Create GUI apps with Python in minutes

[u/mherrmann]

https://build-system.fman.io

[u/ase1590]

You misspelled appications on your github.

On a closer inspection, it looks like you just outright use PyQt as the GUI toolkit, so this brings no advantage over just straight using PyQt. I think this is a bit dishonest to advertise it as some kind of new GUI toolkit.

Where this does excel is that you seem to have wrapped up some useful tools for deploying your application after making the gui.

In that regard, you have a nice PyQt deployment toolkit.

[u/not_perfect_yet → u/ase1590]

Shhh. Just buy a damn license.

...you can purchase a commercial license for EUR 249 per developer:

[u/ase1590 → u/not_perfect_yet]

And then there's that license minefield too, considering its leveraging Qt.

Though at least it's free to use for open source work.

[u/mherrmann → u/ase1590]

It's not a minefield. As mentioned on the page: Most apps will be able to use Qt as a library, under the LGPL, and thus don't need a commercial Qt license.

[u/ase1590 → u/mherrmann]

Are you absolutely sure?

While I am not a lawyer, this is my understanding of the issue:

Can my proprietary application be used with the copy of the GPL version of PyQt that the user already has installed (as part of their Linux distribution for example)? A.Yes, so long as you meet the following conditio

you are using the LGPL version of Qt

your proprietary application has been developed with the commercial version of PyQt

your commercial PyQt license covers the version of PyQt that the user has installed.

So while you will not necessarily need a Qt license, you will likely need a PyQt license.

edit: Guess you stated this:

you can avoid this by using fbs with Qt for Python, but support for it is still in the early stages.

This is still a hassle on the developer side worrying about licenses. At least your were upfront.

Though, You also don't have your license terms stated very clearly on the site. It took me going to the paypal link to even find it it was a perpetual license tied to the purchaser.

[u/mherrmann → u/not_perfect_yet]

Or use it for free under the GPL.

[u/Tetsubin → u/ase1590]

That was my take on this. Sounds like some infrastructure around PyInstaller that makes it more useful, which could actually be a great thing. One of the biggest challenges for any application development system is deploying the app across multiple platforms.

[u/mherrmann → u/ase1590]

Where do I say it's a new toolkit? It literally says "based on Qt" in the headline. The advantages over "just" PyQt are mentioned on the site (creating installers, among other things).

Thx for pointing out the typo! I'm on the road and will fix once at home.

[u/ase1590 → u/mherrmann]

lets you create GUI apps for Windows, Mac and Linux. It is a lightweight alternative to Electron based on Qt

You never explicitly state that, but you sell it as an electron alternative, which implies its some kind of new GUI toolkit.

based on QT

implies you've done some extensive core Qt toolkit modification, when I don't think that's the case.

This is the impression I got, as well as other people in this thread when rapidly skimming over the project's site.

I would have pushed

Deploy cross-platform desktop apps in minutes

instead of

Create cross-platform desktop apps in minutes

[u/mherrmann → u/ase1590]

"based on QT" implies you've done some extensive core Qt toolkit modification

You sure do read a lot between the lines. Electron is based on Chromium. Would you say it has done extensive modification of its rendering engine etc.?

I would have pushed "Deploy" instead of "Create cross-platform desktop apps in minutes"

It's an integrated solution that lets you do both. I position it as an alternative to Electron because it is.

Finally, all the points you raise are addressed in the Section "Under the hood" on the page. It explicitly says that fbs "does not reinvent the wheel" and merely "integrates" PyQt et al. The same goes for other of your comments here, where you criticize something then "edit" your comment because you then went back and read the whole page.

[u/ase1590 → u/mherrmann]

Would you say it has done extensive modification of its rendering engine etc.?

It's quite a bit of modification to give it extensive platform integration API which has led to design differences when compared to something like Node-Webkit.

So yes.

[u/xShinryuu]

I just came here to ask about a beginner-friendly GUI framework. I tried Pyforms but I couldn't understand the documentation that well. Is this good?

[u/ase1590 → u/xShinryuu]

This project just uses PyQt. You'd be better off learning to use Tkinter for now. Once you have a good grasp on Object Oriented Programming with python, PyQt is going to be the easiest to pick up.

[u/xShinryuu → u/ase1590]

I started with Java so I know OOP

[u/ase1590 → u/xShinryuu]

Then you'll be fine moving directly into PyQt. Documentation is great and github is full of lots of small PyQt projects to look at. ZetCode PyQt5 guide is what a lot of people point at to get started.

[u/RielDealJr → u/xShinryuu]

appJar is a nice easy to use wrapper for tkinter, if you are looking for something simple.

[u/mherrmann → u/xShinryuu]

It's easier than the alternatives for creating something that you can actually ship to your users. If you have not used PyQt (fbs's underlying GUI technology), you might need to take some tutorials on it after that of fbs.

[u/_sigo_]

Very cool! Slightly off topic question - what's the theme that you're using for this landing page? Is this something custom or a template? Looks nice and clean.

[u/mherrmann → u/_sigo_]

Thanks! It's just Bootstrap with a few custom colors.

[u/TheTerrasque]

Tutorial: "Download the source from here" - for a "Hello World" app. If getting one window without any content to show is so complex you can't show it inline I'm not sure I would trust it.

[u/mherrmann → u/TheTerrasque]

You're getting a window and an installer. Show me another technology that lets you do this and can still fit in an inline example.

[u/TheTerrasque → u/mherrmann]

program.py

import wx

app = wx.App()

frame = wx.Frame(None, title='Hello World')
frame.Show()

app.MainLoop()

And for packaging:

pip install pyinstaller
pyinstaller -Fw program.py

And presto, you have a distributable Hello World app. Ready to take the world by storm!

[u/mherrmann → u/TheTerrasque]

That's not an installer, ie. a .dmg file on Mac or an installation wizard on Windows...

[u/naught-me]

How is this different than PyWebView? They seem really similar.

[u/Dorito_Troll]

How does this compare to tkinter in your opinion?

[u/ase1590 → u/Dorito_Troll]

This just uses PyQt, its not anything new.

tkinter is great for small applications.

PyQt is great for applications you need more advanced features in and/or prefer object oriented programming.

[u/simplegadget512]

I dig it. I've got just the project in mind to play around with this.

[u/MikeTheWatchGuy]

I just released a new Python GUI SDK meant to allow you to build custom GUIs in minutes. For real... in minutes. I'm not talking just about Message Boxes or single field input forms, but rather flexible forms that don't require a lot of code to implement and use. It's based on tkinter so it doesn't need a bunch of extra packages installed, unlike other GUIs.

To install

pip install PySimpleGUI

I just dashed out this little example form for another post:

https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/13696193/42919952-6cb80060-8ae2-11e8-8277-545fb91b7e17.jpg

Here's all of the code required to build, show, collect results..
form = sg.FlexForm('Rename files in folder', auto_size_text=True, font=('Helvatica', 12))
layout = [[sg.Text('Source Folder', size=(12,1)), sg.Input(),sg.FolderBrowse()],
          [sg.Text('Search Pattern', size=(12,1)), sg.Input()],
          [sg.Text('Rename To', size=(12,1)), sg.Input()], 
          [sg.Submit(), sg.Cancel()]]
button, values = form.LayoutAndShow(layout)

There are not many choices between zero and tkinter. Jumping right to tkinter is not an easy task for a beginner.

[u/impshum]

Very nice. I'll give it a whirl.

[u/guyanf]

wxpython

[u/ase1590 → u/guyanf]

Yes, wxpython is a thing that exists.

Your point?