Released on Thu Jul 23 1995
Subject: [Announce] Tix version 4.0b4 is available
I am pleased to announce the availability of Tix version 4.0b4.
IS THIS A BETA VERSION?
No, this is NOT a beta version. Although there is a letter "b" in
the version number, this should be considered as the "final
release" of Tix 4.0. Tix 4.0 has been pretty stable now and the
only reason that I leave the letter "b" there is I am going for a
vacation and I won't be able to support Tix for the next month. As
soon as I come back in September, I will release the "Final
Version" by simply removing the letter "b" from the version number.
REQUIREMENT
TK 4.0 + TCL 7.4. Tix 4.0b4 does not work with previous versions of
TK and TCL. Versions of Tix that work with previous versions of
TK and TCL can be found in the FTP directories listed below.
WHAT IS TIX
In case you don't know yet, the Tix library is an extension to the
Tk toolkit that contains over 20 new widgets for Tk. Features
include:
(1) A LOT of new widgets:
ComboBox, Motif style FileSelectBox, MS Windows style
FileSelectBox, PanedWindow, NoteBook, Hierarchical Listbox,
Directory List/Tree View, Spin Control widget .... and many
more. With these new widgets, your Tcl/Tk applications can
acquire a great professional look and you can interact with your
users in interesting new ways.
(2) XPM image support:
This allows you to display color icons in XPM format. Supports
transparent background, a feature not found in the standard GIF
photo image type.
(3) Compound images:
A new image type called "compound" allows you to glue together a
bunch of bitmaps, images and text strings together to form a
bigger image. Then you can use this image with widgets that
support the -image option. For example, you can display a text
string string together with a bitmap, at the same time, inside a
TK button widget.
(4) Form geometry manager
Works similarly to the Motif Form widget. You can specify
geometry constraints using attachment rules.
(5) Mwm window manager support:
With the tixMwm command, you can communicate with the Motif
window manager "mwm"; you can add new items to the Motif system
menu and change the window manager decorations.
(6) Display Items and Display Styles
Display items and display styles make it possible to display
visual information in many formats. Currently only the HList
widget supports display items, but this will become the standard
way of displaying informations in all the Tix widgets in the
next version (Tix 4.1).
GETTING THE TIX PACKAGE
You can obtain Tix from my ftp site:
ftp://ftp.cis.upenn.edu/pub/ioi/Tix4.0b4.tar.gz
Linux, SGI and SunOS binaries libraries can be found
ftp://ftp.cis.upenn.edu/pub/ioi/bin/linux-1.2.3-tix4.0b4/
ftp://ftp.cis.upenn.edu/pub/ioi/bin/sgi-irix5.3-tix4.0b4/
ftp://ftp.cis.upenn.edu/pub/ioi/bin/sunos-4.1.3-tix4.0b4/
I have also uploaded the file to the official Tcl site, so in a few
days it will also be available at;
ftp://ftp.aud.alcatel.com/tcl/extensions/Tix4.0b4.tar.gz
ftp://ftp.aud.alcatel.com/tcl/extensions/Tix4.0b4.README
More information about Tix can be found at the Tix Home Page at
http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~ioi/tix/tix.html
There is a mailing list for the discussion of the development of
the Tix library and Tix applications. To subscribe, please send a
message to
ioi@graphics.cis.upenn.edu
I will not be able to answer mails until late August. If you have a
pressing problem about Tix you may be able to find help from the
Tix mailing list. Send you questions to:
tix-info@graphics.cis.upenn.edu
DOCUMENTATION
All Tix documentation are now in HTML format. After you download
Tix, please read the file Tix4.0b4/README.html. It contains links
to all other important documentation in the Tix package, including
the copyright statement.
WHAT'S NEW
(1) There are man pages for all "supported" widgets.
(2) For each "supported" widget, there is a sample program that
demonstrates how to program with that widget. To see these
programs, start the demo in Tix4.0b4/demos/widget and click on
the "Run Sample Programs" tab.
(3) New image type "compound": you can use it with every Tk/Tix
widget that support the -image option.
(4) Better support for keyboard traversal. Now FileSelectBox,
ExFileSelectBox and NoteBook all support traversal with Tab and
arrow keys.
(5) Fewer patches to the standard Tk distribution. Now only two
files are patched. Even these patches can be turned off by
*not* supplying the --enable-patches flag when you run the
./configure script. Please read the file docs/Install.html in
the distribution for more information.
IS TIX FREE?
Tix 4.0 is released under very liberal license terms, similar to
the Tcl/TK license terms. Please read the file docs/LEGAL.html in
the distribution for more details.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I have to thank everyone who sent me bug reports and kept bugging
me until I got rid all of the major bugs. Without the supports of
the beta testers I would have never put together such a (IMHO)
useful package. Special thanks are due to Sven Delmas, John
Granieri, Bryan Oakley, Jeff Payne, Michael Carter, Richard Ball,
Patrick D'Cruze, Mark Roseman and especially to John Ousterhout,
who wrote the most cool programs I ever saw in my life.
Enjoy!
Ioi
Last modified Jan 31 11:53