If you only want to use the resources, you can choose from a number of editors:
a) wxDesigner (http://www.roebling.de)
b) XRCed (wxPython/tools)
- c) wxWorkshop (http://wxworkshop.sf.net)
- b) wxrcedit (contrib/utils/wxrcedit)
+ c) DialogBlocks (wxPython/tools)
+
+and others listed on the Resources section of the wxWidgets web
+site.
The XRC format is based on XML 1.0 (please consult W3C's specification). There
is no DTD available since it is not possible to fully describe the format with
1. Terminology
==============
-The usual XML terminology applies. In particular, we shall use the terms
+The usual XML terminology applies. In particular, we shall use the terms
NODE, PROPERTY and VALUE in the XML sense:
<node property1="value1" property2="value2">...</node>
-The term ATTRIBUTE is specific to XRC and refers to a subnode
-of an <object> or <object_ref> node that is itself not <object> or <object_ref>.
-In the example bellow, <pos>, <label> and <style> are attributes, while neither
+The term ATTRIBUTE is specific to XRC and refers to a subnode
+of an <object> or <object_ref> node that is itself not <object> or <object_ref>.
+In the example below, <pos>, <label> and <style> are attributes, while neither
<resource> nor either of <object>s is:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8">
- <resource xmlns="http://www.wxwindows.org/wxxrc" version="2.3.0.1">
+ <resource xmlns="http://www.wxwidgets.org/wxxrc" version="2.5.3.0">
<object class="wxPanel">
<style>wxSUNKEN_BORDER</style> <!-- attr -->
<object class="wxStaticText">
=========================
XRC resource file is a well-formed XML 1.0 document. All elements of XRC file
-are from the http://www.wxwindows.org/wxxrc namespace.
+are from the http://www.wxwidgets.org/wxxrc namespace.
-The root node of XRC document must be <resource>. The <resource> node has
-optional "version" property. Default version (in absence of the version
-property) is "0.0.0.0". The version consists of four integers separated by
-periods. Version of XRC format changes only if there was an incompatible
-change introduced (i.e. either the library cannot understand old resource
+The root node of XRC document must be <resource>. The <resource> node has
+optional "version" property. Default version (in absence of the version
+property) is "0.0.0.0". The version consists of four integers separated by
+periods. Version of XRC format changes only if there was an incompatible
+change introduced (i.e. either the library cannot understand old resource
files or older versions of the library wouldn't understand the new format).
-The first three integers are major, minor and release number of the wxWindows
-release when the change was introduced, the last one is revision number and
-is 0 for the first incompatible change in given wxWindows release, 1 for
+The first three integers are major, minor and release number of the wxWidgets
+release when the change was introduced, the last one is revision number and
+is 0 for the first incompatible change in given wxWidgets release, 1 for
the second etc.
Differences between versions are described within this document in paragraphs
The <resource> node contains namespace declaration, too:
- <resource xmlns="http://www.wxwindows.org/wxxrc" version="2.3.0.1">
+ <resource xmlns="http://www.wxwidgets.org/wxxrc" version="2.5.3.0">
The <resource> node is only allowed to have <object> and <object_ref>
subnodes, all of which must have the "name" property.
The <object> node represents a single object (GUI element) and it usually maps
-directly to a wxWindows class instance. It three properties: "name", "class"
-and "subclass". "class" must always be present, it tells XRC what wxWindows
+directly to a wxWidgets class instance. It has the properties: "name", "class"
+and "subclass". "class" must always be present, it tells XRC what wxWidgets
object should be created in this place. The other two are optional. "name" is
ID used to identify the object. It is the value passed to the XRCID() macro and
is also used to construct wxWindow's id and name attributes and must be unique
-among all children of the neareset container object (wxDialog, wxFrame,
-wxPanel, wxNotebook) upside from the object in XML nodes hiearchy (two distinct
+among all children of the nearest container object (wxDialog, wxFrame,
+wxPanel, wxNotebook) upside from the object in XML nodes hierarchy (two distinct
containers may contain objects with same "name", though). "subclass" is
optional name of class whose constructor will be called instead of the
constructor for "class". Subclass must be available in the program that loads
the resource, must be derived from "class" and must be registered within
-wxWindows' RTTI system.
+wxWidgets' RTTI system.
+
+Finally, an optional "insert_at" property may be present. Currently only the
+values "begin" and "end" are supported, meaning to insert the object in the
+beginning of the parent node objects list or to append it at the end (which is
+the default if this property is absent).
Example:
<object name="MyList1" class="wxListCtrl" subclass="MyListCtrlClass">
...
- </object>
-
+ </object>
+
<object> node may have arbitrary child nodes. What child nodes and their
semantics are class-dependent and are defined later in this document. The user
is allowed to register new object handlers within XRC and extend it to accept
new <object> classes (and therefore different <object>'s child nodes).
<object_ref> node is identical to <object>, except that it does _not_ have
-"class" property and has additonal required property "ref". It's concept is
+"class" property and has additional required property "ref". Its concept is
similar to Unix symlinks: value of the "ref" property is equal to the value of
"name" property of some existing node (called referred node) in the resources
-(not neccessary top-level). Referred node's "class" property and all subnodes
+(not necessary top-level). Referred node's "class" property and all subnodes
are copied in place of the referee <object_ref> node which is then processed as
regular <object> node. If the <object_ref> node itself has child nodes, then
these nodes _override_ any nodes from the referred node.
<value>bar</value> <!-- override! -->
</object_ref>
-is identical to:
+is identical to:
<object name="foo" class="wxTextCtrl">
<value>hello</value>
------
Any text. Some characters have special interpretation and are translated
by XRC parser according to this table:
- "_" -> "&" ('&' is used to underline e.g. menu items in wxWindows)
+ "_" -> "&" ('&' is used to underline e.g. menu items in wxWidgets)
"__" -> "_"
"\n" -> line break (C character '\n')
"\r" -> carriage return (C character '\r')
- "\t" -> tabelator (C character '\t')
+ "\t" -> tab (C character '\t')
+ "\\" -> "\"
+ (introduced in version 2.5.3.0, not done in earlier versions)
Version Note:
'$' was used instead of '_' prior to version 2.3.0.1.
------------------
List of style flags that can be passed to wxSomeClass' constructor. Flags are
written in same way as in C++ code (e.g. "wxSUNKEN_BORDER",
-"wxHW_SCROLLBAR_NEVER") and are delimined with any combination of whitespaces
+"wxHW_SCROLLBAR_NEVER") and are delimited with any combination of whitespaces
and '|'. Possible flags are class-dependent and are not described in this
-technote. Please refer to wxWindows manual for all styles that given class can
-accept; if XRC does not accept a flag listed in wxWindows documentation, it is
+technote. Please refer to wxWidgets manual for all styles that given class can
+accept; if XRC does not accept a flag listed in wxWidgets documentation, it is
a bug.
the location of XRC resource file). In addition, attribute node may have
"stock_id" and "stock_client" properties. Their values may be any of wxArtID (or
wxArtClient respectively) values as used by wxArtProvider (because the user may
-define own constants, efectively any string is legal here). Examples are
+define own constants, effectively any string is legal here). Examples are
"wxART_FILE_OPEN" (id) or "wxART_MENU" (client).
Any of "stock_id" or "stock_client" properties or the filename may be omitted.
-XRC determines the bitmap to use according to this algorithm:
+XRC determines the bitmap to use according to this algorithm:
1. If there is non-empty "stock_id" property, query wxArtProvider for the
bitmap (if there is no "stock_client", use default one, which is usually
- wxART_OTHER; exceptions are noted in class-specific sections bellow). If
+ wxART_OTHER; exceptions are noted in class-specific sections below). If
the query fails, continue to 2.
2. Load the bitmap from the file in attribute value.
Boolean value, either "0" (false) or "1" (true).
+Font
+----
+Font value. A font can be described either in terms of its elementary
+properties, or it can be derived from one of system fonts. The font node
+may contain following subnodes (the table lists subnode name on the left and
+variable type as per the definitions above on the right side):
+
+size UnsignedInteger
+style normal | italic | slant
+weight normal | bold | light
+family roman | script | decorative | swiss | modern | teletype
+underlined Boolean
+face comma-separated list of faces
+encoding charset of the font (meaningless in Unicode build), as string
+sysfont symbolic name of system standard font
+ (one of wxSYS_*_FONT constants)
+relativesize Float, font size relative to choosen system font's size;
+ can only be used when 'sysfont' is used and when 'size' is not
+ used
+
+All of them are optional, if they are missing, wxFont default is used.
+
+Examples:
+
+ <font>
+ <face>arial,helvetica</face>
+ <size>12</size>
+ </font>
+
+ <font>
+ <sysfont>wxSYS_DEFAULT_GUI_FONT</sysfont>
+ <weight>bold</weight>
+ <relativesize>1.5</relativesize>
+ </font>
+
+
+Colour
+------
+A colour value is either explicit RGB value in the standard #rrggbb format
+where rr, gg and bb are hexadecimal case-insensitive values in the 00..FF
+range, or a symbolic name. Symbolic names are wxSYS_COLOUR_* constants defined
+by wxWidgets, written as strings.
+
+Example:
+
+ <bg>wxSYS_COLOUR_SCROLLBAR</bg>
+ <fg>#FF0000</fg>
+
+
4. Supported classes
====================
[(optional remarks....................
...................................)]
+Common attributes
+-----------------
+These attributes are supported by all windows:
+
+exstyle Int
+bg Colour
+fg Colour
+enabled Boolean true
+focused Boolean false
+hidden Boolean false
+tooltip I18nString
+font Font
+help I18nString
+
wxBitmap
--------
-This is a special case, because it does not create a wxWindow instance but
+This is a special case, because it does not create a wxWindow instance but
creates wxBitmap instead. Another exceptional thing is that it does not have
any attributes. Instead, the node itself is interpreted as if it were attribute
of type Bitmap.
wxButton
--------
-position Position -1,-1
+pos Position -1,-1
size Size -1,-1
-style Style[wxButton]
+style Style[wxButton]
label I18nString
default Boolean false
wxCalendarCtrl
--------------
-position Position -1,-1
+pos Position -1,-1
size Size -1,-1
style Style[wxCalendarCtrl]
wxCheckBox
----------
-position Position -1,-1
+pos Position -1,-1
size Size -1,-1
style Style[wxCheckBox]
checked Boolean false
wxCheckList
-----------
-position Position -1,-1
+pos Position -1,-1
size Size -1,-1
style Style[wxCheckList]
-content (see bellow) (empty)
+content (see below) (empty)
Optional "content" attribute does not have attribute value. Instead,
arbitrary number of <item> nodes may be rooted under it (the control
</object>
+wxDatePickerCtrl
+----------------
+pos Position -1,-1
+size Size -1,-1
+style Style[wxDatePickerCtrl]
+
+
+wxDialog
+--------
+pos Position -1,-1
+size Size -1,-1
+style Style[wxDialog] wxDEFAULT_DIALOG_STYLE
+title I18nString ""
+icon Bitmap (empty)
+centered Boolean false
+
+wxDialog may have children objects.
+
+
+wxFrame
+--------
+pos Position -1,-1
+size Size -1,-1
+style Style[wxDialog] wxDEFAULT_FRAME_STYLE
+title I18nString ""
+icon Bitmap (empty)
+centered Boolean false
+
+wxFrame may have children objects. There can be at most one wxToolBar,
+wxMenuBar and wxStatusBar children; objects of these types are automatically
+set as frame's tool-, menu- and statusbar respectively.
+
+
+wxMDIParentFrame
+----------------
+
+Supports same attributes and children nodes as wxFrame. Additionally, children
+may be of the wxMDIChildFrame type.
+
+
+wxMDIChildFrame
+---------------
+
+Supports same attributes and children nodes as wxFrame.
+
+
+wxRadioBox
+----------
+
+This control may have "dimension" (major dimension) and (initial) "selection"
+Integer subelements and a composite "content" element similar to wxCheckList.
+The only difference is that the "item" subelements can have an optional
+"tooltip=I18nString" and "helptext=I18nString" attributes to specify
+the per-item tooltip and helptext.
+
+
wxScrolledWindow
----------------
-position Position -1,-1
+pos Position -1,-1
size Size -1,-1
style Style[wxScrolledWindow] wxHSCROLL | wxVSCROLL
+wxScolledWindow may have children objects.
+
wxSplitterWindow
----------------
-position Position -1,-1
+pos Position -1,-1
size Size -1,-1
style Style[wxSplitterWindow] wxSP_3D
sashpos Integer 0
wxSplitterWindow must have at least one and at most two children objects.
If there's only one child object, it is passed to wxSplitterWindow::Initialize
-and the splitter is created unsplitted. If there are two children, the
-splitter is created splitted, either horizontally or vertically depending
+and the splitter is created unsplit. If there are two children, the
+splitter is created split, either horizontally or vertically depending
on the value of "orientation" attribute.
+wxStatusBar
+-----------
+fields Integer number of fields
+widths Width1, Width2, Width3, ...
+
+
wxToolBar
---------
-position Position -1,-1
+pos Position -1,-1
size Size -1,-1
style Style[wxToolBar] wxNO_BORDER|wxTB_HORIZONTAL
bitmapsize Size -1,-1
margins Size -1,-1
packing Integer -1
separation Integer -1
+bg Background colour None
+dontattachtoframe Boolean False
wxToolBar node may have children <object> and <object_ref> nodes. Their class
-may be either "tool", "separator" or any wxWindows class derived from
+may be either "tool", "separator" or any wxWidgets class derived from
wxControl. "tool" and "separator" are special pseudo-classes that may only
appear within wxToolBar node. Their attributes are as follows:
tool
----
- bitmap Bitmap
+ bitmap Bitmap
bitmap2 Bitmap wxNullBitmap
toggle Boolean 0
radio Boolean 0
+ disabled Boolean 0
label I18nString ""
tooltip I18nString ""
longhelp I18nString ""
- position Position -1,-1
+ pos Position -1,-1
Constraints:
At most one of "toggle" and "radio" attributes may be 1.
- Attribute "position" may not appear if "label" or "radio" attributes
+ Attribute "pos" may not appear if "label" or "radio" attributes
are used or if parent wxToolBar's style contains wxTB_TEXT.
-
+
Note:
- Use of "position" attribute is strongly discouraged, it is deprecated
+ Use of "pos" attribute is strongly discouraged, it is deprecated
usage of wxToolBar and it is not supported by MSW and GTK
implementations.