[PyKDE] Kudos and Questions from a New Convert

[Phil Thompson]

On Wednesday 20 November 2002 4:45 am, John Bell wrote:
> I'm just in the exciting phase of making the switch
> from wxPython to PyQt/PyKDE.  Coming from a Linux
> background I have long disregarded the Qt/KDE side of
> the GUI world due to the old problems re Qt licensing.
>  I recently discovered that this was no longer an
> issue and further that Qt had DATA AWARE WIDGETS!!!
> What a boon!  Am I right in guessing that this was
> introduced in the free version in Qt 3.x? I've got to
> say that I really like Qt-Designer, the
> signal()/slots() mechanism and the fact that I can
> generate PyQt/PyKDE code from the .ui files.
>
> Having built a large suite of software for dealing
> with the DBAPI<->Business Object<->Widget association
> problem for wxPython, and being on the verge of a
> major project to expand and refactor it, this was
> quite a discovery.  I'm now almost certainly going to
> walk away from my old code in favour of the very neat
> Qt solution.  This feature seems to be little known
> and IMHO should be sold for all it's worth on the
> Python mailing lists.

Feel free to tell the world about your experiences :)

I sometimes post to c.l.p advocating PyQt but it's always better if a 
package's users do it instead.

> Now, onto the questions!  I'm still trying to consume
> and digest all the info on the Qt/KDE API's,
> Qt-Designer and Kdevelop, PyQt and PyKDE ...  There's
> a heck of a lot there and I'm only part way through,
> so I hope I'll be indulged if I ask a few broad sweep
> questions.
>
> My concern is to choose the correct RAD development
> platform.  As I see it the choices are Qt-Designer
> with PyQt, Kdevelop with PyKDE, possible a combination
> of the two or BlackAdder.  My Questions are:
>
> (1) Is there any other PyQt/PyKDE RAD Technology out
> there that I haven't discovered?

As Jim mentioned, take a look at eric when Detlev releases v3 "soon".

> (2) I haven't really gotten into the Kdevelop side
> yet.  Am I right in assuming that it's quite normal to
> mix Kdevelop and Qt-Designer content (and thus
> presumably PyQt and PyKDE content) in the same
> application?  I came to this assumption whilst
> fiddling around with Kdevelop.  I ask only because the
> KDE API seems to have some nice widgets and features
> not available in Qt.
>
> (3) I don't want to start a war here, but is PyKDE as
> mature/complete as PyQt?  How do they compare
> generally?

One is a development of the other, in the same way that the KDE API is a 
development of the Qt API. If you use KDE/PyKDE you will be making Qt/PyQt in 
your application.

To me the first decision is what platforms you want your application to run 
under. Your comment about Qt licensing implies you are only interested in GPL 
code, in which case PyKDE is fine. If there is the possibility that you might 
want to run your application under Windows or MacOS/X, then stick to PyQt.

> (4) I'm concerned with whether I should look seriously
> at BlackAdder.  I realise that it's inexpensive, but I
> want to choose a development base fairly quickly.  My
> main concerns in looking at the BlackAdder web page
> are that it requires a step back in base technologies:
> Python 2.0, Qt 2.x etc.  I guess that I'm most
> concerned with the step back in Qt.  Presumably this
> means losing the overall database handling framework
> available in Qt 3.x for something that may be less
> clean, as well as loss of the other extended
> functionality that seems to previously have only been
> available in commercial editions of Qt, and presumably
> some general loss of functionality widget-wise.  Also
> I'm guessing that I can say goodbye to the possibility
> of using PyKDE extensions.  My other general concern
> is that ODBC is a pretty slow data access technology.
> Is anybody able to comment on these concerns?  Do I
> have a lot to gain from BlackAdder that isn't
> available by just using Qt-Designer and processing the
> .ui files?

I believe the latest BlackAdder beta has just been released and the bundled 
copy of PyQt uses Qt v3 (they just haven't updated the web pages yet). 
However I don't believe it is configured to support Qt's SQL and data aware 
widgets - but check with theKompany.

The main benefit of BlackAdder is that you can create closed source (Windows 
or Linux) applications and distribute them without buying a (relatively 
expensive) Qt commercial license. If this isn't an issue then (IMHO) your 
best bet is PyQt and/or PyKDE with the new version of eric.

> (5) On another topic, can I display a large image
> (larger than the screen or widget size) in a widget
> with scroll bars, or am I constrained to resizing the
> image to fit or losing content due to clipping?

Yes you can.

> (6) Regarding the online book on PyQt development, is
> it available in an easily dowloadable form somewhere?
> I'd like to print it out and read it at leisure rather
> than staring at the screen all day!

You can buy the paper version of the book.

Phil