Profiles¶

Status: PROPOSED

Profile chips, the picker, persistence, and printer push are planned in docs/ui/ui-plan.md:173–180,266–273,284–286. Current analysis/profile and metadata facts are marked HOW IT IS with code citations.

Prepare shows three compact selectors: Printer, Filament, and Process. Each opens the same searchable picker on the relevant tab.

At a glance¶

Profile	Planned responsibility	What is real today
Printer	Machine identity, geometry, and non-planar clearance defaults	No printer-profile setter or UI. Inferred-printer ABI output exists.
Filament	Material identity and temperatures used by analysis	`Analyze` already packs a real `NpsMaterialProfile`, but both apps currently pass hard-coded PLA 210/60.
Process	Named projection onto the four demo-process inputs and planned non-planar fields	The four demo-process inputs work; named presets and delta tracking do not.

Profile chips¶

PROPOSED — each chip shows the current selection and state:

Chip state	Display
Stored selection	Profile name, for example `X1 Carbon` or `PLA Basic`
Parsed inference	Value plus `(inferred)`
Edited after apply	Delta dot on the chip
Required data missing	`Not selected` and an explanation on open
Simulator-mode Prepare	Read-only/reduced presentation where editing belongs in Slicer mode

Clicking a chip opens the picker; applying a profile updates visible fields but does not silently generate. If a generated path exists, a relevant change makes it dirty.

Searchable picker¶

PROPOSED — one dialog has three tabs:

Tab	Search keys	Apply result	Custom editing
Printer	vendor, model, build volume	Select preset; fill clearance defaults	Machine identity and supported geometry fields
Filament	vendor, material, profile name	Select material and analysis temperatures	Material fields supported by `NpsMaterialProfile`
Process	name, layer height, purpose	Project preset values into Process and non-planar controls	Save the current visible values as a host preset

The dialog is searchable and keyboard accessible. Esc closes it without applying. Apply is explicit; selecting a row for inspection is not enough.

Filament profile: real analysis path¶

HOW IT IS — EngineSession.Analyze(MaterialProfileOptions) constructs and marshals NpsMaterialProfile, then calls AnalyzeGcode (src/Nps.EngineHost/EngineSession.cs:416–452). The current host fills material type, melt temperature, and glass transition; the other struct fields remain at their defaults (src/Nps.EngineHost/EngineSession.cs:421–430).

HOW IT IS — both apps currently analyze with the literal MaterialProfileOptions("PLA", 210, 60) (src/SlicerApp/MainWindow.axaml.cs:502; src/SimulatorApp/MainWindow.axaml.cs:408,578). There is no current filament picker.

PROPOSED — applying a Filament profile replaces those hard-coded options with the selected profile. A parsed (inferred) value is a suggestion/display source; it does not overwrite an explicit user selection without an Apply action.

Inferred metadata¶

The engine already exposes three string outputs:

Metadata	Existing export	Planned consumer
Material	`GetInferredMaterialType` (`src/Nps.EngineHost/NpsAbi.cs:276–277`)	Filament chip and metadata block
Source slicer	`GetInferredSlicerType` (`src/Nps.EngineHost/NpsAbi.cs:279–280`)	Read-only metadata block above Findings
Printer	`GetInferredPrinter` (`src/Nps.EngineHost/NpsAbi.cs:282–285`)	Printer chip and metadata block

HOW IT IS — these ABI exports exist and the printer output is documented as coming from parsed slicer header data (src/Nps.EngineHost/NpsAbi.cs:282–285). They have no production UI consumer today.

PROPOSED — after external G-code is parsed, an inferred metadata block shows:

Material: PETG (inferred) · Slicer: OrcaSlicer · Printer: X1 Carbon (inferred)

Unknown/empty values display Unknown; the UI does not claim a profile match when the engine returned none. Clicking an inferred Printer or Filament value opens the picker with matching candidates, but still requires Apply.

Printer profile honesty¶

PROPOSED — Printer profiles live in a host JSON store at first. They drive UI defaults such as nozzle/gantry clearance and appear in the chip/picker.

The planned additive engine hook is:

SetPrinterProfile(NpsPrinterProfile)

Until that export exists and is called, the selected printer is host-only. The UI must not imply that the engine used build volume, kinematics, nozzle geometry, or printer limits merely because a chip is selected.

Process profiles¶

PROPOSED — a Process profile is a named projection, not a hidden engine object. Applying one fills:

the four current demo parameters: layer height, feedrate, volumetric flow scale, and layer count;
planned non-planar angle, amplitude, thickness, clearance, detection, and seam fields when the profile defines them.

HOW IT IS — the four current values already flow through SliceParams into GcodeGenOptions (src/SlicerApp/SliceParams.cs:88–96) and are packed for GenerateGcode (src/Nps.EngineHost/EngineSession.cs:341–364). Named presets, non-planar projections, and persistence are PROPOSED.

Apply and delta tracking¶

flowchart LR
  P["Open profile picker"] --> A["Apply profile"]
  A --> F["Populate visible fields"]
  F --> E["Edit one field"]
  E --> D["Delta dot + field badge"]
  D --> S["Slice / Re-slice"]

PROPOSED rules:

Apply writes visible controls and records the applied baseline.
A field that differs from the baseline gets a delta badge.
The owning chip gets a delta dot.
Reverting to the profile value clears that field’s delta.
Applying another profile replaces the baseline.
Delta state describes settings, not whether generation succeeded.
Any relevant post-generation edit also activates the dirty banner.

Storage and portability¶

PROPOSED — the first profile catalog is a host JSON store. That means:

it is not engine canonical state;
printer and process profiles can exist before new ABI exports;
persistence failures are reported, not silently ignored;
importing/exporting profile JSON is a separate user action, not G-code Export;
the docs continue to label host-only selections honestly.

No cloud sync or cross-machine catalog is promised by this prototype.