-|
-
-wxWindows 2 FAQ: General
+ |
+
+wxWidgets 2 FAQ: General
|
@@ -25,64 +24,74 @@ See also top-level FAQ page.
List of questions in this category
-
+
-wxWindows is a class library that allows you to compile graphical C++ programs on a range of
-different platforms. wxWindows defines a common API across platforms, but uses the native graphical user interface (GUI) on each platform,
+wxWidgets is a class library that allows you to compile graphical C++ programs on a range of
+different platforms. wxWidgets defines a common API across platforms, but uses the native graphical user interface (GUI) on each platform,
so your program will take on the native 'look and feel' that users are familiar with.
-Although GUI applications are mostly built programmatically, there is a dialog editor to help
+Although GUI applications are mostly built programmatically, there are several dialog editors to help
build attractive dialogs and panels. Robert Roebling's wxDesigner
-makes light work of resizable, portable dialogs.
+and Anthemion Software's DialogBlocks
+are two commercial examples, but there are others: see the Useful Tools page.
-You don't have to use C++ to use wxWindows: there is a Python interface for wxWindows 2,
+You don't have to use C++ to use wxWidgets: there is a Python interface for wxWidgets 2,
and also a Perl interface.
-
Can I use wxWindows 2 for both proprietary (commercial) projects, and GPL'ed projects?
+
Yes. Please see the licence for details, but basically
-you can distribute proprietary binaries without distributing any source code, and neither will wxWindows
+you can distribute proprietary binaries without distributing any source code, and neither will wxWidgets
conflict with GPL code you may be using or developing with it.
-The conditions for using wxWindows 2 are the same whether you are a personal, academic
+The conditions for using wxWidgets 2 are the same whether you are a personal, academic
or commercial developer.
-
Is there support?
+
No official support, but the mailing list is very helpful and some people say that
-wxWindows support is better than for much commercial software. The developers are
+wxWidgets support is better than for much commercial software. The developers are
keen to fix bugs as soon as possible, though obviously there are no guarantees.
-
+
Many organisations - commercial, government, and academic - across the
world. It's impossible to estimate the true number of users, since
-wxWindows is obtained by many different means, and we cannot monitor
+wxWidgets is obtained by many different means, and we cannot monitor
distribution. The mailing list contains around 300-400 entries which is
quite large for a list of this type.
See Users for a list of some users and their applications, and
also Feedback for comments.
+Our highest-profile user yet is industry veteran and Lotus Corp. founder Mitch Kapor
+and his Open Source Applications Foundation.
+
-
+
- Windows 3.1, Windows 95/98, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows ME.
@@ -90,20 +99,20 @@ also Feedback for comments.
- Unix with Motif or the free Motif clone Lesstif.
- Mac OS.
- Embedded platforms are being investigated. See the wxUniversal project.
-
- An OS/2 port is in progress, and you can also compile wxWindows for GTK+ or Motif
+
- An OS/2 port is in progress, and you can also compile wxWidgets for GTK+ or Motif
on OS/2.
-
-To build source from CVS, see the file BuildCVS.txt in the top-level wxWindows distribution
+To build source from CVS, see the file BuildCVS.txt in the top-level wxWidgets distribution
directory.
-
+
-By ftp, and via the wxWindows CD-ROM.
+By ftp, and via the wxWidgets CD-ROM.
If you are feeling adventurous, you may also check out the sources directly
-from the cvs
+from cvs.
-Currently we're working too hard on getting wxWindows 2 finished (are GUI toolkits ever
-finished?) to think very far ahead. However, we know we want to make wxWindows as robust
+Currently we're working too hard on getting wxWidgets finished (are GUI toolkits ever
+finished?) to think very far ahead. However, we know we want to make wxWidgets as robust
and well-publicised as possible. We also want to aim for better platform-independence of
-resources such as icons and bitmaps, standardising on the PNG for all platforms.
+resources such as icons and bitmaps, standardising on PNG and XPM for all platforms.
-Other possibilities include: DCOM/CORBA compatibility; a wxWindows book;
+Other possibilities include: DCOM/CORBA compatibility; a wxWidgets book;
wxWorkshop, an IDE;
other platforms, especially embedded systems; other interface abilities such as speech output.
-We will investigate the possibility of compiler or operating system vendors bundling wxWindows with
+We will investigate the possibility of compiler or operating system vendors bundling wxWidgets with
their product.
-The high-level goal of wxWindows is to be thought of as the number one C++ framework,
+The high-level goal of wxWidgets is to be thought of as the number one C++ framework,
for virtually any platform. Move over, MFC!
+
+
+wxBase is a subset of wxWidgets comprised by the non-GUI classes. It includes
+wxWidgets container and primitive data type classes (including wxString,
+wxDateTime and so on) and also useful wrappers for the operating system objects
+such as files, processes, threads, sockets and so on. With very minor
+exceptions wxBase may be used in exactly the same way as wxWidgets but it
+doesn't require a GUI to run and so is ideal for creating console mode
+utilities or server programs. It is also possible to create a program which can
+be compiled either as a console application (using wxBase) or a GUI one (using
+a full featured wxWidgets port).
+
-wxUniversal is a new port of wxWindows being currently actively developed. The
-main difference is that wxUniversal implements all controls (or widgets) in
-wxWindows itself thus allowing to have much more flexibility (i.e. support for
-themes even under MS Windows!). It also means that it is now much easier to
-port wxWindows to a new platform as only the low-level classes must be ported
+The main difference between wxUniversal-based ports (such as wxX11, wxMGL) and other ports (such as wxMSW, wxGTK+, wxMac)
+is that wxUniversal implements all controls (or widgets) in
+wxWidgets itself thus allowing to have much more flexibility (for example, support for
+themes even under MS Windows). It also means that it is now much easier to
+port wxWidgets to a new platform as only the low-level classes must be ported
which make for a small part of the library.
You may find more about wxUniversal here.
@@ -221,13 +269,103 @@ You may find more about wxUniversal here.
The Java honeymoon period is over :-) and people are realising that it cannot
meet all their cross-platform development needs. We don't anticipate a major threat
-from Java, and the level of interest in wxWindows is as high as ever.
+from Java, and the level of interest in wxWidgets is as high as ever.
+
+
+
+Microsoft is spending a lot on promoting the .NET initiative, which
+is a set of languages, APIs and web service components for Windows.
+Ximian has started an open source version of .NET, mostly for Linux.
+C# is Microsoft's alternative to Java, supporting 'managed code',
+garbage collection and various other Java-like language features.
+
+Although this may be attractive to some developers, there
+is a variety of reasons why the .NET/Mono combination is unlikely
+to make wxWidgets redundant. Please note that the following comments
+are Julian Smart's opinions.
+
+
+- Not everyone wants or needs net services.
+
- C++ will be used for a long time to come; compared with C++, C# is a recent development and its future is not certain.
+
- Mono Forms may only target Winelib (at least to begin with), so the end result is not as native as
+wxWidgets (I'm aware there is GTK# for use with the C# language).
+
- C# is usually byte-compiled and therefore slower. Plus, .NET adds a layer of overhead to the client computer
+that wxWidgets does not require.
+
- Mono hasn't proven its long-term viability yet (it's a complex system of components); wxWidgets is ready now.
+
- You may not wish to buy into Microsoft marketing spin and APIs.
+
- Microsoft may at some point sue developers of non-Microsoft .NET implementations. After all,
+platform-independence is not in Microsoft's interest.
+
- .NET might never be implemented on some platforms, especially Mac and embedded variants of Linux.
+
- wxPython and other language variants provide further reasons for wxWidgets to continue.
+
- The same issue exists for Qt: if Qt sales remain strong, it's a good indication that
+the market for a C++-based approach is still there. (Either that, or everyone's turning to wxWidgets!)
+
+
+There is nothing to stop folk from developing a C# version of the wxWidgets API;
+we already have bindings to Python, Perl, JavaScript, Lua, Basic, and Eiffel.
+Update: a wx.NET project is now in progress.
+
+
-Please check out the Community pages,
+Please check out the Community pages,
in particular the suggested projects, and
-mail Julian Smart or the developers' mailing list with your own suggestions.
+mail the developers' mailing list with your own suggestions.
+
+
+
+Please subscribe to the wx-dev developers' mailing list and
+ask if anyone else is interested in helping with the port, or
+has specific suggestions. Also please read the coding standards.
+
+
+Each port consists of a platform-specific part (e.g. src/msw, include/wx/msw),
+a generic set of widgets and dialogs for when the port doesn't support
+them natively (src/generic, include/wx/generic) and the common code
+that all ports use (src/common, include/wx). By browsing the source
+you should get a good idea of the general pattern.
+
+Take a port that most closely matches your port, and strip out
+the implementation so you have a skeleton port that compiles. Ask on wx-dev
+first for the wxStubs port - however, any such predefined skeleton
+port may be out of date, so make a judgement on whether to use it.
+Perhaps it will still save you time to clean up wxStubs, and
+others may benefit from this too.
+
+You will need to define a symbol for the new port, e.g. __WXXBOX__.
+Look at files such as wx/defs.h, wx/wxchar.h for areas where you'll
+need to add to existing conditionals to set up wide character
+support and other issues. If the GUI runs on a Unix variant,
+define the __UNIX__ variable in your makefile.
+
+Then you can start implementing the port, starting with
+wxWindow, wxTopLevelWindow, wxFrame, wxDialog so you
+can get the minimal sample running as soon as possible.
+
+If GDI objects (wxPen, wxBrush, etc.) are not concepts in your
+native GUI, you may wish to use very generic versions of
+some of these - see the wxX11 port.
+
+Consider using the wxUniversal widget set as a quick way
+to implement wxWidgets on your platform. You only need
+to define some basic classes such as device contexts,
+wxWindow, wxTopLevelWindow, GDI objects etc. and
+the actual widgets will be drawn for you. See wxX11,
+wxMGL, and wxMSW/Univ for sample wxUniversal ports.
+
+To begin with, you can use whatever makefiles or project
+files work for you. Look at existing makefiles to see what
+generic/common/Unix files need to be included. Later, you'll want to integrate support
+for your port into configure (Unix-like systems and gcc under Windows),
+and bakefile (for other makefiles on Windows).
+
+Submit your port as patches via SourceForge; you might
+wish to separate it into one patch that touches common headers
+and source files, and another containing the port-specific code, to make
+it much easier for us to review and apply the patches.
+
+Good luck!