(a) MS-Windows:
\begin{enumerate}\itemsep=0pt
-\item A 486 or higher PC running MS Windows.
-\item A Windows compiler: most are supported, but please see {\tt install.txt} for
-details. Supported compilers include Microsoft Visual C++ 4.0 or higher, Borland C++, Cygwin,
-MinGW, Metrowerks CodeWarrior.
-\item At least 60 MB of disk space.
+\item A 32-bit or 64-bit PC running MS Windows.
+\item A Windows compiler: MS Visual C++ (embedded Visual C++ for wxWinCE
+port), Borland C++, Watcom C++, Cygwin, MinGW, Metrowerks CodeWarrior,
+Digital Mars C++. See {\tt install.txt} for details about compiler
+version supported.
+\item At least 100 MB of disk space for source tree and additional space for
+libraries and application building (depends on compiler and build settings).
\end{enumerate}
(b) Unix:
\item Almost any C++ compiler, including GNU C++ (EGCS 1.1.1 or above).
\item Almost any Unix workstation, and one of: GTK+ 1.2, GTK+ 2.0, Motif 1.2 or higher, Lesstif.
If using the wxX11 port, no such widget set is required.
-\item At least 60 MB of disk space.
+\item At least 100 MB of disk space for source tree and additional space for
+libraries and application building (depends on compiler and build settings).
\end{enumerate}
(c) Mac OS/Mac OS X:
\begin{enumerate}\itemsep=0pt
\item A PowerPC Mac running Mac OS 8.6/9.x (eg. Classic) or Mac OS X 10.x.
\item CodeWarrior 5.3, 6 or 7 for Classic Mac OS.
-\item The Apple Developer Tools (eg. GNU C++) or CodeWarrior 7 for Mac OS X.
-\item At least 60 MB of disk space.
+\item The Apple Developer Tools (eg. GNU C++), CodeWarrior 7 or above for Mac OS X.
+\item At least 100 MB of disk space for source tree and additional space for
+libraries and application building (depends on compiler and build settings).
\end{enumerate}
\section{Availability and location of wxWidgets}\label{where}
Thomas Fettig, Matthew Flatt, Pasquale Foggia, Josep Fortiana, Todd Fries,
Dominic Gallagher, Guillermo Rodriguez Garcia, Wolfram Gloger, Norbert Grotz,
Stefan Gunter, Bill Hale, Patrick Halke, Stefan Hammes, Guillaume Helle,
-Harco de Hilster, Cord Hockemeyer, Markus Holzem, Olaf Klein, Leif Jensen,
+Harco de Hilster, Kevin Hock, Cord Hockemeyer, Markus Holzem, Olaf Klein, Leif Jensen,
Bart Jourquin, Guilhem Lavaux, Ron Lee, Jan Lessner, Nicholas Liebmann,
Torsten Liermann, Per Lindqvist, Thomas Runge, Tatu M\"{a}nnist\"{o},
-Scott Maxwell, Thomas Myers, Oliver Niedung, Stefan Neis, Hernan Otero,
+Scott Maxwell, Thomas Myers, Oliver Niedung, Stefan Neis, Ryan Norton, Hernan Otero,
Ian Perrigo, Timothy Peters, Giordano Pezzoli, Harri Pasanen, Thomaso Paoletti,
Garrett Potts, Marcel Rasche, Robert Roebling, Dino Scaringella,
Jobst Schmalenbach, Arthur Seaton, Paul Shirley, Wlodzimierz `ABX' Skiba,
The file {\tt "wx/wxprec.h"} includes {\tt "wx/wx.h"}. Although this incantation
may seem quirky, it is in fact the end result of a lot of experimentation,
-and several Windows compilers to use precompilation (those tested are Microsoft Visual C++, Borland C++
-and Watcom C++).
-
-Borland precompilation is largely automatic. Visual C++ requires specification of {\tt "wx/wxprec.h"} as
-the file to use for precompilation. Watcom C++ is automatic apart from the specification of
-the .pch file. Watcom C++ is strange in requiring the precompiled header to be used only for
-object files compiled in the same directory as that in which the precompiled header was created.
-Therefore, the wxWidgets Watcom C++ makefiles go through hoops deleting and recreating
-a single precompiled header file for each module, thus preventing an accumulation of many
-multi-megabyte .pch files.
+and several Windows compilers to use precompilation which is largely automatic for
+compilers with necessary support. Currently it is used for Visual C++ (including
+embedded Visual C++), Borland C++, Open Watcom C++, Digital Mars C++
+and newer versions of GCC.
+Some compilers might need extra work from the application developer to set the
+build environment up as necessary for the support.
\section{Libraries}\label{libraries}
\section{Windows-specific files}\label{windowsfiles}
-wxWidgets application compilation under MS Windows requires at least two
-extra files, resource and module definition files.
+wxWidgets application compilation under MS Windows requires at least one
+extra file: a resource file.
\subsection{Resource file}\label{resources}
The following documents some miscellaneous C++ issues.
-\subsection{Templates}
+\subsection{Templates}\label{templates}
wxWidgets does not use templates (except for some advanced features that
are switched off by default) since it is a notoriously unportable feature.
-\subsection{RTTI}
+\subsection{RTTI}\label{rtti}
wxWidgets does not use C++ run-time type information since wxWidgets provides
its own run-time type information system, implemented using macros.
-\subsection{Type of NULL}
+\subsection{Type of NULL}\label{null}
Some compilers (e.g. the native IRIX cc) define NULL to be 0L so that
no conversion to pointers is allowed. Because of that, all these
It is recommended to adhere to this in all code using wxWidgets as
this make the code (a bit) more portable.
-\subsection{Precompiled headers}
+\subsection{Precompiled headers}\label{precompiledheaders}
Some compilers, such as Borland C++ and Microsoft C++, support
precompiled headers. This can save a great deal of compiling time. The
Xnest-based display emulator for X11-based PDA applications. On some
systems, the Xnest window does not synchronise with the
'skin' window. This program can be found in {\tt utils/emulator}.
-\item[{\bf Configuration Tool}]
-The wxWidgets Configuration Tool is a work in progress
-intended to make it easier to configure wxWidgets
-features in detail. It exports setup.h configurations and will
-eventually generate makefile config files. Invoking compilers is
-also on the cards. Since configurations are
-handled one at a time, the tool is of limited used until further
-development can be done. The program can be found in {\tt utils/configtool}.
\item[{\bf XRC resource system}]
This is the sizer-aware resource system, and uses
XML-based resource specifications that can be generated by tools
-such as \urlref{wxDesigner}{http://www.roebling.de} and XRC's own wxrcedit.
-You can find this in {\tt contrib/src/xrc}, {\tt contrib/include/wx/xrc}, {\tt contrib/samples/xrc}, and {\tt contrib/utils/wxrcedit}.
+such as \urlref{wxDesigner}{http://www.roebling.de}.
+You can find this in {\tt src/xrc}, {\tt include/wx/xrc}, {\tt samples/xrc}.
For more information, see the \helpref{XML-based resource system overview}{xrcoverview}.
-\item[{\bf Object Graphics Library}]
-OGL defines an API for applications that need to display objects connected by lines.
-The objects can be moved around and interacted with.
-You can find this in {\tt contrib/src/ogl}, {\tt contrib/include/wx/ogl}, and {\tt contrib/samples/ogl}.
-\item[{\bf Frame Layout library}]
-FL provides sophisticated pane dragging and docking facilities.
-You can find this in {\tt contrib/src/fl}, {\tt contrib/include/wx/fl}, and {\tt contrib/samples/fl}.
-\item[{\bf Gizmos library}]
-Gizmos is a collection of useful widgets and other classes. Classes include wxLEDNumberCtrl,
-wxEditableListBox, wxMultiCellCanvas.
-You can find this in {\tt contrib/src/gizmos}, {\tt contrib/include/wx/gizmos}, and {\tt contrib/samples/gizmos}.
\item[{\bf Net library}]
Net is a collection of very simple mail and web related classes. Currently
there is only wxEmail, which makes it easy to send email messages via MAPI on Windows or sendmail on Unix.
You can find this in {\tt contrib/src/net} and {\tt contrib/include/wx/net}.
-\item[{\bf Animate library}]
-Animate allows you to load animated GIFs and play them on a window. The library can be extended
-to use other animation formats.
-You can find this in {\tt contrib/src/animate}, {\tt contrib/include/wx/animate}, and {\tt contrib/samples/animate}.
-\item[{\bf MMedia library}]
-Mmedia supports a variety of multimedia functionality. The status of this library is currently unclear.
-You can find this in {\tt contrib/src/mmedia}, {\tt contrib/include/wx/mmedia}, and {\tt contrib/samples/mmedia}.
\item[{\bf Styled Text Control library}]
STC is a wrapper around Scintilla, a syntax-highlighting text editor.
-You can find this in {\tt contrib/src/stc}, {\tt contrib/include/wx/stc}, and {\tt contrib/samples/stc}.
-\item[{\bf Plot}]
-Plot is a simple curve plotting library.
-You can find this in {\tt contrib/src/plot}, {\tt contrib/include/wx/plot}, and {\tt contrib/samples/plot}.
+You can find this in {\tt src/stc}, {\tt include/wx/stc}, and {\tt samples/stc}.
\end{description}
\chapter{Programming strategies}\label{strategies}
\section{Strategies for reducing programming errors}\label{reducingerrors}
-\subsection{Use ASSERT}
+\subsection{Use ASSERT}\label{useassert}
Although I haven't done this myself within wxWidgets, it is good
practice to use ASSERT statements liberally, that check for conditions that
and your application. Using ASSERT is an example of `defensive programming':
it can alert you to problems later on.
-\subsection{Use wxString in preference to character arrays}
+\subsection{Use wxString in preference to character arrays}\label{usewxstring}
-Using wxString can be much safer and more convenient than using char *.
+Using wxString can be much safer and more convenient than using wxChar *.
Again, I haven't practiced what I'm preaching, but I'm now trying to use
wxString wherever possible. You can reduce the possibility of memory
leaks substantially, and it is much more convenient to use the overloaded
\section{Strategies for portability}\label{portability}
-\subsection{Use relative positioning or constraints}
+\subsection{Use relative positioning or constraints}\label{userelativepositioning}
Don't use absolute panel item positioning if you can avoid it. Different GUIs have
very differently sized panel items. Consider using the constraint system, although this
platforms, with slightly different dimensions in each. Or space your panel items out
to avoid problems.
-\subsection{Use wxWidgets resource files}
+\subsection{Use wxWidgets resource files}\label{useresources}
Use .xrc (wxWidgets resource files) where possible, because they can be easily changed
independently of source code.
\section{Strategies for debugging}\label{debugstrategies}
-\subsection{Positive thinking}
+\subsection{Positive thinking}\label{positivethinking}
It is common to blow up the problem in one's imagination, so that it seems to threaten
weeks, months or even years of work. The problem you face may seem insurmountable:
isn't painful at the time. Try not to worry -- there are many more important
things in life.
-\subsection{Simplify the problem}
+\subsection{Simplify the problem}\label{simplifyproblem}
Reduce the code exhibiting the problem to the smallest program possible
that exhibits the problem. If it is not possible to reduce a large and
to the problem. In some cases though, such as memory leaks or wrong
deallocation, this can still give totally spurious results!
-\subsection{Use a debugger}
+\subsection{Use a debugger}\label{usedebugger}
This sounds like facetious advice, but it is surprising how often people
don't use a debugger. Often it is an overhead to install or learn how to
use a debugger, but it really is essential for anything but the most
trivial programs.
-\subsection{Use logging functions}
+\subsection{Use logging functions}\label{uselogging}
There is a variety of logging functions that you can use in your program:
see \helpref{Logging functions}{logfunctions}.
in some circumstances (such as when your debugger doesn't support a lot
of debugging code, or you wish to print a bunch of variables).
-\subsection{Use the wxWidgets debugging facilities}
+\subsection{Use the wxWidgets debugging facilities}\label{usedebuggingfacilities}
You can use wxDebugContext to check for
memory leaks and corrupt memory: in fact in debugging mode, wxWidgets will