MetaModel as a Base Class

MetaModel is the abstract base class for all analysis tab models in Poriscope. It handles the logic, processing, and backend operations that power your tab — things like running calculations, managing worker threads, and storing cached data.

This class does a lot of the heavy lifting behind the scenes, so you can focus on implementing just the part that makes your model unique.

What You Get by Inheriting MetaModel

Thread and worker management

You don’t have to manually manage threads or signals. MetaModel handles:

• Spawning and tracking worker threads (WorkerThread)

• Connecting signals for progress updates

• Running generators in parallel or serial mode per channel

Signals and communication

Built-in signals allow your model to communicate with the view, controller, or even other plugins:

• • Global Signal and Data Plugin Controller Signal for inter-plugin communication

• update_progressbar to visually track long computations

• add_text_to_display to send log output or feedback to the interface

Caching and reporting

• Store intermediate data with cache_plot_data()

• Format and return a cached DataFrame with format_cache_data()

• Automatically generate final reports after threads finish

Helper functions you don’t need to write yourself

• stop_workers() to gracefully terminate long-running tasks

• reset_lock() to clean up when threads complete

• set_generator() and run_generators() to queue and execute background operations

What You Need to Implement

Only one method is abstract, and that’s _init(). This is where you set up any plugin-specific logic or configuration. It’s automatically called at the end of the base class constructor.

Note

Want the technical breakdown? Check the MetaModel section of this manual — it walks through each method’s purpose and parameters.