I have a problem. There are many ways to build user interfaces with wxPython, but due to the lack of development in this area of Poser to date, we are currently stuck with such old versions that many options are buggy or simply do not work at all on either Windows or MacOS or both.

I am encountering many code examples which simply do not and possibly cannot work within Poser Python, because they rely on the wxApp() initialisation to instantiate functions like wx.BLACK and wx.WHITE that seem to be heavily relied upon by various flavours of UI managers within wxPython.

My particular need was to have ToolTips on wx.Notebook page tabs, but they are not supported. The wx.lib.agw.aui.AuiNotebook is purported to support this, but cannot be accessed, because it relies on wx.App() having initialised. Poser has its own alternative, poser.WxAuiManager(), but does not make the frequently used colour functions available (wx.BLACK & wx.WHITE, etc.), throwing errors whenever these are referenced.

wx.App() cannot be used at all, as it's event loop is in conflict with Poser's own and will immediately crash Poser to the desktop if called.

I have found certain magic incantations that supposedly can perform the necessary initialisation/instantiation, but they are not designed for use in Poser, so do not work.

wxWidgets How to initialze wxApp...

This link also appears specifically relevant wxPython 2.6 Migration Guide in its Module Initialisation section.

Maybe you can create your own ToolTip handling with (wx.window).SetTooltip(...). https://docs.wxpython.org/wx.ToolTip.html#wx.ToolTip

Thanks Freddi, I think I may have found the solution by trawling through some of SnarlyGribbly's scripts. It appears that

import wx, wx.aui, wx.lib.agw.aui as aui

wx.StockGDI._initStockObjects()

is the thing which finally initialises what I need, since now:

>>> wx.WHITE
wx.Colour(255, 255, 255, 255)

I get what I expect from that initialised name, rather than just wx.Colour(), which is no use to man or beast.

Off to plug it in and check it out.

wx.WHITE and wx.BLACK are no functions.

The following in my Linux-Environment:

import wx
print(wx.version())
print(wx.WHITE)

results in:

3.0.2.0 gtk3 (classic)
Traceback (most recent call last):
    print(wx.WHITE)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/wx-3.0-gtk3/wx/_gdi.py", line 278, in __str__
    def __str__(self):                  return str(self.Get(True))
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/wx-3.0-gtk3/wx/_gdi.py", line 266, in Get
    return _gdi_.Colour_Get(*args, **kwargs)
TypeError: in method 'Colour_Get', expected argument 1 of type 'wxColour *'

Seems Poser-Python is not guilty here :)

Gotta compare eggs with eggs. It's a different wx version, and there were substantial changes between wx 2.9.1 and 3.0. Probably even moreso between wxMAC and wxGTK.

Anyway, the kind of error you're seeing is exactly the same as what I had if I tried to instantiate a wx.lib.agw.aui.AuiNotebook, without having a call to wxApp() (Prohibited in Poser as it breaks Poser's own event loop). Fortunately, the call wx.StockGDI._initStockObjects() is exactly the thing that was missing to correctly define wx.WHITE and all the other class objects that normally happens in wxApp().

Here's my working AuiNotebook example.

Here is what wx.StockGDI._initStockObjects() does: https://github.com/wxWidgets/Phoenix/blob/master/src/stockgdi.sip

Seems a good idea to call it with every wx PoserPython script.

Yes, exactly, it's the missing magic that Poser scripts need in the absence of being able to instantiate wxApp() which does that very thing we need.

It really ought to be in an example script provided with Poser script samples.

adp001 posted at 8:10PM Tue, 15 October 2019 - #4367113

Here is what wx.StockGDI._initStockObjects() does: https://github.com/wxWidgets/Phoenix/blob/master/src/stockgdi.sip

Seems a good idea to call it with every wx PoserPython script.

I have made templates for regular Poser scripts and Poser addon scripts, and this is one of the lines that I consider essential enough to feature in my templates.

Thanks, Snarly. Was trying to catch you for a question on mat file image conflicts between simple and shader-tree which seems to affect EZDome, but it'll wait.