This document will help explain some of the major changes in wxPython 2.5 and let you know what you need to do to adapt your programs to -those changes. Be sure to also check in the CHANGES.txt file like +those changes. Be sure to also check in the CHANGES file like usual to see info about the not so major changes and other things that have been added to wxPython.
The wxWindows project and library is now known as -wxWidgets. Please see here for more details.
+wxWidgets. Please see here for more details.This won't really affect wxPython all that much, other than the fact that the wxwindows.org domain name will be changing to wxwidgets.org, so mail list, CVS, and etc. addresses will be changing. We're going @@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ need to change it to isinstance(obj, wxFoo).
All of the EVT_* functions are now instances of the wx.PyEventBinder class. They have a __call__ method so they can still be used as functions like before, but making them instances adds some -flexibility.
+flexibility that I expect to take advantave of in the future.wx.EvtHandler (the base class for wx.Window) now has a Bind method that makes binding events to windows a little easier. Here is its definition and docstring:
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ values:If you create your own custom event types and EVT_* functions, and you want to be able to use them with the Bind method above then you should change your EVT_* to be an instance of wxPyEventBinder instead of a -function. If you used to have something like this:
+function. For example, if you used to have something like this:myCustomEventType = wxNewEventType() def EVT_MY_CUSTOM_EVENT(win, id, func): @@ -330,16 +330,39 @@ before that time. the contribs (gizmos, stc, xrc, etc.) rather than building local copies of them. If you build your own copies of wxPython please be aware that you now need to also build the ogl, stc, xrc, and gizmos -libraries in addition to the main wx lib. [[TODO: update the -BUILD.*.txt files too!]] +libraries in addition to the main wx lib.The wxPython.h and other header files are now in .../wxPython/include/wx/wxPython instead of in wxPython/src. You should include it via the "wx/wxPython/wxPython.h" path and add -.../wxPython/include to your list of include paths. [[TODO: Install -these headers on Linux...]]
+.../wxPython/include to your list of include paths. On OSX and +unix-like systems the wxPython headers are installed to the same place +that the wxWidgets headers are installed, so if you building wxPython +compatible extensions on those platforms then your include path shoudl +already be set properly. +If you are also using SWIG for your extension then you'll need to +adapt how the wxPython .i files are imported into your .i files. See +the wxPython sources for examples. Your modules will need to at least +%import core.i, and possibly others if you need the definition of +other classes. Since you will need them to build your modules, the +main wxPython .i files are also installed with the wxPython headers in +an i_files sibdirectory. It should be enough to pass a -I/pathname on +the command line for it to find the files.
+The bulk of wxPython's setup.py has been moved to another module, +wx/build/config.py. This module will be installed as part of wxPython +so 3rd party modules that wish to use the same setup/configuration +code can do so simply by importing this module from their own setup.py +scripts using import wx.build.config.
You no longer need to call wxClassInfo::CleanUpClasses() and wxClassInfo::InitializeClasses() in your extensions or when embedding wxPython.
+The usage of wxPyBeginAllowThreads and wxPyEndAllowThreads has changed +slightly. wxPyBeginAllowThreads now returns a boolean value that must +be passed to the coresponding wxPyEndAllowThreads function call. This +is to help do the RightThing when calls to these two functions are +nested, or if calls to external code in other extension modules that +are wrapped in the standard Py_(BEGIN|END)_ALLOW_THERADS may result in +wx event handlers being called (such as during the call to +os.startfile.)
The hack allowing the old "option" keyword parameter has been removed. -If you use keyworkd args with wxSizer Add, Insert, or Prepend methods -then you will need to use the "proportion" name instead of "option".
-When adding a spacer to a sizer you now need to use a wxSize or a +If you use keyworkd args with w.xSizer Add, Insert, or Prepend methods +then you will need to use the proportion name instead of option.
+When adding a spacer to a sizer you now need to use a wx.Size or a 2-integer sequence instead of separate width and height parameters.
-The wxGridBagSizer class (very similar to the RowColSizer in the +
The wx.GridBagSizer class (very similar to the RowColSizer in the library) has been added to C++ and wrapped for wxPython. It can also be used from XRC.
You should not use AddWindow, AddSizer, AddSpacer (and similar for @@ -393,6 +416,107 @@ way. If there are any other platform/toolkit/build flags that make sense to add to this tuple please let me know.
BTW, wx.Platform will probably be deprecated in the future.
Lindsay Mathieson's newest wxActiveX class has been wrapped into a new +extension module called wx.activex. It is very generic and dynamic +and should allow hosting of arbitray ActiveX controls within your +wxPython apps. So far I've tested it with IE, PDF, and Flash +controls, (and there are new samples in the demo and also library +modules supporting these.)
+The new wx.activex module contains a bunch of code, but the most +important things to look at are ActiveXWindow and ActiveXEvent. +ActiveXWindow derives from wxWindow and the constructor accepts a +CLSID for the ActiveX Control that should be created. (There is also +a CLSID class that can convert from a progID or a CLSID String.) The +ActiveXWindow class simply adds methods that allow you to query some +of the TypeInfo exposed by the ActiveX object, and also to get/set +properties or call methods by name. The Python implementation +automatically handles converting parameters and return values to/from +the types expected by the ActiveX code as specified by the TypeInfo, +(just bool, integers, floating point, strings and None/Empty so far, +but more can be handled later.)
+That's pretty much all there is to the class, as I mentioned before it +is very generic and dynamic. Very little is hard-coded and everything +that is done with the actual ActiveX control is done at runtime and +referenced by property or method name. Since Python is such a dynamic +language this is a very good match. I thought for a while about doing +some Python black-magic and making the specific methods/properties of +the actual ActiveX control "appear" at runtime, but then decided that +it would be better and more understandable to do it via subclassing. +So there is a utility class in wx.activex that given an existing +ActiveXWindow instance can generate a .py module containing a derived +class with real methods and properties that do the Right Thing to +reflect those calls to the real ActiveX control. There is also a +script/tool module named genaxmodule that given a CLSID or progID and +a class name, will generate the module for you. There are a few +examples of the output of this tool in the wx.lib package, see +iewin.py, pdfwin.py and flashwin.py.
+Currently the genaxmodule tool will tweak some of the names it +generates, but this can be controled if you would like to do it +differently by deriving your own class from GernerateAXModule, +overriding some methods and then using this class from a tool like +genaxmodule. [TODO: make specifying a new class on genaxmodule's +command-line possible.] The current default behavior is that any +event names that start with "On" will have the "On" dropped, property +names are converted to all lower case, and if any name is a Python +keyword it will have an underscore appended to it. GernerateAXModule +does it's best when generating the code in the new module, but it can +only be as good as the TypeInfo data available from the ActiveX +control so sometimes some tweaking will be needed. For example, the +IE web browser control defines the Flags parameter of the Navigate2 +method as required, but MSDN says it is optional.
+It is intended that this new wx.activex module will replace both the +older version of Lindsay's code available in iewin.IEHtmlWindow, and +also the wx.lib.activexwraper module. Probably the biggest +differences you'll ecounter in migrating activexwrapper-based code +(besides events working better without causing deadlocks) is that +events are no longer caught by overriding methods in your derived +class. Instead ActiveXWindow uses the wx event system and you bind +handlers for the ActiveX events exactly the same way you do for any wx +event. There is just one extra step needed and that is creating an +event ID from the ActiveX event name, and if you use the genaxmodule +tool then this extra step will be handled for you there. For example, +for the StatusTextChange event in the IE web browser control, this +code is generated for you:
+
+wxEVT_StatusTextChange = wx.activex.RegisterActiveXEvent('StatusTextChange')
+EVT_StatusTextChange = wx.PyEventBinder(wxEVT_StatusTextChange, 1)
+
+and you would use it in your code like this:
++self.Bind(iewin.EVT_StatusTextChange, self.UpdateStatusText, self.ie) ++
When the event happens and your event handler function is called the +event properties from the ActiveX control (if any) are converted to +attributes of the event object passed to the handler. (Can you say +'event' any more times in a single sentence? ;-) ) For example the +StatusTextChange event will also send the text that should be put into +the status line as an event parameter named "Text" and you can access +it your handlers as an attribute of the event object like this:
++def UpdateStatusText(self, evt): + self.SetStatusText(evt.Text) ++
Usually these event object attributes should be considered read-only, +but some will be defined by the TypeInfo as output parameters. In +those cases if you modify the event object's attribute then that value +will be returned to the ActiveX control. For example, to prevent a +new window from being opened by the IE web browser control you can do +this in the handler for the iewin.EVT_NewWindow2 event:
++def OnNewWindow2(self, evt): + evt.Cancel = True ++
So how do you know what methods, events and properties that an ActiveX +control supports? There is a funciton in wx.activex named GetAXInfo +that returns a printable summary of the TypeInfo from the ActiveX +instance passed in. You can use this as an example of how to browse +the TypeInfo provided, and there is also a copy of this function's +output appended as a comment to the modules produced by the +genaxmodule tool. Beyond that you'll need to consult the docs +provided by the makers of the ActiveX control that you are using.
+Instead of over a dozen separate extension modules linked together @@ -422,18 +546,36 @@ wxPyTypeCast at all.
there are compatibility aliases for much of the above items.The wxWave class has been renamed to wxSound, and now has a slightly different API.
-Instead of a very small 20x20 the default window size is now a more -reasonable size, (currently 400x250 but that may change...) If you -don't specify a size, and the window/control class does not have any -definition of it's own "best size" (most controls do) then the new -default will be used. If you have code that accidentally depends on -the smaller size then things will look a bit odd. To work around this -just give those windows an explicit size when created.
-wx.TaskbarIcon works on wxGTK-based platforms now, however you have to +manage it a little bit more than you did before. Basically, the app +will treat it like a top-level frame in that if the wx.TaskBarIcon +still exists when all the frames are closed then the app will still +not exit. You need to ensure that the wx.TaskBarIcon is destroyed +when your last Frame is closed. For wxPython apps it is usually +enough if your main frame object holds the only reference to the +wx.TaskBarIcon, then when the frame is closed Python reference +counting takes care of the rest.
+Before Python 2.3 it was possible to pass a floating point object as a +parameter to a function that expected an integer, and the +PyArg_ParseTuple family of functions would automatically convert to +integer by truncating the fractional portion of the number. With +Python 2.3 that behavior was deprecated and a deprecation warning is +raised when you pass a floating point value, (for example, calling +wx.DC.DrawLineXY with floats for the position and size,) and lots of +developers using wxPython had to scramble to change their code to call +int() before calling wxPython methods. Recent changes in SWIG have +moved the conversion out of PyArg_ParseTuple to custom code that SWIG +generates. Since the default conversion fragment was a little too +strict and didn't generate a very meaningful exception when it failed, +I decided to use a custom fragment instead, and it turned out that +it's very easy to allow floats to be converted again just like they +used to be. So, in a nutshell, any numeric type that can be +converted to an integer is now legal to be passed to SWIG wrapped +functions in wxPython for parameters that are expecting an integer. +If the object is not already an integer then it will be asked to +convert itself to one. A similar conversion fragment is in place for +parameters that expect floating point values.