[wxWidgets.git] / docs / html / faqmsw.htm

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<TITLE>wxWindows 2 for Windows FAQ</TITLE>
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wxWindows 2 for Windows FAQ
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<P>

See also <a href="faq.htm">top-level FAQ page</a>.
<hr>

<h3>Is Windows 3.1 supported?</h3>

Yes! Unlike Microsoft, we have not forgotten users of 16-bit Windows. Most features
work under Windows 3.1, including wxTreeCtrl and wxListCtrl using the generic implementation.
However, don't expect Windows 95-specific classes to work, such as wxTaskBar. The wxRegConfig
class doesn't work either because the Windows 3.1 registry is very simplistic. Check out the 16-bit
makefiles to see what other files have been left out.
<P>
16-bit compilation is supported under Visual C++ 1.5, and Borland BC++ 4 to 5.
<P>

<h3>What compilers are supported?</h3>

Please see the wxWindows 2 for Windows install.txt file for up-to-date information, but
currently the following are known to work:<P>

<ul>
<li>Visual C++ 1.5, 4.0, 5.0, 6.0
<li>Borland C++ 4.5, 5.0
<li>Borland C++Builder 1.0, 3.0
<li>Watcom C++ 10.6 (WIN32)
<li>Cygwin b20
<li>Mingw32
<li>MetroWerks CodeWarrior 4
</ul>
<P>

There is a linking problem with Symantec C++ which I hope someone can help solve.
<P>

<h3>Which is the best compiler to use with wxWindows 2?</h3>

It's partly a matter of taste, but I (JACS) prefer Visual C++ since the debugger is very
good, it's very stable, the documentation is extensive, and it generates small executables.
Since project files are plain text, it's easy for me to generate appropriate project files
for wxWindows samples.<P>

Borland C++ is fine - and very fast - but it's hard (impossible?) to use the debugger without using project files, and
the debugger is nowhere near up to VC++'s quality. The IDE isn't great.<P>

C++Builder's power isn't really used with wxWindows since it needs integration with its
own class library (VCL). For wxWindows, I've only used it with makefiles, in which case
it's almost identical to BC++ 5.0 (the same makefiles can be used).<P>

You can't beat Cygwin's price (free), and you can debug adequately using gdb. However, it's
quite slow to compile since it does not use precompiled headers.<P>

CodeWarrior is cross-platform - you can debug and generate Windows executables from a Mac, but not
the other way around I think - but the IDE is, to my mind, a bit primitive.<P>

Watcom C++ is a little slow and the debugger is not really up to today's standards.<P>

<h3>Is Unicode supported?</h3>

No, although there are other internationalisation features.<P>

However, the issues surrounding Unicode support have been looked into so we know
what we need to do, and have some header files ready to use containing appropriate
type definitions. Just about every file in wxWindows will need changes, due to the
pervasive nature of characters and character arrays. Unicode support is needed
for the port to Windows CE (see below).<P>

<h3>What about Windows CE?</h3>

This is under consideration, though we need to get wxWindows Unicode-aware first.
There are other interesting issues, such as how to combine the menubar and toolbar APIs
as Windows CE requires.<P>


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Commit	Line	Data
ce3ed50d JS	1	<HTML>
	2
	3	<HEAD>
	4	<TITLE>wxWindows 2 for Windows FAQ</TITLE>
	5	</HEAD>
	6
	7	<BODY BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF TEXT=#000000 LINK=#FF0000 VLINK=#000000>
	8
	9	<font face="Arial, Lucida Sans, Helvetica">
	10
	11	<table width=100% border=4 cellpadding=5 cellspacing=0>
	12	<tr>
	13	<td bgcolor="#660000">
	14	<font size=+1 face="Arial, Lucida Sans, Helvetica" color="#FFFFFF">
	15	wxWindows 2 for Windows FAQ
	16	</font>
	17	</td>
	18	</tr>
	19	</table>
	20
	21	<P>
	22
	23	See also <a href="faq.htm">top-level FAQ page</a>.
	24	<hr>
	25
	26	<h3>Is Windows 3.1 supported?</h3>
	27
	28	Yes! Unlike Microsoft, we have not forgotten users of 16-bit Windows. Most features
	29	work under Windows 3.1, including wxTreeCtrl and wxListCtrl using the generic implementation.
	30	However, don't expect Windows 95-specific classes to work, such as wxTaskBar. The wxRegConfig
	31	class doesn't work either because the Windows 3.1 registry is very simplistic. Check out the 16-bit
	32	makefiles to see what other files have been left out.
	33	<P>
	34	16-bit compilation is supported under Visual C++ 1.5, and Borland BC++ 4 to 5.
	35	<P>
	36
	37	<h3>What compilers are supported?</h3>
	38
	39	Please see the wxWindows 2 for Windows install.txt file for up-to-date information, but
	40	currently the following are known to work:<P>
	41
	42	<ul>
	43	<li>Visual C++ 1.5, 4.0, 5.0, 6.0
	44	<li>Borland C++ 4.5, 5.0
	45	<li>Borland C++Builder 1.0, 3.0
	46	<li>Watcom C++ 10.6 (WIN32)
	47	<li>Cygwin b20
	48	<li>Mingw32
	49	<li>MetroWerks CodeWarrior 4
	50	</ul>
	51	<P>
	52
	53	There is a linking problem with Symantec C++ which I hope someone can help solve.
	54	<P>
	55
	56	<h3>Which is the best compiler to use with wxWindows 2?</h3>
	57
	58	It's partly a matter of taste, but I (JACS) prefer Visual C++ since the debugger is very
	59	good, it's very stable, the documentation is extensive, and it generates small executables.
	60	Since project files are plain text, it's easy for me to generate appropriate project files
	61	for wxWindows samples.<P>
	62
	63	Borland C++ is fine - and very fast - but it's hard (impossible?) to use the debugger without using project files, and
	64	the debugger is nowhere near up to VC++'s quality. The IDE isn't great.<P>
65
66	C++Builder's power isn't really used with wxWindows since it needs integration with its
67	own class library (VCL). For wxWindows, I've only used it with makefiles, in which case
68	it's almost identical to BC++ 5.0 (the same makefiles can be used).<P>
69
70	You can't beat Cygwin's price (free), and you can debug adequately using gdb. However, it's
71	quite slow to compile since it does not use precompiled headers.<P>
72
73	CodeWarrior is cross-platform - you can debug and generate Windows executables from a Mac, but not
74	the other way around I think - but the IDE is, to my mind, a bit primitive.<P>
75
76	Watcom C++ is a little slow and the debugger is not really up to today's standards.<P>
77
78	<h3>Is Unicode supported?</h3>
79
80	No, although there are other internationalisation features.<P>
81
82	However, the issues surrounding Unicode support have been looked into so we know
83	what we need to do, and have some header files ready to use containing appropriate
84	type definitions. Just about every file in wxWindows will need changes, due to the
85	pervasive nature of characters and character arrays. Unicode support is needed
86	for the port to Windows CE (see below).<P>
87
88	<h3>What about Windows CE?</h3>
89
90	This is under consideration, though we need to get wxWindows Unicode-aware first.
91	There are other interesting issues, such as how to combine the menubar and toolbar APIs
92	as Windows CE requires.<P>
93
94
95	</font>
96
97	</BODY>
98
99	</HTML>