4 Welcome to the wonderful world of wxPython!
6 Once you have installed the wxPython extension module, you can try it
7 out by going to the [install dir]\wxPython\demo directory and typing:
11 There are also some other sample files there for you to play with and
14 If you selected to install the documentation then point your browser
15 to [install dir]\wxPython\docs\index.htm and you will then be looking
16 at the docs for wxWindows. For the most part you can use the C++ docs
17 as most classes and methods are used identically. Where there are
18 differences they are documented with a "wxPython Note."
20 On Win32 systems the binary self-installer creates a program group on
21 the Start Menu that contains a link to running the demo and a link to
22 the help file. To help you save disk space I'm now using Microsoft's
23 HTML Help format. If your system doesn't know what to do with the help
24 file, you can install the HTML Help Viewer as part of IE 4+, NT
25 Service Pack 4+, or the HTML Workshop at
27 http://msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/author/htmlhelp/download.asp.
34 Since wxPython is a blending of multiple technologies, help comes from
35 multiple sources. See the http://alldunn.com/wxPython for details on
36 various sources of help, but probably the best source is the
37 wxPython-users mail list. You can view the archive or subscribe by
40 http://starship.python.net/mailman/listinfo/wxpython-users
42 Or you can send mail directly to the list using this address:
44 wxpython-users@starship.python.net
46 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
52 This release is NOT syncronized with a snapshot release of wxGTK or
53 wxMSW. For MSW this isn't much of a problem since you can get the
54 binaries from the web site. For other platforms you'll have to build
55 wxGTK from CVS. (See http://web.ukonline.co.uk/julian.smart/wxwin/cvs.htm)
56 To get the same set of sources from CVS that I used, checkout using
59 Now back to what's new...
61 Much more support for event-less callbacks and add-on modules.
63 Created add-on module with wxOGL classes.
65 Added wxWindow.GetChildren(). Be careful of this. It returns a *copy*
66 of the list of the window's children. While you are using the list if
67 anything changes in the real list (a child is deleted, etc.) then the
68 list you are holding will suddenly have window references to garbage
69 memory and your app will likely crash. But if you are careful it works
72 Added a bunch of new and missing methods to wxTreeCrtl. The
73 SortChildren method is now supported, but currently only for the
76 Added typemaps for wxSize, wxPoint, wxRealPoint, and wxRect that allow
77 either the actual objects or Python sequence values to be used. For
78 example, the following are equivallent:
80 win = wxWindow(parent, size = wxSize(100, 100))
81 win = wxWindow(parent, size = (100, 100))
83 Super-charged the wxHtml module. You can now create your own tag
84 handlers and also have access to the parser and cell classes. There
85 is a tag handler in the library at wxPython.lib.wxpTag that
86 understands the WXP tag and is able to place wxPython windows on HTML
87 pages. See the demo for an example.
89 A bunch of the methods of wxMenuBar were previously ifdef'd out for
90 wxGTK. Added them back in since the methods exist now.
92 Wrapped the wxHtmlHelpController and related classes.
94 Wrapped the C++ versions of wxSizer and firends. The Python-only
95 versions are still in the library, but depreciated. (You will get a
96 warning message if you try to use them, but the warning can be
97 disabled.) The usage of the C++ versions is slightly different, and
98 the functionality of wxBorderSizer is now part of wxBoxSizer. I have
99 added a few methods to wxSizer to try and make the transition as
100 smooth as possible, I combined all Add methods into a single method
101 that handles all cases, added an AddMany method, etc. One step I did
102 not take was to make the default value of flag in the Add method be
103 wxGROW. This would have made it more backward compatible, but less
104 portable to and from wxWin C++ code. Please see the docs and demo for
107 Added wxPyEvent and wxPyCommandEvent classes, derived from wxEvent and
108 wxCommandEvent. Each of them has SetPyData and GetPyData methods that
109 accept or return a single Python object. You can use these classes
110 directly or derive from them to create your own types of event objects
111 that can pass through the wxWindows event system without loosing their
112 Python parts (as long as they are stored with SetPyData.) Stay tuned
113 for more info and examples in future releases.
115 Added wxPython.lib.grids as an example of how to derive a new sizer
116 from the C++ sizers. In this module you will find wxGridSizer and
117 wxFlexGridSizer. wxGridSizer arrainges its items in a grid in which
118 all the widths and heights are the same. wxFlexgridSizer allows
119 different widths and heights, and you can also specify rows and/or
120 columns that are growable. See the demo for a couple examples for how
123 Added the wxValidator class, and created a class named wxPyValidator
124 that should be used for the base class of any Python validators. See
125 the demo for an example. Please note that you MUST implement a Clone
126 method in your validator classes because of the way some things work
127 in the underlying C++ library. I did not add wxTextValidator because
128 of some issues of how it transfers data to and from a wxString, which
129 in wxPython is automatically translated to and from Python strings, so
130 there would never be a concrete wxString that would hang around long
131 enough for the validator to do its job. On the other hand, it should
132 be real easy to duplicate the functionality of wxTextValidator in a
133 pure Python class derived from wxPyValidator.
135 I've finally added a feature that has been on my list for close to two
136 years! Ever wondered what that zero is for when you create your app
137 object? Well now you can leave it out or explicitly set it to a true
138 value. This value now controls what is to be done with sys.stdout and
139 sys.stderr. A false value leaves them alone, and a true value sets
140 them to an instance of wxPyOnDemandOutputWindow. (On windows the
141 default is true, on unix platforms the default is false.) This class
142 creates a frame containing a wxTextCtrl as soon as anything is written
143 to sys.stdout or sys.stderr. If you close the window it will come
144 back again the next time something is written. (You can call
145 app.RestoreStdio to turn this off.) If you would rather that the stdio be
146 redirected to a file, you can provide a second parameter to your app
147 object's constructor that is a filename. If you want to use your own
148 class instead of wxPyOnDemandOutputWindow you can either implement
149 RedirectStdio() in you app class or change the value of
150 wxApp.outputWindowClass like this:
153 outputWindowClass = MyClass
157 self.SetTopWindow(frame)
160 Please see the implementation of wxPyOnDemandOutputWindow and wxApp in
161 wx.py for more details. A few words of caution: if you are running
162 your app in a debugger, changing sys.stdout and sys.stderr is likely
163 to really screw things up.
165 Added wxCaret. Unfortunately it's author has still not documented it
166 in the wxWindows docs...
168 Some new 3rd party contributions in wxPython.lib. PyShell, in
169 shell.py is an interesting implementaion of an interactive Python
170 shell in wxWindows. floatbar.py has a class derived from wxTooBar
171 that can sense mouse drags and then reparent itself into another
172 frame. Moving the new frame close to where it came from puts the tool
173 bar back into the original parent.
181 This release is syncronized with release 2.1 snapshot 9 of wxWindows.
183 Switched to using SWIG from CVS (see http://swig.cs.uchicago.edu/cvs.html)
184 for some of the new features and such. Also they have encorporated my
185 patches so there is really no reason to stick with the current (very
186 old) release... This version of SWIG gives the following new
189 1. Keyword arguments. You no longer have to specify all the
190 parameters with defaults to a method just to specify a
191 non-default value on the end. You can now do this instead:
193 win = wxWindow(parent, -1, style = mystyle)
195 2. There is now an an equivalence between Python's None and C++'s
196 NULL. This means that any methods that might return NULL will
197 now return None and you can use none where wxWindows might be
198 expecting NULL. This makes things much more snake-ish.
201 There is a new build system based on a new Python program instead of
202 raw makefiles. Now wxPython builds are virtually the same on MSW or
203 Unix systems. See the end of this file for new build instructions and
204 see distrib/build.py for more details.
206 wxDC.Bilt now includes the useMask parameter, and has been split into
207 two different versions. wxDC.BlitXY is like what was there before and
208 takes raw coordinants and sizes, and the new wxDC.Blit is for the new
209 interface using wxPoints and a wxSize.
218 Added the missing wxWindow.GetUpdateRegion() method.
220 Made a new change in SWIG (update your patches everybody) that
221 provides a fix for global shadow objects that get an exception in
222 their __del__ when their extension module has already been deleted.
223 It was only a 1 line change in .../SWIG/Modules/pycpp.cxx at about
224 line 496 if you want to do it by hand.
226 It is now possible to run through MainLoop more than once in any one
227 process. The cleanup that used to happen as MainLoop completed (and
228 prevented it from running again) has been delayed until the wxc module
229 is being unloaded by Python.
231 I fixed a bunch of stuff in the C++ version of wxGrid so it wouldn't
232 make wxPython look bad.
234 wxWindow.PopupMenu() now takes a wxPoint instead of x,y. Added
235 wxWindow.PopupMenuXY to be consistent with some other methods.
237 Added wxGrid.SetEditInPlace and wxGrid.GetEditInPlace.
239 You can now provide your own app.MainLoop method. See
240 wxPython/demo/demoMainLoop.py for an example and some explaination.
242 Got the in-place-edit for the wxTreeCtrl fixed and added some demo
243 code to show how to use it.
245 Put the wxIcon constructor back in for GTK as it now has one that
248 Added wxGrid.GetCells
250 Added wxSystemSettings static methods as functions with names like
251 wxSystemSettings_GetSystemColour.
253 Removed wxPyMenu since using menu callbacks have been depreciated in
254 wxWindows. Use wxMenu and events instead.
256 Added alternate wxBitmap constructor (for MSW only) as
257 wxBitmapFromData(data, type, width, height, depth = 1)
259 Added a helper function named wxPyTypeCast that can convert shadow
260 objects of one type into shadow objects of another type. (Like doing
261 a down-cast.) See the implementation in wx.py for some docs.
263 Fixed wxImage GetData and SetData to properly use String objects for
266 Added access methods to wxGridEvent.
268 New Makefile/Setup files supporting multiple dynamic extension modules
271 Fixes for the wxGLCanvas demo to work around a strange bug in gtk.
273 SWIG support routines now compiled separately instead of being bundled
282 Fixed wxComboBox.SetSelection so that it actually sets the selected
283 item. (Actually just removed it from wxPython and let it default to
284 wxChoice.SetSelection which was already doing the right thing.)
286 Added the Printing Framework.
288 Switched back to using the wxWindows DLL for the pre-built Win32
289 version. The problem was needing to reinitialize static class info
290 data after loading each extension module.
292 Lots of little tweaks and additions to reflect changes to various
295 Fixed a bug with attaching objects to tree items. Actually was a
296 symptom of a larger problem with not obtaining the interpreter lock
297 when doing any Py_DECREFs.
299 wxSizer and friends. Sizers are layout tools that manage a colection
300 of windows and sizers. Different types of sizers apply different
301 types of layout algorithms. You saw it here first! These classes are
302 not even in the wxWindows C++ library yet!
308 Bug fix for ListCtrl in test4.py (Was a missing file... DSM!)
310 Bug fix for occassional GPF on Win32 systems upon termination of a
311 wxPython application.
313 Added wxListBox.GetSelections returning selections as a Tuple.
315 Added a wxTreeItemData that is able to hold any Python object and be
316 associated with items in a wxTreeCtrl. Added test pytree.py to show
319 Added wxSafeYield function.
321 OpenGL Canvas can be optionally compiled in to wxPython.
323 Awesome new Demo Framework for showing off wxPython and for learning
326 The pre-built Win32 version is no longer distributing the wxWindows
327 DLL. It is statically linked with the wxWindows library instead.
329 Added a couple missing items from the docs.
331 Added wxImage, wxImageHandler, wxPNGHandler, wxJPEGHandler,
332 wxGIFHandler and wxBMPHandler.
334 Added new methods to wxTextCtrl.
336 Fixed some problems with how SWIG was wrapping some wxTreeCtrl
343 Support for using Python threads in wxPython apps.
345 Several missing methods from various classes.
353 Added DLG_PNT and DLG_SZE convienience methods to wxWindow class.
355 Added missing constructor and other methods for wxMenuItem.
361 Just a quickie update to fix the self-installer to be compatible with
362 Python 1.5.2b2's Registry settings.
367 Well obviously the numbering scheme has changed. I did this to
368 reflect the fact that this truly is the second major revision of
369 wxPython, (well the third actually if you count the one I did for
370 wxWindows 1.68 and then threw away...) and also that it is associated
371 with the 2.0 version of wxWindows.
373 I have finally started documenting wxPython. There are several pages
374 in the wxWindows documentation tree specifically about wxPython, and I
375 have added notes within the class references about where and how wxPython
376 diverges from wxWindows.
378 Added wxWindow_FromHWND(hWnd) for wxMSW to construct a wxWindow from a
379 window handle. If you can get the window handle into the python code,
380 it should just work... More news on this later.
382 Added wxImageList, wxToolTip.
384 Re-enabled wxConfig.DeleteAll() since it is reportedly fixed for the
387 As usual, some bug fixes, tweaks, etc.
393 Added wxSashWindow, wxSashEvent, wxLayoutAlgorithm, etc.
395 Various cleanup, tweaks, minor additions, etc. to maintain
396 compatibility with the current wxWindows.
402 Changed the import semantics from "from wxPython import *" to "from
403 wxPython.wx import *" This is for people who are worried about
404 namespace pollution, they can use "from wxPython import wx" and then
405 prefix all the wxPython identifiers with "wx."
407 Added wxTaskbarIcon for wxMSW.
409 Made the events work for wxGrid.
413 Added wxMiniFrame for wxGTK.
415 Changed many of the args and return values that were pointers to gdi
416 objects to references to reflect changes in the wxWindows API.
418 Other assorted fixes and additions.
426 wxPython on wxGTK works!!! Both dynamic and static on Linux and
427 static on Solaris have been tested. Many thanks go to Harm
428 <H.v.d.Heijden@phys.tue.nl> for his astute detective work on tracking
429 down a nasty DECREF bug. Okay so I have to confess that it was just a
430 DSM (Dumb Stupid Mistake) on my part but it was nasty none the less
431 because the behavior was so different on different platforms.
433 The dynamicly loaded module on Solaris is still segfaulting, so it
434 must have been a different issue all along...
441 1. Worked on wxGTK compatibility. It is partially working. On a
442 Solaris/Sparc box wxPython is working but only when it is statically
443 linked with the Python interpreter. When built as a dyamically loaded
444 extension module, things start acting weirdly and it soon seg-faults.
445 And on Linux both the statically linked and the dynamically linked
446 version segfault shortly after starting up.
448 2. Added Toolbar, StatusBar and SplitterWindow classes.
450 3. Varioius bug fixes, enhancements, etc.
452 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
458 I used SWIG (http://www.swig.org) to create the source code for the
459 extension module. This enabled me to only have to deal with a small
460 amount of code and only have to bother with the exceptional issues.
461 SWIG takes care of the rest and generates all the repetative code for
462 me. You don't need SWIG to build the extension module as all the
463 generated C++ code is included under the src directory.
465 I added a few minor features to SWIG to control some of the code
466 generation. If you want to play around with this you will need to get
467 a recent version of SWIG from their CVS or from a daily build. See
468 http://www.swig.org/ for details.
470 wxPython is organized as a Python package. This means that the
471 directory containing the results of the build process should be a
472 subdirectory of a directory on the PYTHONPATH. (And preferably should
473 be named wxPython.) You can control where the build process will dump
474 wxPython by setting the TARGETDIR variable for the build utility, (see
478 1. Build wxWindows as described in its BuildCVS.txt file. For *nix
479 systems I run configure with these flags:
489 --disable-std_iostreams
491 You can use whatever flags you want, but I know these work.
493 For Win32 systems I use Visual C++ 6.0, but 5.0 should work. The
494 build utility currently does not support any other win32 compilers.
496 2. At this point you may want to make an alias or symlink, script,
497 batch file, whatever on the PATH that invokes
498 $(WXWIN)/utils/wxPython/distrib/build.py to help simplify matters
499 somewhat. For example, on my win32 system I have a file named
500 build.bat in a directory on the PATH that contains:
502 python $(WXWIN)/utils/wxPython/distrib/build.py %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6
505 3. Change into the $(WXWIN)/utils/wxPython/src directory.
507 4. Type "build -b" to build wxPython and "build -i" to install it.
509 The build.py script actually generates a Makefile based on what it
510 finds on your system and information found in the build.cfg file.
511 If you have troubles building or you want it built or installed in
512 a different way, take a look at the docstring in build.py. You may
513 be able to override configuration options in a file named
516 5. To build and install the add-on modules, change to the appropriate
517 directory under $(WXWIN)/utils/wxPython/modules and run the build
520 6. Change to the $(WXWIN)/utils/wxPython/demo directory.
522 7. Try executing the demo program. For example:
526 To run it without requiring a console on win32, you can use the
527 pythonw.exe version of Python either from the command line or from a
projects / wxWidgets.git / blob