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 Added wxWindow_FromHWND(hWnd) for wxMSW to construct a wxWindow from a
  77 window handle.  If you can get the window handle into the python code,
  78 it should just work...  More news on this later.
  79
  80 Added wxImageList, wxToolTip.
  81
  82 Re-enabled wxConfig.DeleteAll() since it is reportedly fixed for the
  83 wxRegConfig class.
  84
  85 As usual, some bug fixes, tweaks, etc.
  86
  87
  88
  89 What's new in 0.5.3
  90 -------------------
  91 Added wxSashWindow, wxSashEvent, wxLayoutAlgorithm, etc.
  92
  93 Various cleanup, tweaks, minor additions, etc. to maintain
  94 compatibility with the current wxWindows.
  95
  96
  97
  98 What's new in 0.5.0
  99 -------------------
 100 Changed the import semantics from "from wxPython import *" to "from
 101 wxPython.wx import *"  This is for people who are worried about
 102 namespace pollution, they can use "from wxPython import wx" and then
 103 prefix all the wxPython identifiers with "wx."
 104
 105 Added wxTaskbarIcon for wxMSW.
 106
 107 Made the events work for wxGrid.
 108
 109 Added wxConfig.
 110
 111 Added wxMiniFrame for wxGTK.
 112
 113 Changed many of the args and return values that were pointers to gdi
 114 objects to references to reflect changes in the wxWindows API.
 115
 116 Other assorted fixes and additions.
 117
 118
 119
 120
 121 What's new in 0.4.2
 122 -------------------
 123
 124 wxPython on wxGTK works!!!  Both dynamic and static on Linux and
 125 static on Solaris have been tested.  Many thanks go to Harm
 126 <H.v.d.Heijden@phys.tue.nl> for his astute detective work on tracking
 127 down a nasty DECREF bug.  Okay so I have to confess that it was just a
 128 DSM (Dumb Stupid Mistake) on my part but it was nasty none the less
 129 because the behavior was so different on different platforms.
 130
 131
 132 The dynamicly loaded module on Solaris is still segfaulting, so it
 133 must have been a different issue all along...
 134
 135
 136
 137 What's New in 0.4
 138 -----------------
 139
 140 1. Worked on wxGTK compatibility.  It is partially working.  On a
 141 Solaris/Sparc box wxPython is working but only when it is statically
 142 linked with the Python interpreter.  When built as a dyamically loaded
 143 extension module, things start acting weirdly and it soon seg-faults.
 144 And on Linux both the statically linked and the dynamically linked
 145 version segfault shortly after starting up.
 146
 147 2. Added Toolbar, StatusBar and SplitterWindow classes.
 148
 149 3. Varioius bug fixes, enhancements, etc.
 150
 151
 152
 153 Build Instructions
 154 ------------------
 155 I used SWIG (http://www.swig.org) to create the source code for the
 156 extension module.  This enabled me to only have to deal with a small
 157 amount of code and only have to bother with the exceptional issues.
 158 SWIG takes care of the rest and generates all the repetative code for
 159 me.  You don't need SWIG to build the extension module as all the
 160 generated C++ code is included under the src directory.
 161
 162 I added a few minor features to SWIG to control some of the code
 163 generation.  If you want to playaround with this the patches are in
 164 wxPython/SWIG.patches and they should be applied to the 1.1p5 version
 165 of SWIG.  These new patches are documented at
 166 http://starship.skyport.net/crew/robind/python/#swig, and they should
 167 also end up in the 1.2 version of SWIG.
 168
 169 wxPython is organized as a Python package.  This means that the
 170 directory containing the results of the build process should be a
 171 subdirectory of a directory on the PYTHONPATH.  (And preferably should
 172 be named wxPython.)  You can control where the build process will dump
 173 wxPython by setting the TARGETDIR makefile variable.  The default is
 174 $(WXWIN)/utils/wxPython, where this README.txt is located.  If you
 175 leave it here then you should add $(WXWIN)/utils to your PYTHONPATH.
 176 However, you may prefer to use something that is already on your
 177 PYTHONPATH, such as the site-packages directory on Unix systems.
 178
 179
 180 Win32
 181 -----
 182
 183 1. Build wxWindows with wxUSE_RESOURCE_LOADING_IN_MSW set to 1 in
 184 include/wx/msw/setup.h so icons can be loaded dynamically.  While
 185 there, make sure wxUSE_OWNER_DRAWN is also set to 1.
 186
 187 2. Change into the $(WXWIN)/utils/wxPython/src directory.
 188
 189 3. Edit makefile.vc and specify where your python installation is at.
 190 You may also want to fiddle with the TARGETDIR variable as described
 191 above.
 192
 193 4. Run nmake -f makefile.vc
 194
 195 5. If it builds successfully, congratulations!  Move on to the next
 196 step.  If not then you can try mailing me for help.  Also, I will
 197 always have a pre-built win32 version of this extension module at
 198 http://starship.skyport.net/crew/robind/python.
 199
 200 6. Change to the $(WXWIN)/utils/wxPython/tests directory.
 201
 202 7. Try executing the test programs.  Note that some of these print
 203 diagnositc or test info to standard output, so they will require the
 204 console version of python.  For example:
 205
 206     python test1.py
 207
 208 To run them without requiring a console, you can use the pythonw.exe
 209 version of Python either from the command line or from a shortcut.
 210
 211
 212
 213 Unix
 214 ----
 215
 216 1. Change into the $(WXWIN)/utils/wxPython/src directory.
 217
 218 2. Edit Setup.in and ensure that the flags, directories, and toolkit
 219 options are correct.  See the above commentary about TARGETDIR.  There
 220 are a few sample Setup.in.[platform] files provided.
 221
 222 3. Run this command to generate a makefile:
 223
 224     make -f Makefile.pre.in boot
 225
 226 4. Run these commands to build and then install the wxPython extension
 227 module:
 228
 229     make
 230     make install
 231
 232
 233 5. Change to the $(WXWIN)/utils/wxPython/tests directory.
 234
 235 6. Try executing the test programs.  For example:
 236
 237     python test1.py
 238
 239
 240
 241 ------------------------
 242 10/20/1998
 243
 244 Robin Dunn
 245 robin@alldunn.com
 246
 247
 248