We’ll be walking through a simple tutorial that will teach you how to create a basic calculator app with just a few lines of code.
First things first, let’s install the msilib library using pip:
# Install the msilib library using pip
# The following command uses pip to install the pywin32-ctypes library, which is needed for the calculator app
pip install pywin32-ctypes
Now that we have everything set up, let’s get started! Here’s what our calculator app will look like:
As you can see, it’s a pretty basic layout with some buttons for adding and subtracting numbers. Let’s start by creating our main window using the `CreateWindow` function:
# Import necessary libraries
import win32con # Library for Windows API constants
from ctypes import windll # Library for calling Windows API functions
# Create a class for our calculator window
class Window(object):
# Initialize the class
def __init__(self):
# Get the handle for the current module
self.hinst = windll.kernel32.GetModuleHandle(None)
# Find the handle for the Calculator window
self.hwnd = windll.user32.FindWindowExW(0, 0, 'Calculator', None)[0]
# Set window size and position
win32con.SetWindowPos(self.hwnd, 0, 100, 50, 400, 300, win32con.SWP_NOZORDER | win32con.SWP_FRAMECHANGED)
# Set window text and icon
windll.user32.SetWindowTextW(self.hwnd, 'Calculator')
# Load the icon for the window
self.hicon = windll.kernel32.LoadIconA(0, 16)
# Set the icon for the window
win32con.SendMessage(self.hwnd, win32con.WM_SETICON, 0, self.hicon)
# Add buttons to window
# Create a list of button labels
button_text = ['7', '8', '9', '/', '4', '5', '6', '*', '1', '2', '3', '-', '0', '.', '+']
# Loop through the list and create buttons for each label
for i, text in enumerate(button_text):
# Calculate the x and y coordinates for each button
x = 10 + (i % 4) * 80
y = 10 + int(i / 4) * 50
# Create a button using the CreateWindowExW function
# Parameters: class name, window name, button label, window style, x and y coordinates, button size, parent window handle, menu handle, instance handle, and additional data
windll.user32.SendMessage(self.hwnd, win32con.WM_CREATE, 0, win32con.CreateWindowExW('STATIC', None, text, win32con.WS_CHILD | win32con.SS_CENTERIMAGE, x, y, 75, 48, self.hwnd, 0, 0, None))
# Add input and output fields to window
# Create an input field using the CreateWindowExW function
# Parameters: class name, window name, initial text, window style, x and y coordinates, field size, parent window handle, menu handle, instance handle, and additional data
windll.user32.SendMessage(self.hwnd, win32con.WM_CREATE, 0, win32con.CreateWindowExW('EDIT', 'Edit', '', win32con.WS_CHILD | win32con.ES_LEFT | win32con.ES_MULTILINE, 10, 50, 380, 240, self.hwnd, 0, 0, None))
# Create an output field using the CreateWindowExW function
# Parameters: class name, window name, initial text, window style, x and y coordinates, field size, parent window handle, menu handle, instance handle, and additional data
windll.user32.SendMessage(self.hwnd, win32con.WM_CREATE, 0, win32con.CreateWindowExW('STATIC', 'Result: ', '', win32con.WS_CHILD | win32con.SS_LEFT, 10, 50 + 240, 80, 20, self.hwnd, 0, 0, None))
# Set window style and show it on screen
# Set the window style using the SetWindowLong function
# Parameters: window handle, index of the style to be set, new style value
windll.user32.SetWindowLong(self.hwnd, win32con.GWL_STYLE, win32con.WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW | win32con.WS_CAPTION)
# Show the window on screen using the ShowWindow function
# Parameters: window handle, show command (1 for showing the window)
windll.user32.ShowWindow(self.hwnd, 1)
# Create a method to handle user input and calculate results
def run(self):
while True:
# Handle user input and calculate results
...
As you can see, we’re using the `CreateWindowExW` function to add buttons and fields to our window. We’re also setting some basic properties like size, position, text, and icon.
To run this app, simply create an instance of the `Window` class and call its `run` method:
# Import the necessary libraries
import win32gui # Import the win32gui library to access the Windows API
import win32con # Import the win32con library to access Windows constants
import win32api # Import the win32api library to access Windows functions
# Define the Window class
class Window:
# Initialize the class with default values for the window properties
def __init__(self):
# Set the window class name
self.class_name = "MyWindowClass"
# Set the window title
self.title = "My Window"
# Set the window size
self.width = 500
self.height = 500
# Set the window position
self.x = 100
self.y = 100
# Set the window style
self.style = win32con.WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW
# Set the window icon
self.icon = win32gui.LoadIcon(0, win32con.IDI_APPLICATION)
# Set the window background color
self.background_color = win32con.COLOR_WINDOW
# Define the run method to create and run the window
def run(self):
# Register the window class
win32gui.RegisterClassExW(win32gui.WNDCLASSEXW(self.style, win32gui.WM_NULL, self.icon, 0, 0, win32con.CS_CLASSDC, 0, 0, win32gui.GetModuleHandle(None), 0, self.class_name))
# Create the window
hwnd = win32gui.CreateWindowExW(0, self.class_name, self.title, self.style, self.x, self.y, self.width, self.height, 0, 0, win32gui.GetModuleHandle(None), None)
# Set the window background color
win32gui.SetClassLong(hwnd, win32con.GCL_HBRBACKGROUND, win32gui.CreateSolidBrush(self.background_color))
# Show the window
win32gui.ShowWindow(hwnd, win32con.SW_SHOW)
# Run the message loop
win32gui.PumpMessages()
# Create an instance of the Window class
my_window = Window()
# Call the run method to create and run the window
my_window.run()
And that’s it! You now have a basic calculator app using msilib in Python. Of course, this is just scratching the surface of what you can do with GUI development using msilib. But hopefully, this tutorial has given you a good starting point to explore further on your own.