Making executable Windows programs

Applications developed with Python may be deployed using specialized tools like py2exe or cx_Freeze. These tools work as extensions to Python builtin distutils module and converts Python scripts into executable Windows programs which may be executed without requiring a Python installation.

Making such an executable program may be a non trivial task when the script dependencies include libraries with data or extensions, such as PyQt4 or plotpy. This task has been considerably simplified thanks to the helper functions provided by guidata.disthelpers.

Example

This example is included in plotpy source package (see the deployment_example folder at source package root directory).

Simple example script named simpledialog.pyw which is based on plotpy (and implicitely on guidata):

from plotpy.plot import ImageDialog
from plotpy.builder import make

class VerySimpleDialog(ImageDialog):
    def set_data(self, data):
        plot = self.get_plot()
        item = make.trimage(data)
        plot.add_item(item, z=0)
        plot.set_active_item(item)
        plot.replot()

if __name__ == "__main__":
    import numpy as np
    from guidata import qapplication
    qapplication()
    dlg = VerySimpleDialog()
    dlg.set_data(np.random.rand(100, 100))
    dlg.exec_()

The create_exe.py script may be written as the following:

from guidata import disthelpers as dh
dist = dh.Distribution()
dist.setup('example', '1.0', 'plotpy app example', 'simpledialog.pyw')
dist.add_modules('plotpy')
dist.build_cx_freeze()  # use `build_py2exe` to use py2exe instead

Make the Windows executable program by simply running the script:

python create_exe.py