGIS?

See above.

All the best, and thanks for your interest.
-- 
Paolo Cavallini: http://www.faunalia.it/pc