Install the latest py2app, then make a new directory -- cd to it -- in it make a HelloWorld.py file such as:
# generic Python imports
import datetime
import os
import sched
import sys
import tempfile
import threading
import time
# need PyObjC on sys.path...:
for d in sys.path:
if 'Extras' in d:
sys.path.append(d + '/PyObjC')
break
# objc-related imports
import objc
from Foundation import *
from AppKit import *
from PyObjCTools import AppHelper
# all stuff related to the repeating-action
thesched = sched.scheduler(time.time, time.sleep)
def tick(n, writer):
writer(n)
thesched.enter(20.0, 10, tick, (n+1, writer))
fd, name = tempfile.mkstemp('.txt', 'hello', '/tmp');
print 'writing %r' % name
f = os.fdopen(fd, 'w')
f.write(datetime.datetime.now().isoformat())
f.write('\n')
f.close()
def schedule(writer):
pool = NSAutoreleasePool.alloc().init()
thesched.enter(0.0, 10, tick, (1, writer))
thesched.run()
# normally you'd want pool.drain() here, but since this function never
# ends until end of program (thesched.run never returns since each tick
# schedules a new one) that pool.drain would never execute here;-).
# objc-related stuff
class TheDelegate(NSObject):
statusbar = None
state = 'idle'
def applicationDidFinishLaunching_(self, notification):
statusbar = NSStatusBar.systemStatusBar()
self.statusitem = statusbar.statusItemWithLength_(
NSVariableStatusItemLength)
self.statusitem.setHighlightMode_(1)
self.statusitem.setToolTip_('Example')
self.statusitem.setTitle_('Example')
self.menu = NSMenu.alloc().init()
menuitem = NSMenuItem.alloc().initWithTitle_action_keyEquivalent_(
'Quit', 'terminate:', '')
self.menu.addItem_(menuitem)
self.statusitem.setMenu_(self.menu)
def writer(self, s):
self.badge.setBadgeLabel_(str(s))
if __name__ == "__main__":
# prepare and set our delegate
app = NSApplication.sharedApplication()
delegate = TheDelegate.alloc().init()
app.setDelegate_(delegate)
delegate.badge = app.dockTile()
delegate.writer(0)
# on a separate thread, run the scheduler
t = threading.Thread(target=schedule, args=(delegate.writer,))
t.setDaemon(1)
t.start()
# let her rip!-)
AppHelper.runEventLoop()
Of course, in your real code, you'll be performing your own periodic actions every 3 minutes (rather than writing a temp file every 20 seconds as I'm doing here), doing your own status updates (rather than just showing a counter of the number of files written so far), etc, etc, but I hope this example shows you a viable starting point.
Then in Terminal.App cd to the directory containing this source file, py2applet --make-setup HelloWorld.py, python setup.py py2app -A -p PyObjC.
You now have in subdirectory dist a directory HelloWorld.app; open dist and drag the icon to the Dock, and you're all set (on your own machine -- distributing to other machines may not work due to the -A flag, but I had trouble building without it, probably due to mis-installed egg files laying around this machine;-). No doubt you'll want to customize your icon &c.
This doesn't do the "extra credit" thingy you asked for -- it's already a lot of code and I decided to stop here (the extra credit thingy may warrant a new question). Also, I'm not quite sure that all the incantations I'm performing here are actually necessary or useful; the docs are pretty latitant for making a pyobjc .app without Xcode, as you require, so I hacked this together from bits and pieces of example code found on the net plus a substantial amount of trial and error. Still, I hope it helps!-)