This class is designed to be a GUI application framework.

This class creates a simple application dialog including a menubar, status message area, progress meter, help and about dialogs. The class methods also provide simple access to features of Pmw and Tkinter such as

• changing the cursor during a busy processing time

• displaying message and error dialogs

• providing menu bar items.

• registering documentation as part of the built-in online help system

• status messages,

The class acts as the base class for simple GUI applications, making the job of creating a small application to perform a simple task easy. The constructor manages all of the startup and initialization required for Tk, Tkinter, and Pmw. A subclass defines a method to create the interface for the application, and (optionally) a method to perform application initialization. An instance is created, and the run method is then used to run the application.

Since this class is a base class, the user expected to subclass it and override several attributes as well as the createinterior() method in order to create an application.

The documentation for each method indicates whether it should be overridden by the subclass or not. There are three types of methods:

Override

This method should be overridden.

Override ok

This method can be overridden, but maybe shouldn't be and should not need to be.

No override

Do not override this method.

Class Attributes to Override

appversion

string

What version of your application is this?

appname

string

What is the name of your application?

contactname

string

Name of the person to contact when the user has questions.

copyrightname

string

Name of the person holding copyright to the app.

copyright

string

Copyright notice for the app.

contactphone

string

Recommended for use only with apps used by other members of your organization. This information will be included in the About dialog.

contactemail

string

Email address to use to request help about the app.

resizeWidth

integer

If true, the user is allowed to resize the main dialog width.

resizeHeight

integer

If true, the user is allowed to resize the main dialog height.

padx

integer

X padding for spacing between widgets.

pady

integer

Y padding for spacing between widgets.

usebuttonbox

integer

If true, build a button box area of the GUI app to provide quick buttons for some actions. This area is not created if false. Defaults to false.

Options

balloon_state="both"

The type of help provided by the balloon manager. Valid options are described in the documentation for the Pmw.Balloon class.

padx

Internal X spacing for child widgets.

pady

Internal Y spacing for child widgets.

resizeheight=1

Boolean controlling whether the application frame will allow resizing in the Y direction. The default, true, means resizing will be allowed.

resizewidth=1

Boolean controlling whether the application frame will allow resizing in the X direction. The default, true, means resizing will be allowed.

usebuttonbox=0

Boolean controlling whether the Pmw.ButtonBox portion of the interface is packed (it is always created).

Components

balloon

This component is a Pmw.Balloon, and is automatically tied to the message area of the application window.

bottomtray

This component is a Tkinter.Frame which contains the message bar and progress meter at the very bottom of the application window.

buttonbox

This component is a Pmw.ButtonBox used for the set of buttons arranged along the bottom of the main application window. The class attribute usebuttonbox controls whether or not the button box is displayed.

dialogchildsite

This component is a Tkinter.Frame and is used for the container of application interface components. This is the widget returned by the interior() method of the GuiAppD.

hull

This acts as the body for the entire megawidget. Other components are created as children of the hull to further specialise the widget. By default, this component is a Tkinter.Frame.

menubar

This acts as the main menu for the entire application. Submenus which are automatically created are File and Help. Other submenus and menu items can be created by the subclass.

messagebar

This component is a Pmw.MessageBar displayed at the bottom left of the application window, inside the bottomtray. The message bar is automatically tied to the balloon component to display status messages. This is also where messages passed to the statusMessage() method are displayed.

progressmeter

This component is a PmwContribD.ProgressMeter displayed at the bottom right of the application window, inside the bottomtray. See the updateProgress() method.

Screenshots

Take a look at GuiAppD running on a Macintosh.

__init__ ( self,  **kw )

addHelpItem (
        self,
        key,
        text,
        )

addMenuItem (
        self,
        menuName,
        itemType,
        helpText,
        label,
        command,
        accelerator='',
        acceleratorKey='',
        binding=None,
        **kw,
        )

appInit ( self )

balloon ( self )

bell ( self )

bind (
        self,
        child,
        balloonHelpMsg,
        statusHelpMsg=None,
        )

buildHelpTable ( self )

busyEnd ( self )

busyStart ( self,  newcursor=None )

buttonAdd (
        self,
        buttonName,
        helpMessage=None,
        statusMessage=None,
        **kw,
        )

buttonBox ( self )

centerMessageDialog ( self,  msgDialog )

checkScreenBoundary (
        self,
        xCoord,
        yCoord,
        wCoord,
        hCoord,
        )

createHelpButton ( self )

createInterface ( self )

createMenuBar ( self )

getFilenameToOpen (
        self,
        title='Open File',
        filetypes=[( 'Text Files', '*.txt' ), ],
        initialdir=None,
        )

initializeTk ( self,  root )

interior ( self )

main ( self )

quit ( self,  *args )

run ( self )

savePrefsCB ( self,  prefs )

showAbout ( self )

showError ( self,  errorMessage )

showHelpDialog ( self,  event=None )

showMessage (
        self,
        type,
        msgTxt=None,
        )

showMessageDialog (
        self,
        messageText,
        justify='center',
        buttons=( 'OK', ),
        title=None,
        )

showPrefsDialog ( self )

toggleBalloon ( self )

updateProgress (
        self,
        newValue=0,
        newLimit=0,
        )