Wallpapering a wxPython background

# wallpaper/tile a wxPython panel using a base 64 encoded image string
"""
# the image string is created with this simple Python code 
# and the string is then copied and pasted to the program
import base64
jpg_file = "BG_Egypt.jpg"
print \
"jpg_b64='''\\\n" + base64.encodestring(open(jpg_file,"rb").read()) + "'''"

"""
# tested with Python24 and wxPython26    vegaseat     06mar2007

import wx
import cStringIO
import base64

BG_Egypt_jpg_b64='''\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=
'''

jpg1 = base64.b64decode(BG_Egypt_jpg_b64)
# save the image to a file ...
# (couldn't figure out any other way to use with wx.Bitmap)
tile_file = "zzz777.jpg"
fout = open(tile_file, "wb")
fout.write(jpg1)
fout.close()

class Panel1(wx.Panel):
    """ 
    class Panel1 creates a panel for the tile image
    fw and fh are the width and height of the base frame
    """
    def __init__(self, parent, id, fw, fh, tile_file):
        # create the panel
        wx.Panel.__init__(self, parent, id)
        # frame/panel width and height
        self.fw = fw
        self.fh = fh
        # load the wallpaper/tile file
        self.bmp1 = wx.Bitmap(tile_file)
        # do the wall papering ...
        wx.EVT_PAINT(self, self.on_paint)
        # now put a button on the panel, on top of wallpaper
        self.button1 = wx.Button(self, -1, label='Button1', pos=(10, 5))        
        
    def on_paint(self, event=None):
        # create paint surface
        dc = wx.PaintDC(self)
        dc.Clear()
        #dc.SetBackgroundMode(wx.TRANSPARENT)
        # get image width and height
        iw = self.bmp1.GetWidth()
        ih = self.bmp1.GetHeight()
        # tile/wallpaper the image across the canvas
        for x in range(0, self.fw, iw):
            for y in range(0, self.fh, ih):
                dc.DrawBitmap(self.bmp1, x, y, True)


app = wx.PySimpleApp()
# create a window/frame instance, no parent, -1 is default ID
fw = 400
fh = 300
frame1 = wx.Frame(None, -1, "wall-papering a wx.PaintDC surface", size=(fw, fh))
# create a panel class instance
panel1 = Panel1(frame1, -1, fw, fh, tile_file)
frame1.Show(True)
# start the event loop
app.MainLoop()