Merge pull request #149 from anilbey/nwbview

add nwbview

docs/source/conf.py

@@ -72,5 +72,10 @@
     'titles_only': False
 }
 
+# these links cannot be checked in github actions
+linkcheck_ignore = [
+    "https://crates.io/crates/nwbview",
+]
+
 # -- Build the nwb project analytics in the current directory
-build_project_analytics(target_dir=os.path.dirname(__file__))
+build_project_analytics(target_dir=os.path.dirname(__file__))

docs/source/tools/analysis_tools_home.rst

@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ Analysis and Visualization Tools
     nwbwidgets/nwbwidgets
     neurosift/neurosift
     nwbexplorer/nwbexplorer
+    nwbview/nwbview
     hdftools/hdftools
     spikeinterface/spikeinterface
     cellexplorer/cellexplorer
@@ -87,6 +88,19 @@ Exploring NWB Files
     <br/>
     <br/>
 
+.. image:: nwbview/nwbview-icon.png
+    :class: align-left
+    :width: 180
+
+.. include::  nwbview/nwbview.rst
+        :start-after: .. short_description_start
+        :end-before: .. short_description_end
+
+.. raw:: html
+
+    <br/>
+    <br/>
+
 .. image:: hdftools/jupyterlab_h5web_nwb_example.png
     :class: align-left
     :width: 180

docs/source/tools/nwbview/nwbview.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+.. _analysistools-nwbview:
+
+
+Nwbview
+------------
+
+.. image:: nwbview-icon.png
+    :class: align-left
+    :width: 100
+
+
+.. short_description_start
+
+:ref:`analysistools-nwbview` is a cross-platform software with a graphical user interface to display the contents of the binary NWB file format. It is written in Rust for high-performance, memory safety and ease of deployment.
+Its features include the ability to display the contents of the NWB file in a tree structure. It displays voltage and current recordings data in interactive plots. The tabular data or the text data present in the NWB can be displayed in a scalable window.
+:bdg-link-primary:`Docs <https://crates.io/crates/nwbview>` :bdg-link-primary:`Source <https://github.com/brainhack-ch/nwbview>`.
+
+.. short_description_end
+
+.. raw:: html
+
+    <br/>
+    <br/>
+    <br/>
+
+The screenshot below shows the `nwbview` GUI. The left panel shows the contents of the NWB file in a tree structure. The right panel shows the details of the selected item, which can be a plot, a table or a text.
+
+.. image:: nwbview-screenshot.png
+    :class: align-left
+    :width: 800
+
+`nwbview` uses the `egui <https://github.com/emilk/egui>`_ Rust GUI library for rendering.
+
+
+To install and run using cargo
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Cargo is the package manager for Rust, and `nwbview` is listed as a package there. You can find it on `crates.io <https://crates.io/crates/nwbview>`_.
+
+
+**Note:** HDF5 needs to be installed in your system as cargo will try to locate the HDF5 root directory and/or headers.
+
+First install the `cargo` package manager and then run the following command to install `nwbview`.
+
+.. code-block:: shell
+
+    cargo install nwbview
+
+Once you completed the installation, simply type `nwbview` on the console to run it.
+
+.. code-block:: shell
+
+    nwbview
+
+
+To build and run from the source code
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+The Rust library dependencies are provided in the `cargo.toml` file.
+
+Note that the Rust libraries depend on the following system packages that need to be provided.
+
+* `libgtk-3-dev`
+* `librust-atk-dev`
+* `libhdf5-serial-dev`
+
+The exact names of the packages may differ between systems.
+
+Once all the dependencies are satisfied, go to the directory containing `cargo.toml` and run the following command.
+
+.. code-block:: shell
+
+    cargo run --release
+
+The release flag builds the artifacts with optimizations. Do not specify it when you need to debug.