utils/wxPython/README.txt

   1 wxPython README
   2 ---------------
   3
   4 Welcome to the wonderful world of wxPython!
   5
   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:
   8
   9     python demo.py
  10
  11 There are also some other sample files there for you to play with and
  12 learn from.
  13
  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."
  19
  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
  26
  27 http://msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/author/htmlhelp/download.asp.
  28
  29
  30
  31 Getting Help
  32 ------------
  33
  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
  38 going to
  39
  40        http://starship.python.net/mailman/listinfo/wxpython-users
  41
  42 Or you can send mail directly to the list using this address:
  43
  44        wxpython-users@starship.python.net
  45
  46 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
  47
  48 What's new in 2.1.12
  49 --------------------
  50 Updated wxMVCTree and added a demo for it.
  51
  52 Added a wrapper class for the Visualization ToolKit (or VTK) in the
  53 wxPython.lib.vtk module.  (http://www.kitware.com/)
  54
  55 Fixed wxTreeCtrl.SetItemImage and GetItemImage to recognise the new
  56 "which" parameter.
  57
  58 Added wxPython.lib.spashscreen from Mike Fletcher.
  59
  60
  61
  62
  63 What's new in 2.1.11
  64 --------------------
  65 Skipped a few version numbers so wxMSW, wxGTK and wxPython are all
  66 syncronized.
  67
  68 wxImage.SetData now makes a copy of the image data before giving it to
  69 wxImage.  I mistakenly thought that wxImage would copy the data
  70 itself.
  71
  72 Fixed wxMSW's notebook so the pages get their size set as they are
  73 being added.  This should remove the need for our
  74 wxNotebook.ResizeChildren hack.
  75
  76 wxPanels now support AutoLayout, and wxNotebooks and wxSplitterWindows
  77 no longer tell their children to Layout() themselves.  This will
  78 probably only effect you if you have a wxWindow with AutoLayout inside
  79 a notebook or splitter.  If so, either change it to a wxPanel or add
  80 an EVT_SIZE handler that calls Layout().
  81
  82 Fixed deadlock problem that happened when using threads.
  83
  84 Added new HTML printing classes.
  85
  86 Added wxWindow.GetHandle
  87
  88 Apparently wxMouseEvent.Position has been depreciated in wxWindows as
  89 it is no longer available by default.  You can use GetPositionTuple
  90 (returning a tuple with x,y) instead, or GetPosition (returning a
  91 wxPoint.)
  92
  93 Added wxPostEvent function that allows events to be posted and then
  94 processed later.  This is a thread-safe way to interact with the GUI
  95 thread from other threads.
  96
  97 Added Clipboard and Drag-and-Drop classes.
  98
  99 Added wxFontEnumerator.
 100
 101 Many updates to wxMenu, wxMenuBar.
 102
 103 wxPyEvent and wxPyCommandEvent derived classes now give you the actual
 104 Python object in the event handler instead of a new shadow.
 105
 106 Added a Calendar widget from Lorne White to the library.
 107
 108 Made some fixes to the wxFloatbar.  It still has some troubles on
 109 wxGTK...
 110
 111 Added an MVC tree control from Bryn Keller to the library.
 112
 113
 114
 115
 116 What's new in 2.1.5
 117 -------------------
 118 This is a quick bug-fix release to take care of a few nasties that
 119 crept in at the last minute before 2.1.4 was called done.  No new
 120 major features.
 121
 122
 123
 124 What's new in 2.1.4
 125 --------------------
 126
 127 This release is NOT syncronized with a snapshot release of wxGTK or
 128 wxMSW.  For MSW this isn't much of a problem since you can get the
 129 binaries from the web site.  For other platforms you'll have to build
 130 wxGTK from CVS.  (See http://web.ukonline.co.uk/julian.smart/wxwin/cvs.htm)
 131 To get the same set of sources from CVS that I used, checkout using
 132 the wxPy-2-1-4 tag.
 133
 134 Now back to what's new...
 135
 136 Much more support for event-less callbacks and add-on modules.
 137
 138 Created add-on module with wxOGL classes.
 139
 140 Added wxWindow.GetChildren().  Be careful of this.  It returns a *copy*
 141 of the list of the window's children.  While you are using the list if
 142 anything changes in the real list (a child is deleted, etc.) then the
 143 list you are holding will suddenly have window references to garbage
 144 memory and your app will likely crash.  But if you are careful it works
 145 great!
 146
 147 Added a bunch of new and missing methods to wxTreeCrtl.  The
 148 SortChildren method is now supported, but currently only for the
 149 default sort order.
 150
 151 Added typemaps for wxSize, wxPoint, wxRealPoint, and wxRect that allow
 152 either the actual objects or Python sequence values to be used.  For
 153 example, the following are equivallent:
 154
 155     win = wxWindow(parent, size = wxSize(100, 100))
 156     win = wxWindow(parent, size = (100, 100))
 157
 158 Super-charged the wxHtml module.  You can now create your own tag
 159 handlers and also have access to the parser and cell classes.  There
 160 is a tag handler in the library at wxPython.lib.wxpTag that
 161 understands the WXP tag and is able to place wxPython windows on HTML
 162 pages.  See the demo for an example.
 163
 164 A bunch of the methods of wxMenuBar were previously ifdef'd out for
 165 wxGTK.  Added them back in since the methods exist now.
 166
 167 Wrapped the wxHtmlHelpController and related classes.
 168
 169 Wrapped the C++ versions of wxSizer and friends.  The Python-only
 170 versions are still in the library, but depreciated.  (You will get a
 171 warning message if you try to use them, but the warning can be
 172 disabled.) The usage of the C++ versions is slightly different, and
 173 the functionality of wxBorderSizer is now part of wxBoxSizer.  I have
 174 added a few methods to wxSizer to try and make the transition as
 175 smooth as possible, I combined all Add methods into a single method
 176 that handles all cases, added an AddMany method, etc.  One step I did
 177 not take was to make the default value of flag in the Add method be
 178 wxGROW.  This would have made it more backward compatible, but less
 179 portable to and from wxWin C++ code.  Please see the docs and demo for
 180 further details.
 181
 182 Added wxPyEvent and wxPyCommandEvent classes, derived from wxEvent and
 183 wxCommandEvent.  Each of them has SetPyData and GetPyData methods that
 184 accept or return a single Python object.  You can use these classes
 185 directly or derive from them to create your own types of event objects
 186 that can pass through the wxWindows event system without loosing their
 187 Python parts (as long as they are stored with SetPyData.)  Stay tuned
 188 for more info and examples in future releases.
 189
 190 Added wxPython.lib.grids as an example of how to derive a new sizer
 191 from the C++ sizers.  In this module you will find wxGridSizer and
 192 wxFlexGridSizer.  wxGridSizer arrainges its items in a grid in which
 193 all the widths and heights are the same.  wxFlexgridSizer allows
 194 different widths and heights, and you can also specify rows and/or
 195 columns that are growable.  See the demo for a couple examples for how
 196 to use them.
 197
 198 Added the wxValidator class, and created a class named wxPyValidator
 199 that should be used for the base class of any Python validators.  See
 200 the demo for an example.  Please note that you MUST implement a Clone
 201 method in your validator classes because of the way some things work
 202 in the underlying C++ library.  I did not add wxTextValidator because
 203 of some issues of how it transfers data to and from a wxString, which
 204 in wxPython is automatically translated to and from Python strings, so
 205 there would never be a concrete wxString that would hang around long
 206 enough for the validator to do its job.  On the other hand, it should
 207 be real easy to duplicate the functionality of wxTextValidator in a
 208 pure Python class derived from wxPyValidator.
 209
 210 I've finally added a feature that has been on my list for close to two
 211 years!  Ever wondered what that zero is for when you create your app
 212 object?  Well now you can leave it out or explicitly set it to a true
 213 value.  This value now controls what is to be done with sys.stdout and
 214 sys.stderr.  A false value leaves them alone, and a true value sets
 215 them to an instance of wxPyOnDemandOutputWindow.  (On windows the
 216 default is true, on unix platforms the default is false.)  This class
 217 creates a frame containing a wxTextCtrl as soon as anything is written
 218 to sys.stdout or sys.stderr.  If you close the window it will come
 219 back again the next time something is written.  (You can call
 220 app.RestoreStdio to turn this off.)  If you would rather that the stdio be
 221 redirected to a file, you can provide a second parameter to your app
 222 object's constructor that is a filename.  If you want to use your own
 223 class instead of wxPyOnDemandOutputWindow you can either implement
 224 RedirectStdio() in you app class or change the value of
 225 wxApp.outputWindowClass like this:
 226
 227     class MyApp(wxApp):
 228         outputWindowClass = MyClass
 229
 230         def OnInit(self):
 231             frame = MyFrame()
 232             self.SetTopWindow(frame)
 233             return true
 234
 235 Please see the implementation of wxPyOnDemandOutputWindow and wxApp in
 236 wx.py for more details.  A few words of caution:  if you are running
 237 your app in a debugger, changing sys.stdout and sys.stderr is likely
 238 to really screw things up.
 239
 240 Added wxCaret.  Unfortunately it's author has still not documented it
 241 in the wxWindows docs...
 242
 243 Some new 3rd party contributions in wxPython.lib.  PyShell, in
 244 shell.py is an interesting implementaion of an interactive Python
 245 shell in wxWindows.  floatbar.py has a class derived from wxToolBar
 246 that can sense mouse drags and then reparent itself into another
 247 frame. Moving the new frame close to where it came from puts the tool
 248 bar back into the original parent.  (Unfortunately there is currently
 249 a bug in wxGTK's wxFrame.SetToolBar so the FloatBar has some
 250 problems...)
 251
 252
 253
 254
 255 What's new in 2.1b3
 256 --------------------
 257
 258 This release is syncronized with release 2.1 snapshot 9 of wxWindows.
 259
 260 Switched to using SWIG from CVS (see http://swig.cs.uchicago.edu/cvs.html)
 261 for some of the new features and such.  Also they have encorporated my
 262 patches so there is really no reason to stick with the current (very
 263 old) release...  This version of SWIG gives the following new
 264 features:
 265
 266     1. Keyword arguments.  You no longer have to specify all the
 267        parameters with defaults to a method just to specify a
 268        non-default value on the end.  You can now do this instead:
 269
 270           win = wxWindow(parent, -1, style = mystyle)
 271
 272     2. There is now an an equivalence between Python's None and C++'s
 273        NULL.  This means that any methods that might return NULL will
 274        now return None and you can use none where wxWindows might be
 275        expecting NULL.  This makes things much more snake-ish.
 276
 277
 278 There is a new build system based on a new Python program instead of
 279 raw makefiles.  Now wxPython builds are virtually the same on MSW or
 280 Unix systems.  See the end of this file for new build instructions and
 281 see distrib/build.py for more details.
 282
 283 wxDC.Bilt now includes the useMask parameter, and has been split into
 284 two different versions.  wxDC.BlitXY is like what was there before and
 285 takes raw coordinants and sizes, and the new wxDC.Blit is for the new
 286 interface using wxPoints and a wxSize.
 287
 288
 289
 290
 291
 292 What's new in 2.1b2
 293 --------------------
 294
 295 Added the missing wxWindow.GetUpdateRegion() method.
 296
 297 Made a new change in SWIG (update your patches everybody) that
 298 provides a fix for global shadow objects that get an exception in
 299 their __del__ when their extension module has already been deleted.
 300 It was only a 1 line change in .../SWIG/Modules/pycpp.cxx at about
 301 line 496 if you want to do it by hand.
 302
 303 It is now possible to run through MainLoop more than once in any one
 304 process.  The cleanup that used to happen as MainLoop completed (and
 305 prevented it from running again) has been delayed until the wxc module
 306 is being unloaded by Python.
 307
 308 I fixed a bunch of stuff in the C++ version of wxGrid so it wouldn't
 309 make wxPython look bad.
 310
 311 wxWindow.PopupMenu() now takes a wxPoint instead of  x,y.  Added
 312 wxWindow.PopupMenuXY to be consistent with some other methods.
 313
 314 Added wxGrid.SetEditInPlace and wxGrid.GetEditInPlace.
 315
 316 You can now provide your own app.MainLoop method.  See
 317 wxPython/demo/demoMainLoop.py for an example and some explaination.
 318
 319 Got the in-place-edit for the wxTreeCtrl fixed and added some demo
 320 code to show how to use it.
 321
 322 Put the wxIcon constructor back in for GTK as it now has one that
 323 matches MSW's.
 324
 325 Added wxGrid.GetCells
 326
 327 Added wxSystemSettings static methods as functions with names like
 328 wxSystemSettings_GetSystemColour.
 329
 330 Removed wxPyMenu since using menu callbacks have been depreciated in
 331 wxWindows.  Use wxMenu and events instead.
 332
 333 Added alternate wxBitmap constructor (for MSW only) as
 334       wxBitmapFromData(data, type, width, height, depth = 1)
 335
 336 Added a helper function named wxPyTypeCast that can convert shadow
 337 objects of one type into shadow objects of another type.  (Like doing
 338 a down-cast.)  See the implementation in wx.py for some docs.
 339
 340 Fixed wxImage GetData and SetData to properly use String objects for
 341 data transfer.
 342
 343 Added access methods to wxGridEvent.
 344
 345 New Makefile/Setup files supporting multiple dynamic extension modules
 346 for unix systems.
 347
 348 Fixes for the wxGLCanvas demo to work around a strange bug in gtk.
 349
 350 SWIG support routines now compiled separately instead of being bundled
 351 in wx.cpp.
 352
 353
 354
 355
 356
 357 What's new in 2.1b1
 358 --------------------
 359 Fixed wxComboBox.SetSelection so that it actually sets the selected
 360 item.  (Actually just removed it from wxPython and let it default to
 361 wxChoice.SetSelection which was already doing the right thing.)
 362
 363 Added the Printing Framework.
 364
 365 Switched back to using the wxWindows DLL for the pre-built Win32
 366 version.  The problem was needing to reinitialize static class info
 367 data after loading each extension module.
 368
 369 Lots of little tweaks and additions to reflect changes to various
 370 wxWindows classes.
 371
 372 Fixed a bug with attaching objects to tree items.  Actually was a
 373 symptom of a larger problem with not obtaining the interpreter lock
 374 when doing any Py_DECREFs.
 375
 376 wxSizer and friends.  Sizers are layout tools that manage a colection
 377 of windows and sizers.  Different types of sizers apply different
 378 types of layout algorithms.  You saw it here first!  These classes are
 379 not even in the wxWindows C++ library yet!
 380
 381
 382
 383 What's new in 2.0b9
 384 -------------------
 385 Bug fix for ListCtrl in test4.py (Was a missing file...  DSM!)
 386
 387 Bug fix for occassional GPF on Win32 systems upon termination of a
 388 wxPython application.
 389
 390 Added wxListBox.GetSelections returning selections as a Tuple.
 391
 392 Added a wxTreeItemData that is able to hold any Python object and be
 393 associated with items in a wxTreeCtrl.  Added test pytree.py to show
 394 this feature off.
 395
 396 Added wxSafeYield function.
 397
 398 OpenGL Canvas can be optionally compiled in to wxPython.
 399
 400 Awesome new Demo Framework for showing off wxPython and for learning
 401 how it all works.
 402
 403 The pre-built Win32 version is no longer distributing the wxWindows
 404 DLL.  It is statically linked with the wxWindows library instead.
 405
 406 Added a couple missing items from the docs.
 407
 408 Added wxImage, wxImageHandler, wxPNGHandler, wxJPEGHandler,
 409 wxGIFHandler and wxBMPHandler.
 410
 411 Added new methods to wxTextCtrl.
 412
 413 Fixed some problems with how SWIG was wrapping some wxTreeCtrl
 414 methods.
 415
 416
 417
 418 What's new in 2.0b8
 419 -------------------
 420 Support for using Python threads in wxPython apps.
 421
 422 Several missing methods from various classes.
 423
 424 Various bug fixes.
 425
 426
 427
 428 What's new in 2.0b7
 429 -------------------
 430 Added DLG_PNT and DLG_SZE convienience methods to wxWindow class.
 431
 432 Added missing constructor and other methods for wxMenuItem.
 433
 434
 435
 436 What's new in 2.0b6
 437 -------------------
 438 Just a quickie update to fix the self-installer to be compatible with
 439 Python 1.5.2b2's Registry settings.
 440
 441
 442 What's new in 2.0b5
 443 -------------------
 444 Well obviously the numbering scheme has changed.  I did this to
 445 reflect the fact that this truly is the second major revision of
 446 wxPython, (well the third actually if you count the one I did for
 447 wxWindows 1.68 and then threw away...) and also that it is associated
 448 with the 2.0 version of wxWindows.
 449
 450 I have finally started documenting wxPython.  There are several pages
 451 in the wxWindows documentation tree specifically about wxPython, and I
 452 have added notes within the class references about where and how wxPython
 453 diverges from wxWindows.
 454
 455 Added wxWindow_FromHWND(hWnd) for wxMSW to construct a wxWindow from a
 456 window handle.  If you can get the window handle into the python code,
 457 it should just work...  More news on this later.
 458
 459 Added wxImageList, wxToolTip.
 460
 461 Re-enabled wxConfig.DeleteAll() since it is reportedly fixed for the
 462 wxRegConfig class.
 463
 464 As usual, some bug fixes, tweaks, etc.
 465
 466
 467
 468 What's new in 0.5.3
 469 -------------------
 470 Added wxSashWindow, wxSashEvent, wxLayoutAlgorithm, etc.
 471
 472 Various cleanup, tweaks, minor additions, etc. to maintain
 473 compatibility with the current wxWindows.
 474
 475
 476
 477 What's new in 0.5.0
 478 -------------------
 479 Changed the import semantics from "from wxPython import *" to "from
 480 wxPython.wx import *"  This is for people who are worried about
 481 namespace pollution, they can use "from wxPython import wx" and then
 482 prefix all the wxPython identifiers with "wx."
 483
 484 Added wxTaskbarIcon for wxMSW.
 485
 486 Made the events work for wxGrid.
 487
 488 Added wxConfig.
 489
 490 Added wxMiniFrame for wxGTK.
 491
 492 Changed many of the args and return values that were pointers to gdi
 493 objects to references to reflect changes in the wxWindows API.
 494
 495 Other assorted fixes and additions.
 496
 497
 498
 499
 500 What's new in 0.4.2
 501 -------------------
 502
 503 wxPython on wxGTK works!!!  Both dynamic and static on Linux and
 504 static on Solaris have been tested.  Many thanks go to Harm
 505 <H.v.d.Heijden@phys.tue.nl> for his astute detective work on tracking
 506 down a nasty DECREF bug.  Okay so I have to confess that it was just a
 507 DSM (Dumb Stupid Mistake) on my part but it was nasty none the less
 508 because the behavior was so different on different platforms.
 509
 510 The dynamicly loaded module on Solaris is still segfaulting, so it
 511 must have been a different issue all along...
 512
 513
 514
 515 What's New in 0.4
 516 -----------------
 517
 518 1. Worked on wxGTK compatibility.  It is partially working.  On a
 519 Solaris/Sparc box wxPython is working but only when it is statically
 520 linked with the Python interpreter.  When built as a dyamically loaded
 521 extension module, things start acting weirdly and it soon seg-faults.
 522 And on Linux both the statically linked and the dynamically linked
 523 version segfault shortly after starting up.
 524
 525 2. Added Toolbar, StatusBar and SplitterWindow classes.
 526
 527 3. Varioius bug fixes, enhancements, etc.
 528
 529 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 530
 531
 532
 533 Build Instructions
 534 ------------------
 535 I used SWIG (http://www.swig.org) to create the source code for the
 536 extension module.  This enabled me to only have to deal with a small
 537 amount of code and only have to bother with the exceptional issues.
 538 SWIG takes care of the rest and generates all the repetative code for
 539 me.  You don't need SWIG to build the extension module as all the
 540 generated C++ code is included under the src directory.
 541
 542 I added a few minor features to SWIG to control some of the code
 543 generation.  If you want to play around with this you will need to get
 544 a recent version of SWIG from their CVS or from a daily build.  See
 545 http://www.swig.org/ for details.
 546
 547 wxPython is organized as a Python package.  This means that the
 548 directory containing the results of the build process should be a
 549 subdirectory of a directory on the PYTHONPATH.  (And preferably should
 550 be named wxPython.)  You can control where the build process will dump
 551 wxPython by setting the TARGETDIR variable for the build utility, (see
 552 below.)
 553
 554
 555 1. Build wxWindows as described in its BuildCVS.txt file.  For *nix
 556    systems I run configure with these flags:
 557
 558                 --with-gtk
 559                 --with-libjpeg
 560                 --without-odbc
 561                 --enable-unicode=no
 562                 --enable-threads=yes
 563                 --enable-socket=yes
 564                 --enable-static=no
 565                 --enable-shared=yes
 566                 --disable-std_iostreams
 567
 568    You can use whatever flags you want, but I know these work.
 569
 570    For Win32 systems I use Visual C++ 6.0, but 5.0 should work.  The
 571    build utility currently does not support any other win32 compilers.
 572
 573 2. At this point you may want to make an alias or symlink, script,
 574    batch file, whatever on the PATH that invokes
 575    $(WXWIN)/utils/wxPython/distrib/build.py to help simplify matters
 576    somewhat.  For example, on my win32 system I have a file named
 577    build.bat in a directory on the PATH that contains:
 578
 579    python $(WXWIN)/utils/wxPython/distrib/build.py %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6
 580
 581
 582 3. Change into the $(WXWIN)/utils/wxPython/src directory.
 583
 584 4. Type "build -b" to build wxPython and "build -i" to install it.
 585
 586    The build.py script actually generates a Makefile based on what it
 587    finds on your system and information found in the build.cfg file.
 588    If you have troubles building or you want it built or installed in
 589    a different way, take a look at the docstring in build.py.  You may
 590    be able to override configuration options in a file named
 591    build.local.
 592
 593 5. To build and install the add-on modules, change to the appropriate
 594    directory under $(WXWIN)/utils/wxPython/modules and run the build
 595    utility again.
 596
 597 6. Change to the $(WXWIN)/utils/wxPython/demo directory.
 598
 599 7. Try executing the demo program.  For example:
 600
 601     python demo.py
 602
 603 To run it without requiring a console on win32, you can use the
 604 pythonw.exe version of Python either from the command line or from a
 605 shortcut.
 606
 607
 608
 609 ----------------
 610 Robin Dunn
 611 robin@alldunn.com
 612
 613
 614
 615
 616
 617
 618