plasma-expert/spark-lessons/PyQt_PROGRESS.md

PyQt5 Application Development Progress

Project: Tesla Coil Spark Physics Course - Interactive Desktop Application Started: 2025-10-10 Current Status: Phase 2 - Main Window Complete ✅

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Phase 1: Core Setup & Infrastructure (COMPLETED)

✅ Completed Files

1. Environment & Launch

• ✅ run.bat - Launch script with virtual environment management
• ✅ requirements.txt - PyQt5 and all dependencies

2. Database

• ✅ resources/database/schema.sql - Complete SQLite schema (8 tables)
• ✅ app/database.py - Database manager with convenience methods

3. Configuration

• ✅ app/config.py - All paths, constants, colors, settings

4. Course Model

• ✅ app/models/course_model.py - Complete course structure loader
  • Course, Part, Section, Lesson, LearningPath classes
  • Fast lesson lookup by ID
  • Navigation (next/prev lesson)
  • Search by title/tag
  • Learning path filtering

5. Application Entry

• ✅ app/main.py - Basic application launcher
• ✅ app/__init__.py - Package initialization
• ✅ app/models/__init__.py - Models package

Database Schema

Tables Created:

1. users - User profiles and preferences
2. lesson_progress - Lesson completion tracking
3. exercise_attempts - All exercise attempts
4. exercise_completion - Best scores per exercise
5. study_sessions - Daily session tracking
6. achievements - Badge system
7. bookmarks - Saved lessons/notes
8. learning_path_progress - Path-specific progress

Course Model Features

Loaded from course.json:

• 4 Parts with 30 Lessons
• 18 Exercises (525 points)
• 4 Learning Paths
• Reference materials
• Worked examples
• Tags and metadata

Navigation Methods:

• get_lesson(id) - Fast O(1) lookup
• get_next_lesson(id) - Sequential navigation
• get_prev_lesson(id) - Sequential navigation
• get_lesson_by_index(i) - Access by position (0-29)
• search_lessons(query) - Search by title
• get_lessons_for_path(path_id) - Filter by learning path
• get_lessons_by_tag(tag) - Filter by tag

Testing the Setup

To test current progress:

cd C:\git\spark-lesson
run.bat

Expected Behavior:

1. Creates virtual environment (first run)
2. Installs PyQt5 and dependencies
3. Connects to SQLite database (~/.tesla_spark_course/progress.db)
4. Loads course.json (30 lessons, 4 parts)
5. Validates lesson files exist
6. Shows success dialog with course info

Current Output:

Tesla Coil Spark Physics Course v1.0.0
[*] Initializing database...
[OK] Database ready: C:\Users\...\progress.db
[*] Loading course structure...
[OK] Course loaded: Tesla Coil Spark Physics: Complete Course
[*] Validating lesson files...
[OK] All lesson files found
[*] Application setup complete

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Phase 2: Main Window & UI (COMPLETED)

✅ Completed Components

Priority 1: Main Window Layout

• ✅ app/views/main_window.py - QMainWindow with 3-panel QSplitter
• ✅ app/views/navigation_panel.py - Left sidebar (QTreeWidget)
• ✅ app/views/content_viewer.py - Center (QWebEngineView)
• ✅ app/views/progress_panel.py - Right sidebar (QScrollArea)
• ✅ app/views/__init__.py - Views package

Priority 2: Navigation Tree ✅

• ✅ Tree structure showing 4 parts, 30 lessons
• ✅ Status icons (✓ ⊙ ○ 🔒)
• ✅ Learning path selector dropdown
• ✅ Search functionality
• ✅ Double-click to open lessons
• ✅ Continue Learning button

Priority 3: Content Viewer ✅

• ✅ Markdown rendering (python-markdown + pymdownx)
• ✅ MathJax equation rendering (CDN)
• ✅ Image loading from assets/
• ✅ Custom tag parsing ({exercise:id}, {image:file})
• ✅ Styled HTML output with syntax highlighting
• ⏳ Auto-scroll restoration (placeholder)

Priority 4: Progress Panel ✅

• ✅ Overall progress bar
• ✅ Part-by-part progress (4 parts)
• ✅ Current lesson info
• ✅ Quick stats (points, time, streak)
• ✅ Level system display
• ✅ Exercise completion tracking

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Architecture Overview

spark-lessons/
├── run.bat                          ✅ DONE
├── requirements.txt                 ✅ DONE
├── app/
│   ├── __init__.py                  ✅ DONE
│   ├── main.py                      ✅ DONE
│   ├── config.py                    ✅ DONE
│   ├── database.py                  ✅ DONE
│   ├── models/
│   │   ├── __init__.py              ✅ DONE
│   │   ├── course_model.py          ✅ DONE
│   │   ├── progress_model.py        🔄 TODO (optional)
│   │   └── user_model.py            🔄 TODO (optional)
│   ├── views/                       ✅ DONE (all)
│   │   ├── __init__.py              ✅ DONE
│   │   ├── main_window.py           ✅ DONE
│   │   ├── navigation_panel.py      ✅ DONE
│   │   ├── content_viewer.py        ✅ DONE
│   │   └── progress_panel.py        ✅ DONE
│   ├── controllers/                 🔄 TODO (optional)
│   │   ├── navigation_controller.py
│   │   └── progress_controller.py
│   └── utils/                       🔄 TODO (optional)
│       ├── markdown_renderer.py
│       └── icon_provider.py
└── resources/
    ├── database/
    │   └── schema.sql               ✅ DONE
    ├── styles/                      🔄 TODO
    │   └── main.qss
    └── icons/                       🔄 TODO
        └── status/

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Technical Stack

Core:

• Python 3.8+
• PyQt5 5.15.0+
• SQLite3

Content Rendering:

• python-markdown 3.5.0+
• pymdown-extensions 10.5.0+ (for equations, syntax highlighting)
• PyQt5-WebEngine (for rendering HTML/MathJax)

Data:

• PyYAML 6.0.1+ (for exercises)
• JSON (for course structure)

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Phase 3: Enhancements & Polish (NEXT)

1. Exercise System (4-6 hours)

   • Create exercise YAML files
   • Exercise widget components
   • Answer validation
   • Hints system
   • Score tracking

2. Keyboard Navigation (2-3 hours)

   • Next/prev lesson shortcuts
   • Search hotkey
   • Quick navigation
   • Lesson completion shortcut

3. Additional Features (3-4 hours)

   • Bookmarking system
   • Notes editor
   • Export progress report
   • Print lesson content

4. Polish & UX (2-3 hours)

   • Smooth scrolling
   • Loading indicators
   • Error handling improvements
   • Tooltips and help text

Estimated Time: 11-16 hours for Phase 3

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Known Issues / Notes

1. Lesson File Paths: The course_model currently constructs paths by string manipulation. Works for current structure but may need refinement.

2. Exercise Files: Exercise YAML files don't exist yet in the exercises/ directory. Need to create them or handle gracefully.

3. Images: 22 images generated, 15 placeholders exist. Circuit diagrams (7) need manual creation.

4. MathJax CDN: Currently points to CDN. For offline use, may want to bundle MathJax locally.

5. Single User: Database designed for single-user desktop app. Multi-user would need authentication layer.

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Success Metrics for Phase 2

• ✅ Main window opens without errors
• ✅ Navigation tree shows all 30 lessons with proper structure
• ✅ Click lesson → content loads and displays
• ✅ Markdown renders correctly with MathJax
• ⏳ Images display from assets/ (when files exist)
• ✅ Progress panel shows basic stats
• ✅ Learning path filter works
• ✅ Search functionality works
• ✅ Progress tracking in database
• ✅ Auto-save every 10 seconds
• ✅ Menu bar with File/View/Help
• ✅ 3-panel splitter layout

Phase 2 Complete! All core UI components implemented and functional.

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Last Updated: 2025-10-10 Status: Phase 2 complete - Full application UI working!

Testing the Application

To run the application:

cd C:\git\spark-lesson\spark-lessons
run.bat

Current Functionality:

1. ✅ Browse all 30 lessons in tree structure
2. ✅ Double-click lessons to view content
3. ✅ Markdown content with equations renders properly
4. ✅ Progress tracking automatically saves
5. ✅ Filter by learning path
6. ✅ Search lessons by title
7. ✅ View overall and per-part progress
8. ✅ Points and level system
9. ✅ Study statistics (time, streak, exercises)

Known Limitations:

• Exercise widgets not yet interactive (placeholders only)
• Scroll position restoration not implemented
• Some lesson images need to be created
• No keyboard shortcuts yet