[FAQTS] Python Knowledge Base Update -- May 19th, 2000

[Fiona Czuczman]

Greets!

Tonight I've entered the following into http://python.faqts.com

Have a good week-end, Fiona Czuczman


## New Entries #################################################


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Where can I find information about how to manipulate Excel with Python?
http://www.faqts.com/knowledge-base/view.phtml/aid/3093
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Fiona Czuczman
Robert Citek

I strongly recommend the "Python Programming on Win32" by Mark Hammond &
Andy Robinson.  Visit http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/pythonwin32

Here is some sample code:

# this example starts Excel, creates a new workbook, 
# puts some text in the first and second cell
# closes the workbook without saving the changes
# and closes Excel.  This happens really fast, so
# you may want to comment out some lines and add them
# back in one at a time ... or do the commands interactively

from win32com.client import Dispatch

xlApp = Dispatch("Excel.Application")
xlApp.Visible = 1
xlApp.Workbooks.Add()
xlApp.ActiveSheet.Cells(1,1).Value = 'Python Rules!'
xlApp.ActiveWorkbook.ActiveSheet.Cells(1,2).Value = 'Python Rules 2!'
xlApp.Close(SaveChanges=0)
xlApp.Quit()
del xlApp

# raw_input("press Enter ...")


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Is there a way to "kill" a thread that is currently asleep?
Can I stop, destroy, suspend, etc. a thread that is asleep?
http://www.faqts.com/knowledge-base/view.phtml/aid/3078
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Fiona Czuczman
Jeff Blaine

From: http://www.python.org/doc/current/lib/module-threading.html

"Python's Thread class supports a subset of the behavior of Java's 
Thread class; currently, there are no priorities, no thread groups, and 
threads cannot be destroyed, stopped, suspended, resumed, or 
interrupted...."


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How can I create a "rollover" effect?
http://www.faqts.com/knowledge-base/view.phtml/aid/3086
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Fiona Czuczman
John Grayson

Here is a minimal example. Choose your own images...

from Tkinter import *

class ActiveButton(Button):
    def __init__(self, master, inimage=None, outimage=None,
                 activate=None):
        self.master = master
        self.inI  = PhotoImage(file='icons/%s' % inimage)
        self.outI = PhotoImage(file='icons/%s' % outimage)
        Button.__init__(self, master, command=activate, image=self.outI)

        self.bind('<Any-Enter>', lambda e, state=1, s=self:
                                          s.change(e, state))
        self.bind('<Any-Leave>', lambda e, state=0, s=self:
                                          s.change(e, state))

    def change(self, event, state):
        if state:
            self.configure(image=self.inI)
        else:
            self.configure(image=self.outI)

if __name__ == '__main__':
    root = Tk()
    button = ActiveButton(root, inimage='smooth.gif',
                          outimage='tline1.gif',
                          activate=root.destroy)
    button.pack()
    root.mainloop()


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How do I force a dump of sys.last_traceback (last traceback object) to a file object, or stringio or something similar?
http://www.faqts.com/knowledge-base/view.phtml/aid/3083
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Fiona Czuczman
Fredrik Lundh

Have a look here:

http://www.python.org/doc/current/lib/module-traceback.html


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How do I get Python to force 'a' and 'b' into strings so that a + ":" + b concatenates instead of trying to add?
http://www.faqts.com/knowledge-base/view.phtml/aid/3082
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Fiona Czuczman
Andy Lester, Remco Gerlich, Martijn Faassen, Scott

The str() function.

a = 1
b = 2
str(a) + ":" + str(b)

Or use the % operator, of course.

str = "%d:%d" % (a,b)


## Edited Entries ##############################################


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How do I write a raw string (r'...') that ends with a backslash?
http://www.faqts.com/knowledge-base/view.phtml/aid/3022
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Beat Bolli, Fiona Czuczman
Moshe Zadka

r'this ends with a ' '\\'

A pure raw string cannot end with an odd number of backslashes. The 
above, using the fact that consecutive string literals are concatenated 
at runtime, is the standard workaround.