Core Toolbox

The core toolbox supports basic user-level elements such as windows, menus, buttons, as well as programmer-level objects such as pens, bitmaps, and communication channels.

The basic classes for user-level graphical elements are:

•  wx:window% -- most user-level graphical elements are windows ; frames, buttons, and canvases are all windows, but menus and menu bars are not
•  wx:frame% -- frames  are top-level windows that can be dragged and re-sized by the user; frames can contain control item panels, canvases, and text windows
•  wx:canvas% -- canvases  are sub-windows used for arbitary drawing
•  wx:panel% -- panels  are canvases that contain control items or other canvases
•  wx:dialog-box% -- dialog boxes  are panels, each with its own top-level frame
•  wx:item% -- control items  are user-manipulated windows within a panel; the wx:item% class is only instatiated through a subclass:
  •  wx:message% -- messages  are static text controls with no user interaction
  •  wx:button% -- buttons  are clickable controls, each with a callback procedure
  •  wx:radio-box% -- radio boxes  are collections of mutually-exclusive radio buttons ; when the user selects one radio button in a radio box, the previously selected radio button is unselected.
  •  wx:text% -- text items  are simple editable text fields
  •  wx:multi-text% -- multi-line text items  are text fields that can contain carriage returns
  •  wx:list-box% -- list boxes  are scrollable lists of text choices; the user can select one or more items in the list
  •  wx:choice% -- choice items  are pop-up lists of text choices; the user can select on item in the list
  •  wx:check-box% -- check boxes  are clickable controls that maintain a checked or unchecked state
  •  wx:slider% -- sliders  are simple integer control items that graphically reflect the current value
  •  wx:gauge% -- gauges  are read-only displays for integer values
  •  wx:group-box% -- group boxes  are static items for graphically gouping other items
•  wx:text-window% -- text windows  are canvases used for simple text display or editing
•  wx:menu% -- menus  are pull-down or pop-up lists of text items; the user selects a menu item to trigger a callback action
•  wx:menu-bar% -- menu bars  are collections of top-level menus associated with a frame

The wx: window classes should rarely be instantiated directly; instances of these classes do not have automatic managmennt for their graphical size and location. Instead, for automatic geometry managment, create instances of the corresponding mred: classes (see section ).

  Most other classes in the core toolbox are for drawing. The destination of drawing commands is always a device context, or DC, and instance of  wx:dc%. Different kinds of DCs are used for different kinds of drawing:

•  wx:canvas-dc% -- canvas DCs  are used for drawing to a canvas
•  wx:memory-dc% -- memory DCs  are used to draw into an offscreen bitmap
•  wx:post-script-dc% -- PostScript DCs  are used to draw into a PostScript file

Tools used for drawing include  wx:pen% objects for drawing lines,  wx:brush% objects for filling shapes, and  wx:bitmap% objects for storing bitmaps.