If you have been using QGIS for ages, you surely know what the fTools plugin is. For a long time, it was practically the only tool for performing vector geoprocessing operations. With the advent of Processing, the need for fTools significantly decreased because most of the fTools algorithms were also available in Processing. And today, the fTools era is over.
All fTools algorithms that were missing from Processing have been implemented. The fTools plugin has been removed. Processing has been “taught” to create menu entries and bind algorithms to them. This means that the “Vector” menu has not disappeared, and you will find all the tools in their usual places. The only difference is that instead of custom fTools dialogs, you will see automatically generated Processing dialogs.
QGIS is evolving fast: The API is extended, new features appear, and functionality that was previously implemented as plugins is added to the core. This was the case with the raster calculator, and now it is the turn of fTools.
For those who don’t know, fTools is a set of tools for vector data processing (analysis, management, and geoprocessing). Originally developed as a plugin, at some point it was integrated into QGIS (menu “Vector”, and earlier “fTools”).
After merging code from the table_join branch into the main development tree, the “Join attributes” tool is no longer needed; the “Export to new projection” tool is successfully replaced by the “Save as” functionality. These tools have already been removed, as well as the About dialogue box and help files.
There is an ongoing discussion about removing the “Export/Add Geometry column” (you can get area, perimeter and coordinates using the Field Calculator) and “Select by Location” tools (there is a more powerful Spatial Query core plugin).
After spending some time solving various issues, I have finally managed to build the OSGeo4W network installer from source. This is necessary to create a similar installer, but with resource files translated into Ukrainian (and possibly in Russian, if I have enough motivation and time). As for many people, English is still quite a serious obstacle, and besides, it is much more pleasant to communicate with the program in your native language.
Just half an hour ago, my patch for fTools was accepted. The changes are available as of revision f13f45e (SVN r10849). Yay!
I have prepared and submitted my first patch for fTools. The patch allows to use only selected features in the following geoprocessing tools:
Convex hull(s)
Buffers
Intersect
Clip
Difference
Dissolve
I also made changes to the Basic Statistics tool. Namely, I added the ability to work with selected features and added support for text fields (previously only numeric fields were supported).
Ticket in bugtracker #11774. I already got a reply from Carson (fTools author): the patch will be applied soon.
After creating my plugin for QGIS (statistics for vector layers), I moved on to improving fTools. Namely, I started adding the ability to work with selected features to the geoprocessing tools.
Last week I finished Buffer and Convex Hull, today I had some free time and updated Dissolve. There are 5 tools left, then I can move on to another group. By a strange coincidence there are also five in fTools.
Somehow, unnoticed by myself, I have been drawn into the QGIS development process. It all started with a letter asking if I would be interested in a small project (I wrote about it a few days ago). While discussing the project details, I was also asked about the possibility of creating a generic plugin to generate a statistical summary for a vector layer field, something like what ArcMap has. I was also given a link to the forum discussion on this topic.
The point is that QGIS has no standard tools for displaying a statistical summary for a table field. Of course, there is the fTools plugin by Carson Farmer, which has the “Basic statistics” tool, but it works for the whole layer, ignoring the selected features, which is not always convenient. The task seemed interesting to me, so after the work was done, I started to look into this.
First, I studied the fTools code — it (they?) is distributed in source form, like all Python plugins. As I said, the QGIS API is quite well-designed and logical, and the Python language is quite simple and has strict formatting rules, so there were no major difficulties. In the end, using Carson’s code as a base, I wrote my own tool, and also sent Carson a patch adding the ability to get statistics not only on the whole layer, but also on selected features. I also posted a message in a forum thread and sent Oleg a plugin for testing. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting such a response and the subsequent development of events.
First of all, I received a suggestion for improving the plugin from Oleg. His request boiled down to the following: currently the plugin only works with numeric fields, but it would be nice to be able to get statistics for text fields as well (e.g. number of filled/unfilled records, average text length, etc.). I have taken that into account and started working on it.
I soon received a reply from Carson as well. It turns out that he was also thinking about adding the ability to work with selected features, but he has a lot of other projects at the moment, and the process is moving slowly. So the patch came in handy. I wrote to him about statistics on text fields and suggested adding this functionality to fTools, which was welcomed. The last sentence of Carson’s letter is the title of this post.
The post on the forum did not go unnoticed. I got approval and support from the administrator there and got even more involved in the process :-).
And you know, I love it. It is terribly gratifying to feel that you are doing something useful, to realise that your work is needed and does not go unnoticed, and to feel the support and gratitude of complete strangers. Such a contrast to the situation at work.
This is probably the answer to the question raised in the previous post. I’m not used to being idle, and since my knowledge and my experience are not in demand at work, is the only thing left for me to do is to move computers from place to place and explain for the 100th time how to print on A3 sheets? Not to develop or, even worse, gradually degrade? Well, no, there are other more interesting and useful activities! That’s where this incomprehensible urge to participate in various projects comes from!
Or maybe I’m wrong, and it’s just time to move on to the next stage of self-development. This has happened before. I remember how enthusiastically I started learning GIS Geoproject and creating templates for it. As a result, I created a collection of FAQs, wrote several articles, and unexpectedly became a moderator of the support forum. In this connection I would like to thank Evgeny Yasnikov for his help in learning Geoproject, support of my efforts and trust.
Meanwhile, work continues on the statistics plugin. Getting information on text fields (both for the whole layer and for selected features) is already working. And I have received two more feature requests:
add a frequency distribution histogram as in ArcMap
users don’t like the fact that they have to click on the button to get the output :-). They want statistics to be calculated immediately after selecting a field
The second request has already been fulfilled, now I’m looking into the possibility of plotting graphs with PyQt tools to close the first request. I also slightly refactored the plugin code to allow localisation and added the Ukrainian language. In parallel, I am trying to add to fTools the ability to perform spatial operations not only on the entire layer, but also on selected features.
There is a great lack of time: work and, to a lesser extent, dancing do not leave enough time for everything I would like to do. The situation is compounded by family issues - when there is time, it is not always possible to work on the computer.