tkRAD

Tkinter Rapid Application Development (RAD) library.

DESCRIPTION

tkRAD is a Python3.2+ library designed to enable really Rapid Application Development (RAD) process by using predefined classes to derive in your own subclasses, with quite useful embedded services such as dynamic Tkinter XML widget building, service manager, events manager, RC configuration manager and so on.

tkRAD is a deliberately short-made API designed for comfort, easiness and simplicity.

tkRAD provides the necessary core tools to quickly start up an application development or for Tkinter widget testing through tkRAD.easy.builder module - see 'QUICK START' instructions below.

LICENSE

tkRAD - tkinter Rapid Application Development library.

(c) 2013+ Raphaël SEBAN - e-mail: motus@laposte.net

This project is licensed under the GNU LGPL v3 Lesser General Public License.

This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program.

If not, see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/

FEATURES

This release of tkRAD supports:

• Application frame with tkRAD.widgets.RADApplication class;

• Lightweight MainWindow with tkRAD.widgets.RADMainWindow class;

• More complex Tkinter XML widget factory embedded in tkRAD.xml.RADXMLMainWindow class;

• Automagic XML menu / submenu cascade handling with direct access to submenus through get_object_by_id() class method, event-driven commands support, automatic menu label underlining support and keyboard accelerator support;

• Tkinter XML widget building through tkRAD.xml.RADXMLFrame generic widget container class;

• Tkinter XML widget building for easy TESTING through tkRAD.easy.builder module;

• some innovative and really useful programming tools in tkRAD.core package modules;

Since tkRAD has been designed for subclassing, if tkRAD don't meet your needs, just create your own implementations derived from tkRAD.xml generic classes such as RADXMLBase, RADXMLWidgetBase and RADXMLWidget.

DEVELOPMENT STATUS

Classifier:

Development Status :: 5 - Production/Stable

At this time, tkRAD library has been reported to work as follows:

• Linux:

  • TESTED OK under Lubuntu, Xubuntu and Ubuntu;

  • should work quite fine under any Linux distribution;

• MacOS:

  • NOT YET TESTED;

• MS-Windows:

  • TESTED OK under MS-Windows 8 with Python v3.3.3;

  • tkRAD.easy.builder2 has been TESTED OK for Python v2.7+;

Code has very few platform-dependencies and should remain STABLE in time between each release;

Any platform users feedback is welcome.

CHANGES

Please, refer to CHANGES.md file for more detail.

DOCUMENTATION

tkRAD is self-documented in its own source code;

feel free to use:

$ pydoc3 -b

in a UNIX-like console terminal set in the closest parent directory of tkRAD/ e.g.:

$ cd ~/tmp      # where you have ~/tmp/tkRAD/ copied in;

$ pydoc3 -b

and study generated autodoc in your favourite internet browser;

Wiki wiki

Please, feel free to visit tkRAD internationalized (i18n) wiki documentation for more detailed explanations, tips and tricks and source code examples.

Wiki URL: https://github.com/tarball69/tkRAD/wiki

INSTALLATION

tkRAD package library does NOT really need to be installed.

Just [grab a zipped copy] (https://github.com/tarball69/tkRAD/wiki/En%3Ainstall) of tkRAD/ directory into your own application's source library and start using tkRAD by importing classes in your own code.

Since tkRAD library may evolve rapidly and thus might become less compatible with your ongoing code development, it is a rather relevant practice to keep your favourite tkRAD version copied into your own application's source library.

Requirements

Mandatory requirements:

• tkRAD works fine with Python v3.2 or later installed on your own OS platform;

• at least tkinter package must also be installed, which is the common default case when you install Python;

make sure this package really exists on your system by entering in a console terminal:

$ python3

>>> import tkinter    # case-sensitive /!\

if you get an error message, tkinter is NOT installed;

use your favourite package manager to solve this issue;

Optional requirements:

• only tkRAD.easy.builder2 needs Python v2.7 or later installed to work fine, since this module has been especially designed for these early versions of Python;

• if you use tkRAD.easy.builder2 with Python v2.7+, you must also have Tkinter package installed, which is the common default case when you install Python2.7+;

make sure this package really exists on your system by entering in a console terminal:

$ python

>>> import Tkinter    # case-sensitive /!\

if you get an error message, Tkinter is NOT installed;

use your favourite package manager to solve this issue;

BUG REPORT

In order to track bugs and fix them correctly, we'd like to hear from you.

If you encountered any problem during the use of tkRAD lib, please leave us a comment and tell us:

• environment:

  • which platform? (Windows, macOS, Linux)
  • which Python version? (2.7+, 3.2+)
  • tkinter installed correctly? (yes/no)

• context:

  • when did it happen?
    • while trying wiki tutorial code samples?
    • while trying tkRAD.easy.builder features?
    • while trying to write your own app?

• traceback (optional):

  • are you sure it is NOT an XML source code mistype error?
  • could you copy/paste the console error text, please?
  • could you tell us few words about what happened?

Whatever happened, we'd like to know about it.

You will find an open issue "It did NOT work for me!" at:

https://github.com/tarball69/tkRAD/issues/6

Thank you for contributing to make tkRAD a better place for everyone.

QUICK START

Please refer to the "Easy tests with tkRAD.easy.builder" page:

https://github.com/tarball69/tkRAD/wiki/en%3Aeasy_builder

History: the little story

For the little story, the very first public release of tkRAD was entirely written with an ASUS 1001PX NETBOOK(!) computer, under a Linux Lubuntu 13.10 distro for the need of a Video Editor: Qut.

It was in December 2013 and it is a TRUE story.

Enjoy!