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About PyQt

PyQt is one of the two most popular Python bindings for the Qt cross-platform GUI/XML/SQL C++ framework (another binding is PySide). PyQt developed by Riverbank Computing Limited. Qt itself is developed by Digia Plc (formerly Nokia and Trolltech). PyQt provides bindings for Qt 4 and Qt 5. PyQt is distributed under a choice of licences: GPL version 2, GPL version 3, or a commercial license.

PyQt is available in two editions: PyQt4 which will build against Qt 4.x and 5.x and PyQt5 which will only build against 5.x. Both editions can be built for Python 2 and 3. PyQt contains over 620 classes that cover graphical user interfaces, XML handling, network communication, SQL databases, Web browsing and other technologies available in Qt.

The latest iteration of PyQt is v5.2. It fully supports Qt 5.2.0 which adds support for QtBluetooth, QtPositioning, QtMacExtras, QtWinExtras and QtX11Extras.

PyQt documentation

Current documentation is available for PyQt4 and PyQt5.

The archived PyQt Wiki contains more actively-updated information and examples:

On this Wiki, you can find the following tutorials:

PyQt applications

A list of applications that use PyQt as their UI layer can be found on the Some Existing Applications page of the PyQt Wiki. This replaces the list previously found here.

Similarly, the Third Party Packages and Modules page provides a list of resources that can be used to help build applications with certain features.

The http://www.riverbankcomputing.com/mailman/listinfo/pyqt is low in volume and high in quality. The Roadmap is always valuable to read.

Phil Thompson was interviewed about PyQt for KDE Dot News in August 2006, and profiled for SunWorld Online in 2000.

Earlier Versions

This section describes PyQt version 3 (for Qt 3).

PyQt implements around 300 classes and over 5,750 functions and methods including:

Earlier versions of PyQt included a graphical debugger called eric, written using PyQt, which can be used to debug PyQt and ordinary Python console applications. It's now available separately as eric4 from http://eric-ide.python-projects.org/index.html.

PyQt includes pyuic which generates Python code from GUI designs created with Qt Designer. This makes PyQt very useful as a rapid prototyping tool for applications that will eventually be (partly or completely) implemented in C++ because the user interface designs can be re-used without modification.

PyQt is available for Windows, UNIX/Linux, Mac OS X and the Sharp Zaurus.


CategoryPyGUI

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