There are various GUI toolkits usable from Python.
Very productive are true GUI-builders, where the programmer can arrange the GUI window and other components such as database by using the mouse only in an intuitive fashion like in Windows Delphi 2.0. Very little typing is required. For python, only Boa Constructor follows this paradigm. WXglade and Qt-designer, monkey studio etc. come somewhat near but remain incomplete.
Disadvantages with the following kits described below are:
Tkinter is a Python wrapper for Tcl/Tk providing a cross-platform GUI toolkit. On Windows, it comes bundled with Python; on other operating systems, it can be installed. The set of available widgets is smaller than in some other toolkits, but since Tkinter widgets are extensible, many of the missing compound widgets can be created using the extensibility, such as combo box and scrolling pane.
A minimal example:
fromTkinterimport*root=Tk()frame=Frame(root)frame.pack()label=Label(frame,text="Hey there.")label.pack()quitButton=Button(frame,text="Quit",command=frame.quit)quitButton.pack()root.mainloop()
Main chapter:Tkinter.
Links:
See also bookPyGTK For GUI Programming
PyGTK provides a convenient wrapper for theGTK+ library for use in Python programs, taking care of many of the boring details such as managing memory and type casting. The bare GTK+ toolkit runs on Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X (port in progress), but the more extensive features — when combined with PyORBit and gnome-python — require aGNOME install, and can be used to write full featured GNOME applications.
PyQt is a wrapper around the cross-platformQt C++ toolkit. It has manywidgets and support classes supporting SQL, OpenGL, SVG, XML, and advanced graphics capabilities.A PyQt hello world example:
fromPyQt4.QtCoreimport*fromPyQt4.QtGuiimport*classApp(QApplication):def__init__(self,argv):super(App,self).__init__(argv)self.msg=QLabel("Hello, World!")self.msg.show()if__name__=="__main__":importsysapp=App(sys.argv)sys.exit(app.exec_())
PyQt is a set of bindings for the cross-platformQt application framework. PyQt v4 supports Qt4 and PyQt v3 supports Qt3 and earlier.
Bindings for the cross platform toolkitwxWidgets. WxWidgets is available on Windows, Macintosh, and Unix/Linux.
importwxclasstest(wx.App):def__init__(self):wx.App.__init__(self,redirect=False)defOnInit(self):frame=wx.Frame(None,-1,"Test",pos=(50,50),size=(100,40),style=wx.DEFAULT_FRAME_STYLE)button=wx.Button(frame,-1,"Hello World!",(20,20))self.frame=frameself.frame.Show()returnTrueif__name__=='__main__':app=test()app.MainLoop()
Dabo is a full 3-tier application framework. Its UI layer wraps wxPython, and greatly simplifies the syntax.
importdabodabo.ui.loadUI("wx")classTestForm(dabo.ui.dForm):defafterInit(self):self.Caption="Test"self.Position=(50,50)self.Size=(100,40)self.btn=dabo.ui.dButton(self,Caption="Hello World",OnHit=self.onButtonClick)self.Sizer.append(self.btn,halign="center",border=20)defonButtonClick(self,evt):dabo.ui.info("Hello World!")if__name__=='__main__':app=dabo.ui.dApp()app.MainFormClass=TestFormapp.start()
pyFltk is a Python wrapper for theFLTK, a lightweight cross-platform GUI toolkit. It is very simple to learn and allows for compact user interfaces.
The "Hello World" example in pyFltk looks like:
fromfltkimport*window=Fl_Window(100,100,200,90)button=Fl_Button(9,20,180,50)button.label("Hello World")window.end()window.show()Fl.run()