utils/wxPython/README.txt

   1 wxPython README
   2 ---------------
   3
   4 Introduction
   5 ------------
   6 The code in this subtree is a Python Extension Module that enables the
   7 use of wxWindows from the Python language.  So what is Python?  Go to
   8 http://www.python.org to learn more but in a nutshell, it's an
   9 extremly cool object oriented language.  It's easier than Perl and
  10 nearly as powerful.  It runs on more platforms than Java, and by some
  11 reports, is even faster than Java with a JIT compiler!
  12
  13 So why would you want to use wxPython over just C++ and wxWindows?
  14 Personally I prefer using Python for everything.  I only use C++ when
  15 I absolutly have to eek more performance out of an algorithm, and even
  16 then I ususally code it as an extension module and leave the majority
  17 of the program in Python.  Another good thing to use wxPython for is
  18 quick prototyping of your wxWindows apps.  With C++ you have to
  19 continuously go though the edit-compile-link-run cycle, which can be
  20 quite time comsuming.  With Python it is only an edit-run cycle.  You
  21 can easily build an application in a few hours with Python that would
  22 normally take a few days with C++.  Converting a wxPython app to a
  23 C++/wxWindows app should be a straight forward task.
  24
  25 This extension module attempts to mirror the class heiarchy of
  26 wxWindows as closely as possble.  This means that there is a wxFrame
  27 class in wxPython that looks, smells, tastes and acts almost the same
  28 as the wxFrame class in the C++ version.  Unfortunatly, I wasn't able
  29 to match things exactly because of differences in the languages, but
  30 the differences should be easy to absorb because they are natural to
  31 Python.  For example, some methods that return mutliple values via
  32 argument pointers in C++ will return a tuple of values in Python.
  33 These differences have not been documented yet so if something isn't
  34 working the same as described in the wxWindows documents the best
  35 thing to do is to scan through the wxPython sources, especially the .i
  36 files, as that is where the interfaces for wxPython are defined.
  37
  38 Currently this extension module is designed such that the entire
  39 application will be written in Python.  I havn't tried it yet, but I
  40 am sure that attempting to embed wxPython in a C++ wxWindows
  41 application will cause problems.  However there is a plan to support
  42 this in the future.
  43
  44
  45
  46 What's new in 0.4.2
  47 -------------------
  48
  49 wxPython on wxGTK works!!!  Both dynamic and static on Linux and
  50 static on Solaris have been tested.  Many thanks go to Harm
  51 <H.v.d.Heijden@phys.tue.nl> for his astute detective work on tracking
  52 down a nasty DECREF bug.  Okay so I have to confess that it was just a
  53 DSM (Dumb Stupid Mistake) on my part but it was nasty none the less
  54 because the behavior was so different on different platforms.
  55
  56
  57 The dynamicly loaded module on Solaris is still segfaulting, so it
  58 must have been a different issue all along...
  59
  60
  61
  62 What's New in 0.4
  63 -----------------
  64
  65 1. Worked on wxGTK compatibility.  It is partially working.  On a
  66 Solaris/Sparc box wxPython is working but only when it is statically
  67 linked with the Python interpreter.  When built as a dyamically loaded
  68 extension module, things start acting weirdly and it soon seg-faults.
  69 And on Linux both the statically linked and the dynamically linked
  70 version segfault shortly after starting up.
  71
  72 2. Added Toolbar, StatusBar and SplitterWindow classes.
  73
  74 3. Varioius bug fixes, enhancements, etc.
  75
  76
  77
  78 Build Instructions
  79 ------------------
  80 I used SWIG (http://www.swig.org) to create the source code for the
  81 extension module.  This enabled me to only have to deal with a small
  82 amount of code and only have to bother with the exceptional issues.
  83 SWIG takes care of the rest and generates all the repetative code for
  84 me.  You don't need SWIG to build the extension module as all the
  85 generated C++ code is included under the src directory.
  86
  87 I added a few minor features to SWIG to control some of the code
  88 generation.  If you want to playaround with this the patches are in
  89 wxPython/SWIG.patches and they should be applied to the 1.1p5 version
  90 of SWIG.  These new patches are documented at
  91 http://starship.skyport.net/crew/robind/python/#swig, and they should
  92 also end up in the 1.2 version of SWIG.
  93
  94 wxPython is organized as a Python package.  This means that the
  95 directory containing the results of the build process should be a
  96 subdirectory of a directory on the PYTHONPATH.  (And preferably should
  97 be named wxPython.)  You can control where the build process will dump
  98 wxPython by setting the TARGETDIR makefile variable.  The default is
  99 $(WXWIN)/utils/wxPython, where this README.txt is located.  If you
 100 leave it here then you should add $(WXWIN)/utils to your PYTHONPATH.
 101 However, you may prefer to use something that is already on your
 102 PYTHONPATH, such as the site-packages directory on Unix systems.
 103
 104
 105 Win32
 106 -----
 107
 108 1. Build wxWindows with wxUSE_RESOURCE_LOADING_IN_MSW set to 1 in
 109 include/wx/msw/setup.h so icons can be loaded dynamically.  While
 110 there, make sure wxUSE_OWNER_DRAWN is also set to 1.
 111
 112 2. Change into the $(WXWIN)/utils/wxPython/src directory.
 113
 114 3. Edit makefile.nt and specify where your python installation is at.
 115 You may also want to fiddle with the TARGETDIR variable as described
 116 above.
 117
 118 4. Run nmake -f makefile.nt
 119
 120 5. If it builds successfully, congratulations!  Move on to the next
 121 step.  If not then you can try mailing me for help.  Also, I will
 122 always have a pre-built win32 version of this extension module at
 123 http://starship.skyport.net/crew/robind/python.
 124
 125 6. Change to the $(WXWIN)/utils/wxPython/tests directory.
 126
 127 7. Try executing the test programs.  Note that some of these print
 128 diagnositc or test info to standard output, so they will require the
 129 console version of python.  For example:
 130
 131     python test1.py
 132
 133 To run them without requiring a console, you can use the pythonw.exe
 134 version of Python either from the command line or from a shortcut.
 135
 136
 137
 138 Unix
 139 ----
 140
 141 1. Change into the $(WXWIN)/utils/wxPython/src directory.
 142
 143 2. Edit Setup.in and ensure that the flags, directories, and toolkit
 144 options are correct.  See the above commentary about TARGETDIR.  There
 145 are a few sample Setup.in.[platform] files provided.
 146
 147 3. Run this command to generate a makefile:
 148
 149     make -f Makefile.pre.in boot
 150
 151 4. Run these commands to build and then install the wxPython extension
 152 module:
 153
 154     make
 155     make install
 156
 157
 158 5. Change to the $(WXWIN)/utils/wxPython/tests directory.
 159
 160 6. Try executing the test programs.  For example:
 161
 162     python test1.py
 163
 164
 165
 166 ------------------------
 167 10/20/1998
 168
 169 Robin Dunn
 170 robin@alldunn.com
 171
 172
 173