=========== PyObjC NEWS =========== An overview of the relevant changes in new, and older, releases. Version 2.0 (LEOPARD, post WWDC07) ---------------------------------- - The basic infrastructure for playing nice in a GC host was added. This doesn't mean that PyObjC now actually plays nice with the ObjC garbage collector, some more development and much more testing is needed for that. Even so, the end result is about as good as we have without GC, programs won't make optimal use of GC because that would require surgery on the Python interpreter itself. - The metadata returned by the ``__metadata__`` method is slightly changed to make it more compatible with the XML files. - Some of the older metadata attributes, such as ``isAlloc`` and ``doesDonateRef`` were dropped. ``isAlloc`` isn't needed for anything but a number of now hardcoded methods (``+alloc`` and ``+allocWithZone:``), ``doesDonateRef`` is available through the new metadata mechanism. - Fix a memory leak in the code that creates the python representation for method lists. - Speed up framework loading due to three changes: 1. Don't rescan the list of classes unless the framework actually defines new classes. 2. The metadata loader now implemented in C. 3. CF wrapper types (e.g. CGContextRef) no longer have methods corresponding to global functions, the speed-hit for calculating these is too large. - It is now conveniently possible to create instance variables with a specific type (e.g. without manually making up a encoded type string):: class MyObject (NSObject): bounds = objc.ivar.NSRect() done = objc.ivar.bool() - Objective-C metaclasses are modelled as Python metaclasses. This brings a major improvement: class methods "just work"(TM):: o = NSObject.alloc().init() o.description() NSObject.description() In earlier versions of PyObjC the second call would fail because ``NSObject.description`` referred to an unbound instance-method instead of to the class method. This change should require little or change to existing code. There's only two types of code where the new behaviour is incompatible: 1) Code that introspects the class dictionary to see what methods are available. These will no longer see class methods, but will have to look at the metaclass as well. This affects ``pydoc(1)`` as well. 2) Code that uses unbound instance methods will no pick up class methods in some occasions. Use ``MyClass.instanceMethodForSelector_`` instead of unbound methods, or alternatively access instance methods through ``MyClass.pyobjc_instanceMethods``. 3) Due to a limitation in the implementation of python's ``super`` class[1] it is not possible to use the super machinery to resolve class methods. However, ``from Foundation import *`` will replace the builtin ``super`` by a subclass that does work correctly for PyObjC programs, therefore this doesn't affect most PyObjC-using programs. .. [1] It is not possible to override the way ``super`` looks for the "next" method to call. The class ``objc.super`` is a subclass of the builtin superclass with a ``__getattr__`` implementation that does the right thing for supercalls for Objective-C class methods. - It is now easily possible to tell PyObjC that a Python type should be treated like a builtin sequence type:: import UserList, objc class MyClass (UserList.UserList): pass objc.registerListType(MyClass) - And likewise for mapping types using ``objc.registerMappingType``. - ``objc.enableThreading()`` is gone. It was introduced in ancient times to enable threading in the Python runtime but has been a no-op for ages because the PyObjC enables threading by default now. - The unittests can now use the leaks(1) command to check for memory leaks. This slows testing down significantly and is therefore off by default. Enable by setting ``PYOBJC_WITH_LEAKS`` to a value in the shell environment before running the tests:: $ PYOBJC_WITH_LEAKS=1 python setup.py test NOTE: the actual value is ignored, as long as there is a value. - (BUGFIX): PyObjC was leaking memory when doing scans of the Objective-C method tables - (BUGFIX): The code below now raises an error, as it should have done in previous versions but never did:: class MyObject (object): def updateDescription(self): self.description = 42 Version 2.0 (LEOPARD) --------------------- - NOTE: most of pyobjc should be 64-bit safe, but I haven't tested this yet and the included libffi probably doesn't work with 64-bit darwin. - PyObjC has been split into several smaller packages: ``pyobjc-core`` contains the core bridge and frameworks are wrapped as seperate setuptools packages. - Objective-C objects now have an implicit attribute named ``_`` which can be used a shortcut for Key-Value-Coding. The code fragment below:: o = print o._.myKey o._.myKey = 44 is equivalent to:: print o.valueForKey_('myKey') o.setValue_forKey_(44, 'myKey') The former is much nicer to use. - Struct wrappers now have a ``copy`` method. This method tries to do the right thing when subfields are other struct wrappers (that is, deep-copy them). - The metadata system has been revamped and mostly removes the need to write C-code when wrapping frameworks (that includes most of the AppKit and Foundation wrappers as well). The metadata is loaded at runtime from an XML file, whose format is shared between PyObjC and RubyCocoa. ``objc.initFrameworkWrapper`` can be used to load a framework using these XML metadata files. Note: because we now use an XML metadata file the scripts in ``Scripts/CodeGenerators`` have been removed: they are no longer needed. Have a look at the project ``pyobjc-metadata`` if you want to generate your own metadata. Note2: the metadata format is shared with RubyCocoa, although there are currently some slight differences (that is, the PyObjC metadata is slightly richer). - PyObjC now has builtin support for CoreFoundation-based types, which is used by the new metadata file support. Note that doesn't mean we support all of CoreFoundation and other CF-based frameworks, just that the machinery that's needed for that is present and working. This is a backward incompatible change: CF-based types will now be proxied using PyObjC-owned types instead of the ones in MacPython. However, PyObjC will still convert MacPython CF-wrappers to the right native type. Another backward compatible change: ``registerCFSignature`` has a different signature:: registerCFSignature(name, encoding, typeId [, tollfreeName]) -> type This is needed to capture all information about CF types. - This version introduces generic support for callback functions. The metadata metioned before contains information about the signature for callback functions, the decorator ``callbackFor`` converts a plain function to one that can be used as a callback:: @objc.callbackFor(NSArray.sortedArrayUsingFunction_andContext_) def compare(left, right, context): if left.key < right.key: return NSOrderedAscending elif left.key > right.key: return NSOrderedDescending else: return NSOrderedSame The ``makeCallbackFor`` callback should be used for callbacks where the callable is stored by the called function and is optional otherwise (such as the example above). - The decorator ``selectorFor`` can be used to ensure that a method has the right signature to be used as the callback method for a specific method. Usage:: @objc.selectorFor(NSApplication.beginSheet_modalForWindow_modalDelegate_didEndSelector_contextInfo_) def sheetDidEnd_returnCode_contextInfo_(self, sheet, returnCode, info): pass - PyObjC compiled on Leopard uses the Objective-C 2.0 runtime. The compiler on 10.5 still gives warning about usage of deprecated APIs unless compiling for 10.5 or later because of a compatibility layer. - GNUstep support has been removed because this has never worked properly, nobody seems interested in fixing that and the internal APIs of PyObjC have changed greatly. - Output arguments are treated slightly different. In previous versions you were not allowed to pass values for output arguments. This is now deprecated behaviour, you should choose to suply values for all arguments including output arguments (mixing these two styles is not allowed, if you have two output argument you must either supply a value for both of them or neither). There are only two acceptable values for output argument: * ``None``: pass a non-NULL pointer to the objc function/method * ``objc.NULL``: pass a NULL pointer to the objc method. The already existing behaviour is the same as passing in ``None`` for all output arguments. This is most useful for supressing an ``NSError`` value for methods that have an ``NSError**`` argument (when you don't want to look at that value), because generating that object might be expensive. - ``objc.setSignature`` is deprecated, use the new metadata machinery instead. - Opaque types (such as NSZonePointer) are now mutable, which is mostly present to allow framework wrappers to provide a nice OO interface to those types instead of forcing users to use the procedural API. None of the current framework wrappers use this feature. - Several new methods were added to improve integration with a future version of MacPython: opaque pointer types and ``NSObject`` now have a method named ``__cobject__`` that returns a ``PyCObject`` which represents the proxied value. Furthermore both opaque pointer types and subclasses of ``NSObject`` are now callable and will create the proper proxy object when passed a ``PyCObject``. Note however than the caller is responsible to ensure that the ``PyCObject`` value represents a value of the right type. - Archiving pure python objects using ``NSArchiver`` was already unsupported, we now explicitly raise an exception when users try to do this anyway. It is supported to archive and retrieve simple values: instances of ``int``, ``long``, ``float``, ``str`` and ``unicode``. - A ``__del__`` or ``dealloc`` method can revive objects, which isn't really supported by Objective-C. We'll now warn about this, hopefully before the program crashes. The warning is ``objc.RevivedObjectiveCObjectWarning``. - Some functions and methods return an instance of ``objc.varlist``. These objects behave a little like tuples, but don't have a defined lenght, you are responsible to not peak beyond the end of the actual array. The best way to deal with these objects is to convert them to real tuples as soon as possbible (using the ``as_tuple`` method). The number of elements in that tuple should be known to you and depends on the API. These objects are used in places where objects return an array but the size of that array cannot be described using the bridge metadata. These are mostly arrays whose size depends on the state of an object, or whose size is a function of one or more arguments of the method. - There now is a public API for adding new "convenience methods", that is methods that emulate standard Python methods using Objective-C methods. There are two functions for adding new convenience methods: * ``addConvenienceForSelector`` adds a list of methods to a class when that class has the specified selector:: addConvenienceForSelector('hash', [ ('__hash__', lambda self: self.hash()), ]) * ``addConvenienceForClass`` adds a list of methods to the class with the specified name:: addConvenienceForSelector('NSObject', [ ('dummy', lambda self: 42 ), ]) In both cases the addition is done lazily, the class that will be changed need not be loaded at the time of the call. - Fix a long-standing race condition where one could end up with a reference to an already deallocated Objective-C object when the last ObjC reference goes away on one thread and is just "recreated" on a second thread. - The 'name' and 'reason' of an Objective-C exception are now represented as Unicode objects in the Python representation of the exception, instead of as a UTF-8 encoded string. The standard Python exception message is still a UTF-8 encoded string, that's needed to ensure that we can always print the value of the exception message (such as in tracebacks). Version 1.4.1 (2006) -------------------- - PyObjC now uses setuptools. Setuptools support is fairly minimal at the moment, we expect to move more of the build infrastructure to setuptools and to split PyObjC into smaller eggs. - Fix an issue that made is possible to create weakref's to subclasses of subclasses of Objective-C classes. This was unintentional behaviour, the weakref is to the proxy (see the news for 1.0b1 for more details). - Add RoundTransparentWindow and DragItemAround examples in ``Examples/AppKit``. Both are ports of Objective-C examples at ADC and were provided by ytrewq1. - Fix issue where programs would crash with an badly aligned C-stack on some problems. This issue only affected Intel systems. - Remove ``OC_PythonObject.pythonifyStructTable``. This method of wrapping structs was untested and not used in the core distribution. Use ``objc.createStructType`` instead. - Binaries build on 10.4 also work on 10.3. This means it is no longer necessary to build PyObjC on the lowest version of the OS that you want to run your binaries on. Doing this with python is somewhat of a black art, please test your applications on the lowest version of the OS that you want to support to make sure that this actually works. Version 1.4 (2006-06-14) -------------------------- - Classes whose name starts with and underscore are no longer imported when using ``objc.loadBundle``. They are still available using ``objc.lookUpClass``. Methods whose name starts with an underscore are no longer visible when introspecting using ``dir()``, but can still be called. These changes were done to make introspection slightly more user-friendly: anything that is now hidden from introspection is most likely not part of a public API. - Most of the libffi testsuite is now run using a module that emulates dejagnu. - Introduction of a GUI tool to manage custom method signatures (``Tools/Signatures``). This replaces the ``find-raw-pointers.py`` script. - Fixed memory leak in ``OC_PythonObject``, this was due to bad reference counting. - ``NSMutableArray.sort`` now has the same API as ``list.sort``. Due to implementation constraints the ``key`` argument results in slower sorting than you'd see with ``list.sort``. - Selectors now have a read-only property 'native_signature' that contains the untampered signature for the method. This is for use by tools. - 'void*' arguments are treated like unsigned integers, they are almost always opaque cookies. - ``FILE*`` arguments are recognized and mostly work correctly. We can't reliably detect if the file was opened in append mode though. - Make it possible to override the KVO methods, like ``setValue:forKey:`` and ``valueForKey:`` in Python for all levels in the inheritance hierarchie. - Fix issues with reference counts for ``__slots__``. - Experimental: use ``-autorelease`` instead of ``-release`` to release values in destructors. This seems to solve at least one memory managment issue. - A slight complication in the naming rule: 1) Don't translate leading underscores in Python to colons in Objective-C, ``_doFoo_andBar_`` in Python will be ``_doFoo:andBar:`` in Objective-C. 2) If a name starts and ends with double underscores don't modify the name at all when moving from Python to Objective-C, ``__foobar__`` in Python will stay that way in Objective-C. These changes fix some minor annoyances with the older scheme. Note that the translation from Objective-C to Python is unmodified and is entirely consistent with the modified rules for translating from Python to Objective-C. - Fix for a memory leak in ``__pyobjc_object__`` handling. Version 1.3.7 (2005-07-06) -------------------------- - Added wrappers for embedded DiscRecording frameworks ([ 1224188 ] Fix for DiscRecording framework) - Probably working Xcode 2.1 support (for converted Xcode 2.0 projects) - Hide List, Object, and Protocol classes from objc.loadBundle to prevent confusion with Python code. They can still be looked up with objc.lookUpClass. - Fixed a regression where type signatures for pointers weren't normalized (fixes uses of NSModalSession, etc.) - Fixed a bug with -[NSObject hash] to __hash__, there was a mismatch between integer types. - Removed traces of the old Project Builder and Xcode templates in the examples and Foundation initialization code (PYOBJCFRAMEWORKS). - Fixed a problem with reference counting in initializers. - New TinyURLService example in AppKit that demonstrates how to write a service that transforms URLs into their tinyurl.com equivalents. - Ported to Mac OS X on Intel. This is an initial, experimental port. The Intel ABI has not been finalised yet. It is also possible to build fat binaries, that option should not be used in production builds. - Support a number of new frameworks: * SenTestingKit TODO: this framework uses lots of macros (such as STAssertEquals), these have not yet been wrapped/converted. * SecurityFoundation Version 1.3.6 (2005-05-19) -------------------------- - Fixed bugs in the ProgressViewPalette example - Fixed a bug in the class builder that caused most plugins to break - Removed all references to Project Builder - Mac OS X 10.2 (Jaguar) no longer supported Version 1.3.5 (2005-05-18) -------------------------- - Importing objc now ensures that Foundation is multi-threaded, previously it only ensured that Python was. - New ``objc.RegisterCFSignature`` used to register ``CFTypeRef``-like signatures with the runtime. - ``PyObjCTools.Conversion`` functions now support all property list types with the following conversions: - NSData <-> buffer - NSDecimalNumber <-> decimal.Decimal (if present) - NSDate <-> datetime.datetime New ``toPythonDecimal``, ``fromPythonDecimal`` functions which convert between NSDecimalNumber and decimal.Decimal using an intermediate string. New ``serializePropertyList`` and ``deserializePropertyList`` functions which serialize (Objective-C) property lists to and from NSData. - ``OC_PythonObject``, the proxy for Python objects that do not have an Objective-C superclass and are not otherwise special-cased, now act slightly more like typical Objective-C objects (supporting ``-isEqual:``, ``-hash``, and ``-compare:``). This allows them to work with Key-Value Coding if they are contained by an Objective-C object, among other things. - New objc.signature decorator that allows easier specification of objc.selector wrappers for functions when using Python 2.4:: @objc.signature('i@:if') def methodWithX_andY_(self, x, y): return 0 - ``PyObjCTools.KeyValueCoding.getKeyPath`` now supports all of the Array Operators supported by Mac OS X 10.4. - Key-Value Coding of Python objects (whether or not using an Objective-C base class) should act like Objective-C now. In previous versions there were inconsistencies with the use of capitalization, the underscore postfix in setters, and Key-Value Observing. - The formal protocol list is now complete. A new internal function, ``objc.protocolsForProcess()`` enumerates over all mach headers and returns all of the protocols defined in the expected place. This fixes the scenario where an application uses a protocol but does not define any classes that conform to that protocol (i.e. to check plugin conformity). Previously it was not possible to reach these protocols simply by walking over all of the classes. - A special value, ``objc.NULL``, may now be passed in the place of 'in' and 'inout' arguments. This tells the bridge to pass a NULL pointer to the Objective-C method, instead of a pointer to the value. The return value will still be a tuple of the expected size. - Some of the new Tiger frameworks now have wrappers: - ``AppleScriptKit`` - ``Automator`` - ``CoreData`` - ``DiscRecording`` - ``DiscRecordingUI`` - ``OSAKit`` - ``Quartz`` - ``QTKit`` - ``SyncServices`` - ``XgridFoundation`` Documentation and tests not yet written. - New ``OutlineEditor`` example in ``Examples/CoreData``, it is a Python version of the identically named Apple example. - The last argument of selectors that end with ':error:' is now assumed to be 'out' if its type is an object pointer. - More conveniences for ``list``-like and ``dict``-like objects: ``__reversed__``, ``reverse``, ``pop``, ``remove``, ``fromkeys``. - ``OC_PythonDictionary`` and ``OC_PythonArray`` now return ``NSNull`` to Objective-C callers as appropriate. - New ``WebKitInterpreter`` example in ``Examples/Plugins``. Uses the new WebKit Cocoa plugin API available in Safari 1.3 and later to embed a PyInterpreter in the browser. - Fixed a ``CFBundleRef`` reference counting bug in ``Foundation._Foundation``. The symptom of this is usually a crashing application after having loaded a PyObjC-based plugin into an otherwise Objective-C app. - New ``PyObjCTools.AppHelper`` functions: ``callAfter`` and ``callLater``, conveniences for calling Python functions on the main thread as soon as possible, or after a delay. - Twisted examples changed to use ``threadedselectreactor`` instead of ``cfreactor``. ``cfreactor`` is deprecated. Needs Twisted newer than 2.0 (svn r13575 or later). - ``objc.inject`` now injects on main thread by default, and takes an optional third ``useMainThread`` argument to change this behavior. This is a complete rewrite which should be correct, stable, Tiger compatible, and synchronized with mach_* 1.1. - Removed an ``NSAutoreleasePool`` category hack that has been deprecated for quite some time. - New ``objc.removeAutoreleasePool`` function that will remove PyObjC's global ``NSAutoreleasePool``, which may be useful for plugins. - Fixed bug in the ``NSBundle`` hack that caused a ``NULL`` pointer dereference if looking up a non-existent class using ``NSBundle`` API. - Added ``OC_PythonUnicode`` and ``OC_PythonString`` classes that preserve the identity of ``str`` and ``unicode`` objects across the bridge. The bridge for ``str`` now uses the default encoding of ``NSString``, rather than ``sys.getdefaultencoding()`` from Python. For Mac OS X, this is typically MacRoman. The reason for this is that not all Python ``str`` instances could cross the bridge at all previously. ``objc.setStrBridgeEnabled(False)`` will still trigger warnings, if you are attempting to track down an encoding bug. However, the symptoms of the bug will be incorrectly encoded text, not an exception. - New Xcode project template "PyObjC Mixed Application" that is a py2app based Python application that loads an Objective-C plug-in built as a separate target. - New py2app based Xcode templates "PyObjC Application" and "PyObjC Document-based Application", these replace the older "Cocoa-Python Application" and "Cocoa-Python Document-based Application" respectively. - New ``InjectBrowser`` example in ``Examples/Inject`` that demonstrates injection of the ``ClassBrowser`` example into another application using ``objc.inject``. - ``NSData`` and ``NSMutableData`` instances now support the Python buffer protocol. - ``NSData`` instances now support a convenience API that allow them to act like a ``buffer`` instance for ``str()`` and slicing. - Objects that support the Python buffer protocol, such as ``buffer`` and ``array.array`` (but not ``str`` or ``unicode``) are now bridged as ``NSData`` subclasses. Version 1.3 (2005-03-31) ------------------------ - New ``objc.pyobjc_id`` function that returns a the id of the underlying NSObject as an integer. (Python wrapper objects are often made on the fly, meaning ``id(obj)`` is not constant during the lifetime of the object.) - The bridge now maintains object identity across the bridge in both directions. Previous versions of the bridge only did this when bridging from Objective-C to Python. Exceptions: ``NSString`` and ``NSNumber`` do not have unique proxies. These types are converted to subclasses of Python types as appropriate, so they can not have unique proxies. The identity of the original Objective-C object is maintained by these subclasses, but there may be many Python "value proxies" for a single Objective-C object. Any Python object that is proxied using the ``__pyobjc_object__`` interface will only get a unique proxy if the ``__pyobjc_object__`` method implements that feature. - New ``objc.protocolsForClass`` function that returns a list of protocols that the class directly claims to conform to. - PyObjC classes can now declare that they implement formal protocols, for example:: class MyLockingClass(NSObject, objc.protocolNamed('NSLocking')): # implementation pass It is also possible to define new protocols:: MyProtocol = objc.formal_protocol("MyProtocol", None, [ selector(None, selector='mymethod', signature='v@:'), ]) All formal protocols are instances of ``objc.formal_protocol``. - PyObjCTools.KeyValueCoding has a new ``kvc`` class that allows Pythonic Key-Value Coding. - ``__getitem__`` is mapped to ``valueForKeyPath:`` - ``__setitem__`` is mapped to ``setValue:forKeyPath:`` - ``__getattr__`` is mapped to ``valueForKey:`` - ``__setattr__`` is mapped to ``setValue:forKey:`` The ``kvc`` class uses ``__pyobjc_object__``, so it may cross the bridge as the wrapped object. - ``NSNumber`` instances are bridged to a ``float``, ``long``, or ``int`` subclass that uses ``__pyobjc_object__``. ``NSDecimal`` is converted to ``NSDecimalNumber`` when used as an object, ``NSDecimalNumber`` is not bridged to ``NSDecimal`` because the latter is a mutable type. - The Python to Objective-C bridge now looks for a ``__pyobjc_object__`` attribute to get a PyObjC object from a Python object. - New IDNSnitch example in Inject that demonstrates how to write an monitor for the launch of another application, use ``objc.inject`` to load code into a target process, and override the implementation of an existing method but still call back into the original implementation (method swizzling). - ``objc.IMP`` should do the right thing now. This type is returned by ``+[NSObject methodForSelector:]`` and ``+[NSObject instanceMethodForSelector:]`` - New ToDos example in CocoaBindings that demonstrates how to use two array controllers for the same data, and how to use value transformers to alter the color of text. Originally from "Cocoa Bindings Examples and Hints", converted to PyObjC by u.fiedler. - New Bookmarks example in CocoaBindings that demonstrates how to subclass ``NSArrayController`` to implement the ``NSTableView`` delegate drag and drop protocol, including copying of objects between documents and accepting URL drops from other applications. Also demonstrates re-ordering of the content array. Originally from "Cocoa Bindings Examples and Hints", converted to PyObjC by u.fiedler. - New FilteringController example in CocoaBindings that demonstrates how to subclass ``NSArrayController`` to implement filtering of a ``NSTableView``. Also demonstrates the use of indexed accessors. Originally from "Cocoa Bindings Examples and Hints", converted to PyObjC by u.fiedler. - New ControlledPreferences example in CocoaBindings that demonstrates how to use Cocoa Bindings to simplify storing and retrieving user preferences. Originally from "Cocoa Bindings Examples and Hints", converted to PyObjC by u.fiedler. - New TemperatureTransformer example in CocoaBindings that demonstrates how to use NSValueTransfomers with PyObjC. Based on Apple's "Cocoa: Value Transformers" documentation, converted to PyObjC by u.fiedler. - New CurrencyConvBindings example in CocoaBindings that demonstrates a Cocoa Bindings enabled version of the CurrencyConverter example. Converted to PyObjC by u.fiedler from the example in Apple's "Introduction to Developing Cocoa Applications Using Bindings". - New ManualBindings example in CocoaBindings that demonstrates how to develop programmatic bindings from a PyObjC application. Converted to PyObjC by u.fiedler from the "Cocoa Bindings and Hints" example of the same name. - New HotKeyPython example in AppKit that demonstrates how to use Carbon global hot keys from a PyObjC application. Also demonstrates how to use a NSApplication subclass. - Key-Value Observing support is now automatic in Python classes that descend from ``NSObject``, unless they implement a custom ``willChangeValueForKey:``, ``didChangeValueForKey:``, or ``__useKVO__`` is not True. This allows ``self.foo = 1`` to automatically trigger notifications. This works in all cases, whether ``foo`` is a ``property``, ``ivar``, or just in the ``__dict__``. - New Inject folder in Examples, with an InjectInterpreter example that will inject a GUI Python interpreter into any process. - New ``objc.inject()`` function for Mac OS X 10.3 and later, allows an arbitrary bundle to be loaded into another process using mach_inject. - ``objc.classAddMethods`` now recognizes and supports classmethods. - GC is now correctly implemented for struct wrappers. - The ``NSNumber`` bridge has been removed, now you will get ``NSNumber`` instances across the bridge instead of a Python representation. - ``PyObjCTools.AppHelper.runEventLoop()`` will now bring your application to the front at startup when using pdb mode for convenience. - ``objc.loadBundle()`` no longer filters the class list. This solves a few potential issues and shaves off about 1/3rd of the overhead of ``python -c "import AppKit"``. - ``PyObjCTools.AppHelper.runEventLoop()`` no longer breaks on pure Objective-C exceptions. Most exceptions of this variety are more like warnings, and there is nothing that can be done them anyway. - ``PyObjCTools.AppHelper.runEventLoop()`` now installs the interrupt handler and verbose exception logging when using pdb, either explicitly or by the USE_PDB environment variable. - There is now a fast path for the ``NSString``/``unicode`` bridge when ``Py_UNICODE_SIZE`` is 2. This is the default setting for Python. - The default selector signature will have a void return value unless a "return" statement with an argument is used in the bytecode. In that case, it will default to an object return value. - ``__bundle_hack__`` is no longer necessary, py2app now sets a different environment variable to the current plugin during execution, and a hack is installed to ``NSBundle`` so that classes may respond to requests for their bundle with the ``+bundleForClass`` method. The class builder adds a default implementation of this to Python classes if this environment variable is set. - Added ``objc.currentBundle()``, which is equivalent to ``NSBundle.mainBundle()`` except after loading a plug-in. Makes it easier to load nib files. - ``PyObjCTools.NibClassBuilder.extractClasses()`` now uses ``objc.currentBundle()`` instead of ``NSBundle.mainBundle()``. This makes plugins less of a hassle to develop and allows identical code to be used for application or plugin development. - ``objc.registerPlugin()`` and ``objc.pluginBundle()`` are now deprecated as they are no longer useful. - It is now possible to subclass a class that implements ``copyWithZone:`` without setting ``__slots__`` to ``()``. - It is now possible to override ``dealloc``. It is still possible to define ``__del__``. - As an experimental feature it is also possible to override ``retain`` and ``release``. Note it almost never a good idea to do this (even when you're programming in Objective-C and much more so in Python). - ``poseAsClass:`` can be used, although it is not very useful in python, use categories instead. A major issue with ``poseAsClass:`` is that existing references to the old version of the class won't be changed to point to the new class. - It is now possible to access all instance variables of a class using the functions ``objc.listInstanceVariables(aClassOrInstance)``, ``objc.getInstanceVariable(obj, name)`` and ``objc.setInstanceVariable(obj, name, value [, updateRefCount])``. The last argument of ``setInstanceVariable`` is required when the instance variable is an object. If it is true the bridge will update reference counts, otherwise it won't. - All wrappers for opaque pointers (such as ``NSZone*``) now have the same interface and share a single implementation. This decreases code-size and makes it easier to add new wrappers. A new feature is a ``__typestr__`` attribute on the type object, this contains the encoded Objective-C type of the pointer. A function for creating new wrappers is exposed to python, as ``objc.createOpaquePointerType(name, typestr, doc)``. The same function is also exposed in the C-API. - Wrappers for C-structs how have a ``__typestr__`` attribute on their type. This attribute contains the encoded Objective-C type of the struct. The default ``__init__`` for struct-wrappers now initializes fields with an appropriate default value, instead of ``None``. New wrappers can now be created from Python using the function ``objc.createStructType(name, typestr, fieldnames, doc)``. The same function is also exposed in the C API (and has been for a while). Version 1.2 (2004-12-29) ------------------------ - ``PyObjCTools.AppHelper.stopEventLoop`` will attempt to stop the current ``NSRunLoop`` (if started by ``runConsoleEventLoop``) or terminate the current ``NSApplication`` (which may or may not have been started by ``runEventLoop``). - This version no longer support Python 2.2. Python 2.3 or later is required. - It is now possible to use ``reload`` on modules containing Objective-C classes. - ``objc.loadBundle`` now returns bundle we just loaded. - Added ``objc.loadBundleVariables`` and ``objc.loadBundleFunctions``, two functions for reading global variables and functions from a bundle. - objc.runtime will now raise AttributeError instead of objc.nosuchclass_error when a class is not found. - objc.Category can be used to define categories on existing classes:: class NSObject (objc.Category(NSObject)): def myMethod(self): pass This adds method ``myMethod`` to class NSObject. - ``py2app`` is now used for all Example scripts and is the recommended method for creating PyObjC applications. - Proxies of dict, list, and tuple now respect the invariant that you should get an identical instance if you ask for the same thing twice and the collection has not been mutated. This fixes some problems with binary plist serialization, and potentially some edge cases elsewhere. - There is now a ``__bundle_hack__`` class attribute that will cause the PyObjC class builder to use a statically allocated class wrapper if one is available via certain environment variables. This functionality is used to enable +[NSBundle bundleForClass:] to work for exactly one class from a py2app-created plugin bundle. - We now have a working Interface Builder palette example due to ``__bundle__hack__``. - ``bool(NSNull.null())`` is now false. - ``setup.py`` supports several new commands: build_libffi: builds libffi (used by build_ext) build_html: builds html documentation from ReST source bdist_dmg: creates a disk image with the binary installer bdist_mpkg: creates a binary installer test: runs unit test suite (replaces Scripts/runPyObjCTests and Scripts/runalltests) - ``PyObjCStrBridgeWarning`` can now be generated when Python ``str`` objects cross the bridge by calling ``objc.setStrBridgeEnabled(False)``. It is HIGHLY recommended that your application never send ``str`` objects over the bridge, as it is likely to cause problems due to the required coercion to unicode. - The coercion bridge from Python to Objective-C instances can now be augmented from Python as it is exposed by ``OC_PythonObject``. See ``objc._bridges``. This is how the ``str`` -> ``unicode`` -> ``NSString`` bridge with optional warnings is implemented. - The coercion bridge between Python objects and Objective-C structures can now be augmented from Python as it is exposed by ``OC_PythonObject``. See ``objc._bridges``. This is how the ``Carbon.File.FSRef`` <-> ``'{FSRef=[80c]}'`` structure bridge is implemented. - Extension modules such as ``_objc``, ``_AppKit``, etc. are now inside packages as ``objc._objc``, ``AppKit._AppKit``, etc. They should never be used directly, so this should not break user code. Version 1.1 (2004-05-30) ------------------------ - KVO now actually works from Python without using nasty hacks. - Added Xcode template for document-based applications Version 1.1b2 (2004-04-11) -------------------------- - More fine-grained multi-threading support - Xcode templates use a smarter embedded main program - Add support for WebObjects 4.5 (a one-line patch!) - Add a PackageManager clone to the Examples directory - Add better support for NSProxy This makes it possible to use at Distributed Objects, although this feature has not received much testing - Function 'objc.protocolNamed' is the Python equivalent of the @protocol expression in Objective-C. - Add several new examples Version 1.1b1 (2004-02-20) --------------------------- - Fixes some regressions in 1.1 w.r.t. 1.0 - Add Xcode templates for python files You can now select a new python file in the 'add file...' dialog in Xcode - Fix installer for Panther: the 1.1a0 version didn't behave correctly - There is now an easier way to define methods that conform to the expectations of Cocoa bindings:: class MyClass (NSObject): def setSomething_(self, value): pass setSomething_ = objc.accessor(setSomething_) def something(self): return "something!" something = objc.accessor(something) It is not necessary to use ``objc.accessor`` when overriding an existing accessor method. Version 1.1a0 (2004-02-02) -------------------------- - Objective-C structs can now be wrapped using struct-like types. This has been used to implement wrapper types for NSPoint, NSSize, NSRange and NSRect in Foundation and NSAffineTransformStruct in AppKit. This means you can now access the x-coordinate of a point as ``aPoint.x``, accessing ``aPoint[0]`` is still supported for compatibility with older versions of PyObjC. It is still allowed to use tuples, or other sequences, to represent Objective-C structs. NOTE: This has two side-effects that may require changes in your programs: the values of the types mentioned above are no longer immutable and cannot be used as keys in dicts or elements in sets. Another side-effect is that a pickle containing these values created using this version of PyObjC cannot be unpickled on older versions of PyObjC. - This version adds support for NSDecimal. This is a fixed-point type defined in Cocoa. - NSDecimalNumbers are no longer converted to floats, that would loose information. - If an Objective-C method name is a Python keyword you can now access it by appending two underscores to its name, e.g. someObject.class__(). The same is true for defining methods, if you define a method ``raise__`` in a subclass of NSObject it will registered with the runtime as ``raise``. NOTE: Currently only ``class`` and ``raise`` are treated like this, because those are the only Python keywords that are actually used as Objective-C method names. - Experimental support for ``instanceMethodForSelector:`` and ``methodForSelector:``. This support is not 100% stable, and might change in the future. - Backward incompatible change: class methods are no longer callable through the instances. - Integrates full support for MacOS X 10.3 (aka Panther) - Adds a convenience/wrapper module for SecurityInterface - It is now safe to call from Objective-C to Python in arbitrary threads, but only when using Python 2.3 or later. - Fixes some issues with passing structs between Python and Objective-C. - Uses the Panther version of ``NSKeyValueCoding``, the Jaguar version is still supported. - method ``updateNSString`` of ``objc.pyobjc_unicode`` is deprecated, use create a new unicode object using ``unicode(mutableStringInstance)`` instead. - NSAppleEventDescriptor bridged to Carbon.AE - LibFFI is used more aggressivly, this should have no user-visible effects other than fixing a bug related to key-value observing. - Adds a number of new Examples: * OpenGLDemo Shows how to use OpenGL with PyObjC * SillyBallsSaver Shows how to write a screensaver in Python. Requires a framework install of Python (that is, MacOS X 10.3 or MacPython 2.3 on MacOS X 10.2). * Twisted/WebServicesTool Shows how to integrate Twisted (1.1 or later) with Cocoa, it is a refactor of the WebServicesTool example that is made much simpler by using Twisted. * Twisted/WebServicesTool-ControllerLayer Shows how to integrate Twisted (1.1 or later) with Cocoa, it is a refactor of the WebServicesTool example that is made much simpler by using Twisted as it does not need threads. This one also uses NSController and therefore requires MacOS X 10.3. Version 1.0 (2003-09-21) ------------------------ - This version includes a new version of libffi that properly deals with complex types on MacOS X. Version 1.0rc3 (2003-09-14) --------------------------- - 1.0rc2 didn't include the nibclassbuilder script - Fix bug in NSRectFillList Version 1.0rc2 (2003-09-10) --------------------------- - Fix a number of bugs found in 1.0rc1. Version 1.0rc1 (2003-08-10) --------------------------- - Better support for the NSKeyValueCoding protocol. The module ``PyObjCTools.KeyValueCoding`` provides a python interface that makes it possible to use key-value coding with python objects as well as Objective-C objects. Key-Value Coding also works as one would expect with Python objects when accessing them from Objective-C (both for plain Python objects and Python/Objective-C hybrid objects). - objc.pyobjc_unicode objects are now pickled as unicode objects, previously the couldn't be pickled or were pickled as incomplete objects (protocol version 2). - Pickling of ObjC objects never worked, we now explicitly throw an exception if you try to pickle one: pickle protocol version 2 silently wrote the incomplete state of objects to the pickle. - The default repr() of ObjC objects is now the result of a call to the ``description`` method. This method is not called for unitialized objects, because that might crash the interpreter; we use a default implementation in that case. - A minor change to the conversion rule for methods with output arguments (pointers to values in ObjC, where the method will write through the pointer). If the method has 'void' as its return type, we used to return a tuple where the first value is always None. This first element is no longer included, furthermore if the method has only 1 output argument we no longer return a tuple but return the output value directly (again only if the method has 'void' as its return type). This is a backward incompatible change, but there are not many of such methods. - Another backward incompatible change is a minor cleanup of the names in the ``objc`` module. The most significant of these is the change from ``recycle_autorelease_pool`` to ``recycleAutoreleasePool``. The other changed names are internal to the bridge and should not be used in other code. - The interface of Foundation.NSFillRects changed, it now has an interface that is consistent with the rest of the bridge. Version 1.0b1 (2003-07-05) -------------------------- - More tutorials Two new tutorials were added: 'Adding Python code to an existing ObjC application' and 'Understanding existing PyObjC examples'. The former explains how you can use Python to add new functionality to an already existing Objective-C application, the latter explains how to understand PyObjC programs written by other people. - More examples Three examples were added: DotView, ClassBrowser and PythonBrowser, respectively showing the use of a custom NSView, NSBrowser and NSOutlineView. PythonBrowser is reusable, making it trivial to add an object browser to your application. - Support for MacOS X 10.1 It is now possible to build PyObjC on MacOS X 10.1, with full access to the Cocoa API's on that platform. Note: The port to MacOS X 10.1 is not as well supported as the 10.2 port. The developers do not have full-time access to a MacOS X 10.1 system. - Support for the WebKit framework, included with Safari 1.0. If you build PyObjC from source you will have to build on a system that has the WebKit SDK installed to make use of this. Note that the additional functionality will only be usuable on systems that have Safari 1.0 installed, however as long as you don't use the additional functionality it is safe to run a 'WebKit-enabled' PyObjC on systems without Safari 1.0. - It is no longer necessary to specify which protocols are implemented by a class, this information is automaticly deduced from the list of implemented methods. You'll still a runtime error if you implement some methods of a protocol and one of the unimplemented methods is required. - Support for "toll-free bridging" of Carbon.CF types to Objective-C objects. It is now possible to use instances of Carbon.CF types in places where Objective-C objects are expected. And to explicitly convert between the two. Note: this requires Python 2.3. - Better integration with MacPython 2.3: * ``NSMovie.initWithMovie_`` and ``NSMovie.QTMovie`` now use ``QT.Movie`` objects instead of generic pointer wrappers. * ``NSWindow.initWithWindowRef_`` and ``Window.windowRef`` now use ``Carbon.Window`` objects instead of generic pointer wrappers. * Methods returning CoreFoundation objects will return MacPython objects, and likewise, methods with CoreFoundation arguments will accept MacPython objects. - It is now possible to write plugin bundles, such as preference panes for use in System Preferences, in Python. See Examples/PrefPanes for an example of this feature. - The methods ``pyobjcPopPool`` and ``pyobjcPushPool`` of ``NSAutoreleasePool`` are deprecated. These were introduced when PyObjC did not yet support the usual method for creating autorelease pools and are no longer necessary. - Improved unittests, greatly increasing the confidence in the correctness of the bridge. - All suppport for non-FFI builds has been removed. - Object state is completely stored in the Objective-C object. This has no user-visible effects, but makes the implementation a lot easier to comprehend and maintain. - As part of the previous item we also fixed a bug that allowed addition of attributes to Objective-C objects. This was never the intention and had very odd semantics. Pure Objective-C objects not longer have a __dict__. - Weakrefs are no longer used in the implementation of the bridge. Because the weakrefs to proxy objects isn't very useful the entire feature has been removed: It is no longer possible to create weakrefs to Objective-C objects. NOTE: You could create weakrefs in previous versions, but those would expire as soon as the last reference from Python died, *not* when the Objective-C object died, therefore code that uses weakrefs to Objective-C objects is almost certainly incorrect. - Added support for custom conversion for pointer types. The end result is that we support more Cocoa APIs without special mappings. - The generator scripts are automaticly called when building PyObjC. This should make it easier to support multiple versions of MacOS X. Version 0.9 (May-02-2003) ------------------------- - This version includes numerous bugfixes and improvements. - The module AppKit.NibClassBuilder has been moved to the package PyObjCTools. - Usage of libFFI (http://sources.redhat.com/libffi) is now mandatory. The setup.py gives the impression that it isn't, but we do *not* support non-FFI builds. - We actually have some documentation, more will be added in future releases. - There are more Project Builder templates (see 'Project Templates'). - The InterfaceBuilder, PreferencePanes and ScreenSaver frameworks have been wrapped. - Management of reference counts is now completely automatic, it is no longer necessary to manually compensate for the higher reference count of objects returned by the alloc, copy and copyWithZone: class methods. - Various function and keyword arguments have been renamed for a better integration with Cocoa. A partial list is of the changed names is:: objc.lookup_class -> objc.lookUpClass objc.selector arguments/attributes: is_initializer -> isInitializer is_allocator -> isAlloc donates_ref -> doesDonateReference is_required -> isRequired class_method -> isClassMethod defining_class -> definingClass returns_self -> returnsSelf argument_types -> argumentTypes return_type -> returnType objc.get_class_list -> objc.getClassList - On Python 2.2, objc.YES and objc.NO are instances of a private boolean type, on Python 2.3 these are instances of the builtin type bool. - Because we now use libFFI a large amount of code could be disabled. The binaries are therefore much smaller, while we can now forward messages with arbitrary signatures (not limited to those we thought of while generating the static proxies that were used in 0.8) - Better support for APIs that use byte arrays are arguments or return values. Specifically, the developer can now manipulate bitmaps directly via the NSBitmapImageRep class, work with binary data through the NSData class, and very quickly draw points and rects via NSRectFillList() - We added a subclass of unicode that is used to proxy NSString values. This makes it easily possible to use NSString values with Python APIs, while at the same time allowing access to the full power of NSString. Version 0.8 (Dec-10-2002) ------------------------- - GNUStep support has been removed for lack of support. Volunteers needed. - Subclassing Objective-C classes from Python, including the addition of instance variables (like 'IBOutlet's) - Generic support for pass-by-reference arguments - More complete Cocoa package, including wrappers for a number of C functions, enumerated types, and globals. - More example code - Objective-C mappings and sequences can be accessed using the normal python methods for accessing mappings and sequences (e.g. subscripting works as expected) - Documentation: See the directory 'docs' - Can build standalone Cocoa applications based entirely on Python without requiring that user installs anything extra (requires 10.2). - Better packaging and wrapper construction tools (borrowed from MacPython). - An installer package. - Support for Project Builder based Cocoa-Python projects. - Unit tests. Version 2002-01-30 (January 30, 2002) ------------------------------------- - Version bumped to 0.6.1 ( __version__ is now a PyString ) - Will now build for Python 2.2 - added Cocoa package with Foundation.py and AppKit.py wrappers. - HelloWorld.py in Examples - builds with -g flag for debugging. -v option will dump log of message sends to /tmp file. - Fixed one major runtime bug: added ISCLASS test before isKindOfClass - without check, it crashes on sends to abstract classes like NSProxy. - There are still problems with Delegates and Notifications. Version 2001-03-17 (March 17, 2001) ----------------------------------- - moved to using distutils setup.py (requires small patch to distutils that has been submitted against python 2.1b1) Version 2000-11-14 (November 14, 2000) -------------------------------------- - GNU_RUNTIME is likely completely broken - Compiles on Mac OS X Server (python 2.0) - Compiles on Mac OS X (python 2.0) - Works as either a dynamically loadable module or statically built into a python executable - Requires a modified makesetup to work [patches have been sent to SourceForge.net's Python project]. - Supports NSAutoReleasepool. - Some pre-OSX stuff removed; references to old APIs, etc... (but nowhere near clean) Version 0.55, 18 August 1998 ---------------------------- - Here again, supporting GNU_RUNTIME and GNUstep Base! On my new Linux box I can finally test the module against them: I installed the latest snapshot of gstep-core, that contains the base library too. Given a sane GNUstep env (GNUSTEP_XXX env vars), you should be able to build a static ObjC-ized interpreter by:: o Adjusting Setup, commenting out NeXT definition and enabling GNU ones; o make -f Makefile.pre.in boot o make static Version 0.54, 24 March 1998 --------------------------- - OC_Pasteboard.[hm], OC_Stream.[mh] and ObjCStreams.m are definitively gone. - OC_PythonObject derives from NSProxy. Version 0.53, 4 January 1998 ---------------------------- - Tons of changes, retargeting the core functionality around the OpenSTEP API. This release basically matches the previous one in terms of functionalities, but is should be closer to GNUstep. - OC_Streams and OC_Pasteboard aren't supported, I've not yet decided if they are needed anymore. - Updated LittleButtonedWindow demo. Version 0.47, 29 October 1996 ----------------------------- - Misc/Makefile.pre.in automatically sets TARGET to ``pyobjc``. - ObjC.m splitted to ObjCObject.m ObjCMethod.m ObjCPointer.m ObjCRuntime.m. - New (almost invisible) types: ObjCSequenceObject and ObjCMappingObject; this to implement sequence and mapping syntax (several mapping methods have stub implementation). - OC_Pasteboard class is gone. Its functionalities are now in a category of Pasteboard/NSPasteboard. - Better methods doc. - PyArg_ParseTuple format strings contain arguments names. - OC_Streams are mapped to ObjCStreams by pythonify_c_value and its counterpart. Version 0.46, 18 October 1996 ----------------------------- - OC_Stream is now a subclass of NSData under Foundation. - New Objective-C class: OC_Pasteboard. Use it instead of Pasteboard/ NSPasteboard. - New Objective-C class: OC_PythonBundle. Use it instead of NXBundle/NSBundle. The ShellText demo has been upgraded to use it, and now you can run it directly from the WorkSpace. - OC_Python.[hm] aren't in the package anymore. - Setup.in directives changed again, due to OC_Python.m dropping. Version 0.45, 14 October 1996 ----------------------------- - Double syntax: to make it easier for us to test and choose the better candidate, the only one that will be present in the final 1.0 release. Keeping both would result in a speed penality. - Revisited streams, in particular GNUstep support. Version 0.44, 9 October 1996 ---------------------------- - Integers are now accepted too where floats or doubles are expected. - New method: ObjC.make_pointer (1) returns an ObjCPointer containing ``((void *) 1)``. Version 0.43, 7 October 1996 ---------------------------- - Completed ObjCStream implementation. There is now a new module, ObjCStreams which is automatically loaded by ObjC. You can access it as ObjC.streams. - Manual splitted in three parts: libPyObjC.tex with the chapter intro, libObjC.tex describing the main module, libObjCStreams.tex explains the stream facilities. Version 0.42, 4 October 1996 ---------------------------- - You can pass initialization arguments when using the ``Class()`` syntax. You select the right initializer selector with the ``init`` keyword parameter. - First cut on ObjCStream objects. Thanx to Bill Bumgarner for motivations. - New demo ShellText, to test above points. Version 0.41, 2 October 1996 ---------------------------- - Revised error messages: for arguments type mismatch they show the ObjC type expected. - When a method returns a pointer to something, it gets translated as an ObjCPointer object, not the pythonified pointed value. When a method expects a pointer argument, it accepts such an object as well. - New demo: Fred. To halt it, suspend the Python process with ^Z then kill it ;-). - Setup.in directives changed. See the new file Modules/Setup.PyObjC.in - Distribuited as a standalone package. Special thanks to Bill Bumgarner. Version 0.4, 27 September 1996 ------------------------------ - Now handles methods returning doubles or floats. - ObjCRuntime responds to .sel_is_mapped(). Version 0.31, 26 September 1996 ------------------------------- - It's now possible to use a different strategy to map ObjC method names to Python ones. Sooner or later we should decide the one to go, and drop the other. For details, see comments on PYTHONIFY_WITH_DOUBLE_UNDERSCORE in objc_support.h. - Manual section. - ObjC.runtime.__dict__ added. - ObjC.runtime.kind added. Version 0.3, 20 September 1996 ------------------------------ - No user visible changes, just a little effort towards GNU_RUNTIME support. Version 0.2, 16 September 1996 ------------------------------ - Accepts a struct.pack() string for pointer arguments, but... - ... New methods on ObjCMethod: .pack_argument and .unpack_argument: these should be used whenever an ObjC method expects a passed-by-reference argument; for example, on NeXTSTEP [View getFrame:] expects a pointer to an NXRect structure, that it will fill with the current frame of the view: in this case you should use something similar to:: framep = aView.getFrame__.pack_argument (0) aView.getFrame__ (framep) frame = aView.getFrame__.unpack_argument (0, framep) Version 0.1, 13 September 1996 ------------------------------ - Correctly handle pointer arguments. - New syntax to get a class: ObjC.runtime.NameOfClass - New syntax aliasing .new(): SomeClass() - New Demo: LittleButtonedWindow, that tests points above. - What follow is the recipe to get PyObjC dynamically loadable on NeXTSTEP: * apply the patch in Misc/INSTALL.PyObjC to Python/importdl.c * modify Python/Makefile adding the switch ``-ObjC`` to the importdl.o build rule:: importdl.o: importdl.c $(CC) -ObjC -c $(CFLAGS) -I$(DLINCLDIR) $(srcdir)/importdl.c * modify Modules/Setup moving the PyObjC entry suggested above AFTER ``*shared*``, and remove ``-u libNeXT_s -lNeXT_s`` from it. * run ``make``: this will update various files, in particular Modules/Makefile. * modify Modules/Makefile adding ``-u libNeXT_s -lNeXT_s`` to SYSLIBS:: SYSLIBS= $(LIBM) $(LIBC) -u libNeXT_s -lNeXT_s * run ``make`` again