build_ui.ps1

# This is a powershell commandlet equivalent of build_ui.sh for installation on Windows
# Generate python files based on the designer ui files.  pyrcc4 should be on the path.
# If you need to modify the python location or pyuic path, just change the 2 variables below

$pythonPath = "C:\Python27\"
$pyuicPath = "C:\Python27\Lib\site-packages\PyQt4\uic\pyuic.py"

If (!(Test-Path "designer")) {
    Write-Host "Please run this from the project root"
    Exit
}

# Create the directory.  If it already exists, nothing will happen
Write-Host "Creating aqt\forms"
New-Item "aqt\forms" -ItemType "directory" -Force > $null

$init = "aqt\forms\__init__.py"
$temp = "aqt\forms\scratch"

If (Test-Path $init) {
    Write-Host "Creating $($init)"
    Remove-Item $init
}

If (Test-Path $temp) {
    Write-Host "Creating $($temp)"
    Remove-Item $temp
}

Write-Output "# This file auto-generated by build_ui.sh. Don't edit." | Out-File -Encoding "UTF8" $init
Write-Output "__all__ = [" | Out-File -Encoding "UTF8" -Append $init

Write-Host "Generating forms.."
Get-ChildItem "designer\*.ui" | Select BaseName | Foreach-Object {
    $base = "$($_.BaseName)"
    Write-Host "    $($base)"
    $py = Join-Path "aqt\forms\" ($base + ".py")
    Write-Output "    '$($base)'," | Out-File -Append -Encoding "UTF8" $init
    Write-Output "import $($base)" | Out-File -Append -Encoding "UTF8" $temp
    if(!(Test-Path $py) -or ((Get-Item "designer\$($base).ui").LastWriteTime -gt (Get-Item $py).LastWriteTime)) {
        Write-Host "        $($py)"
        $pythonCommand = Join-Path $pythonPath "python.exe"
        $command = "$($pythonCommand) $($pyuicPath) ""designer\$($base).ui"" -o $($py)"
        Invoke-Expression $command
        # munge the output to use gettext
        # perl -pi.bak -e 's/(QtGui\.QApplication\.)?_?translate\(".*?", /_(/; s/, None.*/))/' $py
        # rm $py.bak
    }
}

Write-Output "]" | Out-File -Encoding "UTF8" -Append $init
Cat $temp | Out-File -Encoding "UTF8" -Append $init
Remove-Item $temp

Write-Host "Building resources..."
pyrcc4 designer\icons.qrc -o aqt\forms\icons_rc.py
Write-Host "Complete"

After about six hours of messing with this I finally got this to work. Nothing to do with the script other than the changes needed to lines 5 and 6, rather my pain had to do with my use of the Anaconda distribution.

Points for Anaconda:

1. the PyQt that comes with Anaconda is missing some of the dev tools needed, so do:
   conda remove pyqt
2. get the windows pyqt4 installer from www.riverbankcomputing.com
3. ran the installer, for some reason all this seems to do is put a tarball in the pkg directory
4. so I did:
   conda install path-&-name-of-tarball
5. last bit was to adjust the pyrcc.bat file so it called pyrcc.exe, (with parameters), which I found in /Library/bin instead on /Scripts
6. Works! mostly... complains that it wants 'Mplayer' but thats for another day

Updated this: https://gist.github.com/dlon/81ca304616ee4b03c58a11581a21d048
Works for pip-installed PyQt5, at least.