[GRASS-dev] Python GUI toolkits

[Glynn Clements]

David Finlayson wrote:

> It looks like v.pyedit is written in pyGTK rather than wxPython. Will
> v.pygtk run natively on Windows or Apple?

Only if you have GTK.

> Will it look like a native application?

Only to the extent that GTK does, which depends upon the theme being used.

> >From my brief look at the toolkits, it seemed that wxPython was a
> little more cross platform friendly because it used native widgets.

While a native look-and-feel is nice to have, using native widgets can
create portability issues due to differences in the way that
equivalent widgets behave.

Also, obtaining a native look-and-feel involves more than just using
the platform's native widgets. There are also conventions which rely
upon the application to follow them, which means writing separate
cases for each platform.

Using a toolkit which behaves identically on all platforms is simpler
for the developers (and we aren't exactly overstaffed). It also means
that the application behaves in a consistent manner on all platforms,
which is useful if you use multiple platforms, or if you are writing
documentation.

-- 
Glynn Clements <glynn at gclements.plus.com>