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1%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
2%% Name: wxmsw.tex
3%% Purpose: wxMSW and wxWinCE platform specific informations
4%% Author: wxWidgets Team
5%% Modified by:
6%% Created:
7%% RCS-ID: $Id$
8%% Copyright: (c) wxWidgets Team
9%% License: wxWindows license
10%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
11
12\section{wxMSW port}\label{wxmswport}
13
14wxMSW is a port of wxWidgets for the Windows platforms
15including Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000, NT, XP in ANSI and
16Unicode mode (for Windows 95 through the MSLU extension
17library). wxMSW ensures native look and feel for XP
18as well when using wxWidgets version 2.3.3 or higher.
19wxMSW can be compile with a great variety of compilers
20including MS VC++, Borland 5.5, MinGW32, Cygwin and
21Watcom as well as cross-compilation with a Linux hosted
22MinGW32 tool chain.
23
24For further information, please see the files in docs/msw
25in the distribution.
26
27\subsection{wxWinCE}\label{wxwince}
28
29wxWinCE is the name given to wxMSW when compiled on Windows CE devices;
30most of wxMSW is common to Win32 and Windows CE but there are
31some simplifications, enhancements, and differences in
32behaviour.
33
34For building instructions, see docs/msw/wince in the
35distribution. The rest of this section documents issues you
36need to be aware of when programming for Windows CE devices.
37
38\subsubsection{General issues for wxWinCE programming}
39
40Mobile applications generally have fewer features and
41simpler user interfaces. Simply omit whole sizers, static
42lines and controls in your dialogs, and use comboboxes instead
43of listboxes where appropriate. You also need to reduce
44the amount of spacing used by sizers, for which you can
45use a macro such as this:
46
47\begin{verbatim}
48#if defined(__WXWINCE__)
49 #define wxLARGESMALL(large,small) small
50#else
51 #define wxLARGESMALL(large,small) large
52#endif
53
54// Usage
55topsizer->Add( CreateTextSizer( message ), 0, wxALL, wxLARGESMALL(10,0) );
56\end{verbatim}
57
58There is only ever one instance of a Windows CE application running,
59and wxWidgets will take care of showing the current instance and
60shutting down the second instance if necessary.
61
62You can test the return value of wxSystemSettings::GetScreenType()
63for a qualitative assessment of what kind of display is available,
64or use wxGetDisplaySize() if you need more information.
65
66You can also use wxGetOsVersion to test for a version of Windows CE at
67run-time (see the next section). However, because different builds
68are currently required to target different kinds of device, these
69values are hard-wired according to the build, and you cannot
70dynamically adapt the same executable for different major Windows CE
71platforms. This would require a different approach to the way
72wxWidgets adapts its behaviour (such as for menubars) to suit the
73style of device.
74
75See the "Life!" example (demos/life) for an example of
76an application that has been tailored for PocketPC and Smartphone use.
77
78{\bf Note:} don't forget to have this line in your .rc file, as for
79desktop Windows applications:
80
81\begin{verbatim}
82#include "wx/msw/wx.rc"
83\end{verbatim}
84
85\subsubsection{Testing for WinCE SDKs}
86
87Use these preprocessor symbols to test for the different types of device or SDK:
88
89\begin{twocollist}\itemsep=0pt
90\twocolitem{\_\_SMARTPHONE\_\_}{Generic mobile devices with phone buttons and a small display}
91\twocolitem{\_\_PDA\_\_}{Generic mobile devices with no phone}
92\twocolitem{\_\_HANDHELDPC\_\_}{Generic mobile device with a keyboard}
93\twocolitem{\_\_WXWINCE\_\_}{Microsoft-powered Windows CE devices, whether PocketPC, Smartphone or Standard SDK}
94\twocolitem{WIN32\_PLATFORM\_WFSP}{Microsoft-powered smartphone}
95\twocolitem{\_\_POCKETPC\_\_}{Microsoft-powered PocketPC devices with touch-screen}
96\twocolitem{\_\_WINCE\_STANDARDSDK\_\_}{Microsoft-powered Windows CE devices, for generic Windows CE applications}
97\twocolitem{\_\_WINCE\_NET\_\_}{Microsoft-powered Windows CE .NET devices (\_WIN32\_WCE is 400 or greater)}
98\end{twocollist}
99
100wxGetOsVersion will return these values:
101
102\begin{twocollist}\itemsep=0pt
103\twocolitem{wxWINDOWS\_POCKETPC}{The application is running under PocketPC.}
104\twocolitem{wxWINDOWS\_SMARTPHONE}{The application is running under Smartphone.}
105\twocolitem{wxWINDOWS\_CE}{The application is running under Windows CE (built with the Standard SDK).}
106\end{twocollist}
107
108\subsubsection{Window sizing in wxWinCE}
109
110When creating frames and dialogs, create them with wxDefaultPosition and
111wxDefaultSize, which will tell WinCE to create them full-screen.
112
113Don't call Fit() and Centre(), so the content sizes to
114the window rather than fitting the window to the content. (We really need a single API call
115that will do the right thing on each platform.)
116
117If the screen orientation changes, the windows will automatically be resized
118so no further action needs to be taken (unless you want to change the layout
119according to the orientation, which you could detect in idle time, for example).
120When input panel (SIP) is shown, top level windows (frames and dialogs) resize
121accordingly (see \helpref{wxTopLevelWindow::HandleSettingChange}{wxtoplevelwindowhandlesettingchange}).
122
123\subsubsection{Closing top-level windows in wxWinCE}
124
125You won't get a wxCloseEvent when the user clicks on the X in the titlebar
126on Smartphone and PocketPC; the window is simply hidden instead. However the system may send the
127event to force the application to close down.
128
129\subsubsection{Hibernation in wxWinCE}
130
131Smartphone and PocketPC will send a wxEVT\_HIBERNATE to the application object in low
132memory conditions. Your application should release memory and close dialogs,
133and wake up again when the next wxEVT\_ACTIVATE or wxEVT\_ACTIVATE\_APP message is received.
134(wxEVT\_ACTIVATE\_APP is generated whenever a wxEVT\_ACTIVATE event is received
135in Smartphone and PocketPC, since these platforms do not support WM\_ACTIVATEAPP.)
136
137\subsubsection{Hardware buttons in wxWinCE}
138
139Special hardware buttons are sent to a window via the wxEVT\_HOTKEY event
140under Smartphone and PocketPC. You should first register each required button with \helpref{wxWindow::RegisterHotKey}{wxwindowregisterhotkey},
141and unregister the button when you're done with it. For example:
142
143\begin{verbatim}
144 win->RegisterHotKey(0, wxMOD_WIN, WXK_SPECIAL1);
145 win->UnregisterHotKey(0);
146\end{verbatim}
147
148You may have to register the buttons in a wxEVT\_ACTIVATE event handler
149since other applications will grab the buttons.
150
151There is currently no method of finding out the names of the special
152buttons or how many there are.
153
154\subsubsection{Dialogs in wxWinCE}
155
156PocketPC dialogs have an OK button on the caption, and so you should generally
157not repeat an OK button on the dialog. You can add a Cancel button if necessary, but some dialogs
158simply don't offer you the choice (the guidelines recommend you offer an Undo facility
159to make up for it). When the user clicks on the OK button, your dialog will receive
160a wxID\_OK event by default. If you wish to change this, call \helpref{wxDialog::SetAffirmativeId}{wxdialogsetaffirmativeid}
161with the required identifier to be used. Or, override \helpref{wxDialog::DoOK}{wxdialogdook} (return false to
162have wxWidgets simply call Close to dismiss the dialog).
163
164Smartphone dialogs do {\it not} have an OK button on the caption, and are closed
165using one of the two menu buttons. You need to assign these using \helpref{wxTopLevelWindow::SetLeftMenu}{wxtoplevelwindowsetleftmenu}
166and \helpref{wxTopLevelWindow::SetRightMenu}{wxtoplevelwindowsetrightmenu}, for example:
167
168\begin{verbatim}
169#ifdef __SMARTPHONE__
170 SetLeftMenu(wxID_OK);
171 SetRightMenu(wxID_CANCEL, _("Cancel"));
172#elif defined(__POCKETPC__)
173 // No OK/Cancel buttons on PocketPC, OK on caption will close
174#else
175 topsizer->Add( CreateButtonSizer( wxOK|wxCANCEL ), 0, wxEXPAND | wxALL, 10 );
176#endif
177\end{verbatim}
178
179For implementing property sheets (flat tabs), use a wxNotebook with wxNB\_FLAT|wxNB\_BOTTOM
180and have the notebook left, top and right sides overlap the dialog by about 3 pixels
181to eliminate spurious borders. You can do this by using a negative spacing in your
182sizer Add() call. The cross-platform property sheet dialog \helpref{wxPropertySheetDialog}{wxpropertysheetdialog} is
183provided, to show settings in the correct style on PocketPC and on other platforms.
184
185Notifications (bubble HTML text with optional buttons and links) will also be
186implemented in the future for PocketPC.
187
188Modeless dialogs probably don't make sense for PocketPC and Smartphone, since
189frames and dialogs are normally full-screen, and a modeless dialog is normally
190intended to co-exist with the main application frame.
191
192\subsubsection{Menubars and toolbars in wxWinCE}
193
194\wxheading{Menubars and toolbars in PocketPC}
195
196On PocketPC, a frame must always have a menubar, even if it's empty.
197An empty menubar/toolbar is automatically provided for dialogs, to hide
198any existing menubar for the duration of the dialog.
199
200Menubars and toolbars are implemented using a combined control,
201but you can use essentially the usual wxWidgets API; wxWidgets will combine the menubar
202and toolbar. However, there are some restrictions:
203
204\itemsep=0pt
205\begin{itemize}
206\item You must create the frame's primary toolbar with wxFrame::CreateToolBar,
207because this uses the special wxToolMenuBar class (derived from wxToolBar)
208to implement the combined toolbar and menubar. Otherwise, you can create and manage toolbars
209using the wxToolBar class as usual, for example to implement an optional
210formatting toolbar above the menubar as Pocket Word does. But don't assign
211a wxToolBar to a frame using SetToolBar - you should always use CreateToolBar
212for the main frame toolbar.
213\item Deleting and adding tools to wxToolMenuBar after Realize is called is not supported.
214\item For speed, colours are not remapped to the system colours as they are
215in wxMSW. Provide the tool bitmaps either with the correct system button background,
216or with transparency (for example, using XPMs).
217\item Adding controls to wxToolMenuBar is not supported. However, wxToolBar supports
218controls.
219\end{itemize}
220
221Unlike in all other ports, a wxDialog has a wxToolBar, automatically created
222for you. You may either leave it blank, or access it with wxDialog::GetToolBar
223and add buttons, then calling wxToolBar::Realize. You cannot set or recreate
224the toolbar.
225
226\wxheading{Menubars and toolbars in Smartphone}
227
228On Smartphone, there are only two menu buttons, so a menubar is simulated
229using a nested menu on the right menu button. Any toolbars are simply ignored on
230Smartphone.
231
232\subsubsection{Closing windows in wxWinCE}
233
234The guidelines state that applications should not have a Quit menu item,
235since the user should not have to know whether an application is in memory
236or not. The close button on a window does not call the window's
237close handler; it simply hides the window. However, the guidelines say that
238the Ctrl+Q accelerator can be used to quit the application, so wxWidgets
239defines this accelerator by default and if your application handles
240wxID\_EXIT, it will do the right thing.
241
242\subsubsection{Context menus in wxWinCE}
243
244To enable context menus in PocketPC, you currently need to call wxWindow::EnableContextMenu,
245a wxWinCE-only function. Otherwise the context menu event (wxContextMenuEvent) will
246never be sent. This API is subject to change.
247
248Context menus are not supported in Smartphone.
249
250\subsubsection{Control differences on wxWinCE}
251
252These controls and styles are specific to wxWinCE:
253
254\itemsep=0pt
255\begin{itemize}
256\item {\bf wxTextCtrl} The wxTE\_CAPITALIZE style causes a CAPEDIT control to
257be created, which capitalizes the first letter.
258\end{itemize}
259
260These controls are missing from wxWinCE:
261
262\itemsep=0pt
263\begin{itemize}
264\item {\bf MDI classes} MDI is not supported under Windows CE.
265\item {\bf wxMiniFrame} Not supported under Windows CE.
266\end{itemize}
267
268Tooltips are not currently supported for controls, since on PocketPC controls with
269tooltips are distinct controls, and it will be hard to add dynamic
270tooltip support.
271
272Control borders on PocketPC and Smartphone should normally be specified with
273wxSIMPLE\_BORDER instead of wxSUNKEN\_BORDER. Controls will usually adapt
274appropriately by virtue of their GetDefaultBorder() function, but if you
275wish to specify a style explicitly you can use wxDEFAULT\_CONTROL\_BORDER
276which will give a simple border on PocketPC and Smartphone, and the sunken border on
277other platforms.
278
279\subsubsection{Online help in wxWinCE}
280
281You can use the help controller wxWinceHelpController which controls
282simple {\tt .htm} files, usually installed in the Windows directory.
283See the Windows CE reference for how to format the HTML files.
284
285\subsubsection{Installing your PocketPC and Smartphone applications}
286
287To install your application, you need to build a CAB file using
288the parameters defined in a special .inf file. The CabWiz program
289in your SDK will compile the CAB file from the .inf file and
290files that it specifies.
291
292For delivery, you can simply ask the user to copy the CAB file to the
293device and execute the CAB file using File Explorer. Or, you can
294write a program for the desktop PC that will find the ActiveSync
295Application Manager and install the CAB file on the device,
296which is obviously much easier for the user.
297
298Here are some links that may help.
299
300\itemsep=0pt
301\begin{itemize}
302\item A setup builder that takes CABs and builds a setup program is at \urlref{http://www.eskimo.com/~scottlu/win/index.html}{http://www.eskimo.com/~scottlu/win/index.html}.
303\item Sample installation files can be found in {\tt Windows CE Tools/wce420/POCKET PC 2003/Samples/Win32/AppInst}.
304\item An installer generator using wxPython can be found at \urlref{http://ppcquicksoft.iespana.es/ppcquicksoft/myinstall.html}{http://ppcquicksoft.iespana.es/ppcquicksoft/myinstall.html}.
305\item Miscellaneous Windows CE resources can be found at \urlref{http://www.orbworks.com/pcce/resources.html}{http://www.orbworks.com/pcce/resources.html}.
306\item Installer creation instructions with a setup.exe for installing to PPC can be found at \urlref{http://www.pocketpcdn.com/articles/creatingsetup.html}{http://www.pocketpcdn.com/articles/creatingsetup.html}.
307\item Microsoft instructions are at \urlref{http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnce30/html/appinstall30.asp?frame=true&hidetoc=true}{http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnce30/html/appinstall30.asp?frame=true&hidetoc=true}.
308\item Troubleshooting WinCE application installations: \urlref{http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;q181007}{http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;q181007}
309\end{itemize}
310
311You may also check out {\tt demos/life/setup/wince} which contains
312scripts to create a PocketPC installation for ARM-based
313devices. In particular, {\tt build.bat} builds the distribution and
314copies it to a directory called {\tt Deliver}.
315
316\subsubsection{wxFileDialog in PocketPC}
317
318Allowing the user to access files on memory cards, or on arbitrary
319parts of the filesystem, is a pain; the standard file dialog only
320shows folders under My Documents or folders on memory cards
321(not the system or card root directory, for example). This is
322a known problem for PocketPC developers.
323
324If you need a file dialog that allows access to all folders,
325you can use wxGenericFileDialog instead. You will need to include
326{\tt wx/generic/filedlgg.h}.
327
328\subsubsection{Embedded Visual C++ Issues}
329
330\wxheading{Run-time type information}
331
332If you wish to use runtime type information (RTTI) with eVC++ 4, you need to download
333an extra library, {\tt ccrtrtti.lib}, and link with it. At the time of
334writing you can get it from here:
335
336\begin{verbatim}
337http://support.microsoft.com/kb/830482/en-us
338\end{verbatim}
339
340Otherwise you will get linker errors similar to this:
341
342\begin{verbatim}
343wxwince26d.lib(control.obj) : error LNK2001: unresolved external symbol "const type_info::`vftable'" (??_7type_info@@6B@)
344\end{verbatim}
345
346\subsubsection{Remaining issues}
347
348These are some of the remaining problems to be sorted out, and features
349to be supported.
350
351\itemsep=0pt
352\begin{itemize}
353\item {\bf Font dialog.} The generic font dialog is currently used, which
354needs to be simplified (and speeded up).
355\item {\bf Sizer speed.} Particularly for dialogs containing notebooks,
356layout seems slow. Some analysis is required.
357\item {\bf Notification boxes.} The balloon-like notification messages, and their
358icons, should be implemented. This will be quite straightforward.
359\item {\bf SIP size.} We need to be able to get the area taken up by the SIP (input panel),
360and the remaining area, by calling SHSipInfo. We also may need to be able to show and hide
361the SIP programmatically, with SHSipPreference. See also the {\it Input Dialogs} topic in
362the {\it Programming Windows CE} guide for more on this, and how to have dialogs
363show the SIP automatically using the WC\_SIPREF control.
364\item {\bf wxStaticBitmap.} The About box in the "Life!" demo shows a bitmap that is
365the correct size on the emulator, but too small on a VGA Pocket Loox device.
366\item {\bf wxStaticLine.} Lines don't show up, and the documentation suggests that
367missing styles are implemented with WM\_PAINT.
368\item {\bf HTML control.} PocketPC has its own HTML control which can be used for showing
369local pages or navigating the web. We should create a version of wxHtmlWindow that uses this
370control, or have a separately-named control (wxHtmlCtrl), with a syntax as close as possible to wxHtmlWindow.
371\item {\bf Tooltip control.} PocketPC uses special TTBUTTON and TTSTATIC controls for adding
372tooltips, with the tooltip separated from the label with a double tilde. We need to support this using SetToolTip.
373(Unfortunately it does not seem possible to dynamically remove the tooltip, so an extra style may
374be required.)
375\item {\bf Focus.} In the wxPropertySheetDialog demo on Smartphone, it's not possible to navigate
376between controls. The focus handling in wxWidgets needs investigation. See in particular src/common/containr.cpp,
377and note that the default OnActivate handler in src/msw/toplevel.cpp sets the focus to the first child of the dialog.
378\item {\bf OK button.} We should allow the OK button on a dialog to be optional, perhaps
379by using wxCLOSE\_BOX to indicate when the OK button should be displayed.
380\item {\bf Dynamic adaptation.} We should probably be using run-time tests more
381than preprocessor tests, so that the same WinCE application can run on different
382versions of the operating system.
383\item {\bf Modeless dialogs.} When a modeless dialog is hidden with the OK button, it doesn't restore the
384frame's menubar. See for example the find dialog in the dialogs sample. However, the menubar is restored
385if pressing Cancel (the window is closed). This reflects the fact that modeless dialogs are
386not very useful on Windows CE; however, we could perhaps destroy/restore a modeless dialog's menubar
387on deactivation and activation.
388\item {\bf Home screen plugins.} Figure out how to make home screen plugins for use with wxWidgets
389applications (see {\tt http://www.codeproject.com/ce/CTodayWindow.asp} for inspiration).
390Although we can't use wxWidgets to create the plugin (too large), we could perhaps write
391a generic plugin that takes registry information from a given application, with
392options to display information in a particular way using icons and text from
393a specified location.
394\item {\bf Further abstraction.} We should be able to abstract away more of the differences
395between desktop and mobile applications, in particular for sizer layout.
396\end{itemize}