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Briefcase Windows App Template

A Cookiecutter template for building Python apps that will run under Windows, packaged as an MSI installer.

Using this template

The easiest way to use this project is to not use it at all - at least, not directly. Briefcase is a tool that uses this template, rolling it out using data extracted from a pyproject.toml configuration file.

However, if you do want use this template directly...

  1. Install cookiecutter. This is a tool used to bootstrap complex project templates:

    $ pip install cookiecutter

  2. Run cookiecutter on the template:

    $ cookiecutter https://github.com/beeware/briefcase-windows-app-template

    This will ask you for a number of details of your application, including the name of your application (which should be a valid PyPI identifier), and the Formal Name of your application (the full name you use to describe your app). The remainder of these instructions will assume a name of my-project, and a formal name of My Project.

  3. `_Obtain a Python Windows Embeddable package`_, and extract it into the My Project/src directory generated by the template. This will give you a python3.dll (amongst other artefacts) in the My Project/src folder.

  4. Add your code to the template, into the My Project/src/app directory. At the very minimum, you need to have an app/<app name>/__main__.py file that defines an entry point that will start your application.

    If your code has any dependencies, they should be installed under the My Project/src/app_packages directory.

If you've done this correctly, a project with a formal name of My Project, with an app name of my-project should have a directory structure that looks something like:

My Project/
    src/
        app/
            my_project/
                __init__.py
                __main__.py
                app.py
        app_packages/
            ...
    python3.dll
    ...
    briefcase.toml
    my-project.ico
    my-project.wxs
    MyProject.exe

This project can now be compiled with WiX to produce an MSI file. This is a three step process. Open a command prompt, and change into the My Project directory. Then:

  1. Generate a manifest of the files in your project:

    C:\...>"%WIX%\bin\heat.exe" dir src -gg -sfrag -sreg -srd -scom -dr my_project_ROOTDIR -cg my_project_COMPONENTS -var var.SourceDir -out my-project-manifest.wxs

  2. Compile the .wxs files:

    C:\...>"%WIX%\bin\candle.exe" -ext WixUtilExtension -ext WixUIExtension -dSourceDir=src my-project.wxs myproject-manifest.wxs

  3. Link the compiled output to produce the MSI:

    C:\...>"%WIX%\bin\light.exe" -ext WixUtilExtension -ext WixUIExtension my-project.wixobj myproject-manifest.wixobj "My Project.msi"

The MSI file can then be used to install your application. When installed, your application will have an entry in your Start menu.

Next steps

Of course, running Python code isn't very interesting by itself - you won't be able to do any console input or output, because a Windows app doesn't display a console.

To do something interesting, you'll need to work with the native Windows system libraries to draw widgets and respond to screen taps. The Python for .NET bridging library can be used to interface with the Windows system libraries. Alternatively, you could use a cross-platform widget toolkit that supports Windows (such as Toga) to provide a GUI for your application.

If you have any external library dependencies (like Toga, or anything other third-party library), you should install the library code into the app_packages directory. This directory is the same as a site_packages directory on a desktop Python install.