Re: [Pythoncard-users] (no subject)

[Kevin A. <al...@se...>]

I think this may easier to do in raw wxPython since the app is=20
relatively simple to do if you use the right controls, but those=20
controls aren't wrapped for PythonCard 0.7.3.1. See explanation below.

On May 5, 2004, at 3:00 PM, Ray Price wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Is PythonCard right for me? I want to build a cross-platform GUI
> application that will do the following in the most simple version:
>
> 1) retrieve a TIFF image via HTTP

Yes, see the worldclock sample. Retrieving the data is just standard=20
Python and to avoid saving the image data to disk, you use=20
ImageFromStream=00 to convert it to something usable by wxPython. =
Whether=20
to use wxPython or PythonCard would depend somewhat on the size of the=20=

TIFF images. If they are so large that they need to be displayed and=20
manipulated in a scrolling window, then wxPython is definitely going to=20=

be more suitable since PythonCard doesn't currently have a scrolling=20
panel or canvas.

> 2) allow the user to draw black rectangles over parts of the image to
> hide the areas
> 3) add (overlay?) associated text with each rectangle

Yes, though now you start to get into implementation details where the=20=

solution is complicated by how much user interaction is required. An=20
object canvas is probably better for this sort of thing. In wxPython,=20
Chris Barker's FloatCanvas is probably the right thing to use, though=20
wxOGL might work just as well. I will be adding a component wrapper for=20=

FloatCanvas in release 0.8. You could try some initial mockups with the=20=

BitmapCanvas component. Cliff Well's did a DialogEditor using wxOGL=20
that does almost everything you want, but I don't know if he would want=20=

to share that code or not.

> 4) send the rectangle coordinates and associated text back to a web
> server

That's just Python, not a GUI issue.

> 5) back to step 1 for another image
>
> Additional requirements are:
> 1) a toggle button to change the black rectangles to a transparent
> color to allow viewing of what is underneath

There isn't a ToggleButton in PythonCard 0.7.3.1 and I can't remember=20
if the reason it isn't included is that it isn't supported on all=20
platforms yet. I'll look at this again for 0.8 since all platforms=20
might support it in 2.5.1.5 and above. You can obviously use a checkbox=20=

to get the same effect.

> Sound like something PythonCard can handle on Linux and Windows?
>
> Thanks for your input,
> Ray

Assuming the TIFF images don't need to scroll this app would be very=20
relatively easy with PythonCard on Windows since components (wxPython=20
controls) can overlap even without using FloatCanvas or wxOGL.=20
Overlapping controls don't work as well on Linux/GTK.

So, looking at the explanations above, I think you're probably better=20
off just going with raw wxPython code for this one since PythonCard=20
0.7.3.1 just doesn't have all the pieces you need right now.

ka