Dropdown menu to select vector layer from current displayed layers in qgis

Question

I'm trying to write a python plugin to create an input file for an urban climate model out of three shape files. One of the shape files contains the buildings (polygon), one the trees (point), and the third one the center point of the new model input file (point).

I therefore need a function to select one layer out of the currently displayed ones. I tried messing around with

qgis.utils.iface.legendInterface().layers()      

but then I get some ugly output like

qgis.core.QgsVectorLayer object at 0xb4b6f5c.

Is there a possibility to get readable names out of this? Or is there an easier way to select the layers?

Any ideas or help greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

You're returning the layer itself. Go one step further and return the name (property) of the layer. Like this:

layers = qgis.utils.iface.legendInterface().layers()

for layer in layers:
    layerName = layer.name()
    print layerName #or do something else with the name