Thread: GUI with wxWidgets

  1. #1
    Registered User Vespasian's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Posts
    181

    GUI with wxWidgets

    After painstakingly trying to figure out what tools and libraries to use to make GUI's ive decided upon settling down to learn wxWidgets. I read its used by large corporations, institutions, engineering and the sciences, basically everyone. It seems to have the best of all worlds. Native feel I could go on and on...

    The problem is I only know C so learning C++ to get to wxWidgets will take a while.

    Anyway, question:

    Its not enough for me to just know the wxWidgets library and functions. I must build it using drag drop features or a GUI builder. So my question is, what is the defacto, largest used, simply "best" GUI builder used for wxWidgets?
    wxGlade? wxDesigner? wxForm builder? wxSmith?

    My question then would be from where does one go from here?
    They are just builders and not standalone IDE's right? For example, wxForm is actually included in Code::Blocks, so how do I get another builder, should it be better, to be included in Code::Blocks (which is my preferential IDE?

    Third. Where does one find literature on these GUI builders on how to use them? By that I dont mean a mere wiki article with hello world but rather something exhaustive and detailed.

  2. #2
    [](){}(); manasij7479's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    *nullptr
    Posts
    2,657
    >The problem is I only know C so learning C++ to get to wxWidgets will take a while.
    'A while' may turn to a few years. I don't know about wxWidgets.. but Qt gave me quite a difficult ride about an year ago...and I knew quite a bit of C++ then.

    >Its not enough for me to just know the wxWidgets library and functions.
    But it is necessary to learn "the wxWidgets library and functions" if you expect to make good usage of the RAD tools associated.

    >Where does one find literature on these GUI builders on how to use them?
    Err... the graphical builders are made so that, when you already know how to program using the backend library, you can...without much literature jump right into it.
    It isn't a very good idea to do it the opposite way... especially where documentation is lacking.
    Last edited by manasij7479; 11-14-2011 at 01:20 PM.

  3. #3
    spurious conceit MK27's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    segmentation fault
    Posts
    8,300
    wxWidgets is nice and not particularly hard, but if you have not done GUI programming at all, it is going to be somewhat bewildering. GUI's are a great example of something which looks very simple and straightforward, but often isn't.

    You should get a basic grasp of C++, including OOP and the STL, before you start.

    Quote Originally Posted by Vespasian View Post
    Its not enough for me to just know the wxWidgets library and functions. I must build it using drag drop features or a GUI builder. So my question is, what is the defacto, largest used, simply "best" GUI builder used for wxWidgets?
    wxGlade? wxDesigner? wxForm builder? wxSmith?
    I'm too stuck up for builders, myself, but they probably can save you some time. Beware that apps built with gtk glade (so, perhaps, wxGlade) actually use xml files, etc, at runtime -- ie, you do not get a nice tidy executable. I have a hunch this means some other limitations in terms of your ability to tweak things, etc (especially considering wx is itself an interface to other libraries, however, to be fair, I have seen some nice stuff done with gtk glade). It could be that all such builder things do this, I dunno.

    Third. Where does one find literature on these GUI builders on how to use them? By that I dont mean a mere wiki article with hello world but rather something exhaustive and detailed.
    Oh of course the developers provide that, don't they, lol? Maybe not...

    There is a wx forum that is I think reasonably active:

    wxWidgets Discussion Forum • Index page
    Last edited by MK27; 11-14-2011 at 01:22 PM.
    C programming resources:
    GNU C Function and Macro Index -- glibc reference manual
    The C Book -- nice online learner guide
    Current ISO draft standard
    CCAN -- new CPAN like open source library repository
    3 (different) GNU debugger tutorials: #1 -- #2 -- #3
    cpwiki -- our wiki on sourceforge

Popular pages Recent additions subscribe to a feed

Similar Threads

  1. WxWidgets in C?
    By Jake.c in forum C Programming
    Replies: 8
    Last Post: 10-05-2008, 02:40 AM
  2. wxWidgets ListCtrl lag
    By Sfel in forum Windows Programming
    Replies: 6
    Last Post: 05-19-2008, 09:09 AM
  3. wxWidgets DLL Help
    By Matt3000 in forum C++ Programming
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 08-19-2006, 05:56 PM
  4. Borland & wxWidgets!!! Help!!!
    By Matt3000 in forum C++ Programming
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: 07-31-2006, 09:17 PM
  5. wxWidgets
    By Wraithan in forum C++ Programming
    Replies: 9
    Last Post: 12-07-2005, 10:19 PM