Beyond simple scripts, FreeCAD macro development really benefits from using a Python IDE. My Python IDE of choice is PyCharm.
I have been able to setup the same Python environment with FreeCAD and PyCharm using this great project https://github.com/FreeCAD/FreeCAD_Conda.
This allows the same Python syntax and semantics to be applied (especially important when switching from Python 2 to Python 3). Unfortunately however, having code completion for FreeCAD modules still eludes me…
Installation
The following steps will get PyCharm and FreeCAD using the same Python installation.
NOTE: This was done on MacOS.
Install Miniconda
Download Miniconda installer from https://conda.io/miniconda.html and install it:
bash Miniconda3-latest-MacOSX-x86_64.sh
echo ". /Users/vectronic/miniconda3/etc/profile.d/conda.sh" >> ~/.bash_profile
Create Conda Environment for FreeCAD
A Conda environment with FreeCAD can then be built with:
conda create -n freecad-0.18-mac freecad
Use FreeCAD
To use the FreeCAD binary built with Conda it needs to be launched from the terminal:
conda activate freecad-0.18-mac
FreeCAD
Inside the FreeCAD Python console you can then check the Python environment using:
import sys
print('Python %s on %s' % (sys.version, sys.platform))
Use Conda Environment in PyCharm
The same Conda environment can then be configured within your PyCharm project via the following GUI path:
PyCharm Preferences -> Project Interpreter -> Gear Icon -> Add -> Conda Environment -> Existing Environment
Choose the location of the Python executable from the Conda environment. In my case this is ~/miniconda3/envs/freecad-0.18-mac/bin/python.
Now from the PyCharm Python console you should get the same results as previously with:
import sys
print('Python %s on %s' % (sys.version, sys.platform))
Fail…
Despite the above and my endless attempts to configure dynamic library and module paths correctly, code completion just will not work. As far as I can tell it relates to an issue with how PyCharm handles processing of dynamic native libraries.
I don’t hold much hope of it being resolved:
