Merged revisions 75363 via svnmerge from

svn+ssh://pythondev@svn.python.org/python/trunk

........
  r75363 | georg.brandl | 2009-10-11 20:31:23 +0200 (So, 11 Okt 2009) | 1 line

  Add the Python FAQ lists to the documentation.  Copied from sandbox/faq.  Many thanks to AMK for the preparation work.
........

1 files changed, 160 insertions, 0 deletions

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).
+
+
+