G'd day everyone... Sorry I'm so slow to answer.
Many of you have E-mailed me asking for sources of my version. I have put up
a small personal page at http://www.chez.com/fabiencoutant/ where you will
find it with some comments along.
So there seems to be great debate about features and howto about vtcl... let's
throw in my 2c and have some brainstorming ;-P
First try to summary what has been said in previous messages:
- throw in every extension widget we can, but add autodetection mechanism plus
option to disable it even if it's here.
- pros and cons about whether vtcl itself should stick to core Tcl/Tk.
Personally I would prefer it stays as is, since I want to continue to run it
on VMS :-)
- may need some ergonomic/behavior changes/corrections
- new features needed: multi-file support, project manager, image manager,
font manager, color manager,
May I add and explain:
- need some more versatile compound/component mechanism
For me one of the biggest problems after multi-file support is the
difficulty to build reusable components; compounds are ok for small things,
but they are completely static and can't be parameterized. Here Tcl is the
problem. Maybe we can extend the compound design with:
- parameters that are filled in at instanciation,
- dynamic behaviour with (for example) a context menu that allows to change
the layout after creation.
The typical thing I would like to be able to do is add a notebook widget of
some sort, then add pages to it at will. Unless the notebook is a widget by
itself, behaving exactly like others, it's impossible to do currently.
- separate look and behaviour of widgets. It's currently hard to modify
graphic settings of all widgets of some class (button, entry, ...) at once.
The TK options mechanism would perhaps be ok if vtcl did not explicitly set
these options on every created widget. What I have in mind is the ability to
define CLASSES of widgets, that are basic widgets plus graphic settings, and
use them as USUAL widgets but with only the ability to change behavior,
content and variable attachments. Imagine you use always the same entry with
some background, thin line, red cursor, other color settings and fixed
width; now you've created 20 instances of it with copy-paste, to discover
you want to change the blinking time. A pain to correct (I've done that
once), but not if all instances refer to the same class for which you can
change attributes.
Again it's a matter of object programming, and TCL is the problem. Maybe
iTcl or MegaWidget could help, I don't know them enough.
- wizards: interactive dialog sequences that build complex interfaces (not
just instanciate a single widget or compound) with the help of a few
questions. The main one I have in mind would be to build database
interfaces: log to database, choose table, choose the fields to display, et
hop, a table viewer; choose another set of fields, and make an input form.
Maybe I'm dreaming ! Sure however something can be useful...
About other questions:
Christian's work does not collide with mine, except he started from version
1.2.0 and I started from 1.3.0. We share some plans however... But for me,
it's ok and we can work in parallel.
I'm voluntary for the project manager, possibly completing multi-file support
at the same time (since I've started it !) -- oh BTW I've put a screenshot of
the current project manager window on my page.
For a tabbed preferences dialog, I can offer my pure-Tcl notebook widget, then
anyone can take this on since it should not be a complex work. The file for
the widget is in my sources, though not yet loaded in vtcl.
--
Best regards,
Fabien.
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