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