X-Git-Url: https://git.saurik.com/wxWidgets.git/blobdiff_plain/d958c9bd1754393a2b2e35a95df4df4e74bcd3c4..d65c269b3f665e15a8ae1b8fff063b2ec0ef19a7:/docs/latex/wx/body.tex diff --git a/docs/latex/wx/body.tex b/docs/latex/wx/body.tex index 19c62daf94..ab7a8d8772 100644 --- 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 -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, -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 -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 @@ -39,37 +37,41 @@ none met all of the following criteria: \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: @@ -498,90 +500,96 @@ dos2unix). 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}% -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}}%