9838df2cef
look OK on Motif now; got rid of some #ifdef wxUSE_... instances git-svn-id: https://svn.wxwidgets.org/svn/wx/wxWidgets/trunk@1459 c3d73ce0-8a6f-49c7-b76d-6d57e0e08775
155 lines
6.5 KiB
HTML
155 lines
6.5 KiB
HTML
<HTML>
|
|
|
|
<HEAD>
|
|
<TITLE>wxWindows 2 for Windows FAQ</TITLE>
|
|
</HEAD>
|
|
|
|
<BODY BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF TEXT=#000000 LINK=#FF0000 VLINK=#000000>
|
|
|
|
<font face="Arial, Lucida Sans, Helvetica">
|
|
|
|
<table width=100% border=4 cellpadding=5 cellspacing=0>
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td bgcolor="#660000">
|
|
<font size=+1 face="Arial, Lucida Sans, Helvetica" color="#FFFFFF">
|
|
wxWindows 2 for Windows FAQ
|
|
</font>
|
|
</td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
</table>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
See also <a href="faq.htm">top-level FAQ page</a>.
|
|
<hr>
|
|
|
|
<h3>Which Windows platforms are supported?</h3>
|
|
|
|
wxWindows can be used to develop and deliver applications on Windows 3.1, Win32s,
|
|
Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows NT. A Windows CE version is being looked into (see below).<P>
|
|
|
|
wxWindows 2 is designed to make use of WIN32 features and controls. However, unlike Microsoft,
|
|
we have not forgotten users of 16-bit Windows. Most features
|
|
work under Windows 3.1, including wxTreeCtrl and wxListCtrl using the generic implementation.
|
|
However, don't expect very Windows-specific classes to work, such as wxTaskBarIcon. The wxRegConfig
|
|
class doesn't work either because the Windows 3.1 registry is very simplistic. Check out the 16-bit
|
|
makefiles to see what other files have been left out.
|
|
<P>
|
|
16-bit compilation is supported under Visual C++ 1.5, and Borland BC++ 4 to 5.
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
wxWindows 2 for Windows will also compile on Unix with gcc using TWIN32 from <a href="http://www.willows.com" target=_top>Willows</a>,
|
|
although TWIN32 is still in a preliminary state. The resulting executables are
|
|
Unix binaries that work with the TWIN32 Windows API emulator.<P>
|
|
|
|
You can also compile wxWindows 2 for Windows on Unix with Cygwin or Mingw32, resulting
|
|
in executables that will run on Windows. So in theory you could write your applications
|
|
using wxGTK or wxMotif, then check/debug your wxWindows for Windows
|
|
programs with TWIN32, and finally produce an ix86 Windows executable using Cygwin/Mingw32,
|
|
without ever needing a copy of Microsoft Windows. See the Technical Note on the Web site detailing cross-compilation.<P>
|
|
|
|
<h3>What about Windows CE?</h3>
|
|
|
|
This is under consideration, though we need to get wxWindows Unicode-aware first.
|
|
There are other interesting issues, such as how to combine the menubar and toolbar APIs
|
|
as Windows CE requires. But there's no doubt that it will be possible, albeit
|
|
by mostly cutting down wxWindows 2 API functionality, and adding a few classes here
|
|
and there. Since wxWindows for 2 produces small binaries (less than 300K for
|
|
the statically-linked 'minimal' sample), shoehorning wxWindows 2 into a Windows CE device's limited
|
|
storage should not be a problem.<P>
|
|
|
|
<h3>What compilers are supported?</h3>
|
|
|
|
Please see the wxWindows 2 for Windows install.txt file for up-to-date information, but
|
|
currently the following are known to work:<P>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>Visual C++ 1.5, 4.0, 5.0, 6.0
|
|
<li>Borland C++ 4.5, 5.0
|
|
<li>Borland C++Builder 1.0, 3.0
|
|
<li>Watcom C++ 10.6 (WIN32)
|
|
<li>Cygwin b20
|
|
<li>Mingw32
|
|
<li>MetroWerks CodeWarrior 4
|
|
</ul>
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
There is a linking problem with Symantec C++ which I hope someone can help solve.
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
<h3>Which is the best compiler to use with wxWindows 2?</h3>
|
|
|
|
It's partly a matter of taste, but I (JACS) prefer Visual C++ since the debugger is very
|
|
good, it's very stable, the documentation is extensive, and it generates small executables.
|
|
Since project files are plain text, it's easy for me to generate appropriate project files
|
|
for wxWindows samples.<P>
|
|
|
|
Borland C++ is fine - and very fast - but it's hard (impossible?) to use the debugger without using project files, and
|
|
the debugger is nowhere near up to VC++'s quality. The IDE isn't great.<P>
|
|
|
|
C++Builder's power isn't really used with wxWindows since it needs integration with its
|
|
own class library (VCL). For wxWindows, I've only used it with makefiles, in which case
|
|
it's almost identical to BC++ 5.0 (the same makefiles can be used).<P>
|
|
|
|
You can't beat Cygwin's price (free), and you can debug adequately using gdb. However, it's
|
|
quite slow to compile since it does not use precompiled headers.<P>
|
|
|
|
CodeWarrior is cross-platform - you can debug and generate Windows executables from a Mac, but not
|
|
the other way around I think - but the IDE is, to my mind, a bit primitive.<P>
|
|
|
|
Watcom C++ is a little slow and the debugger is not really up to today's standards.<P>
|
|
|
|
<h3>Is Unicode supported?</h3>
|
|
|
|
No, although there are other internationalisation features.<P>
|
|
|
|
However, the issues surrounding Unicode support have been looked into so we know
|
|
what we need to do, and have some header files ready to use containing appropriate
|
|
type definitions. Just about every file in wxWindows will need changes, due to the
|
|
pervasive nature of characters and character arrays. Unicode support is needed
|
|
for the port to Windows CE (see above).<P>
|
|
|
|
<h3>Can you compile wxWindows 2 as a DLL?</h3>
|
|
|
|
Yes (using the Visual C++ or Borland C++ makefile), but be aware that distributing DLLs is a thorny issue
|
|
and you may be better off compiling statically-linked applications, unless you're
|
|
delivering a suite of separate programs, or you're compiling a lot of wxWindows applications
|
|
and have limited hard disk space.<P>
|
|
|
|
With a DLL approach, and with different versions and configurations of wxWindows
|
|
needing to be catered for, the end user may end up with a host of large DLLs in his or her Windows system directory,
|
|
negating the point of using DLLs. Of course, this is not a problem just associated with
|
|
wxWindows!
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
<H3>How can I reduce executable size?</H3>
|
|
|
|
You can compile wxWindows as a DLL (see above, VC++/BC++ only at present). You should also
|
|
compile your programs for release using non-debugging and space-optimisation options.<P>
|
|
|
|
Statically-linked wxWindows 2 programs are smaller than wxWindows 1.xx programs, because of the way
|
|
wxWindows 2 has been designed to reduce dependencies between classes, and other
|
|
techniques. The linker will not include code from the library that is not (directly or
|
|
indirectly) referenced
|
|
by your application. So for example, the 'minimal' sample is less than 300KB using VC++ 6.<P>
|
|
|
|
If you want to distribute really small executables, you can
|
|
use <a href="http://www.icl.ndirect.co.uk/petite/" target=_top>Petite</a>
|
|
by Ian Luck. This nifty utility compresses Windows executables by around 50%, so your 500KB executable
|
|
will shrink to a mere 250KB. With this sort of size, there is reduced incentive to
|
|
use DLLs.<P>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<H3>Will wxWindows be compatible with MFC?</H3>
|
|
|
|
There is a sample which demonstrates MFC and wxWindows code co-existing in the same
|
|
application. However, don't expect to be able to enable wxWindows windows with OLE-2
|
|
functionality using MFC.<P>
|
|
|
|
|
|
</font>
|
|
|
|
</BODY>
|
|
|
|
</HTML>
|