| + +wxWidgets for Windows FAQ + + | +
+ +See also top-level FAQ page. +
+ +16-bit compilation is only supported for wxWidgets 2.4 and previous versions, +using Visual C++ 1.5 and Borland BC++ 4 to 5. +
+ +wxWidgets for Windows will also compile on Unix with gcc using Wine from WineHQ. +The resulting executables are Unix binaries that work with the Wine Windows API emulator.
+ +You can also compile wxWidgets for Windows on Unix with Cygwin or Mingw32, resulting +in executables that will run on Windows. So in theory you could write your applications +using wxGTK or wxMotif, then check/debug your wxWidgets for Windows +programs with Wine, and finally produce an ix86 Windows executable using Cygwin/Mingw32, +without ever needing a copy of Microsoft Windows. See the Technical Note on the Web site detailing cross-compilation.
+ +
+ +
+ +For versions of wxWidgets below 2.5, you need to provide the manifest +explicitly, as follows.
+ +In the same directory as you have your executable (e.g. foo.exe) you +put a file called foo.exe.manifest in which you have something like +the following: + +
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?> +<assembly + xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" + manifestVersion="1.0"> +<assemblyIdentity + processorArchitecture="x86" + version="5.1.0.0" + type="win32" + name="foo.exe"/> + <description>Foo program</description> + <dependency> + <dependentAssembly> + <assemblyIdentity + type="win32" + name="Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls" + version="6.0.0.0" + publicKeyToken="6595b64144ccf1df" + language="*" + processorArchitecture="x86"/> + </dependentAssembly> + </dependency> +</assembly> ++ +If you want to add it to your application permanently, +you can also include it in your .rc file using this +line:
+ +
+ 1 24 "winxp.manifest" ++ +For an explanation of this syntax, please see +this +article. +
+ +
+ +
+ + +
+ +Borland C++ is fine - and very fast - but it's hard (impossible?) to use the debugger without using project files, and +the debugger is nowhere near up to VC++'s quality. The IDE isn't great.
+ +C++Builder's power isn't really used with wxWidgets since it needs integration with its +own class library (VCL). For wxWidgets, I've only used it with makefiles, in which case +it's almost identical to BC++ 5.0 (the same makefiles can be used).
+ +You can't beat Cygwin's price (free), and you can debug adequately using gdb. However, it's +quite slow to compile since it does not use precompiled headers.
+ +CodeWarrior is cross-platform - you can debug and generate Windows executables from a Mac, but not +the other way around I think - but the IDE is, to my mind, a bit primitive.
+ +Watcom C++ is a little slow and the debugger is not really up to today's standards.
+ +Among the free compilers the best choice seem to be Borland C++ command line +tools and mingw32 (port of gcc to Win32). Both of them are supported by +wxWidgets. However BC++ has trouble compiling large executables statically, +so you need to dynamically link the wxWidgets libraries.
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +With a DLL approach, and with different versions and configurations of wxWidgets +needing to be catered for, the end user may end up with a host of large DLLs in his or her Windows system directory, +negating the point of using DLLs. Of course, this is not a problem just associated with +wxWidgets! +
+ +
+ +If you want to distribute really small executables, you can +use Petite +by Ian Luck. This nifty utility compresses Windows executables by around 50%, so your 500KB executable +will shrink to a mere 250KB. With this sort of size, there is reduced incentive to +use DLLs. Another good compression tool (probably better than Petite) is UPX. +
+ +Please do not be surprised if MinGW produces a statically-linked minimal executable of 1 MB. Firstly, gcc +produces larger executables than some compilers. Secondly, this figure will +include most of the overhead of wxWidgets, so as your application becomes more +complex, the overhead becomes proportionally less significant. And thirdly, trading executable compactness +for the enormous increase in productivity you get with wxWidgets is almost always well worth it.
+ +If you have a really large executable compiled with MinGW (for example 20MB) then +you need to configure wxWidgets to compile without debugging information: see +docs/msw/install.txt for details. You may find that using configure instead +of makefile.g95 is easier, particularly since you can maintain debug and +release versions of the library simultaneously, in different directories. +Also, run 'strip' after linking to remove all traces of debug info. +
+ +
+ +
+ +lib/vc_lib/mswd
+ +or if building the static Release library, lib/vc_lib/msw.
+ +See also the wxWiki Contents +for more information.
+ + +
+
+or similar ones for the other functions, i.e. the compiler error messages +mention the function with the 'A' suffix while you didn't +use it in your code, the explanation is that you had included +<windows.h> header which redefines many symbols to have such +suffix (or 'W' in the Unicode builds). + +
+The fix is to either not include <windows.h> at all or include +"wx/msw/winundef.h" immediately after it. + +
+ +VC++ 5's optimization code seems to be broken and can +cause problems: this can be seen when deleting an object Dialog +Editor, in Release mode with optimizations on. If in doubt, +switch off optimisations, although this will result in much +larger executables. It seems possible that the library can be created with +strong optimization, so long as the application is not strongly +optimized. For example, in wxWidgets project, set to 'Minimum +Size'. In Dialog Editor project, set to 'Customize: Favor Small +Code' (and no others). This will then work.
+ +
+ +For 2.4.x, there is a system written by Vadim Zeitlin that +generates the makefiles from templates using tmake.
+ +Here are Vadim's notes on tmake:
+ +
+To use these new makefiles, you don't need anything (but see below). +However, you should NOT modify them because these files will be +rewritten when I regenerate them using tmake the next time. So, if +you find a problem with any of these makefiles (say, makefile.b32) +you'll need to modify the corresponding template (b32.t in this +example) and regenerate the makefile using tmake.+ ++ +tmake can be found at +www.troll.no/freebies/tmake.html. +It's a Perl5 program and so it needs Perl (doh). There is a binary for +Windows (available from the same page), but I haven't used it, so +I don't know if it works as flawlessly as "perl tmake" does (note +for people knowing Perl: don't try to run tmake with -w, it won't +do you any good). Using it extremely simple: to regenerate makefile.b32 +just go to distrib/msw/tmake and type
+ +
tmake -t b32 wxwin.pro -o ../../src/msw/makefile.b32+ +The makefiles are untested - I don't have any of Borland, Watcom or +Symantec and I don't have enough diskspace to recompile even with +VC6 using makefiles. The new makefiles are as close as possible to the +old ones, but not closer: in fact, there has been many strange things +(should I say bugs?) in some of makefiles, some files were not compiled +without any reason etc. Please test them and notify me about any problems. +Better yet, modify the template files to generate the correct makefiles +and check them in.
+ +The templates are described in tmake ref manual (1-2 pages of text) +and are quite simple. They do contain some Perl code, but my Perl is +primitive (very C like) so it should be possible for anybody to make +trivial modifications to it (I hope that only trivial modifications +will be needed). I've tagged the ol makefiles as MAKEFILES_WITHOUT_TMAKE +in the cvs, so you can always retrieve them and compare the new ones, +this will make it easier to solve the problems you might have.
+ +Another important file is filelist.txt: it contains the list of all +files to be compiled. Some of them are only compiled in 16/32 bit mode. +Some other are only compiled with some compilers (others can't compile +them) - all this info is contained in this file.
+ +So now adding a new file to wxWidgets is as easy as modifying filelist.txt +(and Makefile.ams for Unix ports) and regenerating the makefiles - no +need to modify all files manually any more.
+ + Finally, there is also a file vc6.t which I use myself: this one +generates a project file for VC++ 6.0 (I didn't create vc5.t because +I don't need it and can't test it, but it should be trivial to create +one from vc6.t - probably the only things to change would be the +version number in the very beginning and the /Z option - VC5 doesn't +support edit-and=continue). This is not an officially supported way +of building wxWidgets (that is, nobody guarantees that it will work), +but it has been very useful to me and I hope it will be also for +others. To generate wxWidgets.dsp run
+ +
tmake -t vc6 wxwin.pro -o ../../wxWidgets.dsp+ +Then just include this project in any workspace or open it from VC IDE +and it will create a new workspace for you.
+ +If all goes well, I'm planning to create a template file for Makefile.ams +under src/gtk and src/motif and also replace all makefiles in the samples +subdirectories with the project files from which all the others will be +generated. At least it will divide the number of files in samples +directory by 10 (and the number of files to be maintained too). +
+ +
+On the VC++ level, it's just the matter of calling _CrtSetDbgFlag() in the very +beginning of the program. In wxWidgets, this is done automatically when +compiling with VC++ in debug mode unless wxUSE_GLOBAL_MEMORY_OPERATORS or +__NO_VC_CRTDBG__ are defined - this check is done in wx/msw/msvcrt.h which +is included from app.cpp which then calls wxCrtSetDbgFlag() without any +ifdefs. + +This works quite well: at the end of the program, all leaked blocks with their +malloc count are shown. This number (malloc count) can be used to determine +where exactly the object was allocated: for this it's enough to set the variable +_crtBreakAlloc (look in VC98\crt\srs\dbgheap.c line 326) to this number and +a breakpoint will be triggered when the block with this number is allocated. + +For simple situations it works like a charm. For something more complicated +like reading uninitialized memory a specialized tool is probably better... + +Regards, +VZ ++ +
+ +
+ +It can also happen if you append the submenu to the parent +menu {\it before} you have added your menu items. Do the append {\it after} adding +your items, or accelerators may not be registered properly.
+ +
+ +First, you can use wxRegKey directly, for example: + +
+ wxRegKey regKey;
+
+ wxString idName(wxT("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\My Company\\My Product\\Stuff\\"));
+ idName += packid;
+
+ regKey.SetName(idName);
+
+ {
+ wxLogNull dummy;
+ if (!regKey.Create())
+ {
+ idName = wxT("HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\SOFTWARE\\My Company\\My Product\\Stuff\\");
+ idName += packid;
+ regKey.SetName(idName);
+ if (!regKey.Create())
+ return FALSE;
+ }
+ }
+
+ if (!regKey.SetValue(wxT("THING"), (long) thing)) err += 1;
+
+ regKey.Close();
+
+
+
+Or, you can employ this trick suggested by Istvan Kovacs:
+
+
+class myGlobalConfig : public wxConfig
+{
+ myGlobalConfig() :
+ wxConfig ("myApp", "myCompany", "", "", wxCONFIG_USE_GLOBAL_FILE)
+{};
+ bool Write(const wxString& key, const wxString& value);
+}
+
+bool myGlobalConfig::Write (const wxString& key, const wxString& value)
+{
+ wxString path = wxString ("SOFTWARE\\myCompany\\myApp\\") + wxPathOnly(key);
+ wxString new_path = path.Replace ("/", "\\", true);
+ wxString new_key = wxFileNameFromPath (key);
+ LocalKey().SetName (wxRegKey::HKLM, path);
+ return wxConfig::Write (new_key, value);
+}
+
+
++ + +
+Of course, another possibility is to always use only the Windows cvs client +and to avoid this problem completely. +
+ +
+MSVCRTD.lib(MSVCRTD.dll) : error LNK2005: _xxxxxx already defined in LIBCD.lib(yyyyy.obj) ++ +when linking your project, this means that you used different versions of CRT +(C Run-Time) library for wxWindows (or possibly another library) and the main +project. Visual C++ provides static or dynamic and multithread safe or not +versions of CRT for each of debug and release builds, for a total of 8 +libraries. You can choose among them by going to the "Code generation" +page/subitem of the "C++" tab/item in the project proprieties dialog in VC6/7. +
+To avoid problems, you must use the same one for all +components of your project. wxWindows uses multithread safe DLL version of the +CRT which is a good choice but may be problematic when distributing your +applications if you don't include the CRT DLL in your installation -- in this +case you may decide to switch to using a static CRT version. If you build with +wxUSE_THREADS == 0 you may also use the non MT-safe version as it is +slightly smaller and faster. +
+But the most important thing is to use the same CRT setting for +all components of your project. + +
+> This causes compilation errors within DirectShow: +> +> wxutil.h(125) : error C2065: 'EXECUTE_ASSERT' : undeclared identifier +> amfilter.h(1099) : error C2065: 'ASSERT' : undeclared identifier + +The reason for this is that __WXDEBUG__ is also used by the DXSDK (9.0 +in my case) to '#pragma once' the contents of +DXSDK/Samples/C++/DirectShow/BaseClasses/wxdebug.h. So if __WXDEBUG__ +is defined, then wxdebug.h doesn't get included, and the assert macros +don't get defined. You have to #undef __WXDEBUG__ before including the +directshow baseclass's <streams.h>. ++ + +