utils/wxPython/README.txt

   1 wxPython README
   2 ---------------
   3
   4 Introduction
   5 ------------
   6 The code in this subtree is a Python Extension Module that enables the
   7 use of wxWindows from the Python language.  So what is Python?  Go to
   8 http://www.python.org to learn more but in a nutshell, it's an
   9 extremly cool object oriented language.  It's easier than Perl and
  10 nearly as powerful.  It runs on more platforms than Java, and by some
  11 reports, is even faster than Java with a JIT compiler!
  12
  13 So why would you want to use wxPython over just C++ and wxWindows?
  14 Personally I prefer using Python for everything.  I only use C++ when
  15 I absolutly have to eek more performance out of an algorithm, and even
  16 then I ususally code it as an extension module and leave the majority
  17 of the program in Python.  Another good thing to use wxPython for is
  18 quick prototyping of your wxWindows apps.  With C++ you have to
  19 continuously go though the edit-compile-link-run cycle, which can be
  20 quite time comsuming.  With Python it is only an edit-run cycle.  You
  21 can easily build an application in a few hours with Python that would
  22 normally take a few days with C++.  Converting a wxPython app to a
  23 C++/wxWindows app should be a straight forward task.
  24
  25 This extension module attempts to mirror the class heiarchy of
  26 wxWindows as closely as possble.  This means that there is a wxFrame
  27 class in wxPython that looks, smells, tastes and acts almost the same
  28 as the wxFrame class in the C++ version.  Unfortunatly, I wasn't able
  29 to match things exactly because of differences in the languages, but
  30 the differences should be easy to absorb because they are natural to
  31 Python.  For example, some methods that return mutliple values via
  32 argument pointers in C++ will return a tuple of values in Python.
  33 These differences have not been documented yet so if something isn't
  34 working the same as described in the wxWindows documents the best
  35 thing to do is to scan through the wxPython sources, especially the .i
  36 files, as that is where the interfaces for wxPython are defined.
  37
  38 I have reports of successfully embedding wxPython within a wxWindows
  39 C++ app on GTK.  It hasn't yet been attempted on MSW (to my knowledge)
  40 so I don't know how successful such an attempt would be.  However it
  41 is certainly possible.
  42
  43
  44
  45 Getting Help
  46 ------------
  47
  48 Since wxPython is a blending of multiple technologies, help comes from
  49 multiple sources.  See the http://alldunn.com/wxPython for details on
  50 various sources of help, but probably the best source is the
  51 wxPython-users mail list.  You can view the archive or subscribe by
  52 going to
  53
  54        http://starship.python.net/mailman/listinfo/wxpython-users
  55
  56 Or you can send mail directly to the list using this address:
  57
  58        wxpython-users@starship.python.net
  59
  60
  61
  62 What's new in 2.0b9
  63 -------------------
  64 Bug fix for ListCtrl in test4.py (Was a missing file...  DSM!)
  65
  66 Bug fix for occassional GPF on Win32 systems upon termination of a
  67 wxPython application.
  68
  69 Added wxListBox.GetSelections returning selections as a Tuple.
  70
  71 Added a wxTreeItemData that is able to hold any Python object and be
  72 associated with items in a wxTreeCtrl.  Added test pytree.py to show
  73 this feature off.
  74
  75 Added wxSafeYield function.
  76
  77 OpenGL Canvas can be optionally compiled in to wxPython.
  78
  79 Awesome new Demo Framework for showing off wxPython and for learning
  80 how it all works.
  81
  82 The pre-built Win32 version is no longer distributing the wxWindows
  83 DLL.  It is statically linked with the wxWindows library instead.
  84
  85 Added a couple missing items from the docs.
  86
  87 Added wxImage, wxImageHandler, wxPNGHandler, wxJPEGHandler,
  88 wxGIFHandler and wxBMPHandler.
  89
  90
  91
  92 What's new in 2.0b8
  93 -------------------
  94 Support for using Python threads in wxPython apps.
  95
  96 Several missing methods from various classes.
  97
  98 Various bug fixes.
  99
 100
 101
 102 What's new in 2.0b7
 103 -------------------
 104 Added DLG_PNT and DLG_SZE convienience methods to wxWindow class.
 105
 106 Added missing constructor and other methods for wxMenuItem.
 107
 108
 109
 110 What's new in 2.0b6
 111 -------------------
 112 Just a quickie update to fix the self-installer to be compatible with
 113 Python 1.5.2b2's Registry settings.
 114
 115
 116 What's new in 2.0b5
 117 -------------------
 118 Well obviously the numbering scheme has changed.  I did this to
 119 reflect the fact that this truly is the second major revision of
 120 wxPython, (well the third actually if you count the one I did for
 121 wxWindows 1.68 and then threw away...) and also that it is associated
 122 with the 2.0 version of wxWindows.
 123
 124 I have finally started documenting wxPython.  There are several pages
 125 in the wxWindows documentation tree specifically about wxPython, and I
 126 have added notes within the class references about where wxPython
 127 diverges from wxWindows.
 128
 129 Added wxWindow_FromHWND(hWnd) for wxMSW to construct a wxWindow from a
 130 window handle.  If you can get the window handle into the python code,
 131 it should just work...  More news on this later.
 132
 133 Added wxImageList, wxToolTip.
 134
 135 Re-enabled wxConfig.DeleteAll() since it is reportedly fixed for the
 136 wxRegConfig class.
 137
 138 As usual, some bug fixes, tweaks, etc.
 139
 140
 141
 142 What's new in 0.5.3
 143 -------------------
 144 Added wxSashWindow, wxSashEvent, wxLayoutAlgorithm, etc.
 145
 146 Various cleanup, tweaks, minor additions, etc. to maintain
 147 compatibility with the current wxWindows.
 148
 149
 150
 151 What's new in 0.5.0
 152 -------------------
 153 Changed the import semantics from "from wxPython import *" to "from
 154 wxPython.wx import *"  This is for people who are worried about
 155 namespace pollution, they can use "from wxPython import wx" and then
 156 prefix all the wxPython identifiers with "wx."
 157
 158 Added wxTaskbarIcon for wxMSW.
 159
 160 Made the events work for wxGrid.
 161
 162 Added wxConfig.
 163
 164 Added wxMiniFrame for wxGTK.
 165
 166 Changed many of the args and return values that were pointers to gdi
 167 objects to references to reflect changes in the wxWindows API.
 168
 169 Other assorted fixes and additions.
 170
 171
 172
 173
 174 What's new in 0.4.2
 175 -------------------
 176
 177 wxPython on wxGTK works!!!  Both dynamic and static on Linux and
 178 static on Solaris have been tested.  Many thanks go to Harm
 179 <H.v.d.Heijden@phys.tue.nl> for his astute detective work on tracking
 180 down a nasty DECREF bug.  Okay so I have to confess that it was just a
 181 DSM (Dumb Stupid Mistake) on my part but it was nasty none the less
 182 because the behavior was so different on different platforms.
 183
 184
 185 The dynamicly loaded module on Solaris is still segfaulting, so it
 186 must have been a different issue all along...
 187
 188
 189
 190 What's New in 0.4
 191 -----------------
 192
 193 1. Worked on wxGTK compatibility.  It is partially working.  On a
 194 Solaris/Sparc box wxPython is working but only when it is statically
 195 linked with the Python interpreter.  When built as a dyamically loaded
 196 extension module, things start acting weirdly and it soon seg-faults.
 197 And on Linux both the statically linked and the dynamically linked
 198 version segfault shortly after starting up.
 199
 200 2. Added Toolbar, StatusBar and SplitterWindow classes.
 201
 202 3. Varioius bug fixes, enhancements, etc.
 203
 204
 205
 206 Build Instructions
 207 ------------------
 208 I used SWIG (http://www.swig.org) to create the source code for the
 209 extension module.  This enabled me to only have to deal with a small
 210 amount of code and only have to bother with the exceptional issues.
 211 SWIG takes care of the rest and generates all the repetative code for
 212 me.  You don't need SWIG to build the extension module as all the
 213 generated C++ code is included under the src directory.
 214
 215 I added a few minor features to SWIG to control some of the code
 216 generation.  If you want to playaround with this the patches are in
 217 wxPython/SWIG.patches and they should be applied to the 1.1p5 version
 218 of SWIG.  These new patches are documented at
 219 http://starship.skyport.net/crew/robind/python/#swig, and they should
 220 also end up in the 1.2 version of SWIG.
 221
 222 wxPython is organized as a Python package.  This means that the
 223 directory containing the results of the build process should be a
 224 subdirectory of a directory on the PYTHONPATH.  (And preferably should
 225 be named wxPython.)  You can control where the build process will dump
 226 wxPython by setting the TARGETDIR makefile variable.  The default is
 227 $(WXWIN)/utils/wxPython, where this README.txt is located.  If you
 228 leave it here then you should add $(WXWIN)/utils to your PYTHONPATH.
 229 However, you may prefer to use something that is already on your
 230 PYTHONPATH, such as the site-packages directory on Unix systems.
 231
 232
 233 Win32
 234 -----
 235
 236 1. Build wxWindows with wxUSE_RESOURCE_LOADING_IN_MSW set to 1 in
 237 include/wx/msw/setup.h so icons can be loaded dynamically.  While
 238 there, make sure wxUSE_OWNER_DRAWN is also set to 1.
 239
 240 2. Change into the $(WXWIN)/utils/wxPython/src directory.
 241
 242 3. Edit makefile.vc and specify where your python installation is at.
 243 You may also want to fiddle with the TARGETDIR variable as described
 244 above.
 245
 246 4. Run nmake -f makefile.vc
 247
 248 5. If it builds successfully, congratulations!  Move on to the next
 249 step.  If not then you can try mailing me for help.  Also, I will
 250 always have a pre-built win32 version of this extension module at
 251 http://starship.skyport.net/crew/robind/python.
 252
 253 6. Change to the $(WXWIN)/utils/wxPython/tests directory.
 254
 255 7. Try executing the test programs.  Note that some of these print
 256 diagnositc or test info to standard output, so they will require the
 257 console version of python.  For example:
 258
 259     python test1.py
 260
 261 To run them without requiring a console, you can use the pythonw.exe
 262 version of Python either from the command line or from a shortcut.
 263
 264
 265
 266 Unix
 267 ----
 268
 269 1. Change into the $(WXWIN)/utils/wxPython/src directory.
 270
 271 2. Edit Setup.in and ensure that the flags, directories, and toolkit
 272 options are correct.  See the above commentary about TARGETDIR.  There
 273 are a few sample Setup.in.[platform] files provided.
 274
 275 3. Run this command to generate a makefile:
 276
 277     make -f Makefile.pre.in boot
 278
 279 4. Run these commands to build and then install the wxPython extension
 280 module:
 281
 282     make
 283     make install
 284
 285
 286 5. Change to the $(WXWIN)/utils/wxPython/tests directory.
 287
 288 6. Try executing the test programs.  For example:
 289
 290     python test1.py
 291
 292
 293
 294 ------------------------
 295 10/20/1998
 296
 297 Robin Dunn
 298 robin@alldunn.com
 299
 300
 301