fixed compilation problem with BC (at least I hope so)

[wxWidgets.git] / utils / wxPython / README.txt

diff --git a/utils/wxPython/README.txt b/utils/wxPython/README.txt
index 360488925640b5d17b8e881ce36c4063fedc4ed6..62223753874a4af1771b994f5dac3e0939324b65 100644 (file)
--- a/utils/wxPython/README.txt
+++ b/utils/wxPython/README.txt
@@ -1,133 +1,70 @@
 wxPython README
 ---------------
 
 wxPython README
 ---------------
 

-Introduction
-------------
-The code in this subtree is a Python Extension Module that enables the
-use of wxWindows from the Python language.  So what is Python?  Go to
-http://www.python.org to learn more but in a nutshell, it's an
-extremly cool object oriented language.  It's easier than Perl and
-nearly as powerful.  It runs on more platforms than Java, and by some
-reports, is even faster than Java with a JIT compiler!
-
-So why would you wan to use wxPython over just C++ and wxWindows?
-Personally I prefer using Python for everything.  I only use C++ when
-I absolutly have to eek more performance out of an algorithm, and even
-then I ususally code it as an extension module and leave the majority
-of the program in Python.  Another good thing to use wxPython for is
-quick prototyping of your wxWindows apps.  With C++ you have to
-continuously go though the edit-compile-link-run cycle, which can be
-quite time comsuming.  With Python it is only an edit-run cycle.  You
-can easily build an application in a few hours with Python that would
-normally take a few days with C++.  Converting a wxPython app to a
-C++/wxWindows app should be a straight forward task.
-
-This extension module attempts to mirror the class heiarchy of
-wxWindows as closely as possble.  This means that there is a wxFrame
-class in wxPython that looks, smells, tastes and acts almost the same
-as the wxFrame class in the C++ version.  Unfortunatly, I wasn't able
-to match things exactly because of differences in the languages, but
-the differences should be easy to absorb because they are natural to
-Python.  For example, some methods that return mutliple values via
-argument pointers in C++ will return a tuple of values in Python.
-These differences have not been documented yet so if something isn't
-working the same as described in the wxWindows documents the best
-thing to do is to scan through the wxPython sources.
-
-Currently this extension module is designed such that the entire
-application will be written in Python.  I havn't tried it yet, but I
-am sure that attempting to embed wxPython in a C++ wxWindows
-application will cause problems.  However there is a plan to support
-this in the future.
-
-
-
-Build Instructions
-------------------
-I used SWIG (http://www.swig.org) to create the source code for the
-extension module.  This enabled me to only have to deal with a small
-amount of code and only have to bother with the exceptional issues.
-SWIG takes care of the rest and generates all the repetative code for
-me.  You don't need SWIG to build the extension module as all the
-generated C++ code is included in the src directory.
+Welcome to the wonderful world of wxPython!

 
 

-wxPython is organized as a Python package.  This means that the
-directory containing the results of the build process should be a
-subdirectory of a directory on the PYTHONPATH.  (And preferably should
-be named wxPython.)  You can control where the bulid process will dump
-wxPython by setting the TARGETDIR makefile variable.  The default is
-$(WXWIN)/utils/wxPython, where this README.txt is located.  If you
-leave it here then you should add $(WXWIN)/utils to your PYTHONPATH.
-However, you may prefer to use something that is already on your
-PYTHONPATH, such as the site-packages directory on Unix systems.
+Once you have installed the wxPython extension module, you can try it
+out by going to the [install dir]\wxPython\demo directory and typing:

 
 

+    python demo.py

 
 

-Win32
------
+There are also some other sample files there for you to play with and
+learn from.

 
 

-1. Build wxWindows with USE_RESOURCE_LOADING_IN_MSW set to 1 in
-include/wx/msw/setup.h so icons can be loaded dynamically.
+If you selected to install the documentation then point your browser
+to [install dir]\wxPython\docs\index.htm and you will then be looking
+at the docs for wxWindows.  For the most part you can use the C++ docs
+as most classes and methods are used identically.  Where there are
+differences they are documented with a "wxPython Note."

 
 

-2. Change into the $(WXWIN)/utils/wxPython/src directory.
+On Win32 systems the binary self-installer creates a program group on
+the Start Menu that contains a link to running the demo and a link to
+the help file.  To help you save disk space I'm now using Microsoft's
+HTML Help format.  If your system doesn't know what to do with the help
+file, you can install the HTML Help Viewer as part of IE 4+, NT
+Service Pack 4+, or the HTML Workshop at

 
 

-3. Edit makefile.nt and specify where your python installation is at.
-You may also want to fiddle with the TARGETDIR variable as described
-above.
+http://msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/author/htmlhelp/download.asp.

 
 

-4. Run nmake -f makefile.nt

 
 

-5. If it builds successfully, congratulations!  Move on to the next
-step.  If not then you can try mailing me for help.  Also, I will
-always have a pre-built win32 version of this extension module at
-http://starship.skyport.net/crew/robind/python.

 
 

-6. Change to the $(WXWIN)/utils/wxPython/tests directory.
-
-7. Try executing the test programs.  Note that some of these print
-diagnositc or test info to standard output, so they will require the
-console version of python.  For example:
-
-    python test1.py
-
-To run them without requiring a console, you can use the pythonw.exe
-version of Python either from the command line or from a shortcut.
+Getting Help
+------------

 
 

+Since wxPython is a blending of multiple technologies, help comes from
+multiple sources.  See the http://alldunn.com/wxPython for details on
+various sources of help, but probably the best source is the
+wxPython-users mail list.  You can view the archive or subscribe by
+going to

 
 

+       http://starship.python.net/mailman/listinfo/wxpython-users

 
 

-Unix
-----
+Or you can send mail directly to the list using this address:

 
 

-NOTE:  I don't have wxPython working yet with wxGTK, so if you aren't
-using Win32 you can skip the rest of this file and check back in a
-week or so.
+       wxpython-users@starship.python.net

 
 
 
 

-1. Change into the $(WXWIN)/utils/wxPython/src directory.
+Other Info
+----------

 
 

-2. Edit Setup.in and ensure that the flags, directories, and toolkit
-options are correct.  See the above commentary about TARGETDIR.
+Please also see the following files in this directory:

 
 

-3. Run this command to generate a makefile:
+       CHANGES.txt     Information about new features, fixes, etc. in
+                       each release.

 
 

-    make -f Makefile.pre.in boot
+       BUILD.txt       Instructions for building wxPython on various
+                      platforms.

 
 

-4. Run these commands to build and then install the wxPython extension
-module:
+       licence.txt     Text of the wxWindows license.

 
 

-    make
-    make install

 
 

+----------------
+Robin Dunn
+robin@alldunn.com

 
 

-5. Change to the $(WXWIN)/utils/wxPython/tests directory.

 
 

-6. Try executing the test programs.  For example:

 
 

-    python test1.py

 
 
 
 
 
 

-------------------------
-8/8/1998

 
 

-Robin Dunn
-robind@earthling.net