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 2.1.6
  49 -------------------
  50 wxImage.SetData now makes a copy of the image data before giving it to
  51 wxImage.  I mistakenly thought that wxImage would copy the data
  52 itself.
  53
  54 Fixed wxMSW's notebook so the pages get their size set as they are
  55 being added.  This should remove the need for our
  56 wxNotebook.ResizeChildren hack.
  57
  58 wxPanels now support AutoLayout, and wxNotebooks and wxSplitterWindows
  59 no longer tell their children to Layout() themselves.  This will
  60 probably only effect you if you have a wxWindow with AutoLayout inside
  61 a notebook or splitter.  If so, either change it to a wxPanel or add
  62 an EVT_SIZE handler that calls Layout().
  63
  64 Fixed deadlock problem that happened when using threads.
  65
  66 Added new HTML printing classes.
  67
  68
  69
  70
  71
  72 What's new in 2.1.5
  73 -------------------
  74 This is a quick bug-fix release to take care of a few nasties that
  75 crept in at the last minute before 2.1.4 was called done.  No new
  76 major features.
  77
  78
  79
  80 What's new in 2.1.4
  81 --------------------
  82
  83 This release is NOT syncronized with a snapshot release of wxGTK or
  84 wxMSW.  For MSW this isn't much of a problem since you can get the
  85 binaries from the web site.  For other platforms you'll have to build
  86 wxGTK from CVS.  (See http://web.ukonline.co.uk/julian.smart/wxwin/cvs.htm)
  87 To get the same set of sources from CVS that I used, checkout using
  88 the wxPy-2-1-4 tag.
  89
  90 Now back to what's new...
  91
  92 Much more support for event-less callbacks and add-on modules.
  93
  94 Created add-on module with wxOGL classes.
  95
  96 Added wxWindow.GetChildren().  Be careful of this.  It returns a *copy*
  97 of the list of the window's children.  While you are using the list if
  98 anything changes in the real list (a child is deleted, etc.) then the
  99 list you are holding will suddenly have window references to garbage
 100 memory and your app will likely crash.  But if you are careful it works
 101 great!
 102
 103 Added a bunch of new and missing methods to wxTreeCrtl.  The
 104 SortChildren method is now supported, but currently only for the
 105 default sort order.
 106
 107 Added typemaps for wxSize, wxPoint, wxRealPoint, and wxRect that allow
 108 either the actual objects or Python sequence values to be used.  For
 109 example, the following are equivallent:
 110
 111     win = wxWindow(parent, size = wxSize(100, 100))
 112     win = wxWindow(parent, size = (100, 100))
 113
 114 Super-charged the wxHtml module.  You can now create your own tag
 115 handlers and also have access to the parser and cell classes.  There
 116 is a tag handler in the library at wxPython.lib.wxpTag that
 117 understands the WXP tag and is able to place wxPython windows on HTML
 118 pages.  See the demo for an example.
 119
 120 A bunch of the methods of wxMenuBar were previously ifdef'd out for
 121 wxGTK.  Added them back in since the methods exist now.
 122
 123 Wrapped the wxHtmlHelpController and related classes.
 124
 125 Wrapped the C++ versions of wxSizer and friends.  The Python-only
 126 versions are still in the library, but depreciated.  (You will get a
 127 warning message if you try to use them, but the warning can be
 128 disabled.) The usage of the C++ versions is slightly different, and
 129 the functionality of wxBorderSizer is now part of wxBoxSizer.  I have
 130 added a few methods to wxSizer to try and make the transition as
 131 smooth as possible, I combined all Add methods into a single method
 132 that handles all cases, added an AddMany method, etc.  One step I did
 133 not take was to make the default value of flag in the Add method be
 134 wxGROW.  This would have made it more backward compatible, but less
 135 portable to and from wxWin C++ code.  Please see the docs and demo for
 136 further details.
 137
 138 Added wxPyEvent and wxPyCommandEvent classes, derived from wxEvent and
 139 wxCommandEvent.  Each of them has SetPyData and GetPyData methods that
 140 accept or return a single Python object.  You can use these classes
 141 directly or derive from them to create your own types of event objects
 142 that can pass through the wxWindows event system without loosing their
 143 Python parts (as long as they are stored with SetPyData.)  Stay tuned
 144 for more info and examples in future releases.
 145
 146 Added wxPython.lib.grids as an example of how to derive a new sizer
 147 from the C++ sizers.  In this module you will find wxGridSizer and
 148 wxFlexGridSizer.  wxGridSizer arrainges its items in a grid in which
 149 all the widths and heights are the same.  wxFlexgridSizer allows
 150 different widths and heights, and you can also specify rows and/or
 151 columns that are growable.  See the demo for a couple examples for how
 152 to use them.
 153
 154 Added the wxValidator class, and created a class named wxPyValidator
 155 that should be used for the base class of any Python validators.  See
 156 the demo for an example.  Please note that you MUST implement a Clone
 157 method in your validator classes because of the way some things work
 158 in the underlying C++ library.  I did not add wxTextValidator because
 159 of some issues of how it transfers data to and from a wxString, which
 160 in wxPython is automatically translated to and from Python strings, so
 161 there would never be a concrete wxString that would hang around long
 162 enough for the validator to do its job.  On the other hand, it should
 163 be real easy to duplicate the functionality of wxTextValidator in a
 164 pure Python class derived from wxPyValidator.
 165
 166 I've finally added a feature that has been on my list for close to two
 167 years!  Ever wondered what that zero is for when you create your app
 168 object?  Well now you can leave it out or explicitly set it to a true
 169 value.  This value now controls what is to be done with sys.stdout and
 170 sys.stderr.  A false value leaves them alone, and a true value sets
 171 them to an instance of wxPyOnDemandOutputWindow.  (On windows the
 172 default is true, on unix platforms the default is false.)  This class
 173 creates a frame containing a wxTextCtrl as soon as anything is written
 174 to sys.stdout or sys.stderr.  If you close the window it will come
 175 back again the next time something is written.  (You can call
 176 app.RestoreStdio to turn this off.)  If you would rather that the stdio be
 177 redirected to a file, you can provide a second parameter to your app
 178 object's constructor that is a filename.  If you want to use your own
 179 class instead of wxPyOnDemandOutputWindow you can either implement
 180 RedirectStdio() in you app class or change the value of
 181 wxApp.outputWindowClass like this:
 182
 183     class MyApp(wxApp):
 184         outputWindowClass = MyClass
 185
 186         def OnInit(self):
 187             frame = MyFrame()
 188             self.SetTopWindow(frame)
 189             return true
 190
 191 Please see the implementation of wxPyOnDemandOutputWindow and wxApp in
 192 wx.py for more details.  A few words of caution:  if you are running
 193 your app in a debugger, changing sys.stdout and sys.stderr is likely
 194 to really screw things up.
 195
 196 Added wxCaret.  Unfortunately it's author has still not documented it
 197 in the wxWindows docs...
 198
 199 Some new 3rd party contributions in wxPython.lib.  PyShell, in
 200 shell.py is an interesting implementaion of an interactive Python
 201 shell in wxWindows.  floatbar.py has a class derived from wxToolBar
 202 that can sense mouse drags and then reparent itself into another
 203 frame. Moving the new frame close to where it came from puts the tool
 204 bar back into the original parent.  (Unfortunately there is currently
 205 a bug in wxGTK's wxFrame.SetToolBar so the FloatBar has some
 206 problems...)
 207
 208
 209
 210
 211 What's new in 2.1b3
 212 --------------------
 213
 214 This release is syncronized with release 2.1 snapshot 9 of wxWindows.
 215
 216 Switched to using SWIG from CVS (see http://swig.cs.uchicago.edu/cvs.html)
 217 for some of the new features and such.  Also they have encorporated my
 218 patches so there is really no reason to stick with the current (very
 219 old) release...  This version of SWIG gives the following new
 220 features:
 221
 222     1. Keyword arguments.  You no longer have to specify all the
 223        parameters with defaults to a method just to specify a
 224        non-default value on the end.  You can now do this instead:
 225
 226           win = wxWindow(parent, -1, style = mystyle)
 227
 228     2. There is now an an equivalence between Python's None and C++'s
 229        NULL.  This means that any methods that might return NULL will
 230        now return None and you can use none where wxWindows might be
 231        expecting NULL.  This makes things much more snake-ish.
 232
 233
 234 There is a new build system based on a new Python program instead of
 235 raw makefiles.  Now wxPython builds are virtually the same on MSW or
 236 Unix systems.  See the end of this file for new build instructions and
 237 see distrib/build.py for more details.
 238
 239 wxDC.Bilt now includes the useMask parameter, and has been split into
 240 two different versions.  wxDC.BlitXY is like what was there before and
 241 takes raw coordinants and sizes, and the new wxDC.Blit is for the new
 242 interface using wxPoints and a wxSize.
 243
 244
 245
 246
 247
 248 What's new in 2.1b2
 249 --------------------
 250
 251 Added the missing wxWindow.GetUpdateRegion() method.
 252
 253 Made a new change in SWIG (update your patches everybody) that
 254 provides a fix for global shadow objects that get an exception in
 255 their __del__ when their extension module has already been deleted.
 256 It was only a 1 line change in .../SWIG/Modules/pycpp.cxx at about
 257 line 496 if you want to do it by hand.
 258
 259 It is now possible to run through MainLoop more than once in any one
 260 process.  The cleanup that used to happen as MainLoop completed (and
 261 prevented it from running again) has been delayed until the wxc module
 262 is being unloaded by Python.
 263
 264 I fixed a bunch of stuff in the C++ version of wxGrid so it wouldn't
 265 make wxPython look bad.
 266
 267 wxWindow.PopupMenu() now takes a wxPoint instead of  x,y.  Added
 268 wxWindow.PopupMenuXY to be consistent with some other methods.
 269
 270 Added wxGrid.SetEditInPlace and wxGrid.GetEditInPlace.
 271
 272 You can now provide your own app.MainLoop method.  See
 273 wxPython/demo/demoMainLoop.py for an example and some explaination.
 274
 275 Got the in-place-edit for the wxTreeCtrl fixed and added some demo
 276 code to show how to use it.
 277
 278 Put the wxIcon constructor back in for GTK as it now has one that
 279 matches MSW's.
 280
 281 Added wxGrid.GetCells
 282
 283 Added wxSystemSettings static methods as functions with names like
 284 wxSystemSettings_GetSystemColour.
 285
 286 Removed wxPyMenu since using menu callbacks have been depreciated in
 287 wxWindows.  Use wxMenu and events instead.
 288
 289 Added alternate wxBitmap constructor (for MSW only) as
 290       wxBitmapFromData(data, type, width, height, depth = 1)
 291
 292 Added a helper function named wxPyTypeCast that can convert shadow
 293 objects of one type into shadow objects of another type.  (Like doing
 294 a down-cast.)  See the implementation in wx.py for some docs.
 295
 296 Fixed wxImage GetData and SetData to properly use String objects for
 297 data transfer.
 298
 299 Added access methods to wxGridEvent.
 300
 301 New Makefile/Setup files supporting multiple dynamic extension modules
 302 for unix systems.
 303
 304 Fixes for the wxGLCanvas demo to work around a strange bug in gtk.
 305
 306 SWIG support routines now compiled separately instead of being bundled
 307 in wx.cpp.
 308
 309
 310
 311
 312
 313 What's new in 2.1b1
 314 --------------------
 315 Fixed wxComboBox.SetSelection so that it actually sets the selected
 316 item.  (Actually just removed it from wxPython and let it default to
 317 wxChoice.SetSelection which was already doing the right thing.)
 318
 319 Added the Printing Framework.
 320
 321 Switched back to using the wxWindows DLL for the pre-built Win32
 322 version.  The problem was needing to reinitialize static class info
 323 data after loading each extension module.
 324
 325 Lots of little tweaks and additions to reflect changes to various
 326 wxWindows classes.
 327
 328 Fixed a bug with attaching objects to tree items.  Actually was a
 329 symptom of a larger problem with not obtaining the interpreter lock
 330 when doing any Py_DECREFs.
 331
 332 wxSizer and friends.  Sizers are layout tools that manage a colection
 333 of windows and sizers.  Different types of sizers apply different
 334 types of layout algorithms.  You saw it here first!  These classes are
 335 not even in the wxWindows C++ library yet!
 336
 337
 338
 339 What's new in 2.0b9
 340 -------------------
 341 Bug fix for ListCtrl in test4.py (Was a missing file...  DSM!)
 342
 343 Bug fix for occassional GPF on Win32 systems upon termination of a
 344 wxPython application.
 345
 346 Added wxListBox.GetSelections returning selections as a Tuple.
 347
 348 Added a wxTreeItemData that is able to hold any Python object and be
 349 associated with items in a wxTreeCtrl.  Added test pytree.py to show
 350 this feature off.
 351
 352 Added wxSafeYield function.
 353
 354 OpenGL Canvas can be optionally compiled in to wxPython.
 355
 356 Awesome new Demo Framework for showing off wxPython and for learning
 357 how it all works.
 358
 359 The pre-built Win32 version is no longer distributing the wxWindows
 360 DLL.  It is statically linked with the wxWindows library instead.
 361
 362 Added a couple missing items from the docs.
 363
 364 Added wxImage, wxImageHandler, wxPNGHandler, wxJPEGHandler,
 365 wxGIFHandler and wxBMPHandler.
 366
 367 Added new methods to wxTextCtrl.
 368
 369 Fixed some problems with how SWIG was wrapping some wxTreeCtrl
 370 methods.
 371
 372
 373
 374 What's new in 2.0b8
 375 -------------------
 376 Support for using Python threads in wxPython apps.
 377
 378 Several missing methods from various classes.
 379
 380 Various bug fixes.
 381
 382
 383
 384 What's new in 2.0b7
 385 -------------------
 386 Added DLG_PNT and DLG_SZE convienience methods to wxWindow class.
 387
 388 Added missing constructor and other methods for wxMenuItem.
 389
 390
 391
 392 What's new in 2.0b6
 393 -------------------
 394 Just a quickie update to fix the self-installer to be compatible with
 395 Python 1.5.2b2's Registry settings.
 396
 397
 398 What's new in 2.0b5
 399 -------------------
 400 Well obviously the numbering scheme has changed.  I did this to
 401 reflect the fact that this truly is the second major revision of
 402 wxPython, (well the third actually if you count the one I did for
 403 wxWindows 1.68 and then threw away...) and also that it is associated
 404 with the 2.0 version of wxWindows.
 405
 406 I have finally started documenting wxPython.  There are several pages
 407 in the wxWindows documentation tree specifically about wxPython, and I
 408 have added notes within the class references about where and how wxPython
 409 diverges from wxWindows.
 410
 411 Added wxWindow_FromHWND(hWnd) for wxMSW to construct a wxWindow from a
 412 window handle.  If you can get the window handle into the python code,
 413 it should just work...  More news on this later.
 414
 415 Added wxImageList, wxToolTip.
 416
 417 Re-enabled wxConfig.DeleteAll() since it is reportedly fixed for the
 418 wxRegConfig class.
 419
 420 As usual, some bug fixes, tweaks, etc.
 421
 422
 423
 424 What's new in 0.5.3
 425 -------------------
 426 Added wxSashWindow, wxSashEvent, wxLayoutAlgorithm, etc.
 427
 428 Various cleanup, tweaks, minor additions, etc. to maintain
 429 compatibility with the current wxWindows.
 430
 431
 432
 433 What's new in 0.5.0
 434 -------------------
 435 Changed the import semantics from "from wxPython import *" to "from
 436 wxPython.wx import *"  This is for people who are worried about
 437 namespace pollution, they can use "from wxPython import wx" and then
 438 prefix all the wxPython identifiers with "wx."
 439
 440 Added wxTaskbarIcon for wxMSW.
 441
 442 Made the events work for wxGrid.
 443
 444 Added wxConfig.
 445
 446 Added wxMiniFrame for wxGTK.
 447
 448 Changed many of the args and return values that were pointers to gdi
 449 objects to references to reflect changes in the wxWindows API.
 450
 451 Other assorted fixes and additions.
 452
 453
 454
 455
 456 What's new in 0.4.2
 457 -------------------
 458
 459 wxPython on wxGTK works!!!  Both dynamic and static on Linux and
 460 static on Solaris have been tested.  Many thanks go to Harm
 461 <H.v.d.Heijden@phys.tue.nl> for his astute detective work on tracking
 462 down a nasty DECREF bug.  Okay so I have to confess that it was just a
 463 DSM (Dumb Stupid Mistake) on my part but it was nasty none the less
 464 because the behavior was so different on different platforms.
 465
 466 The dynamicly loaded module on Solaris is still segfaulting, so it
 467 must have been a different issue all along...
 468
 469
 470
 471 What's New in 0.4
 472 -----------------
 473
 474 1. Worked on wxGTK compatibility.  It is partially working.  On a
 475 Solaris/Sparc box wxPython is working but only when it is statically
 476 linked with the Python interpreter.  When built as a dyamically loaded
 477 extension module, things start acting weirdly and it soon seg-faults.
 478 And on Linux both the statically linked and the dynamically linked
 479 version segfault shortly after starting up.
 480
 481 2. Added Toolbar, StatusBar and SplitterWindow classes.
 482
 483 3. Varioius bug fixes, enhancements, etc.
 484
 485 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 486
 487
 488
 489 Build Instructions
 490 ------------------
 491 I used SWIG (http://www.swig.org) to create the source code for the
 492 extension module.  This enabled me to only have to deal with a small
 493 amount of code and only have to bother with the exceptional issues.
 494 SWIG takes care of the rest and generates all the repetative code for
 495 me.  You don't need SWIG to build the extension module as all the
 496 generated C++ code is included under the src directory.
 497
 498 I added a few minor features to SWIG to control some of the code
 499 generation.  If you want to play around with this you will need to get
 500 a recent version of SWIG from their CVS or from a daily build.  See
 501 http://www.swig.org/ for details.
 502
 503 wxPython is organized as a Python package.  This means that the
 504 directory containing the results of the build process should be a
 505 subdirectory of a directory on the PYTHONPATH.  (And preferably should
 506 be named wxPython.)  You can control where the build process will dump
 507 wxPython by setting the TARGETDIR variable for the build utility, (see
 508 below.)
 509
 510
 511 1. Build wxWindows as described in its BuildCVS.txt file.  For *nix
 512    systems I run configure with these flags:
 513
 514                 --with-gtk
 515                 --with-libjpeg
 516                 --without-odbc
 517                 --enable-unicode=no
 518                 --enable-threads=yes
 519                 --enable-socket=yes
 520                 --enable-static=no
 521                 --enable-shared=yes
 522                 --disable-std_iostreams
 523
 524    You can use whatever flags you want, but I know these work.
 525
 526    For Win32 systems I use Visual C++ 6.0, but 5.0 should work.  The
 527    build utility currently does not support any other win32 compilers.
 528
 529 2. At this point you may want to make an alias or symlink, script,
 530    batch file, whatever on the PATH that invokes
 531    $(WXWIN)/utils/wxPython/distrib/build.py to help simplify matters
 532    somewhat.  For example, on my win32 system I have a file named
 533    build.bat in a directory on the PATH that contains:
 534
 535    python $(WXWIN)/utils/wxPython/distrib/build.py %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6
 536
 537
 538 3. Change into the $(WXWIN)/utils/wxPython/src directory.
 539
 540 4. Type "build -b" to build wxPython and "build -i" to install it.
 541
 542    The build.py script actually generates a Makefile based on what it
 543    finds on your system and information found in the build.cfg file.
 544    If you have troubles building or you want it built or installed in
 545    a different way, take a look at the docstring in build.py.  You may
 546    be able to override configuration options in a file named
 547    build.local.
 548
 549 5. To build and install the add-on modules, change to the appropriate
 550    directory under $(WXWIN)/utils/wxPython/modules and run the build
 551    utility again.
 552
 553 6. Change to the $(WXWIN)/utils/wxPython/demo directory.
 554
 555 7. Try executing the demo program.  For example:
 556
 557     python demo.py
 558
 559 To run it without requiring a console on win32, you can use the
 560 pythonw.exe version of Python either from the command line or from a
 561 shortcut.
 562
 563
 564
 565 ----------------
 566 Robin Dunn
 567 robin@alldunn.com
 568
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