The Jeszra Round-Trip

New Project
Composing
Automation
Navigation
Manipulation
Utilities

A new project is created through the »New« menu underneath the »File« menu.

The »New« menu displays all available project types. Currently, only »Tcl-Plain« and »Tcl-Template« are available. Tcl-Template is the recommended project type. A template is reusable, for example inside of another project. Newly created templates may become integrated into Jeszra and organized in a palette. Wrapper classes for the programming languages Ruby, Python and Lisp are only created from templates.

Figure 1.1. Main Window


A dedicated slave interpreter hosts the created project.

Right underneath the main toolbar is Jeszra’s work area. This area contains the »palettes«.

A palette is like a toolbar, containing active elements (items), which can instantiate graphical objects inside the project. An item may represent any sort of object: templates , composites, windows, basic graphics, complex graphics or code fragments.

Jeszra’s default configuration arranges the palettes according to their origin.

The Tk library occupies three palettes:

The item inside the »Canvas« palette are only accessible when a canvas, pathCanvas window or graphical object thereof is selected. A similar rule applies for the »Menu« entries, these items are only accessible when a menu, menubutton or menu entry is selected.

Palette entries are context sensitive! They are activated and disabled according to the kind of selected window and of course whether the presented package is available or not.

Every palette may feature preconfigured properties. The configuration can be interactively modified through the »Insert Dialog«. See Activate the Insert Dialog.

The navigation area is located in the bottom of the Jeszra main window. This area is henceforth called »Hierarchy View«. The hierarchy view is implemented by a slightly modified Rtl_tree.

On the right side is a vertical oriented Rtl_tabset. This Rtl_tabset lists all toplevel windows inside the current project. Toplevel windows under the root (.) window are distinct by colour, from toplevels deeper down the window hierarchy. Only children of Tk root (.) are valid initial template windows.

Back to the hierarchy. The »Hierarchy View« displays the Tk windowing structure. Tk itself is organized as a hierarchy, starting with root(.). All created windows are descendent from this window. The root window is auto created by Tk itself, not by Jeszra.

The hierarchy view allows to alter the window structure. Drag'n'Drop or clipboard operations can be used to change the structure or Z-Order.

Possible Leafs

  • PathCanvas styles

  • TkPath gradients

  • Images

  • TkZinc 3.3.4 transformations

  • Canvas and TkPath objects

  • Text tags

  • Hugelist items

  • Menu entries such as: cascade referencing sub-menus, command, checkbutton, radiobutton, separator

  • Goolbar items such as: command, checkbutton, radiobutton

  • tab items

Possible Nodes

Every node and leaf features its own custom context menu. This context menu is compiled from the node type and the used geometry manager operating inside the parent window.

Figure 1.2. Inspector


The Inspector is Jeszra’s main tool for editing window and object properties. The Inspector is divided in four sections. The sections are dedicated to: properties, geometry, events and the »Template Interface«.

Inspector Sections

Properties

Properties displays the settings of a window or graphical object. Here customize appearance and behavior.

Geometry

Geometry defines the position and size of visual objects. The type of information in this section can differ a great deal.

Geometry Variations

Separate Geometry Managers

The conventional geometry settings for separate geometry managers.

Built-in Geometry Managers

Built-in geometry settings for windows managed by their parent window.

Pseudo Geometry Managers

Pseudo geometry settings for notebook like containers.

For a tabset or notebook window the customization of the current page is mostly done inside the geometry section.

Ranges

Ranges for a text window format tag.

For text windows tag ranges can be added, deleted and modified.

Coordinates

Coordinates of graphical objects.

The coordinates of a TkZinc 3.3.4, canvas or TkPath canvas can be modified.

The window geometry is modifiable for built-in geometry manager or general purpose geometry managers.

Events

Events are additional interactions on windows, text tags or graphical objects. Assign the more common interactions through the -command, -postcommand, -variable ... properties to a window.

Interface

Interfaces reveal internal settings to the world. The interface contains the would-be properties of an instantiated template.

The Inspector is a part of Jeszra’s work area, located in the right top corner of the main window. Now, the tour is finished, through Jeszra’s main window.

The Inspector can also create or modify the contents of certain windows. Use the »Modify Contents« checkbutton, in the Inspector’s Information area, to start editing contents.