utils/wxPython/README.txt

   1 wxPython README
   2 ---------------
   3
   4 Welcome to the wonderful world of wxPython!
   5
   6 Once you have installed the wxPython extension module, you can try it
   7 out by going to the [install dir]\wxPython\demo directory and typing:
   8
   9     python demo.py
  10
  11 There are also some other sample files there for you to play with and
  12 learn from.
  13
  14 If you selected to install the documentation then point your browser
  15 to [install dir]\wxPython\docs\index.htm and you will then be looking
  16 at the docs for wxWindows.  For the most part you can use the C++ docs
  17 as most classes and methods are used identically.  Where there are
  18 differences they are documented with a "wxPython Note."
  19
  20 On Win32 systems the binary self-installer creates a program group on
  21 the Start Menu that contains a link to running the demo and a link to
  22 the help file.  To help you save disk space I'm now using Microsoft's
  23 HTML Help format.  If your system doesn't know what to do with the help
  24 file, you can install the HTML Help Viewer as part of IE 4+, NT
  25 Service Pack 4+, or the HTML Workshop at
  26
  27 http://msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/author/htmlhelp/download.asp.
  28
  29
  30
  31 Getting Help
  32 ------------
  33
  34 Since wxPython is a blending of multiple technologies, help comes from
  35 multiple sources.  See the http://alldunn.com/wxPython for details on
  36 various sources of help, but probably the best source is the
  37 wxPython-users mail list.  You can view the archive or subscribe by
  38 going to
  39
  40        http://starship.python.net/mailman/listinfo/wxpython-users
  41
  42 Or you can send mail directly to the list using this address:
  43
  44        wxpython-users@starship.python.net
  45
  46 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
  47
  48 What's new in 2.1b2
  49 --------------------
  50
  51 Added the missing wxWindow.GetUpdateRegion() method.
  52
  53 Made a new change in SWIG (update your patches everybody) that
  54 provides a fix for global shadow objects that get an exception in
  55 their __del__ when their extension module has already been deleted.
  56 It was only a 1 line change in .../SWIG/Modules/pycpp.cxx at about
  57 line 496 if you want to do it by hand.
  58
  59 It is now possible to run through MainLoop more than once in any one
  60 process.  The cleanup that used to happen as MainLoop completed (and
  61 prevented it from running again) has been delayed until the wxc module
  62 is being unloaded by Python.
  63
  64 I fixed a bunch of stuff in the C++ version of wxGrid so it wouldn't
  65 make wxPython look bad.
  66
  67 wxWindow.PopupMenu() now takes a wxPoint instead of  x,y.  Added
  68 wxWindow.PopupMenuXY to be consistent with some other methods.
  69
  70 Added wxGrid.SetEditInPlace and wxGrid.GetEditInPlace.
  71
  72 You can now provide your own app.MainLoop method.  See
  73 wxPython/demo/demoMainLoop.py for an example and some explaination.
  74
  75 Got the in-place-edit for the wxTreeCtrl fixed and added some demo
  76 code to show how to use it.
  77
  78 Put the wxIcon constructor back in for GTK as it now has one that
  79 matches MSW's.
  80
  81 Added wxGrid.GetCells
  82
  83 Added wxSystemSettings static methods as functions with names like
  84 wxSystemSettings_GetSystemColour.
  85
  86 Removed wxPyMenu since using menu callbacks have been depreciated in
  87 wxWindows.  Use wxMenu and events instead.
  88
  89 Added alternate wxBitmap constructor (for MSW only) as
  90       wxBitmapFromData(data, type, width, height, depth = 1)
  91
  92 Added a helper function named wxPyTypeCast that can convert shadow
  93 objects of one type into shadow objects of another type.  (Like doing
  94 a down-cast.)  See the implementation in wx.py for some docs.
  95
  96 Fixed wxImage GetData and SetData to properly use String objects for
  97 data transfer.
  98
  99 Added access methods to wxGridEvent.
 100
 101
 102
 103
 104 What's new in 2.1b1
 105 --------------------
 106 Fixed wxComboBox.SetSelection so that it actually sets the selected
 107 item.  (Actually just removed it from wxPython and let it default to
 108 wxChoice.SetSelection which was already doing the right thing.)
 109
 110 Added the Printing Framework.
 111
 112 Switched back to using the wxWindows DLL for the pre-built Win32
 113 version.  The problem was needing to reinitialize static class info
 114 data after loading each extension module.
 115
 116 Lots of little tweaks and additions to reflect changes to various
 117 wxWindows classes.
 118
 119 Fixed a bug with attaching objects to tree items.  Actually was a
 120 symptom of a larger problem with not obtaining the interpreter lock
 121 when doing any Py_DECREFs.
 122
 123 wxSizer and friends.  Sizers are layout tools that manage a colection
 124 of windows and sizers.  Different types of sizers apply different
 125 types of layout algorithms.  You saw it here first!  These classes are
 126 not even in the wxWindows C++ library yet!
 127
 128
 129
 130 What's new in 2.0b9
 131 -------------------
 132 Bug fix for ListCtrl in test4.py (Was a missing file...  DSM!)
 133
 134 Bug fix for occassional GPF on Win32 systems upon termination of a
 135 wxPython application.
 136
 137 Added wxListBox.GetSelections returning selections as a Tuple.
 138
 139 Added a wxTreeItemData that is able to hold any Python object and be
 140 associated with items in a wxTreeCtrl.  Added test pytree.py to show
 141 this feature off.
 142
 143 Added wxSafeYield function.
 144
 145 OpenGL Canvas can be optionally compiled in to wxPython.
 146
 147 Awesome new Demo Framework for showing off wxPython and for learning
 148 how it all works.
 149
 150 The pre-built Win32 version is no longer distributing the wxWindows
 151 DLL.  It is statically linked with the wxWindows library instead.
 152
 153 Added a couple missing items from the docs.
 154
 155 Added wxImage, wxImageHandler, wxPNGHandler, wxJPEGHandler,
 156 wxGIFHandler and wxBMPHandler.
 157
 158 Added new methods to wxTextCtrl.
 159
 160 Fixed some problems with how SWIG was wrapping some wxTreeCtrl
 161 methods.
 162
 163
 164
 165 What's new in 2.0b8
 166 -------------------
 167 Support for using Python threads in wxPython apps.
 168
 169 Several missing methods from various classes.
 170
 171 Various bug fixes.
 172
 173
 174
 175 What's new in 2.0b7
 176 -------------------
 177 Added DLG_PNT and DLG_SZE convienience methods to wxWindow class.
 178
 179 Added missing constructor and other methods for wxMenuItem.
 180
 181
 182
 183 What's new in 2.0b6
 184 -------------------
 185 Just a quickie update to fix the self-installer to be compatible with
 186 Python 1.5.2b2's Registry settings.
 187
 188
 189 What's new in 2.0b5
 190 -------------------
 191 Well obviously the numbering scheme has changed.  I did this to
 192 reflect the fact that this truly is the second major revision of
 193 wxPython, (well the third actually if you count the one I did for
 194 wxWindows 1.68 and then threw away...) and also that it is associated
 195 with the 2.0 version of wxWindows.
 196
 197 I have finally started documenting wxPython.  There are several pages
 198 in the wxWindows documentation tree specifically about wxPython, and I
 199 have added notes within the class references about where and how wxPython
 200 diverges from wxWindows.
 201
 202 Added wxWindow_FromHWND(hWnd) for wxMSW to construct a wxWindow from a
 203 window handle.  If you can get the window handle into the python code,
 204 it should just work...  More news on this later.
 205
 206 Added wxImageList, wxToolTip.
 207
 208 Re-enabled wxConfig.DeleteAll() since it is reportedly fixed for the
 209 wxRegConfig class.
 210
 211 As usual, some bug fixes, tweaks, etc.
 212
 213
 214
 215 What's new in 0.5.3
 216 -------------------
 217 Added wxSashWindow, wxSashEvent, wxLayoutAlgorithm, etc.
 218
 219 Various cleanup, tweaks, minor additions, etc. to maintain
 220 compatibility with the current wxWindows.
 221
 222
 223
 224 What's new in 0.5.0
 225 -------------------
 226 Changed the import semantics from "from wxPython import *" to "from
 227 wxPython.wx import *"  This is for people who are worried about
 228 namespace pollution, they can use "from wxPython import wx" and then
 229 prefix all the wxPython identifiers with "wx."
 230
 231 Added wxTaskbarIcon for wxMSW.
 232
 233 Made the events work for wxGrid.
 234
 235 Added wxConfig.
 236
 237 Added wxMiniFrame for wxGTK.
 238
 239 Changed many of the args and return values that were pointers to gdi
 240 objects to references to reflect changes in the wxWindows API.
 241
 242 Other assorted fixes and additions.
 243
 244
 245
 246
 247 What's new in 0.4.2
 248 -------------------
 249
 250 wxPython on wxGTK works!!!  Both dynamic and static on Linux and
 251 static on Solaris have been tested.  Many thanks go to Harm
 252 <H.v.d.Heijden@phys.tue.nl> for his astute detective work on tracking
 253 down a nasty DECREF bug.  Okay so I have to confess that it was just a
 254 DSM (Dumb Stupid Mistake) on my part but it was nasty none the less
 255 because the behavior was so different on different platforms.
 256
 257 The dynamicly loaded module on Solaris is still segfaulting, so it
 258 must have been a different issue all along...
 259
 260
 261
 262 What's New in 0.4
 263 -----------------
 264
 265 1. Worked on wxGTK compatibility.  It is partially working.  On a
 266 Solaris/Sparc box wxPython is working but only when it is statically
 267 linked with the Python interpreter.  When built as a dyamically loaded
 268 extension module, things start acting weirdly and it soon seg-faults.
 269 And on Linux both the statically linked and the dynamically linked
 270 version segfault shortly after starting up.
 271
 272 2. Added Toolbar, StatusBar and SplitterWindow classes.
 273
 274 3. Varioius bug fixes, enhancements, etc.
 275
 276 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 277
 278
 279
 280 Build Instructions
 281 ------------------
 282 I used SWIG (http://www.swig.org) to create the source code for the
 283 extension module.  This enabled me to only have to deal with a small
 284 amount of code and only have to bother with the exceptional issues.
 285 SWIG takes care of the rest and generates all the repetative code for
 286 me.  You don't need SWIG to build the extension module as all the
 287 generated C++ code is included under the src directory.
 288
 289 I added a few minor features to SWIG to control some of the code
 290 generation.  If you want to playaround with this the patches are in
 291 wxPython/SWIG.patches and they should be applied to the 1.1p5 version
 292 of SWIG.  These new patches are documented at
 293 http://starship.skyport.net/crew/robind/#swig, and they should also
 294 end up in the 1.2 version of SWIG.
 295
 296 wxPython is organized as a Python package.  This means that the
 297 directory containing the results of the build process should be a
 298 subdirectory of a directory on the PYTHONPATH.  (And preferably should
 299 be named wxPython.)  You can control where the build process will dump
 300 wxPython by setting the TARGETDIR makefile variable.  The default is
 301 $(WXWIN)/utils/wxPython, where this README.txt is located.  If you
 302 leave it here then you should add $(WXWIN)/utils to your PYTHONPATH.
 303 However, you may prefer to use something that is already on your
 304 PYTHONPATH, such as the site-packages directory on Unix systems.
 305
 306
 307 Win32
 308 -----
 309
 310 1. Build wxWindows with wxUSE_RESOURCE_LOADING_IN_MSW set to 1 in
 311 include/wx/msw/setup.h so icons can be loaded dynamically.  While
 312 there, make sure wxUSE_OWNER_DRAWN is also set to 1.
 313
 314 2. Change into the $(WXWIN)/utils/wxPython/src directory.
 315
 316 3. Edit makefile.vc and specify where your python installation is at.
 317 You may also want to fiddle with the TARGETDIR variable as described
 318 above.
 319
 320 4. Run nmake -f makefile.vc
 321
 322 5. If it builds successfully, congratulations!  Move on to the next
 323 step.  If not then you can try mailing me for help.  Also, I will
 324 always have a pre-built win32 version of this extension module at
 325 http://alldunn.com/wxPython/.
 326
 327 6. Change to the $(WXWIN)/utils/wxPython/demo directory.
 328
 329 7. Try executing the demo program.  For example:
 330
 331     python demo.py
 332
 333 To run it without requiring a console, you can use the pythonw.exe
 334 version of Python either from the command line or from a shortcut.
 335
 336
 337
 338 Unix
 339 ----
 340 0. I configure wxWindows like this, YMMV:
 341
 342 ./configure  --with-gtk --disable-shared --enable-threads --disable-unicode
 343
 344 1. Change into the $(WXWIN)/utils/wxPython/src directory.
 345
 346 2. Edit Setup.in and ensure that the flags, directories, and toolkit
 347 options are correct.  See the above commentary about TARGETDIR.  There
 348 are a few sample Setup.in.[platform] files provided.
 349
 350 3. Run this command to generate a makefile:
 351
 352     make -f Makefile.pre.in boot
 353
 354 4. Run these commands to build and then install the wxPython extension
 355 module:
 356
 357     make
 358     make install
 359
 360
 361 5. Change to the $(WXWIN)/utils/wxPython/demo directory.
 362
 363 6. Try executing the demo program.  For example:
 364
 365     python demo.py
 366
 367 ----------------
 368 Robin Dunn
 369 robin@alldunn.com
 370
 371
 372