GUI programs

[Philip Semanchuk]

On May 29, 2010, at 9:13 PM, <jyoung79 at kc.rr.com> <jyoung79 at kc.rr.com>  
wrote:

> Just curious if anyone would be willing to share their thoughts
> about different Python GUI programming modules.  I've been
> doing a bit of research and am trying to find something that:
>
> 1.  Is portable.  Would like to be able to send the module along
> with the main python file that would be able to run a GUI
> window.  Would be sending this to multiple machines.
> Currently I'd like it to work on OS X machines, but it'd be nice
> if it worked on Windows machines, etc.  Probably be using
> Python 2.5 or 2.6.

Hi Jay,
wxPython, pyQT and Tkinter are all portable in that they'll run under  
OS X, Windows, Gnome and KDE. Getting them installed there in some  
sane fashion is another matter. There are programs like py2exe and  
py2app that you've found, but Python doesn't lend itself to being  
bundled this way. It can work, but may be a fair amount of trouble  
depending on what modules you're trying to use and how diverse your  
target machines are.

> 6.  TkInter - Does this module come standard on all machines
> that have Python?  Haven't worked with this one much, but if I
> send Python code to other machines would TkInter work?

That's my understanding. I haven't used it. I gather that Tkinter is  
useful in a pinch, but that it isn't appropriate for applications with  
much more than a minimalist GUI.

> Would love to hear anyones thoughts about GUI programming
> and what they use.  Would also like to hear pros/cons with the
> different modules/apps.

There's lots of discussion on this topic in the archives of this  
mailing list and others. These modules haven't changed dramatically  
over the past few years, so any recent-ish conversation is relevant.


Good luck
Philip

PS - we use wxPython