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Python4Delphi
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maXbox Starter86_1 – Code with Python4Delphi
Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.
— Oscar Wilde.

In the last Article we have seen that P4D is a set of free

components that wrap up the Python DLL into Delphi and Lazarus
(FPC). For the next section I want to show how a simple Python
evaluator works and to gain low-level access to the Python API.

On Win, the standard Python installer already associates the .py

extension with a file type (Python.File) and gives that file type
an open command that runs the interpreter (F:\Program
Files\Python\python.exe "%1" %*). This is enough to make scripts
executable from the command prompt. We use the python-dll as we
use a windows dll. Therefore *.pyd files are dll’s, but there are
a few differences:
So far you have to know 3 different file types:

1. *.py: The norm input source code that we've written.

2. *.pyc: The compiled bytecode. If you import a module,

py will build a *.pyc file that contains bytecode to
make importing it again later easier and faster.
3. *.pyd: The mentioned windows dll file for Python.

If you have a DLL named foo.pyd, then it must have a function

PyInit_foo(). You can then write Python “import foo”, and Python
will search for foo.pyd (as well as foo.py, foo.pyc) and if it
finds it, will attempt to call PyInit_foo() to initialize it. Of
course you do not link your .exe with foo.lib, as that would cause
Windows to require the DLL to be present, we load it dynamically.

First we check our Python installation. Python provides for all

user and current user installations. All user installations place
the Py dll in the Windows System directory and write registry info
to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.
Current user installations place the dll in the install path and
the registry info in HKEY_CURRENT_USER version < py 3.5.
So, for current user installations we need to try and find the
install path since it may not be on the system path.

$IFDEF MSWINDOWS}
function IsPythonVersionRegistered(PythonVersion : string;
out InstallPath: string; out AllUserInstall: Boolean) : Boolean;
// The above convention was changed in Python 3.5. Now even for all user

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 // installations the dll is located at the InstallPath.
// Also from vers.3.5 onwards 32 bit version have a suffix -32 e.g. "3.6-32"
// See also PEP 514

var
key: string;
VersionSuffix: string;
MajorVersion : integer;
MinorVersion : integer;
begin
Result := False;
InstallPath := '';
AllUserInstall := False;
MajorVersion := StrToInt(PythonVersion[1]);
MinorVersion := StrToInt(PythonVersion[3]);
VersionSuffix := '';
{$IFDEF CPUX86}
if (MajorVersion > 3) or ((MajorVersion = 3) and (MinorVersion >= 5)) then
VersionSuffix := '-32';
{$ENDIF}
key:= Format('\Software\Python\PythonCore\%s%s\InstallPath',
[PythonVersion, VersionSuffix]);

// First try HKEY_CURRENT_USER as per PEP514

try
with TRegistry.Create1(KEY_READ and not KEY_NOTIFY) do
try
RootKey := HKEY_CURRENT_USER;
if OpenKey(Key, False) then begin
InstallPath := ReadString('');
Result := True;
Exit;
end;
finally
Free;
end;
except
writeln(' HKEY_CURRENT_USER except');
end;

//Then try for an all user installation

try
with TRegistry.Create1(KEY_READ and not KEY_NOTIFY) do
try
RootKey := HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE;
if OpenKey(Key, False) then begin
AllUserInstall := True;
if (MajorVersion > 3) or ((MajorVersion = 3)
and (MinorVersion >= 5)) then
InstallPath := ReadString('');
Result := True;
end;
finally
Free;
end;
except
writeln(' HKEY__LOCAL_MACHINE except');
end;
end;
{$ENDIF}

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In my case the path is on:
C:\Users\max\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python36\Lib\

Then we can simple check a first function or load on runtime the

PyRun_SimpleString for our next example:

//if fileExistst(PYDLLPATH+ 'python37.dll';

function getCopyRight: PChar;
external 'Py_GetCopyright@C:\maXbox\EKON25\python37.dll stdcall';

function pyrun(command : pchar):integer;

external 'PyRun_SimpleString@C:\maXbox\EKON25\python37.dll cdecl';

procedure pyinit;
external 'Py_Initialize@C:\maXbox\EKON25\python37.dll cdecl';
procedure pyexit(retval: integer);
external 'Py_Exit@C:\maXbox\EKON24\python37.dll cdecl';

Now we use to invoke a Python script as an embedding const and use

the dll functionality of Import('PyRun_SimpleString');
To run python code direct in a maXbox, Free Pascal or whatever
script you need to import just the 3 dll functions1, above all
PyRun_SimpleStringFlags or without flags:

Const PYDLLPATH = 'C:\maXbox\EKON25\';

PYDLLNAME = 'python37.dll';
PSCRIPTNAME = 'initpy.py';

This is a simplified interface to PyRun_SimpleString leaving the

PyCompilerFlags* argument set to NULL. Normally the Python
interpreter is initialized by Py_Initialize() so we use the same
interpreter as from a shell or terminal:
int PyRun_SimpleString(const char *command)
//function pyrun(command :pChar) :integer;
//writeln('pyinitback: '+itoa
pyinit();
//retp:= 'print("hello low")'
retp:= 'print()';
//PyRun_SimpleString: function( str: PAnsiChar): Integer; cdecl;
//writeln(itoa(pyrun(retp)));
writeln(itoa(pyrun('print("this is box")')));
writeln(itoa(pyrun('import sys')));
writeln(itoa(pyrun('f=open(r"C:\maXbox\maxbox4\pytest.txt","w")')));
writeln(itoa(pyrun('f.write("Hello PyWorld_, \n")')));
writeln(itoa(pyrun('f.write("Data will be written on the file.")')));
writeln(itoa(pyrun('f.close()')));

Now check your file system to get the pytest.txt also use to
invoke a Python script as an embedding const and use the dll like
above. Next example combines an embedding python script in a
1 Independent from imports and site-packages

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pascal script. We’ll use the py-script language and an awesome
library called Python OpenWeatherMap (PyOWM) to make it easier to
use the OpenWeatherMap API in Python. You'll have to pip install
the library first in order to import the module:
C:\maXbox>pip3 install pyowm
Collecting pyowm
Downloading pyowm-2.10.0-py3-none-any.whl (3.7 MB)
Then we run a command prompt command ('py '+RUNSCRIPT) with
parameters like a command line interface and get the python output
back in maXbox with the function getDosOutput().
function GetDosOutput(CommandLine: string; Work: string = 'C:\: string;
Ex.: writeln(GetDosOutput('java -version','C:\'));
>>>java version "1.8.0_211"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_211-b12)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 25.211-b12, mixed mode)

procedure CaptureConsoleOutput(DosApp : string;AMemo : TMemo);

Ex.: CaptureConsoleOutput('cmd /C dir *.* ',memo2);
CaptureConsoleOutput('powershell /C dir *.* ',memo2);

This you can see often in P4D (later on), the script itself runs
from a memo-control inside a form.

program OpenWeatherMap_Py_integrate;
const C=CRLF;
const SCRIPTNAMEP= '1046_openweather.py';
const DETECTOUTFILE= 'openweather_out2.txt';

Const PYSCRIPT6 =
'import pyowm '+C+
'import wget '+C+
'import sys, datetime as dt '+C+
'#nltk.download("vader_lexicon") '+C+
'from time import sleep '+C+
'import pandas as pd '+C+
'pd.set_option("max_colwidth", 400) '+C+
'import numpy as np '+C+
'print("this first line after config & imports") '+C+
' '+C+
'output_path = sys.argv[1] '+C+
'locate = sys.argv[2] '+C+
' '+C+
'owm= pyowm.OWM("55013bf3d09cfb0619989a00ed5bed09") '+C+
'observation= owm.weather_at_place((locate)) '+C+
'we= observation.get_weather() '+C+
'temp = we.get_temperature("celsius") '+C+
'with open(output_path, "w") as file: '+C+
' file.write("OpenWeatherMap of "+locate+" "+str(dt.datetime.now())+ '+C+
' "\n"+str(we)+ '+C+
' "\n"+str(temp)+ '+C+
' "\n"+str(dt.datetime.utcnow())) '+C+
' '+C+
'print("\n") '+C+
'print("weather today:"+(locate)+" "+str(we)+"\n"+str(temp)) '+C+
'print("integrate weatherreport detector compute ends...") ';

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Then we use the parameters from the script as paramstrings. The
ParamStr() function returns one of the parameters from the command
line used to invoke the current script with outputpath for the
file and locate, this means the place of the returned weather-
report (ParamIndex determines which parameter is returned):
Writeln(getDosOutput('py '+RUNSCRIPT+' '+outputpath+' '+locate,
exePath));

Const ACTIVESCRIPT = PYSCRIPT6;

var RUNSCRIPT, outputPath, locate: string;

startTime64, endTime64, freq64: Int64;

begin //@main
//-init env
maxform1.console1click(self);
memo2.height:= 205;
QueryPerformanceFrequency(freq64);

//-config
saveString(exepath+SCRIPTNAMEP, ACTIVESCRIPT);
sleep(600)
//outputPath:= '.\crypt\output\'+DETECTOUTFILE;

if Not fileExists(exepath+DETECTOUTFILE) then

CreateFileFromString(exepath+DETECTOUTFILE, 'Open_Weather_Data');

outputPath:= Exepath+DETECTOUTFILE;
locate:= '"Bern, CH"';

if fileExists(exepath+SCRIPTNAMEP) then begin

RUNSCRIPT:= exepath+SCRIPTNAMEP;
QueryPerformanceCounter(startTime64);
writeln(getDosOutput('py '+RUNSCRIPT+' '+outputpath+' '+locate, exePath));
QueryPerformanceCounter(endTime64);
println('elapsedSeconds:= '+floattostr((endTime64-startTime64)/freq64));
openFile(outputPath)
//}
end;
end.

Output:
weather today:Bern, CH <pyowm.weatherapi25.weather.Weather - reference
time=2021-07-07 14:43:23+00, status=clouds, detailed status=scattered
clouds>
{'temp': 21.17, 'temp_max': 23.54, 'temp_min': 15.99, 'temp_kf': None}
integrate weatherreport detector compute ends...

In P4D you do have the mentioned memo with ExeStrings:

procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: Tobject);
begin
PythonEngine1.ExecStrings( Memo1.Lines );
end;

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This explains best the code behind, to evaluate an internal Python
expression. You are responsible for creating one and only one
TPythonEngine. Usually you just drop it on your main form.
With the PythonGUIInputOutput1 you wire the PythonEngine1 to a
memo2, the same as in maXbox with a memo2 as console (from object
Form1: TForm1 in Unit1.dfm):

object PythonEngine1: TPythonEngine

IO = PythonGUIInputOutput1
Left = 32
end
object PythonGUIInputOutput1: TPythonGUIInputOutput
UnicodeIO = True
RawOutput = False
Output = Memo2
Left = 64
end

_PIC: 1046_openweather_P4D_2.png

The unit PythonEngine.pas is the main core-unit of the framework.

Most of the Python/C API is presented as published/public member
functions of the engine unit.

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 ...
Py_BuildValue := Import('Py_BuildValue');
Py_Initialize := Import('Py_Initialize');
PyModule_GetDict := Import('PyModule_GetDict');
PyObject_Str := Import('PyObject_Str');
PyRun_String := Import('PyRun_String');
PyRun_SimpleString := Import('PyRun_SimpleString');
PyDict_GetItemString := Import('PyDict_GetItemString');
PySys_SetArgv := Import('PySys_SetArgv');
Py_Exit := Import('Py_Exit');
...

Let's take a last look at the functionality of PyRun_SimpleString

mentioned first within the openweather const script.

http://www.softwareschule.ch/examples/openweather.txt

or a second larger script:

http://www.softwareschule.ch/examples/1016_newsfeed_sentiment_integrate2.txt

PyRun_SimpleString: function(str: PAnsiChar): Integer; cdecl;

_PIC: 1046_openweather_ansiview2.png

Wiki & EKON P4D topics

• https://entwickler-konferenz.de/delphi-innovations-
fundamentals/python4delphi/

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 • https://learndelphi.org/python-native-windows-gui-with-delphi-vcl/
• http://www.softwareschule.ch/examples/weatherbox.txt
•

Learn about Python for Delphi

• Tutorials
• Demos
https://github.com/maxkleiner/python4delphi
• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wiki/pyscripter/python4delphi/Fil
es/Chapter80Tutorial.pdf
•

Note: You will need to adjust the demos accordingly, to

successfully load the Python distribution that you have installed
on your computer.
Doc: https://maxbox4.wordpress.com

Appendix: PIP3 Install pyowm:

https://medium.com/nexttech/how-to-use-the-openweathermap-api-with-python-
c84cc7075cfc

forecast = owm.three_hours_forecast('mumbai')
TypeError: 'module' object is not callable

C:\maXbox>pip3 install pyowm

Collecting pyowm
Downloading pyowm-2.10.0-py3-none-any.whl (3.7 MB)
|¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦| 3.7 MB 819 kB/s
Requirement already satisfied: geojson<3,>=2.3.0 in c:\users\max\appdata\local\p
rograms\python\python36\lib\site-packages (from pyowm) (2.4.0)
Requirement already satisfied: requests<3,>=2.20.0 in c:\users\max\appdata\local
\programs\python\python36\lib\site-packages (from pyowm) (2.24.0)
Requirement already satisfied: chardet<4,>=3.0.2 in c:\users\max\appdata\local\p
rograms\python\python36\lib\site-packages(from requests<3,>=2.20.0->pyowm)(3.0
.4)
Requirement already satisfied: urllib3!=1.25.0,!=1.25.1,<1.26,>=1.21.1 in c:\use
rs\max\appdata\local\programs\python\python36\lib\site-packages (from requests<3
,>=2.20.0->pyowm) (1.22)
Requirement already satisfied: certifi>=2017.4.17 in c:\users\max\appdata\local\
programs\python\python36\lib\site-packages (from requests<3,>=2.20.0->pyowm) (20
18.1.18)
Requirement already satisfied: idna<3,>=2.5 in c:\users\max\appdata\local\progra
ms\python\python36\lib\site-packages (from requests<3,>=2.20.0->pyowm) (2.6)
Installing collected packages: pyowm
Successfully installed pyowm-2.10.0
WARNING: You are using pip version 20.1.1; however,version 21.1.3 is available.

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