Started my first Python pet project using PyGTK. Though it is a really powerful GUI toolkit and looks excellent, I have some pet peeves. So I thought about transitioning to something else, as it's not yet too extensive. Had a look around on SO and python documentation, but didn't get a good overview.
What's nice about PyGTK:
- Glade files
- self.signal_autoconnect({...})
- self.get_widget() as _getattr_
This is bugging me however:
- manual gobject.idle_add(lambda: ... and False)
- no standard functionality to save application/window states
- TreeView needs array building
- widget.get_selection().get_selected(), model.get_value(iter, liststore_index)
TreeView: Because this is the main interface element, it's the most distracting. Basically my application builds a list of dictionaries to be displayed name=column+row=>value. To display it using GTK there needs to be a manual conversion process, ordering, typecasts. This seems a lot of overhead, and I wished for something more object-oriented here. PyGtk has many abstractions atop gtk+ but still seems rather low-levelish. I'd prefer to pass my dict as-is and have columns pre-defined somehow. (GtkBuilder can predefine TreeView columns, but this doesn't solve the data representation overhead.)
When I get a mousclick on my TreeView list, I also have to convert everything back into my application data structures. And it's also irksome that PyGTK doesn't wrap gtk+ calls with gobject.idle itself, if run from a non-main thread. Right now there is a lot of GUI code that I believe shouldn't be necessary, or could be rationalized away.
? So, are there maybe additional wrappers on top of PyGTK. Or which other toolkit supports simpler interfaces for displaying a Grid / TreeView. I've read a lot about wxPython being everyones favourite, but it's less mature on Linux. And PyQT seems to be mostly the same abstraction level as PyGTK. Haven't used TkInter much so don't know about if it has simpler interfaces, but it anyway looks unattractive. As does PyFLTK. PyJamas sounds fascinating, but is already too far out (Desktop application).
.
So, GUI toolkit with dict -> Grid display. Which would you pick?
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Just as exhibit, this is my current TreeView mapping function. Sort of works, but I would rather have something standard:
#-- fill a treeview
#
# Adds treeviewcolumns/cellrenderers and liststore from a data dictionary.
# Its datamap and the table contents can be supplied in one or two steps.
# When new data gets applied, the columns aren't recreated.
#
# The columns are created according to the datamap, which describes cell
# mapping and layout. Columns can have multiple cellrenderers, but usually
# there is a direct mapping to a data source key from entries.
#
# datamap = [ # title width dict-key type, renderer, attrs
# ["Name", 150, ["titlerow", str, "text", {} ] ],
# [False, 0, ["interndat", int, None, {} ] ],
# ["Desc", 200, ["descriptn", str, "text", {} ], ["icon",str,"pixbuf",{}] ],
#
# An according entries list then would contain a dictionary for each row:
# entries = [ {"titlerow":"first", "interndat":123}, {"titlerow":"..."}, ]
# Keys not mentioned in the datamap get ignored, and defaults are applied
# for missing cols. All values must already be in the correct type however.
#
@staticmethod
def columns(widget, datamap=[], entries=[], pix_entry=False):
# create treeviewcolumns?
if (not widget.get_column(0)):
# loop through titles
datapos = 0
for n_col,desc in enumerate(datamap):
# check for title
if (type(desc[0]) != str):
datapos += 1 # if there is none, this is just an undisplayed data column
continue
# new tvcolumn
col = gtk.TreeViewColumn(desc[0]) # title
col.set_resizable(True)
# width
if (desc[1] > 0):
col.set_sizing(gtk.TREE_VIEW_COLUMN_FIXED)
col.set_fixed_width(desc[1])
# loop through cells
for var in xrange(2, len(desc)):
cell = desc[var]
# cell renderer
if (cell[2] == "pixbuf"):
rend = gtk.CellRendererPixbuf() # img cell
if (cell[1] == str):
cell[3]["stock_id"] = datapos # for stock icons
expand = False
else:
pix_entry = datapos
cell[3]["pixbuf"] = datapos
else:
rend = gtk.CellRendererText() # text cell
cell[3]["text"] = datapos
col.set_sort_column_id(datapos) # only on textual cells
# attach cell to column
col.pack_end(rend, expand=cell[3].get("expand",True))
# apply attributes
for attr,val in cell[3].iteritems():
col.add_attribute(rend, attr, val)
# next
datapos += 1
# add column to treeview
widget.append_column(col)
# finalize widget
widget.set_search_column(2) #??
widget.set_reorderable(True)
# add data?
if (entries):
#- expand datamap
vartypes = [] #(str, str, bool, str, int, int, gtk.gdk.Pixbuf, str, int)
rowmap = [] #["title", "desc", "bookmarked", "name", "count", "max", "img", ...]
if (not rowmap):
for desc in datamap:
for var in xrange(2, len(desc)):
vartypes.append(desc[var][3]) # content types
rowmap.append(desc[var][0]) # dict{} column keys in entries[] list
# create gtk array storage
ls = gtk.ListStore(*vartypes) # could be a TreeStore, too
# prepare for missing values, and special variable types
defaults = {
str: "",
unicode: u"",
bool: False,
int: 0,
gtk.gdk.Pixbuf: gtk.gdk.pixbuf_new_from_data("\0\0\0\0",gtk.gdk.COLORSPACE_RGB,True,8,1,1,4)
}
if gtk.gdk.Pixbuf in vartypes:
pix_entry = vartypes.index(gtk.gdk.Pixbuf)
# sort data into gtk liststore array
for row in entries:
# generate ordered list from dictionary, using rowmap association
row = [ row.get( skey , defaults[vartypes[i]] ) for i,skey in enumerate(rowmap) ]
# autotransform string -> gtk image object
if (pix_entry and type(row[pix_entry]) == str):
row[pix_entry] = gtk.gdk.pixbuf_new_from_file(row[pix_entry])
# add
ls.append(row) # had to be adapted for real TreeStore (would require additional input for grouping/level/parents)
# apply array to widget
widget.set_model(ls)
return ls
pass