PythonCard requires Python 2.1.x and
wxPython 2.3.x.
The latest PythonCardPrototype package is available at
Sourceforge.
Some of the samples require additional components such as mySQL and ZODB.
If a sample requires any extra libraries or packages,
then that is discussed in the readme.txt file for that particular sample.
Installation
Windows
Unzip the downloaded file. Move the PyCrust and PythonCardPrototype directories to your python21 directory. On
Windows the directory is probably called 'C:\Python21'. Alternatively, you can put the PyCrust and
PythonCardPrototype directories in any directory that is on your PYTHONPATH.
Unix
Unzip the downloaded file. If you're on a Unix system, use the -a option to convert the line endings
of the text files. Move the PyCrust and PythonCardPrototype directories to
<prefix>/lib/python2.1/site-packages/ where <prefix> defaults to
/usr/local (but may be /usr/bin when Python came as part of your Unix
distribution)
Post-installation
You can move the 'samples' directory inside the PythonCardPrototype directory to a more convenient
location on your hard drive if you wish.
Running your first sample
All you have to do is double-click one of the .py files in one of the sample
directories like
'samples\minimal\minimal.py'. You can also run the files from the
command-line, and the command-line is probably preferred if you want to
invoke one of the debug windows (see below) with the program. The one thing
you should not do is run a sample from within PythonWin or IDLE since
neither of those IDEs launches an app in a separate process, so you'll run
into GUI contention issues. You can launch from an IDE like Komodo. What I
typically do is edit in PythonWin and keep a shell window (DOS prompt) open
to run the program once I make an edit change; alternatively keep a shortcut
to the program or an Explorer window open to the directory the program is in
so you can double-click it.
You can change the .py extension to .pyw on any of the samples if you want
to get rid of the console window that pops up when you run the program.
Valid command-line options
Valid command-line options are: -l (enable Logging), -m (Message Watcher), -p (Property
Editor), -s (Shell) and -n (Namespace Viewer).
Invoking any of those options will actually give you all of them
but only the one requested will be shown initially. You can hide/show any of the
windows via the Debug menu if you used a command-line option to start an app.
pythoncard_user_config.py
You can set the default position and size of each window and whether it
appears by choosing "Save Configuration" from the Debug menu when you start a PythonCard
app using any of command-line options.
