needed saving the workflow in json format

[poautran]

In GitLab by @noordhee on Jan 17, 2026, 09:47 GMT+1:

It's for the user who wants to use the saved setup parameters from ewoks-canvas and use the .ows for other scanning raw data with the same parameters.

Migrated from GitLab: https://gitlab.esrf.fr/workflow/ewoks/ewoksorange/-/issues/79

[poautran]

In GitLab by @woutdenolf on Jan 17, 2026, 12:56 GMT+1:

I'm not against saving JSON or YAML from the canvas. But just to be clear, you can use OWS files just the same as JSON files. For example

ewoks execute myworkflow.ows

or

execute_graph("/path/to/myworkflows.ows")

works fine if ewoksorange is installed in the environment (provides an engine that can read and write OWS files, it can execute any format as usual for all engines).

The canvas only pops up when you do

ewoks execute ... --engine=orange

or

execute_graph(..., engine="orange")

[poautran]

In GitLab by @noordhee on Jan 17, 2026, 14:51 GMT+1:

Ohh, then we don't have to save it with a JSON extension,

If this is the case, is it also possible to do the overwrite stuff on some inputs saved in the .ows

like save

ewoks execute xyz.ows --engine=orange --parameter_1 10

[poautran]

In GitLab by @woutdenolf on Jan 17, 2026, 15:35 GMT+1:

it also possible to do the overwrite stuff on some inputs saved in the .ows

Yes. OWS is just a file format like JSON and YAML. An Ewoks workflow is an Ewoks workflow, regardless of the file format.

Of course the GUI's (orange and ewoksweb) handle only some formats (OWS and JSON respectively). This can probably be fixed if we invest time.

[poautran]

In GitLab by @Retegan on Jan 17, 2026, 19:05 GMT+1:

Interesting that I was thinking about this exact thing this week. OWS are complicated files to edit directly because of all the extra stuff they contain. Having the possibility to write a JSON/YAML file could be useful.

[poautran]

In GitLab by @noordhee on Jan 18, 2026, 08:30 GMT+1:

Okay, Yeah yeah,

After the user meeting, I will find some time, man. I will see how it could be done!, Cheers

[poautran]

In GitLab by @woutdenolf on Jan 18, 2026, 11:39 GMT+1:

FYI Canvas Qt window class structure (derives from):

• Orange.canvas.mainwindow.MainWindow
• orangewidget.workflow.mainwindow.OWCanvasMainWindow
• orangecanvas.application.canvasmain.CanvasMainWindow

In the last class the saving and loading is implemented:

https://redirect.github.com/biolab/orange-canvas-core/blob/9b12b1dddcce9c77415b89f4c628e65f6f381d51/orangecanvas/application/canvasmain.py#L425

We'll need to patch CanvasMainWindow to allow other extensions than .ows

Then the actual reading and writing needs to be patched. Not sure yet on which level.

Note that we already patch parse_ows_stream (that's the reading). Perhaps we do it in there and then scheme_to_ows_stream for writing. The problem is we won't know the format at that level.

We do the patching here: ewoksorange.gui._patch_on_import

[poautran]

In GitLab by @payno on Jan 19, 2026, 09:32 GMT+1:

Not sure the files are that complex to edit.

JSON will be very close. But you need to make sure all your settings are saved as 'human readable' output.

This is done at orange side by from orangecanvas.scheme.readwrite import literal_dumps.

[poautran]

In GitLab by @noordhee on Jan 19, 2026, 10:48 GMT+1:

No, files are not really complex to edit,