Re: [Pythoncard-users] Cross-platform issues

[Alex T. <al...@tw...>]

Mark Carter wrote:

> Hello.
>
> I've written an app using PythonCard in Windows.  However, when I take 
> the code and run it on Ubuntu Linux (Ubuntu 5.04, Gnome) using my 
> laptop, it has some issues.
>
> Specifically:
> - The drop-down choice box, because Gnome renders it with both an up 
> and down arrow, is much bigger.
> - Fonts.  I left them at default in Windows, which is Microsoft Sans 
> Serif size 8.  However, in Gnome, it defaults to Sans size 10.  The 
> size change resizes buttons on me, screws up my form layout, and just 
> looks terrible.

I should start off by saying I've never run Pythoncard on Linux (and 
don't have any access to Linux to try it), so these answers should be 
treated cautiously.

For text and control sizing, there is no good *native PythonCard* 
solution right now. The best way I know is to use wxPython's sizers to 
make your layout fully self-sizing. That will typically make it nicer to 
use anyway, and should handle issues like different system font sizes, 
drop-down arrow sizes, etc. along the way.

There's a good example of using sizers in the findfiles utility 
(PythonCard/tools/findfiles), and there's some half-decent documentation 
on sizers in the wxPython documentation/demo download.

> - I have a text field (like a VB label) beside my choice drop-down.  
> On Linux, it's got a border around it for some reason.

No idea. Is it a TextField, or a StaticText ? Do all such fields get a 
border on Linux ?

> - Undo/Redo.  I copied the undo/redo code from one of the Pythoncard 
> sample apps, and it works fine in Windows, but doesn't work at all in 
> Linux.

Undo/Redo code for what kind of component or control ?
Could you expand a bit more on this item ?


> Everything else works fine, which is very good.  But I need to clean 
> up the user interface, which goes from looking great in Windows to 
> crap in Linux.
>
> Anybody have any tips regarding cross-platform development?  Am I 
> going to have to maintain two versions of any software with a GUI?
>
Shouldn't need to if you can wrestle the layout into sizers - it's not 
always easy to find the right combination of sizers to get the layout 
you want.

> On another note, I use NSIS to package a nice installer for Windows. 
> What's the best way to package it up for Linux users?

I definitely can't answer that one ...

-- 
Alex Tweedly       http://www.tweedly.net



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