Inspecting pickles with PExplorer
=================================

PExplorer is a separate Qt application for browsing mpylab pickles. It uses
mpylab's compatibility loader and displays the object structure as a tree.
Selected data can be transferred to a table and plotted as one or more Y
quantities over an X quantity.

Installation and start
----------------------

.. code-block:: console

   python -m pip install pexplorer
   pexplorer

The optional dependency for direct pandas object support can be installed
with:

.. code-block:: console

   python -m pip install "pexplorer[dataframe]"

Typical workflow
----------------

1. Open a final or ``after-measure`` pickle.
2. Select the required measurement or evaluation dataset in the object tree.
3. Run the table command or adapt it to the particular structure.
4. Select X and Y columns and display them in the Plot tab.

A typical MSC path is:

.. code-block:: text

   processedData_MainCal -> empty -> EnormAve

PExplorer automatically proposes a table command for ``DataFrame`` and
``Series`` objects. Editable Python commands remain deliberately available
for nested mpylab structures because frequency keys, lists, ``Quantity``
objects, and optional ``None`` values require different preparation depending
on the measurement.

Security
--------

Both loading a pickle and running a table command can execute Python code.
Use PExplorer only with trusted pickles and commands.