Skip to main content
Version: 0.2.65

PREFS resources

What are PREFS resources?

If you have ever build a Qt application you may have heard of something called QResource, which is a resource file for your application, the application resources are in the application itself so you don't need to have those files to make your app work.
So if you have created a PREFS file manually and you want to build your app you will need to use PREFS resources.

Note

PREFS resources won't work when you build your app with PyInstaller, it's just a way to convert a PREFS file into a Python module. See PyInstaller section to bundle your PREFS files with PyInstaller.

PyInstaller

To bundle your PREFS file when building your app with PyInstaller you can simply add your PREFS file as a data:

From spec file:

a = Analysis(...
     datas=[('theme.prefs', '.')],
     ...
)

Where the first element in the tuple is the path to your PREFS file and the second the directory to write it in

Another example with the PREFS file inside a folder:

a = Analysis(...
     datas=[('Prefs/theme.prefs', 'Prefs')],
     ...
)
Info

A dot . means the current directory.

From the command line:

pyinstaller --add-data 'theme.prefs:.' myscript.py

Another example with the PREFS file inside a folder:

pyinstaller --add-data 'Prefs/theme.prefs:Prefs' myscript.py
Info

In the command line separate the PREFS path and the destination directory with a colon :.

More info

More info about datas in PyInstaller documentation.

How to create a PREFS resource file?

Lets see how you're reading your PREFS file in your Python module:

main.py
import PREFS

theme = PREFS.read_prefs_file("theme.prefs")
print(theme)

Here's how theme.prefs looks like:

theme.prefs
#PREFS
font_family="UbuntuMono"
light=>
    background_color="#dcdee0"
    font_color="#000000"
    link_color="#0000EE"
dark=>
    background_color="#25282d"
    font_color="#ffffff"
    link_color="#006FEE"

To bundle this PREFS file open your terminal and type:

PREFS bundle path

Where path is the path to your PREFS file, in our case theme.prefs.
After running that command you should be able to see a new Python module called theme_resource.py. It should look like:

theme_resource.py
# PREFS resource file
# Created using PREFS Python library
# https://patitotective.github.io/PREFS/
# Do not modify this file

VERSION = 'v0.2.65'
PREFS = {'font_family': 'UbuntuMono', 'light': {'background_color': '#dcdee0', 'font_color': '#000000', 'link_color': '#0000EE'}, 'dark': {'background_color': '#25282d', 'font_color': '#ffffff', 'link_color': '#006FEE'}}
ALIAS = 'theme.prefs'

You need to import that module into your Python module:

main.py
import PREFS
import theme_resource

theme = PREFS.read_prefs_file("theme.prefs")
print(theme)

Then just add :/ to the beginning of your PREFS file path (prefs.prefs -> :/prefs.prefs):

main.py
import PREFS
import theme_resource

theme = PREFS.read_prefs_file(":/theme.prefs")
print(theme)
Info

See bundle's API Reference for more options.