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 like MySQL, Oracle, MS-SQL, PostgreSQL, or SQLite, 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.

You program in Python, subclassing Dabo's base classes. In addition, there are several graphical tools for laying out your GUI, editing your menus, and creating professional business reports.

Dabo has three main subpackages, representing the three tiers common in 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 requires wxPython.

To run Dabo, and apps based on Dabo, you need:

• Python 3.10 or later
• wxPython 4.0 or later
• Reportlab and Python Imaging Library if running reports.
• Linux, MacOS, or Windows operating system.

If you are working on the Dabo codebase, you can clone the git repo from here:

git clone git@github.com:dabodev/dabo.git

How you get started is pretty much up to you. There are two related projects: dabo_demo, which contains demonstration code for the various Dabo classes, and dabo_ide, which contains tools for creating Dabo applications visually. Please note that the dabo_ide tools worked great when they were written in the mid-2000s, and have largely been updated to work with modern Python. They are still a work in progress, though, so please post an issue on the Dabo IDE Issues page in GitHub.

For some quick results for the impatient, once you've installed Dabo using the standard uv add dabo or poetry install dabo method, do this from your Python interpreter:

from dabo.application import dApp
dApp().start()

press Ctrl+D and type the following into the command window that appears:

tb = dabo.ui.dTextBox(self)

Notice the textbox in the upper left hand corner?

tb.Value = "yippee!"
tb.FontBold = True
print(tb.Value)

Now, use the ui to change the value in the textbox, and switch back to the command window.

print(tb.Value)

You can even place it wherever you wish:

tb.Left = 123
tb.Top = 99

When you type those lines, the textbox moves to the specified location.

For more information:

Dabo Website

Dabo Repo on GitHub