WxBasic
Open-source BASIC interpretation software
title: "WxBasic" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["free-and-open-source-interpreters", "free-computer-libraries", "wxwidgets", "software-that-uses-wxwidgets", "software-using-the-gnu-lesser-general-public-license", "basic-interpreters"] description: "Open-source BASIC interpretation software" topic_path: "general/free-and-open-source-interpreters" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WxBasic" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Open-source BASIC interpretation software ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox software"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | wxBasic |
| developer | David Cuny |
| released | |
| latest release version | 2.8.12.43 |
| latest release date | |
| operating system | Cross-platform |
| license | GNU Lesser General Public License |
| website | |
| :: |
| name = wxBasic | logo = | screenshot = | caption = | collapsible = | author = | developer = David Cuny | released = | latest release version = 2.8.12.43 | latest release date = | latest preview version = | latest preview date = | frequently updated = | programming language = | operating system = Cross-platform | platform = | size = | language = | status = | genre = | license = GNU Lesser General Public License | website = wxBasic is a free software / open-source software, cross-platform BASIC interpreter. As it is based on syntax of the BASIC language, it is designed to be simple to learn and understand, and allow novice programmers to write applications for graphical environments like Windows and Linux with minimal effort. wxBasic is a bytecode based language, like Perl or Java. It is licensed under the LGPL, so proprietary software's source code can be linked against it.
It can create stand-alone executables by binding together source code with the interpreter. In contrast with executables created by similar commercial programs like Visual Basic, executables produced by wxBasic do not require any external DLL file, resource file, or installer to run. The executable is distributed alone and can be run immediately by end-users. As with programs written in any interpreted language, wxBasic programs may also be run straight from the source code on any platform, if wxBasic is present.
wxBasic is written primarily in C, with some C++ linking it to the wxWidgets library. wxWidgets supplies the cross-platform features. It runs on Microsoft Windows using native controls, and on Linux and macOS using the GTK+ library. wxBasic is also the basis for the SdlBasic project.
Example
The following program implements a text viewer:
::code[lang=vbscript] ' from https://wxbasic.sourceforge.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=554 ' Simple Text Viewer written in wxBasic dim AppName = "Text Viewer" fileName = ""
' Main window dim frame = new wxFrame( Nothing, -1, AppName & " - Untitled Document" ) ' Text edit control dim control = new wxTextCtrl( frame, -1, "", wxPoint( 0, 0 ), wxSize( 100, 100 ), wxTE_MULTILINE | wxTE_READONLY | wxTE_RICH)
' Status bar - The one at the bottom of the window dim status = frame.CreateStatusBar( 1 ) frame.SetStatusText("Ready") ' ' Dialog used for Open dim fileDialog = new wxFileDialog( frame ) ' ' add menubar to the frame dim mBar = new wxMenuBar() frame.SetMenuBar(mBar) ' ' build the "File" dropdown menu dim mFile = new wxMenu() mBar.Append(mFile, "&File")
' make it ' mFile.Append( wxID_OPEN, "&Open...", "Loads an existing file from disk" ) ' mFile.AppendSeparator() mFile.Append( wxID_EXIT, "E&xit\tAlt-X", "Exit Application" )
Sub onFileOpen( event ) fileDialog.SetMessage("Open File") fileDialog.SetStyle( wxOPEN ) If fileDialog.ShowModal() = wxID_OK Then fileName = fileDialog.GetPath() Ext = fileDialog.GetFilename() control.Clear() control.LoadFile( fileName ) frame.SetTitle( AppName & " - " & fileName ) frame.SetStatusText(Ext) End If End Sub ' Connect( frame, wxID_OPEN, wxEVT_COMMAND_MENU_SELECTED, "onFileOpen" )
Sub onFileExit( event ) frame.Close(True) End Sub ' Connect( frame, wxID_EXIT, wxEVT_COMMAND_MENU_SELECTED, "onFileExit" )
' build the "Help" dropdown menu dim mHelp = new wxMenu() mBar.Append(mHelp, "&Help") mHelp.Append( wxID_HELP, "&About\tF1", "About this program" ) ' Sub onHelpAbout( event ) Dim msg = "Text View allows any text file\n" & "to be viewed regardless of its extension.\n" & "If the file being opened isn't a text file\n" & "then it won't be displayed. There will be a\n" & "little garbage shown and that's all." wxMessageBox( msg, "About Text View", wxOK + wxICON_INFORMATION, frame ) End Sub Connect( frame, wxID_HELP, wxEVT_COMMAND_MENU_SELECTED, "onHelpAbout" )
frame.Show(True) ::
References
References
- "News, November 2016". wxbasic.net.
- "Download". wxbasic.net.
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::