GUI suggestions

[Doug Farrell]

Alex,

Thank you very much for the great feedback on GUI's with Pyton. I probably
should have mentioned the utility program I write in C++ that is getting the
GUI frontend run on Sun Solaris, so I'm not to concerned with cross platform
development, at least for this application. I'm kind of baised towards using
wxPython as I've done some reading and downloaded the system and tried the
demos. I will look at Tkinker as well since I have no knowledge of that on
which to base a decision, as of yet anyway.

This last year I jumped ship from MS windows development and joined an
online group doing CGI on the Sun platform. After getting up to speed a
little bit on Unix/Linux I honestly can say I don't know why I waited so
long!! Windows falls short in many areas that Unix has in spades. Though I
liked developing VC6, I didn't like all of the holes and 'guru only'
knowledge that was necessary to get a program to run well under Windows and
MFC.

Again, thanks for your response,
Doug

"Alex Martelli" <aleaxit at yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:9ep8p601h3k at enews2.newsguy.com...
> "Doug Farrell" <writeson at earthlink.net> wrote in message
> news:_HTP6.34744$BN6.2065334 at newsread1.prod.itd.earthlink.net...
> > Hi,
> >
> > I'm planning on doing some Python programming at work and the project
I'm
> > thinking about would be a GUI front end to a C++ command line utility. I
> > know about wxPython and GTK+ (and I guess a few others), but does anyone
> > have any suggestions or advice on which GUI tool I should invest time in
> to
> > learn? I'm a strong C++ programmer and pretty good at Windows MFC stuff,
> so
> > I do know the basics about GUI code.
>
> If the command-line utility you're using is Windows-only, so you don't
> mind your GUI front-end also not being cross-platform, you may put
> your MFC knowledge to good use (and thus presumably finish your
> project faster) by using the Windows-only Pythonwin GUI framework,
> as it's basically a Python wrapper over MFC.  I don't think anybody will
> argue for MFC being a "great" framework, but, if you already know it,
> it may still be fastest for you to re-use that knowledge.
>
> wxPython is also a Python wrapper over a C++ framework, but the
> framework is wxWindows, better-designed than MFC (IMHO) _and_
> cross-platform.  If you invest time in studying wxPython, the
> knowledge you gain will help you in cross-platform development,
> even if one day you should unexpectedly find yourself having to
> develop a _C++_ cross-platform application.
>
> Tkinter offers the advantage of being "the" classic GUI framework
> used in scripting languages (not just Python -- Tk was born for
> TCL, and is, AFAIK, the most-used GUI kit for Perl, too).  If you
> think one day you might find yourself having to code GUIs in TCL
> or Perl, then some knowledge may "cross over" if you get familiar
> with Tkinter.  Tkinter is also cross-platform.
>
> wxPython and Tkinter are both free, with licenses similar to
> Python's.  I'm not so sure about other cross-platform GUI
> frameworks -- depending on your situation, platform, etc,
> you may find yourself having to pay money or abide by GPL
> restrictions.  If this is no problem for you, fine! -- if it may be
> a problem, check out the licensing situation before you commit
> time and effort to studying a framework.
>
> Some people swear by GUI-painters.  wxPython has an "early
> beta" one, called Boa Constructor, that is free.  I think 'glade'
> is similarly free for GTK++.  Other GUI frameworks have
> 'painter' programs that are commercial -- great if you can
> afford to pay, of course, but maybe a stumbling block if
> you can't.  For Tkinter, the painter/layout manager is part
> of Secretlabs' Python IDE, PythonWorks; for Qt, it's part of
> another Python IDE called Blackadder (or you may get it as
> part of a Qt license for a couple thousand dollars from Qt's
> owners, Trolltech).  If you have funding for SW purchase and
> care about IDE's and GUI-painters, you will probably want to
> try either or both of these commercial programs -- and their
> quality may influence your GUI-toolkit choice.
>
> Tkinter has the edge in terms of documentation, IMHO.  The
> stuff that comes with wxPython is good, at least if you know
> enough C++ to follow the wxWindows docs it's interleaved
> with.  But for Tkinter you can get /F's excellent manual AND
> Grayson's book on Python and Tkinter, while there is no book
> out on wxPython (nor, I believe, wxWindows either).
>
>
> Me?  When I need a GUI, I generally put together a bit of
> HTML.  On Windows, I can package my application up as
> HTA (HTML Application), use Active/X controls, and get as
> spiffy as I want.  Cross-platform, my GUIs can't be very
> fancy, but deployment flexibility is great -- the 'engine'
> need not be running on the same box as the GUI... I like
> that!  Python comes with a simple but usable CGI capable
> webserver that's easy to adapt to run your scripts behind
> the HTML page 'GUI', without actually paying CGI per-hit
> costs.  Or you may choose Xitami (with LRWP), Apache
> (with mod_python), whatever, for similar benefits.  If your
> GUI needs are reasonably simple, comparable to what can
> reasonably put on a webpage, you may want to consider
> the advantages of this unconventional architecture!
>
> At least you're spoiled for GUI painters, given the surfeit
> of HTML editors, free and commercial, you can find...:-)
>
>
> Alex
>
>
>
>