1 Enhancements for wxWidgets 3.0
2 ==============================
4 This table contains the brief summary of the issues below. Priority and
5 Difficulty are values from 1 to 10 with 1 being the least important/difficult
9 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
12 Making code exception-friendly 8 10
21 We want to have all wxWidgets identifiers in "wx" namespace but provide
22 typedefs/#defines for backwards compatibility. This can be done easily
23 for the classes and the only real problem are the enums as they would
24 all have to be duplicated at both the global scope (with "wx" prefix) and
25 in wx namespace (without it)
28 This involves providing optional wxString implementation using std::string
29 and doing the same for all our containers with the exception of wxHashMap
30 which should simply be rewritten using templates (but keeping the old
31 version for backwards compatibility -- ideally wx 3.0 would still be usable
32 without templates, even if not all of its features would be available then)
35 We are not going to use exceptions in wxWidgets itself but our code should
36 become exception safe. This is a very difficult task as it means that no
37 resource allocations (including memory, files, whatever) should be done
38 without using a smart pointer-like object to store the result as it is the
39 only way to prevent resource leaks in presence of exceptions
42 Optionally use the real RTTI instead of wx emulation of it. Keep the
43 current stuff for backwards compatibility.
45 - Complete replacing TRUE/FALSE with true/false
52 - use wxEventLoop in all builds
53 wxApp and wxDialog should use wxEventLoop objects (the exact class can be
54 customized by user code by overriding some wxApp::CreateEventLoop())
55 instead of duplicating the same code
57 - remove wxCOMPATIBILITY (1.X)
58 At least WXWIN_COMPATIBILITY and maybe WXWIN_COMPATIBILITY_2 code should be
59 removed from the library. wxDEPRECATED() should be used with everything
60 inside WXWIN_COMPATIBILITY_2_2. The stuff inside WXWIN_COMPATIBILITY_2_4
61 probably should not be deprecated (yet?) because this would give thousands
62 of warnings for the existing code.
64 - Modularization/Build System
65 Candidates for components:
66 + contrib widgets (and maybe some of the ones currently in the core)
73 - Project File Generation
74 We need a (GUI) tool to generate the project/makefiles for all supported
75 platforms/compilers. Not sure if it should be used for the library itself
76 (would be nice to have something like "make menuconfig" for Linux kernel
77 which allows you to navigate easily amon all of the configure/setup.h
78 options but there is a problem with distributing such tool as it can't be
79 compiled by the user because it is needed before the library is built) but
80 we definitely need it for the users makefiles.
82 - Properties/Member-Metadata, 2-Step Init with virtual create
84 - Tidy code and add comments to headers (possibly in
85 Doxygen/Javadoc style)
91 - The possibility of moving doc into header files with tool
93 - Detailed review of doc accuracy.
94 - wxDC : Precise definition of default/initial state.
95 - wxDC : Pixelwise definition of operations (e.g. last point of a
98 For all controls state clearly when calling a member function results in an
99 event being generated and when it doesn't.
100 - Update the coding standards guide
106 - Change Idle Handling
107 Current Implementation is using too many CPU cycles
109 - Loose Coupling Event-Source Event-Sink
110 kind of the NextStep/C# very performant coupling, exposing events via
113 - Add Lazy Init of Eventtables
122 We aim to arrive at a lazy initializiation of modules only when they are first
123 needed. Dependency information between modules is needed. Dynamic Plug-In
124 loading and unloading must be compatible with that.
130 - Renderers within native ports.
136 - Page preflighting capabilities in order to determine number
138 - Preview UI enhancement.
144 Hide the platform problems (GTK: 'children' must be siblings) in encapsulation
145 in order to avoid problems on ports where the hierarchy must be
152 In addition to wxCOMPATIBILITY code:
155 - contrib/src/applet?
161 - wxDC Support for point to char-position with text rendering
162 - wxLocale Extension (eg Currency)
165 - a way to tell wxWidgets to check for any non-portable usage,
166 for a given set of platforms. Sometimes you want to be able
167 to get away with non-portable usage, and sometimes not.
168 This is probably way too time-consuming to implement.
169 - In headers, don't silently omit contents if the features for this
170 header is switched off. Instead, emit an error message.
171 - Implement native tree view and colour dialog in wxGTK.
172 - Better way to specify About, Preferences menu ids under wxMac.
173 - Must be able to portably specify relaying out a frame after the toolbar
174 has been destroyed or recreated. On wxMSW, this is done in
175 ~wxToolBar. On wxGTK, in SetToolBar. In wxMac, not at all,
176 but sending a wxSizeEvent will do it.
177 - Need wxRect wxToolBar::GetToolRect(int id) or similar so we can
178 align a popup menu with a toolbar button.
179 - wxMac font selector dialog is the generic font selector -
181 - No Append(wxArrayString&) for wxChoice and wxComboBox in wxGTK.
182 Probably other functions too. Consider adding Insert to
183 these classes, as per the patch on SF.
184 - Rewrite wxFileHistory using wxString and wxArrayString, and
185 put in separate file.
186 - Add wxArrayString methods to wxTextValidator and any other
187 class that needs them.
188 - Add wxNotebook::GetTabRect or similar so we can estimate
189 page size better in wxNotebookBase::CalcSizeFromPage.
190 - Add function to clear all wxNotebook tabs without
191 destroying the pages.
192 - Add individual setters to wxScrollBar and other classes
193 that use a combined setter.
194 - Remove traces of old resource system from wxWizard.
195 - Have wxDirCtrl as alias for wxGenericDirCtrl.
196 - Allow instant reaction to left-up in a wxGrid cell
197 (extend editor API) to work around bad checkbox
198 behaviour (click, click, click, click away...) and
199 reduce checkbox size on non-Windows platforms.
200 - Add wxNotebook::HitTest for non-Windows platforms.
201 - Implement rebar for all platforms. This will help us
202 get closer to native look and feel, e.g. the gradient
203 shadow on XP toolbars.