Multiple windows

This page was based on the examples available at the github folder: Tutorial - Code Organization

The application described on this page will allow us to add People details to a list.

Create the Model

---

Instead of starting by showing you how to develop the GUI I will suggest first how to modularize the code in a Model View Control (MVC) style.

First we will create our data model which may be used outside the GUI.

Data model

Start by creating the file Person.py where we will implement the model responsible for storing the a person information.

class Person(object):

    def __init__(self, firstName, middleName, lastName):
        self._firstName     = firstName
        self._middleName    = middleName
        self._lastName      = lastName

    @property 
    def fullName(self):
        return "{0} {1} {2}".format(self._firstName, self._middleName, self._lastName)

After, create the file People.py and implement the People class which will keep and manage the list of people.

import pickle

class People(object):

    def __init__(self):
        self._people = []

    def addPerson(self, person):
        self._people.append(person)

    def removePerson(self, index):
        return self._people.pop(index)

    def save(self, filename):
        output = open(filename, 'wb')
        pickle.dump(self._people, output)

    def load(self, filename):
        pkl_file = open(filename, 'rb')
        self._people = pickle.load(pkl_file)

Let's go for the GUI

---

To make our code modular and easy to navigate we will split the edition of the 2 Models in 2 different windows.

Implement the GUI to manage the Person Model.

Create the file PersonWindow.py and implement the window that will allow us the edit the Person Model.
This window should inherit from the BaseWidget and Person classes.

import pyforms
from pyforms            import BaseWidget
from pyforms.controls   import ControlText
from pyforms.controls   import ControlButton
from Person             import Person

class PersonWindow(Person, BaseWidget):

    def __init__(self):
        Person.__init__(self, '', '', '')
        BaseWidget.__init__(self,'Person window')

        #Definition of the forms fields
        self._firstnameField    = ControlText('First name')
        self._middlenameField   = ControlText('Middle name')
        self._lastnameField     = ControlText('Lastname name')
        self._fullnameField     = ControlText('Full name')
        self._buttonField       = ControlButton('Press this button')

        #Define the button action
        self._buttonField.value = self.__buttonAction


    def __buttonAction(self):
        self._firstName             = self._firstnameField.value
        self._middleName            = self._middlenameField.value
        self._lastName              = self._lastnameField.value
        self._fullnameField.value   = self.fullName

        #In case the window has a parent
        if self.parent!=None: self.parent.addPerson(self)

#Execute the application
if __name__ == "__main__":   pyforms.start_app( PersonWindow )

Note: Test the window by executing the file.

Implement the GUI to manage the People model.

Create the file PeopleWindow.py and implement the window that will allow us the manager the People Model.
This window should inherit from the BaseWidget and People classes.

import pyforms
from pyforms                import BaseWidget
from pyforms.controls       import ControlList
from People                 import People
from PersonWindow           import PersonWindow
from AddMenuFuntionality    import AddMenuFuntionality

class PeopleWindow(AddMenuFuntionality, People, BaseWidget):
    """
    This applications is a GUI implementation of the People class
    """

    def __init__(self):
        People.__init__(self)
        BaseWidget.__init__(self,'People window')

        #Definition of the forms fields
        self._peopleList    = ControlList('People', 
            plusFunction    = self.__addPersonBtnAction, 
            minusFunction   = self.__rmPersonBtnAction)

        self._peopleList.horizontalHeaders = ['First name', 'Middle name', 'Last name']

    def addPerson(self, person):
        """
        Reimplement the addPerson function from People class to update the GUI 
        everytime a new person is added.
        """
        super(PeopleWindow, self).addPerson(person)
        self._peopleList += [person._firstName, person._middleName, person._lastName]
        person.close() #After adding the person close the window

    def removePerson(self, index):
        """
        Reimplement the removePerson function from People class to update the GUI 
        everytime a person is removed.
        """
        super(PeopleWindow, self).removePerson(index)
        self._peopleList -= index

    def __addPersonBtnAction(self):
        """
        Add person button event. 
        """
        # A new instance of the PersonWindow is opened and shown to the user.
        win = PersonWindow() 
        win.parent = self
        win.show()

    def __rmPersonBtnAction(self):
        """
        Remove person button event
        """
        self.removePerson( self._peopleList.selected_row_index ) 

#Execute the application
if __name__ == "__main__":   pyforms.start_app( PeopleWindow )

The application will look like:

EmptyWidget Control

---

Instead of opening a new window everytime we want to add a new Person, we will change the Application to open the PersonWindow inside the PeopleWindow. For this we will use the ControlEmptyWidget.

from pyforms.controls       import ControlEmptyWidget
...

    def __init__(self):
        ...
        self._panel = ControlEmptyWidget()

    def __addPersonBtnAction(self):
        """
        Add person button event. 
        """
        # A new instance of the PersonWindow is opened and shown to the user.
        win = PersonWindow() 
        win.parent = self
        self._panel.value = win

...

DockWidget Control

---

A DockWidget works like the EmptyWidget but can be detached or moved around the sides of the main Window.

from pyforms.controls       import ControlDockWidget
...

    def __init__(self):
        ...
        self._panel = ControlDockWidget()

...