GUI Frameworks in Python?
Mike Thompson
none.by.e-mail
Tue Mar 30 07:09:10 EST 2004
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
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