June 2023 Status Update

What we've done

• We've completed the audit of NumberInput, WebView, DateInput, TimeInput, ImageView and Selection on all platforms; and we've completed the audit of ScrollContainer, SplitContainer, OptionContainer, Table and Tree on macOS, iOS and GTK.
• We've identified and resolved some edge cases in the Pack layout algorithm.
• We've improved the implementation of application paths, and audited the paths being returned on all platforms.
• We corrected some issues in the Web backend caused by the most recent PyScript and Pyodide releases.
• We've improved the error message that is returned when a widget isn't implemented on a platform.
• We've updated Briefcase to use Java 17 when building Android projects.
• We've added support for the ANDROID_HOME environment variable when building Android projects with a pre-existing copy of Android Studio.

What's next?

The widget testing audit has been a mammoth project, but the end is very nearly in sight. There's only 2 widgets (Canvas and DetailedList) that haven't seen any testing to date; plus there's some non-widget features (like dialogs, fonts, windows, and basic App functionality) that still require testing. Once those tests are complete, we'll be moving on to dealing with some iOS and Android deployment issues that have been accumulating while we focused on Toga.

We'll also be at EuroPython 2023 from July 17-23. We're presenting on Thursday; and we'll be there for the full duration of the sprints. See you in Prague!

Want to get involved?

Want to get involved? Here are some open issues that would be a great place to get started with contributing to a BeeWare project. They're all relatively minor changes, but would provide a big improvement to the lives of BeeWare users:

1. Filter out a message generated after Xcode updates
2. Add the ability to configure the ABIs built by an Android project
3. Rationalise the application of adhoc signing on macOS
4. Detect a failure when trying to install on an Android device that is too old
5. Use the on-device clock to filter Android device logs
6. Add an APK packaging target for Android
7. Provide an option to override app settings from the command line

Pick one of these tickets, drop a comment on the ticket to let others know you're looking at it, and try your hand at a PR! We have a guide on setting up a Briefcase development environment; but if you need any additional assistance or guidance, you can ask on the ticket, or join us on the BeeWare Discord server.