TKTESTER(1)TKTESTER(1)NAMEtktester - test Tk widgets and help design Tk layouts
SYNOPSIS
wm/tktester [ -import ]
DESCRIPTION
Tktester not only tests the tk(2) widget implementation but can help
when designing Tk application layouts. Its main window contains the
design area where widgets are placed and edited. Most of the commands
for creating and moving widgets are located on the control bar just
below the design area although a few commands may be found in the menus
at the top of the window. Output is sent to the text box below the con‐
trol bar.
Widget properties may be modified using the config window and widget
commands called from the command window.
Main Window
This is split into four areas:
Menu Bar
This contains various file operations as well as a few commands
File New: Starts a new file
Open: Opens a saved file
Snarf: Sends the current file to snarf
Save: Saves the current file
Save as: Asks for a new filename and then saves the file
Exit: Close tktester
Files are saved in the form of a list of tk commands. This means
that they can easily be imported into programs as part of an
array. Files to be loaded must have .f as the top frame with no
widgets outside it.
Row/Column
The current row/column is the one in which the currently
selected widget/empty cell is located Insert - inserts a new
row/column either before or after the currently selected
row/column Delete - deletes currently selected row/column
Format - sets the properties for the current row/column
Hidden Forget - removes the current widget from the display area but
does not delete it. The widget name is then added to the
'Hidden' menu and can still be selected by clicking on its
name there. This can be useful for operations which require
widgets that are not currently packed e.g. placing a frame as
a window within a canvas. Forgotten items will still be
saved.
Disabled This menu only appears when a widget has been disabled. In
this state, button bindings are ignored so it becomes impos‐
sible to select the widget. When a widget is disabled, its
name is automatically added to the 'Disabled' menu and can be
selected from there.
Design Area
This is the main area of the main window where the widgets are dis‐
played. To select a widget, click on it with mouse button 3, the con‐
trol bar shows the name and other information about the currently
selected widget. Frames themselves can only be selected by clicking on
their label, clicking elsewhere on the frame (if there is no widget
there) will select the empty cell, any new widget created will be
placed here. Once a widget has been selected, you can move it by click‐
ing on the empty destination cell with mouse button 2. Individual wid‐
gets can be moved from one frame to another but frames themselves can
currently only be moved within the same parent frame. Clicking mouse
button 2 on a widget will delete that widget if the Free Delete button
on the control bar is on.
Control Bar
This is split into three different menus. To select the different sub‐
menus, click on the >> at the end of the menu title.
Data Menu
Widget shows information about the current widget
clicking on the Destroy button will delete the currently
selected widget. The Free Delete button to the right of the
Destroy button can be toggled on and off by clicking on it.
When turned on (red background) , clicking mouse button 2 on
a widget in the design area will delete it.
Grid shows information about the current grid
Clicking the Hide Labels button will hide the frame labels so
that you can see what the screen will look like normally.
Position and Formatting Menu
Move Move the widget within its current frame
Spanning Change row and column spanning properties
Padding Set cell padding, checkbox selects internal or external pad‐
ding
Position Adjust widget position, widget can be stretched if opposite
positions are selected e.g. to flill horizontaly, select <
and >
New Menu
Clicking on 'New' will bring up the pack menu, here you can set packing
to down or right. This is used when a new widget is created. If the
user has not selected an empty cell, the new widget will be placed
either below or to the right of the currently selected widget. Clicking
on '>>' will scroll the buttons within the menu to the left to allow
access to those that might be off screen.
Output Box
Output and errors are reported here. This box may be hidden by clicking
on the grey button located at the bottom of the main window.
POPUP WINDOWS
Config Window
This window is opened by clicking on the red button located at the bot‐
tom of the main window. To configure a widget's options, the widget
must be selected. To modify an option, type the new value required into
the relevant entry box and click the 'set' button. Any output (includ‐
ing error messages) returned will be sent to the output box.
There are two template buttons at the bottom of the config window, set
as default and save as default. Set will cause each new widget of the
same type to be created with the same options as the currently selected
widget. This default will not be remembered once tktester has been
closed. Save does the same as set except the default is saved so it
will be not be lost if tktester is closed.
Default Template Options
%n the name of the widget e.g. .f.f1.b2
%t the widget type e.g. button
%i the number of the widget
By default, each widget with a -text option is set to {%t %i} e.g. but‐
ton 2. Note: These options only work with default templates, setting
the -text option of a specific button to {%t %i} will just cause '%t
%i' to be displayed.
Command Window
This window is opened by clicking on the green button located at the
bottom of the main window. To call the commands for a particular wid‐
get, the widget must be selected.
The command window is split into two listboxes and one entry box. The
first listbox contains all the main commands available for the current
widget type. Selecting a command will bring up a list of subcommands
(if they exist) in the second listbox as well as displaying any argu‐
ments required above the entrybox. To run a command, first select the
command (and any subcommand), then enter the required arguments into
the entry box and click run. The command, as well as any output, is
sent to the output box on the main window. If no output is returned,
the output box will display 'ok'.
OPTIONS-import Tells tktester to import valid widget commands from the man
pages. This data is saved in the tkwargs/ directory, which
must already exist.
FILES
The file tkwargs/widgets must contain a list of widgets, one per line
as follows:
[name] [abv]
with the fields separated by tabs or spaces. For example:
menubutton mb
listbox lb
SOURCE
/appl/wm/tktester
BUGS
The command window sometimes lists a command more than once. It does
not matter which one is used.
In a saved file, any grid commands must put -row and -column options
before -rowspan or -columnspan.
Tktester can crash when loading a file if it is not in the correct for‐
mat.
PROPOSED ADDITIONS
Allow renaming of widgets
At the moment, tktester can only load, save and use tk commands where
the widget names adhere to the format .abv[n] where abv is the abrevia‐
tion for the widget type e.g. b for buttons, sb for scrollbars etc and
n is an optional number. It would be better to allow users to have more
meaningful names such as .f.fmenu. Implementing this would also make it
possible to load in commands written outside of tktester for testing or
modification purposes.
Column and Row indicators
This would more clearly show which rows and columns widgets were in
(especially when widgets are spanning more than one). Also could be
used to select individual rows and columns more explicity and maybe for
multiple selections.
TKTESTER(1)
