Start wxWdigets programming on Windows

  |   Source
  • Download wxWidgets
  • Extracted it somewhere. "c:\wxWidgets-3.0.0", for example.
  • Create environment variable WXWIN with value "c:\wxWidgets-3.3.0"
  • Install Visual Studio Express 2010
  • If the source is on network drive, you need set pch directory. Maybe the best way is use local folder.
  • Compile wxWidgets library by running the dos batch file:
@echo off
call "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\VC\bin\vcvars32.bat"
nmake -f %WXWIN%\build\msw\makefile.vc BUILD=debug
nmake -f %WXWIN%\build\msw\makefile.vc BUILD=release

We use vcvars32.bat to set up the CLI tool chains.

  • Install CMake
  • Create a simple project with files main.cpp, main.hpp, and CMakeLists.txt

CMakeLists.txt is the project file for CMake: 

PROJECT(main)
CMAKE_MINIMUM_REQUIRED(VERSION 2.6)

# sets variable SOURCES to the project source files.
set(XRCS
  main_frame.xrc
  )

set(XRCS_DIR ${main_SOURCE_DIR}/rc)

if(CMAKE_COMPILER_IS_GNUCC)
  # needed for gcc 4.6+
  set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -fpermissive")
endif()

set( CPP_SOURCES
  main.cpp
  )

set( H_SOURCES
    main.hpp
    )
  )

set(SOURCES
  ${CPP_SOURCES}
  ${H_SOURCES}
  )

# xrc -> xml, adv, html
set(wxWidgets_USE_LIBS xrc xml adv html core base)
find_package(wxWidgets REQUIRED)
include(${wxWidgets_USE_FILE})

#try to embed resource
foreach(XRC ${XRCS})
  string(REGEX REPLACE "[.].*$" ".h" XRC_HEADER ${XRC})
  set(XRC_HEADER ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/${XRC_HEADER})
  set(XRC ${XRCS_DIR}/${XRC})
  add_custom_command(OUTPUT ${XRC_HEADER}
    COMMAND bin2c -c ${XRC} ${XRC_HEADER}
    MAIN_DEPENDENCY ${XRC} )
  set(SOURCES ${SOURCES} ${XRC_HEADER})
endforeach(XRC)

set(INC
  )

if(UNIX AND NOT APPLE)
  include(FindPkgConfig)
  pkg_check_modules(GTK2 REQUIRED gtk+-2.0>=2.10)
  set(INC ${INC} ${GTK2_INCLUDE_DIRS})
endif()

#add other librarie
include_directories(${INC})

if(UNIX)
  add_definitions(-Wno-write-strings)
endif()

if(WIN32)
  # WIN32 := subsystem is windows instead of console?
  add_executable(main WIN32 ${SOURCES})
else(WIN32)
  add_executable(main ${SOURCES})
endif()

set(LIBS
  ${wxWidgets_LIBRARIES}
  )

if(MINGW AND WIN32)
  set(LIBS ${LIBS} ole32 uuid oleaut32)
endif()
target_link_libraries(main ${LIBS})
  • Running the below dos batch the create Visual Studio Project Files
@echo off
call "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\VC\bin\vcvars32.bat"
cmake path/of/directory/which/contains/CMakeLists.txt/
  • Enjoy!

BTW, for other systems, see wxWiki.

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