GUI Frameworks in Python?

[Mike Thompson]

Hugh Macdonald wrote:
> 
> Qt: I have yet to manage to install it on my system
 >

Its relatively easy to install and evaluate Qt/PyQt and Eric3 
(associated IDE) on a Linux box.  That's the easy path.

But its a LOT of work to try on a Windows box.  Both Qt and PyQt have 
licenses which allow non-commercial use on Linux but ONLY commercial use 
on Windows and NO easy path to an evaluation version.

I requested an evaluation versions of Qt for Windows from TrollTech and 
didn't get a response for 5 days.  Even then it was a response asking 
for more detailed information about me, my company and the purpose of 
the evaluation.  Nothing wrong with that, of course, except the whole 
process suddenly looked to be a very protracted one.  It wasn't even 
clear to me that I could then get an evaluation licence for PyQt. I gave 
up.  Too hard.

In the end, I found the easiest way to *partially* evaluate PyQt on 
Windows is to download the evaluation version of the "BlackAdder" IDE 
from "The Kompany".  BlackAdder is a toy IDE (IMO) but it does give you 
evaluation access to most of the Qt/PyQt libs and to 'Designer' the VERY 
IMPRESSIVE GUI builder that comes with Qt. The Qt/PyQt libs provided 
with BlackAdder do not include some important parts of the full Qt/PyQt 
combination: data aware widgets, etc.

I also note that even full PyQt does not support the ActiveX parts of Qt 
which turned out to be a problem for me.  Phil Thompson (Mr PyQt) seems 
interested in adding ActiveX support, but nothing is there yet.

Also Note: Eric3 is an impressive IDE that targets PyQt development. But 
you can't seem to evaluate it on windows, even if you have the 
BlackAdder demo version installed, because it requires a component that 
only comes with the full Qt/PyQt lib.

So all in all, I wouldn't even try to evaluate PyQt/Qt on Windows, just 
go straight to a Linux box.  (And be aware of the ActiveX limitations of 
PyQt once you get back to Windows).

You also need to be aware of the cost of PyQt/Qt.  Its expensive!  About 
  US$2500 for Qt (per seat) and 250 English pounds for PyQt (per seat).

Buying BlackAdder seems to give you access to a subset of the full 
PyQt/Qt libraries at a significantly reduced cost.


> 
> Anything else?
> 

No.  You've covered the main ones.

If evaluating wxPython, you may also want to look at wxDesigner.  It not 
a patch on Qt's Designer, but it seemed to me to be the best available. 
  There's also wxGlade and Boa.


BTW, I was recently reacquainted with VisualWorks (Smalltalk from 
CinCom) ... not THAT's an IDE!!  What a shame Python was nothing to come 
close, despite both languages sharing a similar dynamic nature.

--
Mike