How to choose the right GUI toolkit ?

[Bill Maxwell]

On 9 Nov 2006 22:48:10 -0800, "John Henry" <john106henry at hotmail.com>
wrote:

>Upon closer look, the walkthrough did say:
>
>***************************
>from PythonCard import model
>
>Change that so it says:
>
>from PythonCard import dialog, model
>
>Save the code.
>***************************
>
>So, it works.


Thanks for looking into it.  It sounds like either it has been fixed in
the newer version -- or I didn't do something correctly.  It's been a
long time, and I was just going by the notes I made back then.









>
>
>
>John Henry wrote:
>> Bill Maxwell wrote:
>> > On 8 Nov 2006 11:49:07 -0800, "John Henry" <john106henry at hotmail.com>
>> > wrote:
>> >
>> > >
>> > >John Salerno wrote:
>> > >> Dan Lenski wrote:
>> > >>
>> > >> > So, is there another toolkit I should be looking at?
>> > >>
>> > >> I highly recommend wxPython. It's very mature, full-featured, and
>> > >> portable, and fairly easy to learn as well. I can't really compare it to
>> > >> other toolkits (not having used any of them, except Tkinter), but it's
>> > >> definitely one of the most popular and well-supported ones out there.
>> > >>
>> > >> http://www.wxpython.org/
>> > >
>> > >I highly recommend that you try PythonCard (which sits on top of
>> > >wxPython).  You can get productive very very quickly.  Take a look at:
>> > >
>> > >http://pythoncard.sourceforge.net/walkthrough1.html
>> >
>> >
>> > I took a brief look at PythonCard almost a year ago and got discouraged
>> > by what I found, so I stopped looking at it.  I've inserted my notes
>> > from back then, below.  Does anybody know if these things have been
>> > fixed in the latest release?
>> >
>> > Bill
>> >
>> >
>> > =====================================================================
>> > My notes from Fri Dec-23-2005:
>> >
>> > This is a list of gripes I have while trying to learn about PythonCard.
>> > I'm trying to investigate various GUI builders for Python, and
>> > PythonCard looks promising, but a lot of things are getting in the way.
>> >
>> > I installed yesterday, using this installer:
>> > PythonCard-0.8.1.FIXED.win32.exe
>> >
>> > A)  The very first example in the tutorial is wrong!
>> >
>> > 	On this page:  http://pythoncard.sourceforge.net/documentation.html
>> > 	When you follow this link to try something for the very first time:
>> >
>> > 		Getting Started in PythonCard by Dan Shafer:
>> > 			http://pythoncard.sourceforge.net/walkthrough1.html
>> >
>> > 	You quickly see that the minimal.py example doesn't even contain
>> > this line, even though the tutorial refers to it:
>> >
>>
>> I am not sure which one you are referring to but in the
>> PythonCard\samples\minimal, you will find a minimal.py that says:
>>
>> #!/usr/bin/python
>>
>> """
>> __version__ = "$Revision: 1.8 $"
>> __date__ = "$Date: 2005/12/17 15:20:02 $"
>> """
>>
>> from PythonCard import model
>>
>>
>> class Minimal(model.Background):
>>     def on_menuFileAbout_select(self, event):
>>         pass
>>
>> if __name__ == '__main__':
>>     app = model.Application(Minimal)
>>     app.MainLoop()
>>
>>
>>
>> > 		def on_menuFileAbout_select(self, event):
>> >
>> > 	And, of course, if you replace the word "pass" with this, as
>> > instructed:
>> >
>> > 		result = dialog.alertDialog(self, 'It works!', 'Showing Off')
>> >
>> > 	it won't run, because the existing "pass" line isn't inside a def
>> > inside of a class.
>> >
>>
>> No, it didn't work because the author forgot to mention that you have
>> to do a:
>>
>> from PythonCard import model, dialog
>>
>> instead of just:
>>
>> from PythonCard import model
>>
>> I just tried it and it works.
>>
>> >
>> > B)  Is the Notebook widget really supported?
>> >
>> > 	In the installed file "changelog.txt" (gets installed as part of
>> > PythonCard installation), it says:
>> >
>> > 		"added Notebook component, PageBackground, and testNotebook
>> >  		sample"
>> >
>> > 	But, the testNotebook sample is nowhere to be found.
>> >
>>
>> I haven't come across a need to use Notebook and so I can not say for
>> sure.  Looking at notebook.py, it appears to be just a simple wrapper
>> on top of the wxWindow notebook.  I would encourage you to post a
>> message to the mailing list and ask there.
>>
>>
>> > 	I looked lots of places, including the main SourceForge web site,
>> > and on the wiki, here:
>> >
>> > 		http://wiki.wxpython.org/index.cgi/PythonCard
>> >
>> > 	Both the main website and the wiki seem way out of date, and the
>> > latest dates I could find on both of them are sometime in 2004.
>> >
>>
>> Yes, sometime around 2004, the website updating stopped.   Fortunately,
>> development didn't.  There are quite a number of new things since then:
>> new resource editor (now call layout Editor, standalone exe creator,
>> and so forth).  I even learn that a new sizer handler is in the work.
>>
>> Not saying that there are 10 programmers working 7/24 on it.  It *is*
>> an Open Source project nevertheless.   Nobody gets paid for doing it.
>>  But there are development work going on.
>>
>>
>> > 	Finally, by following the mailing list archive link on the main
>> > website, I managed to find a reference to the notebook component on the
>> > ASPN site, where some guy named Brian wonders about the same thing as
>> > me, concerning the availability of the notebook component:
>> >
>> > 		http://aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/Mail/Message/pythoncard/2536825
>> >
>> > 	and, that message led me here:
>> >
>> > 		http://article.gmane.org/gmane.comp.python.pythoncard/1060
>> >
>> > 	where Kevin Altis admits that he forgot to include it in the 0.8.1
>> > release!  At least he provides a way to download it separately.  But,
>> > gheesh, this is pretty poor for a new user.  I was interested in using
>> > the notebook component right away, because I looked at the wxGlade
>> > tutorial before looking at PythonPage, and they use the notebook
>> > component in their example (and I decided I really want to use the
>> > component).
>> >
>> > 	To add insult to injury, after you download the zip file with the
>> > testNotebook stuff, the readme file says this:
>> >
>> > 		"Until we have a Notebook integrated into some of the other
>> > samples or tools this will serve as a basic test app, but I don't expect
>> > to include it in releases."
>> >
>>
>>
>> As with all Open Source projects, your mileage differs.   PythonCard
>> does what *I* need to get done - and allowed me to get it done in a
>> *hurry*.  May be you really need Notebook and may be it's true that
>> Notebook really doesn't work, I don't know.   But if you managed to get
>> it working, write it up and get it included.  That's what Open Source
>> Projects are all about.
>>
>>
>> > C)  Are the websites being maintained?
>>
>>
>> It appears that the maintainer of the web site stopped updating it
>> since late 2004.  I don't know why.   May be he's been busy.  May be he
>> got mad.  I don't know.   All I know is that I have been very
>> productive with what I need to get done (and earned a happy living with
>> the code I created) and I am very grateful to the people that worked on
>> it - past and present.
>>
>> I am not a "professional programmer" and so I probably can't contribute
>> to the development effort itself.   However, I've gotten pretty good in
>> using most of the package (other then Notebook, I admit).  So, if you
>> have any specific questions, please post it to the PythonCard list and
>> I'll try to help if I can.
>> 
>> Cheers.