Initializing a FireflyClient instance#
Once a Firefly server has been identified, the connection parameters can be
used to initialize a FireflyClient instance. By default, the value
of the environment variable FIREFLY_URL will be used as the server URL, if defined. If
FIREFLY_URL is not defined, the default server URL is http://localhost:8080/firefly
which is often used for a Firefly server running locally.
Optional arguments for initializing a FireflyClient instance include channel and html_file.
For a default server running locally, use localhost or 127.0.0.1 together with the port that the server is using, and append /firefly. The default port is 8080.
import firefly_client
fc = firefly_client.FireflyClient('http://127.0.0.1:8080/firefly')
If the Python session is running on your own machine, you can use the
FireflyClient.launch_browser() method to open up a browser tab.
fc.launch_browser()
The FireflyClient.launch_browser() method will return two values: a boolean
indicating whether the web browser open was successful, and the URL for your
web browser.
Warning
On Mac OS X 10.12.5, an error message may be displayed with a URL and a note that it doesn’t understand the “open location message”. If a browser tab is not automatically opened, copy and paste the displayed URL into the address bar of your browser. This issue has been fixed in Mac OS X 10.12.6.
If your Python session is not running on your local machine, the
FireflyClient.launch_browser()
method will display the URL for your web browser. Alternatively, you can use
the FireflyClient.display_url() method to print the browser URL if
running in a terminal, and to show a clickable link if running in a
Jupyter notebook.
fc.display_url()
In typical usage, it is unnecessary to set the channel parameter when instantiating FireflyClient. A unique string will be auto-generated. If you do wish to set the channel explicitly, e.g. for sharing your display with someone else, take care to make the channel unique.
Warning
After initializing FireflyClient, make sure you have opened a web browser
to the appropriate URL, before proceeding to use the Python API described
in the following sections.
Initializing with the make_client Factory Function#
For an easier initialization, you can use the FireflyClient.make_client()
factor function. This function will use the value of the FIREFLY_URL
environment variable for the Firefly server. Additionally, it will attempt
to start a Firefly browser tab or window if possible, and if not, it will
display a link for the Firefly display.
fc = FireflyClient.make_client()