wxPython/wx/tools/XRCed/README.txt

   1 ********************************************************************************
   2
   3                                   XRCed README
   4
   5 ********************************************************************************
   6
   7 System requirements
   8 -------------------
   9
  10 wxPython version must be recent enough to support all features (a warning
  11 message is shown if not).
  12
  13
  14 User requirements
  15 -----------------
  16
  17 To use XRCed it is really important to be familiar with wxWindows class names
  18 and at least partially with XRC resource format (read
  19 wxWindows/doc/tech/tn0014.txt for reference).
  20
  21
  22 Short manual
  23 ------------
  24
  25 XRCed's idea is very straightforward: it is a visual tool for editing an XML
  26 file conforming to XRC format. Every operation performed in XRCed has direct
  27 correspondence to XML structure. So it is not really a usual point-and-click
  28 GUI builder, but don't let that scare you.
  29
  30 To start xrced, change to the directory where you installed it and run
  31 "python2.2 xrced.py".
  32
  33 On UNIX you can edit wrapper script "xrced.sh" to point to your installation
  34 directory.
  35
  36 To create an object, first you should select some object in the tree (or the
  37 root item if it's empty) then press the right mouse button and select an
  38 appropriate command. The pulldown menu is context-dependent on the selected
  39 object.
  40
  41 XRCed tries to guess if new object should be added as a next sibling or a
  42 child of current object, depending on the possibility of the object to have
  43 child objects and expanded state (if tree item is collapsed, new object will
  44 be sibling). You can change this behavior to create siblings by pressing and
  45 holding the Shift and Control keys before clicking the mouse.
  46
  47 Pressed Control key while pressing right button makes next item a sibling of
  48 selected item regardless of its expanded state.
  49
  50 Pressed Shift key changes the place for inserting new child to be before
  51 selected child, not after as by default.
  52
  53 Panel on the right contains object properties. Properties which are optional
  54 should be "checked" first. This panel can be made separate by unchecking
  55 "Embed Panel" in View menu.
  56
  57 All properties can be edited as text, and some are supplied with special
  58 editing controls.
  59
  60 When no 'Edit' button is provided for editing a property's value, it is
  61 supposed to be copied verbatim to XRC file.
  62
  63 The names of the properties are exactly as in XRC file, and it's usually not
  64 hard to guess what they do. "XML ID" is the name of the window, and must be
  65 present for top-level windows (though this is not enforced by XRCed).
  66
  67 To display the preview window double-click a top-level object (you should
  68 assign an XMLID to it first), press "Test" toolbar button or select command
  69 from View menu, or press F5. After that, if you select a child object, it
  70 becomes highlighted, and if you change it, preview is updated when you select
  71 another item or press Ctrl-R (refresh). To turn off automatic update, toggle
  72 "View->Auto-refresh" or toolbar auto-refresh button (to the right of the
  73 refresh button). If you double-click a non-window object (a button for
  74 example), then test view is created for a closest ancestor which is a window.
  75
  76
  77 Bugs
  78 ----
  79
  80 - Some combinations of parent/child windows are not valid but possible to put
  81   into XML tree by using XRCed. Usually this produces a meaningful error
  82   message from XRC library when test view is opened.
  83
  84 - Be careful when replacing a non-empty container control with another class,
  85   and check parameters which can be copied from the previous object but not
  86   valid for the new one. Is it not possible to undo replacement yet.
  87
  88
  89 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  90
  91 Copyright 2001-2005 Roman Rolinsky <rollrom@xrced.sourceforge.net>