docs/html/faqgen.htm

   1 <HTML>
   2
   3 <HEAD>
   4 <TITLE>wxWindows 2 FAQ: General</TITLE>
   5 </HEAD>
   6
   7 <BODY BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF TEXT=#000000 LINK=#FF0000 VLINK=#000000>
   8
   9 <font face="Arial, Lucida Sans, Helvetica">
  10
  11 <table width=100% border=0 cellpadding=5 cellspacing=0>
  12 <tr>
  13 <td bgcolor="#C4ECF9">
  14 <font size=+1 face="Arial, Lucida Sans, Helvetica" color="#000000">
  15 wxWindows 2 FAQ: General
  16 </font>
  17 </td>
  18 </tr>
  19 </table>
  20
  21 <P>
  22
  23 See also <a href="faq.htm">top-level FAQ page</a>.
  24 <hr>
  25
  26 <H3><a name="whatis">What is wxWindows?</a></H3>
  27
  28 wxWindows is a class library that allows you to compile graphical C++ programs on a range of
  29 different platforms. wxWindows defines a common API across platforms, but uses the native graphical user interface (GUI) on each platform,
  30 so your program will take on the native 'look and feel' that users are familiar with.<P>
  31
  32 Although GUI applications are mostly built programmatically, there is a dialog editor to help
  33 build attractive dialogs and panels. Robert Roebling's <a href="http://www.roebling.com">wxDesigner</a>
  34 makes light work of resizable, portable dialogs.<P>
  35
  36 You don't have to use C++ to use wxWindows: wxWindows 1 has been interfaced to several interpreted languages,
  37 such as CLIPS, Python, Scheme, XLisp and Perl, and there is a <a href="http://wxpython.org">Python interface</a> for wxWindows 2.
  38 <P>
  39
  40 <h3>Can I use wxWindows 2 for both proprietary (commercial) projects, and GPL'ed projects?</h3>
  41
  42 Yes. Please see the <a href="newlicen.htm">licence</a> for details, but basically
  43 you can distribute proprietary binaries without distributing any source code, and neither will wxWindows
  44 conflict with GPL code you may be using or developing with it.
  45 <P>
  46 The conditions for using wxWindows 2 are the same whether you are a personal, academic
  47 or commercial developer.
  48 <P>
  49
  50 <h3>Is there support?</h3>
  51
  52 No official support, but the mailing list is very helpful and some people say that
  53 wxWindows support is better than for much commercial software. The developers are
  54 keen to fix bugs as soon as possible, though obviously there are no guarantees.
  55 <P>
  56
  57 <H3><a name="users">Who uses wxWindows?</a></H3>
  58
  59 Many organisations - commercial, government, and academic - across the
  60 world. It's impossible to estimate the true number of users, since
  61 wxWindows is obtained by many different means, and we cannot monitor
  62 distribution. The mailing list contains around 300-400 entries which is
  63 quite large for a list of this type.<P>
  64
  65 See <a href="users.htm">Users</a> for a list of some users and their applications, and
  66 also <A href="feedback.htm">Feedback</a> for comments.<P>
  67
  68 <H3>How much has the API changed since 1.xx?</H3>
  69
  70 It's difficult to summarize, but some aspects haven't changed very much. For example, if you have some
  71 complex drawing code, you will mostly need to make sure it's parameterised with a device
  72 context (instead of obtaining one from a window or storing it). You won't have
  73 to completely rewrite the drawing code.<P>
  74
  75 The way that events are handled has changed, so for example, where you overrode
  76 OnSize before, you now have a non-virtual OnSize with a single event class argument.
  77 To make this function known to wxWindows, you add an entry in an 'event table' using macros. Addition of these macros
  78 will eventually be made easier by a tool which will allow selection from a list
  79 and copy-and-paste into your editor. This is extended to button presses, listbox selection
  80 etc. so callbacks have gone (they may be added back for limited backward compatibility).<P>
  81
  82 The class hierarchy has changed to allow greater flexibility but it probably won't affect your
  83 existing application. One exception to this is MDI applications which now use separate MDI classes instead of style
  84 flags. As a result, it won't be possible to switch between MDI and SDI operation at run-time
  85 without further coding, but a benefit is less interdependence between areas of code,
  86 and therefore smaller executable size.<P>
  87
  88 Panel items (now called controls) no longer have labels associated with most of them,
  89 and default panel layout has been removed. The idea is that you make greater use
  90 of dialog resources, for better-looking dialogs.<P>
  91
  92 <H3>What classes have disappeared?</H3>
  93
  94 wxForm, wxTextWindow (subsumed into wxTextCtrl).
  95
  96 <H3>Does wxWindows 2 mean that wxWindows 1.xx is dead?</H3>
  97
  98 While wxWindows 2 is being developed, there will be further patches to wxWindows 1.xx.
  99 Obviously we are investing most of our energy into the new code, but we're also trying
 100 to fix bugs in the current version.<P>
 101
 102 <H3>What platforms are supported by wxWindows 2?</H3>
 103
 104 <ul>
 105 <li>Windows 3.1, Windows 95/98, Windows NT;
 106 <li>Linux and other Unix platforms with GTK+;
 107 <li>Unix with Motif or the free Motif clone Lesstif;
 108 <li>Mac;
 109 <li>A BeOS port is being investigated.
 110 <li>A Windows CE port is being investigated.
 111 <li>An OS/2 port is in progress, and you can also compile wxWindows for GTK+ or Motif
 112 on OS/2.
 113 </ul>
 114 <P>
 115
 116 <H3>How does wxWindows 2 support platform-specific features?</H3>
 117
 118 This is a hotly-debated topic amongst the developers. My own philosophy
 119 is to make wxWindows as platform-independent as possible, but allow in a
 120 few classes (functions, window styles) that are platform-specific.
 121 For example, Windows metafiles and Windows 95 taskbar icons have
 122 their own classes on Windows, but nowhere else. Because these classes
 123 are provided and are wxWindows-compatible, it doesn't take much
 124 coding effort for an application programmer to add support for
 125 some functionality that the user on a particular platform might otherwise
 126 miss. Also, some classes that started off as platform-specific, such
 127 as the MDI classes, have been emulated on other platforms. I can imagine
 128 that even wxTaskBarIcon may be implemented for Unix desktops one day.
 129 <P>
 130
 131 In other words, wxWindows is not a 'lowest common denominator' approach,
 132 but it will still be possible to write portable programs using the
 133 core API. Forbidding some platform-specific classes would be a stupid
 134 approach that would alienate many potential users, and encourage
 135 the perception that toolkits such as wxWindows are not up to the demands
 136 of today's sophisticated applications.<P>
 137
 138 Currently resources such as bitmaps and icons are handled in a platform-specific
 139 way, but it is hoped to reduce this dependence in due course.<P>
 140
 141 Another reason why wxWindows 2 is not a 'lowest common denominator' toolkit is that
 142 some functionality missing on some platform has been provided using generic,
 143 platform-independent code, such as the wxTreeCtrl and wxListCtrl classes.<P>
 144
 145 <H3>Does wxWindows use STL? or the standard string class?</H3>
 146
 147 No. This is a much-discussed topic that has (many times) ended with the conclusion that it is in
 148 wxWindows' best interests to avoid use of templates. Not all compilers can handle
 149 templates adequately so it would dramatically reduce the number of compilers
 150 and platforms that could be supported. It would also be undersirable to make
 151 wxWindows dependent on another large library that may have to be downloaded and installed.
 152 In addition, use of templates can lead to executable bloat, which is something
 153 wxWindows 2 is strenously trying to avoid.<P>
 154
 155 The standard C++ string class is not used, again because it is not available to all compilers,
 156 and it is not necessarily a very efficient implementation. Also, we retain more flexibility
 157 by being able to modify our own string class. Some compatibility with the string class
 158 has been built into wxString.<P>
 159
 160 There is nothing to stop an application using templates or the string class for its own
 161 purposes.<P>
 162
 163 <H3>Is there a rich edit/markup widget for wxWindows 2?</H3>
 164
 165 These are the possibilities so far:<P>
 166
 167 <ul>
 168 <li>The richedit sample has a text editor that does markup.
 169 <li>See <a href="http://www.scintilla.org" target=_top>www.scintilla.org</a> for
 170 a very nice syntax-highlighting editor widget. Robin Dunn is writing a wxWindows wrapper
 171 for this widget.
 172 <li>If you only need to display marked-up information, rather than edit it,
 173 then wxHTML will suit your needs. wxHTML is built into wxWindows - please see the reference
 174 manual for details, and samples/html.
 175 <li>There are rich edit widgets in both WIN32 and GTK+, but there is currently
 176 no wxWindows wrapper for these.
 177 </ul>
 178
 179 <P>
 180
 181 <H3>How is wxWindows 2 being developed?</H3>
 182
 183 We are using the <a href="cvs.htm">CVS</a> system to develop and maintain wxWindows. This allows
 184 us to make alterations and upload them instantly to the SourceForge server, from
 185 which others can update their source.<P>
 186
 187 To build source from CVS, see the file BuildCVS.txt in the top-level wxWindows distribution
 188 directory.<P>
 189
 190 <H3>How is wxWindows 2 distributed?</H3>
 191
 192 By ftp, and via the <a href="cdrom2.htm">wxWindows CD-ROM</a>.<P>
 193
 194 <H3>What are the plans for the future?</H3>
 195
 196 Currently we're working too hard on getting wxWindows 2 finished (are GUI toolkits ever
 197 finished?) to think very far ahead. However, we know we want to make wxWindows as robust
 198 and well-publicised as possible. We also want to aim for better platform-independence of
 199 resources such as icons and bitmaps, standardising on the PNG for all platforms.<P>
 200
 201 Other possibilities include: DCOM/CORBA compatibility; a wxWindows book;
 202 <a href="http://wxstudio.linuxbox.com/">wxStudio</a>, an IDE;
 203 other platforms; other interface abilities such as speech output.<P>
 204
 205 We will investigate the possibility of compiler or operating system vendors bundling wxWindows with
 206 their product.<P>
 207
 208 The high-level goal of wxWindows is to be thought of as the number one C++ framework,
 209 for virtually any platform. Move over, MFC!<P>
 210
 211 <H3>What about Java?</H3>
 212
 213 The Java honeymoon period is over :-) and people are realising that it cannot
 214 meet all their cross-platform development needs. We don't anticipate a major threat
 215 from Java, and the level of interest in wxWindows is as high as ever.<P>
 216
 217 <H3>How can I help the project?</H3>
 218
 219 Please check out the <a href="http://www.wxwindows.org/develop.htm" target=main>Backroom</a> pages,
 220 in particular the <a href="http://www.wxwindows.org/projects.htm">suggested projects</a>, and
 221 mail <a href="mailto:julian.smart@ukonline.co.uk">Julian Smart</a> or the developers' mailing list with your own suggestions.<P>
 222
 223 </font>
 224
 225 </BODY>
 226
 227 </HTML>