wxWidgets (formerly wxWindows) is a

widget toolkit A widget toolkit, widget library, GUI toolkit, or UX library is a library (computing), library or a collection of libraries containing a set of graphical control elements (called ''widgets'') used to construct the graphical user interface (GUI) of ...

and tools library for creating

graphical user interface A graphical user interface, or GUI, is a form of user interface that allows user (computing), users to human–computer interaction, interact with electronic devices through Graphics, graphical icon (computing), icons and visual indicators such ...

s (GUIs) for

cross-platform Within computing, cross-platform software (also called multi-platform software, platform-agnostic software, or platform-independent software) is computer software that is designed to work in several Computing platform, computing platforms. Some ...

applications. wxWidgets enables a program's GUI code to compile and run on several computer platforms with no significant

code In communications and information processing, code is a system of rules to convert information—such as a letter, word, sound, image, or gesture—into another form, sometimes shortened or secret, for communication through a communicati ...

changes. A wide choice of

compiler In computing, a compiler is a computer program that Translator (computing), translates computer code written in one programming language (the ''source'' language) into another language (the ''target'' language). The name "compiler" is primaril ...

s and other tools to use with wxWidgets facilitates development of sophisticated applications. wxWidgets supports a comprehensive range of popular

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ...

s and graphical libraries, both

proprietary {{Short pages monitor

License

wxWidgets is distributed under a custom made ''wxWindows Licence'', similar to the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL), with an exception stating that derived works in binary file, binary form may be distributed on the user's own terms. This software license, license is a free software license approved by the FSF, making wxWidgets free software. It has been approved by the Open Source Initiative (OSI).

Official support

Supported platforms

wxWidgets is supported on the following platforms: * Windows – (64-bits Windows XP up to Windows 11 and 32-bits Windows 3.11 for Workgroups (with Win32s extension) up to Windows 11) * Linux/Unix – wxGTK, wxX11, wxMotif * Mac OS – wxMac (Mac OS X 10.3 using Carbon, Mac OS X 10.5 using Cocoa), (32/64-bits Mac OS X 10.7 or later) * OS/2 – wxOS2, , wxWidgets for GTK or Motif can be compiled on OS/2 * Embedded platforms – wxEmbedded

External ports

* Amiga – wxWidgets-AOS: AmigaOS port (Work In Progress)

Supported compilers

wxWidgets is officially confirmed to work properly with the following compilers:

Programming language bindings

The wxWidgets Library (computing), library is implemented in C++, with Language binding, bindings available for many commonly used programming languages. wxWidgets is best described as a native mode toolkit as it provides a thin abstraction to a platform's native widgets, contrary to emulating the display of widgets using graphic primitives. Calling a native widget on the target platform results in a more native looking interface than toolkits such as Swing (Java), Swing (for Java), as well as offering performance and other benefits. The toolkit is also not restricted to GUI development, having an inter-process communication layer, internet socket, socket networking functionality, and more.

RAD tools and IDEs for wxWidgets

There are many Rapid Application Development (RAD) and Integrated Development Environment (IDE) tools available. Notable tools include: * Code::Blocks (via wxSmith plugin) * CodeLite (via wxCrafter plugin) * wxFormBuilder

Applications built using wxWidgets

Notable applications that use wxWidgets: * ''0 A.D. (video game), 0 A.D.'' – a Free and open-source software, FOSS video game similar to ''Age of Empires (series), Age of Empires'' * Amaya (web editor), Amaya – web authoring tool * aMule – peer-to-peer file sharing application * ActivePresenter – screen recorder, video editor & e-learning application * Audacity (audio editor), Audacity – cross-platform sound editor * BitTorrent (software), BitTorrent – peer-to-peer file sharing application *Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing – an Open-source model, open-source Middleware (distributed applications), middleware system * Code::Blocks – C/C++ IDE * CodeLite – simple C++ Editor (Collection of free Tools, implemented by plugins) * FileZilla – FTP client * FreeFileSync – a free and open-source file synchronization software * GrandOrgue – virtual pipe organ simulator * Guayadeque Music Player – a music player with database * Hollywood (programming language), Hollywood – uses wxWidgets in its RapaGUI plugin * KiCad – a free software suite for electronic design automation (EDA) * RapidSVN – Subversion client * TortoiseCVS – CVS client

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wxwidgets WxWidgets, 1992 software C++ libraries Cross-platform software Free computer libraries Free software programmed in C++ Widget toolkits X-based libraries