Fixed some doc problems
git-svn-id: https://svn.wxwidgets.org/svn/wx/wxWidgets/trunk@3569 c3d73ce0-8a6f-49c7-b76d-6d57e0e08775
This commit is contained in:
@@ -13,9 +13,9 @@ wxPython is a blending of the wxWindows GUI classes and the
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\wxheading{Python}
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So what is Python? Go to
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\urlref{http://www.python.org}{http://www.python.org}
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to learn more, but in a nutshell Python is an interpreted,
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So what is Python? Go to
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\urlref{http://www.python.org}{http://www.python.org} to learn more,
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but in a nutshell Python is an interpreted,
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interactive, object-oriented programming language. It is often
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compared to Tcl, Perl, Scheme or Java.
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@@ -33,38 +33,37 @@ commercial use.
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wxPython is a Python package that can be imported at runtime that
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includes a collection of Python modules and an extension module
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(native code). It provides a series of Python classes that mirror (or
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shadow) many of the wxWindows GUI classes. This extension module
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(native code). It provides a series of Python classes that mirror (or
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shadow) many of the wxWindows GUI classes. This extension module
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attempts to mirror the class heiarchy of wxWindows as closely as
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possble. This means that there is a wxFrame class in wxPython that
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looks, smells, tastes and acts almost the same as the wxFrame class in
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the C++ version.
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wxPython is very versitile. It can be used to create standalone GUI
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wxPython is very versitile. It can be used to create standalone GUI
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applications, or in situations where Python is embedded in a C++
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application as an internal scripting or macro language.
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Currently wxPython is available for Win32 platforms and the GTK
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toolkit (wxGTK) on most Unix/X-windows platforms. The effort to
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enable wxPython for wxMotif will begin shortly. See \helpref{Building Python}{wxpbuild} for
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toolkit (wxGTK) on most Unix/X-windows platforms. The effort to
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enable wxPython for wxMotif will begin shortly. See \helpref{Building Python}{wxpbuild} for
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details about getting wxPython working for you.
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%----------------------------------------------------------------------
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\section{Why use wxPython?}\label{wxpwhy}
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So why would you want to use wxPython over just C++ and wxWindows?
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Personally I prefer using Python for everything. I only use C++ when
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I absolutely have to eek more performance out of an algorithm, and even
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I absolutely have to eke more performance out of an algorithm, and even
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then I ususally code it as an extension module and leave the majority
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of the program in Python.
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Another good thing to use wxPython for is quick prototyping of your
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wxWindows apps. With C++ you have to continuously go though the
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edit-compile-link-run cycle, which can be quite time comsuming. With
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Python it is only an edit-run cycle. You can easily build an
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wxWindows apps. With C++ you have to continuously go though the
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edit-compile-link-run cycle, which can be quite time consuming. With
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Python it is only an edit-run cycle. You can easily build an
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application in a few hours with Python that would normally take a few
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days or longer with C++. Converting a wxPython app to a C++/wxWindows app
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days or longer with C++. Converting a wxPython app to a C++/wxWindows app
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should be a straight forward task.
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%----------------------------------------------------------------------
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@@ -74,48 +73,47 @@ There are other GUI solutions out there for Python.
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\wxheading{Tkinter}
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Tkinter is the defacto standard GUI for Python. It is available
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on nearly every platform that Python and Tcl/TK are. Why Tcl/Tk?
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Tkinter is the defacto standard GUI for Python. It is available
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on nearly every platform that Python and Tcl/TK are. Why Tcl/Tk?
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Well because Tkinter is just a wrapper around Tcl's GUI toolkit, Tk.
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This has its upsides and its downsides...
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The upside is that Tk is a pretty veristile toolkit. It can be made
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to do a lot of things in a lot of different environments. It is fairly
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The upside is that Tk is a pretty versatile toolkit. It can be made
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to do a lot of things in a lot of different environments. It is fairly
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easy to create new widgets and use them interchangably in your
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programs.
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The downside is Tcl. When using Tkinter you actually have two
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The downside is Tcl. When using Tkinter you actually have two
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separate language interpreters running, the Python interpreter and the
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Tcl interpreter for the GUI. Since the guts of Tcl is mostly about
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string processing, it is fairly slow as well. (Not too bad on a fast
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Tcl interpreter for the GUI. Since the guts of Tcl is mostly about
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string processing, it is fairly slow as well. (Not too bad on a fast
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Pentium II, but you really notice the difference on slower machines.)
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It wasn't until the lastest version of Tcl/Tk that native Look and
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Feel's were possible on non-Motif platforms. This is because Tk
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usually implements it's own widgets (controls) even when there are
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Feel was possible on non-Motif platforms. This is because Tk
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usually implements its own widgets (controls) even when there are
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native controls available.
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Tkinter is a pretty low-level toolkit. You have to do a lot of work
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Tkinter is a pretty low-level toolkit. You have to do a lot of work
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(verbose program code) to do things that would be much simpler with a higher
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level of abstraction.
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\wxheading{PythonWin}
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PythonWin is an add-on package for Python for the Win32 platform. It
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includes wrappers for MFC as well as much of the win32 API. Because
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PythonWin is an add-on package for Python for the Win32 platform. It
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includes wrappers for MFC as well as much of the Win32 API. Because
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of its foundation, it is very familiar for programmers who have
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experience with MFC and the Win32 API. It is obviously not compatible
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with other platforms and toolkits. PythonWin is organized as separate
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experience with MFC and the Win32 API. It is obviously not compatible
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with other platforms and toolkits. PythonWin is organized as separate
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packages and modules so you can use the pieces you need without having
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to use the GUI portions.
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\wxheading{Others}
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There are quite a few other GUI modules available for Python, some in
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active use, some that havn't been updated for ages. Most are simple
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active use, some that havn't been updated for ages. Most are simple
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wrappers around some C or C++ toolkit or another, and most are not
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cross-platform compatible. See \urlref{this
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link}{http://www.python.org/download/Contributed.html\#Graphics}
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cross-platform compatible. See \urlref{this link}{http://www.python.org/download/Contributed.html\#Graphics}
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for a listing of a few of them.
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%----------------------------------------------------------------------
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@@ -123,27 +121,27 @@ for a listing of a few of them.
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I used SWIG (\urlref{http://www.swig.org}{http://www.swig.org}) to
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to create the source code for the
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extension module. This enabled me to only have to deal with a small
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extension module. This enabled me to only have to deal with a small
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amount of code and only have to bother with the exceptional issues.
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SWIG takes care of the rest and generates all the repetative code for
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me. You don't need SWIG to build the extension module as all the
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me. You don't need SWIG to build the extension module as all the
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generated C++ code is included under the src directory.
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I added a few minor features to SWIG to control some of the code
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generation. If you want to play around with this you will need to get
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a recent version of SWIG from their CVS or from a daily build. See
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generation. If you want to play around with this you will need to get
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a recent version of SWIG from their CVS or from a daily build. See
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\urlref{http://www.swig.org/}{http://www.swig.org/} for details.
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wxPython is organized as a Python package. This means that the
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wxPython is organized as a Python package. This means that the
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directory containing the results of the build process should be a
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subdirectory of a directory on the \tt{PYTHONPATH}. (And preferably should
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be named wxPython.) You can control where the build process will dump
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wxPython by setting the \tt{TARGETDIR} variable for the build utility, (see
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below.)
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subdirectory of a directory on the \tt{PYTHONPATH}. (And preferably should
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be named wxPython.) You can control where the build process will dump
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wxPython by setting the \tt{TARGETDIR} variable for the build utility (see
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below).
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\begin{enumerate}\itemsep=0pt
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\item Build wxWindows as described in its BuildCVS.txt file. For *nix
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systems I run configure with these flags:
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\item Build wxWindows as described in its BuildCVS.txt file. For Unix
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systems I run configure with these flags:
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\begin{verbatim}
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--with-gtk
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@@ -157,63 +155,52 @@ below.)
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--disable-std_iostreams
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\end{verbatim}
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You can use whatever flags you want, but I know these work.
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For Win32 systems I use Visual C++ 6.0, but 5.0 should work also. The
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build utility currently does not support any other win32 compilers.
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You can use whatever flags you want, but I know these work.
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For Win32 systems I use Visual C++ 6.0, but 5.0 should work also. The
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build utility currently does not support any other Win32 compilers.
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\item At this point you may want to make an alias or symlink, script,
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batch file, whatever on the PATH that invokes
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\tt{\$(WXWIN)/utils/wxPython/distrib/build.py} to help simplify matters
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somewhat. For example, on my win32 system I have a file named
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\tt{build}.bat in a directory on the PATH that contains:
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\tt{python \%WXWIN/utils/wxPython/distrib/build.py \%1 \%2 \%3 \%4 \%5 \%6}
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batch file, whatever on the PATH that invokes \tt{\$(WXWIN)/utils/wxPython/distrib/build.py} to
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help simplify matters somewhat. For example, on my Win32 system I have a file named
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\tt{build}.bat in a directory on the PATH that contains:
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\tt{python \%WXWIN/utils/wxPython/distrib/build.py \%1 \%2 \%3 \%4 \%5 \%6}
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\item Change into the \tt{\$(WXWIN)/utils/wxPython/src} directory.
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\item Type "\tt{build -b}" to build wxPython and "\tt{build -i}" to
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install it, or \"\tt{build -bi}\" to do both steps at once.
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The build.py script actually generates a Makefile based on what it
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finds on your system and information found in the build.cfg file.
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If you have troubles building or you want it built or installed in
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a different way, take a look at the docstring in build.py. You are
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able to to override many configuration options in a file named
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build.local.
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install it, or "\tt{build -bi}" to do both steps at once.
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The build.py script actually generates a Makefile based on what it
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finds on your system and information found in the build.cfg file.
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If you have troubles building or you want it built or installed in
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a different way, take a look at the docstring in build.py. You are
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able to to override many configuration options in a file named
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build.local.
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\item To build and install the add-on modules, change to the appropriate
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directory under \tt{\$(WXWIN)/utils/wxPython/modules} and run the build
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utility again.
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directory under \tt{\$(WXWIN)/utils/wxPython/modules} and run the build
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utility again.
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\item Change to the \tt{\$(WXWIN)/utils/wxPython/demo} directory.
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\item Try executing the demo program. For example:
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\item Try executing the demo program. For example:
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\tt{python demo.py}
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\tt{python demo.py}
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To run it without requiring a console on win32, you can use the
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To run it without requiring a console on Win32, you can use the
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\tt{pythonw.exe} version of Python either from the command line or from a
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shortcut.
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\end{enumerate}
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%----------------------------------------------------------------------
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\section{Using wxPython}\label{wxpusing}
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\wxheading{First things first...}
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I'm not going to try and teach the Python language here. You can do
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I'm not going to try and teach the Python language here. You can do
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that at the \urlref{Python Tutorial}{http://www.python.org/doc/tut/tut.html}.
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I'm also going to assume that you know a bit about wxWindows already,
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enough to notice the similarities in the classes used.
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Take a look at the following wxPython program. You can find a similar
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program in the \tt{wxPython/demo} directory, named \tt{DialogUnits.py}. If your
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Take a look at the following wxPython program. You can find a similar
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program in the \tt{wxPython/demo} directory, named \tt{DialogUnits.py}. If your
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Python and wxPython are properly installed, you should be able to run
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it by issuing this command:
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@@ -305,38 +292,38 @@ it by issuing this command:
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\begin{enumerate}\itemsep=0pt
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\item At line 2 the wxPython classes, constants, and etc. are imported
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into the current module's namespace. If you prefer to reduce
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into the current module's namespace. If you prefer to reduce
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namespace pollution you can use "\tt{from wxPython import wx}" and
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then access all the wxPython identifiers through the wx module, for
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example, "\tt{wx.wxFrame}".
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\item At line 13 the frame's sizing and moving events are connected to
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methods of the class. These helper functions are intended to be like
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the event table macros that wxWindows employs. But since static event
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methods of the class. These helper functions are intended to be like
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the event table macros that wxWindows employs. But since static event
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tables are impossible with wxPython, we use helpers that are named the
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same to dynamically build the table. The only real difference is
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same to dynamically build the table. The only real difference is
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that the first arguemnt to the event helpers is always the window that
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the event table entry should be added to.
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\item Notice the use of \tt{wxDLG\_PNT} and \tt{wxDLG\_SZE} in lines 19
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- 29 to convert from dialog units to pixels. These helpers are unique
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- 29 to convert from dialog units to pixels. These helpers are unique
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to wxPython since Python can't do method overloading like C++.
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\item There is an \tt{OnCloseWindow} method at line 34 but no call to
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EVT\_CLOSE to attach the event to the method. Does it really get
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called? The answer is, yes it does. This is because many of the
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EVT\_CLOSE to attach the event to the method. Does it really get
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called? The answer is, yes it does. This is because many of the
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\em{standard} events are attached to windows that have the associated
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\em{standard} method names. I have tried to follow the lead of the
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\em{standard} method names. I have tried to follow the lead of the
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C++ classes in this area to determine what is \em{standard} but since
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that changes from time to time I can make no guarentees, nor will it
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be fully documented. When in doubt, use an EVT\_*** function.
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be fully documented. When in doubt, use an EVT\_*** function.
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\item At lines 17 to 21 notice that there are no saved references to
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the panel or the static text items that are created. Those of you
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the panel or the static text items that are created. Those of you
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who know Python might be wondering what happens when Python deletes
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these objects when they go out of scope. Do they disappear from the GUI? They
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don't. Remember that in wxPython the Python objects are just shadows of the
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coresponding C++ objects. Once the C++ windows and controls are
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these objects when they go out of scope. Do they disappear from the GUI? They
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don't. Remember that in wxPython the Python objects are just shadows of the
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coresponding C++ objects. Once the C++ windows and controls are
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attached to their parents, the parents manage them and delete them
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when necessary. For this reason, most wxPython objects do not need to
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when necessary. For this reason, most wxPython objects do not need to
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have a \_\_del\_\_ method that explicitly causes the C++ object to be
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deleted. If you ever have the need to forcibly delete a window, use
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deleted. If you ever have the need to forcibly delete a window, use
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the Destroy() method as shown on line 36.
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\item Just like wxWindows in C++, wxPython apps need to create a class
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derived from \tt{wxApp} (line 56) that implements a method named
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@@ -344,9 +331,9 @@ derived from \tt{wxApp} (line 56) that implements a method named
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main window (line 62) and use \tt{wxApp.SetTopWindow()} (line 66) to
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inform wxWindows about it.
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\item And finally, at line 72 an instance of the application class is
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created. At this point wxPython finishes initializing itself, and calls
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the \tt{OnInit} method to get things started. (The zero parameter here is
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a flag for functionality that isn't quite implemented yet. Just
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created. At this point wxPython finishes initializing itself, and calls
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the \tt{OnInit} method to get things started. (The zero parameter here is
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a flag for functionality that isn't quite implemented yet. Just
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ignore it for now.) The call to \tt{MainLoop} at line 73 starts the event
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loop which continues until the application terminates or all the top
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level windows are closed.
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@@ -355,9 +342,9 @@ level windows are closed.
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%----------------------------------------------------------------------
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\section{wxWindows classes implemented in wxPython}\label{wxpclasses}
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The following classes are supported in wxPython. Most provide nearly
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The following classes are supported in wxPython. Most provide nearly
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full implementations of the public interfaces specified in the C++
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documentation, others are less so. They will all be brought as close
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documentation, others are less so. They will all be brought as close
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as possible to the C++ spec over time.
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\begin{itemize}\itemsep=0pt
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@@ -496,8 +483,6 @@ as possible to the C++ spec over time.
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\item \helpref{wxUpdateUIEvent}{wxupdateuievent}
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\item \helpref{wxWindowDC}{wxwindowdc}
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\item \helpref{wxWindow}{wxwindow}
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\end{itemize}
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%----------------------------------------------------------------------
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@@ -507,7 +492,7 @@ Since wxPython is a blending of multiple technologies, help comes from
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multiple sources. See
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\urlref{http://alldunn.com/wxPython}{http://alldunn.com/wxPython} for details on
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various sources of help, but probably the best source is the
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wxPython-users mail list. You can view the archive or subscribe by
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wxPython-users mail list. You can view the archive or subscribe by
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going to
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\urlref{http://starship.python.net/mailman/listinfo/wxpython-users}{http://starship.python.net/mailman/listinfo/wxpython-users}
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Reference in New Issue
Block a user