wxWidgets !!!

Just wanna try my hand on wxWidgets toolkit so as get refresh my GUI programming course and also i would be easier for me to use in my future projects.

Before we get started with wxWIdgets u need to get ur IDE and compiler ready . For IDE i would be using code block . This the first time that i would be working on Code Blocks . One thing that i would like to mention over here is that code blocks itself is developed in wxWidgets and is cross platform that make it really very interesting to work with it . Download the Code Blocks win binary release 8.02 without out the compiler ( i would be installing mingw seperately so that i can share the same with other IDE’s ). Now after selecting the IDE next step is see which compiler you would be using . I prefer  mingw compiler and downloaded 5.1.4 from the ming site. During the course of installation make sure that u select the c++ compiler during custom installation . After installing the above u can proceed with to install the wxwidget toolkit (current stable release 2.8.9 win installer). Make sure that u first install the ming compiler package which should be in c:\ so that Code Block can auto detect the GCC compiler suite ) which u can install in any destination u desire .

Ok now the important part : before u can create u first application with wxWidgets u need to compile the liab first . Compliation will make around 10 min to compile but important things over here is the make option that u would be using since that will have a effect on how u would be configuring the CodeBlock to use wxWidgets Liab.

Anyway everything went smooth and below is the pic of my first app created with wxWidgets .

Just a simple notepad !!! but useful . Anyway there is lot more things to cover before i could use wxWidgets functionally however this simple app marks my very first step towards GUI Programming with wxWidgets .

source:

- wxWidgets ( Main Site )

- wxWidgets Part 1

- wxWidgets Part 2

- wxWidgets Part 3

- code blocks IDE

- Mingw Compiler ( Minimal GNU for windows )

GUI Programming

I have been waiting for some time to start with my GUI programming course but now finally i can take out some time to start working on it. So before I could start up I need to answer some of the questions that are popping out of my mind right now.

GUI Programming in Game Development / Soft. Development : GUI programming in Game development is not that imp but if u were doing serious Soft. Development then u need to get set ready to dive deep into the cores . For serious soft development u have lot of alternative too or u can choose from various hundred of liab’s . So how to choose which one? Simple answer is: depends on ur need .

Prominent GUI liab/tools are WIN API ,MFC , GTK , QT , wxWidgets , Win forms etc . Working on WNI API is really cumbersome as compared to other but the adv u get is no overhead . But will u use a tool that effect ur productivity?. If we take a look to other GUI liab’s  many GUI toolkit are available now which are cross platform , easier and faster to work with ( creating a window in WIN API will take time and around 70-80 lines of code and ur problem does not end here J) .However if u want to understand GUI programming in more deeper terms then get set to dive in WIN API. Rest I leave it on you. Also there are GUI designer available which u can try out . Visual studio already contain GUI designer so as QT .

Anyway first I would be trying my hands on wxWidgets ( hmm I hv already tasted other earlier ) . Long way to go J

sources :

- list of GUI Lib’s