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182 lines
6.5 KiB
ReStructuredText
:tocdepth: 2
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==========================
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Graphic User Interface FAQ
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==========================
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.. only:: html
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.. contents::
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.. XXX need review for Python 3.
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General GUI Questions
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=====================
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What platform-independent GUI toolkits exist for Python?
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========================================================
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Depending on what platform(s) you are aiming at, there are several. Some
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of them haven't been ported to Python 3 yet. At least `Tkinter`_ and `Qt`_
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are known to be Python 3-compatible.
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.. XXX check links
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Tkinter
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-------
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Standard builds of Python include an object-oriented interface to the Tcl/Tk
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widget set, called :ref:`tkinter <Tkinter>`. This is probably the easiest to
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install (since it comes included with most
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`binary distributions <http://www.python.org/download/>`_ of Python) and use.
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For more info about Tk, including pointers to the source, see the
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`Tcl/Tk home page <http://www.tcl.tk>`_. Tcl/Tk is fully portable to the
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MacOS, Windows, and Unix platforms.
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wxWidgets
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---------
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wxWidgets (http://www.wxwidgets.org) is a free, portable GUI class
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library written in C++ that provides a native look and feel on a
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number of platforms, with Windows, MacOS X, GTK, X11, all listed as
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current stable targets. Language bindings are available for a number
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of languages including Python, Perl, Ruby, etc.
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wxPython (http://www.wxpython.org) is the Python binding for
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wxwidgets. While it often lags slightly behind the official wxWidgets
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releases, it also offers a number of features via pure Python
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extensions that are not available in other language bindings. There
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is an active wxPython user and developer community.
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Both wxWidgets and wxPython are free, open source, software with
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permissive licences that allow their use in commercial products as
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well as in freeware or shareware.
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Qt
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---
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There are bindings available for the Qt toolkit (using either `PyQt
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<http://www.riverbankcomputing.co.uk/software/pyqt/>`_ or `PySide
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<http://www.pyside.org/>`_) and for KDE (`PyKDE <http://www.riverbankcomputing.co.uk/software/pykde/intro>`__).
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PyQt is currently more mature than PySide, but you must buy a PyQt license from
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`Riverbank Computing <http://www.riverbankcomputing.co.uk/software/pyqt/license>`_
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if you want to write proprietary applications. PySide is free for all applications.
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Qt 4.5 upwards is licensed under the LGPL license; also, commercial licenses
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are available from `Nokia <http://qt.nokia.com/>`_.
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Gtk+
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----
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The `GObject introspection bindings <https://live.gnome.org/PyGObject>`_
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for Python allow you to write GTK+ 3 applications. There is also a
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`Python GTK+ 3 Tutorial <http://python-gtk-3-tutorial.readthedocs.org/en/latest/>`_.
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The older PyGtk bindings for the `Gtk+ 2 toolkit <http://www.gtk.org>`_ have
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been implemented by James Henstridge; see <http://www.pygtk.org>.
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FLTK
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----
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Python bindings for `the FLTK toolkit <http://www.fltk.org>`_, a simple yet
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powerful and mature cross-platform windowing system, are available from `the
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PyFLTK project <http://pyfltk.sourceforge.net>`_.
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FOX
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----
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A wrapper for `the FOX toolkit <http://www.fox-toolkit.org/>`_ called `FXpy
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<http://fxpy.sourceforge.net/>`_ is available. FOX supports both Unix variants
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and Windows.
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OpenGL
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------
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For OpenGL bindings, see `PyOpenGL <http://pyopengl.sourceforge.net>`_.
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What platform-specific GUI toolkits exist for Python?
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========================================================
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`The Mac port <http://python.org/download/mac>`_ by Jack Jansen has a rich and
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ever-growing set of modules that support the native Mac toolbox calls. The port
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supports MacOS X's Carbon libraries.
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By installing the `PyObjc Objective-C bridge
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<http://pyobjc.sourceforge.net>`_, Python programs can use MacOS X's
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Cocoa libraries. See the documentation that comes with the Mac port.
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:ref:`Pythonwin <windows-faq>` by Mark Hammond includes an interface to the
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Microsoft Foundation Classes and a Python programming environment
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that's written mostly in Python using the MFC classes.
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Tkinter questions
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=================
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How do I freeze Tkinter applications?
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-------------------------------------
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Freeze is a tool to create stand-alone applications. When freezing Tkinter
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applications, the applications will not be truly stand-alone, as the application
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will still need the Tcl and Tk libraries.
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One solution is to ship the application with the Tcl and Tk libraries, and point
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to them at run-time using the :envvar:`TCL_LIBRARY` and :envvar:`TK_LIBRARY`
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environment variables.
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To get truly stand-alone applications, the Tcl scripts that form the library
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have to be integrated into the application as well. One tool supporting that is
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SAM (stand-alone modules), which is part of the Tix distribution
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(http://tix.sourceforge.net/).
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Build Tix with SAM enabled, perform the appropriate call to
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:c:func:`Tclsam_init`, etc. inside Python's
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:file:`Modules/tkappinit.c`, and link with libtclsam and libtksam (you
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might include the Tix libraries as well).
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Can I have Tk events handled while waiting for I/O?
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---------------------------------------------------
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Yes, and you don't even need threads! But you'll have to restructure your I/O
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code a bit. Tk has the equivalent of Xt's :c:func:`XtAddInput()` call, which allows you
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to register a callback function which will be called from the Tk mainloop when
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I/O is possible on a file descriptor. Here's what you need::
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from Tkinter import tkinter
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tkinter.createfilehandler(file, mask, callback)
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The file may be a Python file or socket object (actually, anything with a
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fileno() method), or an integer file descriptor. The mask is one of the
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constants tkinter.READABLE or tkinter.WRITABLE. The callback is called as
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follows::
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callback(file, mask)
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You must unregister the callback when you're done, using ::
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tkinter.deletefilehandler(file)
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Note: since you don't know *how many bytes* are available for reading, you can't
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use the Python file object's read or readline methods, since these will insist
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on reading a predefined number of bytes. For sockets, the :meth:`recv` or
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:meth:`recvfrom` methods will work fine; for other files, use
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``os.read(file.fileno(), maxbytecount)``.
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I can't get key bindings to work in Tkinter: why?
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-------------------------------------------------
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An often-heard complaint is that event handlers bound to events with the
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:meth:`bind` method don't get handled even when the appropriate key is pressed.
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The most common cause is that the widget to which the binding applies doesn't
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have "keyboard focus". Check out the Tk documentation for the focus command.
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Usually a widget is given the keyboard focus by clicking in it (but not for
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labels; see the takefocus option).
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