
                       Tix Frequently Asked Questions

  Table of Contents

   Legal Issues 

          + [1][L.1] Is Tix free software?

   General Questions About Using The Tix Library 

          + [2][G.1] What does the "-disablecallback" option do?
          + [3][G.2] How do I set the width of the entry subwidget inside
            the tixControl widget?
          + [4][G.3] What is the "setslient" method?
          + [5][G.4] Is there a Tix interface builder in the works?
          + [6][G.5] Can you tell me about the syntax of tixForm
          + [7][G.6] I am not using the tixForm geometry manager, but it
            is giving me errors about TixForm. What happened?
          + [8][G.7] How do I generate the tclIndex file for Tix?
          + [9][G.8] Can I ignore the default arguments passed by the
            various -command and -broeswcmd options?
          + [10][G.9] What does tixWidgetDoWhenIdle do?
          + [11][G.10] Why isn't such a feature in Tix? Will it be
            implemented?
          + [12][G.11] Who are using Tix in their software?

   Question About Porting to Specific Platforms/Software 

          + [13][P.1] The configure script gave me strange errors.
          + [14][P.2] Does Tix 4.1 work with Tk 4.1
          + [15][P.3] Does Tix work with Incr Tcl 2.0?
          + [16][P.4] How do I get Tix to work with Expect?
          + [17][P.5] Solaris 2.4: Filenames in FileSelectBox are chopped
            off.
          + [18][P.6] Do I still need libXpm?
          + [19][P.7] I get a coredump as soon as tixwish starts up.
        Porting from Tix 3.6 to Tix 4.x 
               o [20][X.1] What happened to the tixInit command?
               o [21][X.2] How do I set the schemes and fontsets in Tix
                 4.x?
               o [22][X.3] How do I choose the default TK color schemes
                 and fontsets? Tix is messing up the colors of my
                 existing programs.
               o [23][X.4] I want the old bisque look of Tk 3.6.
                 tk_bisque doesn't work.

            __________________________________________________________

  Legal Issues

        [L.1] Is Tix free software? 

                ANSWER: Tix is distributed under the same license as
                Tcl/Tk (a.k.a. BSD style license). Application developers
                can freely redistribute Tix along with their products.

                We will continue to provide free technical support and
                maintainence for Tix. However, to recover the development
                costs, we would appreciate financial supports for the Tix
                user community. If you like Tix and would like to make a
                donation to the Tix Project, please send mail to
                [24]xpi@xpi.com.

            __________________________________________________________

  General Questions About Using The Tix Library

        [G.1] What does the "-disablecallback" option do? 

                ANSWER: Many Tix widgets have both a -value option and a
                -command option. Any modification of the -value will
                cause the -command callback to be executed. Sometimes
                this is undesirable. For example, calling "config -value"
                inside the callback procedure will cause the callback to
                be re-entered and thus an infinite recursion.

                The -disablecallback can be used to advoid this problem.
                When this option is set, the -command callback will not
                be executed even if the -value of a widget is changed.
                Therefore, if you need to modify the -value of a widget
                inside its callback, do this:

    proc my_callback {w} {
        $w config -disablecallback true
        $w config value blah
        $w config -disablecallback false
    }

                If you find this too troublesome, you can call the
                command tixSetSilent:

    proc my_callback {w} {
        tixSetSilent $w blah
    }

        [G.2] How do I set the width of the entry subwidget inside the
                tixControl widget? 

                ANSWER: You can use the option database or the -options
                flag to set the configuration options of the subwidgets.
                E.g:

option add *TixControl*entry.width 10

        OR

tixControl .c -options {
   entry.width  10
}

        [G.3] What is the "setslient" method? 

                ANSWER: This is an obsolete method. You could use it to
                achieve the same effect as the -disablecallback option.
                selsilent used to be a widget command for the ComboBox,
                Control, etc. It has been removed since Tix 4.0a4 and
                replaced by the tixSetSilent command. Please note that
                tixSetSilent is not a widget command but an external
                procedure.

        [G.4] Is there a Tix interface builder in the works? 

                ANSWER: Yes. But I don't know when it will be finished.
                (probably in 96).

        [G.5] Can you tell me about the syntax of tixForm 

                ANSWER: Please see the file [25]man/Form.html or
                [26]man/Form.n.

        [G.6] I am not using the tixForm geometry manager, but it is
                giving me errors about TixForm. What happened? 

                ANSWER: When you get error messages like this:

 (TixForm) Error:Trying to use more than one geometry
           manager for the same master window.
           Giving up after 50 iterations.

        Most likely, the problem is when using tixLabelFrame widgets, you
                packed to the wrong frame:

                This is WRONG:

   tixLabelFrame .d
        button .d.b
        pack .d.b

        This is the correct way:

   tixLabelFrame .d
        set f [.d subwidget frame]
        button $f.b
        pack $f.b
        pack .d

        Remember you don't pack directly into a TixLabelFrame widget.
                Instead, you should pack into its frame subwidget.

        [G.7] How do I generate the tclIndex file for Tix? 

                ANSWER: Tix tclIndex files cannot be generated using the
                standard auto_mkindex procedure. You must use the
                tixindex program in the tools/ subdirectory in the Tix
                distribution. The syntax is

 tixindex *.tcl

        [G.8] Can I ignore the default arguments passed by the various
                -command and -broeswcmd options? 

                ANSWER: You can use the tixBreak command. For example:

 tixFileSelectDialog .c -command "puts foo; tixBreak"

        [G.9] What does tixWidgetDoWhenIdle do? 

                ANSWER: It does the same thing as tixDoWhileIdle (and
                "after -idle"). The difference is it takes its second
                argument as the name of a widget and executes this
                command only if the widget exists: i.e.:

  tixWidgetDoWhenIdle tixComboBox::Update $w blah blah ..

        will execute tixComboBox::Update only if $w exists. $w may be
                destroyed after tixWidgetDoWhenIdle is called but before
                an idle event happens.

        [G.10] Why isn't such a feature in Tix? Will it be implemented? 

                ANSWER: Generally requests for new features are welcomed.
                You can send your requests to [27]tix@xpi.com and we'll
                be happy to hear from you.

                We can't guarantee to implement the requested features
                immediately. Usually it depends on how important the
                features. If the feature is requested by more people, it
                will usually get done faster. However, some frequently
                requested features probably won't be imlemented. Usually
                these features are cosmetic changes and:

               o they do not add new capability to the widgets
               o they are not universally liked
               o they confuse the user.

                Some examples are:

               o Different foreground and background colors for the
                 NoteBook tabs: having a lot of colors may antagonize the
                 users that are "color haters"; also, the different
                 colors don't make it easier for the user to locate the
                 desired tab.
               o Ring-binder metaphore for the NoteBook widget: a waste
                 of screen real estate.
               o Rows of tabs for the NoteBook widget: the user may be
                 confused when the rows of tabs are switched. If you need
                 to have a lot of tabs for the notebook, use the
                 ListNoteBook widget instead.

        [G.11] Who are using Tix in their software? 

                ANSWER: I have compiled a list of softwares that use Tix.
                See [28]http://www.xpi.com/tix/software.html. (These are
                only the ones that I have heard of, either from the
                authors themselves or from the TCL FAQ. There should be
                more of them).

            __________________________________________________________

  Question About Porting to Specific Platforms/Software

        [P.1] The configure script gave me strange errors. 

                ANSWER: The problem may be you have several operating
                systems sharing the same file system. Some people
                encounter error messages like this:

# ./configure --prefix=/usr/vendor/tcl
loading cache ./config.cache
checking for a BSD compatible install... /usr/bin/installbsd -c
checking for ranlib... ranlib
checking how to run the C preprocessor... cc -E
checking for unistd.h... ./configure[603]: "${ac_cv_header_$ac_safe+set}": bad
substitution

                The problem is at line 2, configure loaded in
                ./config.cache, which may have been created by a
                different operating system, with settings only usuable
                for that operating system. To get around this, you should
                type

make distclean
./configure
make all

        [P.2] Does Tix 4.1 work with Tk 4.1 

                ANSWER: Yes, just enable the "Tk 4.1 ..." option in the
                setup program. It will also compile Tix in a dynamic
                lobrary.

        [P.3] Does Tix work with Incr Tcl 2.0? 

                ANSWER: Yes just enable the "Itcl 2.0 ..." option in the
                setup program. Make sure you have ITcl 2.0 installed.
                Beta versions will *NOT* work. Also make sure you have
                installed the source tree of ITcl 2.0 in the same
                directory where you install the Tix source tree.

        [P.4] How do I get Tix to work with Expect? 

                ANSWER: From Paul Schmidt (kuato@netcom.com):

     I have integrated Tcl7.4, Tk4.0, Expect-5.19 and Tix4.0 on Linux
     1.2.13 (ELF) and Solaris 2.4. It isn't too hard. For an expectk+Tix
     binary you need to add a call to Tix_Init in exp_main_tk.c. If you
     can find the call to Tk_Init then just cut&paste and replace it
     with Tix_Init. Do the same if you want a Tk+Tix window shell in
     TkAppInit.c. Worked like a charm. If you have any problems just
     holler.

        [P.5] Solaris 2.4: Filenames in FileSelectBox are chopped off. 

                ANSWER: Problem:

     With Tix4.0a7 (and also with Tix4.0a6) on Solaris 2.4, when running
     the widget demo, in tixFileSelectBox, in the two scolling lists
     (for Files an Directories), some of the file and directory names
     have their first 2 letters chopped off. And some files are
     repeated.

                Solution: tixwish has some conflicts with
                /usr/ucblib/libucb.so.1 and you should not linke it
                tixwish (you don't need it). Here is a solution provided
                by Charles L Ditzel (charles@hanami.cyberspace.com):

     To fix the problem I was having, all I did was:
   unsetenv LD_LIBRARY_PATH
   set my PATH to something basic like:
     /usr/bin:/usr/ccs/bin:/bin:/usr/openwin/bin:/opt/SUNWspro/bin
   removed config.cache
   ./configure
   make clean
   make

     and now it works!! Must have been something in my old PATH or
     LD_LIBRARY_PATH that was causing it to pick up
     /usr/ucblib/libucb.so.

        [P.6] Do I still need libXpm? 

                ANSWER: No, now Tix has its own XPM file reader. You no
                longer need libXpm.

        [P.7] I get a coredump as soon as tixwish starts up.

                ANSWER: Try to get a backtrace of the stack when the core
                dump happens (with a debugger, for example). If the core
                dump happens right inside the call to
                Tk_ConfigureWidget() inside the file tixInit.c, then the
                problem is because you compiled libtk.a and libtix.a with
                different versions of the Th header file tk.h. Delete all
                the .o files from the src directory of Tix, fix the
                Makefile so that now you can compile libtix.a with the
                same tk.h that you used to compile libtk.a.

                  ____________________________________________________

  Porting from Tix 3.6 to Tix 4.x

              [X.1] What happened to the tixInit command? 

                      ANSWER: You don't need to use it anymore. It is
                      provided in Tix 4.x only for backward
                      compatibility.

              [X.2] How do I set the schemes and fontsets in Tix 4.x? 

                      ANSWER: You can set the color schemes and fontsets
                      using the standard X resource database (.Xdefaults
                      file). You can add these two lines in the user's
                      .Xdefaults file:

        *TixScheme:   Gray
        *TixFontSet:  14Point

              If you want to switch color schemes and fontsets during run
                      time, you can issue the following commands:

        tix config -scheme Gray -fontset 14Point

              Please read the [29]tix manual page for more details

              [X.3] How do I choose the default TK color schemes and
                      fontsets? Tix is messing up the colors of my
                      existing programs. 

                      ANSWER: Add these two lines in your .Xdefaults:

        *TixScheme:   TK
        *TixFontSet:  TK

              [X.4] I want the old bisque look of Tk 3.6. tk_bisque
                      doesn't work. 

                      ANSWER: The Tix widgets are not compatible with
                      tk_bisque. If you want a bisque-ish look you can
                      add to your .Xdefaults file the following line:

        *TixScheme:   Bisque

References

   1. file://localhost/mnt/vfs/ioi/src/Tix4.1a3/docs/FAQ.html#legal.1
   2. file://localhost/mnt/vfs/ioi/src/Tix4.1a3/docs/FAQ.html#general.1
   3. file://localhost/mnt/vfs/ioi/src/Tix4.1a3/docs/FAQ.html#general.2
   4. file://localhost/mnt/vfs/ioi/src/Tix4.1a3/docs/FAQ.html#general.3
   5. file://localhost/mnt/vfs/ioi/src/Tix4.1a3/docs/FAQ.html#general.4
   6. file://localhost/mnt/vfs/ioi/src/Tix4.1a3/docs/FAQ.html#general.5
   7. file://localhost/mnt/vfs/ioi/src/Tix4.1a3/docs/FAQ.html#general.6
   8. file://localhost/mnt/vfs/ioi/src/Tix4.1a3/docs/FAQ.html#general.7
   9. file://localhost/mnt/vfs/ioi/src/Tix4.1a3/docs/FAQ.html#general.8
  10. file://localhost/mnt/vfs/ioi/src/Tix4.1a3/docs/FAQ.html#general.9
  11. file://localhost/mnt/vfs/ioi/src/Tix4.1a3/docs/FAQ.html#general.feature_req
  12. file://localhost/mnt/vfs/ioi/src/Tix4.1a3/docs/FAQ.html#general.softwares
  13. file://localhost/mnt/vfs/ioi/src/Tix4.1a3/docs/FAQ.html#port.1
  14. file://localhost/mnt/vfs/ioi/src/Tix4.1a3/docs/FAQ.html#port.tk41
  15. file://localhost/mnt/vfs/ioi/src/Tix4.1a3/docs/FAQ.html#port.itcl
  16. file://localhost/mnt/vfs/ioi/src/Tix4.1a3/docs/FAQ.html#port.expect
  17. file://localhost/mnt/vfs/ioi/src/Tix4.1a3/docs/FAQ.html#port.6
  18. file://localhost/mnt/vfs/ioi/src/Tix4.1a3/docs/FAQ.html#port.7
  19. file://localhost/mnt/vfs/ioi/src/Tix4.1a3/docs/FAQ.html#port.8
  20. file://localhost/mnt/vfs/ioi/src/Tix4.1a3/docs/FAQ.html#tix36to40.1
  21. file://localhost/mnt/vfs/ioi/src/Tix4.1a3/docs/FAQ.html#tix36to40.2
  22. file://localhost/mnt/vfs/ioi/src/Tix4.1a3/docs/FAQ.html#tix36to40.3
  23. file://localhost/mnt/vfs/ioi/src/Tix4.1a3/docs/FAQ.html#tix36to40.4
  24. mailto:xpi@xpi.com
  25. file://localhost/mnt/vfs/ioi/src/Tix4.1a3/man/Form.html
  26. file://localhost/mnt/vfs/ioi/src/Tix4.1a3/man/Form.n
  27. mailto:tix@xpi.com
  28. http://www.xpi.com/tix/software.html
  29. file://localhost/mnt/vfs/ioi/src/Tix4.1a3/man/tix.html

