Dabo: A Framework for developing data-driven business applications

Dabo is for developing multi-platform database business applications - you know, applications that need to connect to a database like MySQL, Oracle, MS-SQL, PostgreSQL, or SQLite, get recordsets of data based on criteria set by the user, provide easy ways to edit and commit changes to the data, and to report on the data.

You program in Python, subclassing Dabo's base classes. In addition, there are several graphical tools for laying out your GUI, editing your menus, and creating professional business reports.

Dabo has three main subpackages, representing the three tiers common in modern database application design:

    dabo.db  : database
    dabo.biz : business objects
    dabo.ui  : user interface

dabo.db and dabo.biz are completely ui-free, while dabo.ui (currently) requires wxPython. We have allowed for possible future support for other ui libraries, such as PyQt or PySide, tk, and curses.

To distribute your application to end users

Use PyInstaller or cxFreeze to make an executable package to deploy to Mac, Windows, and Linux clients. Or, make sure your end users have Python, wxPython, etc. installed and distribute your source code.

To run Dabo, and apps based on Dabo, you need:

• Python 2.5 or higher (2.6.5 - 2.7.x recommended). Avoid Python 3.x for now until wxPython supports it.
• wxPython 2.8 or higher (2.8.12 recommended) (only necessary for apps with a ui)
• Reportlab and Python Imaging Library if running reports.
• One or more of the following operating systems:
  • Windows XP or higher
  • Macintosh OSX 10.5 or higher
  • Linux 2.6 or higher with X11 running and Gtk2

How you get started is pretty much up to you. Run DaboDemo.py which is in demo/DaboDemo. Run AppWizard.py which is in ide/wizards. Run ClassDesigner.py or ReportDesigner.py in the ide directory.

For some quick results for the impatient, once you've installed Dabo using the standard python setup.py install method, do this from your Python interpreter:

from dabo.dApp import dApp
dApp().start()

press Ctrl+D and type the following into the command window that appears:

tb = dabo.ui.dTextBox(self)

Notice the textbox in the upper left hand corner?

tb.Value = "yippee!"
tb.FontBold = True
print tb.Value

Now, use the ui to change the value in the textbox, and switch back to the command window.

print tb.Value

http://dabodev.com

https://github.com/dabodev/dabo