Need assistance with wxPython (newbie)

Question

I need to create what I think should be a simple GUI. I have very little experience with building GUI's. I'm a visual learner and 'wxPython In Action' isn't helping me out. I don't learn well by books written by Ph.D.'s. I'm using Python 2.6. Many of the examples on the Internet don't work in Python 2.6.

I need to create a GUI with 3 columns and some buttons on the bottom.

On the first pass, each of the columns will be just multi-line text input. I've creating a GUI that did have 3 columns using 3 panels but I couldn't get the multi-line text input to fill the entire panel. I tried with boxsizer and flexgridsizer with one panel but again, I couldn't get the multi-line text input to fill the entire column.

Somewhere, I saw an example of almost exactly what I was looking for but I either didn't bookmark it or it was in an example and I forget where it is. This example had 3 columns where each of the columns could be width adjusted like in a spreadsheet.

I've been at this for quite a few days and I haven't made any progress. What I'm looking for is something akin to a Sashwindow but with 3 columns.

I've tried multiple panels, boxsizers with flexgridsizers but no luck. I've gone through all of the wxPython demos and nothing comes closs. Perhaps because what I looking for is too simple and not worthy of a demo. Some of the columns in the real program will use selectable lists and grids but first I need to start with the simplistic possible case.

Can anyone provide a minimalistic program that shows 3 columns with multi-line text input filling the entire column? I'll figure out how to add the buttons on the bottom.

Thank you,

Answer 1

You should take a look at wxGlade. It's a handy little GUI builder you can use to create your UI. After that, you can also look at the code it generates and go from there.

Edit: Okay, here goes:

In wxGlade, create a new frame. Add a horizontal sizer with three slots. Add a TextCtrl to the first slot. On the Layout page for the text control, check wxEXPAND and set Proportion to 1; on the Widget page, check wxTE_MULTILINE. Copy the text control to the clipboard and paste into into the two remaining slots.

Here's the code that wxGlade generates:

#!/usr/bin/env python
# -*- coding: iso-8859-15 -*-
# generated by wxGlade 0.6.3 on Tue Jul 21 20:00:54 2009

import wx

# begin wxGlade: extracode
# end wxGlade



class MyFrame(wx.Frame):
    def __init__(self, *args, **kwds):
        # begin wxGlade: MyFrame.__init__
        kwds["style"] = wx.DEFAULT_FRAME_STYLE
        wx.Frame.__init__(self, *args, **kwds)
        self.text_ctrl_1 = wx.TextCtrl(self, -1, "", style=wx.TE_MULTILINE)
        self.text_ctrl_1_copy = wx.TextCtrl(self, -1, "", style=wx.TE_MULTILINE)
        self.text_ctrl_1_copy_1 = wx.TextCtrl(self, -1, "", style=wx.TE_MULTILINE)

        self.__set_properties()
        self.__do_layout()
        # end wxGlade

    def __set_properties(self):
        # begin wxGlade: MyFrame.__set_properties
        self.SetTitle("frame_1")
        # end wxGlade

    def __do_layout(self):
        # begin wxGlade: MyFrame.__do_layout
        sizer_1 = wx.BoxSizer(wx.VERTICAL)
        sizer_2 = wx.BoxSizer(wx.HORIZONTAL)
        sizer_2.Add(self.text_ctrl_1, 1, wx.EXPAND, 0)
        sizer_2.Add(self.text_ctrl_1_copy, 1, wx.EXPAND, 0)
        sizer_2.Add(self.text_ctrl_1_copy_1, 1, wx.EXPAND, 0)
        sizer_1.Add(sizer_2, 1, wx.EXPAND, 0)
        self.SetSizer(sizer_1)
        sizer_1.Fit(self)
        self.Layout()
        # end wxGlade

# end of class MyFrame


if __name__ == "__main__":
    app = wx.PySimpleApp(0)
    wx.InitAllImageHandlers()
    frame_1 = MyFrame(None, -1, "")
    app.SetTopWindow(frame_1)
    frame_1.Show()
    app.MainLoop()

Hope that helps :-)