wxruby users - Apr 2004 - wxRuby 0.3.0 has been released!

wxRuby 0.3.0 has been released and is now available for download from
RubyForge at:

  http://wxruby.rubyforge.org/

This release includes binary builds for Max OS X Panther and MS Windows.
Hopefully, within a couple weeks I will release RubyGems for the source, and
RubyGem binaries for Mac, Windows, and Linux.

Please report any bugs or feature requests here:

   http://rubyforge.org/tracker/?group_id=35

Changes in this release include:
  * Added MDI support, and an MDI sample
  * Fixed MAJOR problems with Validators.
  * Cleaned up many method names and parameters.
  * Many bug fixes.
  * Added a note to controls/controls.rb sample
    explaining that the current get/set_client_data
    can segfault

See the ChangeLog for a detailed list of changes.

--------------

What is wxRuby?

wxRuby is an open source GUI toolkit for the [Ruby] programming
language. It provides a Ruby interface to the cross-platform
wxWidgets C++ GUI framework (formerly known as wxWindows).
wxRuby is intended to dramatically extend Ruby''s usefulness in
rapid prototyping and general UI development.

wxWidgets is a mature, cross-platform GUI toolkit that uses native
GUI widgets. This means that wxRuby applications can integrate
seamlessly on each supported platform, and can behave like the
user expects.

wxRuby is still in early beta. The adventurous can get the latest
source code from the cvs repository, including nightly snapshots.
wxRuby seems to work pretty well for a variety of test applications.

Lothar Scholz wrote:
>
> Hello Curt,
>
> Wednesday, April 21, 2004, 12:41:52 AM, you wrote:
>
> I get the following error from the splitter sample
>
> Z:\work\arachno\make>"C:\Program Files\Arachno Ruby
> IDE\ruby\samples\wxRuby-0.3.0\splitter\splitter.
> rb"
> C:/Program Files/Arachno Ruby
> IDE/ruby/samples/wxRuby-0.3.0/splitter/splitter.rb:257:in
`main_loop'':
>  undefined method `on_draw'' for #<MyCanvas:0x2a54830>
(NoMethodError)
>         from C:/Program Files/Arachno Ruby
> IDE/ruby/samples/wxRuby-0.3.0/splitter/splitter.rb:257
>
> All other samples seem to work fine.
Thanks.

I tried fixing the reported error. The main window displays just fine, but
then it segfault''s when I try to resize the window.  :-(

I''m working on a wxRuby app that does have a working splitter in it. If
you
need an example, let me know and I''ll send it to you.

Curt

Curt Hibbs wrote:
> Lothar Scholz wrote:
>>I get the following error from the splitter sample
>>
>>IDE/ruby/samples/wxRuby-0.3.0/splitter/splitter.rb:257:in
`main_loop'':
>> undefined method `on_draw'' for #<MyCanvas:0x2a54830>
(NoMethodError)
>>        from C:/Program Files/Arachno Ruby
>>IDE/ruby/samples/wxRuby-0.3.0/splitter/splitter.rb:257
Oops. The OnDraw member should have been renamed on_draw to match the 
wxRuby naming convention.
> I tried fixing the reported error. The main window displays just fine, but
> then it segfault''s when I try to resize the window.  :-(
Ouch. This is caused by memory not being handled correctly in the 
ScrolledWindow class of wxRuby. You can see this more easily if you 
insert a call to GC.start inside the on_draw method. Boom!

In the ScrolledWindow class, We store "self" using SetClientData. But 
our SetClientData has a bug where if Ruby does a garbage collection, it 
will segfault. This known problem with get/set_client_data is mentioned 
in the README. I didn''t realize that we were also using SetClientData 
here, as this is some old code that I hadn''t yet looked at.

I should be able to put in a quick fix within a day or two. The side 
effect will be that it will leak memory if you close a ScrolledWindow.

In the long run, we plan to move wxRuby to SWIG, and this problem will 
automatically disappear when we do so.

Thanks very much for the problem report! Sorry for the problems.

Kevin

Kevin Smith wrote:
> Oops. The OnDraw member should have been renamed on_draw to match the 
> wxRuby naming convention.
I have checked in this fix.
> Ouch. This is caused by memory not being handled correctly in the 
> ScrolledWindow class of wxRuby. You can see this more easily if you 
> insert a call to GC.start inside the on_draw method. Boom!
I have also checked in a fix for this.

However, a quick search revealed a similar bug in several other classes. 
This is all very old code, apparently written by someone who at that 
time didn''t quite understand the rules of Ruby''s memory
management. Here
are the affected classes and methods (as documented in the new README):

* NOTE: The following classes have known problems that may cause
   crashes if you use set_client_data and/or get_client_data:
     Choice, ComboBox, CommandEvent, SocketEvent, EvtHandler,
     ListBox, Socket

* NOTE: The following classes have known problems that may cause
   crashes if you use these methods:
   - Event (get_event_object)
   - ListCtrl (on_get_item_attr, on_get_item_image, on_get_item_text)
   - TreeCtrl (on_compare_items)

I am slightly reluctant to fix all of these right now, because:
1. there are so many
2. each fix has to be custom-coded
3. testing to ensure each has really been fixed may be hard
4. wxruby-swig should be ready reasonably soon (and won''t have this 
problem),

On the other hand, I do not want wxRuby to get a bad reputation. Perhaps 
it is worth fixing them, and releasing a 0.4 (or 0.3.1).

Opinions?

Kevin

Kevin Smith wrote:
>
> I am slightly reluctant to fix all of these right now, because:
> 1. there are so many
> 2. each fix has to be custom-coded
> 3. testing to ensure each has really been fixed may be hard
> 4. wxruby-swig should be ready reasonably soon (and won''t have
this
> problem),
>
> On the other hand, I do not want wxRuby to get a bad reputation. Perhaps
> it is worth fixing them, and releasing a 0.4 (or 0.3.1).
>
> Opinions?
I guess this really hinges on when "reasonably soon" is likely to be.
Are we
talking a month? two months? four months?

Curt