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git-svn-id: https://svn.wxwidgets.org/svn/wx/wxWidgets/trunk@12516 c3d73ce0-8a6f-49c7-b76d-6d57e0e08775
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237 lines
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<TITLE>wxWindows 2 FAQ: General</TITLE>
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wxWindows 2 FAQ: General
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<P>
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See also <a href="faq.htm">top-level FAQ page</a>.
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<hr>
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<h3>List of questions in this category</h3>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="#whatis">What is wxWindows?</a></li>
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<li><a href="#users">Who uses wxWindows?</a></li>
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<li><a href="#platforms">What platforms are supported by wxWindows 2?</a></li>
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<li><a href="#specific">How does wxWindows 2 support platform-specific features?</a></li>
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<li><a href="#stl">Does wxWindows use STL? or the standard string class?</a></li>
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<li><a href="#richedit">Is there a rich edit/markup widget for wxWindows 2?</a></ li>
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<li><a href="#dev">How is wxWindows 2 being developed?</a></li>
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<li><a href="#distrib">How is wxWindows 2 distributed?</a></li>
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<li><a href="#future">What are the plans for the future?</a></li>
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<li><a href="#univ">What is wxUniversal?</a></li>
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<li><a href="#jave">What about Java?</a></li>
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<li><a href="#help">How can I help the project?</a></li>
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</ul>
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<hr>
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<H3><a name="whatis">What is wxWindows?</a></H3>
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wxWindows is a class library that allows you to compile graphical C++ programs on a range of
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different platforms. wxWindows defines a common API across platforms, but uses the native graphical user interface (GUI) on each platform,
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so your program will take on the native 'look and feel' that users are familiar with.<P>
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Although GUI applications are mostly built programmatically, there is a dialog editor to help
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build attractive dialogs and panels. Robert Roebling's <a href="http://www.roebling.com">wxDesigner</a>
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makes light work of resizable, portable dialogs.<P>
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You don't have to use C++ to use wxWindows: there is a <a href="http://wxpython.org">Python interface</a> for wxWindows 2,
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and also a <a href="http://wxperl.sourceforge.net" target=_top>Perl interface</a>.
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<P>
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<h3>Can I use wxWindows 2 for both proprietary (commercial) projects, and GPL'ed projects?</h3>
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Yes. Please see the <a href="newlicen.htm">licence</a> for details, but basically
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you can distribute proprietary binaries without distributing any source code, and neither will wxWindows
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conflict with GPL code you may be using or developing with it.
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<P>
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The conditions for using wxWindows 2 are the same whether you are a personal, academic
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or commercial developer.
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<P>
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<h3>Is there support?</h3>
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No official support, but the mailing list is very helpful and some people say that
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wxWindows support is better than for much commercial software. The developers are
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keen to fix bugs as soon as possible, though obviously there are no guarantees.
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<P>
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<H3><a name="users">Who uses wxWindows?</a></H3>
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Many organisations - commercial, government, and academic - across the
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world. It's impossible to estimate the true number of users, since
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wxWindows is obtained by many different means, and we cannot monitor
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distribution. The mailing list contains around 300-400 entries which is
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quite large for a list of this type.<P>
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See <a href="users.htm">Users</a> for a list of some users and their applications, and
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also <A href="feedback.htm">Feedback</a> for comments.<P>
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<H3><a name="platforms">What platforms are supported by wxWindows 2?</a></H3>
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<ul>
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<li>Windows 3.1, Windows 95/98, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows ME.
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<li>Linux and other Unix platforms with GTK+.
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<li>Unix with Motif or the free Motif clone Lesstif.
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<li>Mac OS.
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<li>Embedded platforms are being investigated. See the <a href="wxuniv.htm">wxUniversal</a> project.
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<li>An OS/2 port is in progress, and you can also compile wxWindows for GTK+ or Motif
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on OS/2.
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</ul>
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<P>
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<H3><a name="specific">How does wxWindows 2 support platform-specific
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features?</a></H3>
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This is a hotly-debated topic amongst the developers. My own philosophy
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is to make wxWindows as platform-independent as possible, but allow in a
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few classes (functions, window styles) that are platform-specific.
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For example, Windows metafiles and Windows 95 taskbar icons have
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their own classes on Windows, but nowhere else. Because these classes
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are provided and are wxWindows-compatible, it doesn't take much
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coding effort for an application programmer to add support for
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some functionality that the user on a particular platform might otherwise
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miss. Also, some classes that started off as platform-specific, such
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as the MDI classes, have been emulated on other platforms. I can imagine
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that even wxTaskBarIcon may be implemented for Unix desktops one day.
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<P>
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In other words, wxWindows is not a 'lowest common denominator' approach,
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but it will still be possible to write portable programs using the
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core API. Forbidding some platform-specific classes would be a stupid
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approach that would alienate many potential users, and encourage
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the perception that toolkits such as wxWindows are not up to the demands
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of today's sophisticated applications.<P>
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Currently resources such as bitmaps and icons are handled in a platform-specific
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way, but it is hoped to reduce this dependence in due course.<P>
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Another reason why wxWindows 2 is not a 'lowest common denominator' toolkit is that
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some functionality missing on some platform has been provided using generic,
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platform-independent code, such as the wxTreeCtrl and wxListCtrl classes.<P>
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<H3><a name="stl">Does wxWindows use STL? or the standard string class?</a></H3>
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No. This is a much-discussed topic that has (many times) ended with the conclusion that it is in
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wxWindows' best interests to avoid use of templates. Not all compilers can handle
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templates adequately so it would dramatically reduce the number of compilers
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and platforms that could be supported. It would also be undersirable to make
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wxWindows dependent on another large library that may have to be downloaded and installed.
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In addition, use of templates can lead to executable bloat, which is something
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wxWindows 2 is strenously trying to avoid.<P>
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The standard C++ string class is not used, again because it is not available to all compilers,
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and it is not necessarily a very efficient implementation. Also, we retain more flexibility
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by being able to modify our own string class. Some compatibility with the string class
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has been built into wxString.<P>
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There is nothing to stop an application using templates or the string class for its own
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purposes. With wxWindows debugging options on, you may find you get errors when including
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STL headers. You can work around it either by switching off memory checking,
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or by adding this to a header before you include any STL files:<P>
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<PRE>
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#ifdef new
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#undef new
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#endif
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</PRE>
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<P>
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<H3><a name="richedit">Is there a rich edit/markup widget for wxWindows 2?</a></H3>
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These are the possibilities so far:<P>
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<ul>
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<li>The richedit sample has a text editor that does markup.
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<li>See <a href="http://www.scintilla.org" target=_top>www.scintilla.org</a> for
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a very nice syntax-highlighting editor widget. Robin Dunn is writing a wxWindows wrapper
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for this widget.
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<li>If you only need to display marked-up information, rather than edit it,
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then wxHTML will suit your needs. wxHTML is built into wxWindows - please see the reference
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manual for details, and samples/html.
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<li>There are rich edit widgets in both WIN32 and GTK+, but there is currently
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no wxWindows wrapper for these (but text attribute functions are being added in the wxWindows 2.3.x series).
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</ul>
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<P>
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<H3><a name="dev">How is wxWindows 2 being developed?</a></H3>
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We are using the <a href="cvs.htm">CVS</a> system to develop and maintain wxWindows. This allows
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us to make alterations and upload them instantly to the SourceForge server, from
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which others can update their source.<P>
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To build source from CVS, see the file BuildCVS.txt in the top-level wxWindows distribution
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directory.<P>
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<H3><a name="distrib">How is wxWindows 2 distributed?</a></H3>
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By ftp, and via the <a href="cdrom2.htm">wxWindows CD-ROM</a>.
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<P>
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If you are feeling adventurous, you may also check out the sources directly
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from the <a href="cvs.htm">cvs</a>
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<p>
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<H3><a name="future">What are the plans for the future?</a></H3>
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Currently we're working too hard on getting wxWindows 2 finished (are GUI toolkits ever
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finished?) to think very far ahead. However, we know we want to make wxWindows as robust
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and well-publicised as possible. We also want to aim for better platform-independence of
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resources such as icons and bitmaps, standardising on the PNG for all platforms.<P>
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Other possibilities include: DCOM/CORBA compatibility; a wxWindows book;
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<a href="http://wxworkshop.sourceforge.net/">wxWorkshop</a>, an IDE;
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other platforms, especially embedded systems; other interface abilities such as speech output.<P>
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We will investigate the possibility of compiler or operating system vendors bundling wxWindows with
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their product.<P>
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The high-level goal of wxWindows is to be thought of as the number one C++ framework,
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for virtually any platform. Move over, MFC!<P>
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<H3><a name="univ">What is wxUniversal?</a></H3>
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wxUniversal is a new port of wxWindows being currently actively developed. The
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main difference is that wxUniversal implements all controls (or widgets) in
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wxWindows itself thus allowing to have much more flexibility (i.e. support for
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themes even under MS Windows!). It also means that it is now much easier to
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port wxWindows to a new platform as only the low-level classes must be ported
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which make for a small part of the library.
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<p>
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You may find more about wxUniversal <a href=wxuniv.htm>here</a>.
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<H3><a name="jave">What about Java?</a></H3>
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The Java honeymoon period is over :-) and people are realising that it cannot
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meet all their cross-platform development needs. We don't anticipate a major threat
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from Java, and the level of interest in wxWindows is as high as ever.<P>
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<H3><a name="help">How can I help the project?</a></H3>
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Please check out the <a href="http://www.wxwindows.org/develop2.htm">Community</a> pages,
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in particular the <a href="projects.htm">suggested projects</a>, and
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mail <a href="mailto:julian.smart@btopenworld.com">Julian Smart</a> or the developers' mailing list with your own suggestions.<P>
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