3. UI Layout and Organization | wxPython Application Development Cookbook

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wxPython Application Development Cookbook

By : Cody Precord

3.5 (6)

wxPython Application Development Cookbook

3.5 (6)

By: Cody Precord

Overview of this book

wxPython is a GUI toolkit for the Python programming language built on top of the cross-platform wxWidgets GUI libraries. wxPython provides a powerful set of tools that allow you to quickly and efficiently building applications that can run on a variety of different platforms. Since wxWidgets provides a wrapper around each platform’s native GUI toolkit, the applications built with wxPython will have a native look and feel wherever they are deployed. This book will provide you with the skills to build highly functional and native looking user interfaces for Python applications on multiple operating system environments. By working through the recipes, you will gain insights into and exposure to creating applications using wxPython. With a wide range of topics covered in the book, there are recipes to get the most basic of beginners started in GUI programming as well as tips to help experienced users get more out of their applications. The recipes will take you from the most basic application constructs all the way through to the deployment of complete applications.

Preface

Preface

What this book covers

What you need for this book

Who this book is for

Sections

Conventions

Reader feedback

Customer support

Free Chapter

1. wxPython Starting Points

1. wxPython Starting Points

Introduction

Creating an application object

Adding the main frame

Using bitmaps

Binding to events

Understanding the hierarchy of the UI

Controlling the propagation of events

Accessing the clipboard

Supporting drag and drop

Handling AppleEvents

2. Common User Controls

2. Common User Controls

Introduction

Starting with the easy button

Pushing all the buttons

Offering options with CheckBoxes

Using TextCtrl

Processing key events

Picking dates with DatePickerCtrl

Exploring menus and shortcuts

Displaying a context menu

Working with ToolBars

Managing UI states

3. UI Layout and Organization

3. UI Layout and Organization

Introduction

Laying out controls with Sizers

Controlling layout behavior

Grouping controls with a StaticBox control

Creating an automatic wrapping layout

Using the standard dialog button sizer

Simplifying the panel layout

Making dialog layout easy

Building XML resource-based layouts

Extending XRC for custom controls

Advancing your UI with AuiManager

4. Containers and Advanced Controls

4. Containers and Advanced Controls

Introduction

Adding tabs with the Notebook control

Enhancing ComboBox with bitmaps

Configuring properties

Taking control with FlatNotebook

Styling text in StyledTextCtrl

Annotating StyledTextCtrl

Displaying hierarchical data with TreeCtrl

Building a system tray application

Surfing the Web in your app

5. Data Displays and Grids

5. Data Displays and Grids

Introduction

Displaying lists of data

Editing data lists

Implementing a data source

Getting started with the data grid

Displaying dynamic data

Modeling your data

Displaying your data model

6. Ways to Notify and Alert

6. Ways to Notify and Alert

Introduction

Showing MessageBox

Using InfoBar

Providing extra tips on usage

Displaying transient notifications

Making a splash at startup

Giving busy feedback

Showing information about your app

7. Requesting and Retrieving Information

7. Requesting and Retrieving Information

Introduction

Selecting files with FileDialog

Searching text with FindReplaceDialog

Filtering through choices

Retrieving multiple selections

Using Print dialogs

Guiding selections with Wizard

8. User Interface Primitives

8. User Interface Primitives

Introduction

Painting in your UI

Drawing basic shapes

Customizing grid labels

Drawing gradients with GraphicsContext

Recreating native controls with RendererNative

9. Creating and Customizing Components

9. Creating and Customizing Components

Introduction

Making your own dialog

Validating user input

Interacting with StatusBar

Providing your own information window

Creating a managed layout

Drawing your own list control

Implementing highlighting in StyledTextCtrl

Creating a composite control

Designing an owner-drawn control

10. Getting Your Application Ready for Release

10. Getting Your Application Ready for Release

Introduction

Storing your configuration with StandardPaths

Saving the application's state

Supporting internationalization

Optimizing for OS X

Handling errors gracefully

Embedding your resources

Distributing an application

Updating your software

Index

Index

Grouping controls with a StaticBox control

The StaticBox control is a type of static control that is used to group or organize controls that perform related actions together. It provides a label text and an outlining border around the grouped controls. In previous versions of wxPython, StaticBox had an irregular sibling relationship with the controls that it contained, which was, needless to say, outside the mold of the overall hierarchy of the framework. However, starting from version 2.9 onward, StaticBox can be treated similarly to a special panel that is the parent of the controls it contains. In this recipe, we will take a quick look at how to add controls to StaticBox.

How to do it…

Here are the steps for this recipe:

First, let's start off by making a little wrapper class around StaticBox to encapsulate StaticBoxSizer and add a couple of convenience methods, as follows:
```
class GroupBox(wx.StaticBox):
    def __init__(self, parent, orient, label=""):
        super(GroupBox, self).__init__...
```

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