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  15 wxWindows 2 for Windows FAQ
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  21 <P>
  22
  23 See also <a href="faq.htm">top-level FAQ page</a>.
  24 <hr>
  25
  26 <h3>Which Windows platforms are supported?</h3>
  27
  28 wxWindows 2 can be used to develop and deliver applications on Windows 3.1, Win32s,
  29 Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows NT. A Windows CE version is being looked into (see below).<P>
  30
  31 wxWindows 2 is designed to make use of WIN32 features and controls. However, unlike Microsoft,
  32 we have not forgotten users of 16-bit Windows. Most features
  33 work under Windows 3.1, including wxTreeCtrl and wxListCtrl using the generic implementation.
  34 However, don't expect very Windows-95-specific classes to work, such as wxTaskBarIcon. The wxRegConfig
  35 class doesn't work either because the Windows 3.1 registry is very simplistic. Check out the 16-bit
  36 makefiles to see what other files have been left out.
  37 <P>
  38 16-bit compilation is supported under Visual C++ 1.5, and Borland BC++ 4 to 5.
  39 <P>
  40
  41 wxWindows 2 for Windows will also compile on Unix with gcc using TWIN32 from <a href="http://www.willows.com" target=_top>Willows</a>,
  42 although TWIN32 is still in a preliminary state. The resulting executables are
  43 Unix binaries that work with the TWIN32 Windows API emulator.<P>
  44
  45 You can also compile wxWindows 2 for Windows on Unix with Cygwin or Mingw32, resulting
  46 in executables that will run on Windows. So in theory you could write your applications
  47 using wxGTK or wxMotif, then check/debug your wxWindows for Windows
  48 programs with TWIN32, and finally produce an ix86 Windows executable using Cygwin/Mingw32,
  49 without ever needing a copy of Microsoft Windows. See the Technical Note on the Web site detailing cross-compilation.<P>
  50
  51 <h3>What about Windows CE?</h3>
  52
  53 This is under consideration, though we need to get wxWindows Unicode-aware first.
  54 There are other interesting issues, such as how to combine the menubar and toolbar APIs
  55 as Windows CE requires. But there's no doubt that it will be possible, albeit
  56 by mostly cutting down wxWindows 2 API functionality, and adding a few classes here
  57 and there. Since wxWindows for 2 produces small binaries (less than 300K for
  58 the statically-linked 'minimal' sample), shoehorning wxWindows 2 into a Windows CE device's limited
  59 storage should not be a problem.<P>
  60
  61 <h3>What compilers are supported?</h3>
  62
  63 Please see the wxWindows 2 for Windows install.txt file for up-to-date information, but
  64 currently the following are known to work:<P>
  65
  66 <ul>
  67 <li>Visual C++ 1.5, 4.0, 5.0, 6.0
  68 <li>Borland C++ 4.5, 5.0
  69 <li>Borland C++Builder 1.0, 3.0
  70 <li>Watcom C++ 10.6 (WIN32)
  71 <li>Cygwin b20
  72 <li>Mingw32
  73 <li>MetroWerks CodeWarrior 4
  74 </ul>
  75 <P>
  76
  77 There is a linking problem with Symantec C++ which I hope someone can help solve.
  78 <P>
  79
  80 <h3>Which is the best compiler to use with wxWindows 2?</h3>
  81
  82 It's partly a matter of taste, but I (JACS) prefer Visual C++ since the debugger is very
  83 good, it's very stable, the documentation is extensive, and it generates small executables.
  84 Since project files are plain text, it's easy for me to generate appropriate project files
  85 for wxWindows samples.<P>
  86
  87 Borland C++ is fine - and very fast - but it's hard (impossible?) to use the debugger without using project files, and
  88 the debugger is nowhere near up to VC++'s quality. The IDE isn't great.<P>
  89
  90 C++Builder's power isn't really used with wxWindows since it needs integration with its
  91 own class library (VCL). For wxWindows, I've only used it with makefiles, in which case
  92 it's almost identical to BC++ 5.0 (the same makefiles can be used).<P>
  93
  94 You can't beat Cygwin's price (free), and you can debug adequately using gdb. However, it's
  95 quite slow to compile since it does not use precompiled headers.<P>
  96
  97 CodeWarrior is cross-platform - you can debug and generate Windows executables from a Mac, but not
  98 the other way around I think - but the IDE is, to my mind, a bit primitive.<P>
  99
 100 Watcom C++ is a little slow and the debugger is not really up to today's standards.<P>
 101
 102 <h3>Is Unicode supported?</h3>
 103
 104 Not yet, although there are other internationalisation features.<P>
 105
 106 However, the issues surrounding Unicode support have been looked into so we know
 107 what we need to do, and have some header files ready to use containing appropriate
 108 type definitions. Just about every file in wxWindows will need changes, due to the
 109 pervasive nature of characters and character arrays. Unicode support is needed
 110 for the port to Windows CE (see above), and will probably be added in time for version 2.1.<P>
 111
 112 <h3>Can you compile wxWindows 2 as a DLL?</h3>
 113
 114 Yes (using the Visual C++ or Borland C++ makefile), but be aware that distributing DLLs is a thorny issue
 115 and you may be better off compiling statically-linked applications, unless you're
 116 delivering a suite of separate programs, or you're compiling a lot of wxWindows applications
 117 and have limited hard disk space.<P>
 118
 119 With a DLL approach, and with different versions and configurations of wxWindows
 120 needing to be catered for, the end user may end up with a host of large DLLs in his or her Windows system directory,
 121 negating the point of using DLLs. Of course, this is not a problem just associated with
 122 wxWindows!
 123 <P>
 124
 125 <H3>How can I reduce executable size?</H3>
 126
 127 You can compile wxWindows as a DLL (see above, VC++/BC++ only at present). You should also
 128 compile your programs for release using non-debugging and space-optimisation options, but
 129 take with VC++ 5/6 space optimisation: it can sometimes cause problems.<P>
 130
 131 Statically-linked wxWindows 2 programs are smaller than wxWindows 1.xx programs, because of the way
 132 wxWindows 2 has been designed to reduce dependencies between classes, and other
 133 techniques. The linker will not include code from the library that is not (directly or
 134 indirectly) referenced
 135 by your application. So for example, the 'minimal' sample is less than 300KB using VC++ 6.<P>
 136
 137 If you want to distribute really small executables, you can
 138 use <a href="http://www.icl.ndirect.co.uk/petite/" target=_top>Petite</a>
 139 by Ian Luck. This nifty utility compresses Windows executables by around 50%, so your 500KB executable
 140 will shrink to a mere 250KB. With this sort of size, there is reduced incentive to
 141 use DLLs.<P>
 142
 143 <H3>Is wxWindows compatible with MFC?</H3>
 144
 145 There is a sample which demonstrates MFC and wxWindows code co-existing in the same
 146 application. However, don't expect to be able to enable wxWindows windows with OLE-2
 147 functionality using MFC.<P>
 148
 149 <H3>Why do I sometimes get bizarre crash problems using VC++ 5/6?</H3>
 150
 151 Some crash problems can be due to inconsistent compiler
 152 options (and of course this isn't limited to wxWindows).
 153 If strange/weird/impossible things start to happen please
 154 check (dumping IDE project file as makefile and doing text comparison
 155 if necessary) that the project settings, especially the list of defined
 156 symbols, struct packing, etc. are exactly the same for all items in
 157 the project. After this, delete everything (including PCH) and recompile.<P>
 158
 159 VC++ 5's optimization code seems to be broken and can
 160 cause problems: this can be seen when deleting an object Dialog
 161 Editor, in Release mode with optimizations on. If in doubt,
 162 switch off optimisations, although this will result in much
 163 larger executables. It seems possible that the library can be created with
 164 strong optimization, so long as the application is not strongly
 165 optimized. For example, in wxWindows project, set to 'Minimum
 166 Size'. In Dialog Editor project, set to 'Customize: Favor Small
 167 Code' (and no others). This will then work.<P>
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