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    <center><h1>Tix Frequently Asked Questions</h1></center>

    <h3>Table of Contents</h3>

<DL>

<DT><i><b>

    Legal Issues

</b></i><DD><ul>

<li> <a href=#legal.1> [L.1] </a>

    Is Tix free software?

</ul><p>

<DT><i><b>

    General Questions About Using The Tix Library

</b></i><DD><ul>

<li> <a href=#general.1> [G.1] </a>

    What does the "<code>-disablecallback</code>"

    option do?

<li> <a href=#general.2> [G.2] </a>

    How do I set the width of the entry subwidget inside the tixControl widget?

<li> <a href=#general.3> [G.3] </a>

    What is the "<code>setslient</code>" method?

<li> <a href=#general.4> [G.4] </a>

    Is there a Tix interface builder in the works?

<li> <a href=#general.5> [G.5] </a>

    Can you tell me about the syntax of tixForm

<li> <a href=#general.6> [G.6] </a>

    I am not using the tixForm geometry manager, but it is giving me

errors about TixForm. What happened?

<li> <a href=#general.7> [G.7] </a>

    How do I generate the <code>tclIndex</code> file for Tix?

<li> <a href=#general.8> [G.8] </a>

    Can I ignore the default arguments passed by the various

    <code>-command</code> and <code>-broeswcmd</code> options?

<li> <a href=#general.9> [G.9] </a>

    What does <code>tixWidgetDoWhenIdle</code> do?

<li> <a href=#general.feature_req> [G.10] </a>

    Why isn't such a feature in Tix? Will it be implemented?

<li> <a href=#general.softwares> [G.11] </a>

    Who are using Tix in their software?

<li> <a href=#general.twice> [G.12] </a>

    I am using a DirList widget. When the user clicks on an item, the

    procedure of my <code>-browsecmd</code> gets called

    twice. However, I just want it to be called once.

<li> <a href=#general.destroy> [G.13] </a>

    I get an error <i>"can't read data(-value): no such element in

    array</i>" when I use the tixExFileSelectDialog.

</ul><p>

<DT><i><b>

    Question About Porting to Specific Platforms/Software

</b></i><DD><ul>

<li> <a href=#port.1> [P.1] </a>

    The configure script gave me strange errors.

<li> <a href=#port.tk41> [P.2] </a>

    Does Tix 4.1 work with <b>Tk 4.1</b>

<li> <a href=#port.itcl> [P.3] </a>

    Does Tix work with <b>Incr Tcl 2.0</b>?

<li> <a href=#port.expect> [P.4] </a>

    How do I get Tix to work with <b>Expect</b>?

<li> <a href=#port.6> [P.5] </a>

    <b>Solaris 2.4:</b>

    Filenames in FileSelectBox are chopped off.

<li> <a href=#port.7> [P.6] </a>

    Do I still need libXpm?

<li> <a href=#port.8> [P.7] </a>

    <a name=coredump1>I get a coredump as soon as tixwish starts up.

</ul><p>

<DT><i><b>

    Porting from Tix 3.6 to Tix 4.x

</b></i><DD><ul>

<li> <a href=#tix36to40.1> [X.1] </a>

    What happened to the <code>tixInit</code> command?

<li> <a href=#tix36to40.2> [X.2] </a>

    How do I set the schemes and fontsets in Tix 4.x?

<li> <a href=#tix36to40.3> [X.3] </a>

    How do I choose the default TK color schemes and fontsets? Tix is

    messing up the colors of my existing programs.

<li> <a href=#tix36to40.4> [X.4] </a>

    I want the old bisque look of Tk 3.6. tk_bisque doesn't work.

</ul><p>

</DL>

<hr>

<h3>

    Legal Issues

</h3>

<DL>

<DT> <b><a name=legal.1> [L.1] </a>

    Is Tix free software?

</b><p>

<DD>

<b> ANSWER: </b>

    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. <p>

    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 <a

    href="mailto:xpi@xpi.com">xpi@xpi.com</a>. <p>

<p>

</DL>

<hr>

<h3>

    General Questions About Using The Tix Library

</h3>

<DL>

<DT> <b><a name=general.1> [G.1] </a>

    What does the "<code>-disablecallback</code>"

    option do?

</b><p>

<DD>

<b> ANSWER: </b>

    Many Tix widgets have both a <code>-value</code> option and a

    <code>-command</code> option. Any modification of the

    <code>-value</code> will cause the <code>-command</code> callback

    to be executed. Sometimes this is undesirable. For example,

    calling "<code>config -value</code>" inside the callback procedure

    will cause the callback to be re-entered and thus an infinite

    recursion. <p>

    The <code>-disablecallback</code> can be used to advoid this

    problem. When this option is set, the <code>-command</code>

    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:

    <blockquote><pre>

    proc my_callback {w} {

        $w config -disablecallback true

        $w config value blah

        $w config -disablecallback false

    }

    </pre></blockquote>

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

    <blockquote><pre>

    proc my_callback {w} {

        tixSetSilent $w blah

    }

    </pre></blockquote>

<p>

<DT> <b><a name=general.2> [G.2] </a>

    How do I set the width of the entry subwidget inside the tixControl widget?

</b><p>

<DD>

<b> ANSWER: </b>

    You can use the option database or the -options flag to set the

    configuration options of the subwidgets. E.g: <pre>

option add *TixControl*entry.width 10

</pre>

  OR

<pre>

tixControl .c -options {

   entry.width  10

}

</pre>

<p>

<DT> <b><a name=general.3> [G.3] </a>

    What is the "<code>setslient</code>" method?

</b><p>

<DD>

<b> ANSWER: </b>

     This is an obsolete method. You could use it to achieve the same

     effect as the <code>-disablecallback</code> option.

     <code>selsilent</code> used to be a widget command for the

     ComboBox, Control, etc. It has been removed since Tix 4.0a4 and

     replaced by the <code>tixSetSilent</code> command. Please note

     that <code>tixSetSilent</code> is not a widget command but an

     external procedure.

<p>

<DT> <b><a name=general.4> [G.4] </a>

    Is there a Tix interface builder in the works?

</b><p>

<DD>

<b> ANSWER: </b>

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

<p>

<DT> <b><a name=general.5> [G.5] </a>

    Can you tell me about the syntax of tixForm

</b><p>

<DD>

<b> ANSWER: </b>

    Please see the file <a href="../man/Form.html">man/Form.html</a>

    or <a href="../man/Form.n">man/Form.n</a>.

<p>

<DT> <b><a name=general.6> [G.6] </a>

    I am not using the tixForm geometry manager, but it is giving me

errors about TixForm. What happened?

</b><p>

<DD>

<b> ANSWER: </b>

    When you get error messages like this:

<pre> (TixForm) Error:Trying to use more than one geometry

           manager for the same master window.

           Giving up after 50 iterations.</pre>

    Most likely, the problem is when using tixLabelFrame widgets, you

    packed to the wrong frame: <p>

    This is WRONG:

<pre>   tixLabelFrame .d

        button .d.b

        pack .d.b </pre>

This is the correct way:

<pre>   tixLabelFrame .d

        set f [.d subwidget frame]

        button $f.b

        pack $f.b

        pack .d </pre>

    Remember you don't pack directly into a TixLabelFrame

    widget. Instead, you should pack into its <code>frame</code>

    subwidget.

<p>

<DT> <b><a name=general.7> [G.7] </a>

    How do I generate the <code>tclIndex</code> file for Tix?

</b><p>

<DD>

<b> ANSWER: </b>

    Tix <code>tclIndex</code> files cannot be generated using the

    standard auto_mkindex procedure. You must use the tixindex program

    in the <code>tools/</code> subdirectory in the Tix

    distribution. The syntax is

    <pre> tixindex *.tcl

    </pre>

<p>

<DT> <b><a name=general.8> [G.8] </a>

    Can I ignore the default arguments passed by the various

    <code>-command</code> and <code>-broeswcmd</code> options?

</b><p>

<DD>

<b> ANSWER: </b>

    You can use the <code>tixBreak</code> command. For example:

<pre> tixFileSelectDialog .c -command "puts foo; tixBreak" </pre>

<p>

<DT> <b><a name=general.9> [G.9] </a>

    What does <code>tixWidgetDoWhenIdle</code> do?

</b><p>

<DD>

<b> ANSWER: </b>

    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.:

<pre>  tixWidgetDoWhenIdle tixComboBox::Update $w blah blah ..</pre>

    will execute tixComboBox::Update only if $w exists. $w may be

    destroyed after tixWidgetDoWhenIdle is called but before an idle

    event happens.

<p>

<DT> <b><a name=general.feature_req> [G.10] </a>

    Why isn't such a feature in Tix? Will it be implemented?

</b><p>

<DD>

<b> ANSWER: </b>

    Generally requests for new features are welcomed. You can send

    your requests to <a href=mailto:tix@xpi.com> tix@xpi.com </a> and

    we'll be happy to hear from you. <p>

    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:

    <ul>

    <li> they do not add new capability to the widgets

    <li> they are not universally liked

    <li> they confuse the user.

    </ul>

    <p>

    Some examples are:

    <ul>

    <li> <b>Different foreground and background colors for the

    NoteBook tabs</b>: 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.

    <li> <b>Ring-binder metaphore for the NoteBook widget</b>: a waste

    of screen real estate.

    <li> <b>Rows of tabs for the NoteBook widget</b>: 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.

    </ul>

<p>

<DT> <b><a name=general.softwares> [G.11] </a>

    Who are using Tix in their software?

</b><p>

<DD>

<b> ANSWER: </b>

    I have compiled a list of softwares that use Tix. See <a

    href=http://www.xpi.com/tix/software.html>

    http://www.xpi.com/tix/software.html</a>. (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).

<p>

<DT> <b><a name=general.twice> [G.12] </a>

    I am using a DirList widget. When the user clicks on an item, the

    procedure of my <code>-browsecmd</code> gets called

    twice. However, I just want it to be called once.

</b><p>

<DD>

<b> ANSWER: </b>

    The <code>-browsecmd</code> procedure is triggered by three types

    of events: <code>&lt;1&gt;</code>,

    <code>&lt;ButtonRelease-1&gt;</code>, and

    <code>&lt;B1-Motion&gt;</code>. When the user clicks on an entry,

    a <code>&lt;1&gt;</code> and a

    <code>&lt;ButtonRelease-1&gt;</code> event will happen in rapid

    session, which causes your <code>-browsecmd</code> procedure to be

    called twice. <p>

    A crude fix for this problem is to ignore all the

    <code>&lt;ButtonRelease-1&gt;</code> events. You can find out the

    event that triggers the <code>-browsecmd</code> procedure by the

    <code>tixEvent</code> command. Here is an example:

    <blockquote><pre>

    tixDirList .c -browsecmd Browse

    proc Browse {args} {

        if {[tixEvent type] == "<code>&lt;ButtonRelease-1&gt;</code>"} {

            return

        }

        # ....

    }

    </pre></blockquote>

    However, the above solution is not perfect. For example, if the

    user clicks down the button at entry one, drags it over entries

    two and three and release it on top of entry three, the following

    events may be caused: <p>

    <ol>

        <li> <code>&lt;1&gt;</code> on entry one.

        <li> <code>&lt;B1-Motion&gt;</code> on entry two.

        <li> <code>&lt;ButtonRelease-1&gt;</code> on entry three.

    </ol> <p>

    Therefore, if you use the above method, the browse event on entry

    three will be lost! <p>

    To devise a better solution, it's better to understand the basic

    design conventions of a Tix-based GUI. Suppose we have a list of

    entries displayed in a listbox (or DirList, or HList). When the

    user clicks on an entry, the GUI usually responds by displaying a

    "<b>detailed view</b>" of the entry. For example, if we put a list

    of file names in a listbox, when the user clicks on a file name,

    we display the contents of the file in a text window. If the user

    then clicks on another file name, the text window will load in the

    contents of the new file. <p>

    Now what happens if the user clicks on the same entry twice? Do we

    reload the contents of the file into the text window? This is

    usually unnecessary, inefficient and probably not what the user

    wants to do. The Tix convention is, when the user clicks on the

    same entry again, the detail view is not updated. If the user

    wants to force an update (e.g, the user knows the file's contents

    has been changed and wants to see the new version), he or she can

    double-click on the entry and the application will respond by

    redisplaying the detail view (reloading the file). <p>

    To implement this policy, the Browse procedure should be modified

    as the following:

    <blockquote><pre>

    proc Browse {args} {

        global currentView

        set ent [tixEvent value]

        if {$ent == $currentView} {

            # We have already displayed the detailed view of $ent.

            #

            return

        } else {

            set currentView $ent

            DisplayDetail $ent

        }

    }

    </pre></blockquote> <p>

<p>

<DT> <b><a name=general.destroy> [G.13] </a>

    I get an error <i>"can't read data(-value): no such element in

    array</i>" when I use the tixExFileSelectDialog.

</b><p>

<DD>

<b> ANSWER: </b>

    If you use tixExFileSelectDialog like this:

<pre>

        tixExFileSelectDialog .f -command foo

        foo {filename} {

            destroy .f

            do some other stuff ...

        }

</pre>

 it will cause a Tcl error because the dialog assumes that it still

 exists after calling your command. This usually result in errors like

 this:

<pre>

        can't read "data(-value)": no such element in array

            while executing

        "set data(-selection) $data(-value)..."

            (procedure "tixComboBox::SetValue" line 30)

</pre>

  This "feature" is built into many Tix widgets and can't be fixed

  easily. To work around the problem, never destroy widgets inside

  -command calls. Usually you should unmap toplevel windows

  instead. If you must destroy widgets, do it with an "after"

  command. For example, the foo procedure should be rewritten as:

<pre>

        foo {filename} {

            wm withdraw .f

            do some other stuff ...

            after idle {if [winfo exists .f] {destroy .f}}

        }

</pre>

  Execute the "after" command at the very end of the

  -command. Otherwise the idle handler may be activated by some

  "update" calls.

<p>

</DL>

<hr>

<h3>

    Question About Porting to Specific Platforms/Software

</h3>

<DL>

<DT> <b><a name=port.1> [P.1] </a>

    The configure script gave me strange errors.

</b><p>

<DD>

<b> ANSWER: </b>

    The problem may be you have several operating systems sharing the

    same file system. Some people encounter error messages like this:

<blockquote><pre>

# ./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

</pre></blockquote>

    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

<blockquote><pre>

make distclean

./configure

make all

</pre></blockquote>

<p>

<DT> <b><a name=port.tk41> [P.2] </a>

    Does Tix 4.1 work with <b>Tk 4.1</b>

</b><p>

<DD>

<b> ANSWER: </b>

    Yes, just enable the "Tk 4.1 ..." option in the setup program. It

    will also compile Tix in a dynamic lobrary.

<p>

<DT> <b><a name=port.itcl> [P.3] </a>

    Does Tix work with <b>Incr Tcl 2.0</b>?

</b><p>

<DD>

<b> ANSWER: </b>

    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>

<DT> <b><a name=port.expect> [P.4] </a>

    How do I get Tix to work with <b>Expect</b>?

</b><p>

<DD>

<b> ANSWER: </b>

    From Paul Schmidt (kuato@netcom.com):

    <blockquote>

    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.

    </blockquote>

<p>

<DT> <b><a name=port.6> [P.5] </a>

    <b>Solaris 2.4:</b>

    Filenames in FileSelectBox are chopped off.

</b><p>

<DD>

<b> ANSWER: </b>

    <b>Problem:</b>

    <blockquote>

    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.

    </blockquote>

    <b>Solution:</b> 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

    (<i>charles@hanami.cyberspace.com</i>):

    <blockquote>

    To fix the problem I was having, all I did was:

    <pre>

   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

    </pre>

    and now it works!! Must have been something in my old

    <code>PATH</code> or <code>LD_LIBRARY_PATH</code> that was

    causing it to pick up <code>/usr/ucblib/libucb.so</code>.

    </blockquote>

<p>

<DT> <b><a name=port.7> [P.6] </a>

    Do I still need libXpm?

</b><p>

<DD>

<b> ANSWER: </b>

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

<p>

<DT> <b><a name=port.8> [P.7] </a>

    <a name=coredump1>I get a coredump as soon as tixwish starts up.

</b><p>

<DD>

<b> ANSWER: </b>

     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 <code>Tk_ConfigureWidget()</code> inside the

     file <code>tixInit.c</code>, then the problem is because you

     compiled <code>libtk.a</code> and <code>libtix.a</code> with

     different versions of the Th header file

     <code>tk.h</code>. Delete all the <code>.o</code> files from the

     src directory of Tix, fix the Makefile so that now you can

     compile <code>libtix.a</code> with the same tk.h that you used to

     compile <code>libtk.a</code>.

<p>

</DL>

<hr>

<h3>

    Porting from Tix 3.6 to Tix 4.x

</h3>

<DL>

<DT> <b><a name=tix36to40.1> [X.1] </a>

    What happened to the <code>tixInit</code> command?

</b><p>

<DD>

<b> ANSWER: </b>

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

    backward compatibility.

<p>

<DT> <b><a name=tix36to40.2> [X.2] </a>

    How do I set the schemes and fontsets in Tix 4.x?

</b><p>

<DD>

<b> ANSWER: </b>

    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: <pre>

        *TixScheme:   Gray

        *TixFontSet:  14Point </pre>

    If you want to switch color schemes and fontsets during run time,

    you can issue the following commands: <pre>

        tix config -scheme Gray -fontset 14Point

    </pre>

    Please read the <a href=../man/tix.html>tix</a> manual page for

    more details

<p>

<DT> <b><a name=tix36to40.3> [X.3] </a>

    How do I choose the default TK color schemes and fontsets? Tix is

    messing up the colors of my existing programs.

</b><p>

<DD>

<b> ANSWER: </b>

   Add these two lines in your .Xdefaults:<pre>

        *TixScheme:   TK

        *TixFontSet:  TK </pre>

<p>

<DT> <b><a name=tix36to40.4> [X.4] </a>

    I want the old bisque look of Tk 3.6. tk_bisque doesn't work.

</b><p>

<DD>

<b> ANSWER: </b>

   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:<pre>

        *TixScheme:   Bisque</pre>

<p>

</DL>