Macintosh Python crash course

There is a companion document Using Python on the Mac which you should read before starting here: it explains the basics of using python on the Macintosh.

Another set of Macintosh-savvy examples, more aimed at beginners, is maintained by Joseph Strout, at http://www-acs.ucsd.edu/~jstrout/python/.

The document was actually written while I was working on a "real" project: creating a single-button application that will allow my girlfriend to read her mail (which actually pass thry my mailbox, so I get to read it too, but don't tell her:-) without her having to worry about internet connections, unix commands, etc. The application, when finished, will connect to the net using InterSLIP, start a (pseudo-)POP server on unix using rsh and use AppleScript to tell Eudora to connect to that server and retrieve messages.

If you want to try the examples here you will have to download some fixes to the 1.3 distribution to your Macintosh. You need an updated version of FrameWork.py (to go in Lib:mac and updated project templates to go into the PlugIns folder for PPC users. Users of 1.3.1 or later distributions don't need these fixes.

If you are reading this document on the web and would prefer to read it offline you can transfer the whole stuff (as a BinHexed StuffIt archive) from here. This archive includes the fixes mentioned in the previous paragraph.

Table of contents

• Using python to create Macintosh applications, part one explains how to create a simple modal-dialog application in Python. It also takes a glance at using the toolbox modules Res and Dlg, and EasyDialogs for simple question-dialogs.
• Using python to create Macintosh applications, part two turns the previous example program into a more complete mac application, using a modeless dialog, menus, etc. It also explains how to create applets, standalone applications written in Python.
• In the Python distribution two more examples are included without explanation. PICTbrowse is an application that locates PICT resources and displays them, it demonstrates some quickdraw and the resource and list namagers. Imgbrowse displays image files in many different formats (gif, tiff, pbm, etc). It shows how to use the img modules on the mac.
• Creating a C extension module on the Macintosh is meant for the hardcore programmer, and shows how to create an extension module in C. It also handles using Modulator to create the boilerplate for your module, and creating dynamically-loadable modules on PowerPC Macs.
• Using Open Scripting Architecture from Python explains how to create a Python module interfacing to a scriptable application, and how to use that module in your python program.