Installing Python and Dependencies (EvaML and EvaSIM)

EvaML Parser - Dependencies

Visual Studio Code

The EvaML is a XML-based language and had its specification made through an XML Schema file. To take full advantage of this specification it is possible to install the VSCode IDE together with the Red Hat plugin that will allow the EvaML code typed in the IDE to have the autocompletion feature and also the validation of the script on the fly. Following are the steps to set up the proper environment for test development:

1. IDE Visual Studio Code (Linux or Windows)

You must download and install the Visual Studio Code IDE from this address: https://code.visualstudio.com/.

2. XML Language Support by Red Hat installed in VScode

The EvaML language is an XML-based language and requires proper formatting of its structure, elements and attributes. The use of VSCode with the Red Hat plugin that supports XML-based languages is an essential support tool for the correct development of tasks.

The installation is very simple! Figure 1, through the numbered arrows, indicates the VSCode interface elements that must be accessed during the XML plugin installation process. To start the installation, open the "Extensions" view by clicking on the "Extensions" (1) in the activity bar on the left side of VSCode or using the keyboard shortcut (Ctrl+Shift+X). You will see a list of the most popular VSCode extensions on the VSCode Marketplace. In the search bar (2), type XML Language Support by Red Hat. To install the extension, select it from the list and click the Install button (3).

From this moment on, the VSCode will support the language coding based on the basic rules of the XML language and also based on the XML Schema file that defines the grammar of the EvaML language. You will be supported in the definition of the document structure, correct use of the elements available in each section of the document and you will be able to use the VSCode autocomplete feature through the keyboard shortcut (Ctrl+Spacebar) when entering commands and language attributes.

EvaML Parser

The EvaML language is a language for developing interactive sessions for the robot EVA. To run the EvaML parser you need to have Python installed on your machine along with the xmlschema module. To do so, follow the steps described below:

1. If your operating system is Windows, go to the downloads page and download the version of Python suitable for your operating system through this link. Click on the executable file and follow the installation process. Choose the customizable installation, as indicated in the image on the left in Figure 2, and then make sure that the option pip is selected, as indicated in the image on the right, still in Figure 2. Follow the dialogs displayed and finish the Python installation process.

On Ubuntu Linux, Python is already installed by default and you only need to install its package manager. To do this, type in your Linux terminal the following command with administrator permissions: apt install python3-pip.

2. Now you will need to install the Python modules xmlschema and requests, for this, open a terminal in your operating system (Windows or Linux), type and run the following commands: pip install xmlschema (to install the xmlschema module) and pip install requests (for installing the requests module).

EvaSIM - Dependencies

Installing on Windows 10

Both the EvaML language parser and the EvaSIM simulator were developed using the Python language. The parser uses the standard Python library along with xmlschema module, while the simulator uses some extra libraries that must be installed. For the EvaSIM, the entire graphical user interface was built using the Tkinter package which is a thin object-oriented layer on top of Tcl/Tk. The Text-To-Speech process uses the IBM-Watson library.

To proceed with the installation, you must install Python as indicated in Section EvaML Parser (item 1). Make sure you have selected the tcl/tk and Idle option.

Choosing the customization option allows you to select the automatic installation of pip (the standard package manager for Python) and also the tk library. Figure 2 shows the options that should be selected.

Now let us install the IBM-Watson library. For that, we will use Python's package manager, which makes everything really easy. The following command must be executed in the Windows terminal.

pip install ibm-watson

Next we will install the playsound library. The version installed must be the version specified in the pip command, as the latest version had issues on Windows 10.

pip install sounddevice
pip install soundfile
pip install numpy

If all steps worked correctly, we already have everything needed for running the EvaSIM simulator.

Installation on Fedora 35 (RPM)

By default, the Fedora 35 distribution already comes with Python 3 installed, so we will proceed with installing the extra libraries. First, let us install pip (Python’s package manager).

sudo dnf install python3-pip

We continue with the installation of the tkinter graphic library.

sudo dnf install python3-tkinter

Following are the commands for installing the \textit{xmlschema}, \textit{IBM-Watson} and \textit{playsound} libraries.

pip install xmlschema
pip install ibm-watson
pip install playsound

We already have everything we need to run the parser and the simulator.

Installation on Ubuntu 20.04.3 (Deb)

As with Fedora, Python 3 is already installed by default on Ubuntu 20.04.3. We then proceed with the installation of the package manager for Python (pip).

sudo apt install python3-pip

Now we install the tkinter graphics library.

sudo apt install python3-tk

Following are the commands for installing the xmlschema, IBM-Watson and playsound libraries.

pip install xmlschema
pip install ibm-watson
pip install playsound