Python raw_input causing EOFError after creating app with py2app

Question

I have written a small script that helps me solve scrabble and word-warp problems. It works fine when I run it from Mac OS X terminal. I would like to share the script with my friends as a standalone Mac app. Hence I used py2app for this, but the App crashed when I double-click on it. The console shows the following error message:

1/17/11 2:13:51 PM [0x0-0x4a44a4].org.pythonmac.unspecified.warp[9875] Enter letters: Traceback (most recent call last):
1/17/11 2:13:51 PM [0x0-0x4a44a4].org.pythonmac.unspecified.warp[9875]   File "/Users/***/wordwarp/dist/warp.app/Contents/Resources/__boot__.py", line 137, in <module>
1/17/11 2:13:51 PM [0x0-0x4a44a4].org.pythonmac.unspecified.warp[9875]     _run('warp.py')
1/17/11 2:13:51 PM [0x0-0x4a44a4].org.pythonmac.unspecified.warp[9875]   File "/Users/***/wordwarp/dist/warp.app/Contents/Resources/__boot__.py", line 134, in _run
1/17/11 2:13:51 PM [0x0-0x4a44a4].org.pythonmac.unspecified.warp[9875]     execfile(path, globals(), globals())
1/17/11 2:13:51 PM [0x0-0x4a44a4].org.pythonmac.unspecified.warp[9875]   File "/Users/***/wordwarp/dist/warp.app/Contents/Resources/warp.py", line 4, in <module>
1/17/11 2:13:51 PM [0x0-0x4a44a4].org.pythonmac.unspecified.warp[9875]     word = raw_input("Enter letters: ")
1/17/11 2:13:51 PM [0x0-0x4a44a4].org.pythonmac.unspecified.warp[9875] EOFError: EOF when reading a line
1/17/11 2:13:51 PM warp[9875] warp Error
1/17/11 2:13:51 PM warp[9875] warp Error
1/17/11 2:13:52 PM com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[469] ([0x0-0x4a44a4].org.pythonmac.unspecified.warp[9875]) Exited with exit code: 255

Here is the actual script:

import string

word = raw_input("Enter letters: ")
dict = open('dict.txt')
wordmap = {}
for c in string.lowercase:
    wordmap[c] = 0

for c in word:
    if c in wordmap:
        wordmap[c] = wordmap[c]+1

for line in dict:
    line = line.strip()
    if len(line) >= 3:
        linemap = {}
        for c in string.lowercase:
            linemap[c] = 0
        for c in line:
            if c in linemap:
                linemap[c] = linemap[c]+1
        match = True
        for c in linemap:
            if linemap[c] > wordmap[c]:
                match = False
        if match is True:
            print line

How can I get rid of the error?

Answer 1

Python programs wrapped as apps by py2app do not have a terminal window from which to enter input. You would need to supply some fancier way of enter input and suppling output, for example by using Python's Tkinter module. If your script runs from the terminal and you want to make a clickable application, it would likely be simpler to package it as an Automater or AppleScript application that launches a Terminal session.