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Cross-Platform GUI Programming with wxWidgets
- By Julian Smart, Kevin Hock, Stefan Csomor
- Published Jul 26, 2005 by Pearson.
Book
- Sorry, this book is no longer in print.
About
Features
The authoritative guide to developing cross-platform C++ GUI applications using the hot wxWidgets toolkit -- from its creator!
° As Mac OS X and Linux gain share, wxWidgets is emerging as the best crossplatform
GUI toolkit.
° Better than MFC - the creator of wxWidgets shows readers how to build C++
applications that support Windows, Linux and Mac OS X - prior GUI programming
experience is not required.
° Foreword from Mitch Kapor (founder of Lotus Development, OSAF). Incredible
support from wxWidgets community!
Description
- Copyright 2006
- Dimensions: 7" x 9-1/4"
- Pages: 744
- Edition: 1st
- Book
- ISBN-10: 0-13-147381-6
- ISBN-13: 978-0-13-147381-2
"This book is the best way for beginning developers to learn wxWidgets programming in C++. It is a must-have for programmers thinking of using wxWidgets and those already using it."
–Mitch Kapor, founder of Lotus Software and the Open Source Applications Foundation
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Build advanced cross-platform applications that support native look-and-feel on Windows, Linux, Unix, Mac OS X, and even Pocket PC
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Master wxWidgets from start to finish–even if you've never built GUI applications before
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Leverage advanced wxWidgets capabilities: networking, multithreading, streaming, and more
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CD-ROM: library of development tools, source code, and sample applications
-
Foreword by Mitch Kapor, founder, Lotus Development and Open Source Application Foundation
wxWidgets is an easy-to-use, open source C++ API for writing GUI applications that run on Windows, Linux, Unix, Mac OS X, and even Pocket PC–supporting each platform's native look and feel with virtually no additional coding. Now, its creator and two leading developers teach you all you need to know to write robust cross-platform software with wxWidgets. This book covers everything from dialog boxes to drag-and-drop, from networking to multithreading. It includes all the tools and code you need to get great results, fast. From AMD to AOL, Lockheed Martin to Xerox, world-class developers are using wxWidgets to save money, increase efficiency, and reach new markets. With this book, you can, too.
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wxWidgets quickstart: event/input handling, window layouts, drawing, printing, dialogs, and more
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Working with window classes, from simple to advanced
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Memory management, debugging, error checking, internationalization, and other advanced topics
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Includes extensive code samples for Windows, Linux (GTK+), and Mac OS X
The CD-ROM contains all of the source code from the book; wxWidgets distributions for Windows, Linux, Unix, Mac OS X, and other platforms; the wxWidgets reference guide; and development tools including the OpenWatcom C++ compiler, the poEdit translation helper, and the DialogBlocks user interface builder.
© Copyright Pearson Education. All rights reserved.
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Table of Contents
Foreword by Mitch Kapor.
Preface.
Acknowledgments.
About the Authors.
1. Introduction.
What Is wxWidgets?
Why Use wxWidgets?
A Brief History of wxWidgets
The wxWidgets Community
wxWidgets and Object-Oriented Programming
License Considerations
The wxWidgets Architecture
wxMSW
wxGTK
wxX11
wxMotif
wxMac
wxCocoa
wxWinCE
wxPalmOS
wxOS2
wxMGL
Internal Organization
Summary
2. Getting Started.
A Small wxWidgets Sample
The Application Class
The Frame Class
The Event Handlers
The Frame Constructor
The Whole Program
Compiling and Running the Program
Program Flow
Summary
3. Event Handling.
Event-Driven Programming
Event Tables and Handlers
Skipping Events
Pluggable Event Handlers
Dynamic Event Handlers
Window Identifiers
Defining Custom Events
Summary
4. Window Basics.
Anatomy of a Window
The Concept of a Window
Client and Non-Client Areas
Scrollbars
Caret and Cursor
Top-Level Windows
Coordinate System
Painting
Color and Font
Window Variant
Sizing
Input
Idle Time Processing and UI Updates
Window Creation and Deletion
Window Styles
A Quick Guide to the Window Classes
Base Window Classes
Top-Level Windows
Container Windows
Non-Static Controls
Static Controls
Menus
Control Bars
Base Window Classes
wxWindow
wxControl
Top-Level Windows
wxFrame
wxMDIParentFrame
wxMDIChildFrame
wxDialog
wxPopupWindow
Container Windows
wxPanel
wxNotebook
wxScrolledWindow
wxSplitterWindow
Non-Static Controls
wxButton
wxButton Labels
wxBitmapButton
wxChoice
wxComboBox
wxCheckBox
wxListBox and wxCheckListBox
wxRadioBox
wxRadioButton
wxScrollBar
wxSpinButton
wxSpinCtrl
wxSlider
wxTextCtrl
wxToggleButton
Static Controls
wxGauge
wxStaticText
wxStaticBitmap
wxStaticLine
wxStaticBox
Menus
wxMenu
Control Bars
wxMenuBar
wxToolBar
wxStatusBar
Summary
5. Drawing and Printing.
Understanding Device Contexts
Available Device Contexts
Drawing on Windows with wxClientDC
Erasing Window Backgrounds
Drawing on Windows with wxPaintDC
Drawing on Bitmaps with wxMemoryDC
Creating Metafiles with wxMetafileDC
Accessing the Screen with wxScreenDC
Printing with wxPrinterDC and wxPostScriptDC
Drawing Tools
wxColour
wxPen
wxBrush
wxFont
wxPalette
Device Context Drawing Functions
Drawing Text
Drawing Lines and Shapes
Drawing Splines
Drawing Bitmaps
Filling Arbitrary Areas
Logical Functions
Using the Printing Framework
More on wxPrintout
Scaling for Printing and Previewing
Printing under Unix with GTK+
3D Graphics with wxGLCanvas
Summary
6. Handling Input.
Mouse Input
Handling Button and Motion Events
Handling Mouse Wheel Events
Handling Keyboard Events
An Example Character Event Handler
Key Code Translation
Modifier Key Variations
Accelerators
Handling Joystick Events
wxJoystick Events
wxJoystickEvent Member Functions
wxJoystick Member Functions
Summary
7. Window Layout Using Sizers.
Layout Basics
Sizers
Common Features of Sizers
Programming with Sizers
Programming with wxBoxSizer
Programming with wxStaticBoxSizer
Programming with wxGridSizer
Programming with wxFlexGridSizer
Programming with wxGridBagSizer
Further Layout Issues
Dialog Units
Platform-Adaptive Layouts
Dynamic Layouts
Summary
8. Using Standard Dialogs.
Informative Dialogs
wxMessageDialog
wxProgressDialog
wxProgressDialog Example
wxBusyInfo
wxShowTip
File and Directory Dialogs
wxFileDialog
wxDirDialog
Choice and Selection Dialogs
wxColourDialog
wxFontDialog
wxSingleChoiceDialog
wxMultiChoiceDialog
Entry Dialogs
wxNumberEntryDialog
wxTextEntryDialog and wxPasswordEntryDialog
wxFindReplaceDialog
Printing Dialogs
wxPageSetupDialog
wxPrintDialog
Summary
9. Writing Custom Dialogs.
Steps in Creating a Custom Dialog
An Example: PersonalRecordDialog
Deriving a New Class
Designing Data Storage
Coding the Controls and Layout
Data Transfer and Validation
Handling Events
Handling UI Updates
Adding Help
The Complete Class
Invoking the Dialog
Adapting Dialogs for Small Devices
Further Considerations in Dialog Design
Keyboard Navigation
Data and UI Separation
Layout
Aesthetics
Alternatives to Dialogs
Using wxWidgets Resource Files
Loading Resources
Using Binary and Embedded Resource Files
Translating Resources
The XRC Format
Writing Resource Handlers
Foreign Controls
Summary
10. Programming with Images.
Image Classes in wxWidgets
Programming with wxBitmap
Creating a wxBitmap
Setting a wxMask
The XPM Format
Drawing with Bitmaps
Packaging Bitmap Resources
Programming with wxIcon
Creating a wxIcon
Using wxIcon
Associating an Icon with an Application
Programming with wxCursor
Creating a wxCursor
Using wxCursor
Using wxSetCursorEvent
Programming with wxImage
Loading and Saving Images
Transparency
Transformations
Color Reduction
Manipulating wxImage Data Directly
Image Lists and Icon Bundles
Customizing Art in wxWidgets
Summary
11. Clipboard and Drag and Drop.
Data Objects
Data Source Duties
Data Target Duties
Using the Clipboard
Implementing Drag and Drop
Implementing a Drag Source
Implementing a Drop Target
Using Standard Drop Targets
Creating a Custom Drop Target
More on wxDataObject
Drag and Drop Helpers in wxWidgets
Summary
12. Advanced Window Classes.
wxTreeCtrl
wxTreeCtrl Styles
wxTreeCtrl Events
wxTreeCtrl Member Functions
wxListCtrl
wxListCtrl Styles
wxListCtrl Events
wxListItem
wxListCtrl Member Functions
Using wxListCtrl
Virtual List Controls
wxWizard
wxWizard Events
wxWizard Member Functions
wxWizard Example
wxHtmlWindow
wxHtmlWindow Styles
wxHtmlWindow Member Functions
Embedding Windows in HTML Pages
HTML Printing
wxGrid
The wxGrid System of Classes
wxGrid Events
wxGrid Member Functions
wxTaskBarIcon
wxTaskBarIcon Events
wxTaskBarIcon Member Functions
Writing Your Own Controls
The Custom Control Declaration
Adding DoGetBestSize
Defining a New Event Class
Displaying Information on the Control
Handling Input
Defining Default Event Handlers
Implementing Validators
Implementing Resource Handlers
Determining Control Appearance
A More Complex Example: wxThumbnailCtrl
Summary
13. Data Structure Classes.
Why Not STL?
Strings
Using wxString
wxString, Characters, and String Literals
Basic wxString to C Pointer Conversions
Standard C String Functions
Converting to and from Numbers
wxStringTokenizer
wxRegEx
wxArray
Array Types
wxArrayString
Array Construction, Destruction, and Memory Management
Array Sample Code
wxList and wxNode
wxHashMap
Storing and Processing Dates and Times
wxDateTime
wxDateTime Constructors and Modifiers
wxDateTime Accessors
Getting the Current Time
Parsing and Formatting Dates
Date Comparisons
Date Arithmetic
Helper Data Structures
wxObject
wxLongLong
wxPoint and wxRealPoint
wxRect
wxRegion
wxSize
wxVariant
Summary
14. Files and Streams.
File Classes and Functions
wxFile and wxFFile
wxTextFile
wxTempFile
wxDir
wxFileName
File Functions
Stream Classes
File Streams
Memory and String Streams
Reading and Writing Data Types
Socket Streams
Filter Streams
Zip Streams
Virtual File Systems
Summary
15. Memory Management, Debugging, and Error Checking.
Memory Management Basics
Creating and Deleting Window Objects
Creating and Copying Drawing Objects
Initializing Your Application Object
Cleaning Up Your Application
Detecting Memory Leaks and Other Errors
Facilities for Defensive Programming
Error Reporting
wxMessageOutput Versus wxLog
Providing Run-Time Type Information
Using wxModule
Loading Dynamic Libraries
Exception Handling
Debugging Tips
Debugging X11 Errors
Simplify the Problem
Debugging a Release Build
Summary
16. Writing International Applications.
Introduction to Internationalization
Providing Translations
poEdit
Step-by-Step Guide to Using Message Catalogs
Using wxLocale
Character Encodings and Unicode
Converting Data
wxEncodingConverter
wxCSConv (wxMBConv)
Converting Outside of a Temporary Buffer
Help Files
Numbers and Dates
Other Media
A Simple Sample
Summary
17. Writing Multithreaded Applications.
When to Use Threads, and When Not To
Using wxThread
Creation
Specifying Stack Size
Specifying Priority
Starting the Thread
How to Pause a Thread or Wait for an External Condition
Termination
Synchronization Objects
wxMutex
Deadlocks
wxCriticalSection
wxCondition
wxSemaphore
The wxWidgets Thread Sample
Alternatives to Multithreading
Using wxTimer
Idle Time Processing
Yielding
Summary
18. Programming with wxSocket.
Socket Classes and Functionality Overview
Introduction to Sockets and Basic Socket Processing
The Client
The Server
Connecting to a Server
Socket Events
Socket Status and Error Notifications
Sending and Receiving Socket Data
Creating a Server
Socket Event Recap
Socket Flags
Blocking and Non-Blocking Sockets in wxWidgets
How Flags Affect Socket Behavior
Using wxSocket as a Standard Socket
Using Socket Streams
File Sending Thread
File Receiving Thread
Alternatives to wxSocket
Summary
19. Working with Documents and Views.
Document/View Basics
Step 1: Choose an Interface Style
Step 2: Create and Use Frame Classes
Step 3: Define Your Document and View Classes
Step 4: Define Your Window Classes
Step 5: Use wxDocManager and wxDocTemplate
Other Document/View Capabilities
Standard Identifiers
Printing and Previewing
File History
Explicit Document Creation
Strategies for Implementing Undo/Redo
Summary
20. Perfecting Your Application.
Single Instance or Multiple Instances?
Modifying Event Handling
Reducing Flicker
Implementing Online Help
Using a Help Controller
Extended wxWidgets HTML Help
Authoring Help
Other Ways to Provide Help
Context-Sensitive Help and Tooltips
Menu Help
Parsing the Command Line
Storing Application Resources
Reducing the Number of Data Files
Finding the Application Path
Invoking Other Applications
Running an Application
Launching Documents
Redirecting Process Input and Output
Managing Application Settings
Storing Settings
Editing Settings
Application Installation
Installation on Windows
Installation on Linux
Installation on Mac OS X
Following UI Design Guidelines
Standard Buttons
Menus
Icons
Fonts and Colors
Application Termination Behavior
Further Reading
Summary
Appendix A. Installing wxWidgets.
Appendix B. Building Your Own wxWidgets Applications.
Appendix C. Creating Applications with DialogBlocks.
Appendix D. Other Features in wxWidgets.
Appendix E. Third-Party Tools for wxWidgets.
Appendix F. wxWidgets Application Showcase.
Appendix G. Using the CD-ROM.
Appendix H. How wxWidgets Processes Events.
Appendix I. Event Classes and Macros.
Appendix J. Code Listings.
Appendix K. Porting from MFC.
Glossary.
Index.
Preface
WHO THIS BOOK IS FOR
This book is a guide to using wxWidgets: an open-source construction kit to help you write sophisticated C++ applications for a variety of platforms, including Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, and Pocket PC. With help from this book, a competent programmer can create multi-platform applications with confidence. Developers already familiar with wxWidgets should also find it useful for brushing up their knowledge.
This book is accessible to developers with a variety of experience and backgrounds. You may come from a Windows or Unix perspective; you may previously have experience in MFC, OWL, Win32™, Mac OS, Motif™, or console-mode Unix programming. Or perhaps you have come from a different career entirely and are looking for a way to get up to speed on multiple platforms. The book can't specifically cover the details of the C++ language, but it's common for people to successfully learn C++ and wxWidgets at the same time, and the straightforward nature of the wxWidgets API makes it easier. The reader does not need to know more advanced C++ techniques like templates, streams and exceptions. However, wxWidgets does not prevent you from using these techniques.
Managers will find the book useful in discovering what wxWidgets can do for them, particularly in Chapter 1. The combination of the book and the resources on the accompanying CD-ROM will give your staff all they need for getting started on cross-platform programming projects. You'll see how wxWidgets puts tools of tremendous power into your hands, with benefits that include:
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Cost savings from writing code once that will compile on Windows, Unix, Mac OS X and other platforms.
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Customer satisfaction from delivering stable, fast, attractive applications with a native look and feel .
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Increased productivity from the wide variety of classes that wxWidgets provides, both for creating great GUIs and for general application development.
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Increased market share due to support for platforms you may not have previously considered, and the ability to internationalize your applications.
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Support from a large, active wxWidgets community that answers questions helpfully and provides prompt bug-fixing. The sample of third-party add-ons listed in Appendix E is evidence of a thriving ecosystem.
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Access to the source , for enhancement and trouble-shooting.
This is a guide to writing wxWidgets application with C++, but you can use a variety of other languages such as Python, Perl, a BASIC variant, Lua, Eiffel™, JavaScript, Java™, Ruby, Haskell and C#™. Some of these bindings are more advanced than others. For more information, please see Appendix E and the wxWidgets web site at:
We focus on three popular desktop platforms: Microsoft Windows, Linux using GTK+, and Mac OS X. However, most of the book also applies to other platforms supported by wxWidgets. In particular, wxWidgets can be used with most Unix variants.
THE CD-ROM
The CD-ROM contains example code from the book, the wxWidgets 2.6 distribution for Windows, Linux, Mac OS X and other platforms, and several tools to help you use wxWidgets, including the translation tool poEdit. For Windows users, we supply two free compilers you can use with wxWidgets: MinGW and Digital Mars C++.
In addition, we provide you with DialogBlocks Personal Edition, a sophisticated rapid application development (RAD) tool for you to create complex windows with very little manual coding. You can use it to compile and run samples that accompany the book as well as create your own applications for personal use, and it also provides convenient access to the wxWidgets reference manual.
Updates to the book and CD-ROM can be obtained from this site:
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
It's advisable to read at least Chapters 1 through 10 in order, but otherwise you'll probably read the chapters you need to complete a particular task. If you haven't installed wxWidgets before, you may wish to look at Appendix A, Installing wxWidgets early on. MFC programmers will find it useful to read Appendix K, Porting from MFC as a point of reference.
Because this book is not a complete API reference, you'll find it useful to keep the wxWidgets Reference Manual open. The reference manual is available in a number of formats including Windows HTML Help and PDF, and is either in your wxWidgets distribution or can be downloaded from the wxWidgets web site. You can also refer to the many samples in the wxWidgets distribution to supplement the examples given in this book.
Note that the book is intended to be used in conjunction with wxWidgets 2.6 or later. The majority of the book will apply to earlier versions, but be aware that some functionality will be missing, and in a small number of cases, the behavior may be different. In particular, sizer behavior changed somewhat between 2.4 and 2.5. For details, please see the topic Changes since 2.4.x in the wxWidgets reference manual.
Conventions
For code examples, we mostly follow the wxWidgets style guidelines, for example:
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Words within class names and functions have an initial capital, for example MyFunkyClass .
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The "m_" prefix denotes a member variable, "s_" denotes a static variable, "g_" denotes a global variable; local variables start with a lower case letter, for example textCtrl .
You can find more about the wxWidgets style guidelines here:
http://www.wxwidgets.org/standard.htm
Sometimes we'll also use comments that can be parsed by the documentation tool Doxygen, such as:
/// A function descriptionClasses, functions, identifiers and standard wxWidgets objects are marked with a teletype font in the text, and variables are italicised . User interface commands, such as menu and button labels, are also italicised.
Chapter summary
Chapter 1: Introduction
What is wxWidgets, and why use it? A brief history; the wxWidgets community; the license; wxWidgets ports and architecture explained.
Chapter 2: Getting started
A small wxWidgets sample: the application class; the main window; the event table; an outline of program flow.
Chapter 3: Event handling
Event tables and handlers; how a button click is processed; skipping events; pluggable and dynamic event handlers; defining custom events; window identifiers.
Chapter 4: Window basics
The main features of a window explained; a quick guide to the commonest window classes; base window classes such as wxWindow ; top-level windows; container windows; non-static controls; static controls; menus; control bars.
Chapter 5: Drawing and printing
Device context principles; the main device context classes described; buffered drawing; drawing tools; device context drawing functions; using the printing framework; 3D graphics with wxGLCanvas .
Chapter 6: Handling input
Handling mouse and mouse wheel events; handling keyboard events; keycodes; modifier key variations; accelerators; handling joystick events.
Chapter 7: Window layout using sizers
Layout basics; sizers introduced; common features of sizers; programming with sizers. Further layout issues: dialog units; platform-adaptive layouts; dynamic layouts.
Chapter 8: Using standard dialogs
Informative dialogs such as wxMessageBox and wxProgressDialog ; file and directory dialogs such as wxFileDialog ; choice and selection dialogs such as wxColourDialog and wxFontDialog ; entry dialogs such as wxTextEntryDialog and wxFindReplaceDialog ; printing dialogs: wxPageSetupDialog and wxPrintDialog .
Chapter 9: Creating custom dialogs
Steps in creating a custom dialog; an example: PersonalRecordDialog ; deriving a new class; designing data storage; coding the controls and layout; data transfer and validation; handling events; handling UI updates; adding help; adapting dialogs for small devices; further considerations in dialog design; using wxWidgets resource files; loading resources; using binary and embedded resource files; translating resources; the XRC format; writing resource handlers; foreign controls.
Chapter 10: Programming with images
Image classes in wxWidgets; programming with wxBitmap ; programming with wxIcon ; programming with wxCursor ; programming with wxImage ; image lists and icon bundles; customizing wxWidgets graphics with wxArtProvider .
Chapter 11: Clipboard and drag and drop
Data objects; data source duties; data target duties; using the clipboard; implementing drag and drop; implementing a drag source; implementing a drop target; using standard drop targets; creating a custom drop target; more on wxDataObject ; drag and drop helpers in wxWidgets.
Chapter 12: Advanced window classes
wxTreeCtrl ; wxListCtrl ; wxWizard ; wxHtmlWindow ; wxGrid ; wxTaskBarIcon ; writing your own controls; the control declaration; defining a new event class; displaying information; handling input; defining default event handlers; implementing validators; implementing resource handlers; determining control appearance.
Chapter 13: Data structure classes
Why not STL? wxString ; wxStringTokenizer ; wxRegEx ; wxArray ; wxList ; wxHashMap ; dates and times; wxObject ; wxLongLong ; wxPoint and wxRealPoint ; wxRect ; wxRegion ; wxSize ; wxVariant .
Chapter 14: Files and streams
wxFile and wxFFile ; wxTextFile ; wxTempFile ; wxDir ; wxFileName ; file functions; file streams; memory and string streams; data streams; socket streams; filter streams; zip streams; virtual file systems.
Chapter 15: Memory management, debugging and error checking
Creating and deleting window objects; creating and copying drawing objects; initializing your application object; cleaning up your application; detecting memory leaks and other errors; facilities for defensive programming; error reporting; providing run-time type information; using wxModule ; loading dynamic libraries; exception handling; debugging tips.
Chapter 16: Writing international applications
Introduction to internationalization; providing translations; using message catalogs; using wxLocale ; character encodings and Unicode; converting data; help files; numbers and dates; other media; an example.
Chapter 17: Writing multithreaded applications
When to use threads, and when not to; using wxThread ; thread creation; starting the thread; how to pause a thread or wait for an external condition; termination; synchronization objects; wxMutex ; deadlocks; wxCriticalSection ; wxCondition ; wxSemaphore ; the wxWidgets thread sample; alternatives to multithreading: wxTimer, idle time processing, and yielding.
Chapter 18: Programming with wxSocket
Socket classes and functionality overview; introduction to sockets and basic socket processing; the client; the server; connecting to a server; socket events; socket status and error notifications; sending and receiving socket data; creating a server; socket event recap; socket flags; blocking and non-blocking sockets in wxWidgets; how flags affect socket behavior; using wxSocket as a standard socket; using socket streams; alternatives to wxSocket .
Chapter 19: Working with documents and views
Document/view basics; choosing an interface style; creating and using frame classes; defining your document and view classes; defining your window classes; using wxDocManager and wxDocTemplate ; other document/view capabilities; standard identifiers; printing and previewing; file history; explicit document creation; strategies for implementing undo/redo.
Chapter 20: Perfecting your application
Single instance versus multiple instances; modifying event handling; reducing flicker; using a help controller; extended wxWidgets HTML help; authoring help; other ways to provide help; parsing the command line; storing application resources; invoking other applications; launching documents; redirecting process input and output; managing application settings; application installation on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X; following UI design guidelines.
Appendix A: Installing wxWidgets
Downloading and unpacking wxWidgets; configuration/build options; Windows – Microsoft Visual Studio and VC++ command-line; Windows – Borland C++; Windows – MinGW with and without MSYS; Unix/Linux and Mac OS X – GCC; customizing setup.h ; rebuilding after updating wxWidgets files; using "contrib" libraries.
Appendix B: Building your own wxWidgets applications
Windows – Microsoft Visual Studio; Linux – KDevelop; Mac OS X – Xcode; makefiles; cross-platform builds using Bakefile; wxWidgets symbols and headers; using wx-config .
Appendix C: Creating applications with DialogBlocks
What is DialogBlocks? Installing and upgrading DialogBlocks; the DialogBlocks interface; the sample project; compiling the sample; creating a new project; creating a dialog; creating a frame; creating an application object; debugging your application.
Appendix D: Other features in wxWidgets
Further window classes; ODBC classes; MIME types manager; network functionality; multimedia classes; embedded web browsers; accessibility; OLE automation; renderer classes; event loops.
Appendix E: Third-party tools for wxWidgets
Language bindings such as wxPython and wxPerl; tools such as wxDesigner, DialogBlocks and poEdit; add-on libraries such as wxMozilla, wxCURL, wxPropertyGrid.
Appendix F: wxWidgets application showcase
Descriptions of notable wxWidgets applications, such as AOL Communicator and Audacity.
Appendix G: Using the CD-ROM
Browsing the CD-ROM; the CD-ROM contents.
Appendix H: How wxWidgets processes events
An illustrated description of how event processing works.
Appendix I: Event classes and macros
A summary of the important event classes and macros.
Appendix J: Code Listings
Code listings for the PersonalRecordDialog and the wxWizard examples.
Appendix K: Porting from MFC
General observations; application initialization; message maps; converting dialogs and other resources; documents and views; printing; string handling and translation; database access; configurable control bars; equivalent functionality by macros and classes.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Julian Smart
Julian has degrees from the University of St Andrews and the University of Dundee. After working on model-based reasoning at the Scottish Crop Research Institute, he moved to the Artificial Intelligence Applications Institute at the University of Edinburgh, where he founded the wxWidgets project in 1992. Since starting Anthemion Software in 1996, Julian has been helping other companies deploy wxWidgets, and sells tools for programmers, including DialogBlocks and HelpBlocks. He has worked as a consultant for various companies including Borland, and was a member of Red Hat's eCos team writing GUI tools to support the embedded operating system. In 2004, Julian and his wife Harriet launched a consumer product for fiction writers called Writer's Café, written with wxWidgets. Julian and Harriet live in Edinburgh with their daughter Toni.
Kevin Hock
Kevin has degrees from Miami University (Oxford, Ohio) in Computer Science and Accounting, and has taught courses at Miami in both Java and client-server Systems. In 2002 he started work on an instant messaging system and founded BitWise Communications LLC in 2003, offering both professional and personal instant messaging. During the course of developing BitWise using wxWidgets, Kevin became a wxWidgets developer and has provided enhancements to all platforms.
Stefan Csomor
Stefan is director and owner of Advanced Concepts AG, a company that specializes in cross-platform development and consulting. In addition to being a qualified medical doctor, he has more than fifteen years experience in object-oriented programming and has been writing software for twenty-five years. Stefan is the main author of the Mac OS port of wxWidgets.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
wxWidgets owes its success to the hard work of many talented people. We would like to thank them all, with special consideration for that essential support network: our long-suffering families and partners. wxWidgets supporters and contributors include the following (apologies for any unintentional omissions):
Yiorgos Adamopoulos, Jamshid Afshar, Alejandro Aguilar-Sierra, Patrick Albert, Bruneau Babet, Mitchell Baker, Mattia Barbon, Nerijus Baliunas, Karsten Ballueder, Jonathan Bayer, Michael Bedward, Kai Bendorf, Yura Bidus, Jorgen Bodde, Borland, Keith Gary Boyce, Chris Breeze, Sylvain Bougnoux, Wade Brainerd, Pete Britton, Ian Brown, C. Buckley, Doug Card, Marco Cavallini, Dmitri Chubraev, Robin Corbet, Cecil Coupe, Stefan Csomor, Andrew Davison, Gilles Depeyrot, Duane Doran, Neil Dudman, Robin Dunn, Hermann Dunkel, Jos van Eijndhoven, Chris Elliott, David Elliott, David Falkinder, Rob Farnum, Joel Farley, Tom Felici, Thomas Fettig, Matthew Flatt, Pasquale Foggia, Josep Fortiana, Todd Fries, Dominic Gallagher, Roger Gammans, Guillermo Rodriguez Garcia, Brian Gavin, Wolfram Gloger, Aleksandras Gluchovas, Markus Greither, Norbert Grotz, Stephane Gully, Stefan Gunter, Bill Hale, Patrick Halke, Stefan Hammes, Guillaume Helle, Harco de Hilster, Kevin Hock, Cord Hockemeyer, Klaas Holwerda, Markus Holzem, Ove Kaaven, Mitch Kapor, Matt Kimball, Hajo Kirchoff, Olaf Klein, Jacob Jansen, Leif Jensen, Mark Johnson, Bart Jourquin, John Labenski, Guilhem Lavaux, Ron Lee, Hans Van Leemputten, Peter Lenhard, Jan Lessner, Nicholas Liebmann, Torsten Liermann, Per Lindqvist, Jesse Lovelace, Tatu Männistö, Lindsay Mathieson, Scott Maxwell, Bob Mitchell, Thomas Myers, Oliver Niedung, Stefan Neis, Ryan Norton, Robert O'Connor, Jeffrey Ollie, Kevin Ollivier, William Osborne, Hernan Otero, Ian Perrigo, Timothy Peters, Giordano Pezzoli, Harri Pasanen, Thomaso Paoletti, Garrett Potts, Robert Rae, Marcel Rasche, Mart Raudsepp, Andy Robinson, Robert Roebling, Alec Ross, Gunnar Roth, Thomas Runge, Tom Ryan, Dino Scaringella, Jobst Schmalenbach, Dimitri Schoolwerth, Arthur Seaton, Paul Shirley, Wlodzimierz Skiba, John Skiff, Vaclav Slavik, Brian Smith, Neil Smith, Stein Somers, Petr Smilauer, Kari Systä, George Tasker, Austin Tate, Arthur Tetzlaff-Deas, Paul Thiessen, Jonathan Tonberg, Jyrki Tuomi, Janos Vegh, Andrea Venturoli, David Webster, Michael Wetherell, Otto Wyss, Vadim Zeitlin, Xiaokun Zhu, Zbigniew Zagórski, Edward Zimmermann. Thanks also to SunSite Denmark and SourceForge for hosting project services.
Thanks are due in particular to Vadim Zeitlin, Vaclav Slavik, Robert Roebling, Stefan Csomor and Robin Dunn for permission to adapt some of their contributions to the wxWidgets reference manual.
Special thanks to Stefan Csomor who contributed Chapter 16 and Chapter 17, and to Kevin Ollivier who wrote the Bakefile tutorial in Appendix B. We would also like to thank Mitch Kapor for writing the foreword.
We are very grateful to Mark Taub for his patience and advice throughout. A big thank you goes to Marita Allwood, Harriet Smart, and Antonia Smart for all their love, support and encouragement. A debt is also owed to all those who have reviewed and suggested improvements to the book, including: Stefan Csomor, Dimitri Schoolwerth, Robin Dunn, Carl Godkin, Bob Paddock, Chris Elliott, Michalis Kabrianis, Marc-Andre Lureau, Jonas Karlsson, Arnout Engelen, Erik van der Wal, Greg Smith, and Alexander Stigsen.
Finally, we hope that you enjoy reading this book and, most importantly, have fun using wxWidgets to build great-looking, multi-platform applications!
Julian Smart and Kevin Hock, March 2005
© Copyright Pearson Education. All rights reserved.
Foreword
Index