wxWidgets even worth it?

[algumacoisaqq]

Well, several times I have tried to use wxWidgets, but I aways find the instalation very confusing and dificult, so I never really installed it. The thing is, should I even bother at trying to do it? I mean, all I wanted was some kind of tool were I could build a windowed program without hard-coding all the buttons and such, but I never found a way to do this. Maybe wxWidgets was suposed to be it, but why can't I just download something that installs it for me? It just looks easyer to hard code my window then to install that thing.

Any toughts? Thanks!

[cprgmswr2]

I made a c++ program that has a visual basics interface and then it spits out all the source code so you don't have to hand code the coordinates. I have found though that no one seems to care for a program like that though. The program uses pure win32 API

[BigAngryDog]

>wxWidgets even worth it?

In my opinion, yes.

Admittedly, the install procedure could (and should) be improved. Initially, I had difficulties but put them down to my own inexperience and stuck with it. I now find it builds easily with both GCC/C:B and VC2005. But like most things, it's easy when you understand it, but for was really confusing at first.


>all I wanted was some kind of tool were I could build a windowed program without hard-coding all the buttons and such

In this case, perhaps, wxWidgets is not what you're looking for. wxWidgets is a C++ class library, and on its own, it is not a drag and drop design time GUI construction tool. There are projects around which intend to provide a Delphi-like IDE which will integrate with your C++ IDE, but personally, I find it easier (and more reliable) to hard-code my interface stuff.


>It just looks easyer to hard code my window then to install that thing.

With what? WinAPI/MFC? I believe it would be worthwhile working through your installation difficulties.

If you find it helpful, here is a link to my first wxWidgets project, which includes source code & documentation.

http://www.bigangrydog.com/celest/index.htm

IMHO if something is too easy, it ain't worth it. So, in short, yes, wxWidgets is worthwhile.

[Michael]

Well, several times I have tried to use wxWidgets, but I aways find the instalation very confusing and dificult, so I never really installed it. The thing is, should I even bother at trying to do it? I mean, all I wanted was some kind of tool were I could build a windowed program without hard-coding all the buttons and such, but I never found a way to do this. Maybe wxWidgets was suposed to be it, but why can't I just download something that installs it for me? It just looks easyer to hard code my window then to install that thing.

Any toughts? Thanks!

Hello,

Yes, may be the installation of wxWidgets is at the beginning not so easy, but after some search not so difficult (and you can always ask in the wxWidgets forum .

Using wxWidgets for simple task is not so time-consuming (and the wxWidgets book is available for free . Moreover, you can try wxSmith (C::B RAD plugin).

Sometime, I have used Qt Designer for the Qt library, which worked fine (at least for Qt version 3.x.x).

Best wishes,
Michael

[algumacoisaqq]

Well, thank you guys for the replying!

So I decided to try once more to compile it... but it just didn't worked.

First time, he says he can't find the mingw32-make in the build\msw directory. Ok, so I went into the mingGW\bin\ directory and typed that stuff

mingw32-make -f makefile.gcc USE_XRC=1 SHARED=1 MONOLITHIC=1 BUILD=release UNICODE=1  clean

logically I replaced makefile.gcc with c:\wxWidgets\build\msw\makefile.gcc. It beginned compiling only to complain that
config.gcc: Nu such file or directory (but there was the file, I saw it!), and later complaining that
"mingw32-make *** No rule to make target 'config.gcc'. Stop."

Ok, so I comented out the config.gcc from the makefile.gcc. It now told me that he couldn't find the file \..\..\samples\
Ok, so I copied the mingw32-make.exe into the build\msw\ folder, so that he would at least find the correct directories. And then, after showing a bunch of stuff in the screen, he gave me the error that he couldn't found the mingw32-make command (I can't tell precisely what the error was because it was in Portuguese). So I give up.

I just don't get it... this is too damn ridiculously hard. What's the point with all that?

[vesselin_peev]

Do you have the MinGW bin directory in your path, e.g. C:\MinGW\bin? You need to have it in your path. Then, re-run the make command from the build\msw directory. And make sure that before doing that, you revert to the original, unmodified makefile.gcc.

[mandrav]

I just don't get it... this is too damn ridiculously hard. What's the point with all that?

Read this article (just the section 2.1.1,  about wxWidgets)...

[mandrav]

...or read this post by Thomas, again just the wxWidgets part.

[mdelfede]

........ or this very well explanation on wiki, that covers all from installing mingw to code::blocks from sources passing thru wxWidgets...... I found it near perfect  :shock:

http://wiki.codeblocks.org/index.php?title=Installing_Code::Blocks_from_source_on_Windows

Regards

Max

[algumacoisaqq]

Do you have the MinGW bin directory in your path, e.g. C:\MinGW\bin? You need to have it in your path. Then, re-run the make command from the build\msw directory. And make sure that before doing that, you revert to the original, unmodified makefile.gcc.

This is probably my problem, since I never knew how to deal with the 'path'. However, when I do:

Code

set path=c:\mingw\bin;c:\mingw\mingw32\bin
mingw32-make -f makefile.gcc USE_XRC=1 SHARED=1 MONOLITHIC=1 BUILD=release UNICODE=0 clean
mingw32-make -f makefile.gcc USE_XRC=1 SHARED=1 MONOLITHIC=1 BUILD=release UNICODE=0

It will still tell me that "mingw32-make is not recognised as a intern or extern command, an operational program or a file in 'lotes' " (don't know how to translate that).

About the articles... Some of them I've read, but it never worked.
Anyway, thanks you all for replying.

[mdelfede]

This is probably my problem, since I never knew how to deal with the 'path'. However, when I do:

Code

set path=c:\mingw\bin;c:\mingw\mingw32\bin
mingw32-make -f makefile.gcc USE_XRC=1 SHARED=1 MONOLITHIC=1 BUILD=release UNICODE=0 clean
mingw32-make -f makefile.gcc USE_XRC=1 SHARED=1 MONOLITHIC=1 BUILD=release UNICODE=0

Supposing that you have correctly installed mingw in c:\mingw, the most reliable (and permanent) way to put it in your path is done with these steps :
1) Open 'My Computer" in start menu (or whatever it's called in your language...)
2) Right click in 'My Computer' window, select "Properties" from menu
3) Select "Advanced" tab, then select the button right on top of Ok button (sorry, I've got Italian windows XP and don't remember the english label....)
4) In 'System Variables" (if I remember the english name...), select path and edit it, adding this at the end :

Code

            ;c:\mingw\bin;c:\mingw\mingw32\bin

try it, if it's ok, you should be able to run mingw32-make from all places.

btw, that's a trival thing in windows.... If you have problems with this, I guess it's only the beginning....

Ciao

Max

[algumacoisaqq]

Thanks mdelfelde! It compiled! Ito be honest, I don't really shure what to do now (didn't checked yet), but at least I know that I'm in the right track. Thanks!

[mdelfede]

Thanks mdelfelde! It compiled! Ito be honest, I don't really shure what to do now (didn't checked yet), but at least I know that I'm in the right track. Thanks!

Happy that this helped you 
We all had to start programming, and sometimes we forget our starting problems  :shock:

You could begin trying to compile some of the wxWidgets samples (i'm doing it right now), that's useful to see how they work.

Ciao

Max

[Angel Portal]

Well May some of you know something about Ultimate++, does it work on Code::Block

[thomas]

Well May some of you know something about Ultimate++, does it work on Code::Block

We don't directly support it (there is no template or anything), but there is no reason why you should not be able to use it with Code::Blocks.

Personally, I find the style of Ultimate++ scary (almost repulsive), but what they do is beyond any doubt valid C++, and it is certainly a lot more concise and more efficient than for example wxWidgets. If you can live with this particular coding style (which is a pure matter of taste), then Ultimate++ is a very good thing.

Ultimate++ works with gcc, and therefore you can use Code::Blocks to develop with Ultimate's toolkit (gcc is Code::Blocks' default compiler).
All you have to do is build the library (and create some application templates if you need any).