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                        Dynamic Loading Tix

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   In this text, the phrase "a version of Tcl" stands for a version of

   Tcl from the standard Sun distribution or the ITcl distribution.

BINARY VERSION

==============

    Tix can be built to work with different versions of Tcl.  A Tix

    dynamic library built for a particular version of Tcl works only

    with that version. To make it possible to install Tix binaries

    that support multiple versions of Tcl, and prevent the loading of

    Tix binaries into incompatible versions of Tcl, Tix uses a special

    "binary versioning" system:

    BINARY VERSION FOR STANDARD TCL DISTRIBUTION

        If you use Tix version a.b and build a Tix binary file for Tcl

        version x.y, the "binary version" of this Tix binary file will

        be a.b.x.y. For example, if you build the Tix 4.1 shared

        library for Tcl 7.6, the binary version is 4.1.7.6.

    BINARY VERSION FOR ITCL DISTRIBUTION

        If you use Tix version a.b and build a Tix binary file for an

        ITcl distribution which contains Tcl version x.y., the "binary

        version" of this Tix binary file will be a.b.x.y.1. For

        example, if you build the Tix 4.1 shared library for Itcl 2.2

        (which contains Tcl 7.6), the binary version is 4.1.7.6.1.

    In short, the extra ".1" version number indicates whether a Tix

    binary is compile for standard Tcl or Itcl.

    Naming of shared libraries

    ==========================

        A Tix shared library compiled for a standard Tcl distribution

        is named libtix${BIN_VERSION}${SHLIB_SUFFIX}. For example,

        with Tix version 4.1 and Tcl version 7.6:

                libtix4.1.7.6.so

        With Tix version 4.1 and ITcl version 2.1 (which includes Tcl

        version 7.5):

                libtix4.1.7.5.1.so

    Naming of executable files

    ==========================

        The Tix executable (which contains Tcl, Tk and Tix) is called

        "tixwish${BIN_VERSION}". For example, the executables for the shared

        libraries mentioned above are

                tixwish4.1.7.6

                tixwish4.1.7.5.1

GENERATING A TIX BINARY VERSION

===============================

    The following Tcl procedure can be used to generate a Tix binary

    version for a particular version combination of Tix and Tcl:

        proc tixBinVer {tixVer} {

            global tcl_version

            if {[string compare [info command @scope] ""]} {

                # We are running inside Itcl

                return $tixVer.$tcl_version.1

            } else {

                return $tixVer.$tcl_version

            }

        }

LOADING TIX WITH THE "load" COMMAND

===================================

    To dynamic load Tix with the "load" command, you can use the

    tixBinVer procedure to generate a Tix binary version number. If

    the Tix 4.1 shared library is located in the directory $dir, it

    can be loaded by

      load [file join $dir libtix[tixBinVer 4.1][info sharedlibextension]] Tix

    The above command may not work on platforms that do not support

    the "." character inside shared library names. For example, on

    SunOS, the command must be modified as:

      set ver [tixBinVer 4.1]

      regsub -all {[.]} $ver "" ver

      load [file join $dir libtix$ver[info sharedlibextension].1] Tix

    To avoid the need of platform specific code and having to hard

    code the location of the shared into your scripts, it's

    recommended you use instead the "package require" command to load

    a Tix dynamic library, as outlined below.

LOADING TIX WITH THE "package require" COMMAND

==============================================

    If you have properly installed Tix in your system, you can

    dynamically load Tix with the following command:

        package require -exact Tix [tixBinVer 4.1]

    Note that the "-exact" switch must be used so that only a

    Tix shared library compatible with the given version of Tcl is

    loaded. (If you omit the -exact switch, "package require" may load

    in Tix 4.1.7.6 even the correct version should be 4.1.7.5.1.)

LOADING TIX SAM WITH THE "package require" COMMAND

==================================================

    The Tix StandAlone Module (SAM), when properly installed, can also

    be loaded using the "package require" command:

        package require -exact Tixsam [tixBinVer 4.1]

    Note: when you load it the "Tixsam" package, the Tix package will

    be loaded automatically. You need not, and must not, "package

    require" the Tix package at the same time.

    Read the file docs/SAModules.txt for more details on StandAlone

    Modules.