Does a bioformat Format is really readable ?

[geektortoise]

Hello,

I want to be able to know which format need a mandatory conversion with PIMS.
The "convertible" is not as binary as I want so I thought the "readable" key would do the job. However, a format is defined by default as readable is there is a Reader class.
We are in the case where a format is "acceptable" (PIMS will accept it then convert it) but not really "readable" as a conversion is mandatory.

What is your vision of "readable" ? Can we override the "is_readable" function to return False for this plugin or do i need to introduce a new attribute for my needs ?

[urubens]

Hello,

A format is convertible if an image in this format may be converted into another format. The actual decision to convert the image into another format (need_conversion) could depend on image properties like width and height. Sometimes, the decision does not depend on image properties and we are in your case where a conversion is always needed whatever the image.

A format is readable is the format is natively readable by PIMS, that is, is able to extract at least windows from the image. A format which is flagged as not readable should always be convertible (see definitions e.g https://github.com/Cytomine-ULiege/pims/blob/master/pims/api/formats.py#L39, you can get it formatted once PIMS is running at http://localhost:5000/docs)

So format with readable=False need a mandatory conversion, and you're right, there is an issue with formats from this plugin 😞 We could simply remove the assignation of BioformatsReader (which is not implemented btw) in the formats from this plugin to fix it I think