Installing wxWidgets for Windows
-----------------------------------------------------------
-This is wxWidgets for Microsoft Windows 9x/ME, Windows NT,
-Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows CE.
+This is wxWidgets for Microsoft Windows 9x/ME, Windows NT
+and later (2000, XP, Vista, 7, etc) and Windows CE.
These installation notes can be found in docs/msw/install.txt
in your wxWidgets distribution.
IMPORTANT NOTE: If you experience problems installing, please
-re-read this instructions and other related files (changes.txt,
+re-read these instructions and other related files (changes.txt,
readme.txt, FAQ) carefully before posting to wx-users list.
If you are sure that you found a bug, please report it at
addressed sooner.
-Unarchiving
-============================================================
+Table of Contents:
+ - Installation
+ - Building wxWidgets
+ - Configuring the Build
+ - Building Applications Using wxWidgets
-A setup program is provided (wxMSW-x.x.x-setup.exe) to automatically copy
-files to a directory on your hard disk. Do not install into a
-path that contains spaces.
-The setup program contains the following:
+Installation
+============
-- All common, generic and MSW-specific wxWidgets source;
-- samples and demos;
-- documentation in MS HTML Help format;
-- makefiles for most Windows compilers, plus CodeWarrior,
- BC++ and VC++ IDE files;
-- JPEG library source;
-- TIFF library source;
-- Object Graphics Library, Tex2RTF, wxSTC, etc.
+Please simply uncompress the .zip file manually into any directory.
+However we advise avoiding using directories with spaces in their
+names (notably "C:\Program Files") as this risks creating problems
+with makefiles and other command-line tools.
-Alternatively, you may unarchive the .zip form by hand:
-wxMSW-x.y.z.zip where x.y.z is the version number.
-Unarchive the required files plus any optional documentation
-files into a suitable directory such as c:\wx.
+In the majority of cases, you don't need to change the default
+library build configuration. If you wish to change some of the build
+options you need to edit the include/wx/msw/setup.h file enabling or
+disabling the features you would like to compile wxWidgets with[out].
-General installation notes
-==========================
+NB: If you checked your sources from version control repository and
+ didn't obtain them from a release file, the file above doesn't
+ exist and you will need to copy include/wx/msw/setup0.h to
+ include/wx/msw/setup.h.
-If installing from the SVN server, copy include/wx/msw/setup0.h to
-include/wx/msw/setup.h and edit the resulting file to choose
-the features you would like to compile wxWidgets with[out].
+Notice that this file is later copied into a directory under lib for
+each of the build configurations which allows to have different
+build options for different configurations too.
-Compilation
-===========
+See "Configuring the Build" section for more information.
+
+
+Building wxWidgets
+==================
The following sections explain how to compile wxWidgets with each supported
-compiler. Search for one of Microsoft/Borland/Watcom/Symantec/Metrowerks/
-Cygwin/Mingw32 to quickly locate the instructions for your compiler.
+compiler, see the "Building Applications" section about the instructions for
+building your application using wxWidgets.
+
+Search for one of Microsoft/Borland/Watcom/Symantec/Metrowerks/Cygwin/Mingw32
+to quickly locate the instructions for your compiler. Notice that the primary
+compilers for wxWidgets under MSW are Microsoft Visual C++ and GNU g++, other
+compilers are more rarely tested and might not work so please consider using
+one of these two if possible.
All makefiles and project are located in build\msw directory.
-Where compiled files are stored
+Where Compiled Files are Stored
-------------------------------
After successful compilation you'll find the libraries in a subdirectory
lib\wat_dll Watcom C++ DLLs
Names of compiled wxWidgets libraries follow this scheme: libraries that don't
-depend on GUI components begin with "wxbase" followed by version number and
-letters indicating if the library is compiled as Unicode ('u') and/or debug
-build ('d'). Last component of them name is name of wxWidgets component
-(unless you built the library as single monolithic library; look for
-"Configuring the build" below). This is a typical set of release ANSI build
-libraries (release versions on left, debug on right side):
+depend on GUI components begin with "wxbase" followed by a version number and,
+optionally, letters indicating Unicode compilation ('u') and a debug build ('d').
+The last component is the name of the wxWidgets component (unless you build the
+library as single monolithic library; look for "Configuring the Build" below).
+This is a typical set of release ANSI build libraries (release versions on
+left, debug on right side):
wxbase29.lib wxbase29d.lib
wxbase29_net.lib wxbase29d_net.lib
wxmswuniv29ud_html.lib
wxmswuniv29ud_adv.lib
-These directories also contain subdirectory with wx/setup.h header. This
-subdirectory is named after port, Unicode, wxUniv and debug settings and
-you must add it to include paths when compiling your application. Some
+These directories also contain a subdirectory with the wx/setup.h header. This
+subdirectory is named after the port, Unicode, wxUniv and debug settings and
+you must add it to the include paths when compiling your application. Some
examples:
lib\vc_lib\msw\wx\setup.h VC++ static, wxMSW
lib\vc_lib\mswunivd\wx\setup.h VC++ static, wxUniversal, debug
Below are compiler specific notes followed by customizing instructions that
-apply to all compilers (search for "Configuring the build").
+apply to all compilers (search for "Configuring the Build").
-Microsoft Visual C++ compilation
+Microsoft Visual C++ Compilation
----------------------------------------------------------------
-You may wish to visit http://wiki.wxwindows.org/wiki.pl?MSVC for a more
-informal and more detailed description of the process summarized below.
+You may wish to visit http://wiki.wxwidgets.org/Microsoft_Visual_C%2B%2B_Guide
+for a more informal and detailed description of the process summarized below.
-Please note that the VC++ 6.0 project files will work for VC++ .NET also.
+Please note that the VC++ 6.0 project files will work for VC++ .NET as well.
VC++ 5.0 can also be used, providing Service Pack 3 is applied. Without it
you will have trouble with internal compiler errors. It is available for
Normally you'll use a static linking ANSI configuration.
Choose the Win32 Debug or Win32 Release configuration (or any other that
suits your needs) and use Batch Build to compile _all_ projects. If you
- know you won't need some of the libraries (i.e. html part), you don't have
+ know you won't need some of the libraries (e.g. the HTML part), you don't have
to compile it. It will also produce similar variations on jpeg.lib,
png.lib, tiff.lib, zlib.lib, and regex.lib.
If you want to build DLL configurations in wx.dsw project you unfortunately
need to build them in the proper order (jpeg, png, tiff, zlib, regex, expat,
- base, net, odbc, core, gl, html, media, qa, adv, dbgrid, xrc, aui, richtext)
- manually because VC6 doesn't always respect the correct build order.
+ base, net, odbc, core, gl, html, media, qa, adv, dbgrid, xrc, aui, richtext,
+ propgrid) manually because VC6 doesn't always respect the correct build order.
Alternatively, use the special wx_dll.dsw project which adds the
dependencies to force the correct order (but, because of this, doesn't work
for the static libraries) or simply redo the build several times until all
- DLLs are linked correctly. Pleae notice that it's normal that dbgrid project
- doesn't build if wxUSE_ODBC is set to 0 (default).
+ DLLs are linked correctly.
3. Open a sample project file, choose a configuration such as
Win32 Debug using Build | Set Active Configuration..., and compile.
The project files don't use precompiled headers, to save disk
'nmake -f makefile.vc'
to make the wxWidgets core library as release DLL.
- See "Configuring the build" for instruction how to build debug or static
+ See "Configuring the Build" for instruction how to build debug or static
libraries.
2. Change directory to samples and type 'nmake -f makefile.vc'
Note (4): to create your own IDE files, copy .dsp and .dsw
files from an existing wxWidgets sample and adapt them, or
-visit http://wiki.wxwindows.org/wiki.pl?MSVC.
+visit http://wiki.wxwidgets.org/Microsoft_Visual_C%2B%2B_Guide.
-Microsoft Visual C++ compilation for 64-bit Windows
+Microsoft Visual C++ Compilation for 64-bit Windows
----------------------------------------------------------------
Visual Studio 2005 includes 64-bit compilers, though they are not installed by
See http://support.microsoft.com/?id=894573 for more information.
-Borland C++ compilation
+Borland C++ Compilation
----------------------------------------------------------------
The minimum version required is 5.5 (last version supported by BC++ 5.0 was
same alignment, or you could experience mysterious crashes. To
change the alignment, change CPPFLAGS in build\msw\config.bcc.
-Note (2): if you get undefined _SQL... symbols at link time,
-either install odbc32.lib from the BC++ CD-ROM into your BC++ lib
-directory, or set wxUSE_ODBC to 0 in include\wx\msw\setup.h and
-recompile wxWidgets. The same applies if compiling using the IDE.
-
-Note (3): If you wish debug messages to be sent to the console in
+Note (2): If you wish debug messages to be sent to the console in
debug mode, edit makefile.bcc and change /aa to /Tpe in link commands.
Using the Debugger and IDE in BDS or Turbo Explorer
---------------------------------------------------
-
Doubleclick / open samples\minimal\borland.bdsproj. The current version
is to be used with a dynamic build of wxWidgets-made by running
make -f Makefile.bcc -DBUILD=debug -DSHARED=1
traces into the wxWidgets sources.
To use this to debug other samples, copy the borland_ide.cpp
-and borland.bdsproj files, then replace all occurences of
+and borland.bdsproj files, then replace all occurrences of
"minimal" with the name of the new project files
Compilation succeeds with CBuilderX personal edition and CBuilder6, but
(v1-v6): not supported
-
** REMEMBER **
-
In all of your wxWidgets applications, your source code should include
the following preprocessor directive:
(check the samples -- e.g., \wx2\samples\minimal\minimal.cpp -- for
more details)
-Borland 16 Bit compilation for Windows 3.1
+Borland 16 Bit Compilation for Windows 3.1
----------------------------------------------------------------
The last version of wxWidgets to support 16-bit compilation with Borland was
2.2.7 - Please download and read the instructions in that release
-Watcom C++ 10.6/11 and OpenWatcom compilation
+Watcom C++ 10.6/11 and OpenWatcom Compilation
----------------------------------------------------------------
1. Change directory to build\msw. Type 'wmake -f makefile.wat' to
2. Change directory to samples\minimal and type 'wmake -f makefile.wat'
to make this sample. Repeat for other samples of interest.
-Note (1): if your installation of Watcom doesn't have odbc32.lib file and
- you need it (i.e. you have wxUSE_ODBC=1), you can use the file
- from lib\watcom directory. See the notes in that directory.
-
-Note (2): if variant.cpp is compiled with date/time class options, the linker
+Note (1): if variant.cpp is compiled with date/time class options, the linker
gives up. So the date/time option is switched off for Watcom C++.
Also, wxAutomationObject is not compiled with Watcom C++ 10.
-Note (3): RawBitmaps won't work at present because they use unsupported template
+Note (2): RawBitmaps won't work at present because they use unsupported template
classes
-Note (4): if Watcom can't read the precompiled header when building a sample,
+Note (3): if Watcom can't read the precompiled header when building a sample,
try deleting .pch files in build\msw\wat_* and compiling
the sample again.
-Note (5): wxUSE_STD_STRING is disabled in wx/string.h for Watcom as this
+Note (4): wxUSE_STD_STRING is disabled in wx/string.h for Watcom as this
compiler doesn't come with standard C++ library headers by default.
If you install STLPort or another STL implementation, you'll need to
edit wx/string.h and remove the check for Digital Mars in it (search
for __WATCOM__).
-Metrowerks CodeWarrior compilation
+Metrowerks CodeWarrior Compilation
----------------------------------------------------------------
** NOTE: We don't use Metrowerks compiler any more and so depend on
and runtime libs.
3. The project file to build the Win32 wxWidgets libraries relies on the
- Batch File Runner plug-in. This plug-in is not installed as part of
- a normal CW7 installation. However, you can find this plug-in on the
- CodeWarrior Reference CD, in the Thrill Seekers folder; it's call the
+ Batch File Runner plug-in. This plug-in is not installed as part of
+ a normal CW7 installation. However, you can find this plug-in on the
+ CodeWarrior Reference CD, in the Thrill Seekers folder; it's called the
"Batch File Post Linker".
4. If you choose not to install the Batch File Runner plug-in, then you
- wx_x86.lib ANSI Release (static)
- wx_x86_d.lib ANSI Debug (static)
-8. Sorry, I haven't had time yet to create and test unicode or DLL versions.
- Volunteers for this are welcome (as neither DLLs nor unicode builds are
+8. Sorry, I haven't had time yet to create and test Unicode or DLL versions.
+ Volunteers for this are welcome (as neither DLLs nor Unicode builds are
big priorities for me ;).
9. CodeWarrior Pro7 project files (in XML format) are also provided for some
griddemo.cpp. Build and run....
-Cygwin/MinGW compilation
+Cygwin/MinGW Compilation
----------------------------------------------------------------
wxWidgets supports Cygwin (formerly GnuWin32) betas and
If using MinGW, you can download the add-on MSYS package to
provide Unix-like tools that you'll need to build wxWidgets using configure.
-Using makefiles directly
+Using makefiles Directly
----------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: The makefile.gcc makefiles are for compilation under MinGW using
from e.g. the MinGW distribution, to a directory in your path.
-Symantec & DigitalMars C++ compilation
+Symantec & DigitalMars C++ Compilation
----------------------------------------------------------------
-The DigitalMars compiler is a free succssor to the Symantec compiler
+The DigitalMars compiler is a free successor to the Symantec compiler
and can be downloaded from http://www.digitalmars.com/
1. You need to download and unzip in turn (later packages will overwrite
16-bit compilation is no longer supported.
-Configuring the build
+Configuring the Build
================================================================
-So far the instructions only explained how to build release DLLs of wxWidgets
+So far the instructions only explain how to build release DLLs of wxWidgets
and did not cover any configuration. It is possible to change many aspects of
the build, including debug/release and ANSI/Unicode settings. All makefiles in
build\msw directory use same options (with a few exceptions documented below)
and the only difference between them is in object files and library directory
names and in make invocation command.
-Changing the settings
+Changing the Settings
----------------------------------------------------------------
There are two ways to modify the settings: either by passing the values as
Brief explanation of options and possible values is in every
build\msw\config.* file; more detailed description follows.
-Basic options
+Basic Options
----------------------------------------------------------------
BUILD=release
- Builds release version of the library. It differs from default 'debug'
- in lack of appended 'd' in name of library, does not define __WXDEBUG__
- and not include debug information compiled into object files and the
- executable.
+ Builds release version of the library. It differs from default 'debug' in
+ lack of appended 'd' in name of library and uses the release CRT libraries
+ instead of debug ones. Notice that even release builds do include debug
+ information by default, see DEBUG_FLAG for more information about it.
SHARED=1
Build shared libraries (DLLs). By default, DLLs are not built
Build wxUniversal instead of native wxMSW (see
http://www.wxwidgets.org/wxuniv.htm for more information).
-Advanced options
+Advanced Options
----------------------------------------------------------------
MONOLITHIC=1
OpenGL library is always built as additional library, even in monolithic
build!
-USE_ODBC=1
- Build two additional libraries in multilib mode, one with database
- classes and one with wxGrid database support. You must
- #define wxUSE_ODBC 1 in setup.h
-
USE_HTML=0
Do not build wxHTML library. If MONOLITHIC=1, then you must also
#define wxUSE_HTML 1 in setup.h.
DEBUG_FLAG=0
DEBUG_FLAG=1
- If set to 1, define __WXDEBUG__ symbol, append 'd' to library name and do
- sanity checks at runtime. If set to 0, don't do it. By default, this is
- governed by BUILD option (if 'debug', DEBUG_FLAG=1, if 'release' it is 0),
- but it is sometimes desirable to modify default behaviour and e.g. define
- __WXDEBUG__ even in release builds.
+DEBUG_FLAG=2
+ Specifies the level of debug support in wxWidgets. Notice that
+ this is independent from both BUILD and DEBUG_INFO options. By default
+ always set to 1 meaning that debug support is enabled: asserts are compiled
+ into the code (they are inactive by default in release builds of the
+ application but can be enabled), wxLogDebug() and wxLogTrace() are available
+ and __WXDEBUG__ is defined. Setting it to 0 completely disables all
+ debugging code in wxWidgets while setting it to 2 enables even the time
+ consuming assertions and checks which are deemed to be unsuitable for
+ production environment.
DEBUG_INFO=0
DEBUG_INFO=1
- Same as DEBUG_FLAG in behaviour, this option affects whether debugging
- information is included in the executable or not.
+ This option affects whether debugging information is generated. If
+ omitted or set to 'default' its value is determined the value of
+ the BUILD option.
TARGET_CPU=AMD64|IA64
(VC++ only.) Set this variable to build for x86_64 systems. If unset, x86
If you build with multiple versions of the same compiler, you can put
their outputs into directories like "vc6_lib", "vc8_lib" etc. instead of
"vc_lib" by setting this variable to e.g. "vc6". This is merely a
- convenience variable, you can achieve the same effect (but different dir
- names) with the CFG option.
+ convenience variable, you can achieve the same effect (but different
+ directory names) with the CFG option.
-Compiler specific options
+Compiler-Specific Options
----------------------------------------------------------------
* MinGW
customers and still have usable .pdb files with debug information) and this
setting makes it possible.
-Fine-tuning the compiler
+Fine-tuning the Compiler
----------------------------------------------------------------
All makefiles have variables that you can use to specify additional options
do, simply add desired flags to CFLAGS (for C compiler), CXXFLAGS (for C++
compiler), CPPFLAGS (for both C and C++ compiler) and LDFLAGS (the linker).
-Object and library directories
+Object and Library Directories
----------------------------------------------------------------
-All object files produced during library build are stored in a directory under
-build\msw. It's name is derived from build settings and CFG variable and from
-compiler name. Examples of directory names:
+All object files produced during a library build are stored in a directory under
+build\msw. Its name is derived from the build settings and CFG variable and from
+the compiler name. Examples of directory names:
build\msw\bcc_msw SHARED=0
build\msw\bcc_mswdll SHARED=1
build\msw\bcc_mswunivd SHARED=0, WXUNIV=1, BUILD=debug
build\msw\vc_mswunivd ditto, with Visual C++
-Libraries and DLLs are copied into subdirectory of lib directory with
-name derived from compiler and static/DLL setting and setup.h into directory
-with name that contains other settings:
+Libraries and DLLs are copied into a subdirectory of the lib directory with a
+name derived from the compiler and a static/DLL setting and setup.h into a
+directory with a name that contains other settings:
lib\bcc_msw
lib\bcc_lib\msw\wx\setup.h
etc.
By now it is clear what CFG is for: builds with different CFG settings don't
-share any files and they use different setup.h files. This allows you to e.g.
-have two static debug builds, one with wxUSE_SOCKETS=0 and one with sockets
+share any files and they use different setup.h files. For example, this allows
+you to have two static debug builds, one with wxUSE_SOCKETS=0 and one with sockets
enabled (without CFG, both of them would be put into same directory and there
would be conflicts between the files).
-General Notes
-=================================================================
-
-- Debugging: under Windows 95, debugging output isn't output in
- the same way that it is under NT or Windows 3.1.
- Please see DebugView available from http://www.sysinternals.com.
+Building Applications Using wxWidgets
+=====================================
+
+NB: The makefiles and project files provided with wxWidgets samples show which
+ flags should be used when building applications using wxWidgets so in case
+ of a problem, e.g. if the instructions here are out of date, you can always
+ simply copy a makefile or project file from samples\minimal or some other
+ sample and adapt it to your application.
+
+Independently of the compiler and make/IDE you are using you must do the
+following to use wxWidgets:
+
+* Add $WXWIN/include to the
+ - compiler
+ - resource compiler
+ include paths.
+* Define the following symbols for the preprocessor:
+ - __WXMSW__ to ensure you use the correct wxWidgets port.
+ - _UNICODE unless you want to use deprecated ANSI build of wxWidgets.
+ - NDEBUG if you want to build in release mode, i.e. disable asserts.
+ - WXUSINGDLL if you are using DLL build of wxWidgets.
+* Add $WXWIN/lib/prefix_lib-or-dll to the libraries path. The prefix depends
+ on the compiler, by default it is "vc" for MSVC, "gcc" for g++ and so on.
+* Add the list of libraries to link with to the linker input. The exact list
+ depends on which libraries you use and whether you built wxWidgets in
+ monolithic or default multlib mode and basically should include all the
+ relevant libraries from the directory above, e.g. "wxmsw29ud_core.lib
+ wxbase29ud.lib wxtiffd.lib wxjpegd.lib wxpngd.lib wxzlibd.lib wxregexud.lib
+ wxexpatd.lib" for a debug build of an application using the core library only
+ (all wxWidgets applications use the base library).
+
+
+Microsoft Visual C++ users can simplify the linker setup by prepending the
+directory $WXWIN/msvc to the include path (it must come before $WXWIN/include
+directory!) and omitting the last step: the required libraries will be linked
+in automatically using the "#pragma comment(lib)" feature of this compiler.
projects / wxWidgets.git / blobdiff