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