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wxPython Application Development Cookbook
wxPython Application Development Cookbook

wxPython Application Development Cookbook: Over 80 step-by-step recipes to get you up to speed with building your own wxPython applications

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Table of content icon View table of contents Preview book icon Preview Book

wxPython Application Development Cookbook

Chapter 1. wxPython Starting Points

In this chapter, we will cover:

  • Creating an application object
  • Adding the main frame
  • Using bitmaps
  • Binding to events
  • Understanding the hierarchy of the UI
  • Controlling the propagation of events
  • Accessing the clipboard
  • Supporting drag and drop
  • Handling AppleEvents

Introduction

In this chapter, we will take a quick overview on getting started with wxPython, including how to get an app started as well as handling events and supporting basic integration with various operating system features for the environments that the application may be operated in. These concepts are used throughout the recipes in this book as well as in any wxPython application you may develop. The recipes throughout this book target wxPython 3.0 running on Python 2.7. Many features exist and work in earlier versions of wxPython as well, but your mileage may vary with the recipes in this book when using a version earlier than 3.0.

Creating an application object

The App object is an object that all wxPython applications must create before any other GUI object. This object creates the application and provides its main event loop, which is used to dispatch events and connect actions in the UI with the actions in your programs.

This recipe will introduce how to create a minimal wxPython application, which will be used as foundation for every other recipe in this book.

How to do it…

Perform the following steps:

  1. Make the script as follows:
    import wx
    
    class MyApp(wx.App):
        def OnInit(self):
            wx.MessageBox("Hello wxPython", "wxApp")
            return True
    
    if __name__ == "__main__":
        app = MyApp(False)
        app.MainLoop()
  2. Run the script and take a look at the result:
    How to do it…

How it works…

There are three things to take note of in this simple application: the first, we created a subclass of the wx.App object; the second, we overrode the OnInit method; and the third, we called the MainLoop method of the application object. These simple steps set up the base for any application.

The OnInit method is called by the application's MainLoop method when it is started and provides an entry point to start up the main logic and user interface of your application. In this example, we just used it to show a simple pop-up dialog box. The application's MainLoop method continues to run until the last window associated with the application is closed. The OnInit method must return true in order to continue the initialization of the MainLoop applications.

The MainLoop method processes and dispatches all the messages that are needed to present the UI and direct messages for user actions initiated with button clicks. When the OK button is clicked on the dialog, it sends a message that is dispatched by the MainLoop method to close the dialog. In this example, once the dialog has returned, OnInit will also return, and there will be no window objects remaining. So, the application's MainLoop method will return as well, and this script will exit.

There's more…

Though generally the wx.App object is created as we did in this example, the class constructor also has four optional keyword arguments that can be used to modify some of its behavior:

  wx.App(redirect=False, filename=None, useBestVisual=False, clearSigInt=True)

The four optional keyword arguments are as follows:

  • redirect: If set to True, stdout is redirected to a debug window
  • filename: If redirect is True and this is not None, then stdout can be redirected to a file specified by this argument
  • useBestVisual: This specifies whether the application should try to use the best visuals provided by the underlying toolkit. (This has no effect on most systems.)
  • clearSigInt: Setting this to True will allow the application to be terminated by pressing Ctrl+C from the command line.

See also

  • The Handling errors gracefully recipe in Chapter 10, Getting Your Application Ready for Release, provides additional information on methods that can be overridden in wx.App.
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Key benefits

  • This book empowers you to create rich cross-platform graphical user interfaces using Python
  • It helps you develop applications that can be deployed on Windows, OSX, and Linux
  • The recipes in the book involve real-world applications, giving you a first-hand experience of the practical scenarios

Description

wxPython is a GUI toolkit for the Python programming language built on top of the cross-platform wxWidgets GUI libraries. wxPython provides a powerful set of tools that allow you to quickly and efficiently building applications that can run on a variety of different platforms. Since wxWidgets provides a wrapper around each platform’s native GUI toolkit, the applications built with wxPython will have a native look and feel wherever they are deployed. This book will provide you with the skills to build highly functional and native looking user interfaces for Python applications on multiple operating system environments. By working through the recipes, you will gain insights into and exposure to creating applications using wxPython. With a wide range of topics covered in the book, there are recipes to get the most basic of beginners started in GUI programming as well as tips to help experienced users get more out of their applications. The recipes will take you from the most basic application constructs all the way through to the deployment of complete applications.

Who is this book for?

For those who are familiar with programming in Python and want to start building applications with graphical user interfaces, this book will get you up and running quickly. A basic understanding of the Python programming language and object-oriented concepts are all that is needed.

What you will learn

  • Create full featured user interfaces
  • Design and develop custom controls
  • Deploy and distribute wxPython applications to Windows, Macintosh OS X, Linux, and other UNIX-like environments
  • Handle and respond to application events
  • Manage and display data using grids
  • Interact with web services from your GUI
  • Use Paint events to draw custom displays
  • Support the display of user interfaces in multiple languages

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Publication date : Dec 24, 2015
Length: 264 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781785287732
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Publication date : Dec 24, 2015
Length: 264 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781785287732
Category :
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Tools :

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Table of Contents

11 Chapters
1. wxPython Starting Points Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
2. Common User Controls Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
3. UI Layout and Organization Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
4. Containers and Advanced Controls Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
5. Data Displays and Grids Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
6. Ways to Notify and Alert Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
7. Requesting and Retrieving Information Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
8. User Interface Primitives Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
9. Creating and Customizing Components Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
10. Getting Your Application Ready for Release Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Index Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Customer reviews

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Rating distribution
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Half star icon Empty star icon 3.5
(6 Ratings)
5 star 16.7%
4 star 33.3%
3 star 33.3%
2 star 16.7%
1 star 0%
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Jens Goe Feb 10, 2016
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
I did the technical review for this book and i liked the way the book is structured. It is suitable for developers of all levels. Basic knowledge about Python and object oriented programming is recommended. This book contains a huge collection of recipes which shows how to use the various controls of wxPython 3. Every recipe describes an use case for each control followed by a code sample and a detailed explanation how the code works. Most of the samples are visualized with screenshots.The recipes starts easy with basic knowledge about graphical user interfaces and ends up with techniques to create customized controls for unique applications.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Amazon Customer May 27, 2016
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Empty star icon 4
This a pretty good book for getting started learning wxPython. The examples work just fine with the exception of trying to use a ListCtrl in a sizer, which seems to have some problems.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Public name Oct 18, 2018
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Empty star icon 4
This was a great book to get someone started with developing with wxPython. However, it is meant to be used with Python 2, and with an older version of wxPython. Many changes have been made since the book was published that require updating code.However, the concepts are still the same, and the book (even though out-dated) does not feel out-dated.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Cici Ciconia Mar 05, 2016
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon 3
You can find all of the samples contained in the book on the internet. This book is not comprehensive at all.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Amazon Customer Feb 16, 2018
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon 3
It was alright
Amazon Verified review Amazon
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