http://qs321.pair.com?node_id=1212398

Anonymous Monk has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Dear Monks

I am trying to adapt my Tk program using Tcl::pTk which I find a very interesting module to revamp the use of Tk in Perl (modern interface, etc.). I could port most of my old UI and it works fine. What I am struggling with are speed issues with my icons. In standard Tk everything is quick, loading the same set of icons (png) with Tcl::pTk takes ages. As both module should be a layer on Tk, I do not quite understand the big difference (10x time in pTk). You can almost take a coffee in the time the GUI is ready.

My exosystem: Windows 10 and Activeperl 5.16 (I wasn't able to make Tcl::pTk work with Strawberryperl....).

Here a small script to make the point

use Tcl::pTk;
#use Tk;#using this instead of Tcl::pTk it is 10x/20x quicker 
#use Tk::PNG;

    my $mw = MainWindow->new();
    my $lab = $mw->Label(-text => "Hello world")->pack;
    
    foreach (1..30){
        my $PngSettings = $mw->Photo( -file => "settings.png");
        $mw->Button(-image => $PngSettings,
        -command => sub {
        $lab->configure(-text=>"[". $lab->cget('-text')."]");
        },
        -borderwidth => '0',
        )->pack(-side=>'right', -anchor => 'e', -padx=>5, -pady=>5);
    }
    MainLoop;

[download]

Am I missing something? It is a shame that it seems practically nobody is using this module as there is almost nothing out there about Tcl::pTk (besides the good POD)

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Tk vs Tcl::pTk speed image
by Anonymous Monk on Apr 06, 2018 at 07:38 UTC

    Hi,

    I find no speed difference between the two

    tcl-ptk-version.pl

    tcl_version      8.6
tcl_patchLevel   8.6b1.2
tk_version       8.6
tk_patchLevel    8.6b1.2
tk_library       C:/Tcl8.6/lib/tk8.6

Tcl::pTk 0.90
Tcl 1.02
Tk 804.033
Perl $^V v5.16.1
Perl $] 5.016001

    [download]
[reply]
[d/l]

      Thank you for pointing out how to get info about the Tcl installation (I am a newbee with Tcl!). It turns out I am using an older version (actually I never installed Tcl. My version must come together with Tcl::pTk?!?). With my ecosystem I can create an .exe with PerlApp without problems (beside the speed problem which is not bearable).

      tcl_version      8.5
tcl_patchLevel   8.5.13
tk_version       8.5
tk_patchLevel    8.5.13
tk_library       C:/Perl/lib/auto/Tcl/tkkit.dll/lib/P-win32-ix86/tk8.5

Tcl::pTk 0.92
Tcl 1.02
$^V v5.16.3
$] 5.016003

      [download]

      I'll try to find out how update Tcl (and make it work together with PerlApp which I fear it will not be easy...). How can you tell Tcl::pTk WHERE to look for Tcl? I can not find any mention of this.

[reply]
[d/l]
[reply]

      Which Tcl distribution are you using? I cannot replicate your ecosystem no matter how I try...

[reply]
[reply]
Re: Tk vs Tcl::pTk speed image
by Anonymous Monk on May 17, 2018 at 17:24 UTC

    I am still fighting with this: if I point to a Tcl installation different to the ActivePerl Tkkit.dll, I get an error message:

     
#!/usr/bin/perl
BEGIN {
    #my $frameworkpath = "C:/tkkit.dll";#If I use this, it works
    my $frameworkpath = "C:/ActiveTcl/bin/tk86t.dll";
    print $ENV{'PERL_TCL_DL_PATH'} = $frameworkpath;
}

use strict;
use warnings;
use Tcl::pTk;
my $int = new Tcl::pTk;
$int->Eval(<<'EOS');
# pure-tcl code to create widgets (e.g. generated by some GUI builder)
text .e
## http://wiki.tcl.tk/1626#tk_version
.e insert end "tcl_version      $tcl_version\n"
.e insert end "tcl_patchLevel   $tcl_patchLevel\n"
.e insert end "tk_version       $tk_version\n"
.e insert end "tk_patchLevel    $tk_patchLevel\n"
.e insert end "tk_library       $tk_library\n"
pack .e
EOS
my $e = $int->widget('.e');     # get .e entry into play
$e->insert( "end", "
Tcl::pTk $Tcl::pTk::VERSION
Tcl $Tcl::VERSION
\$^V $^V
\$] $]
");
$int->MainLoop;

    [download]

    Error:

    NpLoadLibrary: could not find Tcl library at 'C:/ActiveTcl/bin/tk86t.d
+ll' at C:/Perl/site/lib/XSLoader.pm line 114.
Failed to load Tcl dll! at C:/Perl/site/lib/XSLoader.pm line 114.
Unable to initialize Tcl at C:/Perl/site/lib/XSLoader.pm line 114.
Compilation failed in require at C:/Perl/site/lib/Tcl/pTk.pm line 6.
BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at C:/Perl/site/lib/Tcl/pTk.pm line 
+6.
Compilation failed in require at .\tclVersion.pl line 10.
BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at .\tclVersion.pl line 10.

    [download]

    What am I doing wrong?

[reply]
[d/l]
[select]

      What am I doing wrong?

      You forgot to recompile/reinstall Tcl.pm against the 8.6 version of Tcl. You can't simply point at the newer dll when its expecting the old one.

[reply]

        thank you. I am starting to grasp the "behind the scenes"... However, I stillave problems in operationalizing it: in the module documentation I read:

        
Second method

Copy installed Tcl/Tk binaries to some location, then install Perl mod
+ule Tcl
with a special action to make Tcl.pm know of this location. This appro
+ach
makes sure that only chosen Tcl installation is used.

        [download]

        No mention however how to accomplish it. Google doesn't help too. I am surely not very fit in this kind of things, but a bit more documentation would help. So, I again would very much appreciate any suggestion

[reply]
[d/l]

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