]> git.saurik.com Git - wxWidgets.git/blame - wxPython/docs/MigrationGuide.txt
wxPD_CAN_SKIP for skipping parts of progress and reintroduced wxPD_SMOOTH after remov...
[wxWidgets.git] / wxPython / docs / MigrationGuide.txt
Content-type: text/html ]> git.saurik.com Git - wxWidgets.git/blame - wxPython/docs/MigrationGuide.txt


500 - Internal Server Error

Malformed UTF-8 character (fatal) at /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/perl5/5.40/HTML/Entities.pm line 485, <$fd> line 1680.
CommitLineData
d14a1e28
RD
1============================
2wxPython 2.5 Migration Guide
3============================
4
5This document will help explain some of the major changes in wxPython
f847103a
RD
62.5 since the 2.4 series and let you know what you need to do to adapt
7your programs to those changes. Be sure to also check in the CHANGES_
8file like usual to see info about the not so major changes and other
9things that have been added to wxPython.
d14a1e28 10
33ab916f
RD
11.. _CHANGES: CHANGES.html
12
d14a1e28 13
e8a71fa0
RD
14wxName Change
15-------------
16
17The **wxWindows** project and library is now known as
18**wxWidgets**. Please see here_ for more details.
19
29bfe46b 20.. _here: http://www.wxwidgets.org/name.htm
e8a71fa0
RD
21
22This won't really affect wxPython all that much, other than the fact
f847103a
RD
23that the wxwindows.org domain name has changed to wxwidgets.org,
24so mail list, CVS, and etc. addresses have also changed. We're going
e8a71fa0
RD
25to try and smooth the transition as much as possible, but I wanted you
26all to be aware of this change if you run into any issues.
27
28
d14a1e28
RD
29
30Module Initialization
31---------------------
32
33The import-startup-bootstrap process employed by wxPython was changed
e8a71fa0 34such that wxWidgets and the underlying gui toolkit are **not**
d14a1e28
RD
35initialized until the wx.App object is created (but before wx.App.OnInit
36is called.) This was required because of some changes that were made
37to the C++ wxApp class.
38
39There are both benefits and potential problems with this change. The
40benefits are that you can import wxPython without requiring access to
41a GUI (for checking version numbers, etc.) and that in a
42multi-threaded environment the thread that creates the app object will
43now be the GUI thread instead of the one that imports wxPython. Some
44potential problems are that the C++ side of the "stock-objects"
45(wx.BLUE_PEN, wx.TheColourDatabase, etc.) are not initialized until
46the wx.App object is created, so you should not use them until after
61563ef3 47you have created your wx.App object. If you do then an exception will
cb2d8b77 48be raised telling you that the C++ object has not been initialized
61563ef3 49yet.
d14a1e28
RD
50
51Also, you will probably not be able to do any kind of GUI or bitmap
52operation unless you first have created an app object, (even on
53Windows where most anything was possible before.)
54
64316568 55**[Changed in 2.5.2.x]** All the Window and GDI (pen, bitmap, etc.)
c8169991
RD
56class constructors and also many toplevel functions and static methods
57will now check that a wx.App object has already been created and will
58raise a wx.PyNoAppError exception if not.
59
ab1f7d2a 60
d14a1e28
RD
61
62
63SWIG 1.3
64--------
65
66wxPython is now using SWIG 1.3.x from CVS (with several of my own
67customizations added that I hope to get folded back into the main SWIG
68distribution.) This has some far reaching ramifications:
69
70 All classes derive from object and so all are now "new-style
d7403ad2
RD
71 classes." This also allows you to use mixin classes that are
72 new-style and to use properties, staticmethod, etc.
d14a1e28
RD
73
74 Public data members of the C++ classes are wrapped as Python
d7403ad2
RD
75 properties using property() instead of using
76 __getattr__/__setattr__ hacks like before. Normally you shouldn't
77 notice any difference, but if you were previously doing something
78 with __getattr__/__setattr__ in derived classes then you may have
79 to adjust things.
80
81 Static C++ methods are wrapped using the staticmethod() feature of
82 Python and so are accessible as ClassName.MethodName as expected.
83 They are still also available as top level functions named like
d14a1e28
RD
84 ClassName_MethodName as before.
85
86 The relationship between the wxFoo and wxFooPtr classes have
87 changed for the better. Specifically, all instances that you see
d7403ad2
RD
88 will be wx.Foo even if they are created internally using wx.FooPtr,
89 because wx.FooPtr.__init__ will change the instance's __class__ as
d14a1e28 90 part of the initialization. If you have any code that checks
d7403ad2
RD
91 class type using something like isinstance(obj, wx.FooPtr) you will
92 need to change it to isinstance(obj, wx.Foo).
d14a1e28
RD
93
94
95
96Binding Events
97--------------
98
99All of the EVT_* functions are now instances of the wx.PyEventBinder
100class. They have a __call__ method so they can still be used as
101functions like before, but making them instances adds some
29bfe46b 102flexibility that I expect to take advantave of in the future.
d14a1e28
RD
103
104wx.EvtHandler (the base class for wx.Window) now has a Bind method that
105makes binding events to windows a little easier. Here is its
106definition and docstring::
107
108 def Bind(self, event, handler, source=None, id=wxID_ANY, id2=wxID_ANY):
109 """
110 Bind an event to an event handler.
111
112 event One of the EVT_* objects that specifies the
113 type of event to bind.
114
115 handler A callable object to be invoked when the event
116 is delivered to self. Pass None to disconnect an
117 event handler.
118
119 source Sometimes the event originates from a different window
120 than self, but you still want to catch it in self. (For
121 example, a button event delivered to a frame.) By
122 passing the source of the event, the event handling
123 system is able to differentiate between the same event
124 type from different controls.
125
126 id,id2 Used for menu IDs or for event types that require a
127 range of IDs
128
129 """
130
131Some examples of its use::
132
133 self.Bind(wx.EVT_SIZE, self.OnSize)
134 self.Bind(wx.EVT_BUTTON, self.OnButtonClick, theButton)
c8000995
RD
135 self.Bind(wx.EVT_MENU, self.OnExit, id=wx.ID_EXIT)
136
137
138The wx.Menu methods that add items to a wx.Menu have been modified
139such that they return a reference to the wx.MenuItem that was created.
140Additionally menu items and toolbar items have been modified to
141automatically generate a new ID if -1 is given, similar to using -1
142with window classess. This means that you can create menu or toolbar
143items and event bindings without having to predefine a unique menu ID,
144although you still can use IDs just like before if you want. For
e8a71fa0
RD
145example, these are all equivallent other than their specific ID
146values::
c8000995
RD
147
148 1.
149 item = menu.Append(-1, "E&xit", "Terminate the App")
150 self.Bind(wx.EVT_MENU, self.OnExit, item)
151
152 2.
153 item = menu.Append(wx.ID_EXIT, "E&xit", "Terminate the App")
154 self.Bind(wx.EVT_MENU, self.OnExit, item)
d14a1e28 155
c8000995
RD
156 3.
157 menu.Append(wx.ID_EXIT, "E&xit", "Terminate the App")
158 self.Bind(wx.EVT_MENU, self.OnExit, id=wx.ID_EXIT)
159
160
d14a1e28
RD
161If you create your own custom event types and EVT_* functions, and you
162want to be able to use them with the Bind method above then you should
d7403ad2 163change your EVT_* to be an instance of wx.PyEventBinder instead of a
29bfe46b 164function. For example, if you used to have something like this::
d14a1e28
RD
165
166 myCustomEventType = wxNewEventType()
167 def EVT_MY_CUSTOM_EVENT(win, id, func):
168 win.Connect(id, -1, myCustomEventType, func)
169
170
171Change it like so::
172
6158f936
RD
173 myCustomEventType = wx.NewEventType()
174 EVT_MY_CUSTOM_EVENT = wx.PyEventBinder(myCustomEventType, 1)
d14a1e28
RD
175
176The second parameter is an integer in [0, 1, 2] that specifies the
177number of IDs that are needed to be passed to Connect.
178
64316568 179**[Changed in 2.5.2.x]** There is also an Unbind method added to
d7403ad2
RD
180wx.EvtHandler that can be used to disconenct event handlers. It looks
181like this::
182
183 def Unbind(self, event, source=None, id=wx.ID_ANY, id2=wx.ID_ANY):
184 """
185 Disconencts the event handler binding for event from self.
186 Returns True if successful.
187 """
d14a1e28
RD
188
189
c8000995
RD
190
191
d14a1e28
RD
192The wx Namespace
193----------------
194
195The second phase of the wx Namespace Transition has begun. That means
196that the real names of the classes and other symbols do not have the
197'wx' prefix and the modules are located in a Python package named
198wx. There is still a Python package named wxPython with modules
199that have the names with the wx prefix for backwards compatibility.
200Instead of dynamically changing the names at module load time like in
2012.4, the compatibility modules are generated at build time and contain
202assignment statements like this::
203
d7403ad2 204 wxWindow = wx._core.Window
d14a1e28 205
d7403ad2 206Don't let the "_core" in the name bother you. That and some other
d14a1e28
RD
207modules are implementation details, and everything that was in the
208wxPython.wx module before will still be in the wx package namespace
d7403ad2
RD
209after this change. So from your code you would use it as wx.Window or
210wxWindow if you import from the wxPython.wx module.
d14a1e28
RD
211
212A few notes about how all of this was accomplished might be
213interesting... SWIG is now run twice for each module that it is
214generating code for. The first time it outputs an XML representaion
215of the parse tree, which can be up to 20MB and 300K lines in size!
216That XML is then run through a little Python script that creates a
217file full of SWIG %rename directives that take the wx off of the
218names, and also generates the Python compatibility file described
219above that puts the wx back on the names. SWIG is then run a second
220time to generate the C++ code to implement the extension module, and
221uses the %rename directives that were generated in the first step.
222
223Not every name is handled correctly (but the bulk of them are) and so
224some work has to be done by hand, especially for the reverse-renamers.
225So expect a few flaws here and there until everything gets sorted out.
226
227In summary, the wx package and names without the "wx" prefix are now
228the official form of the wxPython classes. For example::
229
230 import wx
231
232 class MyFrame(wx.Frame):
233 def __init__(self, parent, title):
234 wx.Frame.__init__(self, parent, -1, title)
235 p = wx.Panel(self, -1)
236 b = wx.Button(p, -1, "Do It", (10,10))
237 self.Bind(wx.EVT_BUTTON, self.JustDoIt, b)
238
239 def JustDoIt(self, evt):
240 print "It's done!"
241
242 app = wx.PySimpleApp()
243 f = MyFrame(None, "What's up?")
244 f.Show()
245 app.MainLoop()
246
247You shouldn't need to migrate all your modules over to use the new
248package and names right away as there are modules in place that try to
249provide as much backwards compatibility of the names as possible. If
82a074ce 250you rewrote the above sample using "from wxPython.wx import * ", the
d14a1e28
RD
251old wxNames, and the old style of event binding it will still work
252just fine.
253
254
255
256
257New wx.DC Methods
258-----------------
259
64316568 260**[Changed in 2.5.2.x]** In wxPython 2.5.1.5 there was a new
d7403ad2
RD
261implementation of the wx.DC Draw and other methods that broke
262backwards compatibility in the name of consistency. That change has
263been reverted and the wx.DC Draw methods with 2.4 compatible
264signatures have been restored. In addition a new set of methods have
265been added that take wx.Point and/or wx.Size parameters instead of
266separate integer parameters. The Draw and etc. methods now available
51b2943a 267in the wx.DC class are::
d14a1e28 268
d14a1e28 269
51b2943a
RD
270 FloodFill(self, x, y, colour, style = wx.FLOOD_SURFACE)
271 FoodFillPoint(self, pt, colour, style = wx.FLOOD_SURFACE)
d14a1e28 272
51b2943a
RD
273 GetPixel(self, x,y)
274 GetPixelPoint(self, pt)
d7403ad2 275
51b2943a
RD
276 DrawLine(self, x1, y1, x2, y2)
277 DrawLinePoint(self, pt1, pt2)
d14a1e28 278
51b2943a
RD
279 CrossHair(self, x, y)
280 CrossHairPoint(self, pt)
d14a1e28 281
51b2943a
RD
282 DrawArc(self, x1, y1, x2, y2, xc, yc)
283 DrawArcPoint(self, pt1, pt2, centre)
d14a1e28 284
51b2943a
RD
285 DrawCheckMark(self, x, y, width, height)
286 DrawCheckMarkRect(self, rect)
d14a1e28 287
51b2943a
RD
288 DrawEllipticArc(self, x, y, w, h, sa, ea)
289 DrawEllipticArcPointSize(self, pt, sz, sa, ea)
d14a1e28 290
51b2943a
RD
291 DrawPoint(self, x, y)
292 DrawPointPoint(self, pt)
d14a1e28 293
51b2943a
RD
294 DrawRectangle(self, x, y, width, height)
295 DrawRectangleRect(self, rect)
296 DrawRectanglePointSize(self, pt, sz)
d14a1e28 297
51b2943a
RD
298 DrawRoundedRectangle(self, x, y, width, height, radius)
299 DrawRoundedRectangleRect(self, r, radius)
300 DrawRoundedRectanglePointSize(self, pt, sz, radius)
d14a1e28 301
51b2943a
RD
302 DrawCircle(self, x, y, radius)
303 DrawCirclePoint(self, pt, radius)
d14a1e28 304
51b2943a
RD
305 DrawEllipse(self, x, y, width, height)
306 DrawEllipseRect(self, rect)
307 DrawEllipsePointSize(self, pt, sz)
d14a1e28 308
51b2943a
RD
309 DrawIcon(self, icon, x, y)
310 DrawIconPoint(self, icon, pt)
d14a1e28 311
51b2943a
RD
312 DrawBitmap(self, bmp, x, y, useMask = False)
313 DrawBitmapPoint(self, bmp, pt, useMask = False)
d14a1e28 314
51b2943a
RD
315 DrawText(self, text, x, y)
316 DrawTextPoint(self, text, pt)
d14a1e28 317
51b2943a
RD
318 DrawRotatedText(self, text, x, y, angle)
319 DrawRotatedTextPoint(self, text, pt, angle)
d14a1e28 320
51b2943a 321 bool Blit(self, xdest, ydest, width, height, sourceDC, xsrc, ysrc,
d7403ad2 322 rop = wx.COPY, useMask = False, xsrcMask = -1, ysrcMask = -1)
51b2943a 323 BlitPointSize(self, destPt, sz, sourceDC, srcPt, rop = wx.COPY,
d7403ad2 324 useMask = False, srcPtMask = wxDefaultPosition)
4da6d35e 325
d14a1e28 326
51b2943a
RD
327 SetClippingRegion(self, x, y, width, height)
328 SetClippingRegionPointSize(self, pt, sz)
329 SetClippingRegionAsRegion(self, region)
330 SetClippingRect(self, rect)
d14a1e28 331
d14a1e28
RD
332
333
334
335
336Building, Extending and Embedding wxPython
337------------------------------------------
338
339wxPython's setup.py script now expects to use existing libraries for
340the contribs (gizmos, stc, xrc, etc.) rather than building local
341copies of them. If you build your own copies of wxPython please be
342aware that you now need to also build the ogl, stc, xrc, and gizmos
29bfe46b 343libraries in addition to the main wx lib.
d14a1e28
RD
344
345The wxPython.h and other header files are now in
9ec83f8d
RD
346.../wxPython/include/wx/wxPython instead of in wxPython/src. You
347should include it via the "wx/wxPython/wxPython.h" path and add
29bfe46b
RD
348.../wxPython/include to your list of include paths. On OSX and
349unix-like systems the wxPython headers are installed to the same place
9ec83f8d
RD
350that the wxWidgets headers are installed, so if you are building
351wxPython compatible extensions on those platforms then your include
352path should already be set properly.
29bfe46b
RD
353
354If you are also using SWIG for your extension then you'll need to
355adapt how the wxPython .i files are imported into your .i files. See
356the wxPython sources for examples. Your modules will need to at least
357``%import core.i``, and possibly others if you need the definition of
9ec83f8d
RD
358other classes. Since you will need them to build your modules using
359SWIG, the main wxPython .i files are also installed with the wxPython
360headers in an i_files sibdirectory. It should be enough to pass a
361-I/pathname on the command line for SWIG to find the files.
29bfe46b
RD
362
363The bulk of wxPython's setup.py has been moved to another module,
364wx/build/config.py. This module will be installed as part of wxPython
365so 3rd party modules that wish to use the same setup/configuration
366code can do so simply by importing this module from their own setup.py
367scripts using ``import wx.build.config``.
d14a1e28
RD
368
369You no longer need to call wxClassInfo::CleanUpClasses() and
370wxClassInfo::InitializeClasses() in your extensions or when embedding
371wxPython.
372
29bfe46b
RD
373The usage of wxPyBeginAllowThreads and wxPyEndAllowThreads has changed
374slightly. wxPyBeginAllowThreads now returns a boolean value that must
375be passed to the coresponding wxPyEndAllowThreads function call. This
376is to help do the RightThing when calls to these two functions are
377nested, or if calls to external code in other extension modules that
378are wrapped in the standard Py_(BEGIN|END)_ALLOW_THERADS may result in
379wx event handlers being called (such as during the call to
380os.startfile.)
d14a1e28
RD
381
382
383
384Two (or Three!) Phase Create
385----------------------------
386
387If you use the Precreate/Create method of instantiating a window, (for
388example, to set an extended style flag, or for XRC handlers) then
389there is now a new method named PostCreate to help with transplanting
390the brain of the prewindow instance into the derived window instance.
391For example::
392
393 class MyDialog(wx.Dialog):
394 def __init__(self, parent, ID, title, pos, size, style):
395 pre = wx.PreDialog()
396 pre.SetExtraStyle(wx.DIALOG_EX_CONTEXTHELP)
397 pre.Create(parent, ID, title, pos, size, style)
398 self.PostCreate(pre)
399
400
401
402Sizers
403------
404
e6a5dac6 405The hack allowing the old "option" keyword parameter has been removed.
ff0ac6b0 406If you use keyword args with wx.Sizer Add, Insert, or Prepend methods
d7403ad2
RD
407then you will need to use the ``proportion`` name instead of
408``option``. (The ``proportion`` keyword was also allowed in 2.4.2.4.)
d14a1e28 409
29bfe46b 410When adding a spacer to a sizer you now need to use a wx.Size or a
d14a1e28 4112-integer sequence instead of separate width and height parameters.
d7403ad2
RD
412This was optionally allowed in 2.4, but now it is required. This
413allows for more consistency in how you add the various types of items
414to a sizer. The first parameter defines the item (instead of the
415possibily first two, depending on if you are doing a spacer or not,)
416and that item can either be a window, a sizer or a spacer (which can
417be a sequence or a wx.Size.) Removing the option for separate width
418and height parameters greatly simplified the wrapper code.
d14a1e28 419
29bfe46b 420The wx.GridBagSizer class (very similar to the RowColSizer in the
d14a1e28
RD
421library) has been added to C++ and wrapped for wxPython. It can also
422be used from XRC.
423
424You should not use AddWindow, AddSizer, AddSpacer (and similar for
425Insert, Prepend, and etc.) methods any longer. Just use Add and the
64316568 426wrappers will figure out what to do. **[Changed in 2.5.2.x]**
1a0f14e1 427AddWindow, AddSizer, AddSpacer and etc. will now issue a
d7403ad2 428DeprecationWarning.
d14a1e28 429
da2c7672
RD
430**[Changed in 2.5.2.x]** The Sizers have had some fundamental internal
431changes in the 2.5.2.x release intended to make them do more of the
432"Right Thing" but also be as backwards compatible as possible.
433First a bit about how things used to work:
434
435 * The size that a window had when Add()ed to the sizer was assumed
436 to be its minimal size, and that size would always be used by
437 default when calculating layout size and positions, and the
438 sizer itself would keep track of that minimal size.
439
440 * If the window item was added with the ``wx.ADJUST_MINSIZE``
441 flag then when layout was calculated the item's ``GetBestSize``
442 would be used to reset the minimal size that the sizer used.
443
ff0ac6b0 444The main thrust of the new Sizer changes was to make behavior like
da2c7672
RD
445``wx.ADJUST_MINSIZE`` be the default, and also to push the tracking of
446the minimal size to the window itself (since it knows its own needs)
447instead of having the sizer take care of it. Consequently these
448changes were made:
449
450 * The ``wx.FIXED_MINSIZE`` flag was added to allow for the old
ff0ac6b0 451 behavior. When this flag is used the size a window has when
da2c7672
RD
452 added to the sizer will be treated as its minimal size and it
453 will not be readjusted on each layout.
454
455 * The min size stored in ``wx.Window`` and settable with
456 ``SetSizeHints`` or ``SetMinSize`` will by default be used by
457 the sizer (if it was set) as the minimal size of the sizer item.
458 If the min size was not set (or was only partially set) then the
459 window's best size is fetched and it is used instead of (or
460 blended with) the min size. ``wx.Window.GetBestFittingSize``
461 was added to facilitate getting the size to be used by the
462 sizers.
463
464 * The best size of a window is cached so it doesn't need to
465 recaculated on every layout. ``wx.Window.InvalidateBestSize``
466 was added and should be called (usually just internally in
467 control methods) whenever something is done that would make the
468 best size change.
469
470 * All wxControls were changed to set the minsize to what is passed
471 to the constructor or Create method, and also to set the real
472 size of the control to the blending of the min size and best
473 size. ``wx.Window.SetBestFittingSize`` was added to help with
474 this, although most controls don't need to call it directly
475 because it is called indirectly via the ``SetInitialSize``
476 called in the base classes.
477
478At this time, the only situation known not to work the same as before
479is the following::
480
481 win = SomeWidget(parent)
482 win.SetSize(SomeNonDefaultSize)
483 sizer.Add(win)
484
485In this case the old code would have used the new size as the minimum,
486but now the sizer will use the default size as the minimum rather than
487the size set later. It is an easy fix though, just move the
488specification of the size to the constructor (assuming that SomeWidget
489will set its minsize there like the rest of the controls do) or call
490``SetMinSize`` instead of ``SetSize``.
491
492In order to fit well with this new scheme of things, all wxControls or
493custom controls should do the following things. (Depending on how
494they are used you may also want to do the same thing for non-control
495custom windows.)
496
497 * Either override or inherit a meaningful ``DoGetBestSize`` method
498 that calculates whatever size is "best" for the control. Once
499 that size is calculated then there should normally be a call to
500 ``CacheBestSize`` to save it for later use, unless for some
501 reason you want the best size to be recalculated on every
502 layout.
503
504 Note: In order to successfully override ``DoGetBestSize`` in
505 Python the class needs to be derived from ``wx.PyWindow``,
506 ``wx.PyControl``, or etc. If your class instead derives from
507 one of the standard wx classes then just be sure that the min
508 size gets explicitly set to what would have been the best size
509 and things should work properly in almost all situations.
510
511 * Any method that changes the attributes of the control such that
512 the best size will change should call ``InvalidateBestSize`` so
513 it will be recalculated the next time it is needed.
514
515 * The control's constructor and/or Create method should ensure
516 that the minsize is set to the size passed in, and that the
517 control is sized to a blending of the min size and best size.
518 This can be done by calling ``SetBestFittingSize``.
d7403ad2 519
95fed4d8 520
d14a1e28 521
dd346b94
RD
522PlatformInfo
523------------
524
525Added wx.PlatformInfo which is a tuple containing strings that
526describe the platform and build options of wxPython. This lets you
527know more about the build than just the __WXPORT__ value that
528wx.Platform contains, such as if it is a GTK2 build. For example,
529instead of::
530
531 if wx.Platform == "__WXGTK__":
532 ...
533
534you should do this::
535
536 if "__WXGTK__" in wx.PlatformInfo:
537 ...
538
539and you can specifically check for a wxGTK2 build by looking for
540"gtk2" in wx.PlatformInfo. Unicode builds are also detectable this
541way. If there are any other platform/toolkit/build flags that make
542sense to add to this tuple please let me know.
543
544BTW, wx.Platform will probably be deprecated in the future.
545
546
d14a1e28 547
b7c75283
RD
548ActiveX
549-------
550
551Lindsay Mathieson's newest wxActiveX_ class has been wrapped into a new
552extension module called wx.activex. It is very generic and dynamic
553and should allow hosting of arbitray ActiveX controls within your
554wxPython apps. So far I've tested it with IE, PDF, and Flash
555controls, (and there are new samples in the demo and also library
556modules supporting these.)
557
558.. _wxActiveX: http://members.optusnet.com.au/~blackpaw1/wxactivex.html
559
560The new wx.activex module contains a bunch of code, but the most
561important things to look at are ActiveXWindow and ActiveXEvent.
562ActiveXWindow derives from wxWindow and the constructor accepts a
563CLSID for the ActiveX Control that should be created. (There is also
564a CLSID class that can convert from a progID or a CLSID String.) The
565ActiveXWindow class simply adds methods that allow you to query some
566of the TypeInfo exposed by the ActiveX object, and also to get/set
567properties or call methods by name. The Python implementation
568automatically handles converting parameters and return values to/from
569the types expected by the ActiveX code as specified by the TypeInfo,
570(just bool, integers, floating point, strings and None/Empty so far,
571but more can be handled later.)
572
573That's pretty much all there is to the class, as I mentioned before it
574is very generic and dynamic. Very little is hard-coded and everything
575that is done with the actual ActiveX control is done at runtime and
576referenced by property or method name. Since Python is such a dynamic
577language this is a very good match. I thought for a while about doing
578some Python black-magic and making the specific methods/properties of
579the actual ActiveX control "appear" at runtime, but then decided that
580it would be better and more understandable to do it via subclassing.
581So there is a utility class in wx.activex that given an existing
582ActiveXWindow instance can generate a .py module containing a derived
583class with real methods and properties that do the Right Thing to
584reflect those calls to the real ActiveX control. There is also a
585script/tool module named genaxmodule that given a CLSID or progID and
586a class name, will generate the module for you. There are a few
b098694c 587examples of the output of this tool in the wx.lib package, see
b7c75283
RD
588iewin.py, pdfwin.py and flashwin.py.
589
590Currently the genaxmodule tool will tweak some of the names it
591generates, but this can be controled if you would like to do it
592differently by deriving your own class from GernerateAXModule,
593overriding some methods and then using this class from a tool like
594genaxmodule. [TODO: make specifying a new class on genaxmodule's
595command-line possible.] The current default behavior is that any
596event names that start with "On" will have the "On" dropped, property
597names are converted to all lower case, and if any name is a Python
598keyword it will have an underscore appended to it. GernerateAXModule
599does it's best when generating the code in the new module, but it can
600only be as good as the TypeInfo data available from the ActiveX
601control so sometimes some tweaking will be needed. For example, the
602IE web browser control defines the Flags parameter of the Navigate2
603method as required, but MSDN says it is optional.
604
605It is intended that this new wx.activex module will replace both the
606older version of Lindsay's code available in iewin.IEHtmlWindow, and
607also the wx.lib.activexwraper module. Probably the biggest
b098694c 608differences you'll ecounter in migrating activexwrapper-based code
b7c75283
RD
609(besides events working better without causing deadlocks) is that
610events are no longer caught by overriding methods in your derived
611class. Instead ActiveXWindow uses the wx event system and you bind
612handlers for the ActiveX events exactly the same way you do for any wx
613event. There is just one extra step needed and that is creating an
614event ID from the ActiveX event name, and if you use the genaxmodule
615tool then this extra step will be handled for you there. For example,
616for the StatusTextChange event in the IE web browser control, this
617code is generated for you::
618
619 wxEVT_StatusTextChange = wx.activex.RegisterActiveXEvent('StatusTextChange')
620 EVT_StatusTextChange = wx.PyEventBinder(wxEVT_StatusTextChange, 1)
621
622and you would use it in your code like this::
623
624 self.Bind(iewin.EVT_StatusTextChange, self.UpdateStatusText, self.ie)
625
626When the event happens and your event handler function is called the
627event properties from the ActiveX control (if any) are converted to
628attributes of the event object passed to the handler. (Can you say
629'event' any more times in a single sentence? ;-) ) For example the
630StatusTextChange event will also send the text that should be put into
631the status line as an event parameter named "Text" and you can access
b098694c 632it your handlers as an attribute of the event object like this::
b7c75283
RD
633
634 def UpdateStatusText(self, evt):
635 self.SetStatusText(evt.Text)
636
b098694c
RD
637Usually these event object attributes should be considered read-only,
638but some will be defined by the TypeInfo as output parameters. In
639those cases if you modify the event object's attribute then that value
640will be returned to the ActiveX control. For example, to prevent a
641new window from being opened by the IE web browser control you can do
642this in the handler for the iewin.EVT_NewWindow2 event::
643
644 def OnNewWindow2(self, evt):
645 evt.Cancel = True
b7c75283 646
29bfe46b 647So how do you know what methods, events and properties that an ActiveX
b7c75283
RD
648control supports? There is a funciton in wx.activex named GetAXInfo
649that returns a printable summary of the TypeInfo from the ActiveX
650instance passed in. You can use this as an example of how to browse
651the TypeInfo provided, and there is also a copy of this function's
652output appended as a comment to the modules produced by the
653genaxmodule tool. Beyond that you'll need to consult the docs
654provided by the makers of the ActiveX control that you are using.
655
656
657
dcbafcc2
RD
658
659PNG Images
660----------
661
662Prior to 2.5 the PNG image handler would convert all alpha channel
663information to a mask when the image was loaded. Pixels that were
664more than halfway transparent would be made fully transparent by the
665mask and the rest would be made fully opaque.
666
667In 2.5 the image handler has been updated to preserve the alpha
668channel and will now only create a mask when all the pixels in the
669image are either fully transparent or fully opaque. In addition, the
670wx.DC.DrawBitmap and wx.DC.Blit methods are able to correctly blend
671the pixels in the image with partially transparent alpha values.
dcbafcc2
RD
672
673If you are using a PNG with an alpha channel but you need to have a
674wx.Mask like you automatically got in 2.4 then you can do one of the
675following:
676
677 * Edit the image and make all the partially transparent pixels be
678 fully transparent.
679
680 * Use a different image type.
681
682 * Set a mask based on colour after you load the image.
683
684
685
f847103a
RD
686OGL is dead! LONG LIVE OGL!
687---------------------------
688
64316568 689**[Changed in 2.5.2.x]**
ea06848c 690
f847103a
RD
691The wx.ogl module has been deprecated in favor of the new Python port
692