Expand wxString overview and document some problems due to its dual nature.
[wxWidgets.git] / interface / wx / tipdlg.h
1 /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
2 // Name: tipdlg.h
3 // Purpose: interface of wxTipProvider
4 // Author: wxWidgets team
5 // RCS-ID: $Id$
6 // Licence: wxWindows licence
7 /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
8
9 /**
10 @class wxTipProvider
11
12 This is the class used together with wxShowTip() function.
13 It must implement wxTipProvider::GetTip function and return the
14 current tip from it (different tip each time it is called).
15
16 You will never use this class yourself, but you need it to show startup tips
17 with wxShowTip. Also, if you want to get the tips text from elsewhere than a
18 simple text file, you will want to derive a new class from wxTipProvider and
19 use it instead of the one returned by wxCreateFileTipProvider().
20
21 @library{wxadv}
22 @category{misc}
23
24 @see @ref overview_tips, ::wxShowTip
25 */
26 class wxTipProvider
27 {
28 public:
29 /**
30 Constructor.
31
32 @param currentTip
33 The starting tip index.
34 */
35 wxTipProvider(size_t currentTip);
36
37 virtual ~wxTipProvider();
38
39 /**
40 Returns the index of the current tip (i.e.\ the one which would be returned by GetTip()).
41
42 The program usually remembers the value returned by this function after calling
43 wxShowTip(). Note that it is not the same as the value which was passed to
44 wxShowTip + 1 because the user might have pressed the "Next" button in
45 the tip dialog.
46 */
47 size_t GetCurrentTip() const;
48
49 /**
50 Return the text of the current tip and pass to the next one.
51 This function is pure virtual, it should be implemented in the derived classes.
52 */
53 virtual wxString GetTip() = 0;
54
55 /**
56 Returns a modified tip.
57
58 This function will be called immediately after read, and before being check
59 whether it is a comment, an empty string or a string to translate.
60 You can optionally override this in your custom user-derived class
61 to optionally to modify the tip as soon as it is read. You can return any
62 modification to the string. If you return wxEmptyString, then this tip is
63 skipped, and the next one is read.
64 */
65 virtual wxString PreprocessTip(const wxString& tip);
66 };
67
68
69
70 // ============================================================================
71 // Global functions/macros
72 // ============================================================================
73
74 /** @addtogroup group_funcmacro_dialog */
75 //@{
76
77 /**
78 This function creates a wxTipProvider which may be used with wxShowTip().
79
80 @param filename
81 The name of the file containing the tips, one per line.
82 @param currentTip
83 The index of the first tip to show. Normally this index is remembered
84 between the 2 program runs.
85
86 @see @ref overview_tips
87
88 @header{wx/tipdlg.h}
89 */
90 wxTipProvider* wxCreateFileTipProvider(const wxString& filename,
91 size_t currentTip);
92
93 /**
94 This function shows a "startup tip" to the user. The return value is the
95 state of the "Show tips at startup" checkbox.
96
97 @param parent
98 The parent window for the modal dialog.
99 @param tipProvider
100 An object which is used to get the text of the tips. It may be created
101 with the wxCreateFileTipProvider() function.
102 @param showAtStartup
103 Should be true if startup tips are shown, false otherwise. This is
104 used as the initial value for "Show tips at startup" checkbox which is
105 shown in the tips dialog.
106
107 @see @ref overview_tips
108
109 @header{wx/tipdlg.h}
110 */
111 bool wxShowTip(wxWindow *parent,
112 wxTipProvider *tipProvider,
113 bool showAtStartup = true);
114
115 //@}
116