docs/html/roadmap.htm

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   3   <TITLE>wxWindows Roadmap</TITLE>
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  16 wxWindows Roadmap
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  25 <a href="#schedule">Schedule</a> | <a href="#todo">To-Do List</a>
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  27
  28 <P>
  29
  30 This page represents current thinking about where wxWindows is going in the near,
  31 medium and long-term. It also serves as a schedule for new releases so
  32 that both developers and users can know what to expect when, at least approximately.<P>
  33
  34 We are adopting the Linux kernel style of numbering system where odd minor version numbers are development
  35 versions, and even numbers are stable versions. For example, 2.1.x are development releases,
  36 and the next 'stable' or final release of it would be 2.2.<P>
  37
  38 Bug-fix patches to the stable release (if made) then become point
  39 releases of 2.2 (2.2.x) while development continues with wild abandon
  40 on 2.3.x until the end of the next development cycle when it is
  41 released as 2.4.<P>
  42
  43 Development versions that end up on the FTP site or CD-ROM, as opposed to remaining
  44 in the CVS archive, are semi-stable -- i.e. they are checked for compilation and
  45 run-time problems, but not as thoroughly as the stable versions.<P>
  46
  47 Note that since the wxWindows effort is voluntary, these are not hard-and-fast deadlines:
  48 but we will endeavour to follow them as closely as possible.<P>
  49
  50 Note also that the releases described are for wxGTK, wxMSW and wxMotif ports. wxMac currently follows
  51 its own development path but is due to merge with the main code base in November/December.
  52 Also, minor snapshot releases for specific platforms may be
  53 available at dates convenient to the developers.<P>
  54
  55 <CENTER>
  56 <HR> <FONT SIZE=+2><I><B><a name="schedule">Schedule</a></B></I></FONT> <HR>
  57 </CENTER>
  58 <P>
  59
  60 <H4>Release 2.1.14</H4>
  61
  62 Release date: March 12, 2000<P>
  63
  64 This will be the final beta release before the final 2.2 release. It will be
  65 synchronized for as many platforms as possible (at least Windows and GTK,
  66 probably Motif and hopefully Mac).
  67
  68 Changes since the last synchronized release (2.1.11):
  69
  70 <ul>
  71 <li>First beta release of wxBase
  72 <li>New or significantly improved base classes: wxDateTime, wxLongLong,
  73 wxCmdLineParser, wxDir, wxStopWatch
  74 <li>Much better i18n support, encoding conversion on the fly, wxFontMapper
  75 <li>New wxGrid class
  76 <li>New wxCalendarCtrl class
  77 <li>Dynamic toolbar/menubar management
  78 <li>Better image formats support: TIFF (new), PCX (8 and 24 bit saving added)
  79 <li>Attributes (custom colours/font) support in wxTreeCtrl, wxListCtrl
  80 <li>Impressive number of fixed bugs in wxMSW and wxGTK including various
  81 incompatibilities between the two
  82 <li>wxIPCxxx classes reworked.
  83 <li>Several new samples and demos.
  84 </ul>
  85
  86 <P>
  87
  88 <H4>Release 2.2 (stable)</H4>
  89
  90 Release date: mid. April, 2000.<P>
  91
  92 This is the next stable version of wxWindows. No new features since
  93 2.1.14 beta.
  94
  95 <ul>
  96 <li>bugs found during 2.1.14 will be fixed.
  97 <li>translations of text strings used in wxWindows
  98 <li>documentation updated to include all new classes
  99 </ul>
 100
 101 <P>
 102
 103 <H4>Release 2.3</H4>
 104
 105 Release date: ?
 106
 107 <ul>
 108 <li>Context sensitive help.
 109 <li>More i18n issues: dates, times, ...
 110 <li>POSIX-like regular expressions support for all platforms.
 111 <li>Encryption support (interface to OpenSSL).
 112 <li>Full UDP support in wxSocket
 113 <li>wxPlot
 114 <li>XML for resource files.
 115 <li>Built-in support for configuring key bindings
 116 </ul>
 117
 118 <P>
 119
 120 <H4>Release 2.4 (stable)</H4>
 121
 122 Release date: ?
 123
 124 Stable version of 2.3.
 125
 126 <ul>
 127 <li>wxMac release.
 128 <li>wxBeOS port.
 129 </ul>
 130
 131 <P>
 132
 133 <CENTER>
 134 <HR> <FONT SIZE=+2><I><B><a name="todo">To-Do List</a></B></I></FONT> <HR>
 135 </CENTER>
 136
 137 <P>
 138
 139 Developers: please feel free to add to these, and delete them when they are done.
 140
 141 <P>
 142
 143 <B><I>Already done</I></B><P>
 144
 145 <P>
 146
 147 <ul>
 148 <li>wxHTML printing. When finished, this will allow an application to generate
 149 printed reports with very little effort.
 150 <li>Split library into several, for base (classes and functions usable by console and GUI
 151 applications), console (classes and functions usable by console application only)
 152 and GUI (classes and functions usable by GUI application only).
 153 <li>wxSocket.
 154 <li>wxImage handlers in separate .h and .cpp files.
 155 <li>PCX writing code.
 156 <li>Tidying of timer code, addition of wxStopWatch class.
 157 <li>wxDateTime class.
 158 <li>Rotated text support (might still be improved)
 159 <li>Bug tracking system.
 160 </ul>
 161
 162 <B><I>General</I></B><P>
 163
 164 <ul>
 165 <li>Extend and unify drag and drop handling (e.g. we need to specify multiple drop targets
 166 that can handle multiple formats).
 167 <li>Expand the number of controls that can be specified in a WXR file;
 168 add constraint specification to WXR syntax and Dialog Editor; add multilanguage support to WXR.
 169 May be we'd better change the format completely and replace WXR with XML
 170 (providing conversion utility for old files)?
 171 <li>Context sensitive help: we need to have wxHelpEvent which would be
 172 generated when the help for a given control is requested and a standard
 173 handler for it in wxWindow which would invoke the default help system with the
 174 correct help id.
 175 <li>Rewrite Dialog Editor.
 176 <li>Modem-oriented classes: wxDialUpManager for dialing up the ISP and
 177 determining if there is a connection to Internet on the machine and
 178 wxPhoneDialer for dialing arbitrary phone numbers and otherwise communicating
 179 with the modem.
 180 <li>GIF animation code (support is already there, but wxAnimation is not yet complete)
 181 <li>Debug wxPostScriptDC further.
 182 <li>Regular expressions support.
 183 <li>Expansion of wxHTML to support further tags, and frames.
 184 <li>MGL port (see Backroom/Future Ports page).
 185 <li>FreeType support.
 186 <li>Support for 'skins', perhaps using a set of alternative control and window classes
 187 written generically in wxWindows.
 188 <li>Serial and parallel port support.
 189 <li>Modem and telephony support.
 190 <li>Book, tutorial.
 191 <li>More examples.
 192 </ul>
 193
 194 <P>
 195
 196 <B><I>wxMSW</I></B><P>
 197
 198 <ul>
 199 <li>Windows CE port.
 200 <li>Write a RC to WXR converter.
 201 </ul>
 202
 203 <P>
 204
 205 <B><I>wxGTK</I></B><P>
 206
 207 <ul>
 208 <li>GNOME/KDE integration libraries.
 209 </ul>
 210
 211 <P>
 212
 213 <B><I>wxMotif</I></B><P>
 214
 215 <ul>
 216 <li>Fix menu accelerators
 217 <li>Fix refresh problems
 218 <li>Allow wxSystemSettings to be configurable, perhaps via a control
 219 panel application.
 220 </ul>
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