| | 1 | \section{Writing a wxWidgets application: a rough guide}\label{roughguide} |
| | 2 | |
| | 3 | To set a wxWidgets application going, you will need to derive a \helpref{wxApp}{wxapp} class and |
| | 4 | override \helpref{wxApp::OnInit}{wxapponinit}. |
| | 5 | |
| | 6 | An application must have a top-level \helpref{wxFrame}{wxframe} or \helpref{wxDialog}{wxdialog} window. |
| | 7 | Each frame may contain one or more instances of classes such as \helpref{wxPanel}{wxpanel}, \helpref{wxSplitterWindow}{wxsplitterwindow}\rtfsp |
| | 8 | or other windows and controls. |
| | 9 | |
| | 10 | A frame can have a \helpref{wxMenuBar}{wxmenubar}, a \helpref{wxToolBar}{wxtoolbar}, a status line, and a \helpref{wxIcon}{wxicon} for |
| | 11 | when the frame is iconized. |
| | 12 | |
| | 13 | A \helpref{wxPanel}{wxpanel} is used to place controls (classes derived from \helpref{wxControl}{wxcontrol}) |
| | 14 | which are used for user interaction. Examples of controls are \helpref{wxButton}{wxbutton}, |
| | 15 | \rtfsp\helpref{wxCheckBox}{wxcheckbox}, \helpref{wxChoice}{wxchoice}, \helpref{wxListBox}{wxlistbox}, |
| | 16 | \rtfsp\helpref{wxRadioBox}{wxradiobox}, \helpref{wxSlider}{wxslider}. |
| | 17 | |
| | 18 | Instances of \helpref{wxDialog}{wxdialog} can also be used for controls and they have |
| | 19 | the advantage of not requiring a separate frame. |
| | 20 | |
| | 21 | Instead of creating a dialog box and populating it with items, it is possible to choose |
| | 22 | one of the convenient common dialog classes, such as \helpref{wxMessageDialog}{wxmessagedialog}\rtfsp |
| | 23 | and \helpref{wxFileDialog}{wxfiledialog}. |
| | 24 | |
| | 25 | You never draw directly onto a window - you use a {\it device context} (DC). \helpref{wxDC}{wxdc} is |
| | 26 | the base for \helpref{wxClientDC}{wxclientdc}, \helpref{wxPaintDC}{wxpaintdc}, \helpref{wxMemoryDC}{wxmemorydc}, \helpref{wxPostScriptDC}{wxpostscriptdc}, |
| | 27 | \rtfsp\helpref{wxMemoryDC}{wxmemorydc}, \helpref{wxMetafileDC}{wxmetafiledc} and \helpref{wxPrinterDC}{wxprinterdc}. |
| | 28 | If your drawing functions have {\bf wxDC} as a parameter, you can pass any of these DCs |
| | 29 | to the function, and thus use the same code to draw to several different devices. |
| | 30 | You can draw using the member functions of {\bf wxDC}, such as \helpref{wxDC::DrawLine}{wxdcdrawline}\rtfsp |
| | 31 | and \helpref{wxDC::DrawText}{wxdcdrawtext}. Control colour on a window (\helpref{wxColour}{wxcolour}) with |
| | 32 | brushes (\helpref{wxBrush}{wxbrush}) and pens (\helpref{wxPen}{wxpen}). |
| | 33 | |
| | 34 | To intercept events, you add a DECLARE\_EVENT\_TABLE macro to the window class declaration, |
| | 35 | and put a BEGIN\_EVENT\_TABLE ... END\_EVENT\_TABLE block in the implementation file. Between these |
| | 36 | macros, you add event macros which map the event (such as a mouse click) to a member function. |
| | 37 | These might override predefined event handlers such as for \helpref{wxKeyEvent}{wxkeyevent} and |
| | 38 | \rtfsp\helpref{wxMouseEvent}{wxmouseevent}. |
| | 39 | |
| | 40 | Most modern applications will have an on-line, hypertext help system; for this, you |
| | 41 | need wxHelp and the \helpref{wxHelpController}{wxhelpcontroller} class to control |
| | 42 | wxHelp. |
| | 43 | |
| | 44 | GUI applications aren't all graphical wizardry. List and hash table needs are |
| | 45 | catered for by \helpref{wxList}{wxlist}, \helpref{wxStringList}{wxstringlist} and \helpref{wxHashMap}{wxhashmap}. |
| | 46 | You will undoubtedly need some platform-independent \helpref{file functions}{filefunctions}, |
| | 47 | and you may find it handy to maintain and search a list of paths using \helpref{wxPathList}{wxpathlist}. |
| | 48 | There's a \helpref{miscellany}{miscellany} of operating system and other functions. |
| | 49 | |
| | 50 | See also \helpref{Classes by Category}{classesbycat} for a list of classes. |
| | 51 | |
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