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SpecTcl 1.1 User's Guide

1. 0 005 31 Complebne tie Labels oo a qe per ERR secre dod 32 Improving the Labels Appearance 405 33 Creating the Add DBUllonz ass esee wie geese pee Sees 33 Creating Change and Delete Buttons and Another Column 34 Creating the Entry Widgels esriseseer t til ER ratas x 35 Adding Finishing Touches 0 0 0 000 00008 36 Examining Run Time Actions and Resizeability 37 ILI Dorn 39 The Bie PICE os odore ud eS uus EE RR EROS 40 PRO LIO TDi s ados hearse aca ac inh Sone aid Se eae a rene 40 FCN PACU 654 umen tie Gendt Bate ne BE Ae ese dite s e d etes 40 Help Aa oos S emus tarta e uu C dpt etre d aid cae qd es 40 Messan led sec sewers eae SU hea tee oo eet 41 WI CU Dass eco c mgm cet cciod a pasti tendono dU ce asset udis 41 Creatine MIOdOSIS s es Sota e ria eee E 4 oelecte a Wido etiani eee er pobre d arai 42 Navigating and Selection e oo ous eee PES 43 Copying Cutting Pasting and Deleting Widgets 43 Editino Widget PrODeFIIeS a sse pep E a ro ese aga 44 SpecTcl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 Paine the Text Tednotuiiusceau e PE ew uss 3a mores 44 Editing the Property Sheets dicen ko ei sawed Seen Gees 45 Editing Properties through Tools on the Toolbar 47 Using and Changing Widget Names 48 Editing Widget Default Properties 0 48 Grid Basics TTL Pm 49 Inserting a Row of Colum so0052425444 44 aecnten geo 49 Inserting a R
2. 00048 64 The Sucky TOPET Eas a een tA Aye ee eee 65 Alemine WAC CCUS 09 ss Sz ead edes e E Sea ara 65 Aligning Multi Line Text within a Widget 65 Usine the Justify Property 2 wie ies EX Ses dese wes 66 Using thie Anchor Proper yenin nr wu eer ERES Rm RN 66 5 Common Properties of Widgets 0c eee 67 ANCOR DIODGELLDyts vus Mare d scien e ia ewe dade didit 67 Borderwidtht T roper y os us ous a ep be EE Coe es Rr bad 68 WISELY PEODOED o conte ais ep bu quien saspe dodi ee 68 Retiet Proper hws qo niet oe ete au ee ipa eee 69 DUCKY PIODCELY scopo be te aren ee pred Sale orem uad 70 6 Labels Buttons and Menus cccceccccccces 73 The Label WIOSPOU es ect doa autas rese Eton te meds 73 ADO DUNONG rentei Ainea d doi Ead iato ate 75 SpecTcl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 The Bunton IGS eao ua oos bee queris sm oes 75 The Checkbutton Widget 0 0 0 0 000008 77 The lsadtobulton Wid eels coss oh ee Ed eer Eo essa 79 ADOG MEDUS MEE PE OE 80 The Menubutton Widget e eU EI pr ERES 80 The MODE eerror redet e E pice Ero ace eR S d 81 Standard Button Menu Entries 0 0 0008 82 Checkbutton Menu Entries sees 82 Radiobutton Menu Entries 0008 83 7 Olher Widgets oie oath eee ed PREUEE RA V qi ces 85 Ihe En Wide i rsono t weeds Ch al E eee 85 When the User Presses Return 0004 86 Retrievine the Pnivy TexE ob eod i
3. set txt set txt checkbutton A checkbutton lets the user listbox A listbox lets the user m A listbox 1 delete 0 end foreach fname label button checkbutton listbox listbox 1 insert end Sfname The set txt statements place text to be displayed in an array Note that the in array elements such as txt button the string indexes such as button are not predefined The txt array is declared global so the other proc can use it The listbox 1 delete command empties the listbox Then listbox 1 insert commands append label button and so forth in the foreach loop And here is the proc that reacts to the user s listbox selection proc ShowSel ShowSel displays text and an image file that correspond to a user s listbox choice global txt Find the user s choice and display the related text set i listbox 1 curselection set choiceName listbox l get i st xthabel config text Stxt Schoi ceNname Now display the related image file set fname exListbox choiceName gif SpecTcl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 N Ii Press these buttons to bump the Tcl variable the variable property Moving this slide changes the Tcl variabl and the resizable label ae The Scale Widget E set iw image create photo file Sfname imageLabel config image Siw ShowSel is called after the user clicks on a listbox entry The listbox 1 curselection c
4. Setting Properties forthe Application These properties are key to operation of the script The item name property of the entries are ent ryName entryCompany and entryEmail respectively The textvariable property of the entries are ename ecompany and email respectively Here is the design window for exEntry ui left and an outline of the script right details later bind Entry lt Key Return gt ShowEntry W bind entryEmail Key Return ShowEmailEntry W proc ShowEntry w proc ShowEmailEntry w Figure 7 2 Design Window and Script for exEntry ui To see the full script select File gt Open for exEntry ui and then select Edit gt Edit Code When the User Presses Retum These bind commands transfer control to the ShowEntry and ShowEmailEntry procs when the user presses Return bind entryEmail Key Return ShowEmailEntry Wj bind Entry Key Return ShowEntry W SpecTcl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 7 A bind command connects an event to the statements that process the event To show two different ways to bind let s connect the Key Return event to ShowEntry for all entry widgets ShowEmailEntry for the entryEmail widget In the bind Entry statement Entry a bindtag refers to all entry widgets This statement binds the Key Return event for any entry widget to the ShowEntry proc There is also an A11 bindtag with which you could bind the
5. e Select Commands gt Build Application which creates a double clickable ui tcl file This the best way to distribute an application that you are ready to release For further information see Building a Macintosh Application on page 115 Inserting Debugging Information You can often debug a Tcl script by adding puts commands strategically writing out variables as they change In all platforms the puts command writes a string to output In UNIX the string is written to standard output in Windows or the Macintosh a console window appears which displays the string output To demonstrate let s modify the Hello World application described earlier 1 To display the property sheet double click on the button 2 Edit the command property replacing it with puts Hello World from W Note The lt W in the puts string above is a directive to SpecIcl Within a widget s command property SpecIcl replaces W with the widget s name For further information see Substitutions in Commands on page 114 3 Select File gt Save 4 Select Commands gt Build and Test When the application appears press the button as before Instead of a dialog box you see the output Hello World from button 1 Getting Started with SpecTcl 29 2 The Example Applic ations A name such as appName ui in this guide refers to an application in the examples directory provided in your release materials Here is an example appli
6. Weimremesieme ne environment ues wt Aj t ey i T J ras A rn e 1 i Li Application in execution Figure 1 1 A SpecIcl Application Design and Execution 19 1 Spec Tcl Features These are some of SpecTcl s important features Lets you design graphical user interfaces interactively and graphically Creates applications on one platform Unix Windows or Macintosh that can run on any of the other platforms with no changes to the application Uses a geometry smart enough to keep elements aligned across all platforms Enables fast development of applications that require many more lines of code in traditional procedural languages Provides more flexibility at run time than many languages which simplifies many tasks for example generating menus at run time Lets you integrate Tcl Tk scripts with scripts generated in SpecTcl Lets you alternate quickly between design and execution without waiting for long compilations you can add something new and get immediate feedback on how it works Produces executable files that use Tcl Tk your users don t require SpecIcl Lets you develop and test simple applications separately and combine them later into subassemblies of a larger application A Technical Note on Spec Tcl If you are interested in the technical issues addressed by SpecTcl s designers this section is written for you otherwise you can skip the
7. listbox entry which is highlighted and the application displays related text and a gif file image If you open exListbox ui and execute it resize the application window if some of the text is not visible Important properties xscrollcommand and yscrollcommand Setting Properties forthe Application To connect the widgets to the script set these properties For the button set command to ListboxInit For the labels set item name to text Label left and imageLabel right Here is the design window for exListbox ui followed by a sketch of its script Text display Imzggp dipl bind listbox 1 ButtonRelease 1 ShowSel prop LIStCOOXINIE F d proc ShowSel Figure 7 4 Design Window and Script of exListbox ui When the UserSelects a Listbox Entry The bind command transfers control to the ShowSel proc when the user releases the first mouse button over any listbox entry bind listbox 1 ButtonRelease 1 ShowSel Other Widgets 89 Reacting to the User s Choice As mentioned when a user clicks on an entry in listbox 1 control passes to the ShowSel proc to react to this event The script includes one proc to initialize the listbox and another to determine the user s choice and react Here is the first proc Lrstboxrimnrb d A ListboxInit places a list of names in the listbox global txt set txt label A label widget typically set txt button A button lets the user
8. 103 104 Entering Commands Interactively One of the best features of Tcl is the ability to enter commands interactively and get immediate feedback as to whether you understand the command We recommend you enter example scripts as you read this chapter Provided with Tcl is tclsh an interactive shell to start it enter I eT Or you can start wish which is an interactive shell released with Tcl Tk for building Tk applications wish An interface window will appear This is intended to display a Tk interface but you can ignore it and Tcl commands are processed as with tclsh Using either tclsh or wish you can enter a set command like the following set x 123 and the shell responds gt 123 Note The notation gt is used after Tcl commands to indicate the result of the command the string 123 in this case is not part of the result itself Tcl Commands To discuss Tcl commands we need a definition for word A word is one or more contiguous printing characters For example here are three words this is a word 123 5 us Words are separated from each other by non printing characters called white space characters that don t print such as space characters tabs and newlines And by means of grouping you can in effect include white space within words for further information see Grouping on page 107 A Tcl command is a series of words The first word in a command is the command name subseque
9. Adding a Script You can look at the command properties of the examples but here are the main points For the scale widget the command property is ShowVal1 so that when the scale value changes the ShowVal proc is called For the 5 button the command property is set x scale l get scale l set expr x 5 The scale widget scale 1 has its own set and get commands They are used here to get the current scale value subtract 5 and set the scale to the new value The plus button is similar If you select Edit gt Edit Code you see proc ShowVal global val resizeLabel config width val j This proc reconfigures the resizable label so that it s width changes directly with the value of the scale Note that as you move the scale to 0 the label grows wider because the value 0 has a special meaning It means the label should size itself to display its text 92 Specicl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 N Ii The Text Widget The text widget provides an easy versatile way to display text to the user in specified fonts sizes and colors as demonstrated by exText ui in execution below which has both text widget and scrollbar widgets goar Ine SRM Figure 7 7 Executing exText ui And here is the design window for exText ui Column handle with arrowheads Text widget Scrollbar widget Figure 7 8 Design Window of exText ui You can open exText ui in the examples directory o
10. Chapter 7 Other Widgets continues with last chapter s coverage of specific widgets this time with more complex widgets such as listboxes Chapter 8 Icl and Tk takes a minimalist approach to describing Tcl Tk Although most SpecTcl users already know Tcl Tk if you happen to be new to Tcl Tk this might serve as a stop gap We recommend you acquire something more substantial on the subject see Related Books below Chapter 9 Advanced Topics provides information that is only slightly more advanced than the material that precedes it For information about Tcl Tk we recommend the following books Practical Programming in Tcl and Tk Second Edition by Brent B Welch Prentice Hall PTR 1995 ISBN 0 13 616830 2 Tcl and the Tk Toolkit John K Ousterhout Addison Wesley 1994 ISBN 0 201 63337 X SpecTcl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 WhatTypogra phic Changes and Symbols Mean The following table describes the type changes and symbols used in this book Table P 1 Typographic Conventions Typeface or Symbol Meaning AaBbCc123 The names of commands files and directories on screen computer output AaBbCc123 Command line placeholder replace with a real name or value AaBbCc123 Book titles new words or terms or words to be emphasized Menu gt Cmd Select the Cmd command from the Menu menu Example Edit your login file Use 1s a to list all files system o You have mail To delete a file type
11. Important properties jump and orient FA The Canvas Widget r T The canvas widget is a general purpose widget that you can program to display a number of different objects such as lines polygons images and so forth For further information on the canvas widget see one of the Tcl Tk books described in Related Books on page xvi J The Message Widget The message widget displays a long text string by breaking it up into several lines as shown by the exMessage ui application in execution SpecTcl exMessage If vou tvpe a long message into this entry and then press Return the message widget will break it up into lines reak it up into lines aspect 150 500 1000 Figure 7 15 Executing exMessage ui The message widget s aspect property controls the dimensions of the formatted text When you execute this application click on the different buttons to see the formatting affect with aspects of 150 500 and 1000 Other Widgets 101 Ii N Here is the design window for exMessage ui left and its script right Select Edit gt Edit Code to see or edit the code after opening exMessage ui bind entry l Key Return ShowText proc ShowText global entryText msgText ee set msgText SentryText aspects _150 soo 000 Figure 7 16 Design Window and Script for exMessage ui When you type a long text string into the entry widget and press Return the m
12. Set iw image create photo file exButton gif Sw config image Siw ShowImage button 2 Figure 6 5 Design Window and Script of exButton ui SpecTcl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 6 The ShowImage proc above first creates an image attribute using a gi f file then it reconfigures the button with the image attribute Because the call to ShowImage the last line of the script is executed as the application is loaded the user first sees the application with the image already loaded as shown in Figure 6 4 on page 76 Types of Images There are two types of images photo images as shown above bitmap images For photo images only GIF and PPM PGM formats are currently supported For bitmap images X11 bitmap format e g as generated by the bitmap program Important properties command image and textvariable The Checkbutton Widget Checkbuttons let the user toggle options on or off as demonstrated in the figure by exCheckbutton ui tcl in the examples directory in execution Options E Binary _ Hash E Verbose Print Figure 6 6 Executing exCheckbutton ui Vanable Property On Off State The variable property of checkbuttons specifies a Tcl variable that holds the on off state of the checkbutton usually 1 and 0 Labels Buttons and Menus 77 78 If you have several checkbuttons make certain the variable property of each one is unique to prevent your buttons from turnin
13. and c are whatever s right 5 and 7 9 List related Commands Here are a few commands that work with lists d xS cado GEO The list command creates a list from its arguments arg1 becomes element 0 arg2 becomes element 1 and so forth To use this command you can embed it in a set command for example set fruits list apples oranges grapefruit lindex list i The lindex command returns the i th element of the list using the list created above Lene Ag qp O gt apples lq4mdex Truirts end gt grapefruit For the lindex command end represents the last list value SpecTcl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 CO Ii llength list i The llength command returns the length of the list using the list created above llength Sfruits gt 3 Tcl Command Infomaton The way you access information about Tcl built in commands depends on which platform you use However on all platforms there is an HTML help facility you can view with your network browser at Httpe sunscript sun com4Aman toers 0 oonte nts html This URL contains the Tcl Tk Manual including Tcl and Tk commands and keywords For MSWindows When you select Help gt Help in Windows a standard Windows Help facility window appears to describe Tcl and Tk commands As it first appears WinHelp displays the table of contents as follows Tcl Application Tcl Built in Commands e Tcl Library Procedures Tk Applications e Tk Built in Comman
14. application uses can only be right for everyone if it changes dynamically under user directed program control Rows and columns provide a vehicle for you as a programmer to express which screen areas get extra space and which don t Your decision will be influenced by the type of widgets in that area For example a wider entry widget can accommodate more text but a larger button might just look silly Managing Layout 57 Ii I The following sections lead you through the layout process showing the choices you can make and how Specicl reacts to them The layout process is presented in these broad categories placing widgets in cells of the grid Controlling columns and rows Positioning widgets within their cells Placing Widgets in Grid Cells When you drag a new widget to the user interface you drag it to a particular row and column of the grid The area occupied by the widget is called a cell When you select a widget the handles delimit its cell as shown in the figure below 1 2 3 4 5 1 i cell jb 3 4 Figure 4 1 Placing Widgets in the Grid You can place one widget and only one in a given cell A frame container widget lets you circumvent this restriction see The Frame Widget on page 95 Controlling Widget Size SpecIcl enables you to specify the size of application widgets in several ways Automatic Sizing When you leave a widget s height and width zero the default widgets are
15. or set widget properties Editing the text area is a convenient way to set the text property Editing the widget s property sheet lets you modify any property Editing properties with the toolbar is easy with certain properties of the selected widget see Editing Properties through Tools on the Toolbar on page 47 Editing the TextArea Buttons and labels typically display text and this text is considered to be a property or attribute of the widget The text property is quite common so SpecIcl provides the text area shown below as a convenience File Edit Commands Preferenc Text area to edit the text property text Edit this text a E of the selected widget A E 5L I 3 ie M d Figure 3 4 A Text Area for Editing the Text Property SpecTcl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 3 To edit a widget s text property easily a select the widget and b edit the text in the text entry area To select the text in the text area for easier editing do one of these Double click on the text in the text area Select Edit gt Edit Text Property This changes the text property directly without a Return If you do press Return SpecTcl inserts a newline character in the text property providing multi line text Editing the Property Sheet Click here to see more properties You can view and edit all widget s properties through its property sheet To display the property sheet do either
16. sized automatically to accommodate what they display text or image With text widget size depends on the length and font size of the text and on padding as shown in Figure 4 3 58 Specicl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 4 For example in Figure 4 2 the six buttons in frame containers would be the same size if they displayed the same characters and font ray l E From top to bottom these 3 abcdef abcdef 3h13 n buttons differ only in font size So Tse From left to right these MN ab abcdef abcdef ghij buttons differ only in text length Figure 4 2 Self Sizing Buttons As text on labels changes in production applications the user interface can adjust automatically so that no text is crowded or truncated Automatic resizing of widgets is especially convenient if your user interface displays labels in multiple languages The Effectof padx and pady On Widget Size You can pad the size of a button which is primarily based on the text or image that it displays through its padx and pady properties as shown here Figure 4 8 The Effect of padx and pady on Widget Size To give a better visual comparison a sticky value of w West keeps the buttons against the left cell wall Managing Layout 59 Ii I Tying Widget Size to Cell Size There is a useful alternative to letting widgets self size you can constrain the height or width of a widget to that of its row or column The fi
17. 1 Select Commands gt Build and Test button Your application s main window appears 2 Press the button in your application The Hello world dialog box appears When a button is pressed SpecIcl executes the Tcl commands in the button s command property 3 To stop your application select Commands gt Stop Test This also returns SpecIcl to design mode Note To see the same application centered with a three dimensional button select File gt Open of exHello ui in the examples directory See The Example Applications on page 30 Running the Applic ation Stand Alone Whether you use UNIX Windows or the Macintosh you can build a ui tcl file that is executable but there are some differences between the different platforms 28 Specicl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 2 In MS Windows the application s ui tc1 file is executable because every Tcl file is registered with Windows as executable You can double click on the icon for a ui tcl file to execute the application In Unix the ui tcl file is executable and wish is executed with your application as a script 5o you can also double click on a ui tc1 file to execute the application For further information and options see Execution Options in UNIX on page 116 With the Macintosh you can choose either of these alternatives e Select Commands gt Build which builds a ui tcl file but you cannot execute it by double clicking
18. Column Deleting 50 Inserting 49 50 Resizing 49 50 See also Grid 117 118 Column handles 62 Column Span of Widgets 60 Columns Setting Resizeability 61 Size Minimums for 61 Commands Menu Commands Attach Scrollbars 93 99 Build 27 Build and Test 27 Build Application Macintosh 27 115 Reapply the Toolbar 47 Stop Test 27 Constraint Based Geometry Management 20 Constraints Other Constraint Based Builders 21 Represented as Properties 55 Copy Edit gt Copy Command 43 Cut Edit gt Cut Command 43 D Debugging Information Inserting 29 Default Properties 48 Delete Edit gt Delete Command 43 E Edit Commands 24 Copy Cut Delete and Paste 43 Edit Code 25 Edit Default Properties 48 Edit Text Property 44 Edit Widget Properties 45 Insert 49 50 See also Toolbar Tools Editing see Edit commands Entry Widget 85 Example Applications exAssemM ui 111 exButton ul 76 exCheckbutton2 ui 77 SpecTcl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 exEntry ui 85 exFrame ui 95 exHello ui 24 exLabel ui 73 exListbox ui 88 exLong ui 31 exMenubutton ui 80 81 exMessage ui 101 exRadiobutton ui 79 exRadiobutton2 ui 30 exRelief ui 69 exResize ui 63 exScale ui 91 exScrollbar ui 99 exSticky ui 70 exIext ui 93 Examples Directory 30 exAssemM ui Example Application 111 exButton ui Example Application 76 exCheckbutton2 ui Example Application 77 Executing an Application 28 exEntry ui Exa
19. Key Return event for any widget since all widgets are referenced by the A11 bindtag The bind entryEmail statement connects the Key Return event for the entryEmail widget to the ShowEmailEntry proc The W in the argument to either proc means something special to SpecIcl SpecIcl replaces W with the name of the widget associated with the event For further information on the bind command and binding see one of the Tcl books recommended in Related Books on page xvi Retrieving the Entry Text The two procs just write out the widget that invoked them the proc name and the text that the user typed Both procs are designed to let you enter text and press Return in the various entries and track what happens Here is the ShowEmailEntry proc proc ShowEmailEntry w global email append s Widget name Sw n append s proc name ShowEmailEntry n append s text Semail n puts Ss The global statement connects the email in the proc with the email that is the textvariable property of the entryEmail widget The proc builds a string s with the information mentioned and writes it out Here is the ShowEntry proc proc ShowEntry w 1 append s Widget name Sw n append s proc name ShowEntry Nn Other Widgets 87 Ii N append s text Sw get n puts Ss This proc is similar but we don t know the name of the widget because pressing Return in any entry widget transfers control here So the wid
20. Tl eae DH Und Hi pn 21763725 re Ee At design time C ET 0c T Drag this palette button A to here in the grid qa E ele ui cct At execution time ai m when you press this button Bep this dialog box appears Eoia par Bee og Figure 2 1 Hello world Design and Execution Environment 23 Starting a New Application When you start SpecTcl an empty grid appears where you can start a new application To start with an existing application select File gt Open and enter the application name for example app ui in the dialog box Note The notation File gt Open means Select Open from the File menu Designing an Application To create Hello world a one button application 1 Drag a button from the palette to the grid To create E E drag this wid to this grid ce j To en the button s property sheet double click on the button Figure 2 2 Design Window for Hello world 2 To access button properties double click on the button see Figure 2 2 Button terthona de s RAT situar Edit command property here DENIM Sheen reor ag and press Return Pinar agb inter ags sssruz ial rhage tma masas Hirion Cee fatto To see more properties click here iie 0 0 Meet betast Figure 2 3 The Property Sheet SpecTcl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 2 Double clicking on any widget opens its property sheet so you ca
21. To simultaneously create a new row and column 1 Select a grid cell by clicking on an empty grid cell 2 Click on the insert tool or select Edit gt Insert In Figure 3 7 the left side shows a selected grid cell its row and column handles show it s selected The right side shows the same grid after the insert operation A new grid cell is selected at the intersection of the new row and column to the left and above the previously selected row and column The selected handles New column and row L laii lail Lacs lam lamp lam gt aee las T T T laa Tal laa le Tal indicate the selected grid cell Figure 3 7 Inserting a Row and Column Resizing a Row orColumn To resize a column drag its right gridline left or right As you drag the eridline note that the column size is displayed as it changes in the message entry in the lower right of the main window Similarly you can resize a row by dragging its lower gridline Resizing a row or column can affect many things such as the size of the widgets it contains see Chapter 4 Managing Layout for further information Deleting a RoworColumn You cannot delete a column or row that contains widgets therefore to delete either one SpecTcl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 3 1 First move any widgets out of the column or row that you want to delete To move a widget just drag it to another place in the grid to delete a widget select it and th
22. a change in border style can force you to realign the widgets of the application interface The interface cannot usually resize itself automatically in response to the user resizing the application window The following subsections look at SpeTcl s design goals explain why a constraint based system was chosen and describe some of the implications of that choice Design Goals When SpecIcl was designed its primary design goal was and is portability Since portability was deemed more important and WYSIWYG doesn t allow for easy portability we decided to sacrifice WYSIWYG for portability SpecTcl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 4 SpecTcl uses a grid geometry manager described next to work around the problems found in traditional GUI builders A Geometry Based on Constraints At a conceptual level the grid geometry manager is constraint based Instead of specifying widget positions as fixed screen positions widgets are located with respect to each other In SpecTcl s grid when you say two widgets are in the same column you are stating a relationship but are not specifying fixed positions The size and position of that column varies in ways you as a programmer can control Similarly widget sizes vary according to what the widget currently displays the size of the text or image that it displays Widget size can also vary with the size of its row or column if the widget s properties make this constraint Constrain
23. gt Default Properties gt widget class for example Edit Default Properties gt button Double click on any palette widget SpecTcl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 3 Gnd Basics When the property sheet appears use it the way you do standard property sheets Newly set default properties are available for use immediately when you create the next widget of the given type or when you click on Default button in its property sheet This section starts you using the grid shows how to do work with it without much commentary For a more systematic presentation of the grid and its geometry see Chapter 4 Managing Layout In SpecIcl you always work within a grid structure When you create a widget it always go in a particular grid cell The figure shows the way rows and columns are numbered 1 2 3 4 5 E Figure 3 6 Numbering Rows and Columns in the Grid In each cell of the main grid you can place at most one widget Inserting a Row orColumn To insert a row or column to the grid 1 Select a gridline by clicking on it The gridline turns red showing it s selected 2 To create the new row or column click on the insert tool toolbar press the Insert key or select Edit gt Insert db on the If you clicked on a column gridline it adds a column to the right of the selected gridline If you clicked on a row gridline it adds the row below the selected gridline Basics 49 Inserting a Rowand Column
24. holds the text within a label From the left the buttons have anchor properties of nw North West s South and e East I mh i S er p E anchor nw anchor s anchor e Figure 4 12 The Effect of the Anchor Property on Text Position For further information see Anchor Property on page 67 66 Specicl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 Common PropertiesofWidgets 5 This chapter describes certain properties that apply to several widgets Properties that you don t find here might be described in the section that describes the individual widget For further information on most properties see the documentation for Tcl Tk Anchor Property The anchor property positions text within a button or label for example note the position of the word button within the outsized button below n The anchor property uses compass points to position text or image Anchor property se S se Figure 5 1 Positioning Text or Image with the Anchor Property Anchor can be n s e w compass points North South East West c centered and intermediate compass points ne North East and so forth The button in the figure has an anchor property of se for South East To left justify text use w to right justify use e to center use c 67 Ii Ul Borderwidth Property The borderwidth property specifies the width of the widget s border in pixels The figure shows buttons with a borderwidth of 1 2 and 4 re
25. in braces for example Also one word To group characters and enable substitution use double quotes for example puts The name of the widget is w gt The name of the widget is label 1 To group characters and disable substitution use braces for example puts x refers to the value of x gt Sx refers to the value of x There are many Tcl built in commands and we have already covered a few such as set and puts Tip Information about each built in Tcl command comes with the Tcl release For platform specific ways to access it see Icl Command Information on page 109 Here are two built in commands that are used all the time When you set the command property of a button you can include any Tcl command as explained in Designing an Application on page 24 This includes commands you define yourself with the proc command Tcl and Tk 107 108 The proc command has the following form proc proc name args P 4 proc body A proc can have zero or more arguments Once you define a proc you can use it the way you use any built in Tcl command For example here is a proc that just prints its arguments to standard output or the console proc print ta bo 4 puts Ihe values a by dnd c are Sa Sb and sc To call it you can place a command like the following in a button s command property print whatever s right 5 7 9 And the following line is printed The values a b
26. s loaded into the main window the base is null because no qualification is necessary ExplicitQualific ation by Base When you select Edit gt Edit Code and enter a script you do not have to qualify widget names if you know the ui file you re creating will always be loaded into the main window However if the ui file might be loaded into a frame by all means qualify any widget names by the base To make this easier SpecIcl provides some substitutions as explained next Substitutions in Commands If you want to allow for the possibility that a ui tcl file might be loaded into a frame you should use fully qualified widget names Here are some per cent sign 76 substitutions that are convenient but which you can only use in a widget command property The names used as examples are widgets in Figure 9 3 B Base name of the widget This is the qualifier we ve been discussing null for the main window and assemF for the example in the figure 7oM Name of the geometry master the direct container of the widget frame 1 for button 2 in the figure YW Fullly qualified name of the widget for example dSsemr button Z2 or assemF framesl 7oR Name of the widget s root parent of all widgets which is for the main window and assemF for the figure To show you these substitutions in working commands here are the commands in the Add and Subtract buttons respectively in the application in Figure 9 1 on page 111 S
27. to select the gridline then 2 double click on the gridline to create another cell Create five menubuttons by dragging a palette menubutton to each subgrid cell except for the empty one before Help One subgrid cell is left empty so Help is right adjusted as customary Change the item name property of each menubutton for example change menubutton 1 to fileMenubutton menubutton 1 to editMenubutton and so forth names are in the script shown below Set the menu property of each menubutton to m Drag an entry widget from palette to grid Labels Buttons and Menus 81 82 Standard Button Menu Entries To create a menu use the menu command to create a menu object as the child of one of the menubuttons Then add entries to it as explained next Here are the commands to create the File and Edit menus the other menus which use checkbuttons and radiobuttons are described later menu fileMenubutton m fileMenubutton m add command label Open command puts Open fileMenubutton m add command label Close command puts Close menu editMenubutton m editMenubutton m add command label Undo command puts Undo editMenubutton m add separator editMenubutton m add command label Cut command tk_textCut entry 1 editMenubutton m add command label Copy command tk textCopy entry 1 editMenubutton m add command label Paste command tk tex
28. 1 and 3 are not resizeable The rows are not resizeable To make a column resizeable 1 Click on the column handle This selects it turning it red as shown by the darker handle in column 2 above 2 Click again on the column handle Each click after the column handle is selected toggles the column resizeable and non resizeable You toggle row resizeability similarly by clicking repeatedly on the appropriate row handle Controlling WdgetResizeability A widget can get extra horizontal or vertical space only if its column or row gets extra space So a first step for the widget is to set the resizeability of its row or column appropriately The next step is to set its sticky property appropriately The widget can get extra horizontal space with sticky ew SpecTcl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 4 extra vertical space with sticky ns or both with sticky nsew When the user resizes the application window widget resizing depends on all the factors just mentioned For further information on the sticky property see Sticky Property on page 70 The next section demonstrates these issues Resizing the Applic ation Window To demonstrate resizeability in an application Figure 4 7 shows the exResize ui application in the examples directory at design time Column calumnz Columns Figure 4 7 Designing exResize ui for Resizeability Figure 4 8 shows the exResize ui application in ex
29. AssemS ui tcl which is loaded in each frame e Scale interface in frames and frames T MES Subtract S Figure 9 1 Executing exAssemM ui Subassemblies in Frames 111 If you select File gt Open to open exAssemM ui and select Edit gt Edit Code you see source exAssemS ui tcl exAssemS ui frame l exAssemS ui frame 3 This code loads the assembly twice into frame 1 and frame 3 respectively To load the same code into the main window would be Source exAssemS ui tcl exAssemS ui Here is the command in the Add button set x B scale l get B scale l set expr x 5 The command gets the value of the scale and then increments it by 5 As you see the widget name scale 1 is qualified by B base SpecIcl expands B to frame 1 and frame 3 when the scale assembly is loaded into frame 1 and frame 3 respectively Widget names name qualification and the abbreviations are explained further in the next section Widget Names in Spec Tcl Sc ripts 112 The next few paragraphs discuss the facilities that enable assemblies to work correctly Introduction and Terminology Suppose you refer to a widget name from within a SpecTIcl script or command property Then the form this widget name takes depends on whether you loaded the ui file into the main window or into a frame Let s start with some terminology You might skim this now and come back later Root is the window that contains all the
30. Double click on the widget or Click on the widget and select the menu command Edit gt Widget Properties Either action displays the widget s properties for example Press arrow to see a menu with warning question and other bitmap values command ShowGreeting cursor default o fant interface usar 12 help image item name button text button textvariahle underline 1 additional Bi properties OK Revert Default Figure 3 5 A Property Sheet Basics 45 Editing a Property Entry To modify an entry in the property sheet 1 Set the cursor in the entry 2 Enter or edit an entry 3 Press the Return key to confirm the new value Note the red print as you edit an entry When you press the Return key the new property becomes part of the interface and the print returns to black Clicking on the OK Button By clicking on the OK button you confirm the last property change and close the dialog box Clicking on the Default Button Resets the properties to the default properties for this class of widget for example button or label and this project For further information see Editing Widget Default Properties on page 48 Clicking on the Revert Button When you click on the Revert button you reset the property sheet to the values it last loaded that is the properties displayed when you 1 opened the property sheet or 2 selected another widget This enables you to edit sev
31. Selected The Layout Example in Execution Resizing the Application Window During Execution Overview of SpecTcl s Main Window A selected WIOSSL qc dag acie PUR P De ER re Acbelected Grid Cell ia esca tens tfe es emt A Text Area for Editing the Text Property A Proper y ONCCl 42 0554 qae eret d attese Numbering Rows and Columns in the Grid Inserting a Row and Column ise 19 23 24 24 25 30 30 31 37 39 42 44 44 45 49 50 xi Pieure4 1 Placing Widgets in the Grid e cese eher EE rb eed 58 Figure4 2 Sell Sizine BUMONS 445 s Re a eeepc Rees E 59 Figure 4 3 The Effect of padx and pady on Widget Size 59 Figure 4 4 Widgets and Various Sizing Constraints 60 Figure 4 5 Changing Widget Row and Column Spans 60 Figure 4 6 Resizeability of Rows and Columns 0 62 Figure 4 7 Designing exResize ui for Resizeability 63 Figure 4 8 Executing exResize ui Resizing the Application Window 63 Figure 4 9 The Effect of wadx and wady on Widget Position 64 Figure 4 10 The Effect of the Sticky Property on Widget Position 65 Figure 4 11 The Effect of the Justify Property on Multi line Text 66 Figure 4 12 The Effect of the Anchor Property on Text Position 66 Figure5 1 Positioning Text or Image with the Anchor Property 67 Figure 5 2 Effect of Border
32. Setting Vanables You don t have to declare Tcl variables They are defined when their values are first set often in set commands such as this one set w label l gt abe lal The variable w now has as its value the name of the label set num 469 gt 469 set compound_rate 57 9 gt 57 9 set st This is a string gt This is a string These variables all contain character strings the values 469 and 57 9 are not automatically converted to binary values as in some languages You can nonetheless use numeric values in arithmetic expressions as explained later Getting the Value ofa Vanable To embed the value of a variable into a command prefix the variable with a dollar sign for example set i 5 gt 5 SxpDE Sq cd gt 8 In the expr expression command above the Tcl interpreter replaces i by the value of i 5 before the expression is evaluated Getting the Resultof a Command To embed the result of one command in another enclose it in brackets for example set 1 5 SpecTcl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 CO Ii Grouping Tcl Built in Commands proc gt 5 set j expr i 3 gt 8 Within the set j command the expr command is evaluated first as 8 and becomes set j 8 Since white space usually separates Tcl command arguments to include white space in argument requires quoting Enclose the characters in double quotes for example one word Enclose the characters
33. Spec Tcl 1 1 User sGuide QY are Please Recycle SUN MICROSYSTEMS INC THROUGH ITS SUN MICROSYSTEMS LABORATORIES DIVISION SUN WILL LICENSE THIS SOFTWARE AND THE ACCOMPANYING DOCUMENTATION TO YOU a Licensee ONLY ON YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF ALL THE TERMS SET FORTH BELOW Sun grants Licensee a non exclusive royalty free right to download install compile use copy and distribute the Software modify or otherwise create derivative works from the Software each a Modification and distribute any Modification in source code and or binary code form to its customers with a license agreement containing these terms and noting that the Software has been modified The Software is copyrighted by Sun and other third parties and Licensee shall retain and reproduce all copyright and other notices presently on the Software As between Sun and Licensee Sun is the sole owner of all rights in and to the Software other than the limited rights granted to Licensee herein Licensee will own its Modifications expressly subject to Sun s continuing ownership of the Software Licensee will at its expense defend and indemnify Sun and its licensors from and against any third party claims including costs and reasonable attorneys fees and be wholly responsible for any liabilities arising out of or related to Licensee s development use or distribution of the Software or Modifications Any distribution of the Software and Modifications must comply with
34. all applicable United States export control laws THE SOFTWARE IS BEING PROVIDED TO LICENSEE AS IS AND ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED CONDITIONS AND WARRANTIES INCLUDING ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NON INFRINGEMENT ARE DISCLAIMED IN NO EVENT WILL SUN BE LIABLE HEREUNDER FOR ANY DIRECT DAMAGES OR ANY INDIRECT PUNITIVE SPECIAL INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY KIND Contents gi XV 1 Introduction to 5peclel 25323 AERE CEA Ra ECCE 19 DPC IC FEAU S NETTE 20 A Technical INote on 5peclcl sco REESE t we 20 SpecIcl and its Grid Geometry Manager 20 SpecIcl Versus Other Constraint Based Builders 21 2 Getting Started with SpecIcl eeeeeee 23 The Hello world Tutorial eee 23 Starine a New Applicaton sss esas SeE Ne eeees Bae cee 24 Designing an Application ssa e bx ete x eret 24 PCIe COH a sisse seb na eR as dete e bU 25 Savine the A DpIcabOLbs vega 23 ob pa re qUb e dep icd 26 Quite SCC Telus a duisi oben eee bac aided eat ae 27 Building am Executable isse petee sada aes es 27 Building and lestine 229 at Sapete ee eee aut Gees wl 27 Running the Application Stand Alone 28 Inserting Debugging Information 5 29 The Example Applications erre s ero Fide OL estas 30 The Payout Tutora oodd EN S ES E on ceca sso 31 Adding Labels to an Empty Grid
35. and SpecIcl Before You Read This Book Although you do not have to be a professional programmer many parts of this guide depend on a familiarity and comfort with programming languages and concepts If you do not already know Tcl Tk we assume that you have used other procedural languages such as C or Pascal or scripting languages such as Perl C shell Bourne shell or Korn shell How This Book Is Organized Here is a brief description of the chapters in this book Chapter 1 Introduction to SpecTcl describes the product briefly Chapter 2 Getting Started with SpecTcl guides you step by step through Design save build test and execute using a very small application The widget layout process using a somewhat larger application Related Books Chapter 3 Basics introduces the tool palette command tools the grid and other facilities that you use each time you use SpecTcl Chapter 4 Managing Layout explains how to lay out widgets in SpecIcl applications and why this process differs from the layout process in traditional GUI builders Chapter 5 Common Properties of Widgets provides information about certain properties that are important the layout process in SpecTcl or have some other special significance Tcl Tk documentation covers most properties in greater depth Chapter 6 Labels Buttons and Menus explains these basic widgets and provides examples to demonstrate their use
36. cally through a series of buttons in a frame so as to repeat the action of a command tool Or you could move through all the widgets contained directly in the main grid You can use the last two commands select 1st child and select parent to move the selection from a widget in a subgrid the frame to the frame itself the parent and back again to the first child of the frame For further information on frames and their widgets see Selecting a Widget s Parent or Child on page 97 Copying Cutting Pasting and Deleting Widgets Both Copy that is Edit gt Copy and Cut place a widget on the clipboard so it can be subsequently pasted Delete just discards the selected widget These commands are all on the Edit menu To copy or cut and then paste a widget use steps such as these 1 Select the widget to be copied or cut by clicking on it 2 Choose Edit gt Copy or Edit gt Cut 3 Click on the cell to receive the widget which selects the cell 4 To paste it into the selected cell choose Edit gt Paste Basics 43 This figure shows two row and column handles are highlighted which indicates the selected grid cell Selected grid cell at intersection of highlighted handles Figure 3 3 A Selected Grid Cell To delete a widget first select the widget Then select Edit gt Delete or press the Delete key if you have one Editing Widget Properties This section details the various ways to edit
37. cation that shows you something unique about SpecTcl widgets Figure 2 5 Executing exRadiobutton2 ui Text Style Selected This particular example shows how the label automatically becomes taller to accommodate larger amounts of text This is an integral part of the window geometry used by SpecTcl as explained in Chapter 4 Managing Layout We recommend you try this now to acquaint yourself with these examples 1 Select File gt Open and in the dialog box enter examples for the directory and exRadiobutton2 ui for the file name 2 Select Commands gt Build and Test 3 Click on the Text Style button The application should now look like Figure 2 5 4 Now click on the Sticky property button The application should now look like Figure 2 6 exRadinbuttunz tci Figure 2 6 Executing exRadiobutton2 ui Sticky Selected You can try various things at execute time and then examine the properties of widgets Then you can look at the code by selecting Edit gt Edit Code SpecTcl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 NJ Ii The Layout Tutorial This section demonstrates the widget layout process in SpecTcl by guiding you through the creation of an example application step by step The figure below shows the completed application in execution SpecTcl exLongl Name companyf E mai Add change Delete Figure 2 7 The Layout Example in Execution In this section each subsect
38. ce parameters that you set by column and row are Minimum sizes for columns and rows The resizeability of columns and rows You can also extend this column and row resizeability to the widgets they contain on a widget by widget basis as explained later in this chapter Establishing Minimum Sizes for Rows and Columns When you move a column gridline the widths of the newly positioned columns establish minimum column widths If the width of a self sizing widget exceeds the width of its cell the column expands automatically to accommodate the widget But the columns won t automatically contract to less than these minimum widths Similarly new row positions establish minimum row heights Setting Resizeability of Rows and Columns As previously mentioned you set the resizeability of a SpecTcl application on a row by row and column by column basis You specify whether the column or row size is to vary or stay fixed when the application window is resized You can also set the resizeability of rows and columns in the subgrid within a frame a container widget Managing Layout 61 Arrowheads in this figure show the rows and columns that are resizeable Column handles Ms Teen ian D Row handle Row zl Col 1 2 3 Figure 4 6 Resizeability of Rows and Columns The grid in the figure above demonstrates how SpecTcl indicates resizeability Column 2 is resizeable as indicated by arrowheads on its column handles Columns
39. cky property to n for label2 and to ew for label4 Common Properties of Widgets 71 72 SpecTcl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 cy Labels Buttons and Menus 6 This chapter presents information that applies to specific widgets labels buttons radiobuttons checkbuttons and menubuttons All references to specific application such as exLabell ui refer to applications in the examples directory For information common to all widgets see Chapter 5 Common Properties of Widgets The Label Widget A label widget typically labels something else as the Name label below identifies the entry widget In addition SpecTcl labels perform other display services explained later in this section Figure 6 1 Executing exLabell ui A label can display text or an image but not both 73 74 Displaying Multiple Lines of Text Labels can display multiple lines of text as demonstrated in the figure by exLabel2 ui tcl in execution Specifies Deer ks plate boli kalic dr bold italic ibid prmgerts gei Pie mg lckh Fidget Tiber wd grig cgll gists Egali kay To4gaUws 5 67 ior W Crcm irue ims much EL NN Figure 6 2 A Label Displaying Multiple Lines of Text mu The figure shows exLabel2 ui displaying two strings With more text to display a label automatically expands in this case mostly in height The following properties are key in making the application executes as it does The label s t
40. clicking on a palette widget and then clicking to the right of or below the grid Selecting a Widget To work with a widget it must be selected To select it click on it E M Handles m a E checkbuttun a checkbutton E jp A I M M ee Figure 3 2 A Selected Widget In the figure the checkbutton on the left is selected which you can tell because the handles appear Note the other unselected checkbutton Selecting a widget shows The grid area that the widget currently occupies Note the handles in the figure they mark the periphery of the occupied area Which widget you are currently working with When you create or paste a widget it is automatically selected Here are examples of what you can do with a selected widget Use widget menu commands such as Edit gt Widget Properties Edit its text property in the text area Change widget properties with a toolbar tool Note The notation Edit Widget Properties means Select Widget Properties from the Edit menu SpecTcl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 WW Ii Navigating and Selection The following commands let you move the selection from one widget to another Commands gt Navigate gt Next Widget Commands gt Navigate gt Previous Widget Commands gt Navigate gt Select Parent Commands gt Navigate gt Select 1st Child You can use the first two commands Next and Previous Widget to move systemati
41. columns and the center row have been set resizeable by clicking on column and row handles as shown in the previous section Positioning a Widget within its C ell This section describes properties that affect widget position in their grid cells The wadx and waxy Properties You can specify values that maintain a minimum distance between widgets and their grid cells through the wadx and wady properties Figure 4 9 demonstrates horizontal minimums by showing buttons with wadx values of 0 10 and 20 button wadx values 0 10 20 Figure 4 9 The Effect of wadx and wady on Widget Position The wady property is similar specifying the minimum number of pixels between a widget and its grid cell in the vertical direction SpecTcl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 I Ii The Sticky Property Figure 4 10 shows ways the sticky property can position the widget within its grid cell From the left the buttons have sticky properties n North West s South and sw South East button buttar EM UH Se Sticky values nw Figure 4 10 The Effect of the Sticky Property on Widget Position For further information on the sticky property see Sticky Property on page 70 Aligning Widgets Suppose you have a column with entries of various widths that you want to align either left or right To do so set the sticky property of each entry to w for left alignment to e for right al
42. command puts Style is Sstylevar These differences characterize menus with radiobuttons The command that adds entries is add radio When you add an entry you specify the same variable property for all radiobutton as with non menu radiobuttons Also for each entry you specify a unique value property Labels Buttons and Menus 83 SpecTcl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 OtherWidgets This chapter continues where the last chapter left off It provides information that applies to other specific widgets the entry listbox scale text frame scrollbar and canvas widgets Specific applications mentioned such as exEntry ui refer to applications in the examples directory If this chapter doesn t describe a property of one of these widgets try Chapter 5 Common Properties of Widgets i The Enty Widget The entry widget provides a one line place for the user to enter text as demonstrated in the figure by exEntry ui in execution ae mmi Tones Company omary i Figure 7 1 Executing exEntry ui In each of the three entry widgets above the user can enter text directly and use the usual editing commands 85 When entering text users must be able to signal when they re finished As programmer you can either supply a button for this or have users press the Return key or both To connect the events for pressing the Return key to your script you write bind commands described later in this section
43. d as shown above left 2 With your mouse if you move the cursor from left to right over the frame you see a double arrow and the gridline turns green as shown above middle 3 While it is green double click on it to create the additional column as shown above right Or single clicking while it is green selects the gridline so you can resize the column as you would in the main grid Selection with a Subgrid Present If you click repeatedly in a cell of the subgrid the selection toggles between two states shown in the figure Em Figure 7 11 Selecting within the Grid and Subgrid In the figure on the left you can tell that the entire frame is selected because its resize handles are visible Use this selection to edit properties of the frame itself 96 Specicl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 7 In the figure on the right you can tell that the first cell of the frame is selected because its row and column handles are dark delineating that cell Use this selection to paste a widget into a cell of the subgrid When a frame is in the SpecIcl window dark lines show whether the selection is within the main grid or the subgrid When the selection is in the main grid the main grid has dark lines when the selection is within the subgrid the subgrid has dark lines Selecting a Wdget s ParentorC hild It s not always obvious how to select a frame You can click on an empty cell in the frame if there is on
44. ds Tk Library Procedures If you double click on Tcl Built in Commands you can then go through the command definitions one by one And there s a search facility ForUNIX There are UNIX man pages for all Tcl and Tk commands For Tcl see man page entries for append array break catch include the whole list There is also a man entry for Tcl for example to learn about the list command enter man list e For Tk see man page entries for button label include the whole list Tcl and Tk 109 110 SpecTcl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 Advanced topics 9 This chapter describes advanced topics of SpecTcl Using Multiple Assemblies A simple application typically uses a single ui tc1 file With a more complex application it s sometime convenient to develop your user interface in parts which we ll call assemblies with each assembly having its own ui tcl file During execution your application must explicitly load the required assemblies For example you might have a listbox scrollbars and a text entry in one assembly and a group of interacting radiobuttons in another Let s demonstrate multiple assemblies with an application that loads the same scale assembly twice Although this won t happen much in practice this shows that two assemblies can work together even when the widgets were originally assigned identical names Figure 9 1 demonstrates this with exAssemM ui which has two frames and ex
45. e Otherwise click on a widget within a cell and press the up arrow key which selects the parent the frame itself Similarly to select the first child press the down arrow key You can navigate up and down a number of nested frames by using the up and down arrow keys You can also move between parent and child widgets by selecting one of these menu commands Commands gt Navigate gt Select Parent Commands gt Navigate gt Select 1st Child Passing Window Space to Children The figure shows the exFrame ui application in execution before and after the user expands the application window Hd Els Em Before After Figure 7 12 Executing exFrame ui and Resizing the Application Window Other Widgets 97 98 Look at the design window for exFrame ui again as shown in Figure 7 9 on page 95 Resizeability was set on for both column 2 and row 2 and off elsewhere Note that Figure 7 12 on page 97 shows that the application s expansion is consistent with these settings The button at 2 2 with the 11 is expanded both horizontally and vertically Other buttons are expanded horizontally or vertically but not both To prepare an application to work this way do the following 1 To set the resizeability of a row or columns on click on the row or column handle involved until you see the arrowheads that signal resizeability You must do this for each row and column that is to change size as the user resizes t
46. e when you next select File Open Use File gt Save As when you need to specify a new file name Use File gt Save if you are saving successive changes to the same file Quitting Spec Tc When you are finished with SpecTcl select File gt Quit If you have not saved your changes SpecIcl prompts you to see whether you want to do so so they are not lost when SpecIcl terminates Then SpecTcl stops executing Building an Executable When you select Commands gt Build SpecTcl creates an executable file a Tcl version of your ui file file name ui tcl Note SpecIcl cannot read or reprocess the ui tcl file So any changes that you make to the ui tc1 file are lost the next time you do a build For further information on application execution see Running the Application Stand Alone on page 28 For the Macintosh only there is an additional Build command We suggest Use Commands gt Build while you are developing an application Use Commands gt Build Application when you are ready to release your application see Building a Macintosh Application on page 115 Building and Testing To combine the build and execute phases use the Build and Run Test command a convenient way to alternate between developing your application and trying it out Save your application before the build Getting Started with SpecTcl 27 Ii NJ To demonstrate the command let s continue with the Hello world example
47. ecution On the left the user has resized the application window to use minimal space on the right the user has resized it to use more space SpacTei nega 0 di peemi rmm 5 0 0 1 fluat ulum Colma Celine Columns telami Figure 4 8 Executing exResize ui Resizing the Application Window Resizeability Considerations When you design for resizeability consider that widgets vary widely in how and whether their expansion benefits the user For example row 2 in Figure 4 7 is set resizeable because the text widgets can display significantly more text when they have more vertical space Managing Layout 63 On the other hand larger buttons might just look awkward And remember that when a button expands the font size of its text stays the same unless you change it To determine what s best experiment and note the visual effect The three columns also in Figure 4 7 are set expandable again because of the text widgets However this also keeps column headers labels and entries at the bottom aligned with the text widgets as they expand Consider opening exResize ui in SpecIcl and then note the following elements which make it work For the labels the sticky property has been set explicitly to ew so that they expand horizontally if their grid column expands For text and entry widgets the sticky property is set by default to enable expansion Note that the
48. en select Edit gt Delete or press the Delete key if you have one 2 Click in any cell within the empty column or row you wish to delete hae 3 On the toolbar click on the Delete tool tj or press the Delete key Beyond the Main Gnd Although one grid cell can only accommodate a single widget the widget can be a container widget or frame which can hold several widgets For example to group radiobuttons place them in a frame Frames have rows and columns and many other characteristics of the main grid In fact you can think of frames as subgrids For further information see The Frame Widget on page 95 fal Basics 51 52 SpecTcl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 Managing Layout 4 Very likely you ll find using SpecTcl to build an application to be quite different than what you re used to because SpecIcl uses a grid geometry manager Geometry managers arrange widgets on the screen and they definitely affect the way you layout the widgets of your application This chapter explains the grid geometry and provides a conceptual model of the layout process it supports WYSIWYG versus Portable With current platforms UNIX Windows and the Macintosh you can create a graphical user interface GUI builder that is either WYSIWYG or portable across those platforms but not both And we decided portability was and is SpeclIcl s most important design objective Traditional GUI Builders Traditional GUI build
49. eral property values and then have an undo for those changes SpecTcl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 WW Ii Editing Propertiesthrough Tools on the Toolbar With each tool on the toolbar you can set one property of the selected widget Sticky see Sticky Property on page 39 Justifies multi line text left right or center Displays current justification cycles between left shown here right and center Font style plain bold italic or bold italic Font size 8 10 12 36 Current size is displayed in the small circle Foreground displays a panel of colors Background displays a panel of colors Relief plain raised sunken ridge and groove Borderwidth 0 1 2 4 8 12 Current borderwidth is displayed in the circle Orientation toggles scrollbars and sliders between vertical and horizontal Tip To reapply the last action of the toolbar select Commands gt Reapply the Toolbar or enter Ctrl r To apply the same property to multiple widgets set the first widget s property with a tool then repeat the tool action by selecting another widget and reapplying it as just described To move quickly through a group of widgets see Navigating and Selection on page 43 Basics 47 Using and Changing Widget Names When you create a widget SpecTcl generates a name for it using the widget s class name and a serial number for example label 1 and radiobutton 2 When you move the mouse
50. ers use a place geometry which is WYSIWYG When a user positions a widget at design time the coordinates of the widget are saved and used to position the widget at run time This means that the position and size of widgets are set and fixed at design time Advantages Such GUI builders vary but they typically share these advantages 53 Spec Tcl They are easy to learn and to use because you more or less draw the interface the way you draw with a graphical editor They have the easiest possible conceptual model because there s no difference between their design time and run time appearance They impose few restrictions in how and where to place widgets Disadvantages And traditional builders typically have these disadvantages Applications that look good on the platform on which they re built cannot be executed on another platform unless the interface is realigned In other words the interface is not portable Widgets on different platforms are roughly comparable but the differences are large enough to create an out of focus look if you mechanically translate applications from one platform to another This comes from differences in widget shape style the fonts they display and placement strategies Of course some builders don t support all these platforms with or without realignment An application s interface is usually static and not very flexible That is a font change transposing two widgets or
51. es to maintain its alignment dynamically As a programmer you can take this one step further to make your application responsive to real time changes a particularly useful feature for a web application For example you can let users choose between reading an English or Spanish display while the interface stays aligned in both cases A well designed interface can respond appropriately when the user resizes the application window At design time as a programmer you can control the way the application allocates additional space to widgets at run time Normally you might think of a grid as a regular rigid entity like the grid in a spreadsheet application But SpecTcl uses a smart grid that adapts itself flexibly to real time changes The smart grid is different than a spread sheet in the following ways You can reposition and resize each column and row to fit your situation Columns and rows can change size and position in response to real time changes You can create subgrids with the frame widget and nest them to any level The grid is not WYSIWYG in fact it is visible only at design time What the grid provides is a conceptual model of the way widgets are related to each other for example their alignment In short this is not your average grid it responds intelligently to many situations as they arise SpecTcl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 I Ii More on Dynamic Alignmentand Resizing To begin the co
52. essage widget display the reformatted text The bind statement in the script causes the ShowText proc to be called ShowText simply sets one variable to the value of the other but these global variables are the textVariable properties of the message widget and the entry widget respectively The buttons reconfigure the message widget to have the various aspects Important properties aspect textVariable 102 SpecTcl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 About Tcl Tcland Tk 3 This chapter gives you a quick start learning Tcl and shows a few examples of the way SpecIcl uses Tk If you already know Tcl you might prefer to skip it If you are new to Tcl we include this chapter to Provide you with enough basic information to understand the sample scripts quoted in this guide Give you the flavor of the language so you can decide whether to learn more If you plan to use Tcl very much consider getting one of the excellent books on Tcl and Tk available through bookstores or publishers for titles see Related Books on page xvi in the preface Tcl is all about strings in the form of commands constants variables lists and expressions but still strings Tcl determines what to do with different strings by their context within Tcl commands Tcl is interpreted rather than compiled This provides a lot of flexibility and makes it easy to try something correct it and try it again without having to wait for compilation
53. et on page 85 The figure shows two views of the exLong ui application in execution before and after the user resizes the application window specTcl exLongl Name mf capa E mail mf Add change Delete Name _ Ol Company rt E mail ff Add Change Delete Figure 2 8 Resizing the Application Window During Execution Note that although the window on the right is definitely larger some elements have changed size and some have not Compare the two pictures with the design goals To provide the entry widgets with more horizontal space To keep the labels the same size To keep both the left and right sides of the row of buttons aligned with the widgets above them Getting Started with SpecTcl 37 38 SpecTcl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 Basics 3 This chapter describes basic features of SpecTcl To understand the design window and its tools consider this pictorial overview Toolbar Click on these tools to Click to insert delete item change property of selected widget and start stop test run Text area Main grid Palette To create widgets drag any icon to the main grid Help area identifies items as you move the cursor Message area provides feedback Figure 3 1 Overview of SpecTcl s Main Window 39 3 The Big Picture About Help Help Facility Help Area Some people prefer to gain familiarity with basic tools and features first and then go on
54. extvariable property is 1text a Tcl variable The label s wraplength property is 250 to constrain the display width The label s justify property is 1eft see also Justify Property on page 68 The button s command property is ShowText so the ShowText proc is called when the button is pushed The figure shows exLabel2 ui in the design window excerpt Figure 6 3 Design Window of exLabel2 ui To view the script open exLabel2 ui and select Edit gt Edit Code proc ShowText global ltext toggle append sticky Sticky property specifies which widget sides and grid cell sides should stay together n s ew or a combination such as ew SpecTcl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 O Ii set tStyle Specities text x8 plain bold Italic or bold 1rtalrxe Flip flop between displaying long and short strings set toggle expr 1 Stoggle Lr qoroggle 4 set ltext sticky else set ltext S tStyle j j global toggle set toggle 0 The set 1text commands causes text to be displayed in the label because ltext is the label s textvariable property To create the long sticky string the script uses the append statement which concatenates its arguments At execution when you press the button ShowText determines which string it s displaying by checking the string length and toggles between the two strings Displaying an Image Labels can also display an image file for further information see Displaying a
55. g each other on and off Showing C hec kbutton Values The figure shows the design window for exCheckbutton ui left and its script right proc ShowSw global sw set swList list Binary Hash Verbose foreach i 0 1 2 puts lindex SswList i is Ssw i puts An Figure 6 7 Design Window and Script of exCheckbutton ui To view this directly open exCheckbutton ui tcl in SpecIcl and then select Edit gt Edit Code These properties are key to operation of the script The command property of each radiobutton is ShowSw so that ShowSw is called when the checkbutton is pressed The variable property of the checkbuttons is sw 0 sw 1 and sw 2 respectively so that the on off states of the checkbuttons are saved as elements of the sw array The global statement in the proc makes the sw array in the proc refer to the array elements in the variable properties of the checkbuttons When you press a checkbutton the puts statement writes out the on off values for example Binary is 1 Hash is O Verbose is 1 For descriptions of generic button characteristics see About Buttons on page 75 SpecTcl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 O Ii Important properties command onvalue offvalue and variable The Radiobutton Wdget C Radiobuttons let the user select one alternative from a set as demonstrated in the figure by exRadiobutton ui in execution Selecting one radiobutton turns the others
56. get name parameter w is used and the w get command fetches the text Proc essing Events Twice A single event can trigger more than one action if more than one bind statement is involved When you try out the exEntry ui application note that when you press return in the E mail address entry both procs are called When this is inappropriate you can avoid it either 1 bind each widget to a particular proc that is avoid the bind Entry statement or 2 use only the bind Entry statement There is another way to avoid multiple event handling calls because the bind statements are executed in a particular order with the more general ones executed last So you can place a break statement at the end of the proc that handles the event for the individual widget This stops event processing for this event and avoids calling Important properties exportselection and takefocus zx The Listbox Widget Fi P The listbox widget lets the user select one of a number of displayed entries as demonstrated by exListbox ui in the examples directory in execution A listbon lets the i A label with user select ene nf n A label with multi line text Seles ef displaved an Image limes of tast attribute label Geren A listbox ant Titbid arkut EAN Tiata Highlighted entry A scrollbar widget Figure 7 3 Executing exListbox ui Application SpecTcl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 7 The user has clicked on the
57. gure shows widgets with each of these alternatives Self Sized iul 3i pa bad ght riw Constrained to i row height Constrained to Constrained to widrhescal E haignt atith tied column width row and column sizes Figure 4 4 Widgets and Various Sizing Constraints To place such constraints on a widget set its sticky property as explained in Sticky Property on page 70 You can then resize the widget by resizing its row or column as shown later in this chapter Changing a Widget s Row orColumn Span You can extend a widget s cell across column and row boundaries To do so select the widget and drag a handle as shown in the figure Drag this handle to change the number of rows spanned C OREEHIELUR Drag this handle to change the number of columns spanned m L Drag corner handle to change acts a a both rows and columns spanned Figure 4 5 Changing Widget Row and Column Spans 60 Specicl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 I Ii Setling Specific Sizes It s rarely better to set height and width explicitly but in exceptional situations it might be appropriate For widgets that display text set the width property to the number of average sized characters to be displayed in the specified font If you display more characters than the explicit width specifies truncation is likely Controlling Rows and Columns Two important user interfa
58. he application window Other rows and columns stay fixed Set buttons that are to expand horizontally to a sticky property that includes ew In exFrame ui all buttons have a sticky property of nsew which includes this step and the next Set buttons that are to expand vertically to have a sticky property that includes ns To select any button click on it This is a step towards selecting the frame To select the frame select Commands gt Navigate gt Select Parent Because the frame is by definition the parent of the widgets it contains To set the frame s sticky property first select Edit gt Widget Properties If there were an empty cell in the frame you could double click on it but there isn t When the property sheet appears set the sticky property to nsew Or you can use the sticky tool and select the largest element in the lower right hand corner Caution If you use the sticky tool you must choose the order specified here if you do not have the resizeability of any row or column set on your choice of sticky for the frame is restricted SpecTcl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 7 If the user expands the application window the frame and its elements might get extra space depending first on the resizeability of the frame s row and column Extra space depends also on the frame s sticky property Extra height If the frame s sticky property contains n and s the height of the fra
59. id with numbered buttons in subgrid cells The large button with 23 to the right of the frame is there for contrast to show that the frame is subdividing a cell of the main grid Tcl exFrame Iisi ZEE uh 1113 23 arhael 171923 Design time Design time Run time Button in frame selected Frame selected Figure 7 9 Designing and Executing exFrame ui Starting at the left the figure shows two views of the application at design time 1 with a button selected a child of the frame and 2 with the frame itself selected At the right it shows the application at run time As a subgrid the frame widget shares many features of the main grid The frame has rows and columns which you can add more of or delete Youcan resize rows and columns to establish new minimum heights and widths respectively Rows and columns are resized automatically as widgets with different space requirements enter or leave Each cell of the frame can contain at most one widget which can also be another frame f the frame has the appropriate sticky property combinations that include ns or ew the frame can pass extra space to those rows and columns that are set resizeable as discussed later in this section Other Widgets 95 Ii N Creating a Multi Cell Subgrid This figure shows the steps to create a frame with two columns Figure 7 10 A Multi Cell Subgrid 1 Drag a frame widget from the palette to the gri
60. ignment The entries stay aligned then even if individual entries are resized or if the column is moved or resized Similarly rows of widgets can be aligned by setting their sticky property to n or s If you set the sticky property to ew the widgets will be constrained to be the same width and both left and right aligned Similarly If you set the sticky property to ns the widgets will be constrained to be the same height which keeps both tops and bottoms of the widgets in alignment Note that this is alignment with a difference In SpecTcl the sticky property is in effect a stay aligned command Aligning Mult Line Text within a Widget The justify and anchor properties both affect the way multi lined text is displayed Managing Layout 65 Ii I Using the J ustify Property You can align multi line text in a label or button by setting its justify property to center the default left or right as shown in Figure 4 11 Figure 4 11 The Effect of the Justify Property on Multi line Text For further information on the justify property see Justify Property on page 68 Using the AnchorProperty You can also position the text within the widget if the widget is large enough for this to show To be more precise you are positioning a imaginary rectangle that surrounds the text To do this type of positioning use the anchor property Figure 4 12 shows ways the anchor property can position the rectangle that
61. ing Widgets 60 Automatic 58 to Specied Sizes 61 Row Deleting 50 Inserting 49 50 Resizing 49 50 See also Grid Row handles 62 Row Span of Widgets 60 Rows Setting Resizeability 61 Size Minimums for 61 S Save As File gt Save As Command 26 Save File gt Save Command 26 Scale Widget 91 Script Creating a 25 Scrollbar Widget 93 99 Scrollbars Attaching 100 See also Anchor Property Selecting a Grid Cell for a Paste command 43 a Widget 42 Another Widget with the Same Parent 43 Child of a Widget 97 Parent of a Widget 97 Sizing Automatic 58 Space Distribution Within Frame 97 SpecIcl Basics 39 to 51 Sticky Property 70 and Widget Positioning 65 Explained as Size Constraints 60 StickyProperty 70 Stop Command 27 Subgrid see Frame Widget Substitution of B M W and R 114 T Tcl and Tk 103 to 109 Tcl Tk Book Recommendations xvi HTML Help URL for 40 Testing 29 Text Area Shown in Figure 39 Text Area Editing the Text Property 44 Text Widget 93 Tollbar Shown in Figure 39 Toolbar Tools 47 Tools Toolbar 47 Tutorial 23 to 37 U User Interfaces Multiple 111 W wadx Property 64 wady Property 64 Widget Names Advanced 112 Automatic Qualification by Base 114 Explicit Qualification by Base 114 in Basic Scripts 48 Widgets Aligning 65 Index Automatic Sizing 58 Button 75 Canvas 101 Checkbutton 77 Common Properties 67 t
62. ion shows a few steps in the design process for the exLong ui application Each subsection begins with a figure The left and right parts of the figure show how the application looks at the beginning and the end of the section respectively Adding Labels to an Empty Gnd When you start SpecTel or select File New you begin with an empty grid To add two label widgets 1 Click on the palette s label widget When you click on it rather than dragging it the palette widget stays selected so you can easily create several labels For further information see Clicking or Dragging on Palette Widgets on page 41 Getting Started with SpecTcl 31 Ii NJ 32 2 To create two labels as shown above click on each grid cell of the first column Each time you click in a cell SpecIcl creates a label widget in that cell Completing the Labels To create another label and a new row to contain it click about here File Edit Commands Prefer Edit the text property in this text area Text E mail Balt LA gt gt Le Make sure the palette widget is still selected Let s continue by finishing the labels 1 To create the last label click below the second one as shown in the figure above left If a palette widget is selected and you click below the grid SpecIcl makes room for the widget by creating a new row Then it places the new label in the new row To de
63. ip the rest of this section Before changing the execution defaults you need to understand the way the ui tcl file works SpecTcl begins each ui tc1 file with a stub that causes wish first to execute and then to interpret the Tcl statements in the file To view or edit the stub select Pre erences Options When the dialog box appears click on the Output tab and you will see a display like the following Preferences Figure 9 5 Unix Output Preferences This enables you to view and edit the stub or the file permissions that SpecTcl uses with the file 116 SpecTcl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 Index Symbols B 114 7oM 114 R 114 YW 114 A Aligning Multi Line Text 65 Widgets 65 Alignment Dynamic Concepts of 57 An Assembly Loading it into a Frame 113 An Assembly Loading into the Main Window 112 Anchor Property 66 67 Application Executing 28 Steps to Create 24 Application Window Resizing 63 Assemblies Multiple 111 Attach Scrollbars Command 93 99 B Basics of SpecTcl 39 to 51 Books Tcl Tk Recommendations xvi Border Style See Relief Property Borderwidth Property 68 Build and Test Command 27 Build Application Command Macintosh 27 115 Build Command 27 Button Widget 75 See also Checkbutton Widget Menubutton Widget and Radiobutton Widget Buttons 75 to 83 General Information 75 C Canvas Widget 101 Checkbutton Widget 77 Child of a Widget Selecting 97
64. k moves by one line of text Other Widgets 99 100 Attac hing Scrollbars To attach scrollbar to another widget do the following 1 Create a scrollbar widget next to a widget that works together with a scrollbar 2 If the orientation of the scrollbar widget is wrong use the orientation tool to change it 3 Select Commands gt Attach Scrollbars Speclcl searches for scrollbar widgets that are adjacent in the grid to widgets that can accept scrollbars It then changes the properties of the widgets concerned so that they work together Following the design window for exScrollbar ui shown below we provide detailed steps Scrollbar widget Text widget Figure 7 14 Designing exScrollbar ui To create the application 1 Drag a text widget to the grid 2 Drag a scrollbar widget to the grid cell next to the text widget 3 Select Command gt Attach Scrollbars SpecTcl links the two widgets for you Note In case you have to undo it here s some more information on Attach Scrollbars 1 SpecIclsets the command property of the scrollbar to refer to the text widget sB text 1 yview and 2 it sets the yscrollbar property of the text widget to refer to the scrollbar 3B scrollbar 1 set If you delete the SpecTcl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 N Ii scrollbar widget clear the text widget s yscrollbar property to avoid an undefined reference to the scrollbar For further information see the Tk documentation
65. me expands to fill its grid cell and the frame can get extra height Extra width Similarly if the frame s sticky property contains e and v the width of the frame expands to fills its grid cell and the frame can get extra width If the frame as a whole can get extra space the widgets within the frame can also get extra You can set each row and column within the frame as resizeable or not the way you do for the main grid For further information see Using Multiple Assemblies on page 111 The figure below shows the application Important properties selectMode The ScrollbarWidget The scrollbar widget provides a scrolling capability for another widget For example you can use a scrollbar to scroll through lines of text in the text widget as demonstrated by exScrollbar ui tcl in execution is T l gar roviden a r bait and dis pla eecurdty adde thir dale tmt T oia erita ie padded cella nreveatirsg Ehe fed ha aire tho hese TELET Tha a dewnlaadel Tcl icrlat conor iaute tiw prejrama epe lila on dise Qesckpt In praef ise itil gdiractorlas amd zannar Find out infarmeatl en ditut Four srbi sila the Ball ecdrit Boda allow ge suoeassfuti a amp plizcationz o perire ly Im Lis that Tz e katga the currant regi Tes irr ei hy i a Figure 7 13 Executing exScrollbar ui For large movements through the text you can drag the scrollbar up or down For small movements click one of the arrows a clic
66. mmand Information 0 00 109 Por MS WindOw S s caus esiosan Smp och ote od ddaad decus 109 FOUNI A uid eset dam d oes eec ipti ra eta tte 109 9 Advanced TOpics oc canes o euo E SPP e dre a PUMP EA 111 Using Multiple Assemblies Sw Lect beEEII Re RES 111 Widget Names in SpecTel SCM pissin s aste rREEEP eww were TES 112 Introduction and Terminology 5 00 00 00 05 112 Main Vindow ASsenibly 4122 eee ee eee n aes 113 Assemb y Tm Eres ih ie tco a A ae Ed ditiores 113 viii SpecTcl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 Automatic Qualification by Base 006 114 Explicit Qualification by Base 0 0 00 0006 114 Substitutions in Commands 0 00000 e ee 114 Building a Macintosh Application 0 000005 115 Execution Options in WIN Xvi tobe etin Y patr eee es 116 lio Cnt 117 Contents ix SpecTcl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 Figures Figure 1 1 Figure 2 1 Figure 2 2 Figure 2 3 Figure 2 4 Figure 2 5 Figure 2 6 Figure 2 7 Figure 2 8 Figure 3 1 Figure 3 2 Figure 3 3 Figure 3 4 Figure 3 5 Figure 3 6 Figure 3 7 A SpecTcl Application Design and Execution Hello world Design and Execution Environment Design Window for Hello world The Property Sheets sonet ste th eec Petr Code WIDUOW e boues em ons quede ntes Executing exRadiobutton2 ui Text Style Selected Executing exRadiobutton2 ui Sticky
67. mple Application 85 exFrame ui Example Application 95 exHello ui Example Appllication 24 exLabel ui Example Application 73 exListbox ui Example Application 88 exLong ui Example Application 31 exMenubutton ui Example Application 80 81 exMessage ui Example Application 101 exRadiobutton ui Example Application 79 exRadiobutton2 ui Example Application 30 exRelief ui Example Application 69 exResize ui Example Application 63 exScale ui Example Application 91 exScrollbar ui Example Application 99 exSticky ui Example Application 70 exText ui Example Application 93 F Frame Widget 95 G Geometry Grid 20 21 55 Geometry Management Constraint Based 20 Geometry Mangement Other Constraint Based Builders 21 Grid Aspects Different from Typical Grids 56 Basics of 49 Concepts of grid geometry 55 Geometry Manager 20 21 See also Frame Widget H Help 40 for SpecTcl 40 for Tcl Tk 40 Help Area Shown in Figure 39 I Insert Edit gt Insert 49 50 Inserting a Row and Column 50 Inserting a Row or Column 49 J Justify Property 66 68 L Label Widget 73 Layout of Widgets 53 to 65 Listbox Widget 88 Index M Main Window SpecIcl 39 Menubutton Widget 80 Menus Checkbutton Menu Entries 82 Creating 80 Creating a Menubar 81 Radiobutton Menu Entries 83 Standard Menu Entries 82 Message Area 41 Shown in Figure 39 Message Widget 101 Minimum Sizes for Columns 61 for Row
68. n Image on page 76 which describes buttons but applies equally to labels Important properties anchor justify image and textvariable y Ti et About Buttons Although the next section is titled The Button Widget in effect it describes characteristics common to buttons checkbuttons and radiobuttons See also The Checkbutton Widget on page 77 and The Radiobutton Widget on page 79 The Button Widget A button lets a user request an action as specified by the button s command property Specifically when the user presses a button radiobutton or checkbutton the Tcl commands in the widget s command property are executed Labels Buttons and Menus 75 76 Buttons typically display one or two words such as Save or OK but they can also display an image or multi line text Displaying Mult Line Text Buttons can display multi line text for an example see the multi line label described in The Label Widget on page 73 which functions similarly Displaying an Image A button can display an image as demonstrated by running exButton tcl lspectet ex 3 Post message Figure 6 4 A Button with an Image Post message in the figure above is in a separate label because buttons can display text or an image but not both simultaneously Here is the design window for exButton ui followed by its script hutton Past message proc ShowlImage w
69. n view and edit its properties Note To see or edit a property value that s wider than its property sheet entry use the left and right arrow keys to scroll left and right 3 To edit this button s command property a click in the command entry in the property sheet b enter the command ShowGreeting and c press the Return key Pressing Return makes the new or changed entry part of the interface ShowGreeting is a user defined Tcl command described in the next section Editing Code The Edit gt Edit Code command provides a very simple ASCII editor that lets you enter a script prec 8hcwireeting b 4 tk H amp ezr ujalBos nasgzaya Hallo world rypa ok See text for definitions of the Dismiss Apply and Revert buttons Figure 2 4 Edit Code Window Use the edit code editor to Enter proc definitions that is user defined Tcl commands that you can invoke throughout your application Getting Started with SpecTcl 25 Ii NJ Enter code outside any proc that you want executed once after the interface is loaded but before the user works with the interface Source in Tcl statements from another file for example uolevel 30 source foo tolk Here s why you need the uplevel statement Code that you enter in the Edit Code window that is not in any proc is nonetheless placed in a proc by SpecTcl a proc that is called when the application is started The uplevel statement ensure
70. nceptual model this section presents further information on dynamic alignment and control of dynamic resizing Dynamic Alignment You can align widgets horizontally or vertically along gridlines and have SpecTcl maintain that alignment dynamically Although widgets and gridlines might change in size and position they can be constrained to do so in ways that retain their alignment Applications that change in real time can especially benefit from dynamic alignment For example suppose your application displays stock market quotes for the top 5 most volatile stocks on a particular market Then column headers and values can adjust when a new stock enters the display to accommodate a new stock and new values either of which might require a change in column size Dynamic alignment enables the new column to retain the alignment used in other columns Most applications need this feature to adjust across different platforms which usually display slightly different fonts and require other minor adjustments Dynamic Resizeability With SpecIcl dynamic resizing users can size the application window to suit their own situation and find that the user interface responds in an intelligent way expanding or contracting some areas when it benefits the user and leaving areas as is when it doesn t As a programmer you don t in general know your users window resources which might vary substantially from user to user So the amount of screen an
71. nd widgets in the grid Message Area At the bottom right of the SpecIcl window is the message area which provides feedback on your interaction with SpecTcl see Figure 3 1 on page 39 Information provided by the message area include The name of the widget and its grid position after widget creation The height or width of a row or column respectively as you move a gridline Widget Basics This section describes creating and selecting widgets Creating Widgets You can create widgets in the current grid or extend the grid by clicking outside it Clicking or Dragging on Palette Widgets To create a widget do either Drag a widget from the palette to the a particular grid cell When drag the palette widget the palette widget becomes unselected as soon as the new widget is created Click on a palette widget then click in one or more grid cells When you click rather than drag the palette widget stays selected each time you click on the grid it creates a new widget To turn this off click again on the palette widget Basics 41 Creating Widgets Outside the CurentGnd If you drag a widget from the palette to an area to the right of the grid SpecTcl creates a new column and places the new widget in that column Similarly if you drag the palette widget and drop it below the grid SpecIcl creates a new row and places the new widget in that row This works similarly for the other way of creating widgets
72. nt words are command arguments For example here are set append and puts commands respectively SpecTcl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 CO Ii set x 5 append foo ab c puts Hello World A command typically ends at the end of the line You can also end a Tcl command with a semicolon for example Set x 5 0 set y 7 5 Command Syntax In summary Tcl commands consists of a series of words interpreted as follows command name arg1 arg2 args You can include white space in an argument by grouping see Grouping on page 107 The Tcl interpreter Separates the words of a command into its name and arguments Performs variable substitution explained below Passes command and command arguments to other procedures which interpreted the arguments on a command by command basis CommandsthatSpan Lines Commands end at the end of the line unless the last character of the line is a backslash for example set x 5 Sets a variable x to 5 as expected Comments Comments begin with a pound sign The must be the first word of the command For example this is not a valid comment because the becomes part of the set command set x 5 Begin initialization Something similar however does work Tcl and Tk 105 Set x 5 X Begin initialization A commands doesn t usually need a semicolon at its end the semicolon above signals that the begins a new command and is therefore a comment
73. nts let s look at an example Suppose we want to constrain the width of window A to be equal to the sum of the widths of windows B and C Or we can write the constraint as A B C If we make B bigger we know that the system must either make A bigger or C smaller to satisfy the constraint The ambiguity is that we don t know which It s very easy to specify either an ambiguous or unsolvable constraint in a general constraint based system The grid geometry manager avoids these problems by allowing only a limited number of constraints all of which we know how to solve in an efficient manner The result is a mechanism with most of the power of a general constraint based system but with none of its pitfalls Introduction to SpecTcl 21 22 SpecTcl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 Getting Started with Spec Tc 2 This chapter presents the following material to get you started using SpecTcl To introduce you to SpeciTcl s tools and the phases of the development process the Hello world tutorial builds a very basic application To introduce you to the example applications provided with your release we show and describe one of the example applications To demonstrate the widget layout process a second tutorial builds a still simple but more typical application The Hello world Tutorial Let s begin the first tutorial with a picture of the design and execution environments of Hello world BRID HIRE PW
74. o 70 Entry 85 Frame 95 Label 73 Layout of 53 to 65 Listbox 88 Menubutton 80 Message 101 Placement in Grid 58 Placement in Grid Cell See Sticky Property Radiobutton 79 Resizeability of Setting 62 Resizeability Controlling 62 Resizing 60 Resizing to Specified Sizes 61 Row and Column Span 60 Scale 91 Scrollbar 93 99 Selecting 42 Text 93 Widgets Resizing 60 Window SpecIcl Main 39 WYWSIWYG Versus Portability 53 121 122 SpecTcl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997
75. off Emi se kiwis guavas s pineapples guavas Figure 6 8 Executing exRadiobutton ui Referencing Radiobutton Values Here is the design window for exRadiobutton ui left and its script right proc S5howButtons 1 global rbutton displayText quisvas Display user s choice in a label Iit pineapplas using button s value as index into a list set fruit_list list kiwis guavas pineapples set displayText lindex 5fruit list S rbuttonj Figure 6 9 Design Window and Script of exRadiobutton ui Demonstrating the Radiobuttons These properties are key to operation of the script The variable property of each radiobutton is rbutton which ties the radiobuttons together Labels Buttons and Menus 79 Ii O The value property of the radiobuttons is 0 1 and 2 respectively One of these values is placed in rbutton when a radiobutton is pressed The command property of each radiobutton is ShowButtons so that ShowButtons is called when any radiobutton is pressed The textvariable property of the label is displayText When you set displayText to a string the label displays the string At execution when the user presses a radiobutton ShowButtons is called ShowButtons uses rbutton the variable property as an index into a list the value of rbutton is 0 1 or 2 depending on the radiobutton Another global displayText is the textvariable of the label ShowButtons set
76. ommand returns an index i between 0 and n 1 into the listbox entries The listbox 1 get i command gets the text of the i th entry The i th element of txt is the display text set in the first proc The gif files are conveniently named exListbox label gif exListbox button gif and so forth When you execute this example be sure to expand the application window if some of the text doesn t fit at first Important properties selectMode The scale widget with its moveable slider provides a way to view and change the value of a variable graphically as demonstrated by exScale ui in execution reside The label s width property zal ae rasizabla is tied to the scale value Width property of resizable Scale value e Tickinterval of 10 Figure 7 5 Executing exScale ui To demonstrate the scale widget the application ties the scale widget s Tcl variable its variable property to the width property of a label marked resizeable So the scale s slide shows the width of the label and when you move the slide you resize the label Important properties bigincrement command from label orient showvalue sliderlength sliderrelief takefocus tickinterval troughcolor and variable Other Widgets 91 Ii N Here is the design window for exScale ui in the examples directory a d iH CEQ dee Width property of resizable Figure 7 6 Design Window and Script of exScale ui
77. on the border 2 To set the minimum size for the border drag the right gridline of the last column and watch the message area at the bottom of the window The message area displays the size of rows and columns as you move a gridline The border of exLong ui in the examples directory is 10 You can continue this process for each row or column that s part of the border Note that there s a trick to resizing some of these rows and columns For a column always move the right gridline For a row always move the bottom gridline 3 For columns 2 and 3 click repeatedly on the column handles until they show as arrowheads as shown in the figure above right Note that column does not have arrowheads 36 Specicl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 2 At execution time when the user resizes the application window columns or rows that have arrowheads are automatically resized For further information see Setting Resizeability of Rows and Columns on page 61 Examining Run Time Actions and Resizeability The version of exLong ui in the Examples directory has a script To see it open the application and then select Edit gt Edit Code We suggest you run it When you press a button a procedure does a puts identifying the button when you press return a procedures does a puts identifying the entry and giving it contents For a complete explanation of the interaction between the script and the entry widgets see The Entry Widg
78. operty sheet double click on the new button 3 In the property sheet edit these properties to values as specified in parentheses anchor w borderwidth 4 sticky ew and text Add Creating Change and Delete Buttons and AnotherC olumn Column handles age Delete Em Click on this gridline then to create another column double click on it To add a new column and the Change and Delete buttons 1 Click on the rightmost gridline as shown in the figure and then double click on it The first click selects the gridline double clicking creates another column To copy the Add button first click on it then select Edit gt Copy To create the Change button first click on the grid cell to the right of the Add button then select Edit gt Paste Clicking on the grid cell selects it to prepare for the paste operation You can tell which cell is selected by noting which column and row handles are highlighted Note the highlighted handles in the figure above which show that a paste would insert a widget in row 3 column 3 Similarly click in the grid cell that receives the Delete button and select Edit gt Paste The paste operation gives you a button widget that has all the properties of the Add button except for a generated item_name To change the text on the two new buttons select each button in turn and edit the text area 34 S
79. other windows Base is a qualifier to use as a prefix to the basic widget name null for a main window because no qualification is needed SpecTcl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 O Ii Main Wndow Assembly Let s consider the case with the assembly loaded into the main window ui loaded in main window root the main window base or qualifier null frame 1 name frame 1 button 1 button 2 name button 2 Figure 9 2 An Assembly in the Main Window In the main window case you refer to all widgets in a command property as if they were top level widgets for example you refer to button 2 as a button 2 even though it s contained in frame 1 Assembly ina Frame Let s contrast the last case with the ui tcl assembly loaded into a frame ui loaded into base name qualifier assemF a frame assemF go doobassomn framett1 name assemF frame 1 button 1 button 2 name assemF button 2 Figure 9 3 An Assembly in a Frame In this case you refer to all widgets in the command property as if they were directly contained in assemF for example you refer to button 2 as assemF button 2 even though it s contained in frame 1 Advanced Topics 113 Automatic Qualification by Base When you drag a button onto the palette the statements that SpecIcl generates in the ui tcl file are automatically qualified by the base If the ui tc1 file is loaded into a frame f3 the base is 3 if it
80. ow and Column 0 0 0 0 000 50 Resizing a Row or Column 2 0 0 eee ee eee 50 Deleting a Row or Column 0 0 0 0 0 eee eee 50 B yond the Main Grid ues eee Mh eS EP RR De 51 4 Managing Layout voe ie ye PIE EE ERES EIS s 53 WYSIWYG versus Pottabless eb ero td t er ue EA 53 Traditional GUL Builders inci axe vx yy tesa eee es 53 DCC Clee sagre eee ea ae alas Bae ate e E end a OE 54 ZUDOUE ERO Gid erie eee o Gutes proven 56 More on Dynamic Alignment and Resizing 57 Dynamic ANNM wes ue dus a ep b Ee Coe es RE bd 57 Dynamic Resizea DiE sicud e EE E 57 Placing Widgets in Grid Cells 0000 58 Controllimne WICSEL SIZE ipie dm rnin tele s apa e car gd 58 AVONA UC 51210945 Sdqawequeg uisa debe aa earns 58 The Effect of padx and pady On Widget Size 59 Tying Widget Size 10 Cell 91Z6 3354 eS REI egens 60 Contents v Changing a Widget s Row or Column Span 60 Setting OPECIN SIZES s vanessa nii to wie d Exaudi 61 Controlling Rows and Columns 0 000005 61 Establishing Minimum Sizes for Rows and Columns 61 Setting Resizeability of Rows and Columns 61 Controlling Widget Resizeability 0 62 Resizing the Application Window 004 63 Resizeability Considerations 0 000000 ee 63 Positioning a Widget within its Cell 0 0 64 The wadx and waxy Properties
81. pecTcl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 NJ Ii Creating the Entry Widgets fit cese petete f column 0 Drag this A to h re column column To add the entry widgets 1 Drag an entry widget rc to the cell beside the Name label At this point the entry widget occupies one column 2 To resize the Name entry widget drag its middle resize handle to the right To locate the exact place to drag move the cursor over the entry widget and watch the cursor change from the text cursor I to a right side cursor gt When you see the right side cursor start to drag Drag the resize handle to the right until the entry widget occupies two columns See the middle portion of the figure above Getting Started with SpecTcl 35 Ii NJ 3 Do the same thing to create Company and E mail entry widgets that is create them and change them to span two columns 4 To edit properties of the entry widget double click on the widget The property sheet appears 5 In the property sheet edit these properties to these values specified in parentheses sticky ew and borderwidth 4 Adding Finishing Touches Arrowheads on column handles indicate automatic MEM A capan a ea oo p E mail Add change To add the finishing touches 1 To place a border around the application add a row or column as appropriate by clicking and double clicking on gridlines
82. pecTcl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 O Ii set x B scale l get B scale l1 set expr x 5 set x B scale l get B scale l1 set expr x 5 In the first application B is empty and the references become simply scale 1 In the second application B expands to either frame 1 or frame 3 depending on the frame Building a Macintosh Applicaton On the Macintosh a normal Build command creates a ui tc1 file If you double click on this ui tc1 file it runs SpecTcl which isn t very useful To create a double clickable version of your application use this command Commands gt Build Application To bring an application into execution a stub file is used To view or edit the choice of stub file or creator code select Preferences gt Options When the dialog box appears click on the Output tab and you will see a display like the following Figure 9 4 Macintosh Output Preferences We ship a version of wish 8 0 that is used as a stub to create double clickable applications You can however override this stub file with your own modified or enhanced copy of wish You can also change the creator code so that your generated application can use its own icons and so forth Advanced Topics 115 9 Exec ution Options in UNIX In UNIX you can execute the application s ui tcl file the way you would any executable file And unless you would like to alter the execution defaults you can sk
83. r create it as follows 1 Drag a text widget from the palette to one of the cells in column Other Widgets 93 To resize the text widget drag the right column gridline of its grid cell to the right and the bottom gridline downward When you move the gridlines the widget sides move too because of the widget s default sticky property nsew From the palette drag a scrollbar widget to the cell that s to the right of the text widget From the Commands menu select Attach Scrollbars This enables scrollbar movements to control the text widget for further information see Attaching Scrollbars on page 100 Click once on the column handle at the top of column 1 to select it then click on it again to change the column handle to show arrowheads as shown in the figure The arrowheads indicate that resizeability has been turned on Then during execution the text widget can grow wider to display more text when you widen the application window When you save the application and place it in execution Copy and paste some text into the text widget too much text to display at one time Verify that the scrollbars work Widen the application window and verify that the text widget also widens SpecTcl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 N Ii The Frame Widget l fL The exFrame ui application shown below demonstrates the frame s grouping capabilities The application has a frame that s a 3 by 3 subgr
84. rm filename Read Chapter 6 in User s Guide These are called class options You must be root to do this Edit Copy means to select the Copy command from the Edit menu Code samples are included in boxes and may display the following UNIX C shell prompt UNIX Bourne and Korn shell prompt it Superuser prompt all shells Preface systems systems system Acknowledgments xviii This guide is written at the SunScript group of SunLabs a division of Sun Microsystems SunScript is directed by John Ousterhout All members of the SpecTcl project contributed to this guide specifically Ray Johnson manager joi Lam developer Bryan Surles developer Allan Pratt writer My thanks to the project for contributing written material review comments and suggestions Thanks also to Ken Corey one of the original SpecTcl developers who spent time getting me up to speed on SpecTcl and to Steve Uhler the developer originally responsible for the design of SpecTcl A special thanks to Shlomtzi Shaham for testing the widget layout tutorial Allan Pratt SpecTcl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 Introduction to Spec Tcl l SpecIcl provides a development environment to build applications with graphical user interfaces that run on multiple platforms The figure below shows a simple application in execution foreground and the design environment in which it was developed background SpecTcldesign
85. roperties of Widgets 69 Ii Ul Stic ky Property If you place a widget in a grid cell larger than itself the widget is centered in the grid cell away from the sides like 1abe11 in the figure To examine the design window below for the application select File gt Open exSticky ui labe12 labe13 NEU Figure 5 5 Widgets with Different Sticky Properties The sticky property controls this placement enabling you to stick the widget to any of the grid cell walls which are described as North South East and West and represented in the property as n s e and w In the figure above label2 is stuck to the top it has a sticky property of n North Label3 and label4 have a sticky property of s and ew respectively Setting the Sticky Property When you click on the sticky tool shown below it displays a panel of selection alternatives also shown Choose this to stick widget to top of cell Choose this to stick sides of widget to both cell sides Figure 5 6 Using the Sticky Tool 70 Specicl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 Ul Ii To use the sticky tool 1 First click on the widget you want to change 2 Click on the sticky tool to display a panel of alternatives 3 Click on the alternative that shows the way the widget should be positioned in its grid cell The second way is to use the property sheet 1 Double click on the label you want to set to bring up the property sheet 2 Change the sti
86. ry ui 86 Executing exListbox ui Application 88 Design Window and Script of exListbox ui 89 EXCCUUN exo CA LOUD iyarini ddesba ind beoe dance S ces 91 Design Window and Script of exScale ui s 92 XGCcutine ee xb etd sob odd ad db SK Ea Sd edd 93 Design Window of exText Ul segs teoeeo ee ea res 93 Designing and Executing exFrame ui esses 95 A Multi Cel Subord as bad ee CERRO RECO eg he ae 96 Selecting within the Grid and Subgrid 0 96 Executing exFrame ui and Resizing the Application Window 97 EX culing e soerollDaT Ud soto bd tees Ret eee 99 DESIGNING exoctollbDaTeulascs5hes e egeo us eq aere 100 bxecuting SxXMESS AGS ciues eV pec Re TREE uS COSS 101 Design Window and Script for exMessage ui 102 Executing exAssemM ui Subassemblies in Frames 111 An Assembly in the Main Window esses 113 An Assembly ana Frame aie me qud ro whee E ER tg ond 113 Macintosh Output Preferences 0 00 0 00000 115 Unix Output reren eS iis vsus hora Sars ree da 116 xiii xiv SpecTcl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 Preface The SpecTcl User s Guide and Reference describes SpecTcl and how to use it to produce cross platform applications with graphical user interfaces Who Should Use This Book This guide is written for you if you are a Tcl Tk programer and want to use SpecIcl or are a programmer and want to learn Tcl Tk
87. s 61 Multi Line Text Aligning 65 Multiple Assemblies 111 N Names of Widgets in Scripts 48 112 Navigating Next Widget 43 Previous Widget 43 Select 1st Child 97 Select Parent 97 New Edit gt New Command 24 O Open Edit gt Open Command 24 Output Preferences Macintosh 115 UNIX 116 P padx pady Properties Visual Explanation of 59 Palette 41 Shown in Figure 39 119 120 Parent of a Widget Selecting 97 Paste Edit gt Paste Command 43 Percent sign substitutions 114 Placement in Grid Cell See Sticky Property Portability As Design Goal 53 Preferences Output Macintosh 115 UNIX 116 Properties Anchor 66 67 As Constraints 55 Borderwidth 68 Common to Widgets 67 to 70 Default Editing 48 Justify 66 Relief 69 Sticky 65 70 wadx 64 wady 64 Widget Editing 24 45 Properties Justify 68 Property Sheet 45 Q Qualification of Widget Names Automatic 114 Qualification of Widget Names Explicit 114 Quit File gt Quit 27 R Radiobutton Widget 79 Reapply the Toolbar Command 47 Relief Property 69 Resizability of Widgets 63 Resizeability Considerations 63 Dynamic Concepts of 57 SpecTcl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 of Columns Setting 61 of Rows Setting 61 of Widgets Setting 62 Resizeability Controlling 62 Resizing the Application Window 63 Resizing Application Window Space Distribution to Frame 97 Resiz
88. s displayText to element rbutton of the list For descriptions of generic button characteristics see About Buttons on page 75 Important properties command value and variable AboutMenus To create menus you use the frame widget menubutton widgets and add commands as described in the following sections The Menubution Widget A menubutton displays a menu when you press it as demonstrated in the figure by exMenubutton ui in the examples directory in execution File Edit Commands Praferoncez Help Unda Cut Copy Paste Figure 6 10 Menu Application For generic button characteristics see About Buttons on page 75 80 Specicl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 O Ii Important properties indicatorOn menu and textvariable The Menubar At the top level of most applications with menus is a menu bar a frame widget containing several menubuttons The figure demonstrates this with the design window of exMenubutton ui Figure 6 11 Design Window of exMenubutton ui To explain similar applications we present the steps to recreate exMenubutton ui in the examples directory 1 Drag a frame widget from the tool palette to the grid This creates a subgrid with a single grid cell You need five more cells This is a brief description of the process but see The Frame Widget on page 95 for a better description To create more subgrid cells 1 click on the right wall of the subgrid cell
89. s that your statements are evaluated at the outer most global level To demonstrate the edit code feature let s continue with the Hello world example 1 Select Edit gt Edit Code At first the edit code window comes up empty 2 To define the Tcl ShowGreeting command mentioned in the last section enter these commands in the edit code window proc ShowGreeting tk messageBox message Hello world type ok The tk_messageBox command is a built in Tk command that posts its message in a dialog box 3 Click on the Dismiss button The buttons along the bottom of the edit code window do the following The Dismiss button confirms your edits and closes the editor window The Apply button confirms the edits you have made so far but leaves the window open for more changes The Revert button undoes any changes even confirmed ones and returns the interface to its state when the edit code window opened Saving the Application When you re done with additions and changes save your application To demonstrate let s save the Hello World application as hello ui 1 Select File gt Save As 26 Specicl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 NJ Ii 2 Enter hello ui in the dialog box and press Save SpecIcl always saves the application in a file with a ui user interface suffix If you omit the ui SpecIcl appends it SpecIcl saves your application in the ui file in a form it can read and updat
90. section without missing anything you will need to develop Spec TIcl applications Spec Tcl and its Gnd Geometry Manager 20 Spec Icl uses a grid geometry manager that can be described as constraint based Some of this is hidden from you as a programmer because its generally more convenient to work with abstractions such as rows and columns and their widgets than to work directly with constraints Some constraints have been mapped onto other entities for example the widget sticky property is an abstraction that ties the way a widget is sized to the way its column is sized SpecTcl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 1 Rather than specifying the size and location of a widget by itself we constrain the widget with respect to other widgets The notion of a grid the sticky property of widgets and the attributes of columns and rows are just high level abstractions of low level mathematical constraints For further information on SpecTel s grid and a general explanation of the widget layout process see Chapter 4 Managing Layout Spec Tcl Versus Other C onstraint Based Builders Constraint based GUI builders are not new but many are overly general and allow the programmer to specify constraints that are either ambiguous or unsolvable By using a manageable subset of constraint based concepts we have designed SpecTcl as a more reliable programming tool To demonstrate the potential for ambiguity in specifying constrai
91. select the palette widget click on it once again Otherwise you ll continue to create label widgets To change the labels to read Name Company and E mail as shown in the figure click on the first label to select it and then edit the text area as shown in the figure At first the text area contains label the default text property of the selected widget Similarly select the second and third labels and edit their text properties to read Company and E mail respectively SpecTcl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 NJ Ii Improving the Labels Appearance To align the labels 1 Double click on the Name label to bring up its property sheet 2 In the property sheet edit the Sticky entry to be ew that is East West This constrains the label to be and stay the width of its column 3 Edit the anchor entry to be w This position the text to the left within the label widget 4 Make the same changes to properties of the Company and E mail labels Note There is also a justify property but justify aligns multiple lines of text it doesn t affect the placement of text within a widget Creating the Add Button Drag a palette button to about here To create the Add button 1 Drag a palette button widget to a place below the E mail label This creates a new row and a new button the way it did for the third label Getting Started with SpecTcl 33 Ii NJ 2 To open the button s pr
92. spectively Figure 5 2 Effect of Borderwidth Property Note When you use a 3 dimensional border the display is effective only for a borderwidth of 4 or more See also Relief Property on page 69 J ustify Property The justify property applies only to multi line text like the text you see in the buttons below Those lines are centered left justified or right justified depending on the justify property center left or right respectively SpecTcl justify SZ The justify property aligns text lines center left right Figure 5 3 Aligning Multi Line Text with the Justify property 68 Specicl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 5 See also Anchor Property on page 67 which positions the block of text within the widget Relief Property All widgets have a relief property that provides alternatives for border style plain raised sunken ridge and groove To see the design window for the application below select File gt Open exRelief ui The application demonstrates the relief property alternatives as applied to various widgets o r714 The relief property specifies these border styles Taba plain raised sunken ridge B groove Figure 5 4 Setting Border Style with the Relief Property To provide the space for a 3 dimensional effect set the borderwidth property to 4 or higher To see a figure that shows the difference see Borderwidth Property on page 68 Common P
93. tPaste entry 1 The command option on add command is the command that is executed when the entry is selected Most menu entries included here just identify themselves by writing out their names but a few do more The Copy Cut and Paste commands transfer information between the clipboard and the entry widget so you can try it out Checkbutton Menu Entries Here are the commands to create the Preferences menus which create menu entries that are checkbuttons menu preferencesMenubutton m preferencesMenubutton m add check label Opt1 variable optl commancd puts Opti is Sopti preferencesMenubutton m add check label Opt2 variable opt2 Command pours OpE2 189 9opt2 SpecTcl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 O Ii These differences characterize menus with checkbuttons The command that adds entries is add check When you add an entry you specify a different variable property for each entry as with other checkbuttons Radiobutton Menu Entries Here are the commands to create the Style menus which create menu entries that are radiobuttons menu styleMenubutton m StyleMenubutton m add radio label plain variable stylevar value 0 command puts Style is Sstylevar StyleMenubutton m add radio label italic variable Stylevar value 1 X command puts Style is Ssty ylevar StyleMenubutton m add radio label bold variable stylevar value 2
94. the help area displays the name of each widget as the cursor passes over it The widget name is in the property sheet as the item name property where you can view and edit it Widget names can contain letters digits and underscores SpecTcl reserves the pound sign for names it generates Names in a script begin with a period If item name is label 1 you refer to it as label 1 in a script for example label 1 config background red This naming convention is derived from Tk but also differs from it as explained later in this guide If your application loads multiple user interfaces ui files there are additional widget name conventions for further information see Using Multiple Assemblies on page 111 and Widget Names in SpecIcl Scripts on page 112 in Chapter 9 Advanced Topics Editing Widget Default Properties You can set default properties for any palette widget These default properties override the system default properties that appear when you create a widget for example button on new buttons which is a system default text property SpecIcl saves the default properties that you set in the application s ui file which means Default properties are available across multiple SpecTcl sessions Default properties are set on a per project basis that is the defaults you set on one project do not apply to another project To set default properties do one of the following Select Edit
95. to concepts others prefer to start with a conceptual overview To start with the overview skip to Chapter 4 Managing Layout which explains why the layout process in SpecIcl may be different than what you re used to SpecIcl provides a help facility and some contextual help In addition there is a Tcl Tk HTML help facility you can view with your network browser at https sunscript stn com man tcls 0 contents html This contains the Tcl Tk Manual including Tcl and Tk commands and keywords For on line Help in SpecTcl select Help on the Help menu then click on one of the following entries when the table of contents appears Quick Tips Glossary of Terms Widget options Interfacing the user interface with an application Known Problems Tour of the SpecTcl user interface SpecIcl Tutorial Miscellaneous Changes since the last release If you are an experienced SpecTcl user you will find helpful reminders if you are new to SpecTcl there is also introductory information As you move the mouse within the design window the help area at the bottom left of the window see Figure 3 1 on page 39 provides help for the item beneath the cursor For example Select the point size for the font SpecTcl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 3 appears when the cursor is over the font tool Help is available for these item categories the palette icons tools in the toolbar command tools gridlines row and column handles a
96. ts in Disguise Here are some aspects of widgets and their grid that are actually constraints on widget size and location Row size this specifies a minimum vertical distance between two horizontal gridlines and has secondary affects on the widgets placed in the row Column size this specifies a minimum horizontal distance between the two vertical gridlines that form the column and has secondary affects on widgets placed in that column Sticky property a sticky property of ew ties the widget width to the width of its column ns ties the widget height to the height of its rows and nsew ties widget size to its grid cell size The term ties signifies a dynamic relationship If at run time one entity changes any entities tied to it also change Row resizeability if a row is set to be resizeable widgets tied to it as described above are resized when the row is automatically resized Column resizeability if a column is set to be resizeable widgets tied to it as described above are resized when the column is automatically resized Managing Layout 55 Ii I Aboutthe Grid Characteristic s of Grid Based Applications Because of the grid SpecTcl applications have these characteristics An application that you create on one platform can run on another platform without modification and its interface remains aligned An application s interface is not static In fact it adjusts automatically to many chang
97. width Property 0005 68 Figure5 3 X Aligning Multi Line Text with the Justify property 68 Figure 5 4 Setting Border Style with the Relief Property 69 Figure 5 5 Widgets with Different Sticky Properties 70 Figures Usine thesBcky LOO 42x59 tut d queo eee Eee RE Pg ate 70 Lieureo l VEXecuuns e hdbellstbgs2s ce eec taie Hd dona vp VS 73 Figure 6 2 A Label Displaying Multiple Lines of Text 74 Figure 6 3 Design Window of exLabel2 ui 0 ee eee eee 7A Figure 6 4 A Button with an Image 00 ccc eee ees 76 Figure 6 5 Design Window and Script of exButton ui s 76 Figuro BxecutnsexcheckDUEPCOR Ux oo UD P Es 77 Figure 6 7 Design Window and Script of excheckbutton ui 78 xii SpecTcl 1 1 User s Guide August 1997 Figure 6 8 Figure 6 9 Figure 6 10 Figure 6 11 Figure 7 1 Figure 7 2 Figure 7 3 Figure 7 4 Figure 7 5 Figure 7 6 Figure 7 7 Figure 7 8 Figure 7 9 Figure 7 10 Figure 7 11 Figure 7 12 Figure 7 13 Figure 7 14 Figure 7 15 Figure 7 16 Figure 9 1 Figure 9 2 Figure 9 3 Figure 9 4 Figure 9 5 Figures PRECULING ezka ONUL CON Ulset berite beats dad 79 Design Window and Script of exRadiobutton ui 79 Menu ApDICQUOT ces satires ore Sagi Des ddr vie eee eter es 80 Design Window of exMenubutton ui ee eee 81 EXeculime exbEHDE VS UE odd t coud ues chains Moats Nae 85 Design Window and Script for exEnt
98. x deepen nea Sek wes 87 Processing Byenis DWICe 4st vxo YE loos tea ees 88 The EIStbox VWI COU s ea de eso NS oa EON ex eiue 88 When the User Selects a Listbox Entry 89 Reacting to the User s Choice 0 0 0 0 0008 90 Tne Seale Wid eE quoe ose dams dives e eb ibt ed es eis 91 The Text IOS 1 socubdnd dpi eerie dette ed aet wh Bree aes gnde dod nae 93 The Brame WiC Seto 6 eei ERR VI Let boe frost secca 95 Creating a Multi Cell S betid eer Ree wa 96 Selection with a Subgrid Present 005 96 Selecting a Widget s Parent or Child 0 97 Passing Window Space to Children 97 Contents vii AME SCLOMD AE WVIAC CE rr 99 Attachrue 5crollDatS stessa ERR Re wed oS Sa EES 100 Ine Canvas Wid Gel suse ten T br Ede eee ea dd 101 The Message WiC E sud dope ioa eb e euet a reed nane 101 8 NUN a fis snare caress emm os enint Quote ated m dre 103 AADOSETS eerie in he ean Mamie eye eae eines ar eae 103 Entering Commands Interactively 005 104 TOM COMIMANGS ER 104 setune Variables vadit Bh eee Sea ee eda Rett 106 Getting the Value of a Variable 0 4 106 Getting the Result of aCommand 106 GOUPO oun E ea as Mat Gite eile es ia i 107 Tel Built in C OM and So ce oe dit sa bo apta ex eroe BE ae 107 PROG CL Sls sauce as wna eo tia Md oe quete 107 hist related ComtnandS x ecce ceo at Sh oa EU eR E 108 Tcl Co

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