wxperl-users — For wxPerl users

[wxperl-users] Re to Mattia: Fast Splash

[Graciliano M. P. \(V. Sites\) <gm...@vi...>]

Mattia wrote:
> I'm not that excited about incorporating it ( I'd like to keep the =
core
> as small as possible ), but I can be convinced otherwise, of course.

Mattia,

  My first example was just a big test, but was a mess in the code. Too =
much changes in your modules just for one thing, the Splash.

  But I finished the SplashFast.pm module. It's simple and independent, =
don't need changes in the other modules. Please thake a look in the new =
.pm because 11 different peoples was looking about this in the last 3 =
days, and asking me how to use.

  I'm still working in the Flash and IE for wxPerl...  :- P

Graciliano M. P.

Re: [wxperl-users] Fast SplashScreen Experience

[Mattia B. <mb...@ds...>]

> Mattia wrote:
> >...so we will be gaining less than 33% ( notice that in a real scenario I'll
> need to load at least ( part of ) Wx::Event -> less time saving ).
> >Is that worth the additional code complication? ( <- this is not rhetorical, BTW...)
> 
> Mattia, have you looked at Graciliano's second version?
Yes
> The new one is really simple and much faster. I'd like to test it
> in a real application, but the splash is instantaneous < 1 second on a
> P1 400 MHz machine in the demo. The currennt wxPerl splash speed is 2 - 3
> seconds, and it may get longer with a larger app?
> 
> Since this new version does not mess with Wx.pm I think it's worth a try
                                            ^^^^^
                                            this is the real reson I like it...
> incorporating it into wxPerl. May need more tweaking though. Graciliano
> is turning it into a module.
I'm not that excited about incorporating it ( I'd like to keep the core
as small as possible ), but I can be convinced otherwise, of course.

> General notes:
> When I start IE, Opera or other large apps they require a long startup so
> that I often wonder if they are launching okay. If we can do better than
> the others by showing the user an instant splash screen, then why not?
> 
> Of course it's primarily psychological when the apps actually take the
> same amount of time to load, but that's the way we humans are. We like to
> see a reaction and know what's happening.
I know, but I was arguing that a 33% ( in my tests ) speedup was not worth
the massive code contortion of the first version. The last version does
not have this problem.

> Speed of loading and a smooth run is what people look for when evaluating software. That's what I have gleaned from user feedback and I think wxPerl apps could easily rival VB and similar environments if we produce some useful apps as examples.
> 
> I plan on writing down how to make a wxPerl app suit the usual
> desktop user. Topics would be:
> 
> - Tuning loading time
> - Splash
> - Creating an exe
> - Installers (packaging)
This would be Really Nice.

Regards
Mattia

Re: [wxperl-users] Fast SplashScreen Experience

[Marcus <ma...@wo...>]

Mattia wrote:
>...so we will be gaining less than 33% ( notice that in a real scenario I'll
need to load at least ( part of ) Wx::Event -> less time saving ).
>Is that worth the additional code complication? ( <- this is not rhetorical, BTW...)

Mattia, have you looked at Graciliano's second version?

The new one is really simple and much faster. I'd like to test it in a real application, but the splash is instantaneous < 1 second on a P1 400 MHz machine in the demo. The currennt wxPerl splash speed is 2 - 3 seconds, and it may get longer with a larger app?

Since this new version does not mess with Wx.pm I think it's worth a try incorporating it into wxPerl. May need more tweaking though. Graciliano is turning it into a module.

General notes:
When I start IE, Opera or other large apps they require a long startup so that I often wonder if they are launching okay. If we can do better than the others by showing the user an instant splash screen, then why not?

Of course it's primarily psychological when the apps actually take the same amount of time to load, but that's the way we humans are. We like to see a reaction and know what's happening.

Speed of loading and a smooth run is what people look for when evaluating software. That's what I have gleaned from user feedback and I think wxPerl apps could easily rival VB and similar environments if we produce some useful apps as examples.

I plan on writing down how to make a wxPerl app suit the usual desktop user. Topics would be:

- Tuning loading time
- Splash
- Creating an exe
- Installers (packaging)

Marcus

Re: [wxperl-users] wxGetOsDescription - available under wxPerl?

[Mattia B. <mb...@ds...>]

On Mon, 10 Jun 2002, James Lavery wrote:

>Hi Mattia,
>I want to be able to display on my application's About box general
>environment information, including the OS  description.  I'm getting an
>error when autoloading wxGetOsDescription - is this available under wxPerl?
Not yet

>I remember seeing somewhere a list of all the controls/functions currently
>mapped across to wxPerl - is this still available, and if so where?
Grep the source; I should probably generate it automatically,
but there are more important things to do to wxPerl...

>On a more general note - really a wxWindows question - is there a wxWindows
>function which returns the current wxWindows version?
There is wxVERSION_STRING, as suggested in another message
( used in samples/minimal/minimal.pl ); or you can use
$Wx::_wx_version that is a number like 2.002009 or 2.003002.
Ut sould probably be wrapped in some nice wxFOO, though; I;ll try to
remember...

Regards
Mattia

Re: [wxperl-users] wxGetOsDescription - available under wxPerl?

[DH <cra...@ya...>]

> On a more general note - really a wxWindows question - is there a wxWindows
> function which returns the current wxWindows version?

yes, it is

wxVERSION_STRING 

and I remember seeing it in one of the wxPerl demos.
Since then, all my OnAbout methods do

Wx::MessageBox( qq{
           This is Application, version $App::Version

           running on wxPerl $Wx::VERSION
           @{[wxVERSION_STRING()]}
});


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[wxperl-users] wxGetOsDescription - available under wxPerl?

[James L. <jl...@bi...>]

Hi Mattia,
I want to be able to display on my application's About box general
environment information, including the OS  description.  I'm getting an
error when autoloading wxGetOsDescription - is this available under wxPerl?

I remember seeing somewhere a list of all the controls/functions currently
mapped across to wxPerl - is this still available, and if so where?

On a more general note - really a wxWindows question - is there a wxWindows
function which returns the current wxWindows version?

Thanks,

James

[wxperl-users] New module SplashFast.pm

[Graciliano M. P. \(V. Sites\) <gm...@vi...>]

Hi,

  I finished the module SplashFast.pm! Fast, small (every thing in 1 .pm
file) and easy to use:

----- Example:

  sub BEGIN {
    use Wx::SplashFast ;
    Wx::SplashFast->new("./logo.jpg",5000);
  }

  # This need to be inside sub main::BEGIN to work!
--------------------------

  Now you just put the command SplashFast inside BEGIN and Perl make the
rest! ;-P

 Load the zip and see the readme.txt for instructions:
http://wxperl.virtuasites.com.br/SplashFast.pm.zip

  Please send your feedback in the mailing list!

Graciliano M. P.

Re: [wxperl-users] wxHTML auto-sizing

[Mattia B. <mb...@ds...>]

> Mattia wrote:
> >I just added a sample for notebook sizers...
> 
> Many Thanks. It runs fine. I spent about 4-5 hours yesterday basically
> going in circles. The NBSizer can really be confusing. I'll take a look
> and see if I can get it to work in unison with wxDesigner.
> 
> Btw, how do I submit my work on wxSTC?
For small mods a "diff -u -2 original modified" is Reaaly Good.
Since your work is ( almost ) a new file, you can just send it to me
as an attachment.

Thanks!
Mattia

Re: [wxperl-users] wxHTML auto-sizing

[Marcus <ma...@wo...>]

Mattia wrote:
>I just added a sample for notebook sizers...

Many Thanks. It runs fine. I spent about 4-5 hours yesterday basically going in circles. The NBSizer can really be confusing. I'll take a look and see if I can get it to work in unison with wxDesigner.

Btw, how do I submit my work on wxSTC?

Marcus

Re: [wxperl-users] wxHTML auto-sizing

[Mattia B. <mb...@ds...>]

> I've tried everything I can think of so that a Wx::HTML window will
> automatically resize to fit the window, but it remains static. I have
> the Wx::HTML window on a panel, inside a NoteBook sizer.
> 
> Does anybody know how to set it so it will resize itself?
> Maybe it needs wxGROW somewhere, but I can't figure out where that goes
> in this context.
http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cgi-
bin/viewcvs.cgi/wxperl/wxPerl/demo/wxNotebookSizer.pm?rev=HEAD&content-
type=text/vnd.viewcvs-markup

I just added a sample for notebook sizers ( and guess why I added it
now... )

> Here's the code:
> 
>     # Create panel for HTML window
>     my( $panel ) = Wx::Panel->new( $nb, -1 );
> 
>     # Insert new page as first page (0), because the other pages have
> already been created
>     my $htmlpage = $nb->InsertPage(0, $panel, "Browse", 1, 0);
> 
>     my $panel_size = $panel->GetBestSize();
> 
>     my ($htmlwin) = HTMLPage->new($panel, $main::ID_MyHTMLWin,
> wxDefaultPosition, $panel_size);
> ----------------------------
wxNotebookSizer -> follow link for "Programming with wxNBS"
each notebook page needs to have a sizer for its size to be taken into
account ( yes, this once bite me, too )

HTH
Mattia

Re: [wxperl-users] wx::Grid problems

[Mattia B. <mb...@ds...>]

> Hi Mattia,
> I'm using Wx::Grid in my application, but am having problems accessing its
> methods.
> 
> When I try calling $grid->SetEditable(0), for instance, I'm getting the
> error:
>
> Can't locate object method "SetEditable" via package "Wx::Grid"...
This documentation's fault: SetEditable has been deprecated ( so I
didn't wrap it ); use ::EnableEditing.

> I've got a 'use Wx::Grid' at the top of my source.
> 
> $grid->DeleteCols(0,10,1) works fine.
> 
> I'm using wxPerl 0.10 and wxWindows 2.2.9 (on Windows 98), and wxDesigner to
> generate my dialog.
> 
> I note in the wxWindows documentation that there's a new wxGrid
> implementation (from wxWindows 2.1.14) with a new (supposedly backward
> compatible) API, and the API documentation in 2.2.9 is not for the new
> version - is this my problem?
Yes, it is; you can find more up to date documentation in the 2.3.x releases;
it will document some methods that are not available in 2.2.x, but should
be generally more up to date.

HTH
Mattia

Re: [wxperl-users] Fast SplashScreen Experience

[Mattia B. <mb...@ds...>]

> Hey, that's a great idea. I just ran it. Looks good.
> 
> Could you add some "padding" (controls or loops), so we can see how it
> acts with a larger app?
> With larger apps the current splash method requires a few  seconds to
> show on a slow machine, so your method would be great...if it doesn't
> cause side-effects we haven't noticed yet. But,  Mattia will probably
> be able to comment on that.
Hmm, how much time does it save on the low end machines you have?
Mine is P200/64MB/Linux/wxGTK ( the XServer is running on another machine ).
Normal app; results from "time perl -Mblib splash.pl", putting an exit 0 just
after the Wx::SplashScreen->new;
1.890 seconds

after mutilating Wx.pm so it loads much less than Graciliano's one
( it is not fully functional, I just wanted to know the max time saving I
  could obtain: it just loads Wx::App, Wx::Bitmap, Wx::SplashScreen, calls
  _boot_GDI and _boot_Constant )
1.290 seconds
gain: ~600 msec

so we will be gaining less than 33% ( notice that in a real scenario I'll
need to load at least ( part of ) Wx::Event -> less time saving ).
Is that worth the additional code complication? ( <- this is not
                                                  rhetorical, BTW...)

Puzzled
Mattia

P.S.: splash.pl and Wx.pm attached for reference; some trivial modification
      to Bitmap.pm and SplashScreen.pm are needed for that to work

[wxperl-users] wx::Grid problems

[James L. <jl...@bi...>]

Hi Mattia,
I'm using Wx::Grid in my application, but am having problems accessing its
methods.

When I try calling $grid->SetEditable(0), for instance, I'm getting the
error:

Can't locate object method "SetEditable" via package "Wx::Grid"...

I've got a 'use Wx::Grid' at the top of my source.

$grid->DeleteCols(0,10,1) works fine.

I'm using wxPerl 0.10 and wxWindows 2.2.9 (on Windows 98), and wxDesigner to
generate my dialog.

I note in the wxWindows documentation that there's a new wxGrid
implementation (from wxWindows 2.1.14) with a new (supposedly backward
compatible) API, and the API documentation in 2.2.9 is not for the new
version - is this my problem?

Thanks,

James

[wxperl-users] wxHTML auto-sizing

[Marcus <li...@wo...>]

I've tried everything I can think of so that a Wx::HTML window will
automatically resize to fit the window, but it remains static. I have
the Wx::HTML window on a panel, inside a NoteBook sizer.

Does anybody know how to set it so it will resize itself?
Maybe it needs wxGROW somewhere, but I can't figure out where that goes
in this context.

Here's the code:

    # Create panel for HTML window
    my( $panel ) = Wx::Panel->new( $nb, -1 );

    # Insert new page as first page (0), because the other pages have
already been created
    my $htmlpage = $nb->InsertPage(0, $panel, "Browse", 1, 0);

    my $panel_size = $panel->GetBestSize();

    my ($htmlwin) = HTMLPage->new($panel, $main::ID_MyHTMLWin,
wxDefaultPosition, $panel_size);
----------------------------

Thanks,

Marcus

[wxperl-users] Fixed bug in splash-fast2.zip

[Graciliano M. P. \(V. Sites\) <gm...@vi...>]

If you got the file splash-fast2.zip before "07 Jun 2002 04:59:14 GMT" =
you need to get it again! I fixed the bug with the package Wx::App.

Now the example 2 for "Fast SplashScreen" will work in standart wxPerl =
versions.
http://wxperl.virtuasites.com.br/splash-fast2.zip

Graciliano M. P.

[wxperl-users] Re to Marcus: Fast SplashScreen Experience

[Graciliano M. P. \(V. Sites\) <gm...@vi...>]

Yes, I think this idea is needed, but I will wait for Mattia make a standart
module for this.

Take a look in the experience 2 (subject: "Better Fast SplashScreen
Experience (2)"), you can use this example in your APP, because it more
simple, fast and don't make changes in Wx modules.

Graciliano M. P.

>Hey, that's a great idea. I just ran it. Looks good.
>
> Could you add some "padding" (controls or loops), so we can see how it
> acts with a larger app?
> With larger apps the current splash method requires a few seconds to
> show on a slow machine, so your method would be great...if it doesn't
> cause side-effects we haven't noticed yet. But, Mattia will probably
> be able to comment on that.
>
> Marcus
>

[wxperl-users] Better Fast SplashScreen Experience (2)

[Graciliano M. P. \(V. Sites\) <gm...@vi...>]

Hi,

  I made a new example of the fast SplashScreen. It don't need changes in
the files of Wx
modules, are more fast and simple too. Now we use only 2 files to do this.
:)

Load the zip and see the readme.txt for instructions:
http://wxperl.virtuasites.com.br/splash-fast2.zip

Graciliano M. P.

[wxperl-users] Fast SplashScreen Experience

[Marcus <li...@wo...>]

Hey, that's a great idea. I just ran it. Looks good.

Could you add some "padding" (controls or loops), so we can see how it
acts with a larger app?
With larger apps the current splash method requires a few  seconds to
show on a slow machine, so your method would be great...if it doesn't
cause side-effects we haven't noticed yet. But,  Mattia will probably
be able to comment on that.

Marcus

[wxperl-users] Fast SplashScreen Experience

[Graciliano M. P. \(V. Sites\) <gm...@vi...>]

Hi,

  I was making some experiences to start a SplashScreen more fast. Marcus
and Mattia was talking about a splash sample more realistic and I saw a new
splash sample about this in the CVS. But we still have a problem! We have to
wait the loading of all Wx module and only after this we can show a
SplashScreen.

  In CPUs more slow the load of wxPerl can take 2-3s, is much time to can
start to see a SplashScreen. I made some changes in the structure of the
loading process of wxPerl, and now we can show the SplashScreen before the
end of the loading process.

  The example are only to introduce the idea of this structure. Don't use it
in your standart wxPerl programs.

Load the zip and see the readme.txt for instructions:
http://wxperl.virtuasites.com.br/splash-fast.zip

Graciliano M. P.

Re: [wxperl-users] Splashscreen [MSW]

[Mattia B. <mb...@ds...>]

> Thanks Mattia, that example is great. I wouldn't have been able to
> figure that out myself.
> 
> I think you should make this the standard example because the current
> one does not make sense in a real programming situation.
I already thought that. Now in the TODO...

> On that subject, I was reading the archives and it appears that Julian
> and Vadim were originally discussing the usefulness of wxSplashscreen
> without multi-threading. Julian released the code because he was
> successful without threading. So, Splashscreen is an exception to other
> widgets. The demo should explain that. If people can't get it to work,
> they won't use it.
I don't understand the relation between the elements of this phrase:
what Vadim and Julian discussed is that if something covers and them uncovers
the splash screen, you'll get a square full of garbage, because there is no 
thread active to dispatch paint events ( this happens for example with
MSVC 5 ); AFAIR Julian just said that it worked in the common case, and there
were no plans for having an event pump thread in wxWindows, so that what the
best thing achievable at that moment.
Given this, I don't understand why splash screen is an exception... ah,
maybe that you can use it even without an event loop? This is not
( completely ) true. Anyway, it does not matter,
since people just want to show a splash screen, without caring about the
internals ;-)

Regards
Mattia

Re: [wxperl-users] Wx resource support in wxPerl?

[Mattia B. <mb...@ds...>]

On Tue, 4 Jun 2002, James Lavery wrote:

>Hi Mattia,
>I'm now getting up to speed with my wxPerl/wxWindows development, and am
>using Robert Roebling's wxDesigner - which can generate XML resource files.
>
>Does wxPerl support XML resources yet?  I know I asked this question back in
>the days of v0.08...
You'll need the snapshots compiled against wxWindows 2.3.x;
http://wwwstud.dsi.unive.it/~mbarbon/wx/

Regards
Mattia

[wxperl-users] Wx resource support in wxPerl?

[James L. <jl...@bi...>]

Hi Mattia,
I'm now getting up to speed with my wxPerl/wxWindows development, and am
using Robert Roebling's wxDesigner - which can generate XML resource files.

Does wxPerl support XML resources yet?  I know I asked this question back in
the days of v0.08...

Thanks,

James

Re: [wxperl-users] Splashscreen [MSW]

[Marcus <li...@wo...>]

Thanks Mattia, that example is great. I wouldn't have been able to
figure that out myself.

I think you should make this the standard example because the current
one does not make sense in a real programming situation.

On that subject, I was reading the archives and it appears that Julian
and Vadim were originally discussing the usefulness of wxSplashscreen
without multi-threading. Julian released the code because he was
successful without threading. So, Splashscreen is an exception to other
widgets. The demo should explain that. If people can't get it to work,
they won't use it.

Fortunately, we have Perl, and BEGIN { } works nicely :-)

Marcus

Re: [wxperl-users] Splashscreen [MSW]

[Mattia B. <mb...@ds...>]

> I've tried the splashscreen in a larger app. It works nicely if placed
> inside MyFrame (appears earlier than in OnInit).
> 
> I only need some help on how to place it in BEGIN { }. Otherwise, Perl
> reads the whole file and modules first, making the splash only partly
> useful, due of the time lapse.
> 
> First problem is that Wx::SplashScreen crashes if no parent is given.
> In the docs they use NULL in C++, but undef does not work in WxPerl.
                                                             ( ^^^ wxPerl, SCNR )

For some reason I used wxFRAME_FLOAT_ON_PARENT in the style flag; if you use this
flag you need a parent ( or just specify a different set of flags in the ctor ).

> So I tried creating a new Frame, but just a grey splash appears and
> then Perl crashes.
If you don't create an App instance before doing anything else Bad Things Will
Happen...
 
<snip> 
>
> I'm not sure why the demo uses a panel, but I also tried placing the
Because it's the last thing created..., no other reason

> splash directly on the window/frame, but that didn't make any
> difference.
minimal sample attached. Notice that the OnInit does nothing, and the work
done in OnInit has been moved in OnFoo, taht is called explicitly just before
MainLoop.

HTH
Mattia

Re: [wxperl-users] [MSW] Listbox: Number

[Mattia B. <mb...@ds...>]

> >>Wx::Listbox::Number seems to be unknown.
> 
> >AFAIR it is deprecated. Try looking for GetCount or GetItemCount.
> 
> Thanks, GetCount() works. However in the current wx 2.3.2 docs there is
> no mention of Number() being deprecated. GetCount() is not listed
> either. Is it a 2.3.3 change?
Number() is deprecated from 2.2 ( if not from 2.0 ). The documentation change
was done in 2.3.3 branch, though.

Regards
Mattia