Making deployment of desktop Python apps trivial: an idea

2010-09-09 13:50

Proprietor and printer in front of Schwartz Print Shop in Minneapolis

Here's what I'm thinking: how hard could it be to make PyQt app deployment absolutely easy? Well, I am guessing: not very hard.

Here's the trick: see what works in the real world, and adopt it.

Question: what has deployed billions of apps and has its users happy? Answer: phones app stores.

Question: how do they work? Answer: well, that's not that short, so let's start explaining.

As I see it, a reasonable app store has the following components:

A Stable Deployment Target

You can't deploy from the store if you don't know what you are deploying into. If the target platform is shaky, you just can't know how to deploy without user assistance, and we are trying to make this easy for the user, which means that's not acceptable.

So, what's a stable deployment target we can provide?

PyQt (so we can deploy GUIs to all major desktop platforms)
Python standard library
Selected modules

What can be (and should be) bundled with the app?

Pure python modules
Artwork and other resources

What may be bundled:

Python modules written in C/C++, but you then have to redo the app for each platform, and that kinda sucks.

Deployment Services

Apps should be able to check if there is a new version of them in the store, to ask for upgrades.
Apps should be added by the deployment platform nicely into the host system's menus, desktop, etc.

Monetization Services

Some way to charge for apps. Even for open source apps, you could ask for U$S0.99 if you install them through the store. Optional, of course, and up to the app owner.
Ad platform? There must be a good one for desktop apps somewhere?

The Store Itself

A website that downloads a "package" associated with a local deployment application.
A app store app. Install things not via web, but via a desktop application.

I don't expect a functional version of this would take me more than a week working fulltime to implement. Of course then there are all sorts of usability, looks, etc. things to consider.

And... I am going to do something I very rarely do. I am going to ask for money.

As an experiment, I have setup a project at http://www.indiegogo.com/Qt-Shop and set a funding goal of U$S 600.

There you can fund me. I promise that if the project is totally funded, I will deliver. If it isn't, I may deliver anyway. I would prefer to have the money though.

The platform would be released under GPLv2 or later.

Por esto es que Qt y PyQt valen la pena

2010-07-24 20:37

¿Por qué están buenos Qt y PyQt?

Widget reproductor de audio:

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-

import sys, os
from PyQt4 import QtCore, QtGui, uic
from PyQt4.phonon import Phonon
import icons_rc

class AudioPlayer(QtGui.QWidget):
    def __init__(self, url, parent = None):

        self.url = url

        QtGui.QWidget.__init__(self, parent)
        self.setSizePolicy(QtGui.QSizePolicy.Expanding,
            QtGui.QSizePolicy.Preferred)


        self.player = Phonon.createPlayer(Phonon.MusicCategory,
            Phonon.MediaSource(url))
        self.player.setTickInterval(100)
        self.player.tick.connect(self.tock)

        self.play_pause = QtGui.QPushButton(self)
        self.play_pause.setIcon(QtGui.QIcon(':/icons/player_play.svg'))
        self.play_pause.clicked.connect(self.playClicked)
        self.player.stateChanged.connect(self.stateChanged)

        self.slider = Phonon.SeekSlider(self.player , self)

        self.status = QtGui.QLabel(self)
        self.status.setAlignment(QtCore.Qt.AlignRight |
            QtCore.Qt.AlignVCenter)

        self.download = QtGui.QPushButton("Download", self)
        self.download.clicked.connect(self.fetch)

        layout = QtGui.QHBoxLayout(self)
        layout.addWidget(self.play_pause)
        layout.addWidget(self.slider)
        layout.addWidget(self.status)
        layout.addWidget(self.download)

    def playClicked(self):
        if self.player.state() == Phonon.PlayingState:
            self.player.pause()
        else:
            self.player.play()

    def stateChanged(self, new, old):
        if new == Phonon.PlayingState:
            self.play_pause.setIcon(QtGui.QIcon(':/icons/player_pause.svg'))
        else:
            self.play_pause.setIcon(QtGui.QIcon(':/icons/player_play.svg'))

    def tock(self, time):
        time = time/1000
        h = time/3600
        m = (time-3600*h) / 60
        s = (time-3600*h-m*60)
        self.status.setText('%02d:%02d:%02d'%(h,m,s))

    def fetch(self):
        print 'Should download %s'%self.url

def main():
    app = QtGui.QApplication(sys.argv)
    window=AudioPlayer(sys.argv[1])
    window.show()
    # It's exec_ because exec is a reserved word in Python
    sys.exit(app.exec_())

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

Widget reproductor de video:

import sys, os
from PyQt4 import QtCore, QtGui, uic
from PyQt4.phonon import Phonon
import icons_rc

class VideoPlayer(QtGui.QWidget):
    def __init__(self, url, parent = None):

        self.url = url

        QtGui.QWidget.__init__(self, parent)
        self.setSizePolicy(QtGui.QSizePolicy.Expanding,
            QtGui.QSizePolicy.Preferred)


        self.player = Phonon.VideoPlayer(Phonon.VideoCategory,self)
        self.player.load(Phonon.MediaSource(self.url))
        self.player.mediaObject().setTickInterval(100)
        self.player.mediaObject().tick.connect(self.tock)

        self.play_pause = QtGui.QPushButton(self)
        self.play_pause.setIcon(QtGui.QIcon(':/icons/player_play.svg'))
        self.play_pause.clicked.connect(self.playClicked)
        self.player.mediaObject().stateChanged.connect(self.stateChanged)

        self.slider = Phonon.SeekSlider(self.player.mediaObject() , self)

        self.status = QtGui.QLabel(self)
        self.status.setAlignment(QtCore.Qt.AlignRight |
            QtCore.Qt.AlignVCenter)

        self.download = QtGui.QPushButton("Download", self)
        self.download.clicked.connect(self.fetch)
        topLayout = QtGui.QVBoxLayout(self)
        topLayout.addWidget(self.player)
        layout = QtGui.QHBoxLayout(self)
        layout.addWidget(self.play_pause)
        layout.addWidget(self.slider)
        layout.addWidget(self.status)
        layout.addWidget(self.download)
        topLayout.addLayout(layout)
        self.setLayout(topLayout)

    def playClicked(self):
        if self.player.mediaObject().state() == Phonon.PlayingState:
            self.player.pause()
        else:
            self.player.play()

    def stateChanged(self, new, old):
        if new == Phonon.PlayingState:
            self.play_pause.setIcon(QtGui.QIcon(':/icons/player_pause.svg'))
        else:
            self.play_pause.setIcon(QtGui.QIcon(':/icons/player_play.svg'))

    def tock(self, time):
        time = time/1000
        h = time/3600
        m = (time-3600*h) / 60
        s = (time-3600*h-m*60)
        self.status.setText('%02d:%02d:%02d'%(h,m,s))

    def fetch(self):
        print 'Should download %s'%self.url

def main():
    app = QtGui.QApplication(sys.argv)
    window=VideoPlayer(sys.argv[1])
    window.show()
    # It's exec_ because exec is a reserved word in Python
    sys.exit(app.exec_())

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

...

Aplicaciones de escritorio y nubes (con video)

2010-07-23 02:50

Lo malo es, por supuesto, que a veces es mucho más conveniente usar una aplicación web. Por ejemplo, he abandonado a mi propio bebé (uRSSus) porque google reader es más fácil y conveniente.

Pero entonces pensé... ¿qué me molesta de uRSSus? ¡Y son bastantes cosas!

No está en todas las computadoras que uso. Eso quiere decir que jamás podré usarla de forma exclusiva.
Es bastante inútil sin una conexión a Internet (pero también lo es google reader).
Como no la puedo usar exclusivamente, termino con feeds en uRSSus que no están en google reader y viceversa.
Es lentísima.

Entonces decidí ver que puedo hacer al respecto sin abandonar el lado bueno de uRSSus:

Me gusta más que una aplicación web, porque es de escritorio.
Hace cosas como abrir el sitio en vez de mostrar el post del feed (bueno para feeds de contenido parcial)
La hice yo (sí, eso es un feature para mí. Me gusta tener programas que yo hice)

Entonces, este intento de reescribir el lector RSS de escritorio produjo esto:

Como se puede ver en el video, este lector sincroniza la lista de suscripciones con google. También eventualmente sincronizará posts leídos/no leídos.

Sigue pudiendo abrir sitios completos en vez de posts, tiene/tendrá un muy buen modo offline (páginas completas capturadas como imágenes, por ejemplo), y... es muy muy rápido.

Es mucho más rápido que google reader en chromium, y muchísimo más rápido que uRSSus. Eso es porque está mejor el código, así que probablemente significa que antes tenía muerte cerebral y he experimentado una leve mejoría.

El código no es apto para publicación (por ejemplo, el schema de la base de datos va a cambiar) pero se puede probar: http://code.google.com/p/kakawana/source/checkout

Lento-Lento y Rápido-Rápido (video)

2010-07-17 03:53

No está listo para usarse todavía, pero si se busca se encuentra ;-)

What's wrong with this dialog?

2010-05-12 20:08

I am writing a book. And I am writing a chapter about UI design. And why not use the Internet?

So, go ahead and tell me all that's wrong with this dialog!

For example, I don't like the dead space at the bottom-left, the different-size of the "Close" button, and the misalignment of the icons.

Are those valid concerns? Are there many more? Would you do it completely different?

The book is open source, and available at http://nomuerde.netmanagers.com.ar (In spanish, sorry!)

Ralsina.Me — El sitio web de Roberto Alsina

Publicaciones sobre pyqt (publicaciones antiguas, página 10)