The TkIcon extension
Copyright (c) 1995 by Sven Delmas All rights reserved. See the file COPYRIGHT for the copyright notes.
- Tk 4.0 adaptions
- dropped TkMegaWidget (use Tix instead)
- Enhanced configuration
- Some minor bug fixes
This small extension to Tk allows the creation of icon and edge items in a canvas widget. These items provide a lot of additional functionality (take a look at the manual pages tkicon.n and tkiconpane.n). The TkIconPane widget is a complete implementation of a desktop displayer as well as a graph widget (including a layout mechanism). The advantage of TkIcon is that a big part of the work is done in C, which makes the implementation much faster.
The graph layout is done with a simple tree layouter (named tree), and an ISI layouter. The tree layouter was originally based upon a Tcl algorithm published by Juergen Wagner (J_Wagner@iao.fhg.de and gandalf@csli.stanford.edu) in his "theObjects" package. The ISI layouter was implemented following an explanation published by Anette Kjaer. If someone has interesting other layout algorithms, please let me know. It should not be a big problem to add additional algorithms...
In case you want to embed additional algorithms, you can add the code to tkCanvLayout.c. The new layout command is added to the C function named TkCanvLayoutCmd. The new subcommand is added where the dummy command "testing" is located. This piece of code gives a small example of the embedding of new algorithms. The function TkCanvLayoutBuildGraphToString is used to build a string that represents the canvas graph structure. This function returns a string following this format:
- {{NodeList} {EdgeList}}
- NodeList -------> {Node Node Node ...}
- Node ------------> {NodeCanvasId x y width height {ConnectionList}}
- ConnectionList ---> {Connection Connection ...}
- Connection --------> {FromCanvasId ToCanvasId EdgeCanvasId}
- ConnectionList ---> {Connection Connection ...}
- Node ------------> {NodeCanvasId x y width height {ConnectionList}}
- EdgeList -------> {Edge Edge Edge ...}
- Edge ------------> {EdgeCanvasId FromCanvasId ToCanvasId}
- NodeList -------> {Node Node Node ...}
Your new layout algorithm can parse this string to build up his internal representation. The function TkCanvLayoutGraphPlaceNodesFromString shows how to parse the string, and is used to place the icons and edges according to the computed layout. The procedure receives a string following this format:
- {{NodeList} {EdgeList}}
- NodeList -------> {Node Node Node ...}
- Node ------------> {NodeCanvasId x y width height}
- EdgeList -------> {Edge Edge Edge ...}
- Edge ------------> {EdgeCanvasId x1 y1 x2 y2 ....}
- NodeList -------> {Node Node Node ...}
- The Tk-4.0 package (or newer ?!)
- The Tix package (for IconPane)
- To use drag & drop, you have to build
a wish that contains the BLT extension
When you call ./configure in the temporary TkIcon build directory (see below, several additional parameters allow the selection of new packages etc.. Several packages allow the setting of additional subparameters. Setting one of these subparameters means that all default settings for the subparameters are ignored. So you have to list all required subparameters by hand. Most parameters are directly mapped to compiler options, so the configuration can also be adapted by changing the Makefile directly. The configuration reads the file "config.init", where the several default settings are defined. The current parameters are stored in the file "config.local". This file can be used by calling ./configure with -with-config-local.
IMPORTANT!!!! If you call ./configure with new parameters (compared to a previous call of ./configure), you should call "make clean" before you build the new wish.
-with-blt (default=off)
This adds the BLT extension to the
wish. Adding this feature makes it
necessary to build and install the
BLT package before you build this
package. If there is no globally
installed library, configure looks
in the directory ../blt for a local
copy.
-with-config-local (default=off)
Call ./configure with the parameters
of the last ./configure call.
-with-expect (default=off)
This adds the expect extension to the
wish. Adding this feature makes it
necessary to build and install the
expect package before you build this
package. If there is no globally
installed library, configure looks
in the directory ../expect for a local
copy.
-with-itcl (default=off)
This adds the itcl extension to the
wish. Adding this feature makes it
necessary to build and install the
itcl package before you build this
package. If there is no globally
installed library, configure looks
in the directory ../itcl for a local
copy.
-with-kanji (default=off)
This allows the building of a Kanji
wish. You have to provide the already
patched Tk source tree under the name
../tk4.0-jp (or ../tk4.0jp) and the
patched Tcl source tree under the name
../tcl7.4-jp (or ../tcl7.4jp).
-with-nogcc (default=off)
This disables the usage of gcc, irrespective
of the existance of gcc.
-with-noshlib (default=off)
Even if the system supports shared
libraries, don't build them.
-with-tcldp (default=off)
This adds the Tcl-DP package to the
wish. Adding this feature makes it
necessary to build and install the
tcl-dp package before you build this
package. If there is no globally
installed library, configure looks
in the directory ../tcl-dp for a local
copy.
-with-tclload (default=off)
This adds the dynamic loading package to
the wish. Adding this feature makes it
necessary to build the shells package
before you build this package. The shells
package must be located in the same
directory as the other extension packages
under the name "shells".
-with-tclX (default=off)
This adds the TclX extension to the
wish. Adding this feature makes it
necessary to build and install the
extended Tcl package before you build
this package. If there is no globally
installed library, configure looks
in the directory ../tclX for a local
copy.
-with-tix (default=off)
This adds the Tix extension to the
wish. Adding this feature makes it
necessary to build and install the
Tix package before you build this
package. If there is no globally
installed library, configure looks
in the directory ../tix for a local
copy.
-with-tkicon (default=on)
This adds the TkIcon extension to
the wish.
-with-tklibrary=pathName (default=/usr/local/tk...)
This specifies a new TK_LIBRARY path.
The new Tk library searches for the
Tcl library files in this directory.
-with-tkmegawidget (default=on)
This adds the TkMegaWidget extension to
the wish. There are several
subparameters for this parameter:
-with-tkmegawidget-des (default=off)
adds the DES encryption library
to the TkMegaWidget.
-with-tkmegawidget-localdes (default=off)
causes the use of the local des
library. Otherwise, a globally
installed des library is used, if
there is any.
-with-tkmegawidget-debug (default=on)
adds the debugger code. This
means that it is possible to run
two separate interpreters where
one interpreter is used to debug
the second one.
-with-tkmobal (default=off)
This adds the TkMobal extension to
the wish.
-with-tksteal (default=off)
This adds the TkSteal extension to
the wish.
-with-turndial (default=off)
This adds the tkTurndial widget to the
wish. Adding this feature makes it
necessary to build and install the
tkTurndial package before you build
this package. If there is no globally
installed library, configure looks
in the directory ../tkTurndial for a
local copy named "libtkTurndial.a".
-with-xpm (default=off)
This adds the Xpm3 library to the link
command in case Tk was extended with the
externally available Pixmap support. If
there is no globally installed library,
configure looks in the directory ../xpm
for a local copy.
1) Please take a look into the "Portability"
section at the bottom first. The installation
may require a special handling for your system.
2) Unpack the Tk distribution. Build the Tk
distribution as described in the Tk README. If
your system supports shared libraries, and
you want to use them, you should build the
Tcl and the Tk distribution with the
tcltk_shlib package published by Xiaokun Zhu.
3) Unpack the TkMegaWidget distribution in the same
directory where you have unpacked the Tk
distribution. You don't have to build this
package.
4) Unpack the TkIcon distribution in the same
directory where you have unpacked the Tk
distribution.
5) The resulting directory structure will look
about like that:
.../
|
+-- tcl7.4
|
+-- tk4.0
|
+-- TkIcon
|
+-- TkMegaWidget
|
....
Now change into the new TkIcon directory.
6) Configure the distribution by running ./configure.
And do all the things you usually do to get a
working Tk. To select certain additional
packages and perform other changes of the new
wish, you can call ./configure with several
parameters. Take a look into the configure
section above for a detailed list. Certain
extensions have to be built and installed before
you can use them. You should take care that the
TK_LIBRARY path is valid. This means that you
either use the path from a previous Tk
installation, or you create the new path, and
copy all Tk library files to that directory.
7) A new libtk will be built, as there are some
minor problems with certain packages (especially
with tcl-DP). This libtk is totally compatible with
the previous libtk (the static and the shared
version). So, I decided to install the library
under the same name. If you do not want this,
change the TK_LIB_NAME in the toplevel Makefile
(go to 9)).
8) Build the new wish (to build a new wish with
a manually adapted Makefile, go to 9)). This
will copy the required files to the local
directory. The required local extension
libraries are built. Finally the new wish is
linked. If your system supports shared
libraries, they will be generated automatically.
As the position of shared libraries is usually
very critical, the libraries are automatically
installed in the final library directory when
they are built. This makes it necessary that you
have write permission for that directory. To
build the new wish, type:
make
Now go to 10) to continue the installation.
9) If you want to change the toplevel Makefile
manually (usually this is not required), first,
you have to call:
make prepare
Adapt the Makefile to your personal needs. Now
you can build the new wish (don't call "make"
as you would normally do (see 8)), but call:
make wish
10) You can now install everything by typing this:
make install
This will install the new wish, the new library
files and the new doc. By default, the library
files are placed in the TK_LIBRARY directory.
The original Tk tclIndex file in the directory
where the new Tk library files are installed
(this is usually the Tk library directory... e.g.
/usr/local/lib/tk4.0) has to be changed. It must
contain the autoload code for the new Tcl commands
("tkIconPane"). If you do not add the autoload
code, you have to load the file "tkIconPaneCmd.tcl"
explicitly in your code. Please take care to keep
the Tk tclIndex file up to date when you install
other packages. The tclIndex file must contain
the following line:
set auto_index(tkIconPane) "source [set dir]/tkIconPaneCmd.tcl"
11) To see what the widgets can do for you, change to
the directory named ./demo.TkIcon and type
"../wish/icon-wish -f tkIconPane1.tcl" (do this for
all tcl files in the directory).
12) After that, you should test the new installed
wish. If everything works fine, you can remove
the temporary build directories.
13) To prevent problems, please don't use this directory
structure for totally different configurations. The
subdirectories may contain newly copied files that
are not removed automatically when you reconfigure
the distribution. So you will end up in a totally
corrupted distribution (especially the libtk directory
will be corrupted, and will create libtk.a versions
that cannot work). So, if you decide to reconfigure
this package, and to drop certain packages from the
new wish, please delete the current directorytree.
Use a newly unpacked distribution to prevent trouble.
General: - If the widgets do not work as expected under the new wish, maybe you have forgotten to adapt the TK_LIBRARY path in the Makefile, or you have not created the new TK_LIBRARY path with all Tk library files.
- If you have installed the Tcl/Tk related libraries
in non standard directories (i.e. directories that
are not automatically searched by the linker), you
have to set the environment variable LD_LIBRARY_PATH
to contain these additional directories.
OSF: - It seems that the command "sed" (which is used by GNU's configure package) accepts no long commandline strings (at least not long enough for this configure program). The error message you get will look about like this:
"Too many commands, last: s%@srcdir@%.%g"
Please install the GNU sed package, and use this "sed"
command (make sure the new sed is found before the
original sed).
Extended Tcl: - If you build the wish with extended Tcl, you have to set the TCL_LIBRARY path to the extended Tcl library path before you call the new wish.
The TkIcon distribution file is named TkIcon4.0*.tar.gz or TkIcon4.0*.tar.Z. The * represents the current version. TkIcon is available via anonymous ftp at: ftp.aud.alcatel.com: tcl/extensions/ ftp.ibp.fr: pub/tcl/contrib/extensions/ nic.funet.fi: pub/languages/tcl/extensions/ syd.dit.csiro.au: pub/tk/contrib/extensions/ ftp.cs.tu-berlin.de: pub/tcl/contrib/extensions/
To get a copy of it, just type the following:
ftp ftp.cs.tu-berlin.de
bin
cd pub/tcl/contrib/extensions
get TkIcon4.0*.tar.gz
To get a copy via ftpmail, just send the following mail to:
mail-server@cs.tu-berlin.de
To get a help message, send the following body:
send HELP
end
To retrieve TkIcon, send the following body:
send pub/tcl/contrib/extensions/TkIcon4.0*.tar.gz
end
Sven Delmas sven@ignoranceisbliss.com