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author | Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> | 2009-10-11 18:31:23 (GMT) |
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committer | Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> | 2009-10-11 18:31:23 (GMT) |
commit | 6728c5a762752260324b2015a2d47528f4c7194a (patch) | |
tree | a255e1d2b73c3269f66e472d1e3aefa9a09afc34 /Doc/faq/gui.rst | |
parent | 32855b6dcd04dffe6a3e9705afcced6cbcb95bef (diff) | |
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Add the Python FAQ lists to the documentation. Copied from sandbox/faq. Many thanks to AMK for the preparation work.
Diffstat (limited to 'Doc/faq/gui.rst')
-rw-r--r-- | Doc/faq/gui.rst | 160 |
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diff --git a/Doc/faq/gui.rst b/Doc/faq/gui.rst new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d3cf779 --- /dev/null +++ b/Doc/faq/gui.rst @@ -0,0 +1,160 @@ +:tocdepth: 2 + +========================== +Graphic User Interface FAQ +========================== + +.. contents:: + +General GUI Questions +===================== + +What platform-independent GUI toolkits exist for Python? +-------------------------------------------------------- + +Depending on what platform(s) you are aiming at, there are several. + +.. XXX check links + +Tkinter +''''''' + +Standard builds of Python include an object-oriented interface to the Tcl/Tk +widget set, called Tkinter. This is probably the easiest to install and use. +For more info about Tk, including pointers to the source, see the Tcl/Tk home +page at http://www.tcl.tk. Tcl/Tk is fully portable to the MacOS, Windows, and +Unix platforms. + +wxWindows +''''''''' + +wxWindows is a portable GUI class library written in C++ that's a portable +interface to various platform-specific libraries; wxWidgets is a Python +interface to wxWindows. wxWindows supports Windows and MacOS; on Unix variants, +it supports both GTk+ and Motif toolkits. wxWindows preserves the look and feel +of the underlying graphics toolkit, and there is quite a rich widget set and +collection of GDI classes. See `the wxWindows page <http://www.wxwindows.org>`_ +for more details. + +`wxWidgets <http://wxwidgets.org>`_ is an extension module that wraps many of +the wxWindows C++ classes, and is quickly gaining popularity amongst Python +developers. You can get wxWidgets as part of the source or CVS distribution of +wxWindows, or directly from its home page. + +Qt +''' + +There are bindings available for the Qt toolkit (`PyQt +<http://www.riverbankcomputing.co.uk/pyqt/>`_) and for KDE (PyKDE). If you're +writing open source software, you don't need to pay for PyQt, but if you want to +write proprietary applications, you must buy a PyQt license from `Riverbank +Computing <http://www.riverbankcomputing.co.uk>`_ and a Qt license from +`Trolltech <http://www.trolltech.com>`_. + +Gtk+ +'''' + +PyGtk bindings for the `Gtk+ toolkit <http://www.gtk.org>`_ have been +implemented by by James Henstridge; see ftp://ftp.gtk.org/pub/gtk/python/. + +FLTK +'''' + +Python bindings for `the FLTK toolkit <http://www.fltk.org>`_, a simple yet +powerful and mature cross-platform windowing system, are available from `the +PyFLTK project <http://pyfltk.sourceforge.net>`_. + + +FOX +''' + +A wrapper for `the FOX toolkit <http://www.fox-toolkit.org/>`_ called `FXpy +<http://fxpy.sourceforge.net/>`_ is available. FOX supports both Unix variants +and Windows. + + +OpenGL +'''''' + +For OpenGL bindings, see `PyOpenGL <http://pyopengl.sourceforge.net>`_. + + +What platform-specific GUI toolkits exist for Python? +----------------------------------------------------- + +`The Mac port <http://python.org/download/mac>`_ by Jack Jansen has a rich and +ever-growing set of modules that support the native Mac toolbox calls. The port +includes support for MacOS9 and MacOS X's Carbon libraries. By installing the +`PyObjc Objective-C bridge <http://pyobjc.sourceforge.net>`_, Python programs +can use MacOS X's Cocoa libraries. See the documentation that comes with the Mac +port. + +:ref:`Pythonwin <windows-faq>` by Mark Hammond includes an interface to the +Microsoft Foundation Classes and a Python programming environment using it +that's written mostly in Python. + + +Tkinter questions +================= + +How do I freeze Tkinter applications? +------------------------------------- + +Freeze is a tool to create stand-alone applications. When freezing Tkinter +applications, the applications will not be truly stand-alone, as the application +will still need the Tcl and Tk libraries. + +One solution is to ship the application with the tcl and tk libraries, and point +to them at run-time using the :envvar:`TCL_LIBRARY` and :envvar:`TK_LIBRARY` +environment variables. + +To get truly stand-alone applications, the Tcl scripts that form the library +have to be integrated into the application as well. One tool supporting that is +SAM (stand-alone modules), which is part of the Tix distribution +(http://tix.mne.com). Build Tix with SAM enabled, perform the appropriate call +to Tclsam_init etc inside Python's Modules/tkappinit.c, and link with libtclsam +and libtksam (you might include the Tix libraries as well). + + +Can I have Tk events handled while waiting for I/O? +--------------------------------------------------- + +Yes, and you don't even need threads! But you'll have to restructure your I/O +code a bit. Tk has the equivalent of Xt's XtAddInput() call, which allows you +to register a callback function which will be called from the Tk mainloop when +I/O is possible on a file descriptor. Here's what you need:: + + from Tkinter import tkinter + tkinter.createfilehandler(file, mask, callback) + +The file may be a Python file or socket object (actually, anything with a +fileno() method), or an integer file descriptor. The mask is one of the +constants tkinter.READABLE or tkinter.WRITABLE. The callback is called as +follows:: + + callback(file, mask) + +You must unregister the callback when you're done, using :: + + tkinter.deletefilehandler(file) + +Note: since you don't know *how many bytes* are available for reading, you can't +use the Python file object's read or readline methods, since these will insist +on reading a predefined number of bytes. For sockets, the :meth:`recv` or +:meth:`recvfrom` methods will work fine; for other files, use +``os.read(file.fileno(), maxbytecount)``. + + +I can't get key bindings to work in Tkinter: why? +------------------------------------------------- + +An often-heard complaint is that event handlers bound to events with the +:meth:`bind` method don't get handled even when the appropriate key is pressed. + +The most common cause is that the widget to which the binding applies doesn't +have "keyboard focus". Check out the Tk documentation for the focus command. +Usually a widget is given the keyboard focus by clicking in it (but not for +labels; see the takefocus option). + + + |