Some work on GTK focus handling and events.

[wxWidgets.git] / docs / latex / wx / body.tex

diff --git a/docs/latex/wx/body.tex b/docs/latex/wx/body.tex
index 19c62daf944b873f1e37adc447555f4a518f0c22..ab7a8d87726d914d318d98f3dfb3054cd99164c7 100644 (file)
--- a/docs/latex/wx/body.tex
+++ b/docs/latex/wx/body.tex
@@ -7,19 +7,17 @@
 
 wxWindows is a C++ framework providing GUI (Graphical User
 Interface) and other facilities on more than one platform.  Version 2 currently
 
 wxWindows is a C++ framework providing GUI (Graphical User
 Interface) and other facilities on more than one platform.  Version 2 currently

-supports MS Windows (16-bit, Windows 95 and Windows NT), Unix with GTK+, Unix with Motif,
-and Mac. An OS/2 port is in progress.
+supports all desktop versions of MS Windows, Unix with GTK+, Unix with Motif,
+and MacOS. An OS/2 port is in progress.

 
 wxWindows was originally developed at the Artificial Intelligence
 Applications Institute, University of Edinburgh, for internal use,
 
 wxWindows was originally developed at the Artificial Intelligence
 Applications Institute, University of Edinburgh, for internal use,

-and was first made publicly available in 1993.
+and was first made publicly available in 1992.

 Version 2 is a vastly improved version written and maintained by
 Version 2 is a vastly improved version written and maintained by

-Julian Smart, Robert Roebling, Vadim Zeitlin and many others.
+Julian Smart, Robert Roebling, Vadim Zeitlin, Vaclav Slavik and many others.

 
 

-This manual discusses wxWindows in the context of multi-platform
-development.\helpignore{For more detail on the wxWindows version 2.0 API
-(Application Programming Interface) please refer to the separate
-wxWindows reference manual.}
+This manual contains a class reference and topic overviews.
+For a selection of wxWindows tutorials, please see the documentation page on the \urlref{wxWindows web site}{http://www.wxwindows.org}.

 
 Please note that in the following, ``MS Windows" often refers to all
 platforms related to Microsoft Windows, including 16-bit and 32-bit
 
 Please note that in the following, ``MS Windows" often refers to all
 platforms related to Microsoft Windows, including 16-bit and 32-bit


@@ -39,37 +37,41 @@ none met all of the following criteria:
 \item support for a wide range of compilers.
 \end{enumerate}
 
 \item support for a wide range of compilers.
 \end{enumerate}
 

-Since wxWindows was started, several other free or almost-free GUI frameworks have
-emerged. However, none has the range of features, flexibility, documentation and the
-well-established development team that wxWindows has.
-
-As open source software, wxWindows has
-benefited from comments, ideas, bug fixes, enhancements and the sheer
-enthusiasm of users. This gives wxWindows a
-certain advantage over its commercial competitors (and over free libraries
-without an independent development team), plus a robustness against
-the transience of one individual or company. This openness and
-availability of source code is especially important when the future of
-thousands of lines of application code may depend upon the longevity of
-the underlying class library.
-
-Version 2 goes much further than previous versions in terms of generality and features,
-allowing applications to be produced
-that are often indistinguishable from those produced using single-platform
-toolkits such as Motif, GTK+ and MFC.
-
-The importance of using a platform-independent class library cannot be
-overstated, since GUI application development is very time-consuming,
-and sustained popularity of particular GUIs cannot be guaranteed.
-Code can very quickly become obsolete if it addresses the wrong
-platform or audience.  wxWindows helps to insulate the programmer from
-these winds of change. Although wxWindows may not be suitable for
-every application (such as an OLE-intensive program), it provides access to most of the functionality a
-GUI program normally requires, plus many extras such as network programming,
-PostScript output, and HTML rendering; and it can of course be extended as needs dictate.  As a bonus, it provides
-a far cleaner and easier programming interface than the native
-APIs. Programmers may find it worthwhile to use wxWindows even if they
-are developing on only one platform.
+Since wxWindows was started, several other free or almost-free
+GUI frameworks have emerged. However, none has the range of
+features, flexibility, documentation and the well-established
+development team that wxWindows has.
+
+As open source software, wxWindows has benefited from comments,
+ideas, bug fixes, enhancements and the sheer enthusiasm of
+users. This gives wxWindows a certain advantage over its
+commercial competitors (and over free libraries without an
+independent development team), plus a robustness against the
+transience of one individual or company. This openness and
+availability of source code is especially important when the
+future of thousands of lines of application code may depend upon
+the longevity of the underlying class library.
+
+Version 2 goes much further than previous versions in terms of
+generality and features, allowing applications to be produced
+that are often indistinguishable from those produced using
+single-platform toolkits such as Motif, GTK+ and MFC.
+
+The importance of using a platform-independent class library
+cannot be overstated, since GUI application development is very
+time-consuming, and sustained popularity of particular GUIs
+cannot be guaranteed. Code can very quickly become obsolete if
+it addresses the wrong platform or audience.  wxWindows helps to
+insulate the programmer from these winds of change. Although
+wxWindows may not be suitable for every application (such as an
+OLE-intensive program), it provides access to most of the
+functionality a GUI program normally requires, plus many extras
+such as network programming, PostScript output, and HTML
+rendering; and it can of course be extended as needs dictate.
+As a bonus, it provides a far cleaner and easier programming
+interface than the native APIs. Programmers may find it
+worthwhile to use wxWindows even if they are developing on only
+one platform.

 
 It is impossible to sum up the functionality of wxWindows in a few paragraphs, but
 here are some of the benefits:
 
 It is impossible to sum up the functionality of wxWindows in a few paragraphs, but
 here are some of the benefits:


@@ -498,90 +500,96 @@ dos2unix).
 See also the File Functions section of the reference manual for
 descriptions of miscellaneous file handling functions.
 
 See also the File Functions section of the reference manual for
 descriptions of miscellaneous file handling functions.
 

-\begin{comment}
-\chapter{Utilities supplied with wxWindows}\label{utilities}
+\chapter{Utilities and libraries supplied with wxWindows}\label{utilities}

 \setheader{{\it CHAPTER \thechapter}}{}{}{}{}{{\it CHAPTER \thechapter}}%
 \setfooter{\thepage}{}{}{}{}{\thepage}%
 
 \setheader{{\it CHAPTER \thechapter}}{}{}{}{}{{\it CHAPTER \thechapter}}%
 \setfooter{\thepage}{}{}{}{}{\thepage}%
 

-A number of `extras' are supplied with wxWindows, to complement
-the GUI functionality in the main class library. These are found
-below the utils directory and usually have their own source, library
-and documentation directories. For other user-contributed packages,
-see the directory ftp://www.remstar.com/pub/wxwin/contrib, which is
-more easily accessed via the Contributions page on the Web site.
-
-\section{wxHelp}\label{wxhelp}
-
-wxHelp is a stand-alone program, written using wxWindows,
-for displaying hypertext help. It is necessary since not all target
-systems (notably X) supply an adequate
-standard for on-line help. wxHelp is modeled on the MS Windows help
-system, with contents, search and browse buttons, but does not reformat
-text to suit the size of window, as WinHelp does, and its input files
-are uncompressed ASCII with some embedded font commands and an .xlp
-extension. Most wxWindows documentation (user manuals and class
-references) is supplied in wxHelp format, and also in Windows Help
-format. The wxWindows 2.0 project will presently use an HTML widget
-in a new and improved wxHelp implementation, under X.
-
-Note that an application can be programmed to use Windows Help under
-MS Windows, and wxHelp under X. An alternative help viewer under X is
-Mosaic, a World Wide Web viewer that uses HTML as its native hypertext
-format. However, this is not currently integrated with wxWindows
-applications.
-
-wxHelp works in two modes---edit and end-user. In edit mode, an ASCII
-file may be marked up with different fonts and colours, and divided into
-sections. In end-user mode, no editing is possible, and the user browses
-principally by clicking on highlighted blocks.
-
-When an application invokes wxHelp, subsequent sections, blocks or
-files may be viewed using the same instance of wxHelp since the two
-programs are linked using wxWindows interprocess communication
-facilities. When the application exits, that application's instance of
-wxHelp may be made to exit also.  See the {\bf wxHelpControllerBase} entry in the
-reference section for how an application controls wxHelp.
-
-\section{Tex2RTF}\label{textortf}
-
-Supplied with wxWindows is a utility called Tex2RTF for converting\rtfsp
-\LaTeX\ manuals to the following formats:
-
-\begin{description}
-\item[wxHelp]
-wxWindows help system format (XLP).
-\item[Linear RTF]
-Rich Text Format suitable for importing into a word processor.
-\item[Windows Help RTF]
-Rich Text Format suitable for compiling into a WinHelp HLP file with the
-help compiler.
-\item[HTML]
-HTML is the native format for Mosaic, the main hypertext viewer for
-the World Wide Web. Since it is freely available it is a good candidate
-for being the wxWindows help system under X, as an alternative to wxHelp.
-\end{description}
-
-Tex2RTF is used for the wxWindows manuals and can be used independently
-by authors wishing to create on-line and printed manuals from the same\rtfsp
-\LaTeX\ source.  Please see the separate documentation for Tex2RTF.
-
-\section{wxTreeLayout}
-
-This is a simple class library for drawing trees in a reasonably pretty
-fashion. It provides only minimal default drawing capabilities, since
-the algorithm is meant to be used for implementing custom tree-based
-tools.
+In addition to the core wxWindows library, a number of further
+libraries and utilities are supplied with each distribution.

 
 

-Directed graphs may also be drawn using this library, if cycles are
-removed before the nodes and arcs are passed to the algorithm.
+Some are under the 'contrib' hierarchy which mirrors the
+structure of the main wxWindows hierarchy. See also the 'utils'
+hierarchy. The first place to look for documentation about
+these tools and libraries is under the wxWindows 'docs' hierarchy,
+for example \verb$docs/htmlhelp/fl.chm$.

 
 

-Tree displays are used in many applications: directory browsers,
-hypertext systems, class browsers, and decision trees are a few
-possibilities.
+For other user-contributed packages, please see the Contributions page
+on the \urlref{wxWindows Web site}{http://www.wxwindows.org}.

 
 

-See the separate manual and the directory utils/wxtree.
+\begin{description}\itemsep=0pt
+\item[{\bf Helpview}]
+Helpview is a program for displaying wxWindows HTML
+Help files. In many cases, you may wish to use the wxWindows HTML
+Help classes from within your application, but this provides a
+handy stand-alone viewer. See \helpref{wxHTML Notes}{wxhtml} for more details.
+You can find it in \verb$samples/html/helpview$.

 
 

-\end{comment}
+\item[{\bf Tex2RTF}]
+Supplied with wxWindows is a utility called Tex2RTF for converting\rtfsp
+\LaTeX\ manuals HTML, MS HTML Help, wxHTML Help, RTF, and Windows
+Help RTF formats. Tex2RTF is used for the wxWindows manuals and can be used independently
+by authors wishing to create on-line and printed manuals from the same\rtfsp
+\LaTeX\ source. Please see the separate documentation for Tex2RTF.
+You can find it under \verb$utils/tex2rtf$.
+
+\item[{\bf Helpgen}]
+Helpgen takes C++ header files and generates a Tex2RTF-compatible
+documentation file for each class it finds, using comments as appropriate.
+This is a good way to start a reference for a set of classes.
+
+\item[{\bf Dialog Editor}]
+Dialog Editor allows interactive construction of dialogs using
+absolute positioning, producing WXR output files. This tool is generally deprecated
+in favour of sizer-based tools. You can find Dialog Editor
+in \verb$utils/dialoged$.
+
+\item[{\bf XRC resource system}]
+This is the sizer-aware replacement for the WXR 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 \verb$contrib/src/xrc$, \verb$contrib/include/wx/xrc$, \verb$contrib/samples/xrc$, and \verb$contrib/utils/wxrcedit$.
+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 \verb$contrib/src/ogl$, \verb$contrib/include/wx/ogl$, and \verb$contrib/samples/ogl$.
+
+\item[{\bf Frame Layout library}]
+FL provides sophisticated pane dragging and docking facilities.
+You can find this in \verb$contrib/src/fl$, \verb$contrib/include/wx/fl$, and \verb$contrib/samples/fl$.
+
+\item[{\bf Gizmos library}]
+Gizmos is a collection of useful widgets and other classes. Classes include wxLEDNumberCtrl,
+wxEditableListBox, wxMultiCellCanvas.
+You can find this in \verb$contrib/src/fl$, \verb$contrib/include/wx/fl$, and \verb$contrib/samples/fl$.
+
+\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 \verb$contrib/src/net$ and \verb$contrib/include/wx/net$.
+
+\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 \verb$contrib/src/animate$, \verb$contrib/include/wx/animate$, and \verb$contrib/samples/animate$.
+
+\item[{\bf Canvas library}]
+Canvas supports high-level, double-buffered drawing operations with transformations.
+You can find this in \verb$contrib/src/canvas$, \verb$contrib/include/wx/canvas$, and \verb$contrib/samples/canvas$.
+
+\item[{\bf MMedia library}]
+Mmedia supports a variety of multimedia functionality. The status of this library is currently unclear.
+You can find this in \verb$contrib/src/mmedia$, \verb$contrib/include/wx/mmedia$, and \verb$contrib/samples/mmedia$.
+
+\item[{\bf Styled Text Control library}]
+STC is a wrapper around Scintilla, a syntax-highlighting text editor.
+You can find this in \verb$contrib/src/stc$, \verb$contrib/include/wx/stc$, and \verb$contrib/samples/stc$.
+
+\item[{\bf Plot}]
+Plot is a simple curve plotting library.
+You can find this in \verb$contrib/src/plot$, \verb$contrib/include/wx/plot$, and \verb$contrib/samples/plot$.
+\end{description}

 
 \chapter{Programming strategies}\label{strategies}
 \setheader{{\it CHAPTER \thechapter}}{}{}{}{}{{\it CHAPTER \thechapter}}%
 
 \chapter{Programming strategies}\label{strategies}
 \setheader{{\it CHAPTER \thechapter}}{}{}{}{}{{\it CHAPTER \thechapter}}%