159 lines
5.8 KiB
Plaintext
159 lines
5.8 KiB
Plaintext
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***** Announcing wxWindows 1.65 *****
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***** A Free C++ GUI toolkit for Motif, Open Look, Windows 3.1 *****
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***** and Windows NT *****
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>>> wxWindows is a C++ framework for developing multi-platform, graphical
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applications from the same body of C++ code.
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>>> Uses include:
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* development of applications for delivery on several platforms
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* single-platform development, as a high-level wrapper around XView,
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Motif or Windows
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>>> Main features:
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* Simple-to-use, object-oriented API
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* Graphics calls include splines, polylines, rounded rectangles, etc.
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* Simple programmatic panel/dialog item layout
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* Support for menu bars and status lines
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* Toolbar class
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* Pens, brushes, fonts, icons, cursors, bitmaps
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* Easy, object-oriented interprocess comms (DDE subset) under
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Windows 3 *and* UNIX
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* Encapsulated PostScript generation under UNIX, Windows 3 printing on PC
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* Print/preview framework (NEW)
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* Document/view/undo framework (NEW)
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* Memory-checking and debugging features (NEW)
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* ODBC subset support (NEW)
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* Virtually automatic MDI support under Windows
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* Support for Windows 3 printer and file selector common dialogs, with
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equivalents for UNIX
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* Under Windows 3, support for copying metafiles to the clipboard
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* Programmatic form facility for building form-like screens fast,
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with constraints on values
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* Applications can access Windows Help or wxHelp hypertext help system
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* All source
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* Several examples
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* Reference manual in PostScript, wxHelp, and WinHelp form
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>>> Bonus features:
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* Simple-to-use Windows program installation utility for delivering
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your applications
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* wxCLIPS: an interface to NASA's CLIPS, for rapid GUI prototyping
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and application extension
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* wxPython: an IDE for rapid object-oriented GUI development
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* Tex2RTF utility for maintaining online and printed manuals
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* Tree and graph layout classes
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* Contributed advanced editor/hypertext classes
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* Dialog Editor (currently Windows only).
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>>> Requirements:
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* On PC, one of Microsoft C/C++, Borland C++ 3.1/4.0, Symantec C++,
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Watcom C++ (WIN32 only).
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* On UNIX, XView 3.x or Motif 1.2.x and GCC/G++ (or virtually any C++ compiler)
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wxWindows is compatible with most UNIX platforms, but is most
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tested on Suns using GCC.
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* At least 8 MB of disk space.
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>>> Weaknesses
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To avoid disappointment, it should be pointed out that wxWindows may
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not be suitable for everyone. It contains a few bugs and some ugly
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code, unlike any commercial equivalent :-); it does not have the
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slickness or coverage of a tool like Microsoft's MFC; and you may not
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agree with the compromises made for portability. On the other hand,
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it is in a state of continuous development and improvement.
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Some changes may need to be made for specific platforms, although most
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compilers and UNIXes are now catered for. And wxWindows does produce
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large executables and increase compilation time, although there are
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strategies for minimizing these problems, depending on brand of
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compiler and operating system: see the FAQ.
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>>> Where to get it
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wxWindows is currently available from the Artificial Intelligence
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Applications Institute by anonymous FTP.
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> FTP to ftp.aiai.ed.ac.uk (or German mirror site at
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ftp.mapsy.nat.tu-bs.de/pub/mirror/wxwin)
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> log on as `anonymous', and give your user ID as password
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> Change directory into /pub/packages/wxwin/1.65, (unix or mswin
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subdirectories), change transmission method to binary, and
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get wx165*.tar.Z or wx164*.tgz (UNIX) and/or wx165_*.zip (PC).
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> Get install.txt.
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> For automated installation under UNIX, get wxinstal.
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> Both archives contain the source code for both platforms, but only the
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executable demos for the specific platform (UNIX and Windows
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respectively). The demos are available separately as demo.tar.Z and
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demo.zip.
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You can view the documentation for wxWindows on the AIAI World Wide Web
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server using a viewer such as Mosaic.
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See http://www.aiai.ed.ac.uk/~jacs/wxwin.html
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>>> Installation
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See install.txt and the installation script wxinstal.
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>>> Bugs and an exhortation
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wxWindows, like most other software, has the occasional buglet
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(bugs.txt contains a list of some of them). I would be grateful for
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bug reports (even better, fixes) though I can't guarantee to integrate
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them. Meanwhile, please do join the growing wxWindows community: it's
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fun, and it's going places. The more contributors, the stronger
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the chances that it will be the best toolkit of its type within
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the next year or so.
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>>> wxWindows discussion forum
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There is a mailing list for users or potential users of wxWindows. Send
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a request to wxwin-users-request@aiai.ed.ac.uk or J.Smart@ed.ac.uk to
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subscribe to (or unsubscribe from) the mailing list. Note that these
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messages go to me, it's not yet automated.
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General discussions take place on wxwin-users@aiai.ed.ac.uk;
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wxwin-announce is for people preferring lower bandwidth, and I will
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always send announcements to wxwin-users as well as wxwin-announce. So
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there's not usually a need to subscribe to both. wxwin-dev is for
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discussion about future developments for wxWindows.
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wxwin-users currently contains around 360 entries.
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>>> In the pipeline
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* wxSizer classes for advanced window layout.
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* Ports of the Dialog Editor to other platforms, and expansion
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of its capabilities.
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* Persistent storage.
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* Ports to Mac, OS/2, Xt and NEXTSTEP. There is currently an
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AIAI-funded Mac port project due to end July 1996.
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* OLE-2 support is under consideration via the OLE++ project.
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>>> THANKS, to everyone who has contributed code, suggestions
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or moral support.
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------------------------------------------------------------------
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Julian Smart, December 1995
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Artificial Intelligence Applications Institute
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University of Edinburgh
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80 South Bridge
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Edinburgh
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Scotland
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EH1 1HN
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EMAIL: J.Smart@ed.ac.uk
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TEL: 0131 650 2746
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