.. _other-gui-packages:
Other Graphical User Interface Packages
=======================================
There are an number of extension widget sets to :mod:`Tkinter`.
.. seealso::
`Python megawidgets <http://pmw.sourceforge.net/>`_
is a toolkit for building high-level compound widgets in Python using the
:mod:`Tkinter` module. It consists of a set of base classes and a library of
flexible and extensible megawidgets built on this foundation. These megawidgets
include notebooks, comboboxes, selection widgets, paned widgets, scrolled
widgets, dialog windows, etc. Also, with the Pmw.Blt interface to BLT, the
busy, graph, stripchart, tabset and vector commands are be available.
The initial ideas for Pmw were taken from the Tk ``itcl`` extensions ``[incr
Tk]`` by Michael McLennan and ``[incr Widgets]`` by Mark Ulferts. Several of the
megawidgets are direct translations from the itcl to Python. It offers most of
the range of widgets that ``[incr Widgets]`` does, and is almost as complete as
Tix, lacking however Tix's fast :class:`HList` widget for drawing trees.
`Tkinter3000 Widget Construction Kit (WCK) <http://tkinter.effbot.org/>`_
is a library that allows you to write new Tkinter widgets in pure Python. The
WCK framework gives you full control over widget creation, configuration, screen
appearance, and event handling. WCK widgets can be very fast and light-weight,
since they can operate directly on Python data structures, without having to
transfer data through the Tk/Tcl layer.
The major cross-platform (Windows, Mac OS X, Unix-like) GUI toolkits that are
also available for Python:
.. seealso::
`PyGTK <http://www.pygtk.org/>`_
is a set of bindings for the `GTK <http://www.gtk.org/>`_ widget set. It
provides an object oriented interface that is slightly higher level than
the C one. It comes with many more widgets than Tkinter provides, and has
good Python-specific reference documentation. There are also bindings to
`GNOME <http://www.gnome.org>`_. One well known PyGTK application is
`PythonCAD <http://www.pythoncad.org/>`_. An online `tutorial
<http://www.pygtk.org/pygtk2tutorial/index.html>`_ is available.
`PyQt <http://www.riverbankcomputing.co.uk/pyqt/index.php>`_
PyQt is a :program:`sip`\ -wrapped binding to the Qt toolkit. Qt is an
extensive C++ GUI application development framework that is
available for Unix, Windows and Mac OS X. :program:`sip` is a tool
for generating bindings for C++ libraries as Python classes, and
is specifically designed for Python. The *PyQt3* bindings have a
book, `GUI Programming with Python: QT Edition
<http://www.commandprompt.com/community/pyqt/>`_ by Boudewijn
Rempt. The *PyQt4* bindings also have a book, `Rapid GUI Programming
with Python and Qt <http://www.qtrac.eu/pyqtbook.html>`_, by Mark
Summerfield.
`wxPython <http://www.wxpython.org>`_
wxPython is a cross-platform GUI toolkit for Python that is built around
the popular `wxWidgets <http://www.wxwidgets.org/>`_ (formerly wxWindows)
C++ toolkit. It provides a native look and feel for applications on
Windows, Mac OS X, and Unix systems by using each platform's native
widgets where ever possible, (GTK+ on Unix-like systems). In addition to
an extensive set of widgets, wxPython provides classes for online
documentation and context sensitive help, printing, HTML viewing,
low-level device context drawing, drag and drop, system clipboard access,
an XML-based resource format and more, including an ever growing library
of user-contributed modules. wxPython has a book, `wxPython in Action
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1932394621>`_, by Noel Rappin and
Robin Dunn.
PyGTK, PyQt, and wxPython, all have a modern look and feel and more
widgets than Tkinter. In addition, there are many other GUI toolkits for
Python, both cross-platform, and platform-specific. See the `GUI Programming
<http://wiki.python.org/moin/GuiProgramming>`_ page in the Python Wiki for a
much more complete list, and also for links to documents where the
different GUI toolkits are compared.