Using XRC to create custom Dialog boxes

Question

I have been having trouble defining my own Dialogs which are described using XRC.

I have read http://nebelhom.blogspot.co.nz/2012/04/xrc-and-wxdialogs.html and other similar sources which tells me to do this:

class ConfigDialog(wx.Dialog):
    def __init__(self, parent):
            self.res = xrc.XmlResource("config_dialog.xrc")
            pre = wx.PreDialog()
            self.res.LoadOnDialog(pre, parent, "ConfigDlg")
            self.PostCreate(pre)

            #Bind controls to events

However, I am still very confused as to how you actually bind the controls to different methods defined in ConfigDialog class.

I tried

self.btn_1 = xrc.XRCCTRL(self.frame, 'btn_1')

and self.btn_1 = xrc.XRCCTRL(self, 'btn_1')

(because i read here that)

The PostCreate method is used to transfer the guts of pre into self, so it acts like it was a real instance of ConfigDialog.

but neither of them worked.

Would you be able to point me in the right direction?

Answer 1

I solved the problem using 2 step creation as documented here.

Here's a small example

# Import both wx main module and the xrc module
import wx
import wx.xrc as xrc

class MyDialog(wx.Dialog):
    """
    This is our dialog. XRC will create it's widgets and all we need to do is
    handle the events.
    """
    def __init__(self, parent, res):

        pre = wx.PreDialog()
        self.PostCreate(pre)

        res.LoadOnDialog(self, None, "MyDialog")

        #Binding events

        self.Bind(wx.EVT_BUTTON, self.on_ok, xrc.XRCCTRL(self, "okButton"))
        self.Bind(wx.EVT_BUTTON, self.on_cancel, xrc.XRCCTRL(self, "cancelButton"))

    def on_ok(self, event):
        """Show a message box informing us we pressed the OK button"""
        msgDlg = wx.MessageDialog(self, "OK pressed", style=wx.OK)
        msgDlg.ShowModal()
        msgDlg.Destroy()
        self.Destroy()

    def on_cancel(self, event):
        """Show a message box informing us we pressed the Cancel button"""
        msgDlg = wx.MessageDialog(self, "Cancel pressed", style=wx.OK)
        msgDlg.ShowModal()
        msgDlg.Destroy()
        self.Destroy()


# Create the simplest wxApp object
app = wx.PySimpleApp()

# Load the XRC resources
res = xrc.XmlResource("example.xrc")

# Show and run the dialog
dlg = MyDialog(None, res)
dlg.ShowModal() 

and the XRC file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="cp1255"?>
<resource>
  <object class="wxDialog" name="MyDialog">
    <title></title>
    <object class="wxBoxSizer">
      <orient>wxVERTICAL</orient>
      <object class="sizeritem">
        <object class="wxStaticText">
          <label>Just a little bit of text to make
the dialog a little bit less empty
than it has to be for a simple
example.</label>
          <font>
            <size>12</size>
            <family>default</family>
            <style>normal</style>
            <weight>normal</weight>
            <underlined>0</underlined>
          </font>
        </object>
        <flag>wxALL</flag>
        <border>5</border>
      </object>
      <object class="spacer">
        <size>0,20</size>
      </object>
      <object class="sizeritem">
        <object class="wxBoxSizer">
          <orient>wxHORIZONTAL</orient>
          <object class="spacer">
            <option>1</option>
          </object>
          <object class="sizeritem">
            <object class="wxButton" name="okButton">
              <label>OK</label>
            </object>
            <flag>wxALL</flag>
            <border>5</border>
          </object>
          <object class="sizeritem">
            <object class="wxButton" name="cancelButton">
              <label>Cancel</label>
            </object>
            <flag>wxALL</flag>
            <border>5</border>
          </object>
        </object>
        <flag>wxEXPAND</flag>
      </object>
    </object>
  </object>
</resource> 

finally, a small tip: To end the dialog, use EndModal(id) as such

self.EndModal(wx.ID_OK)