Step‑by‑Step Guide to Building a Python Webpy Project in Eclipse on Windows

Python Installation

On Windows, download the appropriate Python version from the official website. For pure Python development choose a 3.x version; if you need compatibility with older frameworks such as webpy, use Python 2.7 to avoid syntax incompatibilities. After installation, add the Python directory to the system PATH via the Environment Variables dialog.

Eclipse PyDev Plugin Installation

Open Eclipse, go to Help → Install New Software , click Add , and enter the PyDev update site URL. Select the PyDev package, proceed through the wizard, accept the permissions, and restart Eclipse. Then configure the Python interpreter under Window → Preferences → PyDev → Interpreters → Python Interpreter by adding the path to python.exe.

webpy Installation

Download webpy from its official site, extract it into the Python installation directory, and run python setup.py install. If an ImportError: model utils not exist occurs, edit web/__init__.py to add the webpy directory to sys.path:

import sys
sys.path.append('your_webpy_path')

MySQLdb Installation

Download the MySQLdb MSI installer from SourceForge. Ensure the Python directory is in PATH and that the bitness (32‑bit vs 64‑bit) of Python and MySQLdb match; otherwise you will see ImportError: DLL load failed. On Linux, install libmysqlclient-dev and adjust site.cfg if mysql_config is not found.

SQLAlchemy Installation

Download SQLAlchemy from its website, extract, and install with python setup.py install. It supports both Python 2 and 3. After installation, configure the connection string, for example:

"mysql+mysqldb://" + Const.USERNAME + ":" + Const.PASSWD + "@" + Const.HOST + "/" + Const.DBNAME + "?charset=utf8&use_unicode=0&unix_socket=/tmp/mysql.sock"

Make sure MySQL is running and the socket path matches the configuration.

Code Example

A minimal webpy application:

from web import application

urls = (
    '/', 'index'
)

class index:
    def GET(self):
        return "Hello world"

if __name__ == "__main__":
    app = application(urls, globals())
    app.run()

Run the script, then open http://localhost:8080 to see the output.

Common Issues

Version mismatches between Python, webpy, and MySQLdb cause import errors.

Form generation in webpy requires the $def with form line to be the first line of the template.

When using SQLAlchemy, remember to call session.commit() after inserting data.

Login redirects may fail due to incorrect relative URLs.

On Linux, missing mysql_config or insufficient permissions can block MySQLdb installation; use sudo and install the client libraries.

By following these steps and addressing the listed pitfalls, you can set up a functional Python web development environment with webpy, MySQLdb, and SQLAlchemy on Windows (and later port it to Linux).