tkcon(1)                             TkCon                            tkcon(1)



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NAME
       tkcon - Tk console replacement

SYNOPSIS
       tkcon [{option value | tcl_script} ...]

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DESCRIPTION
       TkCon is a replacement for the standard console that comes with Tk (on
       Windows/Mac, but also works on Unix).  The console itself provides many
       more features than the standard console.  TkCon works on all platforms
       where Tcl/Tk is available.  It is meant primarily to aid one when
       working with the little details inside Tcl and Tk, giving Unix users
       the GUI console provided by default in the Mac and Windows Tk.

       tkcon [{option value | tcl_script} ...]

OPTIONS
       Except for -rcfile, command line arguments are handled after the TkCon
       resource file is sourced, but before the slave interpreter or the TkCon
       user interface is initialized.

       -rcfile is handled right before it would be sourced, allowing you to
       specify any alternate file.  Command line arguments are passed to each
       new console and will be evaluated by each.  To prevent this from
       happening, you have to say


              tkcon main set argv {}; tkcon main set argc 0


       For these options, any unique substring is allowed.

       -argv (also --)
              Causes TkCon to stop evaluating arguments and set the remaining
              args to be argv/argc (with -- prepended).  This carries over for
              any further consoles.  This is meant only for wrapping TkCon
              around programs that require their own arguments.

       -color-<color> color
              Sets the requested color type to the specified color for tkcon.
              See tkconrc(5) for the recognized <color> names.

       -eval tcl_script (also -main or -e)
              A Tcl script to eval in each main interpreter.  This is
              evaluated after the resource file is loaded and the slave
              interpreter is created.  Multiple -eval switches will be
              recognized (in order).

       -exec slavename
              Sets the named slave that tkcon operates in.  In general, this
              is only useful to set to "" (empty), indicating to tkcon to
              avoid the multi-interpreter model and operate in the main
              environment.  When this is empty, any further arguments will be
              only used in the first tkcon console and not passed onto further
              new consoles.  This is useful when using tkcon as a console for
              extended wish executables that don't load there commands into
              slave interpreters.

       -font font
              Sets the font that tkcon uses for its text windows.  If this
              isn't a fixed width font, tkcon will override it.

       -nontcl TCL_BOOLEAN
              Sets ::tkcon::OPT(nontcl) to TCL_BOOLEAN (see tkconrc(5)).
              Needed when attaching to non-Tcl interpreters.

       -package package_name (also -load)
              Packages to automatically load into the slave interpreters (i.e.
              "Tk").

       -rcfile filename
              Specify an alternate tkcon resource file name.

       -root widgetname
              Makes the named widget the root name of all consoles (i.e.
              .tkcon).

       -slave tcl_script
              A Tcl script to eval in each slave interpreter.  This will
              append the one specified in the tkcon resource file, if any.

KEY BINDINGS
       Most of the bindings are the same as for the text widget.  Some have
       been modified to make sure that the integrity of the console is
       maintained.  Others have been added to enhance the usefulness of the
       console.  Only the modified or new bindings are listed here.

       Control-x or Cut (on Sparc5 keyboards)
              Cut.

       Control-c or Copy (on Sparc5 keyboards)
              Copy.

       Control-v or Paste (on Sparc5 keyboards)
              Paste.

       Insert Insert (duh).

       Up     Goes up one level in the commands line history when cursor is on
              the prompt line, otherwise it moves through the buffer.

       Down   Goes down one level in the commands line history when cursor is
              on the last line of the buffer, otherwise it moves through the
              buffer.

       Control-p
              Goes up one level in the commands line history.

       Control-n
              Goes down one level in the commands line history.

       Tab    Tries to expand file path names, then variable names, then proc
              names.

       Escape Tries to expand file path names.

       Control-P
              Tries to expand procedure names.  The procedure names will be
              those that are actually in the attached interpreter (unless
              nontcl is specified, in which case it always does the lookup in
              the default slave interpreter).

       Control-V
              Tries to expand variable names (those returned by [info vars]).
              It's search behavior is like that for procedure names.

       Return or Enter
              Evaluates the current command line if it is a complete command,
              otherwise it just goes to a new line.

       Control-a
              Go to the beginning of the current command line.

       Control-l
              Clear the entire console buffer.

       Control-r
              Searches backwards in the history for any command that contains
              the string in the current command line.  Repeatable to search
              farther back.  The matching substring off the found command will
              blink.

       Control-s
              As above, but searches forward (only useful if you searched too
              far back).

       Control-t
              Transposes characters.

       Control-u
              Clears the current command line.

       Control-z
              Saves current command line in a buffer that can be retrieved
              with another Control-z.  If the current command line is empty,
              then any saved command is retrieved without being overwritten,
              otherwise the current contents get swapped with what's in the
              saved command buffer.

       Control-Key-1
              Attaches console to the console's slave interpreter.

       Control-Key-2
              Attaches console to the console's master interpreter.

       Control-Key-3
              Attaches console to main TkCon interpreter.

       Control-A
              Pops up the "About" dialog.

       Control-N
              Creates a new console. Each console has separate state,
              including it's own widget hierarchy (it's a slave interpreter).

       Control-q
              Close the current console OR Quit the program (depends on the
              value of ::tkcon::TKCON(slaveexit)).

       Control-w
              Closes the current console.  Closing the main console will exit
              the program (something has to control all the slaves...).

       TkCon also has electric bracing (similar to that in emacs).  It will
       highlight matching pairs of {}'s, []'s, ()'s and ""'s.  For the first
       three, if there is no matching left element for the right, then it
       blinks the entire current command line.  For the double quote, if there
       is no proper match then it just blinks the current double quote
       character.  It does properly recognize most escaping (except escaped
       escapes), but does not look for commenting (why would you interactively
       put comments in?).

COMMANDS
       There are several new procedures introduced in TkCon to improve
       productivity and/or account for lost functionality in the Tcl
       environment that users are used to in native environments.  There are
       also some redefined procedures.  Here is a non-comprehensive list:

       alias ?sourceCmd targetCmd ?arg arg ...??
              Simple alias mechanism.  It will overwrite existing commands.
              When called without args, it returns current aliases.  Note that
              TkCon makes some aliases for you (in slaves).  Don't delete
              those.

       clear ?percentage?
              Clears the text widget.  Same as the <Control-l> binding, except
              this will accept a percentage of the buffer to clear (1-100, 100
              default).

       dir ?-all? ?-full? ?-long? ?pattern pattern ...?
              Cheap way to get directory listings.  Uses glob style pattern
              matching.

       dump type ?-nocomplain? ?-filter pattern? ?--? pattern ?pattern ...?
              The dump command provides a way for the user to spit out state
              information about the interpreter in a Tcl readable (and human
              readable) form.  See dump(n) for details.

       echo ?arg arg ...?
              Concatenates the args and spits the result to the console
              (stdout).

       edit ?-type type? ?-find str? ?-attach interp? arg
              Opens an editor with the data from arg.  The optional type
              argument can be one of: proc, var or file.  For proc or var, the
              arg may be a pattern.

       idebug command ?args?
              Interactive debugging command.  See idebug(n) for details.

       lremove ?-all? ?-regexp -glob? list items
              Removes one or more items from a list and returns the new list.
              If -all is specified, it removes all instances of each item in
              the list.  If -regexp or -glob is specified, it interprets each
              item in the items list as a regexp or glob pattern to match
              against.

       less   Aliased to edit.

       ls     Aliased to dir -full.

       more   Aliased to edit.

       observe type ?args?
              This command provides passive runtime debugging output for
              variables and commands.  See observe(n) for details.

       puts (same options as always)
              Redefined to put the output into TkCon.

       tkcon method ?args?
              Multi-purpose command.  See tkcon(n) for details.

       tclindex ?-extensions patternlist? ?-index TCL_BOOLEAN? ?-package
       TCL_BOOLEAN? ?dir1 dir2 ...?
              Convenience proc to update the "tclIndex" (controlled by -index
              switch) and/or "pkgIndex.tcl" (controlled by -package switch)
              file in the named directories based on the given pattern for
              files.  It defaults to creating the "tclIndex" but not the
              "pkgIndex.tcl" file, with the directory defaulting to [pwd].
              The extension defaults to *.tcl, with *.[info sharelibextension]
              added when -package is true.

       unalias cmd
              unaliases command.

       what string
              The what command will identify the word given in string in the
              Tcl environment and return a list of types that it was
              recognized as.  Possible types are: alias, procedure, command,
              array variable, scalar variable, directory, file, widget, and
              executable.  Used by procedures dump and which.

       which command
              Like the which command of Unix shells, this will tell you if a
              particular command is known, and if so, whether it is internal
              or external to the interpreter.  If it is an internal command
              and there is a slot in auto_index for it, it tells you the file
              that auto_index would load.  This does not necessarily mean that
              that is where the file came from, but if it were not in the
              interpreter previously, then that is where the command was
              found.

       There are several procedures that I use as helpers that some may find
       helpful in there coding (i.e. expanding pathnames). Feel free to lift
       them from the code (but do assign proper attribution).

EXAMLPES
       Some examples of tkcon command line startup situations:


              megawish /usr/bin/tkcon -exec "" -root .tkcon mainfile.tcl

       Use tkcon as a console for your megawish application.  You can avoid
       starting the line with megawish if that is the default wish that TkCon
       would use.  The -root ensures that tkcon will not conflict with the
       application root window.


              tkcon -font "Courier 12" -load Tk

       Use the courier font for TkCon and always load Tk in slave interpreters
       at startup.


              tkcon -rcfile ~/.wishrc -color-bg white

       Use the ~/.wishrc file as the resource file, and a white background for
       TkCon's text widgets.

FILES
       TkCon will search for a resource file in "~/.tkconrc".  TkCon never
       sources the "~/.wishrc" file.  The resource file is sourced by each new
       instance of the console.  An example resource file is provided in
       tkconrc(5).

SEE ALSO
       dump(n), idebug(n), observe(n), text(n), tkcon(n), tkconrc(5)

KEYWORDS
       Tk, console

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright (c) Jeffrey Hobbs (jeff at hobbs.org)




tkcon.1                               2.5                             tkcon(1)
