]> git.saurik.com Git - wxWidgets.git/blame - docs/tech/tn0014.txt
added a small helper ToggleWindowStyle() function
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1 XRC resources format specification
2 ==================================
3
4 !!!!! NOT YET FINISHED !!!!!
5
60. Introduction
2b5f62a0 7===============
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8
9This note describes the file format used for storing XRC resources that are
10used by wxXmlResource class. It is probably only useful for those implementing
11dialog editors with XRC support.
12
13If you only want to use the resources, you can choose from a number of editors:
14 a) wxDesigner (http://www.roebling.de)
15 b) XRCed (wxPython/tools)
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16 c) DialogBlocks (wxPython/tools)
17
18and others listed on the Resources section of the wxWidgets web
19site.
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20
21The XRC format is based on XML 1.0 (please consult W3C's specification). There
22is no DTD available since it is not possible to fully describe the format with
23the limited expressive power of DTDs.
24
2b5f62a0 25
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26Note: see also http://ldaptool.sourceforge.net/XRCGuide/XRCGuideSingle/
27
28
2b5f62a0 29
50ccbaaa 301. Terminology
2b5f62a0 31==============
50ccbaaa 32
b26a650c 33The usual XML terminology applies. In particular, we shall use the terms
2b5f62a0 34NODE, PROPERTY and VALUE in the XML sense:
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35
36 <node property1="value1" property2="value2">...</node>
37
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38The term ATTRIBUTE is specific to XRC and refers to a subnode
39of an <object> or <object_ref> node that is itself not <object> or <object_ref>.
40In the example below, <pos>, <label> and <style> are attributes, while neither
2b5f62a0 41<resource> nor either of <object>s is:
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42
43 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8">
984c33c9 44 <resource xmlns="http://www.wxwidgets.org/wxxrc" version="2.5.3.0">
50ccbaaa 45 <object class="wxPanel">
2b5f62a0 46 <style>wxSUNKEN_BORDER</style> <!-- attr -->
50ccbaaa 47 <object class="wxStaticText">
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48 <label>A label</label> <!-- attr -->
49 <pos>10,10</pos> <!-- attr -->
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50 </object>
51 </object>
52 </resource>
53
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54ATTRIBUTE VALUE is the content of all text elements within attribute tag. In the
55above example, "wxSUNKEN_BORDER", "A label" and "10,10" are attribute values.
56ATTRIBUTE TYPE defines what attribute values are valid for given attribute (you
57can think of it as attribute value syntax definition).
58
59
60
50ccbaaa 612. Elementary description
2b5f62a0 62=========================
50ccbaaa 63
432be5aa 64XRC resource file is a well-formed XML 1.0 document. All elements of XRC file
b26a650c 65are from the http://www.wxwidgets.org/wxxrc namespace.
50ccbaaa 66
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67The root node of XRC document must be <resource>. The <resource> node has
68optional "version" property. Default version (in absence of the version
69property) is "0.0.0.0". The version consists of four integers separated by
70periods. Version of XRC format changes only if there was an incompatible
71change introduced (i.e. either the library cannot understand old resource
50ccbaaa 72files or older versions of the library wouldn't understand the new format).
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73The first three integers are major, minor and release number of the wxWidgets
74release when the change was introduced, the last one is revision number and
75is 0 for the first incompatible change in given wxWidgets release, 1 for
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76the second etc.
77
78Differences between versions are described within this document in paragraphs
2b5f62a0 79entitled "Version Note".
50ccbaaa 80
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81The <resource> node contains namespace declaration, too:
82
984c33c9 83 <resource xmlns="http://www.wxwidgets.org/wxxrc" version="2.5.3.0">
40e2d134 84
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85The <resource> node is only allowed to have <object> and <object_ref>
86subnodes, all of which must have the "name" property.
87
2b5f62a0 88The <object> node represents a single object (GUI element) and it usually maps
b26a650c 89directly to a wxWidgets class instance. It has the properties: "name", "class"
fc2171bd 90and "subclass". "class" must always be present, it tells XRC what wxWidgets
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91object should be created in this place. The other two are optional. "name" is
92ID used to identify the object. It is the value passed to the XRCID() macro and
93is also used to construct wxWindow's id and name attributes and must be unique
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94among all children of the nearest container object (wxDialog, wxFrame,
95wxPanel, wxNotebook) upside from the object in XML nodes hierarchy (two distinct
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96containers may contain objects with same "name", though). "subclass" is
97optional name of class whose constructor will be called instead of the
98constructor for "class". Subclass must be available in the program that loads
99the resource, must be derived from "class" and must be registered within
fc2171bd 100wxWidgets' RTTI system.
2b5f62a0 101
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102Finally, an optional "insert_at" property may be present. Currently only the
103values "begin" and "end" are supported, meaning to insert the object in the
104beginning of the parent node objects list or to append it at the end (which is
105the default if this property is absent).
106
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107Example:
108
109 <object name="MyList1" class="wxListCtrl" subclass="MyListCtrlClass">
110 ...
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111 </object>
112
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113<object> node may have arbitrary child nodes. What child nodes and their
114semantics are class-dependent and are defined later in this document. The user
115is allowed to register new object handlers within XRC and extend it to accept
116new <object> classes (and therefore different <object>'s child nodes).
117
118<object_ref> node is identical to <object>, except that it does _not_ have
3103e8a9 119"class" property and has additional required property "ref". Its concept is
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120similar to Unix symlinks: value of the "ref" property is equal to the value of
121"name" property of some existing node (called referred node) in the resources
dbd94b75 122(not necessary top-level). Referred node's "class" property and all subnodes
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123are copied in place of the referee <object_ref> node which is then processed as
124regular <object> node. If the <object_ref> node itself has child nodes, then
125these nodes _override_ any nodes from the referred node.
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126
127Example:
128
129 <object name="foo" class="wxTextCtrl">
130 <value>hello</value>
131 <size>100,-1d</size>
132 </object>
133 <object_ref name="bar" ref="foo">
134 <value>bar</value> <!-- override! -->
0fa2e104 135 </object_ref>
2b5f62a0 136
b26a650c 137is identical to:
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138
139 <object name="foo" class="wxTextCtrl">
140 <value>hello</value>
141 <size>100,-1d</size>
142 </object>
143 <object name="bar" class="wxTextCtrl">
144 <value>bar</value>
145 <size>100,-1d</size>
146 </object>
147
148
149
1503. Common attribute types
151=========================
152
153There are several attribute types (see section 1. Terminology) that are common
154to many attributes of different classes:
155
156String
157------
158Any text. Some characters have special interpretation and are translated
159by XRC parser according to this table:
fc2171bd 160 "_" -> "&" ('&' is used to underline e.g. menu items in wxWidgets)
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161 "__" -> "_"
162 "\n" -> line break (C character '\n')
163 "\r" -> carriage return (C character '\r')
dbd94b75 164 "\t" -> tab (C character '\t')
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165 "\\" -> "\"
166 (introduced in version 2.5.3.0, not done in earlier versions)
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167
168Version Note:
169 '$' was used instead of '_' prior to version 2.3.0.1.
170
171
172I18nString
173----------
174Like String, but the value is translated to native language using wxLocale
175at runtime (unless it was disabled by not passing wxXRC_USE_LOCALE flag to
176wxXmlResource constructor). Used for strings that are "visible" in the GUI.
177
178
179UnsignedInteger
180---------------
181This is obvious. Only digits 0-9 may be present and there must be at least
182one digit.
183
184
185Integer
186-------
187Like UnsignedInteger but may be prefixed with '-' (ints less than zero).
188
189
190Position
191--------
192Specifies (window's) position in 2D space. Syntax is <integer>,<integer>[d]
193where <integer> is valid value of Integer type.
194
50ccbaaa 195
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196Size
197----
198Syntax is same as Position's syntax, but the values are interpreted as window
199size (wxSize type) and not position (wxPosition type).
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200
201
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202Style[wxSomeClass]
203------------------
204List of style flags that can be passed to wxSomeClass' constructor. Flags are
432be5aa 205written in same way as in C++ code (e.g. "wxSUNKEN_BORDER",
dbd94b75 206"wxHW_SCROLLBAR_NEVER") and are delimited with any combination of whitespaces
432be5aa 207and '|'. Possible flags are class-dependent and are not described in this
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208technote. Please refer to wxWidgets manual for all styles that given class can
209accept; if XRC does not accept a flag listed in wxWidgets documentation, it is
432be5aa 210a bug.
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211
212
213Bitmap
214------
215Attribute value is interpreted as filename (either absolute or relative to
216the location of XRC resource file). In addition, attribute node may have
217"stock_id" and "stock_client" properties. Their values may be any of wxArtID (or
218wxArtClient respectively) values as used by wxArtProvider (because the user may
dbd94b75 219define own constants, effectively any string is legal here). Examples are
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220"wxART_FILE_OPEN" (id) or "wxART_MENU" (client).
221
432be5aa 222Any of "stock_id" or "stock_client" properties or the filename may be omitted.
b26a650c 223XRC determines the bitmap to use according to this algorithm:
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224 1. If there is non-empty "stock_id" property, query wxArtProvider for the
225 bitmap (if there is no "stock_client", use default one, which is usually
984c33c9 226 wxART_OTHER; exceptions are noted in class-specific sections below). If
432be5aa 227 the query fails, continue to 2.
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228 2. Load the bitmap from the file in attribute value.
229
230
231Boolean
232-------
233Boolean value, either "0" (false) or "1" (true).
234
50ccbaaa 235
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236Font
237----
238Font value. A font can be described either in terms of its elementary
239properties, or it can be derived from one of system fonts. The font node
240may contain following subnodes (the table lists subnode name on the left and
241variable type as per the definitions above on the right side):
242
243size UnsignedInteger
244style normal | italic | slant
245weight normal | bold | light
246family roman | script | decorative | swiss | modern | teletype
247underlined Boolean
248face comma-separated list of faces
249encoding charset of the font (meaningless in Unicode build), as string
250sysfont symbolic name of system standard font
251 (one of wxSYS_*_FONT constants)
252relativesize Float, font size relative to choosen system font's size;
253 can only be used when 'sysfont' is used and when 'size' is not
254 used
255
256All of them are optional, if they are missing, wxFont default is used.
257
258Examples:
b26a650c 259
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260 <font>
261 <face>arial,helvetica</face>
262 <size>12</size>
263 </font>
b26a650c 264
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265 <font>
266 <sysfont>wxSYS_DEFAULT_GUI_FONT</sysfont>
267 <weight>bold</weight>
268 <relativesize>1.5</relativesize>
269 </font>
270
271
272Colour
273------
274A colour value is either explicit RGB value in the standard #rrggbb format
275where rr, gg and bb are hexadecimal case-insensitive values in the 00..FF
276range, or a symbolic name. Symbolic names are wxSYS_COLOUR_* constants defined
277by wxWidgets, written as strings.
278
279Example:
280
281 <bg>wxSYS_COLOUR_SCROLLBAR</bg>
282 <fg>#FF0000</fg>
283
284
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285
2864. Supported classes
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287====================
288
289Attributes are listed in tables in the following format:
290attribute name attribute type default value, if any
291 [(optional remarks....................
292 ...................................)]
293
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294Common attributes
295-----------------
296These attributes are supported by all windows:
297
298exstyle Int
299bg Colour
300fg Colour
301enabled Boolean true
302focused Boolean false
303hidden Boolean false
304tooltip I18nString
305font Font
306help I18nString
307
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308wxBitmap
309--------
b26a650c 310This is a special case, because it does not create a wxWindow instance but
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311creates wxBitmap instead. Another exceptional thing is that it does not have
312any attributes. Instead, the node itself is interpreted as if it were attribute
313of type Bitmap.
314
315Example: <object class="wxBitmap">bitmaps/foo.gif</object>
316
317
318wxIcon
319------
320Identical to wxBitmap class, except that it creates wxIcon instead of wxBitmap.
321
322
323wxButton
324--------
9c0a4cb4 325pos Position -1,-1
2b5f62a0 326size Size -1,-1
b26a650c 327style Style[wxButton]
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328
329label I18nString
330default Boolean false
331 (Is the button default button?)
332
333
334wxCalendarCtrl
335--------------
9c0a4cb4 336pos Position -1,-1
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337size Size -1,-1
338style Style[wxCalendarCtrl]
339
340
341wxCheckBox
342----------
9c0a4cb4 343pos Position -1,-1
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344size Size -1,-1
345style Style[wxCheckBox]
346checked Boolean false
347
348
349wxCheckList
350-----------
9c0a4cb4 351pos Position -1,-1
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352size Size -1,-1
353style Style[wxCheckList]
984c33c9 354content (see below) (empty)
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355
356Optional "content" attribute does not have attribute value. Instead,
357arbitrary number of <item> nodes may be rooted under it (the control
358is filled with strings contained in these nodes). Each <item>
359node must contain I18nString value and may have "checked" property
360with possible values "0" or "1" indicating the the item is initially
361checked.
362
363Example:
364<object class="wxCheckList">
365 <content>
366 <item>One</item>
367 <item checked="1">Two</item>
368 <item checked="1">Three</item>
369 <item>Four</item>
370 </content>
371</object>
372
373
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374wxDatePickerCtrl
375----------------
376pos Position -1,-1
377size Size -1,-1
378style Style[wxDatePickerCtrl]
379
380
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381wxDialog
382--------
9c0a4cb4 383pos Position -1,-1
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384size Size -1,-1
385style Style[wxDialog] wxDEFAULT_DIALOG_STYLE
386title I18nString ""
387icon Bitmap (empty)
388centered Boolean false
389
390wxDialog may have children objects.
391
392
393wxFrame
394--------
9c0a4cb4 395pos Position -1,-1
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396size Size -1,-1
397style Style[wxDialog] wxDEFAULT_FRAME_STYLE
398title I18nString ""
399icon Bitmap (empty)
400centered Boolean false
401
402wxFrame may have children objects. There can be at most one wxToolBar,
403wxMenuBar and wxStatusBar children; objects of these types are automatically
404set as frame's tool-, menu- and statusbar respectively.
405
406
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407wxMDIParentFrame
408----------------
409
410Supports same attributes and children nodes as wxFrame. Additionally, children
411may be of the wxMDIChildFrame type.
412
413
414wxMDIChildFrame
415---------------
416
417Supports same attributes and children nodes as wxFrame.
418
419
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420wxRadioBox
421----------
422
423This control may have "dimension" (major dimension) and (initial) "selection"
424Integer subelements and a composite "content" element similar to wxCheckList.
d64ad2c7 425The only difference is that the "item" subelements can have an optional
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426"tooltip=I18nString" and "helptext=I18nString" attributes to specify
427the per-item tooltip and helptext.
d64ad2c7 428
d5e20cd8 429
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430wxScrolledWindow
431----------------
9c0a4cb4 432pos Position -1,-1
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433size Size -1,-1
434style Style[wxScrolledWindow] wxHSCROLL | wxVSCROLL
435
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436wxScolledWindow may have children objects.
437
2b5f62a0 438
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439wxSplitterWindow
440----------------
9c0a4cb4 441pos Position -1,-1
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442size Size -1,-1
443style Style[wxSplitterWindow] wxSP_3D
444sashpos Integer 0
445 (Initial sash position)
446minsize Integer -1
447 (Minimal panel size)
448orientation "horizontal"|"vertical" horizontal
449
450wxSplitterWindow must have at least one and at most two children objects.
451If there's only one child object, it is passed to wxSplitterWindow::Initialize
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452and the splitter is created unsplit. If there are two children, the
453splitter is created split, either horizontally or vertically depending
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454on the value of "orientation" attribute.
455
8b34993d 456
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457wxStatusBar
458-----------
459fields Integer number of fields
460widths Width1, Width2, Width3, ...
2f5b93fb 461
8b34993d 462
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463wxToolBar
464---------
9c0a4cb4 465pos Position -1,-1
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466size Size -1,-1
467style Style[wxToolBar] wxNO_BORDER|wxTB_HORIZONTAL
468bitmapsize Size -1,-1
469 (Size of contained bitmaps)
470margins Size -1,-1
471packing Integer -1
472separation Integer -1
700dbceb 473bg Background colour None
0699a648 474dontattachtoframe Boolean False
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475
476wxToolBar node may have children <object> and <object_ref> nodes. Their class
fc2171bd 477may be either "tool", "separator" or any wxWidgets class derived from
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478wxControl. "tool" and "separator" are special pseudo-classes that may only
479appear within wxToolBar node. Their attributes are as follows:
480
481 separator
482 ---------
483 (doesn't have any attributes)
484
485 tool
486 ----
b26a650c 487 bitmap Bitmap
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488 bitmap2 Bitmap wxNullBitmap
489 toggle Boolean 0
490 radio Boolean 0
114807c0 491 disabled Boolean 0
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492 label I18nString ""
493 tooltip I18nString ""
494 longhelp I18nString ""
9c0a4cb4 495 pos Position -1,-1
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496
497 Constraints:
498 At most one of "toggle" and "radio" attributes may be 1.
9c0a4cb4 499 Attribute "pos" may not appear if "label" or "radio" attributes
432be5aa 500 are used or if parent wxToolBar's style contains wxTB_TEXT.
b26a650c 501
432be5aa 502 Note:
9c0a4cb4 503 Use of "pos" attribute is strongly discouraged, it is deprecated
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504 usage of wxToolBar and it is not supported by MSW and GTK
505 implementations.
506
507Children objects are added to the toolbar using AddTool for "tool" class,
508AddSeparator for "separator" and AddControl for other classes.
509
510
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511
5125. More features
513================
514
515FIXME -- "platform" property handling
50ccbaaa 516
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517
518=== EOF ===
519
520Version: $Id$