WxNim either fails with undeclared indentifier or crashes compiler when I try to cross-compile for Windows on Ubuntu.

[fabricio-p]

Basic information

build machine:

• architecture: x86_64
• OS: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

target machine:

• architecture: x86_64
• OS: Windows

nim --version:

Nim Compiler Version 2.1.1 [Linux: amd64]
Compiled at 2024-06-08
Copyright (c) 2006-2024 by Andreas Rumpf

git hash: 09b5ed251e4f9a47af7a0176ea4632bebdfd506a
active boot switches: -d:release

Steps taken

1. nimble init project-name && cd project-name
2. nimble install wxnim
3. echo 'requires "wxnim#head"' >> project-name.nims
4. nvim src/project-name.nim and write

   import wxnim/[wx, genui]
   
   {.experimental: "implicitDeref".}
   
   {.emit: "#include <wx/spinctrl.h>".}
   
   var cbChoices = @["Combobox 1", "Combobox 2", "Combobox 3"]
   
   
   var
     spinner: ptr WxSpinCtrl
     slider: ptr WxSlider
     gauge: ptr WxGauge
   
   proc spinnerCallback(e: varWxSpinEvent) {.cdecl.} =
     let val = e.getPosition()
     spinner.setValue(val)
     gauge.setVal(val)
   
   genui:
     mainFrame % Frame(title = "Hello world"):
       Panel | Boxsizer(orient = wxHorizontal):
         StaticBox(label = "Basic controls")[proportion = 1] | StaticBoxSizer(orient = wxVertical):
           Button: "Button"
   
       CheckBox: "Checkbox"
       TextCtrl(value = "Entry")
       StaticText: "Label"

5. nvim config.nims and write

   --define:"wxWidgetsPath:wxwidgets-mingw"
   --define:"mingw"

6. Download the headers and libraries from https://www.wxwidgets.org/downloads/ under the MinGW-w64 8.1 label for x86_64. The headers from https://github.com/wxWidgets/wxWidgets/releases/download/v3.2.5/wxWidgets-3.2.5-headers.7z and the libraries from https://github.com/wxWidgets/wxWidgets/releases/download/v3.2.5/wxMSW-3.2.5_gcc810_x64_ReleaseDLL.7z
7. mkdir wxwidgets-mingw and unzip the downloaded archives into that directory.
8. nimble build

        Info:  Dependency on wxnim@#head already satisfied
     Verifying dependencies for wxnim@0.9
      Building project-name/project-name using c backend
   fatal.nim(53)            sysFatal
   Error: unhandled exception: field 'sym' is not accessible for type 'TNode' using 'kind = nkEmpty' [FieldDefect]
          Tip: 4 messages have been suppressed, use --verbose to show them.
   nimble.nim(304)          buildFromDir
   
       Error:  Build failed for the package: project-name
   

9. nim_dbg cpp src/project-name.nim

   Hint: used config file '/home/fabricio/projects/third-party/Nim/config/nim.cfg' [Conf]
   Hint: used config file '/home/fabricio/projects/third-party/Nim/config/config.nims' [Conf]
   Hint: used config file '/home/fabricio/projects/nim/project-name/config.nims' [Conf]
   .................................................................................................................../home/fabricio/projects/third-party/Nim/compiler/nim.nim(169) nim
   /home/fabricio/projects/third-party/Nim/compiler/nim.nim(124) handleCmdLine
   /home/fabricio/projects/third-party/Nim/compiler/main.nim(338) mainCommand
   /home/fabricio/projects/third-party/Nim/compiler/main.nim(305) compileToBackend
   /home/fabricio/projects/third-party/Nim/compiler/main.nim(142) commandCompileToC
   /home/fabricio/projects/third-party/Nim/compiler/pipelines.nim(325) compilePipelineProject
   /home/fabricio/projects/third-party/Nim/compiler/pipelines.nim(245) compilePipelineModule
   /home/fabricio/projects/third-party/Nim/compiler/pipelines.nim(187) processPipelineModule
   /home/fabricio/projects/third-party/Nim/compiler/sem.nim(822) semWithPContext
   /home/fabricio/projects/third-party/Nim/compiler/sem.nim(784) semStmtAndGenerateGenerics
   /home/fabricio/projects/third-party/Nim/compiler/semstmts.nim(2888) semStmt
   /home/fabricio/projects/third-party/Nim/compiler/semexprs.nim(1190) semExprNoType
   /home/fabricio/projects/third-party/Nim/compiler/semexprs.nim(3369) semExpr /home/fabricio/projects/nim/project-name/src/project-name.nim(1, 1) nkStmtList
   /home/fabricio/projects/third-party/Nim/compiler/semstmts.nim(2835) semStmtList
   /home/fabricio/projects/third-party/Nim/compiler/semexprs.nim(3402) semExpr /home/fabricio/projects/nim/project-name/src/project-name.nim(1, 1) nkImportStmt
   /home/fabricio/projects/third-party/Nim/compiler/importer.nim(364) evalImport
   /home/fabricio/projects/third-party/Nim/compiler/importer.nim(334) impMod
   /home/fabricio/projects/third-party/Nim/compiler/importer.nim(292) myImportModule
   /home/fabricio/projects/third-party/Nim/compiler/pipelines.nim(284) importPipelineModule
   /home/fabricio/projects/third-party/Nim/compiler/pipelines.nim(245) compilePipelineModule
   /home/fabricio/projects/third-party/Nim/compiler/pipelines.nim(187) processPipelineModule
   /home/fabricio/projects/third-party/Nim/compiler/sem.nim(822) semWithPContext
   /home/fabricio/projects/third-party/Nim/compiler/sem.nim(784) semStmtAndGenerateGenerics
   /home/fabricio/projects/third-party/Nim/compiler/semstmts.nim(2888) semStmt
   /home/fabricio/projects/third-party/Nim/compiler/semexprs.nim(1190) semExprNoType
   /home/fabricio/projects/third-party/Nim/compiler/semexprs.nim(3369) semExpr /home/fabricio/.nimble/pkgs2/wxnim-0.9-30842e9ec6c93c002349de587f1692fea0b2ace4/wxnim/wx.nim(6, 1) nkStmtList
   /home/fabricio/projects/third-party/Nim/compiler/semstmts.nim(2835) semStmtList
   /home/fabricio/projects/third-party/Nim/compiler/semexprs.nim(3387) semExpr /home/fabricio/.nimble/pkgs2/wxnim-0.9-30842e9ec6c93c002349de587f1692fea0b2ace4/wxnim/private/list.nim(53, 1) nkProcDef
   /home/fabricio/projects/third-party/Nim/compiler/semstmts.nim(2649) semProc
   /home/fabricio/projects/third-party/Nim/compiler/semstmts.nim(2533) semProcAux
   /home/fabricio/projects/third-party/Nim/compiler/semstmts.nim(2306) semCppMember
   /home/fabricio/projects/third-party/Nim/lib/system/fatal.nim(53) sysFatal
   Error: unhandled exception: field 'sym' is not accessible for type 'TNode' using 'kind = nkEmpty' [FieldDefect]
   

10. Append --define:"windows" to config.nims
11. nimble build

      Verifying dependencies for project-name@0.0.0
         Info:  Dependency on wxnim@#head already satisfied
      Verifying dependencies for wxnim@0.9
       Building project-name/project-name using c backend
    /home/fabricio/projects/third-party/Nim/lib/std/typedthreads.nim(187, 25) Error: undeclared identifier: 'pthread_join'
           Tip: 4 messages have been suppressed, use --verbose to show them.
    nimble.nim(304)          buildFromDir
    
        Error:  Build failed for the package: project-name
    

[PMunch]

Sorry for not getting back to you sooner, been busy lately. Just pushed a version to fix some issues with Nim 2.0.6. However I see you use 2.1.1 which is an unstable development version. I can't reproduce your errors with the stable version, so I have to assume it's a bug in whatever development version you where using. I also tried your code and apart from some typos it also seems to have some logic errors. Below is my updated version which works fine:

import wxnim/[wx, genui]

var cbChoices = @["Combobox 1", "Combobox 2", "Combobox 3"]

var
  spinner: ptr WxSpinCtrl
  slider: ptr WxSlider
  gauge: ptr WxGauge

proc spinnerCallback(e: var WxSpinEvent) {.cdecl.} =
  let val = e.getPosition()
  spinner.setValue(val)
  gauge.setValue(val)

genui:
  mainFrame % Frame(title = "Hello world") | Boxsizer(orient = wxVertical):
    Panel | Boxsizer(orient = wxHorizontal):
      StaticBox(label = "Basic controls")[proportion = 1] | StaticBoxSizer(orient = wxVertical):
        Button: "Button"

    CheckBox: "Checkbox"
    TextCtrl(value = "Entry")
    StaticText: "Label"

mainFrame.show()
runMainLoop()

[fabricio-p]

The code sample is a subset of the example here https://github.com/PMunch/wxnim/blob/master/examples/genuimacro/controlgallery.nim

[PMunch]

Yes I recognized the code. But when I now full the latest version of this repo it builds fine with the latest Nim version. So I'm unable to reproduce your issue. Did you try to upgrade to the latest stable Nim version and the latest version of wxnim? Keep in mind that old versions still in .nimble/pkgs might override those in .nimble/pkgs2, so best delete the entire old package cache.

[fabricio-p]

I have only ~/.nimble/pkgs2. Are you trying to cross-compile it from linux using mingw toolchain?