This is the version 1.3 release of the BLT library. It is an extension to Tk toolkit (it requires no patching of the Tcl or Tk libraries). This release works with the following releases of Tcl/Tk ONLY. Tcl 7.3 / Tk 3.6 Tcl 7.2 / Tk 3.5 Tcl 7.1 / Tk 3.4 Tcl 7.0 / Tk 3.3 The BLT toolkit contains the following widgets/commands: 1) Drag-n-drop command: blt_drag&drop Updated version of Michael McLennan's drag and drop command (it's still maintained by Michael). 2) Hypertext widget: blt_htext Allows text and Tk widgets to combined in a single scroll-able window. 3) Busy window: blt_busy For handling user-interaction when the application is "busy". Manages an invisible "busy" window which prevents further user device (keyboard, mouse, button, etc.) interactions. Also provides a different cursor which supersedes application cursors. 4) Bitmap command: blt_bitmap Lets you read and write bitmaps from Tcl. Can define X bitmaps and create bitmaps from text strings. Other options query any loaded X bitmap. 5) Background "exec" command: blt_bgexec Like "exec ... &", but collects the output of the detached UNIX subprocesses and sets a Tcl variable upon their completion. Can be used with "tkwait variable" to handle application's expose events, etc. while waiting for subprocesses to finish. 6) Table geometry manager: blt_table Specify window placements as table row,column positions. Also has many options for placing constraints on window resizes. 7) Barchart widget: blt_barchart 8) XY graph widget: blt_graph 9) Window option command: blt_win Lets you raise, lower, map, or, unmap any window. 10) Simple command trace: blt_debug Simply prints out each Tcl command before it's executed. 11) Cutbuffer and bell commands: blt_cutbuffer, blt_bell The commands are derived from the "bellcut" extensions and are provided as a convenience. Credit should go to the author(s) (I can't remember who they are. Sorry) for this work. --------- Changes since BLT-1.2: 1. Fixed manual scaling bug (seen in ./demos/graph2) 2. New feature: C interface to reset "blt_graph" element data. 3. Bug fixes: See the file "ChangeLog" for details. Again, thanks to all those who've sent me reports. --------- Changes since BLT-1.1: 1. Fixed bug (coredump) in "blt_bgexec" command introduced last release. 2. Fixed bug (error) in "blt_graph" and "blt_barchart" commands introduced in last release. Bug doesn't allow axis -min, -max options to be reset to autoscale. 3. Fixed bug in Kosherdill installation. 4. New feature in "blt_graph" and "blt_barchart". Added alternate x and y axes (x2, y2). Moved axis title options to their respective axis commands .graph configure -xtitle "X Axis Title" becomes .graph xaxis configure -title "X Axis Title" --------- Changes since BLT-1.0: 1. Many changes to configuration and install files. Hopefully this is an improvement. 2. New options in "blt_graph" to detect closest point and highlight single element data points. 3. New option in "blt_bitmap" command lets you create bitmaps of rotated text strings. 4. Restructured BLT library to facilitate loading as a shared object. 5. Lots of bug fixes: See the file "ChangeLog" for details. Again, thanks to all those who've sent me reports. --------- Changes since BLT-1.0b2: 1. First BLT application. Kosher Dill ( KOmprehensive Storage HandlER / Disk ILLustrator ) --------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright (c) 1993 AT&T Bell Laboratories Michael J. McLennan (michael.mclennan@att.com) --------------------------------------------------------------- Kosher Dill is a simple utility for managing disk usage. It provides a graphical representation of the system "du" command, along with drag&drop facilities for exploring, compressing and removing files. It can be found in the new "blt-1.0/applications" directory. 2. Drag-and-drop facility "blt_drag&drop". Michael McLennan has updated and added his drag-and-drop command. 3. Shared library target (for supported systems): I've been able to test this only on SunOS 4.x, SunOS 5.x, and HP-UX 9.01 systems. 4. Add -updatevar flag to "blt_bgexec": You can now get partial updates of output as the program is running. See the script "demos/bgexec". 5. Library directory: This directory contains the drag-n-drop protocols and the PostScript prolog for graph and barchart. The path can be set in the following ways: - compiled into the library. - set by the environment variable "BLT_LIBRARY" - set by the Tcl variable "blt_library" 6. Lots of bug fixes: See the file "ChangeLog" for details. Thanks to all those who've sent me reports. I really appreciate it. --------- How to get and test BLT: The following describes how to get and install the BLT library. 0. FTP the distribution from harbor.ecn.purdue.edu ftp harbor.ecn.purdue.edu cd pub/tcl/extensions binary get BLT-1.3.tar.Z quit 1. Uncompress and untar the distribution file. zcat BLT-1.3.tar.Z | tar -xvf - This will create a directory "blt-1.3" with the following subdirectories: blt-1.3 ______________|_________________ | | | | | applications demos library man src | shared 2. Run ./configure Go into the "blt-1.3" directory cd blt-1.3 and run the auto-configuration script "./configure" ./configure * If you want to use gcc, it's "./configure -with-gcc" ./configure -with-gcc * By default, the demo program, libBLT.a, the library files, and manual pages will be installed in "/usr/local/blt". You can change this by giving the -prefix option to ./configure. ./configure -prefix=/depot/stuff/blt You may be queried for the location of the Tcl and Tk libraries, if "configure" can't find them in the standard locations. The configure script creates an include file "src/bltConfig.h". It will also generate new Makefiles from their respective templates (Makefile.in). Makefile.in ==> Makefile src/Makefile.in ==> src/Makefile src/shared/Makefile.in ==> src/shared/Makefile man/Makefile.in ==> man/Makefile library/Makefile.in ==> library/Makefile If "configure" can't find something (e.g. it can't find the X libraries), edit the file "config.status" and run it. ./config.status Otherwise, you'll have to edit the Makefiles files by hand. 3. Compile the demonstation program "blt_wish". make 4. Test by running the demos. Go into the demos directory cd demos and run the test scripts. ./graph If your system doesn't support "#!" in shell scripts, then it's ../blt_wish -f ./graph 5. Installing BLT The following directories will be created when BLT is installed. By default, the top directory is /usr/local/blt. _____________|__________ | | | | bin lib library man You can change the top directory by supplying the -prefix option to ./configure. * If you don't install BLT, you will need to set the BLT_LIBRARY environment variable or the Tcl variable "blt_library" in your scripts. Otherwise, you may not be able generate PostScript output for graphs and barcharts, or use the drag&drop facility properly. 6. BLT Applications In the "blt-1.3/applications" directory, there is the first application called "kosherdill". It has its own README and configure script. 7. Creating a shared library. This is currently available (and tested) on the following systems: SunOS 4.x SunOS 5.x HP-UX 9.01 From the "blt-1.3" directory: make sharedlib This will create a shared library in the directory src/shared. 8. Adding BLT to your program. Add the following lines to your program's Tcl_AppInit routine if (Blt_Init(interp) != TCL_OK) { return TCL_ERROR; } Link with libBLT.a and that's all there's to it. 9. Send bugs reports, correspondence, etc. to george.howlett@att.com