tclXess -- The Tcl-Xess User Interface Release 1.0.0 Beta 1. Introduction --------------- This directory contains the sources for tclXess, an interface between the Tcl interpreter and Tk toolkit available from U.C. Berkeley and the Xess spreadsheet from Applied Information Systems. It is designed to work with Tcl 7.0 (or later) and Tk 3.4 (or later); the preferred release is Tcl 7.3 and Tk 3.6. It will not work with earlier releases of Tcl and Tk. It will currently run with Xess version 2.1 or higher. However, since Xess version 3 has now been released, version 3 API functionality will soon be added, and version 3 will be then be required to compile tclXess. Xess is the X Windows, real-time, high-performance spreadsheet. It provides a rich suite of built-in functions and a powerful "connection" API and library for writing programs that communicate with the spreadsheet. tclXess is both an example of a program based on that API and an implementation of that API for Tcl/Tk programmers. Xess is available from Applied Information Systems, based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Demo versions for most popular Unix and OpenVMS platforms can be downloaded via ftp from ftp.uu.net in the directory /vendor/ais/. Get the files README, gen.tar, and one other file depending on the Unix version you use, or the correct VMS saveset if you run VMS. See the README file in that directory for more details. If you would like more information about Xess or are interested in purchasing Xess, please send email to info@ais.com, or call +1 919 942 7801, or send mail to Applied Information Systems, 100 Europa Drive, Suite 555, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, USA. tclXess was originally written by Kevin B. Kenny at GE Corporate R&D, supported by the DARPA Initiative in Concurrent Engineering (DICE) through DARPA Contract MDA972-88-C-0047. tclXess is now developed and maintained by Michael K. Johnson, michael@ais.com 2. Documentation ---------------- The documentation for the commands is sparse at present. A users' manual (just ASCII for now) is available in the file tclXess.txt, but it is lacking examples, and may be incorrect in spots. It is being actively developed, and we appreciate all comments. There are preludes on most of the command processing routines in the tclXess source code that explain the routines. The source code style should be familiar to anyone familiar with Tcl/Tk source code. 3. Compiling and installing tclXess ----------------------------------- This release should compile and run with little or no effort on DEC MIPS workstations running Ultrix, HP PA-RISC workstations running HP/UX release 9.0 or later, and Sun workstations running either SunOS 4.0 or Solaris 2.3. The latest version has been built and tested mainly on Solaris, but previous versions were tested mainly on Ultrix. Because tclXess is configured using GNU Autoconf, it is likely to build on other platforms as well. Please notify AIS of any bugs you find, or if you have any difficulties building. To build tclXess, do the following: (1) Install Tcl and Tk. It is preferable that the Tcl, Tk and tclXess source directories all be subdirectories of the same directory, or that Tcl and Tk be built and installed in /usr/local/. (2) Install tclLoad if demand loading of runtime packages is desired. (3) Make sure that the directory that contains `wish' and `tclsh' is listed in $PATH. If you have installed tclLoad, make sure that the directory containing `dwish', `dtclsh', and `tclLoadVars' is also on $PATH. (4) Type `./configure' in this directory. This procedure runs a configuration script created by GNU autoconf, which configures tclXess for your system and creates a Makefile. (5) Type `make'. This procedure will create a library, `libtclXess.a', and an interpreter application called `tclXess' that will allow you to enter Tcl commands interactively or execute script files. (6) If the make fails, you will have to personalize the Makefile. Contact support@ais.com for assistance. (7) At this point you can use the `tclXess' command to play around with the product. (8) When you are ready to install the `tclXess' package, type `make install'. 4. User-Contributed Code ------------------------ We would like to include user-contributed examples in future versions of tclXess. If you develop an application in tclXess that you would like to share with other users, please send it to us. A uuencoded gzipped tar file is the preferred mechanism. A binary for gunzip is included with Xess; the same binary, with a filename of gzip, is used to gzip files. Please send your contribution to michael@ais.com 5. Copyright statement ---------------------- Copyright (c) 1992 General Electric. All rights reserved. Copyright (C) 1994 Applied Information Systems. All rights reserved. Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and its documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation, and that the name of General Electric not be used in advertising or publicity pertaining to distribution of the software without specific, written prior permission. General Electric makes no representations about the suitability of this software for any purpose. It is provided "as is" without express or implied warranty. This work was supported by the DARPA Initiative in Concurrent Engineering (DICE) through DARPA Contract MDA972-88-C-0047. ($Revision: 1.12 $)