Gumbie: a GUI Generator for Jython

[Ron Stephens]

Jet lagged, but couldn't resist reading an article in Dr Dobbs Journal
April print magazine I just picked up. Hoping for alternate ways to
create simple GUI apps for the new Sharp Zaurus.

Gumbie: a GUI generator for Jython is an article by Peter Brinkman
starting on page 46 (I haven't even looked for an online version).

Gumbie is an extensible, GPL'ed program that allows for rapid creation
of simple user input-output menu driven GUI's for Java programs using
AWT. The author suggests it could easily be extended to use Swing
widgets, and, since none of the generic classes of Gumbie use Java
classes, it could also be extended to use Tk widgets, or , one presumes,
wxPython widgets or Qt widgets (which might be extra useful for the new
Sharp Zaurus).

I am wondering if anyone else who reads this article has any comments.
Although I have limited time available, I want to eventually convert
some very simple "applets" I have written in Python into nice GUI apps
for the Zaurus (which I don't own yet). Hey, it's a hobby..

I have just received my copy of GUI Programming with Python using the Qt
toolkit by Boudjewin Rempt, but the copy of Black Adder I ordered online
two weeks ago hasn't shown up yet. (sigh) One option for the Zaurus is
to use Qtopia to run a GUI created by Back Adder. Another option would
be to convert my Python applets to Jython (it worked for one already,
with some difficulty) but I need a way to create a simple gui front end
for the jython applets. Maybe this Gumbie will work??? I don't want the
complexity of using Java's native Swing etc. (but by the time I'm
finished, I may wish I had just learned to do it the 
"hard way" with pure java :_))).

I think there must be lots of "non programmers" who want to find an easy
way to convert simple command line Python scripts into simple GUI
input-output programs. Python makes writing simple command line scripts
easy enough for part time duffers; but how to create the gui??? I
haven't' checked out easy gui yet, but with so many options, even
checking them all out is a time consuming job ;-)) > 
Python Card seems to be aimed at much more complex stuff than the simple
input-output nice -looking gui's I need for my command line programs. A
solution for this might interest an awful lot of duffers...

Anyway, Gumbie looks like it is easily extensible in many ways. I
imagine it could also be easily converted to a pure Python program,
rather than Jython, and then easily extended to other widget  toolkits;
maybe even extended to work on the Zaurus then? 

Or maybe EasyGUI is a better starting point? If I take a year or so, I
might even be able to extend Gumbie myself. If no one does, maybe I
will. But someone more able might do it in a day or two; I could help 
;-)))

Anyone else like Gumbie???

P.S. my first trip to the bookstore upon returning home form my travels
also yielded the february issue of Linux Format with anice series of
articles on the Sharp Zaurus 5000D (developer version) and the upcoming
5500 commercial release Zaurus running embeded linux with embedded Qt
and Jeode (Java version). Anyone seen the developer version and care to
comment????

Ron Stephens