]> git.saurik.com Git - wxWidgets.git/blob - docs/latex/wx/wxmsw.tex
Build fix after DrawPushButton introduction.
[wxWidgets.git] / docs / latex / wx / wxmsw.tex
1 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
2 %% Name: wxmsw.tex
3 %% Purpose: wxMSW and wxWinCE platform specific informations
4 %% Author: wxWidgets Team
5 %% Modified by:
6 %% Created:
7 %% RCS-ID: $Id$
8 %% Copyright: (c) wxWidgets Team
9 %% License: wxWindows license
10 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
11
12 \section{wxMSW port}\label{wxmswport}
13
14 wxMSW is a port of wxWidgets for the Windows platforms
15 including Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000, NT, XP in ANSI and
16 Unicode mode (for Windows 95 through the MSLU extension
17 library). wxMSW ensures native look and feel for XP
18 as well when using wxWidgets version 2.3.3 or higher.
19 wxMSW can be compile with a great variety of compilers
20 including MS VC++, Borland 5.5, MinGW32, Cygwin and
21 Watcom as well as cross-compilation with a Linux hosted
22 MinGW32 tool chain.
23
24 For further information, please see the files in docs/msw
25 in the distribution.
26
27 \subsection{wxWinCE}\label{wxwince}
28
29 wxWinCE is the name given to wxMSW when compiled on Windows CE devices;
30 most of wxMSW is common to Win32 and Windows CE but there are
31 some simplifications, enhancements, and differences in
32 behaviour.
33
34 For building instructions, see docs/msw/wince in the
35 distribution, also the section about Visual Studio 2005 project
36 files below. The rest of this section documents issues you
37 need to be aware of when programming for Windows CE devices.
38
39 \subsubsection{General issues for wxWinCE programming}
40
41 Mobile applications generally have fewer features and
42 simpler user interfaces. Simply omit whole sizers, static
43 lines and controls in your dialogs, and use comboboxes instead
44 of listboxes where appropriate. You also need to reduce
45 the amount of spacing used by sizers, for which you can
46 use a macro such as this:
47
48 \begin{verbatim}
49 #if defined(__WXWINCE__)
50 #define wxLARGESMALL(large,small) small
51 #else
52 #define wxLARGESMALL(large,small) large
53 #endif
54
55 // Usage
56 topsizer->Add( CreateTextSizer( message ), 0, wxALL, wxLARGESMALL(10,0) );
57 \end{verbatim}
58
59 There is only ever one instance of a Windows CE application running,
60 and wxWidgets will take care of showing the current instance and
61 shutting down the second instance if necessary.
62
63 You can test the return value of wxSystemSettings::GetScreenType()
64 for a qualitative assessment of what kind of display is available,
65 or use wxGetDisplaySize() if you need more information.
66
67 You can also use wxGetOsVersion to test for a version of Windows CE at
68 run-time (see the next section). However, because different builds
69 are currently required to target different kinds of device, these
70 values are hard-wired according to the build, and you cannot
71 dynamically adapt the same executable for different major Windows CE
72 platforms. This would require a different approach to the way
73 wxWidgets adapts its behaviour (such as for menubars) to suit the
74 style of device.
75
76 See the "Life!" example (demos/life) for an example of
77 an application that has been tailored for PocketPC and Smartphone use.
78
79 {\bf Note:} don't forget to have this line in your .rc file, as for
80 desktop Windows applications:
81
82 \begin{verbatim}
83 #include "wx/msw/wx.rc"
84 \end{verbatim}
85
86 \subsubsection{Testing for WinCE SDKs}
87
88 Use these preprocessor symbols to test for the different types of device or SDK:
89
90 \begin{twocollist}\itemsep=0pt
91 \twocolitem{\_\_SMARTPHONE\_\_}{Generic mobile devices with phone buttons and a small display}
92 \twocolitem{\_\_PDA\_\_}{Generic mobile devices with no phone}
93 \twocolitem{\_\_HANDHELDPC\_\_}{Generic mobile device with a keyboard}
94 \twocolitem{\_\_WXWINCE\_\_}{Microsoft-powered Windows CE devices, whether PocketPC, Smartphone or Standard SDK}
95 \twocolitem{WIN32\_PLATFORM\_WFSP}{Microsoft-powered smartphone}
96 \twocolitem{\_\_POCKETPC\_\_}{Microsoft-powered PocketPC devices with touch-screen}
97 \twocolitem{\_\_WINCE\_STANDARDSDK\_\_}{Microsoft-powered Windows CE devices, for generic Windows CE applications}
98 \twocolitem{\_\_WINCE\_NET\_\_}{Microsoft-powered Windows CE .NET devices (\_WIN32\_WCE is 400 or greater)}
99 \end{twocollist}
100
101 wxGetOsVersion will return these values:
102
103 \begin{twocollist}\itemsep=0pt
104 \twocolitem{wxWINDOWS\_POCKETPC}{The application is running under PocketPC.}
105 \twocolitem{wxWINDOWS\_SMARTPHONE}{The application is running under Smartphone.}
106 \twocolitem{wxWINDOWS\_CE}{The application is running under Windows CE (built with the Standard SDK).}
107 \end{twocollist}
108
109 \subsubsection{Window sizing in wxWinCE}
110
111 When creating frames and dialogs, create them with wxDefaultPosition and
112 wxDefaultSize, which will tell WinCE to create them full-screen.
113
114 Don't call Fit() and Centre(), so the content sizes to
115 the window rather than fitting the window to the content. (We really need a single API call
116 that will do the right thing on each platform.)
117
118 If the screen orientation changes, the windows will automatically be resized
119 so no further action needs to be taken (unless you want to change the layout
120 according to the orientation, which you could detect in idle time, for example).
121 When input panel (SIP) is shown, top level windows (frames and dialogs) resize
122 accordingly (see \helpref{wxTopLevelWindow::HandleSettingChange}{wxtoplevelwindowhandlesettingchange}).
123
124 \subsubsection{Closing top-level windows in wxWinCE}
125
126 You won't get a wxCloseEvent when the user clicks on the X in the titlebar
127 on Smartphone and PocketPC; the window is simply hidden instead. However the system may send the
128 event to force the application to close down.
129
130 \subsubsection{Hibernation in wxWinCE}
131
132 Smartphone and PocketPC will send a wxEVT\_HIBERNATE to the application object in low
133 memory conditions. Your application should release memory and close dialogs,
134 and wake up again when the next wxEVT\_ACTIVATE or wxEVT\_ACTIVATE\_APP message is received.
135 (wxEVT\_ACTIVATE\_APP is generated whenever a wxEVT\_ACTIVATE event is received
136 in Smartphone and PocketPC, since these platforms do not support WM\_ACTIVATEAPP.)
137
138 \subsubsection{Hardware buttons in wxWinCE}
139
140 Special hardware buttons are sent to a window via the wxEVT\_HOTKEY event
141 under Smartphone and PocketPC. You should first register each required button with \helpref{wxWindow::RegisterHotKey}{wxwindowregisterhotkey},
142 and unregister the button when you're done with it. For example:
143
144 \begin{verbatim}
145 win->RegisterHotKey(0, wxMOD_WIN, WXK_SPECIAL1);
146 win->UnregisterHotKey(0);
147 \end{verbatim}
148
149 You may have to register the buttons in a wxEVT\_ACTIVATE event handler
150 since other applications will grab the buttons.
151
152 There is currently no method of finding out the names of the special
153 buttons or how many there are.
154
155 \subsubsection{Dialogs in wxWinCE}
156
157 PocketPC dialogs have an OK button on the caption, and so you should generally
158 not repeat an OK button on the dialog. You can add a Cancel button if necessary, but some dialogs
159 simply don't offer you the choice (the guidelines recommend you offer an Undo facility
160 to make up for it). When the user clicks on the OK button, your dialog will receive
161 a wxID\_OK event by default. If you wish to change this, call \helpref{wxDialog::SetAffirmativeId}{wxdialogsetaffirmativeid}
162 with the required identifier to be used. Or, override \helpref{wxDialog::DoOK}{wxdialogdook} (return false to
163 have wxWidgets simply call Close to dismiss the dialog).
164
165 Smartphone dialogs do {\it not} have an OK button on the caption, and are closed
166 using one of the two menu buttons. You need to assign these using \helpref{wxTopLevelWindow::SetLeftMenu}{wxtoplevelwindowsetleftmenu}
167 and \helpref{wxTopLevelWindow::SetRightMenu}{wxtoplevelwindowsetrightmenu}, for example:
168
169 \begin{verbatim}
170 #ifdef __SMARTPHONE__
171 SetLeftMenu(wxID_OK);
172 SetRightMenu(wxID_CANCEL, _("Cancel"));
173 #elif defined(__POCKETPC__)
174 // No OK/Cancel buttons on PocketPC, OK on caption will close
175 #else
176 topsizer->Add( CreateButtonSizer( wxOK|wxCANCEL ), 0, wxEXPAND | wxALL, 10 );
177 #endif
178 \end{verbatim}
179
180 For implementing property sheets (flat tabs), use a wxNotebook with wxNB\_FLAT|wxNB\_BOTTOM
181 and have the notebook left, top and right sides overlap the dialog by about 3 pixels
182 to eliminate spurious borders. You can do this by using a negative spacing in your
183 sizer Add() call. The cross-platform property sheet dialog \helpref{wxPropertySheetDialog}{wxpropertysheetdialog} is
184 provided, to show settings in the correct style on PocketPC and on other platforms.
185
186 Notifications (bubble HTML text with optional buttons and links) will also be
187 implemented in the future for PocketPC.
188
189 Modeless dialogs probably don't make sense for PocketPC and Smartphone, since
190 frames and dialogs are normally full-screen, and a modeless dialog is normally
191 intended to co-exist with the main application frame.
192
193 \subsubsection{Menubars and toolbars in wxWinCE}
194
195 \wxheading{Menubars and toolbars in PocketPC}
196
197 On PocketPC, a frame must always have a menubar, even if it's empty.
198 An empty menubar/toolbar is automatically provided for dialogs, to hide
199 any existing menubar for the duration of the dialog.
200
201 Menubars and toolbars are implemented using a combined control,
202 but you can use essentially the usual wxWidgets API; wxWidgets will combine the menubar
203 and toolbar. However, there are some restrictions:
204
205 \itemsep=0pt
206 \begin{itemize}
207 \item You must create the frame's primary toolbar with wxFrame::CreateToolBar,
208 because this uses the special wxToolMenuBar class (derived from wxToolBar)
209 to implement the combined toolbar and menubar. Otherwise, you can create and manage toolbars
210 using the wxToolBar class as usual, for example to implement an optional
211 formatting toolbar above the menubar as Pocket Word does. But don't assign
212 a wxToolBar to a frame using SetToolBar - you should always use CreateToolBar
213 for the main frame toolbar.
214 \item Deleting and adding tools to wxToolMenuBar after Realize is called is not supported.
215 \item For speed, colours are not remapped to the system colours as they are
216 in wxMSW. Provide the tool bitmaps either with the correct system button background,
217 or with transparency (for example, using XPMs).
218 \item Adding controls to wxToolMenuBar is not supported. However, wxToolBar supports
219 controls.
220 \end{itemize}
221
222 Unlike in all other ports, a wxDialog has a wxToolBar, automatically created
223 for you. You may either leave it blank, or access it with wxDialog::GetToolBar
224 and add buttons, then calling wxToolBar::Realize. You cannot set or recreate
225 the toolbar.
226
227 \wxheading{Menubars and toolbars in Smartphone}
228
229 On Smartphone, there are only two menu buttons, so a menubar is simulated
230 using a nested menu on the right menu button. Any toolbars are simply ignored on
231 Smartphone.
232
233 \subsubsection{Closing windows in wxWinCE}
234
235 The guidelines state that applications should not have a Quit menu item,
236 since the user should not have to know whether an application is in memory
237 or not. The close button on a window does not call the window's
238 close handler; it simply hides the window. However, the guidelines say that
239 the Ctrl+Q accelerator can be used to quit the application, so wxWidgets
240 defines this accelerator by default and if your application handles
241 wxID\_EXIT, it will do the right thing.
242
243 \subsubsection{Context menus in wxWinCE}
244
245 To enable context menus in PocketPC, you currently need to call wxWindow::EnableContextMenu,
246 a wxWinCE-only function. Otherwise the context menu event (wxContextMenuEvent) will
247 never be sent. This API is subject to change.
248
249 Context menus are not supported in Smartphone.
250
251 \subsubsection{Control differences on wxWinCE}
252
253 These controls and styles are specific to wxWinCE:
254
255 \itemsep=0pt
256 \begin{itemize}
257 \item {\bf wxTextCtrl} The wxTE\_CAPITALIZE style causes a CAPEDIT control to
258 be created, which capitalizes the first letter.
259 \end{itemize}
260
261 These controls are missing from wxWinCE:
262
263 \itemsep=0pt
264 \begin{itemize}
265 \item {\bf MDI classes} MDI is not supported under Windows CE.
266 \item {\bf wxMiniFrame} Not supported under Windows CE.
267 \end{itemize}
268
269 Tooltips are not currently supported for controls, since on PocketPC controls with
270 tooltips are distinct controls, and it will be hard to add dynamic
271 tooltip support.
272
273 Control borders on PocketPC and Smartphone should normally be specified with
274 wxSIMPLE\_BORDER instead of wxSUNKEN\_BORDER. Controls will usually adapt
275 appropriately by virtue of their GetDefaultBorder() function, but if you
276 wish to specify a style explicitly you can use wxDEFAULT\_CONTROL\_BORDER
277 which will give a simple border on PocketPC and Smartphone, and the sunken border on
278 other platforms.
279
280 \subsubsection{Online help in wxWinCE}
281
282 You can use the help controller wxWinceHelpController which controls
283 simple {\tt .htm} files, usually installed in the Windows directory.
284 See the Windows CE reference for how to format the HTML files.
285
286 \subsubsection{Installing your PocketPC and Smartphone applications}
287
288 To install your application, you need to build a CAB file using
289 the parameters defined in a special .inf file. The CabWiz program
290 in your SDK will compile the CAB file from the .inf file and
291 files that it specifies.
292
293 For delivery, you can simply ask the user to copy the CAB file to the
294 device and execute the CAB file using File Explorer. Or, you can
295 write a program for the desktop PC that will find the ActiveSync
296 Application Manager and install the CAB file on the device,
297 which is obviously much easier for the user.
298
299 Here are some links that may help.
300
301 \itemsep=0pt
302 \begin{itemize}
303 \item A setup builder that takes CABs and builds a setup program is at \urlref{http://www.eskimo.com/~scottlu/win/index.html}{http://www.eskimo.com/~scottlu/win/index.html}.
304 \item Sample installation files can be found in {\tt Windows CE Tools/wce420/POCKET PC 2003/Samples/Win32/AppInst}.
305 \item An installer generator using wxPython can be found at \urlref{http://ppcquicksoft.iespana.es/ppcquicksoft/myinstall.html}{http://ppcquicksoft.iespana.es/ppcquicksoft/myinstall.html}.
306 \item Miscellaneous Windows CE resources can be found at \urlref{http://www.orbworks.com/pcce/resources.html}{http://www.orbworks.com/pcce/resources.html}.
307 \item Installer creation instructions with a setup.exe for installing to PPC can be found at \urlref{http://www.pocketpcdn.com/articles/creatingsetup.html}{http://www.pocketpcdn.com/articles/creatingsetup.html}.
308 \item Microsoft instructions are at \urlref{http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnce30/html/appinstall30.asp?frame=true&hidetoc=true}{http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnce30/html/appinstall30.asp?frame=true&hidetoc=true}.
309 \item Troubleshooting WinCE application installations: \urlref{http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;q181007}{http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;q181007}
310 \end{itemize}
311
312 You may also check out {\tt demos/life/setup/wince} which contains
313 scripts to create a PocketPC installation for ARM-based
314 devices. In particular, {\tt build.bat} builds the distribution and
315 copies it to a directory called {\tt Deliver}.
316
317 \subsubsection{wxFileDialog in PocketPC}
318
319 Allowing the user to access files on memory cards, or on arbitrary
320 parts of the filesystem, is a pain; the standard file dialog only
321 shows folders under My Documents or folders on memory cards
322 (not the system or card root directory, for example). This is
323 a known problem for PocketPC developers.
324
325 If you need a file dialog that allows access to all folders,
326 you can use wxGenericFileDialog instead. You will need to include
327 {\tt wx/generic/filedlgg.h}.
328
329 \subsubsection{Embedded Visual C++ Issues}
330
331 \wxheading{Run-time type information}
332
333 If you wish to use runtime type information (RTTI) with eVC++ 4, you need to download
334 an extra library, {\tt ccrtrtti.lib}, and link with it. At the time of
335 writing you can get it from here:
336
337 \begin{verbatim}
338 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/830482/en-us
339 \end{verbatim}
340
341 Otherwise you will get linker errors similar to this:
342
343 \begin{verbatim}
344 wxwince26d.lib(control.obj) : error LNK2001: unresolved external symbol "const type_info::`vftable'" (??_7type_info@@6B@)
345 \end{verbatim}
346
347 \wxheading{Windows Mobile 5.0 emulator}
348
349 Note that there is no separate emulator configuration for Windows Mobile 5.0: the
350 emulator runs the ARM code directly.
351
352 \wxheading{Visual Studio 2005 project files}
353
354 Unfortunately, Visual Studio 2005, required to build Windows Mobile 5.0 applications,
355 doesn't do a perfect job of converting the project files from eVC++ format.
356
357 When you have converted the wxWidgets workspace, edit the configuration properties
358 for each configuration and in the Librarian, add a relative path ..$\backslash$..$\backslash$lib to
359 each library path. For example: {\tt ..$\backslash$\$(PlatformName)$\backslash$\$(ConfigurationName)$\backslash$wx_mono.lib}.
360
361 Then, for a sample you want to compile, edit the configuration properties
362 and make sure {\tt ..$\backslash$..$\backslash$lib$\backslash$\$(PlatformName)$\backslash$\$(ConfigurationName)} is in the Linker/General/Additional
363 Library Directories property. Also change the Linker/Input/Additional Dependencies
364 property to something like {\tt coredll.lib wx\_mono.lib wx\_wxjpeg.lib wx\_wxpng.lib wx\_wxzlib.lib wx\_wxexpat.lib commctrl.lib winsock.lib wininet.lib}
365 (since the library names in the wxWidgets workspace were changed by VS 2005).
366
367 Alternately, you could could edit all the names to be identical to the original eVC++
368 names, but this will probably be more fiddly.
369
370 \subsubsection{Remaining issues}
371
372 These are some of the remaining problems to be sorted out, and features
373 to be supported.
374
375 \itemsep=0pt
376 \begin{itemize}
377 \item {\bf Windows Mobile 5 issues.} It is not possible to get the HMENU for
378 the command bar on Mobile 5, so the menubar functions need to be rewritten
379 to get the individual menus without use of a menubar handle. Also the
380 new Mobile 5 convention of using only two menus (and no bitmap buttons) needs to be
381 considered.
382 \item {\bf Sizer speed.} Particularly for dialogs containing notebooks,
383 layout seems slow. Some analysis is required.
384 \item {\bf Notification boxes.} The balloon-like notification messages, and their
385 icons, should be implemented. This will be quite straightforward.
386 \item {\bf SIP size.} We need to be able to get the area taken up by the SIP (input panel),
387 and the remaining area, by calling SHSipInfo. We also may need to be able to show and hide
388 the SIP programmatically, with SHSipPreference. See also the {\it Input Dialogs} topic in
389 the {\it Programming Windows CE} guide for more on this, and how to have dialogs
390 show the SIP automatically using the WC\_SIPREF control.
391 \item {\bf wxStaticBitmap.} The About box in the "Life!" demo shows a bitmap that is
392 the correct size on the emulator, but too small on a VGA Pocket Loox device.
393 \item {\bf wxStaticLine.} Lines don't show up, and the documentation suggests that
394 missing styles are implemented with WM\_PAINT.
395 \item {\bf HTML control.} PocketPC has its own HTML control which can be used for showing
396 local pages or navigating the web. We should create a version of wxHtmlWindow that uses this
397 control, or have a separately-named control (wxHtmlCtrl), with a syntax as close as possible to wxHtmlWindow.
398 \item {\bf Tooltip control.} PocketPC uses special TTBUTTON and TTSTATIC controls for adding
399 tooltips, with the tooltip separated from the label with a double tilde. We need to support this using SetToolTip.
400 (Unfortunately it does not seem possible to dynamically remove the tooltip, so an extra style may
401 be required.)
402 \item {\bf Focus.} In the wxPropertySheetDialog demo on Smartphone, it's not possible to navigate
403 between controls. The focus handling in wxWidgets needs investigation. See in particular src/common/containr.cpp,
404 and note that the default OnActivate handler in src/msw/toplevel.cpp sets the focus to the first child of the dialog.
405 \item {\bf OK button.} We should allow the OK button on a dialog to be optional, perhaps
406 by using wxCLOSE\_BOX to indicate when the OK button should be displayed.
407 \item {\bf Dynamic adaptation.} We should probably be using run-time tests more
408 than preprocessor tests, so that the same WinCE application can run on different
409 versions of the operating system.
410 \item {\bf Modeless dialogs.} When a modeless dialog is hidden with the OK button, it doesn't restore the
411 frame's menubar. See for example the find dialog in the dialogs sample. However, the menubar is restored
412 if pressing Cancel (the window is closed). This reflects the fact that modeless dialogs are
413 not very useful on Windows CE; however, we could perhaps destroy/restore a modeless dialog's menubar
414 on deactivation and activation.
415 \item {\bf Home screen plugins.} Figure out how to make home screen plugins for use with wxWidgets
416 applications (see {\tt http://www.codeproject.com/ce/CTodayWindow.asp} for inspiration).
417 Although we can't use wxWidgets to create the plugin (too large), we could perhaps write
418 a generic plugin that takes registry information from a given application, with
419 options to display information in a particular way using icons and text from
420 a specified location.
421 \item {\bf Further abstraction.} We should be able to abstract away more of the differences
422 between desktop and mobile applications, in particular for sizer layout.
423 \item {\bf Dialog captions.} The blue, bold captions on dialogs - with optional help button -
424 should be catered for, either by hard-wiring the capability into all dialogs and panels,
425 or by providing a standard component and sizer.
426 \end{itemize}