Allow manual selection of image directory and annotation file in Streamlit GUI

[shardulmahamulkar]

Description

Currently the Streamlit GUI automatically detects the image directory and
annotation file based on a specific folder structure. This fails silently
with "Dataset files not found" when users have their dataset organized
differently, with no helpful guidance on what structure is expected.

Proposed Fix

Add manual path inputs in the Streamlit GUI for:

• Image directory
• Annotation file

This gives users full control and makes the app more flexible for different
dataset setups.

Steps to reproduce

1. Open Streamlit GUI
2. Point Dataset Viewer to a dataset folder
3. App returns "Dataset files not found" with no explanation of expected structure

Environment

Windows 11

[James-ezechinyere]

Hi, I'd like to work on this. My proposed approach is to add optional manual path input fields in the sidebar for image directory and annotation file path, while preserving the existing auto-detection for users whose datasets match the expected structure.

[shardulmahamulkar]

I am already working on a fix, will submit a PR soon.

[dpascualhe]

Hi @James-ezechinyere , I'll assign this to @shardulmahamulkar since they opened up the issue. @shardulmahamulkar , I like this idea, can you make it so we can keep the current behavior and optionally allow for annotation/image directories selection? Thanks!

[shardulmahamulkar]

@dpascualhe I was working on this and my initial idea was to keep manual selection first and then the current one , but what you proposed makes more sense, ill start with the approach you proposed.
Also I will merge another issue in to this issue where ; when it finds no valid dataset it fails but dosent explain why or tell what kind of structure is expected , so I will fix that too by mentioning what kind of structure is expected.
thankyou!!

[dpascualhe]

Closing for now as we have big changes coming to the GUI in #609 . Feel free to check it out and maybe open up a new issue after that. Thanks for your interest and sorry for the delay!