Category : C++ Source Code
Archive   : WXWINDWS.ZIP
Filename : README.TXT

***** Announcing wxWindows 1.20 *****
***** A Free C++ GUI toolkit for XView and Windows 3.1 *****

>>> wxWindows is a toolkit for developing Windows 3 and
XView applications from the same body of C++ code.

Since the source is provided, wxWindows allows the programmer to add
features as needed. For many programmers, however, wxWindows should be
adequate for a range of applications.

>>> Uses include:

* development of applications for delivery on both X and Windows
* development on one platform for delivery on another
* single-platform development, as a high-level wrapper around XView
or Windows

>>> Included in this second release:

* Simple-to-use, object-oriented API
* Graphics calls include splines, polylines, rounded rectangles, etc.
* XView-style programmatic panel/dialog item layout
* Support for menu bars and status lines
* Pens, brushes, fonts, icons, cursors
* Easy, object-oriented interprocess comms (DDE subset) under
Windows 3 *and* UNIX
* Encapsulated PostScript generation under UNIX, Windows 3 printing on PC
* Virtually automatic MDI support under Windows
* Support for Windows 3 printer and file selector common dialogs, with
equivalents for UNIX
* Under Windows 3, support for copying metafiles to the clipboard
* Programmatic form facility for building form-like screens fast,
with constraints on values
* All source
* Several examples, including an object graphics library
* Comprehensive reference manual

>>> And here are some of the things not yet supported:

* Limited bitmap support
* No machine-independent resource tools
* No Motif support, yet
* Windows cannot be arbitrarily nested
* Not many panel items (widgets/controls) yet

>>> Requirements:

* On PC, Microsoft C/C++ 7 or Borland C++ 3.1 (sorry, no Borland makefiles yet)
* On UNIX, XView 3.0 and GCC/G++ (or compatible compiler, such as
AT&T C++)

>>> Where to get it

wxWindows is currently available from the Artificial Intelligence
Applications Institute by anonymous FTP.

FTP to skye.aiai.ed.ac.uk, log on as `anonymous', and give your user
ID as password. Change directory into pub/wxwin, change transmission
method to binary, and get wxwin120.tar.Z (UNIX) and/or wxwin120.zip (PC).
Both archives contain the source code for both platforms, but only the
executable demos for the specific platform (UNIX and Windows
respectively). The demos are available separately as demo.tar.Z and
demo.zip.

wxWindows is expected to be uploaded to the CICA Windows 3 archive at
Indiana University (ftp.cica.indiana.edu), and the British HENSA public
domain software archive (pdsoft.lancs.ac.uk).

>>> Installation

See install.txt.

>>> Bugs, etc.

wxWindows, like most other software, has the occasional buglet. I
would be grateful for bug reports (even better, fixes) though I can't
guarantee to do anything about them. Future releases of wxWindows are
likely to be more stable and more complete. Meanwhile, do send me your
enhancements, and I will try to incorporate them in future releases.
Here are some ideas for contributions:

* better bitmap support
* more widgets
* more Xlib wrappers
* an enhanced text subwindow for Windows
* an Xt-like constraint algorithm for laying out widgets

>>> In the pipeline

* a hypertext help system for wxWindows applications, similar to
Windows Help, but with interactive construction of help files
from plain text files
* wxToolBar class

------------------------------------------------------------------
Julian Smart, February 1993

Artificial Intelligence Applications Institute
University of E