wxWidgets helper classes

wxWidgets consists of a large group of helper classes, that help programmers to do their job. These include classes for working with strings, files, xml files, streams, database or network. Here we will show only a tiny drop of the whole lake.

wxWidgets library can be used to create console and gui applications. In this chapter, we will illustrate some of the helper classes in console based applications.

Console

This is a simple console application. The application puts some text into the console window.

console.cpp
#include <wx/string.h>

int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
  wxPuts(wxT("A wxWidgets console application"));
}

Output
A wxWidgets console application

wxString

This is probably the most useful class. wxString is a class representing a character string.

In the following example, we define three wxStrings. We create one string of these strings using addition operation.

addition.cpp
#include <wx/string.h>

int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
  wxString str1 = wxT("Linux");
  wxString str2 = wxT("Operating");
  wxString str3 = wxT("System");

  wxString str = str1 + wxT(" ") + str2 + wxT(" ") + str3;

  wxPuts(str);
}

Output
Linux Operating System

The Printf() method is used to format strings.

formatted.cpp
#include <wx/string.h>

int main(int argc, char **argv)
{

  int flowers = 21;

  wxString str;
  str.Printf(wxT("There are %d red roses."), flowers);
  
  wxPuts(str);
}

Output
 There are 21 red roses.

The following example checks, whether a string contains another string. For this we have a Contains() method.

contains.cpp
#include <wx/string.h>

int main(int argc, char **argv)
{

  wxString str = wxT("The history of my life");

  if (str.Contains(wxT("history"))) {
      wxPuts(wxT("Contains!"));
  }


  if (!str.Contains(wxT("plain"))) {
      wxPuts(wxT("Does not contain!"));
  }

}

Output
Contains!
Does not contain!

The Len() method returns the number of characters in the string.

length.cpp
#include <wx/string.h>

int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
  wxString str = wxT("The history of my life");
  wxPrintf(wxT("The string has %d characters\n"), str.Len());
}

Output
 The string has 22 characters

The MakeLower() and MakeUpper() methods make characters lower case and upper case.

cases.cpp
#include <wx/string.h>

int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
  wxString str = wxT("The history of my life");

  wxPuts(str.MakeLower());
  wxPuts(str.MakeUpper());
}

Output
 the history of my life
 THE HISTORY OF MY LIFE

Utility functions

wxWidgets has several handy utility functions for executing a process, getting a home user directory or getting the OS name.

In the following example, we execute the ls command. For this, we have the wxShell() function. Unix only.

shell.cpp
#include <wx/string.h>
#include <wx/utils.h>

int main(int argc, char **argv)
{

  wxShell(wxT("ls -l"));

}

Output
total 40
-rwxr-xr-x 1 vronskij vronskij  9028 2007-09-06 22:10 basic
-rw-r--r-- 1 vronskij vronskij    95 2007-09-06 22:09 basic.cpp
-rw-r--r-- 1 vronskij vronskij   430 2007-09-06 00:07 basic.cpp~
-rwxr-xr-x 1 vronskij vronskij 11080 2007-09-05 23:17 console
-rw-r--r-- 1 vronskij vronskij   500 2007-09-05 23:17 console.cpp
-rw-r--r-- 1 vronskij vronskij   485 2007-09-05 23:16 console.cpp~

Next we will we will get the home user directory, os name, user name, host name and total free memory.

system.cpp
#include <wx/string.h>
#include <wx/utils.h>

int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
  wxPuts(wxGetHomeDir());
  wxPuts(wxGetOsDescription());
  wxPuts(wxGetUserName());
  wxPuts(wxGetFullHostName());

  long mem = wxGetFreeMemory().ToLong();

  wxPrintf(wxT("Memory: %ld\n"), mem);
}

Output
/home/vronskij
Linux 2.6.20-16-generic i686
jan bodnar
spartan
Memory: 741244928

Time & date

In wxWidgets, we have several classes for working with date & time.

The example shows current date or time in various formats.

datetime.cpp
#include <wx/datetime.h>

int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
  wxDateTime now = wxDateTime::Now();

  wxString date1 = now.Format();
  wxString date2 = now.Format(wxT("%X"));
  wxString date3 = now.Format(wxT("%x"));

  wxPuts(date1);
  wxPuts(date2);
  wxPuts(date3);
}

Output
Fri Sep  7 21:28:38 2007
21:28:38
09/07/07

Next we will show current time in different cities.

datetime.cpp
#include <wx/datetime.h>

int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
  wxDateTime now = wxDateTime::Now();

  wxPrintf(wxT("   Tokyo: %s\n"), now.Format(wxT("%a %T"), 
      wxDateTime::GMT9).c_str());
  wxPrintf(wxT("  Moscow: %s\n"), now.Format(wxT("%a %T"), 
      wxDateTime::MSD).c_str());
  wxPrintf(wxT("Budapest: %s\n"), now.Format(wxT("%a %T"), 
      wxDateTime::CEST).c_str());
  wxPrintf(wxT("  London: %s\n"), now.Format(wxT("%a %T"), 
      wxDateTime::WEST).c_str());
  wxPrintf(wxT("New York: %s\n"), now.Format(wxT("%a %T"), 
      wxDateTime::EDT).c_str());
}

Output
   Tokyo: Sat 05:42:24
  Moscow: Sat 00:42:24
Budapest: Fri 22:42:24
  London: Fri 22:42:24
New York: Fri 16:42:24

The following example shows, how we can add date spans to our date/time. We add one month to the current time.

datespan.cpp
#include <wx/datetime.h>

int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
  wxDateTime now = wxDateTime::Now();
  wxString date1 = now.Format(wxT("%B %d %Y"));
  wxPuts(date1);

  wxDateSpan span(0, 1);
  wxDateTime then = now.Add(span);

  wxString date2 = then.Format(wxT("%B %d %Y"));
  wxPuts(date2);

}

Output
September 07 2007
October 07 2007

Files

wxWidgets has several classes to facilitate working with files. This is low level access to files, as opposed to working with streams.

In the following example, we use the wxFile class to create a new file and write data to it. We also test, whether the file is opened. Note, that when we create a file, it automatically stays as opened.

createfile.cpp
#include <wx/file.h>

int main(int argc, char **argv)
{

  wxString str = wxT("You make me want to be a better man.\n");

  wxFile file;
  file.Create(wxT("quote"), true);

  if (file.IsOpened())
      wxPuts(wxT("the file is opened"));

  file.Write(str);
  file.Close();

  if (!file.IsOpened())
      wxPuts(wxT("the file is not opened"));
}

Output
$ ls qoute
ls: qoute: No such file or directory

$ ./createfile 
the file is opened
the file is not opened

$ cat quote
You make me want to be a better man.

The wxTextFile is a simple class which allows to work with text files on line by line basis. It is easier to work with this class than with wxFile class.

In the next example, we will print the number of lines in a file, first and last lines and finally we will read and show the contents of the file.

readfile.cpp
#include <wx/textfile.h>

int main(int argc, char **argv)
{

  wxTextFile file(wxT("test.c"));

  file.Open();

  wxPrintf(wxT("Number of lines: %d\n"), file.GetLineCount());
  wxPrintf(wxT("First line: %s\n"), file.GetFirstLine().c_str());
  wxPrintf(wxT("Last line: %s\n"), file.GetLastLine().c_str());

  wxPuts(wxT("-------------------------------------"));

  wxString s;

  for ( s = file.GetFirstLine(); !file.Eof(); 
      s = file.GetNextLine() )
  {
       wxPuts(s);
  }

  file.Close();
}

Output
Number of lines: 8
First line: #include 
Last line: }
-------------------------------------
#include <glib.h>
#include <glib/gstdio.h>

int main() {

g_mkdir("/home/vronskij/test", S_IRWXU);

}

The wxDir class allows us to enumerate files and directories.

In the following example, we will print all files and directories available in the current working directory.

dir.cpp
#include <wx/dir.h>
#include <wx/filefn.h>

int main(int argc, char **argv)
{

  wxDir dir(wxGetCwd());

  wxString file;

  bool cont = dir.GetFirst(&file, wxEmptyString,
      wxDIR_FILES | wxDIR_DIRS);

  while (cont) {
      wxPuts(file);
      cont = dir.GetNext(&file);
  }
}

Output
$ ./dir
dir
temp
console
basic.cpp
basic
quote
createfile
console.cpp
basic.cpp~
test.c
console.cpp~

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