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
  63 What's new in 2.0b5
  64 -------------------
  65 Well obviously the numbering scheme has changed.  I did this to
  66 reflect the fact that this truly is the second major revision of
  67 wxPython, (well the third actually if you count the one I did for
  68 wxWindows 1.68 and then threw away...) and also that it is associated
  69 with the 2.0 version of wxWindows.
  70
  71 I have finally started documenting wxPython.  There are several pages
  72 in the wxWindows documentation tree specifically about wxPython, and I
  73 have added notes within the class references about where wxPython
  74 diverges from wxWindows.
  75
  76 [[  What else have I done??? ]]
  77
  78 As usual, some bug fixes, tweaks, etc.
  79
  80
  81
  82 What's new in 0.5.3
  83 -------------------
  84 Added wxSashWindow, wxSashEvent, wxLayoutAlgorithm, etc.
  85
  86 Various cleanup, tweaks, minor additions, etc. to maintain
  87 compatibility with the current wxWindows.
  88
  89
  90
  91 What's new in 0.5.0
  92 -------------------
  93 Changed the import semantics from "from wxPython import *" to "from
  94 wxPython.wx import *"  This is for people who are worried about
  95 namespace pollution, they can use "from wxPython import wx" and then
  96 prefix all the wxPython identifiers with "wx."
  97
  98 Added wxTaskbarIcon for wxMSW.
  99
 100 Made the events work for wxGrid.
 101
 102 Added wxConfig.
 103
 104 Added wxMiniFrame for wxGTK.
 105
 106 Changed many of the args and return values that were pointers to gdi
 107 objects to references to reflect changes in the wxWindows API.
 108
 109 Other assorted fixes and additions.
 110
 111
 112
 113
 114 What's new in 0.4.2
 115 -------------------
 116
 117 wxPython on wxGTK works!!!  Both dynamic and static on Linux and
 118 static on Solaris have been tested.  Many thanks go to Harm
 119 <H.v.d.Heijden@phys.tue.nl> for his astute detective work on tracking
 120 down a nasty DECREF bug.  Okay so I have to confess that it was just a
 121 DSM (Dumb Stupid Mistake) on my part but it was nasty none the less
 122 because the behavior was so different on different platforms.
 123
 124
 125 The dynamicly loaded module on Solaris is still segfaulting, so it
 126 must have been a different issue all along...
 127
 128
 129
 130 What's New in 0.4
 131 -----------------
 132
 133 1. Worked on wxGTK compatibility.  It is partially working.  On a
 134 Solaris/Sparc box wxPython is working but only when it is statically
 135 linked with the Python interpreter.  When built as a dyamically loaded
 136 extension module, things start acting weirdly and it soon seg-faults.
 137 And on Linux both the statically linked and the dynamically linked
 138 version segfault shortly after starting up.
 139
 140 2. Added Toolbar, StatusBar and SplitterWindow classes.
 141
 142 3. Varioius bug fixes, enhancements, etc.
 143
 144
 145
 146 Build Instructions
 147 ------------------
 148 I used SWIG (http://www.swig.org) to create the source code for the
 149 extension module.  This enabled me to only have to deal with a small
 150 amount of code and only have to bother with the exceptional issues.
 151 SWIG takes care of the rest and generates all the repetative code for
 152 me.  You don't need SWIG to build the extension module as all the
 153 generated C++ code is included under the src directory.
 154
 155 I added a few minor features to SWIG to control some of the code
 156 generation.  If you want to playaround with this the patches are in
 157 wxPython/SWIG.patches and they should be applied to the 1.1p5 version
 158 of SWIG.  These new patches are documented at
 159 http://starship.skyport.net/crew/robind/python/#swig, and they should
 160 also end up in the 1.2 version of SWIG.
 161
 162 wxPython is organized as a Python package.  This means that the
 163 directory containing the results of the build process should be a
 164 subdirectory of a directory on the PYTHONPATH.  (And preferably should
 165 be named wxPython.)  You can control where the build process will dump
 166 wxPython by setting the TARGETDIR makefile variable.  The default is
 167 $(WXWIN)/utils/wxPython, where this README.txt is located.  If you
 168 leave it here then you should add $(WXWIN)/utils to your PYTHONPATH.
 169 However, you may prefer to use something that is already on your
 170 PYTHONPATH, such as the site-packages directory on Unix systems.
 171
 172
 173 Win32
 174 -----
 175
 176 1. Build wxWindows with wxUSE_RESOURCE_LOADING_IN_MSW set to 1 in
 177 include/wx/msw/setup.h so icons can be loaded dynamically.  While
 178 there, make sure wxUSE_OWNER_DRAWN is also set to 1.
 179
 180 2. Change into the $(WXWIN)/utils/wxPython/src directory.
 181
 182 3. Edit makefile.nt and specify where your python installation is at.
 183 You may also want to fiddle with the TARGETDIR variable as described
 184 above.
 185
 186 4. Run nmake -f makefile.nt
 187
 188 5. If it builds successfully, congratulations!  Move on to the next
 189 step.  If not then you can try mailing me for help.  Also, I will
 190 always have a pre-built win32 version of this extension module at
 191 http://starship.skyport.net/crew/robind/python.
 192
 193 6. Change to the $(WXWIN)/utils/wxPython/tests directory.
 194
 195 7. Try executing the test programs.  Note that some of these print
 196 diagnositc or test info to standard output, so they will require the
 197 console version of python.  For example:
 198
 199     python test1.py
 200
 201 To run them without requiring a console, you can use the pythonw.exe
 202 version of Python either from the command line or from a shortcut.
 203
 204
 205
 206 Unix
 207 ----
 208
 209 1. Change into the $(WXWIN)/utils/wxPython/src directory.
 210
 211 2. Edit Setup.in and ensure that the flags, directories, and toolkit
 212 options are correct.  See the above commentary about TARGETDIR.  There
 213 are a few sample Setup.in.[platform] files provided.
 214
 215 3. Run this command to generate a makefile:
 216
 217     make -f Makefile.pre.in boot
 218
 219 4. Run these commands to build and then install the wxPython extension
 220 module:
 221
 222     make
 223     make install
 224
 225
 226 5. Change to the $(WXWIN)/utils/wxPython/tests directory.
 227
 228 6. Try executing the test programs.  For example:
 229
 230     python test1.py
 231
 232
 233
 234 ------------------------
 235 10/20/1998
 236
 237 Robin Dunn
 238 robin@alldunn.com
 239
 240
 241