This document will help explain some of the major changes in wxPython
2.5 and let you know what you need to do to adapt your programs to
-those changes. Be sure to also check in the CHANGES.txt file like
+those changes. Be sure to also check in the CHANGES_ file like
usual to see info about the not so major changes and other things that
have been added to wxPython.
+.. _CHANGES: CHANGES.html
+
wxName Change
-------------
The **wxWindows** project and library is now known as
**wxWidgets**. Please see here_ for more details.
-.. _here: http://www.wxwindows.org/name.htm
+.. _here: http://www.wxwidgets.org/name.htm
This won't really affect wxPython all that much, other than the fact
that the wxwindows.org domain name will be changing to wxwidgets.org,
All of the EVT_* functions are now instances of the wx.PyEventBinder
class. They have a __call__ method so they can still be used as
functions like before, but making them instances adds some
-flexibility.
+flexibility that I expect to take advantave of in the future.
wx.EvtHandler (the base class for wx.Window) now has a Bind method that
makes binding events to windows a little easier. Here is its
If you create your own custom event types and EVT_* functions, and you
want to be able to use them with the Bind method above then you should
change your EVT_* to be an instance of wxPyEventBinder instead of a
-function. If you used to have something like this::
+function. For example, if you used to have something like this::
myCustomEventType = wxNewEventType()
def EVT_MY_CUSTOM_EVENT(win, id, func):
dc.DrawRectangle(x, y, width, height)
-You could either continue to use the *Type B* method bu changing the
-name to DrawRectabgleXY, or just change it to the new *Type A* by
+You could either continue to use the *Type B* method by changing the
+name to DrawRectangleXY, or just change it to the new *Type A* by
adding some parentheses like this::
dc.DrawRectangle((x, y), (width, height))
-Or if you were already using a point and size::
+Or if you were already using a point and size like this::
dc.DrawRectangle(p.x, p.y, s.width, s.height)
dc.DrawRectangle(p, s)
Now before you start yelling and screaming at me for breaking all your
-code, take note that I said above "...using the new wx namespace..."
-That's because if you are still importing from wxPython.wx then there
-are some classes defined there with Draw and etc. methods that have
-2.4 compatible signatures. However if/when the old wxPython.wx
-namespace is removed then these classes will be removed too so you
-should plan on migrating to the new namespace and new DC Draw methods
-before that time.
+code, take note that up above I said, "...using the new wx
+namespace..." That's because if you are still importing from
+wxPython.wx then there are some classes defined there with Draw and
+etc. methods that have 2.4 compatible signatures. Unfortunately there
+is one exception to this behaviour. If a DC is returned from a
+function or method then an instance of the new class (with the new
+methods described above) will be returned instead of the compatibility
+class. If/When the old wxPython.wx namespace is removed then these
+compatibility classes will be removed too so you should plan on
+migrating to the new namespace and new DC Draw methods before that
+time.
the contribs (gizmos, stc, xrc, etc.) rather than building local
copies of them. If you build your own copies of wxPython please be
aware that you now need to also build the ogl, stc, xrc, and gizmos
-libraries in addition to the main wx lib. [[TODO: update the
-BUILD.*.txt files too!]]
+libraries in addition to the main wx lib.
The wxPython.h and other header files are now in
-.../wxPython/include/wx/wxPython instead of in wxPython/src. You should
-include it via the "wx/wxPython/wxPython.h" path and add
-.../wxPython/include to your list of include paths. [[TODO: Install
-these headers on Linux...]]
+.../wxPython/include/wx/wxPython instead of in wxPython/src. You
+should include it via the "wx/wxPython/wxPython.h" path and add
+.../wxPython/include to your list of include paths. On OSX and
+unix-like systems the wxPython headers are installed to the same place
+that the wxWidgets headers are installed, so if you are building
+wxPython compatible extensions on those platforms then your include
+path should already be set properly.
+
+If you are also using SWIG for your extension then you'll need to
+adapt how the wxPython .i files are imported into your .i files. See
+the wxPython sources for examples. Your modules will need to at least
+``%import core.i``, and possibly others if you need the definition of
+other classes. Since you will need them to build your modules using
+SWIG, the main wxPython .i files are also installed with the wxPython
+headers in an i_files sibdirectory. It should be enough to pass a
+-I/pathname on the command line for SWIG to find the files.
+
+The bulk of wxPython's setup.py has been moved to another module,
+wx/build/config.py. This module will be installed as part of wxPython
+so 3rd party modules that wish to use the same setup/configuration
+code can do so simply by importing this module from their own setup.py
+scripts using ``import wx.build.config``.
You no longer need to call wxClassInfo::CleanUpClasses() and
wxClassInfo::InitializeClasses() in your extensions or when embedding
wxPython.
+The usage of wxPyBeginAllowThreads and wxPyEndAllowThreads has changed
+slightly. wxPyBeginAllowThreads now returns a boolean value that must
+be passed to the coresponding wxPyEndAllowThreads function call. This
+is to help do the RightThing when calls to these two functions are
+nested, or if calls to external code in other extension modules that
+are wrapped in the standard Py_(BEGIN|END)_ALLOW_THERADS may result in
+wx event handlers being called (such as during the call to
+os.startfile.)
------
The hack allowing the old "option" keyword parameter has been removed.
-If you use keyworkd args with wxSizer Add, Insert, or Prepend methods
-then you will need to use the "proportion" name instead of "option".
+If you use keyword args with w.xSizer Add, Insert, or Prepend methods
+then you will need to use the ``proportion`` name instead of ``option``.
-When adding a spacer to a sizer you now need to use a wxSize or a
+When adding a spacer to a sizer you now need to use a wx.Size or a
2-integer sequence instead of separate width and height parameters.
+This allows for more consistency in how you add the various types of
+items to a sizer. The first parameter defines the item (instead of
+the possibily first two, depending on if you are doing a spacer or
+not,) and that item can either be a window, a sizer or a spacer (which
+can be a sequence or a wx.Size.)
-The wxGridBagSizer class (very similar to the RowColSizer in the
+The wx.GridBagSizer class (very similar to the RowColSizer in the
library) has been added to C++ and wrapped for wxPython. It can also
be used from XRC.
Insert, Prepend, and etc.) methods any longer. Just use Add and the
wrappers will figure out what to do.
+**[Changed in 2.5.1.6]** wx.ADJUST_MINSIZE is now the default
+behaviour for window items in sizers. This means that the item's
+GetAdjustedBestSize will be called when calculating layout and the
+return value from that will be used for the minimum size. Added
+wx.FIXED_MINSIZE flag for when you would like the old behavior but you
+should only need it when your desired size is smaller than the item's
+GetBestSize. When a window is added to a sizer it's initial size, if
+any, is set as the window's minimal size using SetSizeHints if there
+isn't already a minimal size.
+
PlatformInfo
------------
reflect those calls to the real ActiveX control. There is also a
script/tool module named genaxmodule that given a CLSID or progID and
a class name, will generate the module for you. There are a few
-examples of the output of this tool in the wx.lib package. See
+examples of the output of this tool in the wx.lib package, see
iewin.py, pdfwin.py and flashwin.py.
Currently the genaxmodule tool will tweak some of the names it
It is intended that this new wx.activex module will replace both the
older version of Lindsay's code available in iewin.IEHtmlWindow, and
also the wx.lib.activexwraper module. Probably the biggest
-differences you'l ecounted in migrating activexwrapper-based code
+differences you'll ecounter in migrating activexwrapper-based code
(besides events working better without causing deadlocks) is that
events are no longer caught by overriding methods in your derived
class. Instead ActiveXWindow uses the wx event system and you bind
'event' any more times in a single sentence? ;-) ) For example the
StatusTextChange event will also send the text that should be put into
the status line as an event parameter named "Text" and you can access
-it your handlers as an attribute of the evnt object like this::
+it your handlers as an attribute of the event object like this::
def UpdateStatusText(self, evt):
self.SetStatusText(evt.Text)
-These event object attributes should be considered read-only since
-support for output parameters on the events is not yet implemented.
-But that could/should change in the future.
+Usually these event object attributes should be considered read-only,
+but some will be defined by the TypeInfo as output parameters. In
+those cases if you modify the event object's attribute then that value
+will be returned to the ActiveX control. For example, to prevent a
+new window from being opened by the IE web browser control you can do
+this in the handler for the iewin.EVT_NewWindow2 event::
-So how do you know what methods, events and properties that am ActiveX
+ def OnNewWindow2(self, evt):
+ evt.Cancel = True
+
+So how do you know what methods, events and properties that an ActiveX
control supports? There is a funciton in wx.activex named GetAXInfo
that returns a printable summary of the TypeInfo from the ActiveX
instance passed in. You can use this as an example of how to browse
wx.TaskBarIcon, then when the frame is closed Python reference
counting takes care of the rest.
-If you are embedding wxPython in a C++ app, or are writing wxPython
-compatible extensions modules, then the usage of wxPyBeginAllowThreads
-and wxPyEndAllowThreads has changed slightly. wxPyBeginAllowThreads
-now returns a boolean value that must be passed to the coresponding
-wxPyEndAllowThreads function call. This is to help do the RightThing
-when calls to these two functions are nested, or if calls to external
-code that are wrapped in the standard Py_(BEGIN|END)_ALLOW_THERADS may
-result in wx event handlers being called (such as os.startfile.)
-
+Before Python 2.3 it was possible to pass a floating point object as a
+parameter to a function that expected an integer, and the
+PyArg_ParseTuple family of functions would automatically convert to
+integer by truncating the fractional portion of the number. With
+Python 2.3 that behavior was deprecated and a deprecation warning is
+raised when you pass a floating point value, (for example, calling
+wx.DC.DrawLineXY with floats for the position and size,) and lots of
+developers using wxPython had to scramble to change their code to call
+int() before calling wxPython methods. Recent changes in SWIG have
+moved the conversion out of PyArg_ParseTuple to custom code that SWIG
+generates. Since the default conversion fragment was a little too
+strict and didn't generate a very meaningful exception when it failed,
+I decided to use a custom fragment instead, and it turned out that
+it's very easy to allow floats to be converted again just like they
+used to be. So, in a nutshell, any numeric type that can be
+converted to an integer is now legal to be passed to SWIG wrapped
+functions in wxPython for parameters that are expecting an integer.
+If the object is not already an integer then it will be asked to
+convert itself to one. A similar conversion fragment is in place for
+parameters that expect floating point values.