Using std::shared_ptr with wxWidgets

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Vexator
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Using std::shared_ptr with wxWidgets

Post by Vexator »

Usually, wxWidgets seems to handle pointers quite well. I'm using it now to create a level designer for my graphics engine which uses shared_ptr's for everything and I'd like to use them for my wxWidgets windows as well as I don't like mixing raw and managed pointers.

What's the correct way of doing this in wxWidgets?
Windows 7 Pro
Visual Studio 2010
wxWidgets 2.9.3
catalin
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Post by catalin »

I'd say you can use shared_ptr with wxWindow but you shouldn't need to.
Deleting a wxWindow is always handled by its parent, and parent-less ones (top level windows) are normally deleted by the app. So you don't need to manage the pointers of wxWindow-s.
Maybe there are exceptions, like context menus, but they can be created on the stack so again, no managing is necessary.

You can however delete a wxWindow on your own, the only drawback should be that a wxWindowDestroyEvent will not be sent for that window
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Post by Auria »

You would need a special shared pointer implementation; it would need to call ->Destroy() and not delete, and as well detach the window from any sizer it was added to.

I wouldn't recommend trying to do it this way, except for top-level components perhaps
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catalin
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Post by catalin »

Auria wrote:detach the window from any sizer it was added to.
Actually this and all other cleanup is done in ~wxWindowBase() so using delete is safe enough. But I'm not sure how everything will react to any unprocessed events that target the window being deleted.
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