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GRASS integration provides access to GRASS GIS databases and functionalities (see GRASS-PROJECT in Литература и ссылки на web-ресурсы). The integration consists of two parts: provider and plugin. The provider allows to browse, manage and visualize GRASS raster and vector layers. The plugin can be used to create new GRASS locations and mapsets, change GRASS region, create and edit vector layers and analyze GRASS 2-D and 3-D data with more than 400 GRASS modules. In this section, we’ll introduce the provider and plugin functionalities and give some examples of managing and working with GRASS data.
The provider supports GRASS version 6 and 7, the plugin supports GRASS 6 and 7 (starting from QGIS 2.12). QGIS distribution may contain provider/plugin for either GRASS 6 or GRASS 7 or for both versions at the same time (binaries have different file names). Only one version of the provider/plugin may be loaded on runtime however.
As an example, we will use the QGIS Alaska dataset (see section Sample Data).
It includes a small sample GRASS LOCATION
with three vector layers and one
raster elevation map. Create a new folder called grassdata
, download
the QGIS ‘Alaska’ dataset qgis_sample_data.zip
from
http://qgis.org/downloads/data/ and unzip the file into grassdata
.
More sample GRASS LOCATIONs
are available at the GRASS website at
http://grass.osgeo.org/download/sample-data/.
If the provider is loaded in QGIS, the location item with GRASS
icon is added in the browser tree under each folder item which contains GRASS location.
Go to the folder
grassdata
and expand location alaska
and
mapset demo
.
You can load GRASS raster and vector layers like any other layer from the browser either by double click on layer item or by dragging and dropping to map canvas or legend.
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Подключение данных GRASS
If you don’t see GRASS location item, verify in Help ‣ About ‣ Providers if GRASS vector provider is loaded.
This section gives an example of how to import raster and vector data into a GRASS mapset.
When raster data are in different CRS, they can be reprojected using an Approximate
(fast) or Exact (precise) transformation. If a link to the source raster
is created (using r.external
), the source data are in the same CRS and the format
is known to GDAL, the source data CRS will be used. You can set these options in the
Browser tab in GRASS Options.
If a source raster has more bands, a new GRASS map is created for each layer with
.<band number> suffix and group of all maps with icon is created.
External rasters have a different icon
.
GRASS options may be set in GRASS Options dialog, which can be opened by right clicking on the location or mapset item in the browser and then choosing GRASS Options.
To use GRASS functionalities in QGIS, you must select and load the GRASS plugin using the
Plugin Manager. To do this, go to the menu Plugins ‣
Manage and Install Plugins..., select
GRASS and click
[OK].
The following main features are provided with the GRASS menu (Plugins ‣ GRASS) when you start the GRASS plugin:
A GRASS mapset must be opened to get access to GRASS Tools in the plugin (the tools are disabled if no mapset is open). You can open a mapset from the browser: right click on mapset item and then choose Open mapset from context menu.
GRASS data are stored in a directory referred to as GISDBASE. This directory, often
called grassdata
, must be created before you start working with the GRASS
plugin in QGIS. Within this directory, the GRASS GIS data are organized by projects
stored in subdirectories called LOCATIONs
. Each LOCATION
is defined
by its coordinate system, map projection and geographical boundaries. Each
LOCATION
can have several MAPSETs
(subdirectories of the
LOCATION
) that are used to subdivide the project into different topics or
subregions, or as workspaces for individual team members (see Neteler & Mitasova
2008 in Литература и ссылки на web-ресурсы). In order to analyse vector and raster layers
with GRASS modules, you generally have to import them into a GRASS LOCATION
.
(This is not strictly true – with the GRASS modules r.external
and v.external
you can create read-only links to external GDAL/OGR-supported datasets without
importing them. This is not the usual way for beginners to work with GRASS, therefore
this functionality will not be described here.)
Данные GRASS в районе «alaska»
See section Importing data into a GRASS LOCATION via drag and drop to find how data can be easily imported by dragging and dropping in the browser.
This section gives an example of how to import raster and vector data into the
‘alaska’ GRASS LOCATION
provided by the QGIS ‘Alaska’ dataset in traditional
way, using standard GRASS modules.
Therefore, we use the landcover raster map landcover.img
and the vector GML
file lakes.gml
from the QGIS ‘Alaska’ dataset (see Sample Data).
grassdata
in the QGIS
Alaska dataset, as LOCATION
‘alaska’, as MAPSET
‘demo’ and
click [OK].landcover.img
, click the module
r.in.gdal
in the Modules Tree tab. This GRASS module
allows you to import GDAL-supported raster files into a GRASS
LOCATION
. The module dialog for r.in.gdal
appears.raster
in the QGIS ‘Alaska’ dataset
and select the file landcover.img
.landcover_grass
and click
[Run]. In the Output tab, you see the currently running GRASS
command r.in.gdal -o input=/path/to/landcover.img
output=landcover_grass
.landcover_grass
raster layer is now imported into GRASS and
will be visualized in the QGIS canvas.lakes.gml
, click the module
v.in.ogr
in the Modules Tree tab. This GRASS module allows
you to import OGR-supported vector files into a GRASS LOCATION
. The
module dialog for v.in.ogr
appears.gml
in the QGIS ‘Alaska’ dataset and select the
file lakes.gml
as OGR file.lakes_grass
and click [Run]. You
don’t have to care about the other options in this example. In the
Output tab you see the currently running GRASS command
v.in.ogr -o dsn=/path/to/lakes.gml output=lakes\_grass
.lakes_grass
vector layer is now imported into GRASS and will be
visualized in the QGIS canvas.As an example, here is the sample GRASS LOCATION alaska
, which is
projected in the Albers Equal Area projection using feet as units.
This sample GRASS LOCATION alaska
will be used for all examples and
exercises in the following GRASS-related sections. It is useful to download and
install the dataset on your computer (see Sample Data).
alaska.shp
shapefile (see section Loading a layer from a file)
from the QGIS Alaska dataset (see Sample Data).grassdata
, or create
one for the new LOCATION
using a file manager on your computer. Then
click [Next].MAPSET
within an existing
LOCATION
(see section Добавление нового набора) or to create a new
LOCATION
altogether. Select LOCATION
– we used ‘alaska’ – and click [Next].LOCATION
and
projection and haven’t memorized the EPSG ID, click on the LOCATION
bounds in the
north, south, east, and west directions. Here, we simply click on the button
[Set current QGIS extent], to apply the extent of the loaded layer
alaska.shp
as the GRASS default region extent.MAPSET
within our new LOCATION
(this
is necessary when creating a new LOCATION
). You can name it whatever you
like - we used ‘demo’. GRASS automatically creates a special MAPSET
called
PERMANENT
, designed to store the core data for the project, its default
spatial extent and coordinate system definitions (see Neteler & Mitasova 2008
in Литература и ссылки на web-ресурсы).LOCATION
, ‘alaska’, and two MAPSETs
, ‘demo’ and ‘PERMANENT’,
are created. The currently opened working set is ‘demo’, as you defined.Обратите внимание, что некоторые из инструментов на панели GRASS, которые раньше были отключены, теперь доступны.
Creating a new GRASS LOCATION or a new MAPSET in QGIS
If that seemed like a lot of steps, it’s really not all that bad and a very quick
way to create a LOCATION
. The LOCATION
‘alaska’ is now ready for
data import (see section Импорт данных в область GRASS). You can also use the already-existing
vector and raster data in the sample GRASS LOCATION
‘alaska’,
included in the QGIS ‘Alaska’ dataset Sample Data, and move on to
section Модель векторных данных GRASS.
A user has write access only to a GRASS MAPSET
which he or she created. This
means that besides access to your own MAPSET
, you can read maps in other users’
MAPSETs
(and they can read yours), but you can modify or remove only the maps in
your own MAPSET
.
All MAPSETs
include a WIND
file that stores the current boundary
coordinate values and the currently selected raster resolution (see Neteler & Mitasova
2008 in Литература и ссылки на web-ресурсы, and section Инструмент работы с регионом GRASS).
grassdata
with the
LOCATION
‘alaska’, where we want to add a further MAPSET
called ‘test’.MAPSET
within an existing
LOCATION
or to create a new LOCATION
altogether. Click on the
radio button text
for the new MAPSET
. Below in the wizard, you
see a list of existing MAPSETs
and corresponding owners.It is important to understand the GRASS vector data model prior to digitizing. In general, GRASS uses a topological vector model. This means that areas are not represented as closed polygons, but by one or more boundaries. A boundary between two adjacent areas is digitized only once, and it is shared by both areas. Boundaries must be connected and closed without gaps. An area is identified (and labelled) by the centroid of the area.
Besides boundaries and centroids, a vector map can also contain points and lines. All these geometry elements can be mixed in one vector and will be represented in different so-called ‘layers’ inside one GRASS vector map. So in GRASS, a layer is not a vector or raster map but a level inside a vector layer. This is important to distinguish carefully. (Although it is possible to mix geometry elements, it is unusual and, even in GRASS, only used in special cases such as vector network analysis. Normally, you should prefer to store different geometry elements in different layers.)
It is possible to store several ‘layers’ in one vector dataset. For example, fields, forests and lakes can be stored in one vector. An adjacent forest and lake can share the same boundary, but they have separate attribute tables. It is also possible to attach attributes to boundaries. An example might be the case where the boundary between a lake and a forest is a road, so it can have a different attribute table.
The ‘layer’ of the feature is defined by the ‘layer’ inside GRASS. ‘Layer’ is the number which defines if there is more than one layer inside the dataset (e.g., if the geometry is forest or lake). For now, it can be only a number. In the future, GRASS will also support names as fields in the user interface.
Attributes can be stored inside the GRASS LOCATION
as dBase, SQLite3 or
in external database tables, for example, PostgreSQL, MySQL, Oracle, etc.
Атрибуты в таблицах баз данных соотносятся с геометрическими элементами с помощью значения «категорий».
«Категории» (ключ, ID) — это целые числа, присоединенные к геометрическим элементам, они используются как ссылка на ключевую колонку в базе данных.
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Изучение модели векторных данных GRASS
The best way to learn the GRASS vector model and its capabilities is to download one of the many GRASS tutorials where the vector model is described more deeply. See http://grass.osgeo.org/documentation/manuals/ for more information, books and tutorials in several languages.
To create a new GRASS vector layer, select one of following items from mapset context menu in the browser:
and enter a name in the dialog. A new vector map will be created and layer will be added to canvas and editing started. Selecting type of the layer does not restrict geometry types which can be digitized in the vector map. In GRASS, it is possible to organize all sorts of geometry types (point, line and polygon) in one vector map. The type is only used to add the layer to the canvas, because QGIS requires a layer to have a specific type.
It is also possible to add layers to existing vector maps selecting one of the items described above from context menu of existing vector map.
In GRASS, it is possible to organize all sorts of geometry types (point, line and area) in one layer, because GRASS uses a topological vector model, so you don’t need to select the geometry type when creating a new GRASS vector. This is different from shapefile creation with QGIS, because shapefiles use the Simple Feature vector model (see section Creating new vector layers).
GRASS vector layers can be digitized using the standard QGIS digitizing tools. There are however some particularities, which you should know about, due to
The particularities are discussed in the following sections.
Save, discard changes, undo, redo
Предупреждение
All the changes done during editing are immediately written to vector map and related attribute tables.
Changes are written after each operation, it is however, possible to do undo/redo or discard all changes when closing editing. If undo or discard changes is used, original state is rewritten in vector map and attribute tables.
There are two main reasons for this behaviour:
Панель инструментов
The ‘Digitizing Toolbar’ has some specific tools when a GRASS layer is edited:
Table GRASS Digitizing: GRASS Digitizing Tools
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Оцифровка полигонов в GRASS
If you want to create a polygon in GRASS, you first digitize the boundary of the polygon. Then you add a centroid (label point) into the closed boundary. The reason for this is that a topological vector model links the attribute information of a polygon always to the centroid and not to the boundary.
Category
Category, often called cat, is sort of ID. The name comes from times when GRASS vectors had only singly attribute “category”. Category is used as a link between geometry and attributes. A single geometry may have multiple categories and thus represent multiple features in different layers. Currently it is possible to assign only one category per layer using QGIS editing tools. New features have automatically assigned new unique category, except boundaries. Boundaries usually only form areas and do not represent linear features, it is however possible to define attributes for a boundary later, for example in different layer.
New categories are always created only in currently being edited layer.
It is not possible to assign more categories to geometry using QGIS editing, such data are properly represented as multiple features, and individual features, even from different layers, may be deleted.
Attributes
Attributes of currently edited layer can only be modified. If the vector map contains more layers, features of other layers will have all attributes set to ‘<not editable (layer #)>’ to warn you that such attribute is not editable. The reason is, that other layers may have and usually have different set of fields while QGIS only supports one fixed set of fields per layer.
If a geometry primitive does not have a category assigned, a new unique category is automatically assigned and new record in attribute table is created when an attribute of that geometry is changed.
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If you want to do bulk update of attributes in table, for example using ‘Field Calculator’
(Using the Field Calculator), and there are features without category which you don’t want
to update (typically boundaries), you can filter them out by setting ‘Advanced Filter’ to cat is not null
.
Editing style
The topological symbology is essential for effective editing of topological data. When editing starts, a specialized ‘GRASS Edit’ renderer is set on the layer automatically and original renderer is restored when editing is closed. The style may be customized in layer properties ‘Style’ tab. The style can also be stored in project file or in separate file as any other style. If you customize the style, do not change its name, because it is used to reset the style when editing is started again.
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Do not save project file when the layer is edited, the layer would be stored with ‘Edit Style’ which has no meaning if layer is not edited.
The style is based on topological information which is temporarily added to attribute table as field ‘topo_symbol’. The field is automatically removed when editing is closed.
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Do not remove ‘topo_symbol’ field from attribute table, that would make features invisible because the renderer is based on that column.
Snapping
To form an area, vertices of connected boundaries must have exactly the same coordinates. This can be achieved using snapping tool only if canvas and vector map have the same CRS. Otherwise, due conversion from map coordinates to canvas and back, the coordinate may become slightly different due to representation error and CRS transformations.
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Use layer’s CRS also for canvas when editing.
Limitations
Simultaneous editing of multiple layers within the same vector at the same time is not supported. This is mainly due to the impossibility of handling multiple undo stacks for a single data source.
On Linux and macOS only one GRASS layer can be edited at time. This is
due to a bug in GRASS which does not allow to close database drivers in random order.
This is being solved with GRASS developers.
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Права редактирования GRASS
You must be the owner of the GRASS MAPSET
you want to edit. It is
impossible to edit data layers in a MAPSET
that is not yours, even
if you have write permission.
The region definition (setting a spatial working window) in GRASS is important
for working with raster layers. Vector analysis is by default not limited to any
defined region definitions. But all newly created rasters will have the spatial
extension and resolution of the currently defined GRASS region, regardless of
their original extension and resolution. The current GRASS region is stored in
the $LOCATION/$MAPSET/WIND
file, and it defines north, south, east and
west bounds, number of columns and rows, horizontal and vertical spatial resolution.
It is possible to switch on and off the visualization of the GRASS region in the QGIS
canvas using the Display current GRASS region button.
The region can be modified in ‘Region’ tab in ‘GRASS Tolls’ dock widget. Type in the new region bounds and resolution, and click [Apply]. If you click on [Select the extent by dragging on canvas] you can select a new region interactively with your mouse on the QGIS canvas dragging a rectangle.
The GRASS module g.region
provides a lot more parameters to define an
appropriate region extent and resolution for your raster analysis. You can use
these parameters with the GRASS Toolbox, described in section The GRASS Toolbox.
The Open GRASS Tools box provides GRASS module functionalities
to work with data inside a selected GRASS
LOCATION
and MAPSET
.
To use the GRASS Toolbox you need to open a LOCATION
and MAPSET
that you have write permission for (usually granted, if you created the MAPSET
).
This is necessary, because new raster or vector layers created during analysis
need to be written to the currently selected LOCATION
and MAPSET
.
GRASS Toolbox and Module Tree
The GRASS shell inside the GRASS Toolbox provides access to almost all (more than 300) GRASS modules in a command line interface. To offer a more user-friendly working environment, about 200 of the available GRASS modules and functionalities are also provided by graphical dialogs within the GRASS plugin Toolbox.
A complete list of GRASS modules available in the graphical Toolbox in QGIS version 2.18 is available in the GRASS wiki at http://grass.osgeo.org/wiki/GRASS-QGIS_relevant_module_list.
It is also possible to customize the GRASS Toolbox content. This procedure is described in section Настройка инструментов GRASS.
As shown in figure_grass_toolbox, you can look for the appropriate GRASS module using the thematically grouped Modules Tree or the searchable Modules List tab.
By clicking on a graphical module icon, a new tab will be added to the Toolbox dialog, providing three new sub-tabs: Options, Output and Manual.
Параметры
The Options tab provides a simplified module dialog where you can usually select a raster or vector layer visualized in the QGIS canvas and enter further module-specific parameters to run the module.
GRASS Toolbox Module Options
The provided module parameters are often not complete to keep the dialog simple. If you want to use further module parameters and flags, you need to start the GRASS shell and run the module in the command line.
A new feature since QGIS 1.8 is the support for a Show Advanced Options
button below the simplified module dialog in the Options tab. At the
moment, it is only added to the module v.in.ascii
as an example of use, but it will
probably be part of more or all modules in the GRASS Toolbox in future versions
of QGIS. This allows you to use the complete GRASS module options without the need
to switch to the GRASS shell.
Вывод
GRASS Toolbox Module Output
The Output tab provides information about the output status of the
module. When you click the [Run] button, the module switches to the
Output tab and you see information about the analysis process. If
all works well, you will finally see a Successfully finished
message.
Справка
GRASS Toolbox Module Manual
The Manual tab shows the HTML help page of the GRASS module. You can
use it to check further module parameters and flags or to get a deeper knowledge
about the purpose of the module. At the end of each module manual page, you see
further links to the Main Help index
, the Thematic index
and the
Full index
. These links provide the same information as the
module g.manual
.
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Показать результат сразу
Если вы хотите отобразить результаты выших вычислений сразу же в окне карты, используйте кнопку [Показать вывод] внизу вкладки модуля.
Следующие примеры продемонстрируют применение некоторых из модулей GRASS.
The first example creates a vector contour map from an elevation raster (DEM).
Here, it is assumed that you have the Alaska LOCATION
set up as explained
in section Импорт данных в область GRASS.
gtopo30
.Введите в поле Имя выходного векторного слоя имя ctour_100
.
Successfully finished
appears in the output window. Then click [View Output]
and [Close].Так как текущий регион довольно обширен, отображение на экране может занять какое-то время. После завершения отрисовки вы можете открыть окно свойств слоя, чтобы изменить цвет линии, так, чтобы изолинии были заметны на слое рельефа, как описано в разделе Свойства векторного слоя.
Next, zoom in to a small, mountainous area in the center of Alaska. Zooming in close, you will notice that the contours have sharp corners. GRASS offers the v.generalize tool to slightly alter vector maps while keeping their overall shape. The tool uses several different algorithms with different purposes. Some of the algorithms (i.e., Douglas Peuker and Vertex Reduction) simplify the line by removing some of the vertices. The resulting vector will load faster. This process is useful when you have a highly detailed vector, but you are creating a very small-scale map, so the detail is unnecessary.
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Инструмент упрощения геометрии
Note that QGIS has a Vector ‣ Geometry Tools ‣ Simplify geometries tool that works just like the GRASS v.generalize Douglas-Peuker algorithm.
However, the purpose of this example is different. The contour lines created by
r.contour
have sharp angles that should be smoothed. Among the v.generalize
algorithms, there is Chaiken’s, which does just that (also Hermite splines). Be
aware that these algorithms can add additional vertices to the vector,
causing it to load even more slowly.
Проверьте, что в поле Имя исходного векторного слоя находится вектор ctour_100
.
Successfully finished
appears in
the output windows, click [View output] and then [Close].Вы можете изменить цвет векторных изолиний, чтобы четче отобразить их поверх растра и в контрасте с оригинальными изолиниями. Вы заметите, что новые изолинии имеют более гладкие края, чем оригинальные, оставаясь в целом исходной формы.
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Другие применения модуля r.contour
The procedure described above can be used in other equivalent situations. If you have a raster map of precipitation data, for example, then the same method will be used to create a vector map of isohyetal (constant rainfall) lines.
Several methods are used to display elevation layers and give a 3-D effect to maps. The use of contour lines, as shown above, is one popular method often chosen to produce topographic maps. Another way to display a 3-D effect is by hillshading. The hillshade effect is created from a DEM (elevation) raster by first calculating the slope and aspect of each cell, then simulating the sun’s position in the sky and giving a reflectance value to each cell. Thus, you get sun-facing slopes lighted; the slopes facing away from the sun (in shadow) are darkened.
gtopo30
elevation raster. Start the GRASS
Toolbox, and under the Raster category, double-click to open Spatial
analysis ‣ Terrain analysis.Затем выберите r.shaded.relief, чтобы открыть этот модуль.
gtopo30_shade
for the new hillshade raster, and click [Run].Когда процесс закончится, добавьте растр отмывки на карту. Как вы видите, он отображается в серой цветовой шкале.
gtopo30
together, move
the hillshade map below the gtopo30
map in the table of contents, then open
the Properties window of gtopo30
, switch to the
Transparency tab and set its transparency level to about 25%.Вы должны получить слой рельефа gtopo30
с его цветовой картой и заданной прозрачностью поверх слоя отмывки в серых тонах. Для того, чтобы оценить визуальный эффект теневой отмывки рельефа, отключите слой gtopo30_shade
, затем опять верните его.
Использование оболочки GRASS
The GRASS plugin in QGIS is designed for users who are new to GRASS and not familiar with all the modules and options. As such, some modules in the Toolbox do not show all the options available, and some modules do not appear at all. The GRASS shell (or console) gives the user access to those additional GRASS modules that do not appear in the Toolbox tree, and also to some additional options to the modules that are in the Toolbox with the simplest default parameters. This example demonstrates the use of an additional option in the r.shaded.relief module that was shown above.
The GRASS shell, r.shaded.relief module
The module r.shaded.relief can take a parameter zmult
, which multiplies
the elevation values relative to the X-Y coordinate units so that the hillshade
effect is even more pronounced.
gtopo30
elevation raster as above, then start the GRASS Toolbox
and click on the GRASS shell. In the shell window, type the command
r.shaded.relief map=gtopo30 shade=gtopo30_shade2 azimuth=315 zmult=3
and
press [Enter].gtopo30_shade2
raster to display it in QGIS.gtopo30
raster in
the table of contents, then check the transparency of the colored gtopo30
layer.
You should see that the 3-D effect stands out more strongly compared with the
first shaded relief map.Следующий пример показывает, как модуль GRASS может обрабатывать растровые данные и добавлять колонки статистики для каждого полигона в векторном слое.
shapefiles
directory into GRASS.Введите в поле Имя выходного векторного слоя имя forest_areas
и запустите модуль.
forest_areas
vector and display the types of forests - deciduous,
evergreen, mixed - in different colors: In the layer Properties
window, Symbology tab, choose from Legend type
gtopo30
and forest_areas
.elev
,
and click [Run]. This is a computationally heavy operation, which will run
for a long time (probably up to two hours).forest_areas
attribute table, and verify that several new
columns have been added, including elev_min
, elev_max
, elev_mean
,
etc., for each forest polygon.Nearly all GRASS modules can be added to the GRASS Toolbox. An XML interface is provided to parse the pretty simple XML files that configure the modules’ appearance and parameters inside the Toolbox.
Простой XML-файл для генерации модуля v.buffer (v.buffer.qgm
) выглядит примерно так:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE qgisgrassmodule SYSTEM "http://mrcc.com/qgisgrassmodule.dtd">
<qgisgrassmodule label="Vector buffer" module="v.buffer">
<option key="input" typeoption="type" layeroption="layer" />
<option key="buffer"/>
<option key="output" />
</qgisgrassmodule>
The parser reads this definition and creates a new tab inside the Toolbox when you select the module. A more detailed description for adding new modules, changing a module’s group, etc., can be found on the QGIS wiki at http://hub.qgis.org/projects/quantum-gis/wiki/Adding_New_Tools_to_the_GRASS_Toolbox.