wxFormBuilder is a GUI builder for the wxWidgets framework.
Code generation is supported for C++, Python, XRC, wxLua and PHP. Additionally, the import and export of XRC code is possible. To support additional widgets custom plugins can be used.
wxFormBuilder runs on Windows, various Linux distributions and macOS.
Building from source requires the fairly recent CMake version 3.21. Most Linux distributions don't contain this version in their package repositories currently, the CMake website offers binary downloads for multiple platforms. wxFormBuilder uses the wxWidgets framework itself, it is highly recommended using the current development version 3.1.x. The latest stable version 3.0.x is known to cause multiple issues and should be avoided.
Building on Windows has been tested with MSVC, Mingw-w64 and MSYS2 in 32 bit and 64 bit mode. Using MSYS2 is a bit more convenient because it offers the required libraries precompiled and CMake can find them automatically. Using the other compilers it might be necessary to specify the library locations manually. The following instructions use MSYS2.
Install MSYS2 and open a MINGW32 or MINGW64 shell.
Installing the Prerequisites:
pacman -Syu
pacman -S ${MINGW_PACKAGE_PREFIX}-toolchain ${MINGW_PACKAGE_PREFIX}-cmake ${MINGW_PACKAGE_PREFIX}-make base-devel git
pacman -S ${MINGW_PACKAGE_PREFIX}-wxWidgets3.1 ${MINGW_PACKAGE_PREFIX}-boostBuilding:
git clone --recursive https://github.com/wxFormBuilder/wxFormBuilder
cd wxFormBuilder
cmake -S . -B _build -G "MSYS Makefiles" --install-prefix "$PWD/_install" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build _build --config Release -j `nproc`
cmake --install _build --config ReleaseRunning:
_install/bin/wxFormBuilderBuilding on Linux has been tested on Ubuntu and Fedora with GCC in 64 bit mode but should work on many more distributions.
Installing the Prerequisites:
sudo apt install libwxgtk3.0-gtk3-dev libwxgtk-media3.0-gtk3-dev libboost-dev cmake make gitBuilding:
git clone --recursive https://github.com/wxFormBuilder/wxFormBuilder
cd wxFormBuilder
cmake -S . -B _build -G "Unix Makefiles" --install-prefix "$PWD/_install" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DWXFB_WXWIDGETS_ENABLE_30=ON
cmake --build _build --config Release -j `nproc`
cmake --install _build --config ReleaseRunning:
_install/bin/wxformbuilderInstalling the Prerequisites:
sudo dnf install wxGTK wxGTK-media boost-devel cmake make gitBuilding:
git clone --recursive https://github.com/wxFormBuilder/wxFormBuilder
cd wxFormBuilder
cmake -S . -B _build -G "Unix Makefiles" --install-prefix "$PWD/_install" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build _build --config Release -j `nproc`
cmake --install _build --config ReleaseRunning:
_install/bin/wxformbuilderBuilding on macOS has been tested with Clang in 64 bit mode using Xcode and make. The required libraries can be installed via Homebrew.
Installing the Prerequisites:
brew update
brew install wxwidgets boost cmake make gitBuilding:
git clone --recursive https://github.com/wxFormBuilder/wxFormBuilder
cd wxFormBuilder
cmake -S . -B _build -G "Unix Makefiles" --install-prefix "$PWD/_install" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build _build --config Release -j `sysctl -n hw.ncpu`
cmake --install _build --config ReleaseRunning:
open _install/wxFormBuilder.appPreviously Premake and Meson have been used for building but support for these build systems has been dropped in favor for CMake. Building with these systems is more difficult and the result doesn't work on every platform without issues. Both systems will be removed in the future, the documentation is kept for reference until that time.
Install MSYS2 and run the following inside a MinGW 32 bit shell:
pacman -Syu
pacman -S --needed mingw-w64-i686-gcc mingw-w64-i686-wxWidgets3.1 make git
git clone --recursive --depth=1 https://github.com/wxFormBuilder/wxFormBuilder
cd wxFormBuilder
cmd.exe /C "create_build_files4.bat --wx-root=/mingw32/bin --force-wx-config=versioned --wx-version=3.1"
ln -s /mingw32/include/binutils/ansidecl.h /mingw32/include/ansidecl.h
ln -s /mingw32/include/binutils/bfd.h /mingw32/include/bfd.h
ln -s /mingw32/include/binutils/diagnostics.h /mingw32/include/diagnostics.h
ln -s /mingw32/include/binutils/symcat.h /mingw32/include/symcat.h
ln -s /mingw32/lib/binutils/libbfd.a /mingw32/lib/libbfd.a
ln -s /mingw32/lib/binutils/libiberty.a /mingw32/lib/libiberty.a
cd build/3.1/gmake
sed 's!\$(LDFLAGS) \$(RESOURCES) \$(ARCH) \$(LIBS)!\$(LIBS) \$(LDFLAGS) \$(RESOURCES) \$(ARCH)!g' *.make -i
make config=releaseRun:
cd ../../../output/
./wxFormBuilder.exeNotice: Distributions that use architecture based subdirectories for libraries currently fail to load the plugins, for a workaround see #524
Pre-requisites for Ubuntu:
sudo apt install libwxgtk3.0-gtk3-dev libwxgtk-media3.0-gtk3-dev mesonPre-requisites for Arch Linux:
sudo pacman -Syu --needed meson wxgtk2Build and run:
git clone --recursive --depth=1 https://github.com/wxFormBuilder/wxFormBuilder
cd wxFormBuilder
meson _build --prefix $PWD/_install --buildtype=release
ninja -C _build install
./_install/bin/wxformbuilderNotice: On recent macOS versions >= 11 wxFormBuilder fails to build and/or run, there is no solution available currently
Pre-requisites for macOS can be installed via Homebrew:
brew install dylibbundler make wxwidgetsNote: Building with Xcode currently does not work without issues (see #247). Therefore, it is recommended to build with GNU make like as described below:
git clone --recursive --depth=1 https://github.com/wxFormBuilder/wxFormBuilder
cd wxFormBuilder
./create_build_files4.sh
cd build/3.1/gmake
make config=releaseRun:
cd ../../../output/
open wxFormBuilder.app