TKKIT --- a GUI class library for the Tk toolkit

Matthias Ernst
mernst@x4u2.desy.de

Introduction

The TkKit is an older version of the Gui classes and is used by the Browser, since the browser was written before the full Gui was developed. It is an interface to Tcl-Tk. The browser only makes use of the most rudimentary classes, but the whole interface is preserved here, in case other users may want to use it. This document is a modified version of Matthias original documentation. TkKit will not be directly supported by ICSI, but this document is provided for any who wish to make modifications to the Browser interface to the Gui. You will find it in Browser/TkKit.

The Class Library

TKKIT -objects represent graphical, possibly interactive objects which form the user interface of an application. There are two forms of TKKIT -classes:

One set of classes establish a one to one mapping to builtin Tk-objects. Examples are labels, frames, entries, etc..
Other classes represent composed UI-objects, e.g. menubars, file-selectors, .... It is important to design these classes in such a way that a) one can easily build new composed objects and b) these objects have a programming interface very similar to that of `atomic' wigets.

The TK_APP class

This class represents the GUI part of an application. Due to technical reasons this is just a wrapper around shareds. Features:

create(basename, classname, your_tkkit_path: STR): SAME: This is a fake ! Call this at the beginning of your application (i.e. app ::= #TK_APP("tk_clock", "TkClock", "/home/tisi/sources/sather/TkKit/");) to initialize the shareds. You can safely handle the result like an object.
tcl_tk: TCL_TK: The interface to the Tcl/Tk lib, including the interpreter.
windows: FMAP{STR, $TKWINDOW}: All windows in this application (plus related routines).
callbacks: FMAP{STR, $TKKIT_CB}: Defined callbacks (plus related routines).

Windows

Now we come to the really graphical objects. Here an overview over the existing window classes:

$TK_WINDOW
    $TK_TOPLEVEL
        TK_ROOT
        TK_TOPLEVEL
    $TK_WIDGET
        TK_FRAME
        TK_LABEL
        TK_ENTRY
        TK_MESSAGE

... really to be continued.

You can bind callbacks to events with 'bind' where the event specification is a string that Tk understands.

The $TK_WINDOW class

Basetype for all windows in Tk, i.e. such with a pathname. Features:

app: TK_APP: The application this window belongs to.
typus: STR: The type of this window, i.e. ``label'', ``frame'' or others. This is the command handed to Tk to create a widget.
name: STR: The `basename' of the window's
pathname: STR: Tk pathname
show; show_all; hide; hide_all; visible: BOOL: control visibility
configure(STR): ``low level'' Tk window configuration
destroy: Destroy this window

The $TK_WIDGET class

Objects of this type represent Tk widgets inside of top level windows. TK_WIDGETs add facilities of placement and geometry management using Tk's packer. By now you can assign to widget.pack_info: STR which is handed verbatim as options to TK's 'pack'.

An example

The benefits of TKKIT can best be seen in an example. Edit one entry and hit return to get the corresponding temperature

class TEMPERATURE is
   attr celsius, fahrenheit: TK_ENTRY;

   c2f is
      c ::= #FLT(celsius.get);
      fahrenheit.set((c*1.8 + 32.0).str);
   end;

   f2c is
      f ::= #FLT(fahrenheit.get);
      celsius.set(((f-32.0)/1.8).str);
   end;

   main is
      app ::= #TK_APP("temperature", "Temperature", "/usr/local/Sather/System/Library/TkKit/Library/");

      caption ::= #TK_LABEL("caption", app.root).relief_raised;
      caption.text := "Temperature converter";

      f ::= #TK_FRAME("f", app.root).relief_raised;

      f1 ::= #TK_FRAME("f1", f).configure("bd", 2).relief_ridge;

      cl ::= #TK_BUTTON("cl", f1);
      cl.text := "Celsius degree: ";
      cl.pack_info := "-side left";

      celsius := #TK_ENTRY("ce", f1).relief_sunken;
      celsius.pack_info := "-side left";

      f2 ::= #TK_FRAME("f2", f).configure("bd", 2).relief_ridge;

      fl ::= #TK_BUTTON("fl", f2);
      fl.text := "Fahrenheit degree: ";
      fl.pack_info := "-side left";

      fahrenheit := #TK_ENTRY("fe", f2).relief_sunken;
      fahrenheit.pack_info := "-side left";

      f2c_cb ::= #TKKIT_CB("f2c", #ROUT(f2c));
      c2f_cb ::= #TKKIT_CB("c2f", #ROUT(c2f));

      cl.callback := c2f_cb;
      celsius.bind("", c2f_cb, void); -- no args

      fl.callback := f2c_cb;
      fahrenheit.bind("", f2c_cb, void);

      app.root.show_all;
      app.tcl_tk.main_loop;
   end;
end; -- class TEMPERATURE

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About this document ...

TKKIT --- a GUI class library for the Tk toolkit

The command line arguments were:
latex2html -split 0 -no_navigation TkKit.latex-2e.tex.

The translation was initiated by Benedict A. Gomes on Fri May 24 21:58:17 PDT 1996

...

Pronounce it like `ticket'

Benedict A. Gomes
Fri May 24 21:58:17 PDT 1996