[Wxruby-dev] FW: wxWindows for Ruby Again

[Curt Hibbs]

Park sent this directly to me, but had some relevant comments at the end --
so I am forwarding this to the wxRuby ML.

Curt

-----Original Message-----
From: Park Heesob [mailto:address@hidden
Sent: Friday, September 20, 2002 9:02 PM
To: Curt Hibbs
Subject: Re: wxWindows for Ruby Again


Hi,
----- Original Message -----
From: "Curt Hibbs" <address@hidden>
To: "Tobias Peters" <address@hidden>; "Park Heesob"
<address@hidden>
Cc: "Curt Hibbs" <address@hidden>; "wxRuby"
<address@hidden>; "Bob Calco"
<address@hidden>; "Rich Kilmer" <address@hidden>; "Laurent
Julliard" <address@hidden>
Sent: Saturday, September 21, 2002 12:26 AM
Subject: RE: wxWindows for Ruby Again


> Tobias Peters wrote:
> >
> > On Fri, 20 Sep 2002, Park Heesob wrote:
> >
> > > Because I tested only in Windows XP.
> > > It needs some modifications for other platforms.
> > >
> > > > Curt
> >
> > I just downloaded it and tried to compile on linux. extconf.rb contains
> > visual c++ specific stuff. I replaced it with:
> >
> > require 'mkmf'
> > $CFLAGS += `wx-config --cflags`
> > $libs += `wx-config --libs`
> > create_makefile('wx')
> >
> > then compilation fails with
> >
> >
g++ -fPIC -g -O2 -I/usr/X11R6/lib/wx/include/gtk-2.2 -I/usr/X11R6/include
> > -DGTK_NO_CHECK_CASTS -D__WXGTK__ -D_REENTRANT
>
> -I/home/tobias/lib/ruby/1.6/i686-linux -I. -I/home/tobias/include    -c -o
> > wx_wrap.o wx_wrap.cpp
> > wx_wrap.cpp:1269: wx/tglbtn.h: No such file or directory
> > wx_wrap.cpp:1425: wx/fdrepdlg.h: No such file or directory
> > wx_wrap.cpp:1491: wx/popupwin.h: No such file or directory
> > wx_wrap.cpp:1492: wx/tipwin.h: No such file or directory
> >
> > I give up here because I don't know anything about wxwindows. Maybe it's
> > due to the wx library version:
> >
> > $ wx-config --version
> > 2.2.9
> >
> > and you state I need wxWindows 1.3.2 .
>
> I am assuming that he really meant to say wxWindows 2.3.2 (which is the
most
> recent version).
>
Yes, you need wxWindows 2.3.2

> > Thanks for your work, Park!
>
> Yes, definitely!
>
> >   Tobias
>
> Let me say a few words about the approach we are taking in the development
> of wxRuby, because it differs from what they did with wxPython.
>
> The problem with the wxPython implementation is that in their interface
> files they duplicated all of the definitions in the wxWindows headers
files
> (in fairness, they may have had no choice as they were using SWIG 1.1).
Over
> time this becomes a maintenance headache because every time a new version
of
> wxWindows is released, you have to do a diff to see what changed and then
> duplicate those changes in the interface files.
>
> SWIG 1.3.14 (the current version) has a much better implementation of the
> c/c++ preprocessor and is, consequently, better able to directly process
> header files without the need for interface files. We started with a copy
of
> the wxPython interface files, intending to port them, but quickly decided
to
> discard them and try to wrap wxWindows with as little such duplication as
> possible.
>
> The existence for Park's working (on windows) port of the wxPython
> implementation will probably alter our approach. What I am going to
> investigate this weekend, is using Park's port as a working starting point
> and then systematically remove the duplications (where possible).
>
I know little about wxWindows, Python and SWIG.
But, I believe wxRuby is easier than wxPython.
I have examined wxPython, wxPerl, wxLua, wxBasic and wxWindows source code.
It seems that wxPython is more stable than others and it also use SWIG.
So I decided porting from wxPython.

I used SWIG 1.3.14.
It allows overloading method, but some problems in parameter type checking
for Ruby.
It also needs somes modifications of *.swg files in case of wxRuby.
Most of work I made is trial and error.
I hope you release stable wxRuby version soon or later.

> Thanks again, Park!
You're welcome.
>
> Curt
>

Park Heesob