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Eric3 Source Documentation: eric3 |
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### README for the eric3 IDE

#### Installation

Installing eric3 is a simple process. Just execute the install.py script (type python install.py -h for some help). Please note that the installation has to be performed using the administrators account (i.e. root on linux). This installs a wrapper script in the standard executable directory (default: /usr/local/bin on linux) called eric3.

If you want to uninstall the package just execute the uninstall script. This gets rid of all installed files. In this case please send an email to the below mentioned address and tell me your reason. This might give me hint on how to improve eric3.

If the required packages (Qt, QScintilla, sip and PyQt) are not installed, please get them and install them in the following order (order is important).

1. Install Qt

2. Build and install QScintilla

3. Build and install sip

4. Build and install PyQt (watch for a message telling, that it is including the qtext module)

5. Install eric3

If you want to use the interfaces to other supported software packages, you may install them in any order and at any time.

#### Running

Just call up eric3, which will start the IDE. Use the "what is"-help (arrow with ?) to get some help. Sorry, there is no documentation yet. To start the unit test module in a standalone variant simply call up qtunittest. This will show the same dialog (though with a little bit less functionality) as if started from within eric3. The helpviewer can be started as a standalone program by executing the helpviewer script.

#### Autocompletion/Calltips

eric3 provides an interface to the QScintilla auto-completion and calltips functionality. In order to use this feature you have to generate api files. To make this task a little bit easier I have provided two scripts in the Tools directory of the eric3 installation. The gen_pyqt_api.py script generates api files for PyQt (should work with PyKDE as well but this is untested). Just call

"python <eric3_install_dir>/Tools/gen_pyqt_api.py /path/to/sipfiles /path/to/apifiles"

This will generate an api file for every *mod.sip file found. In order to generate an api file for Python itself simply call

"python <eric3_install_dir>/Tools/gen_python_api.py /path/to/apifiles"

This will generate a file called python.api. This second script is a modified version of the one available via the SciTE site. Please read the docstring at the start of this script for further instructions.

After that start eric3 and configure this function in the "Preferences Dialog -> Editor Tab -> APIs" and "Preferences Dialog -> Editor Tab -> Autocompletion/Calltips"

#### Remote Debugger

In order to enable the remote debugger start eric3, open the preferences dialog and configure the settings on the debugger tab.

The remote login must be possible without any further interaction (i.e. no password prompt). I the remote setup differs from the local one you must configure the Python interpreter and the Debug Client to be used in the Preferences dialog (s. Debugger tab). Eric3 includes three different versions of the debug client. DebugClient.py is the traditional debugger, DebugClientNoQt.py is a version, that doesn't need PyQt installed, and DebugClientThreads is a multithreading variant of the standard debug client. Please copy all needed files to a place accessible through the Python path of the remote machine and set the entries of the a.m. configuration tab accordingly.

#### Interfaces to additional software packages

At the moment eric3 provides interfaces to the following software packages.

Qt-Designer
  This is part of the Qt distribution and is used to generate user interfaces.
Qt-Linguist
  This is part of the Qt distribution and is used to generate translations.
Qt-Assistant
  This is part of the Qt distribution and may be used to display help files.
CVS
  This is a version control system available from <www.cvshome.org>.
Subversion
  This is another version control system available from <subversion.tigris.org>. It is meant to be the successor of CVS.
Happydoc
  This is a source code documentation package available from <happydoc.sourceforge.net>. This is a tool to extract documentation strings out of the python files and to generate source code documentation. See eric3 source documentation for an example.
Bicycle Repair Man
  This is a Python refactoring tool available from <bicyclerepair.sourceforge.net>. The interface will be made available, if Python version 2.2 or better is detected (that is a BRM requirement). A copy of BRM is included in the eric3 distribution. This functionality is available via the "Refactoring" menu.
coverage.py
  This is a tool to check Python code coverage. A slightly modified version is part of the eric3 distribution.
tabnanny
  This is a tool to check Python code for whitespace related problems. It is part of the standard Python installation.
profile
  This is part of the standard Python distribution and is used to profile Python source code.

#### Internationalization

eric3, qtunittest and helpviewer are prepared to show the UI in different languages which can be configured via the preferences dialog. The Qt and QScintilla translations are searched in $QTDIR/translations first, then in the eric3 installation directory and finally in the current directory. Please ensure, that the translations (.qm files) are somewhere in this path. Most Qt installations don't install them by default. If this is the case, some part of the MMI might show English texts even if you have selected something else. If you are missing eric3 translations for your language and are willing to volunteer for this work please send me an email naming the country code and I will send you the respective Qt-Linguist file.

#### Window Layout

eric 3 provides four different window layouts. The first two use splitters to separate the different areas. One of these has an embedded shell window, the other a separate one. The other two layouts use dock windows. Again, one has an embedded shell, the other a separate one.

NOTE: It has been observed that with certain styles on some distributions the application tends to crash when a dock window gets redocked. This is not an eric3 problem. It is caused by the Qt library.

#### Scripting

For scripting related information please see the file README.scripting.

#### License

eric3 (and the others) is released under the conditions of the GPL. See separate license file for more details.

#### Bugs and other reports

Please send bug reports, feature requests or contributions to eric bugs address. After the IDE is installed you can use the "Report Bug..." entry of the Help menu. This will send a message to <eric-bugs@die-offenbachs.de>

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