162 lines
5.8 KiB
ReStructuredText
162 lines
5.8 KiB
ReStructuredText
:tocdepth: 2
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==========================
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Graphic User Interface FAQ
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==========================
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.. contents::
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General GUI Questions
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=====================
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What platform-independent GUI toolkits exist for Python?
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--------------------------------------------------------
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Depending on what platform(s) you are aiming at, there are several.
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.. XXX check links
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Tkinter
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'''''''
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Standard builds of Python include an object-oriented interface to the Tcl/Tk
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widget set, called Tkinter. This is probably the easiest to install and use.
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For more info about Tk, including pointers to the source, see the Tcl/Tk home
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page at http://www.tcl.tk. Tcl/Tk is fully portable to the MacOS, Windows, and
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Unix platforms.
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wxWindows
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'''''''''
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wxWindows is a portable GUI class library written in C++ that's a portable
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interface to various platform-specific libraries; wxWidgets is a Python
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interface to wxWindows. wxWindows supports Windows and MacOS; on Unix variants,
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it supports both GTk+ and Motif toolkits. wxWindows preserves the look and feel
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of the underlying graphics toolkit, and there is quite a rich widget set and
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collection of GDI classes. See `the wxWindows page <http://www.wxwindows.org>`_
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for more details.
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`wxWidgets <http://wxwidgets.org>`_ is an extension module that wraps many of
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the wxWindows C++ classes, and is quickly gaining popularity amongst Python
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developers. You can get wxWidgets as part of the source or CVS distribution of
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wxWindows, or directly from its home page.
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Qt
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'''
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There are bindings available for the Qt toolkit (`PyQt
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<http://www.riverbankcomputing.co.uk/software/pyqt/>`_) and for KDE (PyKDE). If
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you're writing open source software, you don't need to pay for PyQt, but if you
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want to write proprietary applications, you must buy a PyQt license from
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`Riverbank Computing <http://www.riverbankcomputing.co.uk>`_ and (up to Qt 4.4;
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Qt 4.5 upwards is licensed under the LGPL license) a Qt license from `Trolltech
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<http://www.trolltech.com>`_.
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Gtk+
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''''
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PyGtk bindings for the `Gtk+ toolkit <http://www.gtk.org>`_ have been
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implemented by by James Henstridge; see ftp://ftp.gtk.org/pub/gtk/python/.
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FLTK
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''''
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Python bindings for `the FLTK toolkit <http://www.fltk.org>`_, a simple yet
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powerful and mature cross-platform windowing system, are available from `the
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PyFLTK project <http://pyfltk.sourceforge.net>`_.
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FOX
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'''
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A wrapper for `the FOX toolkit <http://www.fox-toolkit.org/>`_ called `FXpy
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<http://fxpy.sourceforge.net/>`_ is available. FOX supports both Unix variants
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and Windows.
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OpenGL
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''''''
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For OpenGL bindings, see `PyOpenGL <http://pyopengl.sourceforge.net>`_.
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What platform-specific GUI toolkits exist for Python?
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-----------------------------------------------------
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`The Mac port <http://python.org/download/mac>`_ by Jack Jansen has a rich and
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ever-growing set of modules that support the native Mac toolbox calls. The port
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includes support for MacOS9 and MacOS X's Carbon libraries. By installing the
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`PyObjc Objective-C bridge <http://pyobjc.sourceforge.net>`_, Python programs
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can use MacOS X's Cocoa libraries. See the documentation that comes with the Mac
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port.
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:ref:`Pythonwin <windows-faq>` by Mark Hammond includes an interface to the
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Microsoft Foundation Classes and a Python programming environment using it
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that's written mostly in Python.
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Tkinter questions
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=================
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How do I freeze Tkinter applications?
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-------------------------------------
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Freeze is a tool to create stand-alone applications. When freezing Tkinter
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applications, the applications will not be truly stand-alone, as the application
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will still need the Tcl and Tk libraries.
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One solution is to ship the application with the tcl and tk libraries, and point
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to them at run-time using the :envvar:`TCL_LIBRARY` and :envvar:`TK_LIBRARY`
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environment variables.
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To get truly stand-alone applications, the Tcl scripts that form the library
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have to be integrated into the application as well. One tool supporting that is
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SAM (stand-alone modules), which is part of the Tix distribution
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(http://tix.mne.com). Build Tix with SAM enabled, perform the appropriate call
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to Tclsam_init etc inside Python's Modules/tkappinit.c, and link with libtclsam
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and libtksam (you might include the Tix libraries as well).
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Can I have Tk events handled while waiting for I/O?
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---------------------------------------------------
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Yes, and you don't even need threads! But you'll have to restructure your I/O
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code a bit. Tk has the equivalent of Xt's XtAddInput() call, which allows you
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to register a callback function which will be called from the Tk mainloop when
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I/O is possible on a file descriptor. Here's what you need::
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from Tkinter import tkinter
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tkinter.createfilehandler(file, mask, callback)
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The file may be a Python file or socket object (actually, anything with a
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fileno() method), or an integer file descriptor. The mask is one of the
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constants tkinter.READABLE or tkinter.WRITABLE. The callback is called as
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follows::
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callback(file, mask)
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You must unregister the callback when you're done, using ::
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tkinter.deletefilehandler(file)
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Note: since you don't know *how many bytes* are available for reading, you can't
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use the Python file object's read or readline methods, since these will insist
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on reading a predefined number of bytes. For sockets, the :meth:`recv` or
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:meth:`recvfrom` methods will work fine; for other files, use
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``os.read(file.fileno(), maxbytecount)``.
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I can't get key bindings to work in Tkinter: why?
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-------------------------------------------------
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An often-heard complaint is that event handlers bound to events with the
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:meth:`bind` method don't get handled even when the appropriate key is pressed.
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The most common cause is that the widget to which the binding applies doesn't
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have "keyboard focus". Check out the Tk documentation for the focus command.
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Usually a widget is given the keyboard focus by clicking in it (but not for
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labels; see the takefocus option).
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