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

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wxWindows 2 FAQ: General
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<P>

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

<H3><a name="whatis">What is wxWindows?</a></H3>

wxWindows is a class library that allows you to compile graphical C++ programs on a range of
different platforms. wxWindows defines a common API across platforms, but uses the native graphical user interface (GUI) on each platform,
so your program will take on the native 'look and feel' that users are familiar with.<P>

Although GUI applications are mostly built programmatically, there is a dialog editor to help
build attractive dialogs and panels. Robert Roebling's <a href="http://www.roebling.com">wxDesigner</a>
makes light work of resizable, portable dialogs.<P>

You don't have to use C++ to use wxWindows: wxWindows 1 has been interfaced to several interpreted languages,
such as CLIPS, Python, Scheme, XLisp and Perl, and there is a <a href="http://wxpython.org">Python interface</a> for wxWindows 2.
<P>

<h3>Can I use wxWindows 2 for both proprietary (commercial) projects, and GPL'ed projects?</h3>

Yes. Please see the <a href="newlicen.htm">licence</a> for details, but basically
you can distribute proprietary binaries without distributing any source code, and neither will wxWindows
conflict with GPL code you may be using or developing with it.
<P>
The conditions for using wxWindows 2 are the same whether you are a personal, academic
or commercial developer.
<P>

<h3>Is there support?</h3>

No official support, but the mailing list is very helpful and some people say that
wxWindows support is better than for much commercial software. The developers are
keen to fix bugs as soon as possible, though obviously there are no guarantees.
<P>

<H3><a name="users">Who uses wxWindows?</a></H3>

Many organisations - commercial, government, and academic - across the
world. It's impossible to estimate the true number of users, since
wxWindows is obtained by many different means, and we cannot monitor
distribution. The mailing list contains around 300-400 entries which is
quite large for a list of this type.<P>

See <a href="users.htm">Users</a> for a list of some users and their applications, and
also <A href="feedback.htm">Feedback</a> for comments.<P>

<H3>How much has the API changed since 1.xx?</H3>

It's difficult to summarize, but some aspects haven't changed very much. For example, if you have some
complex drawing code, you will mostly need to make sure it's parameterised with a device
context (instead of obtaining one from a window or storing it). You won't have
to completely rewrite the drawing code.<P>

The way that events are handled has changed, so for example, where you overrode
OnSize before, you now have a non-virtual OnSize with a single event class argument.
To make this function known to wxWindows, you add an entry in an 'event table' using macros. Addition of these macros
will eventually be made easier by a tool which will allow selection from a list
and copy-and-paste into your editor. This is extended to button presses, listbox selection
etc. so callbacks have gone (they may be added back for limited backward compatibility).<P>

The class hierarchy has changed to allow greater flexibility but it probably won't affect your
existing application. One exception to this is MDI applications which now use separate MDI classes instead of style
flags. As a result, it won't be possible to switch between MDI and SDI operation at run-time
without further coding, but a benefit is less interdependence between areas of code,
and therefore smaller executable size.<P>

Panel items (now called controls) no longer have labels associated with most of them,
and default panel layout has been removed. The idea is that you make greater use
of dialog resources, for better-looking dialogs.<P>

<H3>What classes have disappeared?</H3>

wxForm, wxTextWindow (subsumed into wxTextCtrl).

<H3>Does wxWindows 2 mean that wxWindows 1.xx is dead?</H3>

While wxWindows 2 is being developed, there will be further patches to wxWindows 1.xx.
Obviously we are investing most of our energy into the new code, but we're also trying
to fix bugs in the current version.<P>

<H3>What platforms are supported by wxWindows 2?</H3>

<ul>
<li>Windows 3.1, Windows 95/98, Windows NT;
<li>Linux and other Unix platforms with GTK+;
<li>Unix with Motif or the free Motif clone Lesstif;
<li>Mac;
<li>A BeOS port is being investigated.
<li>A Windows CE port is being investigated.
<li>An OS/2 port is in progress, and you can also compile wxWindows for GTK+ or Motif
on OS/2.
</ul>
<P>

<H3>How does wxWindows 2 support platform-specific features?</H3>

This is a hotly-debated topic amongst the developers. My own philosophy
is to make wxWindows as platform-independent as possible, but allow in a
few classes (functions, window styles) that are platform-specific.
For example, Windows metafiles and Windows 95 taskbar icons have
their own classes on Windows, but nowhere else. Because these classes
are provided and are wxWindows-compatible, it doesn't take much
coding effort for an application programmer to add support for
some functionality that the user on a particular platform might otherwise
miss. Also, some classes that started off as platform-specific, such
as the MDI classes, have been emulated on other platforms. I can imagine
that even wxTaskBarIcon may be implemented for Unix desktops one day.
<P>

In other words, wxWindows is not a 'lowest common denominator' approach,
but it will still be possible to write portable programs using the
core API. Forbidding some platform-specific classes would be a stupid
approach that would alienate many potential users, and encourage
the perception that toolkits such as wxWindows are not up to the demands
of today's sophisticated applications.<P>

Currently resources such as bitmaps and icons are handled in a platform-specific
way, but it is hoped to reduce this dependence in due course.<P>

Another reason why wxWindows 2 is not a 'lowest common denominator' toolkit is that
some functionality missing on some platform has been provided using generic,
platform-independent code, such as the wxTreeCtrl and wxListCtrl classes.<P>

<H3>Does wxWindows use STL? or the standard string class?</H3>

No. This is a much-discussed topic that has (many times) ended with the conclusion that it is in
wxWindows' best interests to avoid use of templates. Not all compilers can handle
templates adequately so it would dramatically reduce the number of compilers
and platforms that could be supported. It would also be undersirable to make
wxWindows dependent on another large library that may have to be downloaded and installed.
In addition, use of templates can lead to executable bloat, which is something
wxWindows 2 is strenously trying to avoid.<P>

The standard C++ string class is not used, again because it is not available to all compilers,
and it is not necessarily a very efficient implementation. Also, we retain more flexibility
by being able to modify our own string class. Some compatibility with the string class
has been built into wxString.<P>

There is nothing to stop an application using templates or the string class for its own
purposes.<P>

<H3>Is there a rich edit/markup widget for wxWindows 2?</H3>

These are the possibilities so far:<P>

<ul>
<li>The richedit sample has a text editor that does markup.
<li>See <a href="http://www.scintilla.org" target=_top>www.scintilla.org</a> for
a very nice syntax-highlighting editor widget. Robin Dunn is writing a wxWindows wrapper
for this widget.
<li>If you only need to display marked-up information, rather than edit it,
then wxHTML will suit your needs. wxHTML is built into wxWindows - please see the reference
manual for details, and samples/html.
<li>There are rich edit widgets in both WIN32 and GTK+, but there is currently
no wxWindows wrapper for these.
</ul>

<P>

<H3>How is wxWindows 2 being developed?</H3>

We are using the <a href="cvs.htm">CVS</a> system to develop and maintain wxWindows. This allows
us to make alterations and upload them instantly to the SourceForge server, from
which others can update their source.<P>

To build source from CVS, see the file BuildCVS.txt in the top-level wxWindows distribution
directory.<P>

<H3>How is wxWindows 2 distributed?</H3>

By ftp, and via the <a href="cdrom2.htm">wxWindows CD-ROM</a>.<P>

<H3>What are the plans for the future?</H3>

Currently we're working too hard on getting wxWindows 2 finished (are GUI toolkits ever
finished?) to think very far ahead. However, we know we want to make wxWindows as robust
and well-publicised as possible. We also want to aim for better platform-independence of
resources such as icons and bitmaps, standardising on the PNG for all platforms.<P>

Other possibilities include: DCOM/CORBA compatibility; a wxWindows book;
<a href="http://wxstudio.linuxbox.com/">wxStudio</a>, an IDE;
other platforms; other interface abilities such as speech output.<P>

We will investigate the possibility of compiler or operating system vendors bundling wxWindows with
their product.<P>

The high-level goal of wxWindows is to be thought of as the number one C++ framework,
for virtually any platform. Move over, MFC!<P>

<H3>What about Java?</H3>

The Java honeymoon period is over :-) and people are realising that it cannot
meet all their cross-platform development needs. We don't anticipate a major threat
from Java, and the level of interest in wxWindows is as high as ever.<P>

<H3>How can I help the project?</H3>

Please check out the <a href="http://www.wxwindows.org/develop.htm" target=main>Backroom</a> pages,
in particular the <a href="http://www.wxwindows.org/projects.htm">suggested projects</a>, and
mail <a href="mailto:julian.smart@ukonline.co.uk">Julian Smart</a> or the developers' mailing list with your own suggestions.<P>

</font>

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Commit	Line	Data
ce3ed50d JS	1	<HTML>
	2
	3	<HEAD>
	4	<TITLE>wxWindows 2 FAQ: General</TITLE>
	5	</HEAD>
	6
	7	<BODY BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF TEXT=#000000 LINK=#FF0000 VLINK=#000000>
	8
	9	<font face="Arial, Lucida Sans, Helvetica">
	10
f6bcfd97	11	<table width=100% border=0 cellpadding=5 cellspacing=0>
ce3ed50d	12	<tr>
f6bcfd97 BP	13	<td bgcolor="#C4ECF9">
f6bcfd97 BP	14	<font size=+1 face="Arial, Lucida Sans, Helvetica" color="#000000">
ce3ed50d JS	15	wxWindows 2 FAQ: General
	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><a name="whatis">What is wxWindows?</a></H3>
	27
	28	wxWindows is a class library that allows you to compile graphical C++ programs on a range of
	29	different platforms. wxWindows defines a common API across platforms, but uses the native graphical user interface (GUI) on each platform,
	30	so your program will take on the native 'look and feel' that users are familiar with.<P>
	31
	32	Although GUI applications are mostly built programmatically, there is a dialog editor to help
51ab9400 JS	33	build attractive dialogs and panels. Robert Roebling's <a href="http://www.roebling.com">wxDesigner</a>
51ab9400 JS	34	makes light work of resizable, portable dialogs.<P>
ce3ed50d JS	35
ce3ed50d JS	36	You don't have to use C++ to use wxWindows: wxWindows 1 has been interfaced to several interpreted languages,
51ab9400	37	such as CLIPS, Python, Scheme, XLisp and Perl, and there is a <a href="http://wxpython.org">Python interface</a> for wxWindows 2.
ce3ed50d JS	38	<P>
	39
	40	<h3>Can I use wxWindows 2 for both proprietary (commercial) projects, and GPL'ed projects?</h3>
	41
	42	Yes. Please see the <a href="newlicen.htm">licence</a> for details, but basically
	43	you can distribute proprietary binaries without distributing any source code, and neither will wxWindows
	44	conflict with GPL code you may be using or developing with it.
	45	<P>
	46	The conditions for using wxWindows 2 are the same whether you are a personal, academic
	47	or commercial developer.
	48	<P>
	49
	50	<h3>Is there support?</h3>
	51
	52	No official support, but the mailing list is very helpful and some people say that
	53	wxWindows support is better than for much commercial software. The developers are
	54	keen to fix bugs as soon as possible, though obviously there are no guarantees.
	55	<P>
	56
	57	<H3><a name="users">Who uses wxWindows?</a></H3>
	58
	59	Many organisations - commercial, government, and academic - across the
	60	world. It's impossible to estimate the true number of users, since
	61	wxWindows is obtained by many different means, and we cannot monitor
	62	distribution. The mailing list contains around 300-400 entries which is
	63	quite large for a list of this type.<P>
	64
51ab9400 JS	65	See <a href="users.htm">Users</a> for a list of some users and their applications, and
51ab9400 JS	66	also <A href="feedback.htm">Feedback</a> for comments.<P>
b953bdc2 JS	67
	68	<H3>How much has the API changed since 1.xx?</H3>
	69
	70	It's difficult to summarize, but some aspects haven't changed very much. For example, if you have some
	71	complex drawing code, you will mostly need to make sure it's parameterised with a device
	72	context (instead of obtaining one from a window or storing it). You won't have
	73	to completely rewrite the drawing code.<P>
	74
	75	The way that events are handled has changed, so for example, where you overrode
	76	OnSize before, you now have a non-virtual OnSize with a single event class argument.
	77	To make this function known to wxWindows, you add an entry in an 'event table' using macros. Addition of these macros
	78	will eventually be made easier by a tool which will allow selection from a list
	79	and copy-and-paste into your editor. This is extended to button presses, listbox selection
	80	etc. so callbacks have gone (they may be added back for limited backward compatibility).<P>
	81
	82	The class hierarchy has changed to allow greater flexibility but it probably won't affect your
	83	existing application. One exception to this is MDI applications which now use separate MDI classes instead of style
	84	flags. As a result, it won't be possible to switch between MDI and SDI operation at run-time
	85	without further coding, but a benefit is less interdependence between areas of code,
	86	and therefore smaller executable size.<P>
	87
	88	Panel items (now called controls) no longer have labels associated with most of them,
	89	and default panel layout has been removed. The idea is that you make greater use
	90	of dialog resources, for better-looking dialogs.<P>
	91
	92	<H3>What classes have disappeared?</H3>
	93
	94	wxForm, wxTextWindow (subsumed into wxTextCtrl).
	95
	96	<H3>Does wxWindows 2 mean that wxWindows 1.xx is dead?</H3>
	97
	98	While wxWindows 2 is being developed, there will be further patches to wxWindows 1.xx.
	99	Obviously we are investing most of our energy into the new code, but we're also trying
	100	to fix bugs in the current version.<P>
	101
51ab9400	102	<H3>What platforms are supported by wxWindows 2?</H3>
b953bdc2 JS	103
	104	<ul>
	105	<li>Windows 3.1, Windows 95/98, Windows NT;
	106	<li>Linux and other Unix platforms with GTK+;
	107	<li>Unix with Motif or the free Motif clone Lesstif;
51ab9400	108	<li>Mac;
b953bdc2 JS	109	<li>A BeOS port is being investigated.
b953bdc2 JS	110	<li>A Windows CE port is being investigated.
51ab9400 JS	111	<li>An OS/2 port is in progress, and you can also compile wxWindows for GTK+ or Motif
51ab9400 JS	112	on OS/2.
b953bdc2 JS	113	</ul>
	114	<P>
	115
	116	<H3>How does wxWindows 2 support platform-specific features?</H3>
	117
	118	This is a hotly-debated topic amongst the developers. My own philosophy
	119	is to make wxWindows as platform-independent as possible, but allow in a
	120	few classes (functions, window styles) that are platform-specific.
	121	For example, Windows metafiles and Windows 95 taskbar icons have
	122	their own classes on Windows, but nowhere else. Because these classes
	123	are provided and are wxWindows-compatible, it doesn't take much
	124	coding effort for an application programmer to add support for
	125	some functionality that the user on a particular platform might otherwise
	126	miss. Also, some classes that started off as platform-specific, such
	127	as the MDI classes, have been emulated on other platforms. I can imagine
	128	that even wxTaskBarIcon may be implemented for Unix desktops one day.
	129	<P>
	130
	131	In other words, wxWindows is not a 'lowest common denominator' approach,
	132	but it will still be possible to write portable programs using the
	133	core API. Forbidding some platform-specific classes would be a stupid
	134	approach that would alienate many potential users, and encourage
	135	the perception that toolkits such as wxWindows are not up to the demands
	136	of today's sophisticated applications.<P>
	137
	138	Currently resources such as bitmaps and icons are handled in a platform-specific
	139	way, but it is hoped to reduce this dependence in due course.<P>
	140
	141	Another reason why wxWindows 2 is not a 'lowest common denominator' toolkit is that
	142	some functionality missing on some platform has been provided using generic,
	143	platform-independent code, such as the wxTreeCtrl and wxListCtrl classes.<P>
	144
	145	<H3>Does wxWindows use STL? or the standard string class?</H3>
	146
	147	No. This is a much-discussed topic that has (many times) ended with the conclusion that it is in
	148	wxWindows' best interests to avoid use of templates. Not all compilers can handle
	149	templates adequately so it would dramatically reduce the number of compilers
	150	and platforms that could be supported. It would also be undersirable to make
	151	wxWindows dependent on another large library that may have to be downloaded and installed.
	152	In addition, use of templates can lead to executable bloat, which is something
	153	wxWindows 2 is strenously trying to avoid.<P>
	154
	155	The standard C++ string class is not used, again because it is not available to all compilers,
	156	and it is not necessarily a very efficient implementation. Also, we retain more flexibility
	157	by being able to modify our own string class. Some compatibility with the string class
	158	has been built into wxString.<P>
	159
	160	There is nothing to stop an application using templates or the string class for its own
	161	purposes.<P>
	162
790ad94f JS	163	<H3>Is there a rich edit/markup widget for wxWindows 2?</H3>
	164
	165	These are the possibilities so far:<P>
	166
	167	<ul>
	168	<li>The richedit sample has a text editor that does markup.
	169	<li>See <a href="http://www.scintilla.org" target=_top>www.scintilla.org</a> for
	170	a very nice syntax-highlighting editor widget. Robin Dunn is writing a wxWindows wrapper
	171	for this widget.
	172	<li>If you only need to display marked-up information, rather than edit it,
	173	then wxHTML will suit your needs. wxHTML is built into wxWindows - please see the reference
	174	manual for details, and samples/html.
	175	<li>There are rich edit widgets in both WIN32 and GTK+, but there is currently
	176	no wxWindows wrapper for these.
	177	</ul>
	178
	179	<P>
	180
b953bdc2 JS	181	<H3>How is wxWindows 2 being developed?</H3>
	182
	183	We are using the <a href="cvs.htm">CVS</a> system to develop and maintain wxWindows. This allows
51ab9400	184	us to make alterations and upload them instantly to the SourceForge server, from
b953bdc2 JS	185	which others can update their source.<P>
b953bdc2 JS	186
91c93c99 JS	187	To build source from CVS, see the file BuildCVS.txt in the top-level wxWindows distribution
	188	directory.<P>
	189
b953bdc2 JS	190	<H3>How is wxWindows 2 distributed?</H3>
	191
	192	By ftp, and via the <a href="cdrom2.htm">wxWindows CD-ROM</a>.<P>
	193
	194	<H3>What are the plans for the future?</H3>
	195
	196	Currently we're working too hard on getting wxWindows 2 finished (are GUI toolkits ever
	197	finished?) to think very far ahead. However, we know we want to make wxWindows as robust
	198	and well-publicised as possible. We also want to aim for better platform-independence of
	199	resources such as icons and bitmaps, standardising on the PNG for all platforms.<P>
	200
91c93c99 JS	201	Other possibilities include: DCOM/CORBA compatibility; a wxWindows book;
91c93c99 JS	202	<a href="http://wxstudio.linuxbox.com/">wxStudio</a>, an IDE;
b953bdc2 JS	203	other platforms; other interface abilities such as speech output.<P>
	204
	205	We will investigate the possibility of compiler or operating system vendors bundling wxWindows with
	206	their product.<P>
	207
	208	The high-level goal of wxWindows is to be thought of as the number one C++ framework,
	209	for virtually any platform. Move over, MFC!<P>
	210
	211	<H3>What about Java?</H3>
	212
	213	The Java honeymoon period is over :-) and people are realising that it cannot
	214	meet all their cross-platform development needs. We don't anticipate a major threat
	215	from Java, and the level of interest in wxWindows is as high as ever.<P>
	216
	217	<H3>How can I help the project?</H3>
	218
30b5fc11 JS	219	Please check out the <a href="http://www.wxwindows.org/develop.htm" target=main>Backroom</a> pages,
30b5fc11 JS	220	in particular the <a href="http://www.wxwindows.org/projects.htm">suggested projects</a>, and
b953bdc2 JS	221	mail <a href="mailto:julian.smart@ukonline.co.uk">Julian Smart</a> or the developers' mailing list with your own suggestions.<P>
b953bdc2 JS	222
ce3ed50d JS	223	</font>
	224
	225	</BODY>
	226
	227	</HTML>