wxAUI Roadmap

wxAUI Roadmap

Overview

wxAUI has been in development since 2005 and was officially incorporated into the wxWidgets library in July 2006.  Continuing development occurs within that context.  If anyone is interested in contributing to expand the library, please feel free to let us know via the wxAUI forums.

Development History and Notes

wxAUI version 0.9 implements basic frame docking and toolbar support and includes:

  • Native, floating/docking frames
  • Customizable floating/docking behavior
  • Toolbars, incorporating "spring-loaded" dragging
  • Customizable look and feel
  • Perspective saving and loading
  • Optional transparent window effects while dragging and docking

wxAUI version 0.9.1 adds:

  • Support for MDI frames
  • Gradient captions option
  • Active/Inactive panes option
  • Fix for screen artifacts/paint problems
  • Fix for hiding/showing floated window problem
  • Fix for floating pane sizing problem
  • Fix for drop position problem when dragging around center pane margins
  • LF-only text file formatting for source code

wxAUI version 0.9.2 adds:

  • Support for wxMac
  • Updates for wxWidgets 2.6.3
  • Fix to pass more unused events through
  • Fix to allow floating windows to receive idle events
  • Fix for minimizing/maximizing problem with transparent hint pane
  • Fix to not paint empty hint rectangles
  • Fix for 64-bit compilation

wxAUI version 0.9.3 adds:

  • New wxAuiNotebook class, a dynamic splittable notebook control
  • New wxAuiMDI* classes, a tab-based MDI and drop-in replacement for classic MDI
  • Maximize/Restore buttons implemented
  • Better hinting with wxGTK
  • Class rename. 'wxAui' is now the standard class prefix for all wxAUI classes
  • Lots of bug fixes

wxAUI version 0.9.4 adds:

  • New wxAuiToolBar class, a toolbar control which integrates more cleanly with wxAuiFrameManager
  • Lots of bug fixes

Future Direction

There are endless numbers of possible features to implement, so we've only included a few of the most prominent ones below.  We welcome any community support to help develop these new features.  Please post any thoughts, questions or patches in the wxAUI Forums.

  • Add "chevron" button support for toolbars that become partially hidden off screen
  • Add hide/show control for docked panes
  • Fix minimum/maximum size issues
  • Drop-down combos and menus in toolbars and tear-away frames
  • Customizable toolbars for adding/removing icons and changing icon size preferences
  • Adding tab options to view and organize documents
  • Optional Heads Up Display (HUD) display mode for precisely positioned frame docking
  • Optional interface animation such as smooth showing/hiding of frames
  • Optional dock collapse button
  • Optional Minimize/Maximize/Pin pane buttons