Frame

A frame is a window whose size and position can (usually) be changed by the user.

It usually has thick borders and a title bar, and can optionally contain a menu bar, toolbar and status bar. A frame can contain any window that is not a frame or dialog.

A frame that has a status bar and toolbar, created via the CreateStatusBar and CreateToolBar functions, manages these windows and adjusts the value returned by GetClientSize to reflect the remaining size available to application windows.

Default event processing

Frame processes the following events:

• wxEVT_SIZE: if the frame has exactly one child window, not counting the status and toolbar, this child is resized to take the entire frame client area. If two or more windows are present, they should be laid out explicitly either by manually handling wxEVT_SIZE or using sizers;
• wxEVT_MENU_HIGHLIGHT: the default implementation displays the help string associated with the selected item in the first pane of the status bar, if there is one.

Window Styles

This class supports the following styles:

• DEFAULT_FRAME_STYLE: Defined as MINIMIZE_BOX | MAXIMIZE_BOX | RESIZE_BORDER | SYSTEM_MENU | CAPTION | CLOSE_BOX | CLIP_CHILDREN.
• ICONIZE: Display the frame iconized (minimized). Windows only.
• CAPTION: Puts a caption on the frame. Notice that this flag is required by MINIMIZE_BOX, MAXIMIZE_BOX and CLOSE_BOX on most systems as the corresponding buttons cannot be shown if the window has no title bar at all. I.e. if CAPTION is not specified those styles would be simply ignored.
• MINIMIZE: Identical to ICONIZE. Windows only.
• MINIMIZE_BOX: Displays a minimize box on the frame.
• MAXIMIZE: Displays the frame maximized. Windows and GTK+ only.
• MAXIMIZE_BOX: Displays a maximize box on the frame. Notice that under wxGTK RESIZE_BORDER must be used as well or this style is ignored.
• CLOSE_BOX: Displays a close box on the frame.
• STAY_ON_TOP: Stay on top of all other windows, see also FRAME_FLOAT_ON_PARENT.
• SYSTEM_MENU: Displays a system menu containing the list of various windows commands in the window title bar. Unlike MINIMIZE_BOX, MAXIMIZE_BOX and CLOSE_BOX styles this style can be used without CAPTION, at least under Windows, and makes the system menu available without showing it on screen in this case. However it is recommended to only use it together with CAPTION for consistent behaviour under all platforms.
• RESIZE_BORDER: Displays a resizable border around the window.
• FRAME_TOOL_WINDOW: Causes a frame with a small title bar to be created; the frame does not appear in the taskbar under Windows or GTK+.
• FRAME_NO_TASKBAR: Creates an otherwise normal frame but it does not appear in the taskbar under Windows or GTK+ (note that it will minimize to the desktop window under Windows which may seem strange to the users and thus it might be better to use this style only without MINIMIZE_BOX style). In wxGTK, the flag is respected only if the window manager supports _NET_WM_STATE_SKIP_TASKBAR hint.
• FRAME_FLOAT_ON_PARENT: The frame will always be on top of its parent (unlike STAY_ON_TOP). A frame created with this style must have a not None parent.
• FRAME_SHAPED: Windows with this style are allowed to have their shape changed with the SetShape method.

The default frame style is for normal, resizable frames. To create a frame which cannot be resized by user, you may use the following combination of styles:

style = wx.DEFAULT_FRAME_STYLE & ~(wx.RESIZE_BORDER | wx.MAXIMIZE_BOX)

Window Extra Styles

See also the Window Styles. This class supports the following extra styles:

• FRAME_EX_CONTEXTHELP: Under Windows, puts a query button on the caption. When pressed, Windows will go into a context-sensitive help mode and wxWidgets will send a wxEVT_HELP event if the user clicked on an application window. Note that this is an extended style and must be set by calling SetExtraStyle before Create is called (two-step construction). You cannot use this style together with MAXIMIZE_BOX or MINIMIZE_BOX, so you should use DEFAULT_FRAME_STYLE ~ (MINIMIZE_BOX | MAXIMIZE_BOX) for the frames having this style (the dialogs don’t have a minimize or a maximize box by default)
• FRAME_EX_METAL: On Mac OS X, frames with this style will be shown with a metallic look. This is an extra style.

Events Emitted by this Class

Event macros for events emitted by this class:

• EVT_CLOSE: Process a wxEVT_CLOSE_WINDOW event when the frame is being closed by the user or programmatically (see Window.Close ). The user may generate this event clicking the close button (typically the ‘X’ on the top-right of the title bar) if it’s present (see the CLOSE_BOX style). See CloseEvent.
• EVT_ICONIZE: Process a wxEVT_ICONIZE event. See IconizeEvent.
• EVT_MENU_OPEN: A menu is about to be opened. See MenuEvent.
• EVT_MENU_CLOSE: A menu has been just closed. See MenuEvent.
• EVT_MENU_HIGHLIGHT: The menu item with the specified id has been highlighted: used to show help prompts in the status bar by Frame. See MenuEvent.
• EVT_MENU_HIGHLIGHT_ALL: A menu item has been highlighted, i.e. the currently selected menu item has changed. See MenuEvent.

Note

An application should normally define an CloseEvent handler for the frame to respond to system close events, for example so that related data and subwindows can be cleaned up.

See also

MDIParentFrame, MDIChildFrame, MiniFrame, Dialog

Inheritance Diagram

Inheritance diagram for class Frame

Control Appearance

wxMSW

wxMAC

wxGTK

Known Subclasses

DocChildFrame, DocParentFrame, HtmlHelpDialog, HtmlHelpFrame, MDIChildFrame, MDIParentFrame, MiniFrame, PreviewFrame, SplashScreen

Methods Summary

__init__	Default constructor.
Centre	Centres the frame on the display.
Create	Used in two-step frame construction.
CreateStatusBar	Creates a status bar at the bottom of the frame.
CreateToolBar	Creates a toolbar at the top or left of the frame.
GetClientAreaOrigin	Returns the origin of the frame client area (in client coordinates).
GetMenuBar	Returns a pointer to the menubar currently associated with the frame (if any).
GetStatusBar	Returns a pointer to the status bar currently associated with the frame (if any).
GetStatusBarPane	Returns the status bar pane used to display menu and toolbar help.
GetToolBar	Returns a pointer to the toolbar currently associated with the frame (if any).
OnCreateStatusBar	Virtual function called when a status bar is requested by CreateStatusBar .
OnCreateToolBar	Virtual function called when a toolbar is requested by CreateToolBar .
PopStatusText
ProcessCommand	Simulate a menu command.
PushStatusText
SetMenuBar	Tells the frame to show the given menu bar.
SetStatusBar	Associates a status bar with the frame.
SetStatusBarPane	Set the status bar pane used to display menu and toolbar help.
SetStatusText	Sets the status bar text and redraws the status bar.
SetStatusWidths	Sets the widths of the fields in the status bar.
SetToolBar	Associates a toolbar with the frame.

Properties Summary

MenuBar	See GetMenuBar and SetMenuBar
StatusBar	See GetStatusBar and SetStatusBar
StatusBarPane	See GetStatusBarPane and SetStatusBarPane
ToolBar	See GetToolBar and SetToolBar

Class API

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class Frame(TopLevelWindow)

A frame is a window whose size and position can (usually) be changed by the user.

Possible constructors:

Frame()

Frame(parent, id=ID_ANY, title='', pos=DefaultPosition,
      size=DefaultSize, style=DEFAULT_FRAME_STYLE, name=FrameNameStr)

Methods

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__init__(self, *args, **kw)

Overloaded Implementations:

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__init__ (self)

Default constructor.

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__init__ (self, parent, id=ID_ANY, title=’‘, pos=DefaultPosition, size=DefaultSize, style=DEFAULT_FRAME_STYLE, name=FrameNameStr)

Constructor, creating the window.

Parameters:

• parent (Window) – The window parent. This may be None. If it is not None, the frame will always be displayed on top of the parent window on Windows.
• id (int) – The window identifier. It may take a value of -1 to indicate a default value.
• title (string) – The caption to be displayed on the frame’s title bar.
• pos (Point) – The window position. The value DefaultPosition indicates a default position, chosen by either the windowing system or wxWidgets, depending on platform.
• size (Size) – The window size. The value DefaultSize indicates a default size, chosen by either the windowing system or wxWidgets, depending on platform.
• style (long) – The window style. See Frame class description.
• name (string) – The name of the window. This parameter is used to associate a name with the item, allowing the application user to set Motif resource values for individual windows.

Note

For Motif, MWM (the Motif Window Manager) should be running for any window styles to work (otherwise all styles take effect).

See also

Create

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Centre(self, direction=BOTH)

Centres the frame on the display.

Parameters:direction (int) – The parameter may be HORIZONTAL, VERTICAL or BOTH.

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Create(self, parent, id=ID_ANY, title='', pos=DefaultPosition, size=DefaultSize, style=DEFAULT_FRAME_STYLE, name=FrameNameStr)

Used in two-step frame construction.

See Frame for further details.

Parameters:

• parent (Window) –
• id (int) –
• title (string) –
• pos (Point) –
• size (Size) –
• style (long) –
• name (string) –

Return type:

bool

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CreateStatusBar(self, number=1, style=STB_DEFAULT_STYLE, id=0, name=StatusBarNameStr)

Creates a status bar at the bottom of the frame.

Parameters:

• number (int) – The number of fields to create. Specify a value greater than 1 to create a multi-field status bar.
• style (long) – The status bar style. See StatusBar for a list of valid styles.
• id (int) – The status bar window identifier. If -1, an identifier will be chosen by wxWidgets.
• name (string) – The status bar window name.

Return type:

StatusBar

Returns:

A pointer to the status bar if it was created successfully, None otherwise.

Note

The width of the status bar is the whole width of the frame (adjusted automatically when resizing), and the height and text size are chosen by the host windowing system.

See also

SetStatusText , OnCreateStatusBar , GetStatusBar

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CreateToolBar(self, style=BORDER_NONE|TB_HORIZONTAL, id=ID_ANY, name=ToolBarNameStr)

Creates a toolbar at the top or left of the frame.

Parameters:

• style (long) – The toolbar style. See ToolBar for a list of valid styles.
• id (int) – The toolbar window identifier. If -1, an identifier will be chosen by wxWidgets.
• name (string) – The toolbar window name.

Return type:

ToolBar

Returns:

A pointer to the toolbar if it was created successfully, None otherwise.

Note

By default, the toolbar is an instance of ToolBar. To use a different class, override OnCreateToolBar . When a toolbar has been created with this function, or made known to the frame with Frame.SetToolBar , the frame will manage the toolbar position and adjust the return value from Window.GetClientSize to reflect the available space for application windows. Under Pocket PC, you should always use this function for creating the toolbar to be managed by the frame, so that wxWidgets can use a combined menubar and toolbar. Where you manage your own toolbars, create a ToolBar as usual.

See also

CreateStatusBar , OnCreateToolBar , SetToolBar , GetToolBar

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GetClientAreaOrigin(self)

Returns the origin of the frame client area (in client coordinates).

It may be different from (0, 0) if the frame has a toolbar.

Return type: Point

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GetMenuBar(self)

Returns a pointer to the menubar currently associated with the frame (if any).

Return type: MenuBar

See also

SetMenuBar , MenuBar, Menu

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GetStatusBar(self)

Returns a pointer to the status bar currently associated with the frame (if any).

Return type: StatusBar

See also

CreateStatusBar , StatusBar

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GetStatusBarPane(self)

Returns the status bar pane used to display menu and toolbar help.

Return type:int

See also

SetStatusBarPane

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GetToolBar(self)

Returns a pointer to the toolbar currently associated with the frame (if any).

Return type: ToolBar

See also

CreateToolBar , ToolBar, SetToolBar

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OnCreateStatusBar(self, number, style, id, name)

Virtual function called when a status bar is requested by CreateStatusBar .

Parameters:

• number (int) – The number of fields to create.
• style (long) – The window style. See StatusBar for a list of valid styles.
• id (int) – The window identifier. If -1, an identifier will be chosen by wxWidgets.
• name (string) – The window name.

Return type:

StatusBar

Returns:

A status bar object.

Note

An application can override this function to return a different kind of status bar. The default implementation returns an instance of StatusBar.

See also

CreateStatusBar , StatusBar.

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OnCreateToolBar(self, style, id, name)

Virtual function called when a toolbar is requested by CreateToolBar .

Parameters:

• style (long) – The toolbar style. See ToolBar for a list of valid styles.
• id (int) – The toolbar window identifier. If -1, an identifier will be chosen by wxWidgets.
• name (string) – The toolbar window name.

Return type:

ToolBar

Returns:

A toolbar object.

Note

An application can override this function to return a different kind of toolbar. The default implementation returns an instance of ToolBar.

See also

CreateToolBar , ToolBar.

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PopStatusText(self, number=0)

Parameters:number (int) –

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ProcessCommand(self, id)

Simulate a menu command.

Parameters:id (int) – The identifier for a menu item. Return type:bool

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PushStatusText(self, text, number=0)

Parameters:

• text (string) –
• number (int) –

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SetMenuBar(self, menuBar)

Tells the frame to show the given menu bar.

Parameters:menuBar (MenuBar) – The menu bar to associate with the frame.

Note

If the frame is destroyed, the menu bar and its menus will be destroyed also, so do not delete the menu bar explicitly (except by resetting the frame’s menu bar to another frame or None). Under Windows, a size event is generated, so be sure to initialize data members properly before calling SetMenuBar . Note that on some platforms, it is not possible to call this function twice for the same frame object.

See also

GetMenuBar , MenuBar, Menu.

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SetStatusBar(self, statusBar)

Associates a status bar with the frame.

If statusBar is None, then the status bar, if present, is detached from the frame, but not deleted.

Parameters:statusBar (StatusBar) –

See also

CreateStatusBar , StatusBar, GetStatusBar

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SetStatusBarPane(self, n)

Set the status bar pane used to display menu and toolbar help.

Using -1 disables help display.

Parameters:n (int) –

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SetStatusText(self, text, number=0)

Sets the status bar text and redraws the status bar.

Parameters:

• text (string) – The text for the status field.
• number (int) – The status field (starting from zero).

Note

Use an empty string to clear the status bar.

See also

CreateStatusBar , StatusBar

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SetStatusWidths(self, widths_field)

Sets the widths of the fields in the status bar.

Parameters:

• n (int) – The number of fields in the status bar. It must be the same used in CreateStatusBar.
• widths_field (int) – Must contain an array of n integers, each of which is a status field width in pixels. A value of -1 indicates that the field is variable width; at least one field must be -1. You should delete this array after calling SetStatusWidths .

Note

The widths of the variable fields are calculated from the total width of all fields, minus the sum of widths of the non-variable fields, divided by the number of variable fields.

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SetToolBar(self, toolBar)

Associates a toolbar with the frame.

Parameters:toolBar (ToolBar) –

Properties

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MenuBar

See GetMenuBar and SetMenuBar

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StatusBar

See GetStatusBar and SetStatusBar

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StatusBarPane

See GetStatusBarPane and SetStatusBarPane

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ToolBar

See GetToolBar and SetToolBar