Long-term aim:

• Emulate *all* the features of Eclipse PyDev in an application which is 100% pure python (*avoid java completely*):
• The result should have all these features, but be more portable and have a much smaller footprint (thanks to Python and Tkinter).
• Replace in due time the aging IDLE interface, which is shipped with Python.

Author:

• Serge Hulne (serge.hulne@gmail.com)

Source:

• http://sourceforge.net/projects/xrope

CVS:

• http://xrope.cvs.sourceforge.net/xrope

• Current features:

  • Class browser (as a graphical tree)
  • Projects browser & File manager (graphical)
  • Classes auto-complete (dot-complete : Displays the methods belonging to a class or instance thereof)
    Example:
    
    

    a = 'hello' a.

    
    Then hit: "Alt-/" to get the corresponding methods of the string class.
    Once the method is selected it insets itself after the dot.
    The docstring (and hence, the arguments of the method) are displayed by hitting: "Ctrl-C Ctrl-D" .
    
  • build-in "help" functions: (one which is build-in and one which launches an external web browser)
  • build-in "run" (launched in a separate thread)
  • build-in "check" (launched in a separate thread)
  • build-in "Visual Builder", tightly integrated with "run", "check" and "edit" (all of whom can be run concurrently thanks to a multithreaded design)
  • build-in grep scanning only directories in the current project
  
  features inherited from rope:
  • Refactoring
  • Emacs keys bindings (also provided by rope)
  
  Components:
  • It uses Python with Tkinter,
  • Pmw (Python mega widgets)
  • The "Tree widget" (by G. E. Cash, see: http://www.magicnet.net/~gcash).
  • The Graphical builder is the "tk_happy" python application from sourceforge.
  • The code checker is: "pychecker.

• Manual:

  
  Installing the application

  1. Decompress the tar.gz file in your home directory.
  2. Go to xrope-1.xxx
  3. Go to src
  4. Type: python setup.py install (as root) or sudo python setup install (for Ubuntu or Mac OS X).

  
  Open a project (and select a module for editing or "run" or "check")

  1. Use the file manager located at the left-hand side of the IDE and navigate to the desired location (from one of the three preset locations "Home", "Root", or "Workspace" (i.e. "/home/your_home_dir/workspace")
  2. Right-click on the chosen directory: and click on the pop-up item entitled: "Mark folder as current project "
  3. From there you can open and edit any file contained in the project directory or a sub directory thereof, by double-clicking on the icon of an existing module (module selection). If no module exists yet, you may create a new file or module from the menu: with
     • File
     • New File or new module (the .py extension mustn't be given as a part of the module name: it is added automatically).
     • A double-click on an already selected module also refreshes the class browser display

  
  Browser:

  • The "browser" tab at the right-hand side of the IDE allows you to visualize the classes, methods and functions of the current module (the one which has last been activated by a double-click on it's icon in the file manager). A double-click on a method moves the editor and the cursor at the location in the module where the method is defined.

  
  Grep:

  • The "Grep" tab at the right-hand side of the IDE allows you to search for a word (or a regular expression).
    1. Select the Grep tab
    2. Enter the search term or regular expression in the yellow entry field
    3. type enter or click on the "Grep button under the entry field"s

  
  Help:

  • The Help tab at the right-hand side of the IDE allows you to get help about a python object (module or class)
    1. Select the help tab
    2. Enter the name of the object in the yellow entry field
    3. type enter or click on the "Pydoc text button under the entry field"
  • Alternatively, clicking on the : "Pydoc (browser)" button will start a local (python) server on your workstation and launch on the available HTTP browsers to display help about the python libraries available on your system in HTML format

  
  Settings:

  • The "settings" tab at the right-hand side of the IDE allows you to modify the fonts used by the editor (for the duration of a session. All files opened after the fonts settings have been changed will display the code using your new settings.
  • To make this change permanent you can edit the (hidden) "~/.rope" file from the menu ("edit", the "edit ~/.rope").

  
  Run:

  • The "Run" tab at the right-hand side of the IDE allows you to run the currently selected module (selected by a double-click in the build-in file manager, see above: "open a project"). You can also refresh the output display or interrupt the execution of the running module.

  
  Check:

  • The "Check" tab at the right-hand side of the IDE allows you to run the currently selected module (selected by a double-click in the build-in file manager, see above: "open a project"). You can also refresh the output display or interrupt the check of the running module.

  
  Graphical Builder:

  • The "Graphical Builder" tab at the right-hand side of the IDE allows you to launch a graphical builder application in the currently opened project (selected by a double-click in the build-in file manager, see above: "open a project"). You can:
    • Draw a graphical (Tkinter) interface.
    • Save the result in the current directory. (The result is saved both as a definition (.def) file and as a python source code.
    • Launch its execution (once saved and selected from the file manager)
    • Edit the generated module (in the parts of where it is advised to do so)
    • Add behavior to the graphical components.
    • Save it , exit it and get back to it later by reopening respectively:
      • The module in xRope
      • The .def file via the Graphical Builder

  Code generator: XML template to Tkinter code converter :

  • The "Utils" tab at the right-hand side of the xRope GUI contains a Button entitled: "XML to Python Tkinter code".
  • This functon allows to create a Tkinter interface Python code from an XML template.
  • Here is an example of XML template used to generate the code of a a Tkinter interface using the "xml to Python Tkinter code" function under "Utils"
    • XML template (to generate the code of a Tkinter interface)