wxWidgets is a C++ framework providing GUI (Graphical User Interface) and other facilities on more than one platform. Version 2 currently supports all desktop versions of MS Windows, Unix with GTK+, Unix with Motif, and MacOS. An OS/2 port is in progress.wxWidgets was originally developed at the Artificial Intelligence Applications Institute, University of Edinburgh, for internal use, and was first made publicly available in 1992. Version 2 is a vastly improved version written and maintained by Julian Smart, Robert Roebling, Vadim Zeitlin, Vaclav Slavik and many others.This manual contains a class reference and topic overviews. For a selection of wxWidgets tutorials, please see the documentation page on the wxWidgets web site.Please note that in the following, "MS Windows" often refers to all platforms related to Microsoft Windows, including 16-bit and 32-bit variants, unless otherwise stated. All trademarks are acknowledged.

wxWidgets was developed to provide a cheap and flexible way to maximize investment in GUI application development. While a number of commercial class libraries already existed for cross-platform development, none met all of the following criteria:low price;source availability;simplicity of programming;support for a wide range of compilers.Since wxWidgets was started, several other free or almost-free GUI frameworks have emerged. However, none has the range of features, flexibility, documentation and the well-established development team that wxWidgets has.As open source software, wxWidgets has benefited from comments, ideas, bug fixes, enhancements and the sheer enthusiasm of users. This gives wxWidgets a certain advantage over its commercial competitors (and over free libraries without an independent development team), plus a robustness against the transience of one individual or company. This openness and availability of source code is especially important when the future of thousands of lines of application code may depend upon the longevity of the underlying class library.Version 2 goes much further than previous versions in terms of generality and features, allowing applications to be produced that are often indistinguishable from those produced using single-platform toolkits such as Motif, GTK+ and MFC.The importance of using a platform-independent class library cannot be overstated, since GUI application development is very time-consuming, and sustained popularity of particular GUIs cannot be guaranteed. Code can very quickly become obsolete if it addresses the wrong platform or audience. wxWidgets helps to insulate the programmer from these winds of change. Although wxWidgets may not be suitable for every application (such as an OLE-intensive program), it provides access to most of the functionality a GUI program normally requires, plus many extras such as network programming, PostScript output, and HTML rendering; and it can of course be extended as needs dictate. As a bonus, it provides a far cleaner and easier programming interface than the native APIs. Programmers may find it worthwhile to use wxWidgets even if they are developing on only one platform.It is impossible to sum up the functionality of wxWidgets in a few paragraphs, but here are some of the benefits:Low cost (free, in fact!)You get the source.Available on a variety of popular platforms.Works with almost all popular C++ compilers and Python.Over 50 example programs.Over 1000 pages of printable and on-line documentation.Includes Tex2RTF, to allow you to produce your own documentation in Windows Help, HTML and Word RTF formats.Simple-to-use, object-oriented API.Flexible event system.Graphics calls include lines, rounded rectangles, splines, polylines, etc.Constraint-based and sizer-based layouts.Print/preview and document/view architectures.Toolbar, notebook, tree control, advanced list control classes.PostScript generation under Unix, normal MS Windows printing on the PC.MDI (Multiple Document Interface) support.Can be used to create DLLs under Windows, dynamic libraries on Unix.Common dialogs for file browsing, printing, colour selection, etc.Under MS Windows, support for creating metafiles and copying them to the clipboard.An API for invoking help from applications.Ready-to-use HTML window (supporting a subset of HTML).Network support via a family of socket and protocol classes.Support for platform independent image processing.Built-in support for many file formats (BMP, PNG, JPEG, GIF, XPM, PNM, PCX).

To make use of wxWidgets, you currently need one of the following setups.(a) MS-Windows:A 32-bit or 64-bit PC running MS Windows.A Windows compiler: MS Visual C++ (embedded Visual C++ for wxWinCE port), Borland C++, Watcom C++, Cygwin, MinGW, Metrowerks CodeWarrior, Digital Mars C++. See install.txt for details about compiler version supported.At least 100 MB of disk space for source tree and additional space for libraries and application building (depends on compiler and build settings).(b) Unix:Almost any C++ compiler, including GNU C++ (EGCS 1.1.1 or above).Almost any Unix workstation, and one of: GTK+ 1.2, GTK+ 2.0, Motif 1.2 or higher, Lesstif. If using the wxX11 port, no such widget set is required.At least 100 MB of disk space for source tree and additional space for libraries and application building (depends on compiler and build settings).(c) Mac OS/Mac OS X:A PowerPC Mac running Mac OS 8.6/9.x (eg. Classic) or Mac OS X 10.x.CodeWarrior 5.3, 6 or 7 for Classic Mac OS.The Apple Developer Tools (eg. GNU C++), CodeWarrior 7 or above for Mac OS X.At least 100 MB of disk space for source tree and additional space for libraries and application building (depends on compiler and build settings).

wxWidgets is available by anonymous FTP and World Wide Web from and/or http://www.wxwidgets.org.You can also buy a CD-ROM using the form on the Web site.

Thanks are due to AIAI for being willing to release the original version of wxWidgets into the public domain, and to our patient partners.We would particularly like to thank the following for their contributions to wxWidgets, and the many others who have been involved in the project over the years. Apologies for any unintentional omissions from this list. Yiorgos Adamopoulos, Jamshid Afshar, Alejandro Aguilar-Sierra, AIAI, Patrick Albert, Karsten Ballueder, Mattia Barbon, Michael Bedward, Kai Bendorf, Yura Bidus, Keith Gary Boyce, Chris Breeze, Pete Britton, Ian Brown, C. Buckley, Marco Cavallini, Dmitri Chubraev, Robin Corbet, Cecil Coupe, Stefan Csomor, Andrew Davison, Gilles Depeyrot, Neil Dudman, Robin Dunn, Hermann Dunkel, Jos van Eijndhoven, Chris Elliott, David Elliott, Tom Felici, Thomas Fettig, Matthew Flatt, Pasquale Foggia, Josep Fortiana, Todd Fries, Dominic Gallagher, Guillermo Rodriguez Garcia, Wolfram Gloger, Norbert Grotz, Stefan Gunter, Bill Hale, Patrick Halke, Stefan Hammes, Guillaume Helle, Harco de Hilster, Kevin Hock, Cord Hockemeyer, Markus Holzem, Olaf Klein, Leif Jensen, Bart Jourquin, Guilhem Lavaux, Ron Lee, Jan Lessner, Nicholas Liebmann, Torsten Liermann, Per Lindqvist, Thomas Runge, Tatu Männistö, Scott Maxwell, Thomas Myers, Oliver Niedung, Stefan Neis, Ryan Norton, Hernan Otero, Ian Perrigo, Timothy Peters, Giordano Pezzoli, Harri Pasanen, Thomaso Paoletti, Garrett Potts, Marcel Rasche, Robert Roebling, Dino Scaringella, Jobst Schmalenbach, Arthur Seaton, Paul Shirley, Wlodzimierz 'ABX' Skiba, Vaclav Slavik, Julian Smart, Stein Somers, Petr Smilauer, Neil Smith, Kari Systä, George Tasker, Arthur Tetzlaff-Deas, Jonathan Tonberg, Jyrki Tuomi, Janos Vegh, Andrea Venturoli, David Webster, Otto Wyss, Vadim Zeitlin, Xiaokun Zhu, Edward Zimmermann.'Graphplace', the basis for the wxGraphLayout library, is copyright Dr. Jos T.J. van Eijndhoven of Eindhoven University of Technology. The code has been used in wxGraphLayout with his permission.We also acknowledge the author of XFIG, the excellent Unix drawing tool, from the source of which we have borrowed some spline drawing code. His copyright is included below.XFig2.1 is copyright (c) 1985 by Supoj Sutanthavibul. Permission to use, copy, modify, distribute, and sell this software and its documentation for any purpose is hereby granted without fee, provided that the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation, and that the name of M.I.T. not be used in advertising or publicity pertaining to distribution of the software without specific, written prior permission. M.I.T. makes no representations about the suitability of this software for any purpose. It is provided "as is'' without express or implied warranty.