RE: [Pythoncard-users] Re: tix vs. Pycard? for lightweight GUIs (fwd)

Um... Tix is a library that runs on top of Tk, not instead of it. It's been
around for quite some time and probably predates Python's use of Tk
altogether. It spent a number of years in semi-limbo with no real ownership,
but Loi Lam, Tix' creator, has returned to it's care and feeding.

It's by no means a simplifier of Tk - more megawidgets and iirc, a
megawidget framework (aids in creating new aggregated "megawidgets" written
in Tcl/Tk themselves), something that Tk has always lacked a recognized
standard version of.

Another thing worth noting about Tix is that it doesn't (as of about a year
ago) follow platform look and feel and so, at least on Windows, felt/looked
a bit clunky. If you like GTK though, you should feel right at home ;-)

BTW, other options for UI development with Python include Fox and FLTK, not
to mention WxPython, but those either have a python wrapper on their
relatively heavy-weight API's (Fox, FLTK) or are a wrapper (WxPython) on a
substantial package (WxWindows). AFAIK, PythonCard is the only UI wrapper
framework that aims at simplifying the task of coding a UI.

Dave LeBlanc

> -----Original Message-----
> From: pyt...@li...
> [mailto:pyt...@li...]On Behalf Of Roman
> Suzi
> Sent: Monday, January 14, 2002 23:34
> To: pyt...@li...
> Subject: [Pythoncard-users] Re: tix vs. Pycard? for lightweight GUIs
> (fwd)
>
>
> Congratulation!
>
> PythonCard have bacome a choice (from c.l.p):
>
> Sincerely yours, Roman A.Suzi
> --
>  - Petrozavodsk - Karelia - Russia - mailto:rn...@on... -
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2002 06:38:48 +0000 (UTC)
> From: Andy Todd <an...@ha...>
> To: pyt...@py...
> Newsgroups: comp.lang.python
> Subject: Re: tix vs. Pycard? for lightweight GUIs
>
> st...@fe... (Stephen Ferg) wrote in news:b16e4ef7.0201141505.7b15bac5
> @posting.google.com:
>
> > I'm looking for a quicker, easier way to make simple Python GUIs for
> > quick-and-dirty apps.
> >
> > I've heard good stuff about PythonCard, and now I just heard about
> > Tix.  Does anybody have experience with both of them, to compare them?
> >  Or make recommendations or warnings about them?  Or have
> > recommendations for some other package that supports the coding of
> > lightweight GUIs?
> >
> > Thanks mucho in advance!
> >
>
> Stephen,
>
> In answer to your question, it depends. The two projects you mention have
> slightly different aims and are at different levels of development. I'm
> closer to PythonCard than to Tix but I'll have a stab;
>
> Tix - adds extra widgets and commands on top of TK, which is really
> native to TCL, not Python. It aims to make the library easier to use,
> richer and more pythonic. But its still Tcl/Tk ;-) In this family I'd
> also look at Tkinter (and Tkinter 3000), browse on over to
> http://www.pythonware.com/products/tkinter/index.htm for more
> information. From what I understand Tix is mature and useable today.
>
> PythonCard. This project is still in prototype and aims to provide a
> framework and development tool to make building simple GUI applications a
> lot easier than in any current GUI toolkit for Python (this includes TK,
> wxPython, PyQt, etc). It is now firmly wedded to wxPython
> (http://www.wxpython.org/) and provides a more useable and user friendly
> way to build applications. I would categorise PythonCard as the VB to
> wxPython's MFC (he says, ducking to avoid the flames). The eventual aim
> of PythonCard is to make building a GUI application as simple as painting
> a screen in an IDE (or defining it in a simple text file) and writing as
> little code as possible to control the behaviour of the application.
>
> In conclusion, your best bet is to try both (and other tools like Glade,
> Boa constructor, wxDesigner, PyQt) and see which truly fits your
> requirements.
>
> Of course, a lot depends on your definition of a lightweight GUI. If you
> mean easy to develop, I'd go for PythonCard, if you mean easy on
> resources then I don't think any tool I've mentioned will help you out.
>
> Other things to consider are; platform independence (does it really
> matter to you?), available resources (you can buy books on Tcl/TK but
> there isn't such a beast for PythonCard - yet), and how the toolkit fits
> in with your experience (people who have used Delphi love Boa, people who
> have programmed in swing easily translate to TK). I'm sure I've missed
> plenty of other factors but I'm sure that oversight will be quickly
> rectified.
>
> HTH,
> Andy
> --
> Contents free posts a speciality
> --