[SDL] Re: wxWindows

[Gib Bogle]

Roy Wood wrote:
> 
> >Does wxWindows play well with SDL?  I haven't tried it, but it looks to me
> >like wxWindows wants to create your windows for you and take over the main
> >event loop.
> 
> Yup-- that's what it wants.
> 
> If you are interested solely in a GUI you can embed in an SDL window,
> then you're probably headed for ParaGUI: <http://www.paragui.org/>
> 
> I've investigated this for a while, and come to the conclusion that:
> 
> - If you want to use SDL to generate a single-frame app, and want some
> GUI elements in there, then ParaGUI is the best solution
> 
> - If you want a free beer/speech cross-platform app that uses native
> widgets, then wxWindows is the way to go
> 
> - If you want a cross-platform solution that is commercially-supported,
> then Qt is the answer (doesn't really use native widgets though-- it
> emulates them) (and yes, Qt is free too, unless you are planning to sell
> the results of your work)
> 
> Each of the above allows you to embed an OpenGL rendering sub-window in
> your app (actually, wxWindows and Qt let you embed several-- dunno about
> SDL, since I never tried that!)
> 
> If you want to use glut as your cross-platform solution, then look at
> GLUI, PUI, and GLOW.  There are some nice things about each one, and no
> clear winner.
> 
> >It makes no sense to me that a widget set should grab control
> >of your main program
> 
> Well, Gtk is not just a widget set-- it really is an app framework.  If
> you really just want a pluggable widget set for SDL, then you probably
> want ParaGUI.
> 
> >FLTK on the other hand, does what I think a widget set should,
> >and is quite happy to completely stay out of the way of your application,
> >letting you create the OpenGL surface with SDL and run the main loop
> >yourself:
> >
> >   http://www.turricane.org/~wizard/projects/fltk-demo/
> 
> Yeah, a lot of people had good stuff to say about FLTK.  The fact that it
> has its own unique UI killed it for me though, since that is not what I
> wanted.  It sounds great for your needs though, so Choice Is Good.  :-)

Thanks for that concise summary of the pros and cons of the choices. 
BTW, the ParaGUI site seems to be off the air at the moment.

Gib