root/tags/dabo-0.1.1/__init__.py

""" 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 server (MySQL,
Oracle, MS-SQL, whatever), 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.

For basic, easy use that hopefully satisfies 80% of your needs, you 
simply create/edit data definition files that Dabo uses to dynamically
create things like menus, edit forms, data browsing grids, etc.

So, the basic idea is that you have a functional, working, albeit basic
application up and running very quickly, and you can then spend time 
getting all the fancy bells and whistles implemented. Keep things as 
simple as possible though, while still fulfilling your customer's 
specifications. Simplicity is the better part of elegance.

Dabo is fun to say, which is enough justification for its name, but 
perhaps it could stand for:
    Database Application Business Objects
    Database Application Builder O (Just think, it could have been ActiveO... <g>)
    Object oriented Business Application Development (but OBAD sounds so bad)

Dabo has three main submodules, 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, tk, and curses.

The Dabo framework will have to be distributed to your client's machine(s),
along with your project-specific data definitions and (if applicable), your
subclasses of the Dabo classes and additional Python scripts, if any. There 
are ways to do runtime deployment via installers that take the complexity 
out of this, but that is outside the scope of Dabo itself, and you'll use
a different method for each target platform.

To run Dabo, and apps based on Dabo, you need:
    + Python 2.3 or higher

    + wxPython 2.5 or higher, which has a dependency on:
        + wxWindows 2.5 or higher
        (only necessary for apps with a ui: because of the modular
        nature of Dabo's design, it is possible to use just the
        db layer, or the db layer in conjunction with the biz
        layer, with no ui at all.)

    + Windows 98SE or higher
    + Macintosh OSX 10.2 or higher
    + Linux 2.4 with X11 running

    + Access to some sort of database server, along with the 
    appropriate Python driver(s) installed. For example, for
    MySQL you'll need to have the MySQL client libraries
    installed, as well as the MySQLDb Python module. (Dabo
    does not use ODBC: it connects directly using the Python
    DB API coupled with the individual database drivers. This
    is, at the same time, less flexible, tougher to get started
    with, but more capable, more multi-platform, and better 
    performing, than ODBC is.) 

How you get started is pretty much up to you. Look at the demo.
Run a wizard. Hand-edit the data definition files.

ToDo: pointers to get started.

"""
from dApp import dApp
from dLocalize import loc

import dabo.common

# dApp will change the following value upon its __init__:
dAppRef = None