Re: Pythonic cross-platform GUI desingers à la Interface Builder (Re: what gui designer is everyone using)

[Dietmar Schwertberger]

Am 09.06.2012 17:34, schrieb CM:
> You can do this for wxPython with Boa Constructor easily.  You can
> bind an event handler for a wx.EVT_BUTTON to, e.g., "Button1" with Boa
> and it will add this code for you to the bottom of your code:
>
> def OnButton1Button(self,evt):
>       evt.Skip()
>
> And you can than go in the code editor to that function and change the
> code to do whatever you want.
Having to go there is already more work than I would expect.
I would expect to go there e.g. by a double-click.

This is just a minor point, but many minor points sum up...

If you take maybe 10 people each with some BASIC or Python knowledge,
I would bet that you can teach most of them how to write a
simple GUI program in VB within five minutes, but you'll probably fail
with Boa. (And even then you would have to re-teach them in a few
months when they try to write their next program.)


>> If you have not used VB before, you should just try it. You can create
>> GUIs within a few minutes even if you haven't used it before.
>
> Same with Boa.
Not for me when I tried Boa.
The logic / usage concept behind is not exactly straightforward.
At the time, Boa was suggested to be the perfect choice for previous
Delphi users. Maybe my problem was that I did never use Delphi.
(Only Turbo Pascal in the pre-gui era...)


>> Such an editor should support simple manual layouts without enforcing
>> the use of sizers (wx) or layout managers (Qt).
>> These add an additional level of complexity which is not required
>> for simple GUIs.
>
> Same with Boa, though it also has good support for sizers which
> generally should be required for anything other than the simplest
> GUIs.
Yes, at least Boa left the choice to the user.
Some of the other tools even insist on sizers at places where they are
not even required with a sizer-based layout.
(E.g. with wx you usually place a notebook directly on a frame while
  some tools insist on using a sizer first.)


> In addition to Boa, I get the sense that the other tools mentioned
> here are also good, so is this "blocking point" real?

I've tried several:
wxDesigner, Boa, QtCreator, wxFormBuilder, wxGlade,
None of these were such that I could propagate it as GUI development
tool for non-programmers / casual users.
Sure, some are good for designing the GUI, but at the point where
the user code is to be added, most people would be lost.
(I think that was the point that Wolfgang did not like and did describe
as un-pythonic.)


Also, another requirement for this purpose would be that the tool
is under active development. This would e.g. rule out Boa.

I would not care whether the tool is freeware or commercial.
Being freeware would make handling easier, though (e.g. deployment to
all measurement PCs by just running it from a file share is
easier than local installations and license handling).


Regards,

Dietmar