PySide2 loadUiTools returns None on Windows 10.

[Paul E]

I am not sure if this the correct forum to post this but when I try using PySide2's loadUiType on Windows 10 it just returns None. I'm not sure if its in issue with my machine or a bug in PySide2's Windows build. I installed PySide2 using pip. If I build the UI from scratch in Python everything works fine.

calculator.py

import sys
import PySide2
import PySide2.QtUiTools

print(PySide2)              #<module 'PySide2' from 'C:\\Python\\Python39\\lib\\site-packages\\PySide2\\__init__.py'>
print(PySide2.QtUiTools)    #<module 'PySide2.QtUiTools' from 'C:\\Python\\Python39\\lib\\site-packages\\PySide2\\QtUiTools.pyd'>
print (sys.version_info)    #sys.version_info(major=3, minor=9, micro=0, releaselevel='final', serial=0)
print (PySide2.__version__) #5.15.2

print(PySide2.QtUiTools.loadUiType("C:\calculator.ui"))  #None

calculator.ui

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<ui version="4.0">
 <class>Form</class>
 <widget class="QWidget" name="Form">
  <property name="geometry">
   <rect>
    <x>0</x>
    <y>0</y>
    <width>400</width>
    <height>300</height>
   </rect>
  </property>
  <property name="windowTitle">
   <string>Form</string>
  </property>
  <layout class="QHBoxLayout" name="horizontalLayout">
   <item>
    <widget class="QPushButton" name="pushButton">
     <property name="text">
      <string>PushButton</string>
     </property>
    </widget>
   </item>
  </layout>
 </widget>
 <resources/>
 <connections/>
</ui>

[Paul E]

@Paul-E I added C:\Python\Python39\Scripts (path to pyside2-uic.exe) to my PATH and now it is working. I did not need the Qt libs after all.

[JonB]

@Paul-E said in PySide2 loadUiTools returns None on Windows 10.:

print(PySide2.QtUiTools.loadUiType("C:\calculator.ui")) #None

Look up how Python handles that single \ in your literal string! You are not passing the path correctly....

[Paul E]

@JonB that is not the problem. Look up python's escape characters, \c is not an escape character.

print("C:\calculator.ui")      #C:\calculator.ui
print(r"C:\calculator.ui")     #C:\calculator.ui
print(os.path.exists("C:\calculator.ui"))    #True
print(os.path.exists(r"C:\calculator.ui"))   #True

[JonB]

@Paul-E
Sorry, you are right. I did not realise Python treats \ as literal if the next character is not a legitimate escape char. I still think you'd be better with r"C:\calculator.ui" in case you change it to r"C:\nalculator.ui"! :)

I tried your two files under my Ubuntu 20.04, Qt 5.12, PySide2 5.15. I have never used loadUiType() myself, but I got a pretty strange error message which I cannot explain:

jon@ubuntu-20:~/QtTests$ python3 calculator.py 
<module 'PySide2' from '/home/jon/.local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/PySide2/__init__.py'>
<module 'PySide2.QtUiTools' from '/home/jon/.local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/PySide2/QtUiTools.abi3.so'>
sys.version_info(major=3, minor=8, micro=5, releaselevel='final', serial=0)
5.15.0
Error while compiling the generated Python file
  File "<stdin>", line 1
    /********************************************************************************
    ^
SyntaxError: invalid syntax

The above exception was the direct cause of the following exception:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "calculator.py", line 10, in <module>
    print(PySide2.QtUiTools.loadUiType("calculator.ui"))  #None
SystemError: <built-in function loadUiType> returned a result with an error set
jon@ubuntu-20:~/QtTests$ 

I don't know where it's finding that C++ comment line from, and I don't know why it's even mentioning stdin.

I came across the following in https://codereview.qt-project.org/c/pyside/pyside-setup/+/302757

Use pyside2-uic instead of uic for the loadUiType

Since we deploy the pyside2-uic wrapper inside the

bin/ directory of virtual environments, that takes care

of using the 'uic' binary we ship with the wheels,

which is located in site-packages/PySide2/.

Don't know if there is a clue there. So I tried uic -g python calculator.ui. That worked OK, generating a good C++ file for the .ui. But that is also where the /****** ... comes from, as the first line. Looks like something is running that and then trying to interpret that as Python instead of C++??

I accept that PySide2 brought back loadUiType() as of 5.14. But just maybe there is still some issue? Have a read of https://stackoverflow.com/questions/56658314/pyside2-equivalent-of-pyqt5s-loaduitype-to-dynamically-mix-in-ui-designs.

In a word: I don't know what's going on with uic -g python calculator.ui. But if you run pyside2-uic calculator.ui it generates Python instead of C++. I can only leave you with that observation...

[Paul E]

Thank you for taking a second another look.

Interesting, it seems like on ubuntu you are at least getting some kind of error message. That is way better than getting None(with no errors) on windows.

I saw that stackoverflow link as well, which seemed to imply the problem would be solved after 5.14.2. Which is why I decided to post here.

The codereview link is new to me (and appears to be newer than the stackoverflow link). I think I am running into the issue they are describing. I do not have the C++ Qt library installed. I am only using PySide2. Maybe if I install the library it will work (or more likely it will fail exactly where yours is).

I currently am using the pyside2-uic as a workaround. I was just hoping I could skip that step. (I use to use loadUiType a few years ago just fine so I was hoping to get it working again)

I do not know if it is worth escalating this as a bug, or I could just ignore it and continue using pyside2-uic as a workaround.

[Paul E]

I just installed the c++ Qt 5.14.2 libraries and am still just getting None as my return.

I also made sure the newly installed uic was in my Path variable.
I also just noticed the codereview link says the patch has been merged. It seems like Qt is under the impression it is working properly.

[Paul E]

@Paul-E I added C:\Python\Python39\Scripts (path to pyside2-uic.exe) to my PATH and now it is working. I did not need the Qt libs after all.

[JonB]

@Paul-E
Well done, so it was indeed an issue about correctly locating pyside2-uic, I thought it might be. What seems a shame is that you received no kind of error/warning message from loadUiType() that it could not be found, making the task of resolving difficult....