cx_Freeze: Python error in main script - ImportError: DLL Load Failed

Question

I am building a little Python 3.6.5 tool that takes in an XML document and outputs all its XPaths. It works well, however I need to distribute it in EXE form. I am running on Win10 and only need to provide to Win10 users.

My main code is;

from tkinter import filedialog
from tkinter import *
from pathlib import Path
import winsound
from lxml import etree
import csv

root = Tk()

root.geometry("250x200")
root.resizable(0, 0)


class gui:
    def __init__(self, master):
        self.master = master
        master.title("XGen")

        self.welcome = Label(master, text="Welcome to")
        self.welcome.config(font=("Arial", 10))
        self.welcome.pack()

        self.header = Label(master, text="The XPath Generator")
        self.header.config(font=("Arial", 16))
        self.header.pack()

        self.description = Label(master, text="This Tool Takes in an XML Document\nand Provides all its XPaths")
        self.description.config(font=("Arial", 10))
        self.description.pack()

        self.greet_button = Button(master, text="Select Input XML", command=self.greet)
        self.greet_button.pack()

        self.reportFilename = Label(master, text="")
        self.reportFilename.pack()

        self.reportProgress = Label(master, text="")
        self.reportProgress.pack()

        # self.close_button = Button(master, text="Close", command=master.quit)
        # self.close_button.pack()

    def greet(self):
        print("File Selection Started")

        from_file_path = filedialog.askopenfilename(initialdir="/",
                                                    title="Select file",
                                                    filetypes=(("XML Files", "*.xml"), ("all files", "*.*")))

        from_file_path_split = Path(from_file_path).parts
        to_file_path = ''

        if from_file_path is '':
            self.reportFilename.config(text="You Did not Select a File")
            print("No File Selected. File Selection Ended")

        else:
            self.reportFilename.config(text="You Selected " + from_file_path_split[-1])
            print("From File Path = " + from_file_path)
            print("File Name = " + from_file_path_split[-1])
            to_file_path = filedialog.asksaveasfilename(initialdir=from_file_path,
                                                        title="Save As",
                                                        filetypes=(("CSV Files", "*.csv"), ("all files", "*.*")))

        if to_file_path is '' or to_file_path == 'Null':
            self.reportProgress.config(text="Please select a Save Location")
        # elif to_file_split[-1][:4] == "xsd":
        else:
            to_file_split = Path(to_file_path).parts
            to_file_name = to_file_split[-1]
            print("Filename = " + to_file_name)

            to_file_extension = to_file_split[-1][-4:]
            print("Last 4 chars = " + to_file_extension)

            if to_file_extension == ".csv":
                pass
            else:
                to_file_path = to_file_path + ".csv"
                # to_file_name = to_file_path
                print("To File Path = " + to_file_path)

            if from_file_path == '' or to_file_path == '' or to_file_path == 'Null':

                self.reportProgress.config(text="Please Select a Valid XML File")
                winsound.PlaySound("SystemExclamation", winsound.SND_ALIAS)
                print("Bad File, Try Again")

            else:
                out(from_file_path, to_file_path)

                self.reportProgress.config(text="Generated " + Path(to_file_path).parts[-1])
                print("XGen Complete")


def out(in_path, out_path):
    with open(in_path, 'r') as source_file:
        xml = source_file.read()

    root = etree.fromstring(xml)

    tree = etree.ElementTree(root)

    line = ['XPath', 'Attribute Name', 'Current Data']

    if out_path is None:
        return 1
    else:
        pass

    with open(out_path, 'w', newline='') as csv_file:
        csv_writer = csv.writer(csv_file, delimiter=',', quotechar='"', quoting=csv.QUOTE_ALL)
        csv_writer.writerow(line)
        for e in root.iter():
            path = tree.getpath(e)
            list_of_attributes = []
            nodes = root.xpath(path)
            for node in nodes:
                attrs = []
                for att in node.attrib:
                    attrs.append(("@" + att, node.attrib[att]))
                list_of_attributes.append(attrs)
                for attributes in list_of_attributes:
                    line = [path, None]
                    csv_writer.writerow(line)
                    if len(attributes) == 0:
                        pass
                    else:
                        for x in range(len(attributes)):
                            xpath = path + attributes[x][0]
                            current_data = (attributes[x][1])
                            attribute_name = attributes[x][0]
                            line = [xpath, attribute_name, current_data]
                            csv_writer.writerow(line)


my_gui = gui(root)
root.mainloop()

(Please forgive the messy code! I do intend to clean it up for the next version!)

setup.py contains the following;

import sys
from cx_Freeze import setup, Executable

base = None
if sys.platform == 'win32':
    base = 'Win32GUI'

executables = [
    Executable('xin.py', base=base)
]

setup(name='XGen',
      version='0.1',
      description='XGen',
      executables=executables
      )

This does allow the program to build an EXE, however when that EXE runs, it returns this error.

I have been looking everywhere for solutions.

• I found a suggestion that uninstalling all versions of Python then installing just one might work, but no joy.
• I have previously tried Py2exe but that does not work either.
• I found another suggestion that the PATH could be incorrect, so checked and everything seems correct there too.

As suggested by the error text, I also tried checking that tkinter is properly installed. Not only can this program run through Python, but also IDLE lets me import tkinter.

What could be causing cx_Freeze to throw this error?

Thanks!

Answer 1

I had the same problem, but it turned out that I had missed some folders to be included in the final build. For example, my code, at the init level, reads some JSON files from a folder (named 'DataBase') and I did not include the folder in the build. this is my code:

import sys

from cx_Freeze import setup, Executable
base = None

application_title = 'Myapp'
main_python_file = 'main.py'


if sys.platform == 'win32':
    base = 'Win32GUI'

includes = []
include_files = ['DataBase']

setup(name=application_title, version='1',
      options={'build_exe': {'includes': includes, 'include_files': include_files}},
      executables=[Executable(main_python_file, base=base)])

Answer 2

The location of the TK DLLs needs to be added to the setup.py. On Windows 10, this might be in the root of C: or in C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python36-32/DLLs. Add a variable to store that path, then make it a raw string with a leading r.

import os
import sys
from cx_Freeze import setup, Executable


PYTHON_INSTALL_DIR = os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.__file__))
os.environ['TCL_LIBRARY'] = os.path.join(PYTHON_INSTALL_DIR, 'tcl', 'tcl8.6')
os.environ['TK_LIBRARY'] = os.path.join(PYTHON_INSTALL_DIR, 'tcl', 'tk8.6')


base = None
if sys.platform == 'win32':
    base = 'Win32GUI'

syspath = r"C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python36-32/DLLs"

buildOptions = dict(
    packages=[],
    excludes=[],
    include_files=[syspath + '/tcl86t.dll', syspath + '/tk86t.dll']
)

executables = [
    Executable('xin.py', base=base)
]

setup(name='XGen',
      version='0.1',
      options=dict(build_exe=buildOptions),
      description='XGen',
      executables=executables
      )

Many thanks to MrLeeh and DeePak M. Birajdar!