Main application for a pure PyQGIS app running an IPython console

console.py

"""
/***************************************************************************
 ipythonDialog
                                 A QGIS plugin
 An enhanced QGIS console powered by IPython
                             -------------------
        begin                : 2011-02-06
        copyright            : (C) 2011 by Charlie Sharpsteen
        email                : source@sharpsteen.net
 ***************************************************************************/

/***************************************************************************
 *                                                                         *
 *   This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify  *
 *   it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by  *
 *   the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or     *
 *   (at your option) any later version.                                   *
 *                                                                         *
 ***************************************************************************/
"""
import sys

# IPython needs sys.argv to be defined
if not hasattr(sys, 'argv'):
    sys.argv = []

from PyQt4.QtCore import Qt, QCoreApplication
from PyQt4.QtGui import QDockWidget, QWidget, QVBoxLayout

from IPython.frontend.qt.console.ipython_widget import IPythonWidget
from IPython.frontend.qt.kernelmanager import QtKernelManager
from IPython.utils.localinterfaces import LOCALHOST


class IPythonConsole(QDockWidget):
    def __init__(self, parent=None):
        QDockWidget.__init__(self, parent)
        self.setObjectName("IPython Console")
        self.setWindowTitle(QCoreApplication.translate("IPython Console",
            "IPython Console"))
        self.setAllowedAreas(Qt.BottomDockWidgetArea)

        self.container = QWidget()
        self.layout = QVBoxLayout(self.container)

        if sys.platform == 'darwin':
            import subprocess
            # This is here because QGIS defines sys.executable to be the QGIS
            # app on OS X and not a Python interpreter.
            sys.executable = subprocess.check_output(
                    ['which', 'python']).rstrip()

        self.kernel_manager = QtKernelManager()

        self.kernel_manager.start_kernel()
        self.kernel_manager.start_channels()

        self.console = IPythonWidget(local_kernel=LOCALHOST)
        self.console.kernel_manager = self.kernel_manager

        self.layout.addWidget(self.console)
        self.setWidget(self.container)

pure_python_test.py

#!/usr/bin/env python
import sys
import os

from qgis.core import *
from qgis.gui import *
from PyQt4.QtGui import QAction, QMainWindow, QApplication
from PyQt4.QtCore import SIGNAL, Qt, QString

from console import IPythonConsole

class MainWin(QMainWindow):
  def __init__(self):
    QMainWindow.__init__(self)
    self.resize(1000,1000)

    self.canvas = QgsMapCanvas()
    self.canvas.setCanvasColor(Qt.white)

    self.setCentralWidget(self.canvas)

    self.console = IPythonConsole()
    self.addDockWidget(Qt.BottomDockWidgetArea, self.console)


def main():
    QgsApplication.setPrefixPath(os.environ['QGISPATH'], True)
    QgsApplication.initQgis()

    app = QApplication(sys.argv)

    main_win = MainWin()
    main_win.show()

    app.exec_()

    QgsApplication.exitQgis()

if __name__ == '__main__':
    if not os.environ.has_key('QGISPATH'):
        # Assuming you are running some flavor of Linux as a shot in the dark
        os.environ['QGISPATH'] = '/usr'
    main()