ANN: PythonCard 0.7.2

Wed Sep 17 00:03:30 EDT 2003

PythonCard is a GUI construction kit for building cross-platform desktop
applications on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.

Release 0.7.2 includes over 40 sample applications and tools to help users
build applications in Python, including codeEditor, findfiles, and
resourceEditor (layout editor). A list of changes since release 0.7 is at
the end of this message.

All the information you need about PythonCard can be found on the project
web page at:
http://pythoncard.sourceforge.net/

The installation instructions and walkthroughs are available on the main
documentation page:
http://pythoncard.sourceforge.net/documentation.html

You can download the latest release at:
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=19015

For a list of most of the samples that have been built with PythonCard and
screenshots of them in action go to:
http://pythoncard.sourceforge.net/samples/samples.html

The kind people at SourceForge host the project:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/pythoncard/

If you want to get involved the main contact point is the Mailing list:
http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/pythoncard-users

PythonCard requires Python 2.2.1 or later and wxPython 2.4.1.2 or later.
wxPython can be downloaded at http://www.wxpython.org/

Additional Notes:
Remember to backup or just delete your old PythonCardPrototype directory
before installing a new version, so that the old files aren't still in the
package directory. If you installed a previous version of PythonCard on
Windows using the binary installer, then you should be able to remove the
old package via the Add/Remove Programs Control Panel.

The distutils installer will put the framework, components, docs, samples,
and tools in Lib\site-packages or your Python directory (typically
C:\Python22 or C:\Python23). Of course, on Linux and Mac OS X that path will
be slightly different and have forward slashes.

Windows users should get a PythonCard menu in the Start->Programs menu with
links to the documentation, samples, codeEditor, findfiles, and
resourceEditor.

The tools and most of the samples will now keep their config and data file
info in the "pythoncard_config" directory created by the framework. On Unix,
the directory will be ~/pythoncard_config. On Windows, the directory varies
as described in the following post:

http://aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/Mail/Message/PythonCard/1496793

So, if you run a PythonCard app with any of the runtime tools and select
"Save Configuration" from the "Debug" menu, the window positions and sizes
of your runtime windows (Shell, Message Watcher, etc.) will be saved in
"pythoncard_config/pythoncard_config.txt" not the PythonCardPrototype
directory. Likewise, when you change the text style used by the codeEditor
via the "Styles..." menu item under the "Format" menu, the modification will
be saved in "pythoncard_config/stc-styles.rc.cfg"

ka
---
Kevin Altis
altis at semi-retired.com
http://altis.pycs.net/

--- changelog since release 0.7

Release 0.7.2 2003-09-08
ranamed MultiColumnList 'border' attribute to 'rules'
enabled MultiColumnList and Tree in the resourceEditor
added minimalList and minimalTree samples as tests of the
  MultiColumList and Tree components
added multicolumnexample by William Volkman
replaced older MultiColumnList component with version
  by William Volkman
added workaround for wxMSW GetFont() bug in MultiColumnList
switched to Raise() in fixComponentOrder to deal with
  wxPython 2.4.x change with Hide/Show
added shell.autoCompleteWxMethods = False to pycrustrc.py
  to hide CamelCase wxPython methods of components and
  other wxPython classes by default
added source.encode('iso-8859-1') to textToHtml to avoid
  print/print preview exceptions in codeEditor; this will
  probably require a more sophisticated solution
added workaround for wxWindows AppendText bug in jabberChat
  sample. This might need to be added to TextArea appendText
  if wxWindows isn't fixed soon
fixed popItems handling of RadioGroup and other components
  with an 'items' attribute in resourcEditor propertyEditor.py
updated classes in menu.py to be direct wxPython subclasses
added source file support to templates in resourceEditor
  updated File->New... process to save new files
added moreapplications.html page to highlight other apps
  built with PythonCard
added wx.wxDEFAULT_DIALOG_STYLE to singleChoiceDialog
  to workaround wxPython 2.4.1.2 bug
fixed samples launcher selection and added double-click support
added int(round()) conversions to fix Python 2.3 deprecation
  warnings
added '' back to sys.path in pycrustrc.py for shell work
changed default font size for findfiles tool on Mac and GTK
added autoSetEOL to codeEditor to automatically use the line
  endings already in a document
replaced \xa0 characters in source files with spaces
added macbuild.py to the minimalStandalone sample to show
  how to build standalones on Mac OS X
fixed double loading of pycrustrc.py files in loadShell
fixed config directory creation
fixed image rotation in slideshow sample for files in zips
updated fixed getStyleConfigPath in colorizer
fixed PILtoBitmap typo in graphic.py
PythonCard now requires a minimum Python 2.2.1 or higher
  and wxPython 2.4.x or higher

Release 0.7.1 2003-07-16
dbBrowser now supports PostgreSQL using the psycopg interface
An alternative dbBrowser using a wxGrid to display query results
  has been added. Its called dbBrowser2 and it re-uses much of
  the code from the original
changed wx.wxc.__version__ check to wx.__version__
added Save Configuration menu item to Scriptlet menu in
  the codeEditor
fixed config.py for standalone usage
added Thomas Heller's main_is_frozen function to util.py
added GetPixel method to BitmapCanvas
added userdata attribute to Widget so all components
  added support for userdata in the resourceEditor
changed resourceEditor to use a drag rect so dragging
  works the same on all platforms and no longer
  requires the use of CaptureMouse on Linux
added WMAvailable check for Mac OS X so the top frame
  appears in front when app starts
fixed pycrustrc.py loading on Linux/GTK
added Grid component and simpleGrid sample
fixed script launching in samples.py, findfiles,
  codeEditor, and resourceEditor
added spinUp and spinDown events to Spinner component
added dirname() function to util module to use instead
  of os.path.dirname()
  updated model.py to use the new function
changed true/false to True/False in STCStyleEditor.py
  to avoid wxPython 2.4.0.4 deprecation warning
changed 'items' attribute in resourceEditor to use
  TextArea instead of TextField for editing
fixed 'icon' handling in resourceOutput.py
Phil Edwards' started making Linux RPMs for PythonCard
added Phil Edwards Linux installation instructions
added Mac OS X (Jaguar) installation instructions
fixed font attribute in BitmapCanvas
added David McNab's walkthrough
  Increasing Usefulness with Timers and Threads
fixed order of wx imports so wx always comes first
added jabberChat options for conferencing and Show/Raise
slideshow sample changes
  added Goto Slide dialog
  changed F8 key to act as a Pause/Continue toggle
  added zip file support
fixed relative directory reference in webserver sample