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wxWindows 2 for Windows FAQ
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See also <a href="faq.htm">top-level FAQ page</a>.
<hr>
+<h3>List of questions in this category</h3>
+<ul>
+<li><a href="#platforms">Which Windows platforms are supported?</a></li>
+<li><a href="#wince">What about Windows CE?</a></li>
+<li><a href="#compilers">What compilers are supported?</a></li>
+<li><a href="#bestcompiler">Which is the best compiler to use with wxWindows 2?</a></li>
+<li><a href="#unicode">Is Unicode supported?</a></li>
+<li><a href="#dll">Can you compile wxWindows 2 as a DLL?</a></li>
+<li><a href="#exesize">How can I reduce executable size?</a></li>
+<li><a href="#mfc">Is wxWindows compatible with MFC?</a></li>
+<li><a href="#newerrors">Why my code fails to compile with strange errors about new operator?</a></li>
+<li><a href="#mfcport">How do I port MFC applications to wxWindows?</a></li>
+<li><a href="#crash">Why do I sometimes get bizarre crash problems using VC++ 5/6?</a></li>
+<li><a href="#makefiles">How are the wxWindows makefiles edited under Windows?</a></li>
+<li><a href="#vcdebug">How do you use VC++'s memory leak checking instead of that in wxWindows?</a></li>
+<li><a href="#shortcutproblem">Why are menu hotkeys or shortcuts not working in my application?</a></li>
+</ul>
+<hr>
-<h3>Which Windows platforms are supported?</h3>
+<h3><a name="platforms">Which Windows platforms are supported?</a></h3>
wxWindows 2 can be used to develop and deliver applications on Windows 3.1, Win32s,
Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows NT. A Windows CE version is being looked into (see below).<P>
wxWindows 2 is designed to make use of WIN32 features and controls. However, unlike Microsoft,
we have not forgotten users of 16-bit Windows. Most features
work under Windows 3.1, including wxTreeCtrl and wxListCtrl using the generic implementation.
-However, don't expect very Windows-95-specific classes to work, such as wxTaskBarIcon. The wxRegConfig
-class doesn't work either because the Windows 3.1 registry is very simplistic. Check out the 16-bit
+However, don't expect very Windows-95-specific classes to work, such as wxTaskBarIcon. The wxRegConfig
+class doesn't work either because the Windows 3.1 registry is very simplistic. Check out the 16-bit
makefiles to see what other files have been left out.
<P>
16-bit compilation is supported under Visual C++ 1.5, and Borland BC++ 4 to 5.
programs with TWIN32, and finally produce an ix86 Windows executable using Cygwin/Mingw32,
without ever needing a copy of Microsoft Windows. See the Technical Note on the Web site detailing cross-compilation.<P>
-<h3>What about Windows CE?</h3>
+<h3><a name="wince">What about Windows CE?</a></h3>
This is under consideration, though we need to get wxWindows Unicode-aware first.
There are other interesting issues, such as how to combine the menubar and toolbar APIs
-as Windows CE requires. But there's no doubt that it will be possible, albeit
+as Windows CE requires. But there's no doubt that it will be possible, albeit
by mostly cutting down wxWindows 2 API functionality, and adding a few classes here
and there. Since wxWindows for 2 produces small binaries (less than 300K for
-the statically-linked 'minimal' sample), shoehorning wxWindows 2 into a Windows CE device's limited
+the statically-linked 'minimal' sample), shoehorning wxWindows 2 into a Windows CE device's limited
storage should not be a problem.<P>
-<h3>What compilers are supported?</h3>
+<h3><a name="compilers">What compilers are supported?</a></h3>
Please see the wxWindows 2 for Windows install.txt file for up-to-date information, but
currently the following are known to work:<P>
There is a linking problem with Symantec C++ which I hope someone can help solve.
<P>
-<h3>Which is the best compiler to use with wxWindows 2?</h3>
+<h3><a name="bestcompiler">Which is the best compiler to use with wxWindows 2?</a></h3>
-It's partly a matter of taste, but I (JACS) prefer Visual C++ since the debugger is very
-good, it's very stable, the documentation is extensive, and it generates small executables.
-Since project files are plain text, it's easy for me to generate appropriate project files
+It's partly a matter of taste, but I (JACS) prefer Visual C++ since the debugger is very
+good, it's very stable, the documentation is extensive, and it generates small executables.
+Since project files are plain text, it's easy for me to generate appropriate project files
for wxWindows samples.<P>
-Borland C++ is fine - and very fast - but it's hard (impossible?) to use the debugger without using project files, and
-the debugger is nowhere near up to VC++
's quality. The IDE isn't great.<P>
+Borland C++ is fine - and very fast - but it's hard (impossible?) to use the debugger without using project files, and
+the debugger is nowhere near up to VC++
's quality. The IDE isn't great.<P>
-C++Builder's power isn't really used with wxWindows since it needs integration with its
-own class library (VCL). For wxWindows, I've only used it with makefiles, in which case
-it
's almost identical to BC++ 5.0 (the same makefiles can be used).<P>
+C++Builder's power isn't really used with wxWindows since it needs integration with its
+own class library (VCL). For wxWindows, I've only used it with makefiles, in which case
+it
's almost identical to BC++ 5.0 (the same makefiles can be used).<P>
-You can't beat Cygwin's price (free), and you can debug adequately using gdb. However, it's
+You can't beat Cygwin's price (free), and you can debug adequately using gdb. However, it's
quite slow to compile since it does not use precompiled headers.<P>
CodeWarrior is cross-platform - you can debug and generate Windows executables from a Mac, but not
the other way around I think - but the IDE is, to my mind, a bit primitive.<P>
-Watcom C++ is a little slow and the debugger is not really up to today
's standards.<P>
+Watcom C++ is a little slow and the debugger is not really up to today
's standards.<P>
-<h3>Is Unicode supported?</h3>
+Among the free compilers the best choice seem to be Borland C++ command line
+tools and mingw32 (port of gcc to Win32). Both of them are supported by
+wxWindows.
-Not yet, although there are other internationalisation features.<P>
+<h3><a name="unicode">Is Unicode supported?</a></h3>
-However, the issues surrounding Unicode support have been looked into so we know
-what we need to do, and have some header files ready to use containing appropriate
-type definitions. Just about every file in wxWindows will need changes, due to the
-pervasive nature of characters and character arrays. Unicode support is needed
-for the port to Windows CE (see above), and will probably be added in time for version 2.1.<P>
+Yes, Unicode is fully supported under Windows NT/2000 (Windows 9x don't
+have Unicode support anyhow).
-<h3>Can you compile wxWindows 2 as a DLL?</h3>
+<h3><a name="dll">Can you compile wxWindows 2 as a DLL?</a></h3>
Yes (using the Visual C++ or Borland C++ makefile), but be aware that distributing DLLs is a thorny issue
-and you may be better off compiling statically-linked applications, unless you're
-delivering a suite of separate programs, or you're compiling a lot of wxWindows applications
+and you may be better off compiling statically-linked applications, unless you're
+delivering a suite of separate programs, or you're compiling a lot of wxWindows applications
and have limited hard disk space.<P>
With a DLL approach, and with different versions and configurations of wxWindows
wxWindows!
<P>
-<H3>How can I reduce executable size?</H3>
+<h3><a name="exesize">How can I reduce executable size?</a></h3>
You can compile wxWindows as a DLL (see above, VC++/BC++ only at present). You should also
compile your programs for release using non-debugging and space-optimisation options, but
wxWindows 2 has been designed to reduce dependencies between classes, and other
techniques. The linker will not include code from the library that is not (directly or
indirectly) referenced
-by your application. So for example, the
'minimal' sample is less than 300KB using VC++ 6.<P>
+by your application. So for example, the
'minimal' sample is less than 300KB using VC++ 6.<P>
If you want to distribute really small executables, you can
use <a href="http://www.icl.ndirect.co.uk/petite/" target=_top>Petite</a>
will shrink to a mere 250KB. With this sort of size, there is reduced incentive to
use DLLs.<P>
-<H3>Is wxWindows compatible with MFC?</H3>
+<H3><a name="mfc">Is wxWindows compatible with MFC?</a></H3>
There is a sample which demonstrates MFC and wxWindows code co-existing in the same
-application. However, don't expect to be able to enable wxWindows windows with OLE-2
+application. However, don't expect to be able to enable wxWindows windows with OLE-2
functionality using MFC.<P>
-<H3>Why do I sometimes get bizarre crash problems using VC++ 5/6?</H3>
+<H3><a name="newerrors">Why my code fails to compile with strange errors about new operator?</a></H3>
+
+The most common cause of this problem is the memory debugging settings in
+<tt>wx/msw/setup.h</tt>. You have several choices:
+
+<ul>
+ <li> Either disable overloading the global operator new completely by
+ setting <tt>wxUSE_GLOBAL_MEMORY_OPERATORS</tt> and
+ <tt>wxUSE_DEBUG_NEW_ALWAYS</tt> to 0 in this file
+ <li> Or leave them on but do <tt>#undef new</tt> after including any
+ wxWindows headers, like this the memory debugging will be still on
+ for wxWindows sources but off for your own code
+</ul>
+
+Notice that IMHO the first solution is preferable for VC++ users who can use
+the <a href="#vcdebug">VC++ CRT memory debugging features</a> instead.
+
+<H3><a name="mfcport">How do I port MFC applications to wxWindows?</a></H3>
+
+Set up your interface from scratch using wxWindows (especially wxDesigner --
+it'll save you a <i>lot</i> of time) and when you have a shell prepared, you can start
+'pouring in' code from the MFC app, with appropriate
+modifications. This is the approach I have used, and I found
+it very satisfactory. A two-step process then - reproduce the bare
+interface first, then wire it up afterwards. That way you deal
+with each area of complexity separately. Don't try to think MFC
+and wxWindows simultaneously from the beginning - it is easier to
+reproduce the initial UI by looking at the behaviour of the MFC
+app, not its code.
+
+<H3><a name="crash">Why do I sometimes get bizarre crash problems using VC++ 5/6?</a></H3>
Some crash problems can be due to inconsistent compiler
-options (and of course this isn't limited to wxWindows).
+options (and of course this isn't limited to wxWindows).
If strange/weird/impossible things start to happen please
check (dumping IDE project file as makefile and doing text comparison
if necessary) that the project settings, especially the list of defined
symbols, struct packing, etc. are exactly the same for all items in
the project. After this, delete everything (including PCH) and recompile.<P>
-VC++ 5's optimization code seems to be broken and can
+VC++ 5's optimization code seems to be broken and can
cause problems: this can be seen when deleting an object Dialog
Editor, in Release mode with optimizations on. If in doubt,
switch off optimisations, although this will result in much
larger executables. It seems possible that the library can be created with
strong optimization, so long as the application is not strongly
-optimized. For example, in wxWindows project, set to 'Minimum
-Size'. In Dialog Editor project, set to 'Customize: Favor Small
-Code
' (and no others). This will then work.<P>
+optimized. For example, in wxWindows project, set to 'Minimum
+Size'. In Dialog Editor project, set to 'Customize: Favor Small
+Code
' (and no others). This will then work.<P>
-<H3>How are the wxWindows makefiles edited under Windows?</H3>
+<H3><a name="makefiles">How are the wxWindows makefiles edited under Windows?</a></H3>
As of wxWindows 2.1, there is a new system written by Vadim Zeitlin, that
generates the makefiles from templates using tmake.<P>
-Here are Vadim
's notes:<P>
+Here are Vadim
's notes:<P>
<blockquote>
-To use these new makefiles, you don't need anything (but see below).
+To use these new makefiles, you don't need anything (but see below).
However, you should NOT modify them because these files will be
rewritten when I regenerate them using tmake the next time. So, if
you find a problem with any of these makefiles (say, makefile.b32)
-you'll need to modify the corresponding template (b32.t in this
+you'll need to modify the corresponding template (b32.t in this
example) and regenerate the makefile using tmake.<P>
tmake can be found at
<a href="http://www.troll.no/freebies/tmake.html" target=_new>www.troll.no/freebies/tmake.html</a>.
-It's a Perl5 program and so it needs Perl (doh). There is a binary for
-Windows (available from the same page), but I haven't used it, so
-I don't know if it works as flawlessly as "perl tmake" does (note
-for people knowing Perl: don't try to run tmake with -w, it won't
+It's a Perl5 program and so it needs Perl (doh). There is a binary for
+Windows (available from the same page), but I haven't used it, so
+I don't know if it works as flawlessly as "perl tmake" does (note
+for people knowing Perl: don't try to run tmake with -w, it won't
do you any good). Using it extremely simple: to regenerate makefile.b32
just go to distrib/msw/tmake and type<P>
<pre>tmake -t b32 wxwin.pro -o ../../src/msw/makefile.b32</pre><P>
-The makefiles are untested - I don't have any of Borland, Watcom or
-Symantec and I don't have enough diskspace to recompile even with
+The makefiles are untested - I don't have any of Borland, Watcom or
+Symantec and I don't have enough diskspace to recompile even with
VC6 using makefiles. The new makefiles are as close as possible to the
old ones, but not closer: in fact, there has been many strange things
(should I say bugs?) in some of makefiles, some files were not compiled
and are quite simple. They do contain some Perl code, but my Perl is
primitive (very C like) so it should be possible for anybody to make
trivial modifications to it (I hope that only trivial modifications
-will be needed). I've tagged the ol makefiles as MAKEFILES_WITHOUT_TMAKE
+will be needed). I've tagged the ol makefiles as MAKEFILES_WITHOUT_TMAKE
in the cvs, so you can always retrieve them and compare the new ones,
this will make it easier to solve the problems you might have.<P>
Another important file is filelist.txt: it contains the list of all
files to be compiled. Some of them are only compiled in 16/32 bit mode.
-Some other are only compiled with some compilers (others can't compile
+Some other are only compiled with some compilers (others can't compile
them) - all this info is contained in this file.<P>
So now adding a new file to wxWindows is as easy as modifying filelist.txt
need to modify all files manually any more.<P>
Finally, there is also a file vc6.t which I use myself: this one
-generates a project file for VC++ 6.0 (I didn't create vc5.t because
-I don't need it and can't test it, but it should be trivial to create
+generates a project file for VC++ 6.0 (I didn't create vc5.t because
+I don't need it and can't test it, but it should be trivial to create
one from vc6.t - probably the only things to change would be the
-version number in the very beginning and the /Z option - VC5 doesn't
+version number in the very beginning and the /Z option - VC5 doesn't
support edit-and=continue). This is not an officially supported way
of building wxWindows (that is, nobody guarantees that it will work),
but it has been very useful to me and I hope it will be also for
Then just include this project in any workspace or open it from VC IDE
and it will create a new workspace for you.<P>
-If all goes well, I'm planning to create a template file for Makefile.ams
+If all goes well, I'm planning to create a template file for Makefile.ams
under src/gtk and src/motif and also replace all makefiles in the samples
subdirectories with the project files from which all the others will be
generated. At least it will divide the number of files in samples
directory by 10 (and the number of files to be maintained too).
</blockquote>
+<P>
+
+<H3><a name="vcdebug">How do you use VC++'s memory leak checking instead of that in wxWindows?</a></H3>
+
+Vadim Zeitlin:
+
+<pre>
+On the VC++ level, it's just the matter of calling _CrtSetDbgFlag() in the very
+beginning of the program. In wxWindows, this is done automatically when
+compiling with VC++ in debug mode unless wxUSE_GLOBAL_MEMORY_OPERATORS or
+__NO_VC_CRTDBG__ are defined - this check is done in wx/msw/msvcrt.h which
+is included from app.cpp which then calls wxCrtSetDbgFlag() without any
+ifdefs.
+
+This works quite well: at the end of the program, all leaked blocks with their
+malloc count are shown. This number (malloc count) can be used to determine
+where exactly the object was allocated: for this it's enough to set the variable
+_crtBreakAlloc (look in VC98\crt\srs\dbgheap.c line 326) to this number and
+a breakpoint will be triggered when the block with this number is allocated.
+
+For simple situations it works like a charm. For something more complicated
+like reading uninitialized memory a specialized tool is probably better...
+
+Regards,
+VZ
+</pre>
+
+<P>
+
+<H3><a name="shortcutproblem">Why are menu hotkeys or shortcuts not working in my application?</a></H3>
+
+This can happen if you have a child window intercepting EVT_CHAR events and swallowing
+all keyboard input. You should ensure that event.Skip() is called for all input that
+isn'used by the event handler.
+
+
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