[Idle-dev] Unsolved problem.

[Scott David Daniels]

Tal Einat wrote:
> Mark Fenton wrote:
>> Does anyone know how to do the following:
>> ...
>> Save the above as HiLo.py in site packages then put a shortcut onto desktop
>> and when it's double - clicked it comes up NOT in a black dos window but as
>> it would if one were to run it from the IDLE i.e., white background with
>> blue characters.
> 
> This works for me, after having saved the code as C:\hilo.py :
> 
> I create a shortcut to hilo.py on the desktop, then enter the
> shortcut's properties and enter this in the 'target' field:
> C:\Python25\python.exe C:\Python25\Lib\idlelib\idle.py -r C:\hilo.py
> (copy/paste and run this in the command line first to make sure that
> it works right)
> 
> You could alternatively change the 'start in' field to
> "C:\Python25\Lib\idlelib" (without the quotes), and the just have
> "idle.bat -r C:\hilo.py" in the 'target' field.

The missing part of the trick to eliminate the dread "DOS Box" is
to use "pythonw" rather than python.

If you really are using python 2.5(.*) or later, you can simplify
the command a bit:
     C:\Python25\pythonw.exe -m idlelib.idle -r C:\hilo.py
When using this, the "start in" field is irrelevant.

As to the colored text:
     print "foo"
     print >>sys.stderr, "mumble"
will print in a pair of colors in Idle (I don't think you get
general control over the colors.).

--Scott David Daniels
Scott.Daniels at Acm.Org