Developer Toolkit
Software Integration and Customization in Life Sciences
Modern imaging experiments often need connected accessory devices. Your workflow may also require advanced functionality available in FIJI and Python, but not in ZEN. Pushing the boundaries of experimental automation, ZEN Developer toolkit now enables smooth integration of external tools in ZEN, or vice versa.
Numerous Diverse Interfaces
The Many Ways of Interacting with Your Instrument
There is a number of different ways of accessing ZEN, including instrument control, from external tools. Open Application Development (OAD) allows workflow customization, automation and execution of external analysis (e.g. in FIJI or Python). TCP/IP interfaces allow remote instrument control from external applications. Advanced applications can be developed with ZEN extensions.
Scripting Interface with Integrated IDE
Full Workflow Customization via ZEN‘s Own Scripting Tool
At the heart of the Developer Toolkit is the ZEN’s integrated development environment (IDE) for IronPython scripting. It allows importing of IronPython packages and .NET libraries. The light-weight IDE enables recording of manual workflows in ZEN, code editing with Intellisense code completion and debugging. Almost any ZEN hardware control or analysis function can be employed, and external analysis software may be executed from within the scripts.
Instrument Control Through External Software
Full Workflow Customization via ZEN’s Remote Control
If you want to integrate imaging into your custom workflows, you may easily control ZEN remotely using external software. ZEN has implemented the user-friendly TCP-IP and COM interfaces, enabling receiving receipt of external ZEN PythonScript commands. This means you can now easily send individual commands or even entire OAD macros with minimal overhead effort.
ZEN Macro IDE - Features and Boilerplates
Scripting Resources
Tutorials, Templates, Programming Environments, and User Forums
OAD Github Page – Scripts for ZEN applications
Tutorials, Templates, Programming Environments, and User Forums
OAD's GitHub page provides scripts to automate ZEN applications like BioApps, Experiment Feedback, Guided Acquisition, Intellesis Machine Learning, ZEN Connect…
OAD Github page – Templates for SW interfaces
The GitHub page has scripts for third-party integration (FIJI, Python, Napari, Matlab, Jupyter notebooks) covering image import/export, COM/TCP-IP interfaces, and CZI image format reading.
OAD Github Page – Google Colab Workspace
GitHub's Jupyter Notebook scripts are accessible in Google Colabs, allowing interactive learning through well-documented scripts. These run on Google's cloud with GPU support, ideal for machine learning.
ZEISS Microscopy Developer Community
For OAD scripting discussions and assistance, ZEISS Microscopy hosts a forum where users engage, post questions, and receive prompt feedback from both peers and ZEISS experts.