[wxPython-users] [ANN] PlateButton Control for wxPython

[Robin Dunn]

Cody Precord wrote:

> For a more complete picture download the source and run the included 
> demo (PlateButtonDemo.py):
> 

Looks nice.  Here are a few tips for custom controls in general, and 
also a few things I noticed about this one:

* You should allow all the standard widget args in the __init__ method, 
so people don't have to look at your code to know what parameters it 
accepts, or for tools like XRCed.  You're missing pos, size, and name. 
Pass them all on to the base class __init__.

* For playing nice with sizers you should call SetInitialSize from the 
__init__, passing the size that was given as a parameter, default to 
wx.DefaultSize.  This will do a couple things.  1) will set the size of 
the widget either to the size passed in, or to the best size if one or 
both of the size components are given as default values.  2) Will set 
the widget's minsize to the size given.

* Also for playing nice with sizers, and with the previous item, you 
should implement a DoGetBestSize method that calculates and returns a 
wx.Size that is the optimal size of the widget based on its label, font 
size, image size, style, etc. In this case your DoGetBestSize could be 
just your current __CalcBestSize without the lines at the end that 
actually set the size.  Let the user, sizer, or things like 
SetInitialSize do that part for you instead.  All your calls to 
__CalcBestSize could probably be removed, or if you use CacheBestSize 
then they can be replaced with InvalidaeBestSize.

* You can also override AcceptsFocus, although the default in the base 
class is probably good enough for this widget....

* I noticed that the text color chosen on Windows for when the button is 
in the pressed state is almost unreadable.

* I would make the activation key be WXK_SPACE on all platforms, not 
just windows.

* You might also want to respond to EVT_CONTEXT_MENU for the buttons 
with a menu.  Then on Windows at least the user can get to the menu 
without using the mouse, since there is a menu key on the keyboard.

* I notice that when tabbing between widgets that the previously focused 
widget loses its highlight noticeably *after* the newly focused widget 
is highlighted.  This looks really really weird.

* Clicking a button isn't setting the focus there.

-- 
Robin Dunn
Software Craftsman
http://wxPython.org  Java give you jitters?  Relax with wxPython!