gui developing

[Mage]

Hello,
I am flirting with the idea of developing a gui app in python as a
newbie. Which module should I use?
I have noticed that wxpython is already installed on my gentoo and the
examples on their wiki looks easy. Is it okay or should I use wax or
something else?

Mage

[codecraig]

I am fairly new to Python as well. However, coming from a Java
background and Swing...I jumped into Jython. It let me use my previous
swing knowledge to make GUI's. However, python comes with Tkinter
which is the 'standard' gui library. I'd suggest checking out Tkinter,
but i dont have much experience with others.

some other ones I have heard about... wxWidgest, and Python Card

[Jaime Wyant]

Python Card wraps around wxPython.

wxPython is a wrapper around wxWidgets. Because of this, it may not
feel very "pythonic."

I personally really like wxPython -- heck it is borderline love!
wxPython isn't that hard to pick up and the folks on the mailing list
are especially helpful. wxPython's creator, Robin Dunn doesn't seem
to sleep or eat and is constantly answering questions. No, I'm
serious Robin doesn't eat or sleep -- I'm still trying to find someone
who has actually met him. I personally believe he is a robot.

Be warned though, that some people question the
"cross-platformability" of wxPython. I've been doing GUI stuff
exclusively for windows, so I can't really speak to this.

jw

On 22 Apr 2005 10:41:49 -0700, codecraig <co*******@gmail.com> wrote:

I am fairly new to Python as well. However, coming from a Java
background and Swing...I jumped into Jython. It let me use my previous
swing knowledge to make GUI's. However, python comes with Tkinter
which is the 'standard' gui library. I'd suggest checking out Tkinter,
but i dont have much experience with others.

some other ones I have heard about... wxWidgest, and Python Card

--
http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list

[Christopher De Vries]

I have recently been using gtk+2 and glade2. I love glade because it
allows me to visually design my interface and then use my favorite
editor to code up all the callbacks. Best of all the UI is stored as an
xml file you just load from your python program.

For a good introduction, take a look at this article from Linux
Journal:
http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/6586

Chris

[Grant Edwards]

On 2005-04-22, Mage <ma**@mage.hu> wrote:

I am flirting with the idea of developing a gui app in python
as a newbie. Which module should I use? I have noticed that
wxpython is already installed on my gentoo and the examples on
their wiki looks easy. Is it okay or should I use wax or
something else?

If you need portability, then wxPython is hard to beat.
wxPython is a bit complex -- it took me a while to grasp the
concept of separate trees/hierarchies for widget layout and for
widget ownership. Though there are a few situations where it
could be useful (I've never run across any of them in my apps),
the whole ID scheme seems pretty clunky. Wax unifies the two
trees so it's simpler to learn (it's more like Tk).

Sizers in wxPython feel a log like hbox/vbox layout from TeX,
so I like that.

The Gtk port of Python is pretty decent as well, but
portability to Windows and Mac isn't as good.

I've never tried Qt.

--
Grant Edwards grante Yow! Will the third world
at war keep "Bosom Buddies"
visi.com off the air?

[Grant Edwards]

On 2005-04-22, Jaime Wyant <pr***********@gmail.com> wrote:

wxPython's creator, Robin Dunn doesn't seem to sleep or eat
and is constantly answering questions. No, I'm serious Robin
doesn't eat or sleep
No kidding! I think he puts more work into wxPython than a lot
of people put into their full-time jobs. Every day right after
lunchtime (USA CST), there is always a whole batch of Robin's
answers to wxPython questions on the mailing list.
Be warned though, that some people question the
"cross-platformability" of wxPython. I've been doing GUI
stuff exclusively for windows, so I can't really speak to
this.

I write (fairly simple apps) on Linux and deploy on Windows.
There is an occasional glitch, but it works far better than
anybody has any right to expect.

wxPython combined with py2exe and inno-setup can make writing a
windows app something that won't drive you to threats of
suicide.

--
Grant Edwards grante Yow! And furthermore,
at my bowling average is
visi.com unimpeachable!!!

[R. C. James Harlow]

On Friday 22 April 2005 20:07, Grant Edwards wrote:

I've never tried Qt.

Qt, in my opinion, is as excellent as python in the consistency stakes, has
the best documentation bar none, an excellent set of python bindings, the
best free layout tool, and an active and helpful community.

The killer, of course, is that there's no free windows port, so if you're
doing free software that you want to run on linux then you're stuffed.

james.
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[Paul Rubin]

Mage <ma**@mage.hu> writes:

I am flirting with the idea of developing a gui app in python as a
newbie. Which module should I use?
Tkinter is the most widespread and it's pretty easy to use.
I have noticed that wxpython is already installed on my gentoo and the
examples on their wiki looks easy. Is it okay or should I use wax or
something else?

If wxpython already installed, then that's great. It's not
preinstalled on the RH9 or FC3 systems I use, and I found it an
enormous pain to install. I eventually gave up.

[Shane Hathaway]

R. C. James Harlow wrote:

Qt, in my opinion, is as excellent as python in the consistency stakes, has
the best documentation bar none, an excellent set of python bindings, the
best free layout tool, and an active and helpful community.

The killer, of course, is that there's no free windows port, so if you're
doing free software that you want to run on linux then you're stuffed.

That situation is about to change: Qt 4 for Windows will be available
under the GPL.

http://www.trolltech.com/newsroom/an.../00000192.html

However, I haven't heard whether PyQt for Qt 4 will also be available
under the GPL.

Shane

[R. C. James Harlow]

On Friday 22 April 2005 20:26, Shane Hathaway wrote:

The killer, of course, is that there's no free windows port, so if you're
doing free software that you want to run on linux then you're stuffed.

That situation is about to change: Qt 4 for Windows will be available
under the GPL.

http://www.trolltech.com/newsroom/an.../00000192.html

Ah - I did know that, but I thought that it was Q4 2005, not Q2 2005, so
didn't bother mentioning it. That's excellent news!
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[John J. Lee]

"R. C. James Harlow" <ja***@wrong.nu> writes:

On Friday 22 April 2005 20:07, Grant Edwards wrote:

I've never tried Qt.
Qt, in my opinion, is as excellent as python in the consistency stakes, has
the best documentation bar none, an excellent set of python bindings, the
best free layout tool, and an active and helpful community.

Qt's technical superiority is unchallenged (pretty much).

The killer, of course, is that there's no free windows port, so if you're
doing free software that you want to run on linux then you're stuffed.

Soon to change: Qt 4 for Windows (and the corresponding PyQt) will be
available under the GPL. Dunno when Qt 4 is scheduled for though. I
wonder if BlackAdder will carry on with roughly similar price and
licensing with Qt 4?

Also, somebody outside Trolltech was also doing a port of Qt 3 GPL to
Windows which apparently got quite a long way. Whether that effort
continues, and whether PyQt will support that 'unofficial' port, I
don't know (not sure TT are hugely happy about the port, so perhaps
PyQt's author - Phil Thompson - respecting the people at TT as I'm
sure he does, won't support it).

Poor old Phil Thompson is fated to answer the same licensing questions
forever, though - an activity I suspect he dislikes even more than GUI
application programming <wink>
John

[John J. Lee]

Shane Hathaway <sh***@hathawaymix.org> writes:

R. C. James Harlow wrote: [...] That situation is about to change: Qt 4 for Windows will be available
under the GPL.

http://www.trolltech.com/newsroom/an.../00000192.html

However, I haven't heard whether PyQt for Qt 4 will also be available
under the GPL.

Yes, PyQt will be available under the same license as Qt.

The only thing left for people to gripe about post-Qt 4 is that it's
not BSD-licensed: you have to pay when you write non-free (free as in
speech) software.
John

[Thomas Bartkus]

"Jaime Wyant" <pr***********@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:ma**************************************@pyth on.org...
Python Card wraps around wxPython.

<snip>
Be warned though, that some people question the
"cross-platformability" of wxPython. I've been doing GUI stuff
exclusively for windows, so I can't really speak to this.

I'm sure there are gotchas I haven't stumbled into yet
BUT
wxPython "cross-platformability" Linux/Gnome<->Windows is amazing!

Thomas Bartkus

[John J. Lee]

"Christopher De Vries" <ch*************@gmail.com> writes:

I have recently been using gtk+2 and glade2. I love glade because it
allows me to visually design my interface and then use my favorite
editor to code up all the callbacks. Best of all the UI is stored as an
xml file you just load from your python program.

[...]

Qt, wx and Gtk all have toolsets to do this. Tk too?
John

[Phil Thompson]

On Friday 22 April 2005 9:26 pm, John J. Lee wrote:

"R. C. James Harlow" <ja***@wrong.nu> writes:

On Friday 22 April 2005 20:07, Grant Edwards wrote:

I've never tried Qt.
Qt, in my opinion, is as excellent as python in the consistency stakes,
has the best documentation bar none, an excellent set of python bindings,
the best free layout tool, and an active and helpful community.

Qt's technical superiority is unchallenged (pretty much).

The killer, of course, is that there's no free windows port, so if you're
doing free software that you want to run on linux then you're stuffed.

Soon to change: Qt 4 for Windows (and the corresponding PyQt) will be
available under the GPL. Dunno when Qt 4 is scheduled for though. I
wonder if BlackAdder will carry on with roughly similar price and
licensing with Qt 4?

Qt 4 is scheduled for the end of Q2. The plan is that PyQt will follow "fairly
soon" after, but there will be a number of releases with classes being added
at each release. It will be some afterwards that the support matches that of
Qt 3.
Also, somebody outside Trolltech was also doing a port of Qt 3 GPL to
Windows which apparently got quite a long way. Whether that effort
continues, and whether PyQt will support that 'unofficial' port, I
don't know (not sure TT are hugely happy about the port, so perhaps
PyQt's author - Phil Thompson - respecting the people at TT as I'm
sure he does, won't support it).
With something like that you adopt a "wait and see" attitude to see if it
gains any momentum.
Poor old Phil Thompson is fated to answer the same licensing questions
forever, though - an activity I suspect he dislikes even more than GUI
application programming <wink>

But at least it means I can stop adding the phrase "but it depends of which
platform you are using" to every sentence I utter.

Phil

[John J. Lee]

jj*@pobox.com (John J. Lee) writes:

Shane Hathaway <sh***@hathawaymix.org> writes:

[...]

However, I haven't heard whether PyQt for Qt 4 will also be available
under the GPL.

Yes, PyQt will be available under the same license as Qt.

Oops, s/license/licenses/
John