Tk::Wizard - GUI for step-by-step interactive logical process
use Tk::Wizard (); my $wizard = new Tk::Wizard; # OR my $wizard = Tk::MainWindow->new -> Wizard(); $wizard->configure( -property=>'value' ); $wizard->cget( "-property"); # $wizard->addPage( # ... code-ref to anything returning a Tk::Frame ... # ); $wizard->addPage( sub { return $wizard->blank_frame( -title => "Page Title", -subtitle => "Sub-title", -text => "Some text.", -wait => $milliseconds_b4_proceeding_anyway, ); } ); $wizard->addPage( sub { $wizard->blank_frame(@args) }, -preNextButtonAction => sub { warn "My -preNextButtonAction called here" }, -postNextButtonAction => sub { warn "My -postNextButtonAction called here" }, ); $wizard->Show; MainLoop; exit;
To avoid 50 lines of SYNOPSIS, please see the files included with the distribution in the test directory: t/*.t. These are just Perl programs that are run during the
make test phase of installation: you can move/copy/rename them without harm once you have installed the module.
Please see the file CHANGES.txt included with the distribution for change history.
Tk and modules of the current standard Perl Tk distribution.
On MS Win32 only:
Win32API::File.
MainLoop();
This is so that I can say
use strict; use Tk::Wizard without having to
use Tk. You can always
use Tk::Wizard () to avoid importing this.
In the context of this name space, a Wizard is defined as a graphic user interface (GUI) that presents information, and possibly performs tasks, step-by-step via a series of different pages. Pages (or 'screens', or 'Wizard frames') may be chosen logically depending upon user input.
The
Tk::Wizard module automates a large part of the creation of a wizard program to collect information and then perform some complex task based upon it.
The wizard feel is largely based upon the Microsoft(TM,etc) wizard style: the default is similar to that found in Windows 2000, though the more traditional Windows 95-like feel is also supported (see the
-style entry in "WIDGET-SPECIFIC OPTIONS". Sub-classing the module to provide different look-and-feel is highly encourage: please see "NOTES ON SUB-CLASSING Tk::Wizard". If anyone would like to do a Darwin or Aqua version, please let me know how you would like to handle the buttons. I'm not hot on advertising widgets.
my $subwidget = $wizard->Subwidget('buttonPanel');
The
Frame that holds the navigation buttons and optional help button.
The buttons in the
buttonPanel.
The line above the
buttonpanel, a Tk::Frame object.
The grayed-out text above the
buttonpanel, a Tk::Label object.
A Tk::Frame holding the tagText and tagLine.
On all pages of a
95-style Wizard, and for the first and last pages of the default c<top>-style Wizard, this is a large pane on the left, that holds an image. For the other pages of a
top-style Wizard, this refers to the image box at the top of the wizard.
The frame that holds the content frame, the current Wizard page.
Text that appears in the title bar.
Main background colour of the Wizard's window.
Sets the display style of the Wizard.
The default no-value or value of
top gives the Wizard will be a Windows 2000-like look, with the initial page being a version of the traditional style with a white background, and subsequent pages being
SystemButtonFace coloured, with a white strip at the top holding a title and subtitle, and a smaller image (see
-topimagepath, below).
The old default of
95 is still available, if you wish to create a traditional, Windows 95-style wizard, with every page being
SystemButtonFace coloured, with a large image on the left (
-imagepath, below).
Path to an image that will be displayed on the left-hand side of the screen. (Dimensions are not constrained.) One of either:
-datafield of the Tk::Photo object. This is the default form, and a couple of extra, unused images are supplied: see Tk::Wizard::Image.
Only required if
-style=>'top' (as above): the image this filepath specifies will be displayed in the top-right corner of the screen. Dimensions are not restrained (yet), but only 50x50 has been tested.
Please see notes for the
-imagepath>.
Set to anything to disable the display of the Help button.
Supply a boolean value to allow resizing of the window: default is to disable that feature to minimise display issues.
Text to supply in a 'tag line' above the wizard's control buttons. Specify empty string to disable the display of the tag text box.
Specify the "family" (ie name) of the font you want to use for all Wizard elements. The default is your operating system default (or a sans serif), which on my test computers is "MS Sans Serif" on Windows, "Helvetica" on Linux, and "Helvetica" on Solaris.
Specify the base size of the font you want to use for all Wizard elements. Titles and subtitles will be drawn a little larger than this; licenses (the proverbial fine print) will be slightly smaller. The default is your operating system default, which on my test computers is 8 on Windows, 12 on Linux, and 12 on Solaris.
Specify the width of the CONTENT AREA of the Wizard, for all pages. The default width (if you do not give any -width argument) is 50 * the basefontsize. You can override this measure for a particular page by supplying a -width argument to the add*Page() method.
Specify the height of the CONTENT AREA of the Wizard, for all pages. The default height (if you do not give any -height argument) is 3/4 the default width. You can override for a particular page by supplying a -height argument to the add*Page() method.
The default for the Wizard is to withdraw itself after the "finish" (or "cancel") button is clicked. This allows the Wizard to be reused during the same session (the Wizard will be destroyed when its parent MainWindow is destroyed). If you supply a non-zero value to this option, the Wizard will instead be destroyed after the "finish" button is clicked.
Please see also "ACTION EVENT HANDLERS".
$Tk::Wizard::REFRESH_MS is the number of milliseconds after which an
update will be called to redraw the Wizard. Current value is one second.
use Tk::Wizard; use Tk::Wizard (); use Tk::Wizard ':old'; use Tk::Wizard ':use' => [qw[ Choices FileSystem ]];
All the above examples are currently equivalent. However, as of version 3.00, later in 2008, the first two will no longer act as the last two -- that is, they will no longer import the methods now located in the
Choices and
FileSystem modules (Tk::Wizard::Choices, Tk::Wizard::FileSystem): you will have to do that yourself, as in the final example, or manuall:
use Tk::Wizard; use Tk::Wizard::Tasks;
Create a new
Tk::Wizard object. You can provide custom values for any or all of the standard widget options or widget-specific options
This method is part of the underlying Tk inheritance mechanisms. You the programmer do not necessarily even need to know it exists; we document it here only to satisfy Pod coverage tests.
my $apps_main_window = $wizard->parent;
This returns a reference to the parent Tk widget that was used to create the wizard.
Get/set the background color for the body of the Wizard.
Redraws the Wizard.
my $frame = wizard>->blank_frame( -title => $sTitle, -subtitle => $sSub, -text => $sStandfirst, -wait => $iMilliseconds );
Returns a Tk::Frame object that is a child of the Wizard control, with some
packing parameters applied - for more details, please see
-style entry elsewhere in this document.
Arguments are name/value pairs:
Printed in a big, bold font at the top of the frame
Subtitle/stand-first.
Main body text.
Experimental, mainly for test scripts. The amount of time in milliseconds to wait before moving forward regardless of the user. This actually just calls the
forward method (see "forward"). Use of this feature will enable the back-button even if you have disabled it. What's more, if the page is supposed to wait for user input, this feature will probably not give your users a chance.
WARNING: do not set -wait to too small of a number, or you might get callbacks interrupting previous callbacks and the whole wizard will get all out of whack. 100 is probably safe for most modern computers; for slower machines try 300. If you want to see the page as it flips by, use 1000 or more.
Size of the CONTENT AREA of the wizard. Yes, you can set a different size for each page!
Also:
-background
$wizard->addPage ($page_code_ref1 ... $page_code_refN) $wizard->addPage (@args) $wizard->addPage ($page_code_ref, -preNextButtonAction => $x, -postNextButtonAction => $y)
Adds a page to the wizard. The parameters must be references to code that evaluate to Tk::Frame objects, such as those returned by the methods
blank_frame and
addDirSelectPage.
Pages are (currently) stored and displayed in the order added.
Returns the index of the page added, which is useful as a page UID when performing checks as the Next button is pressed (see file test.pl supplied with the distribution).
As of version 2.084, you can just supply the args to blank_frame.
As of version 2.076, you may supply arguments:
-preNextButtonAction,
-postNextButtonAction,
-preBackButtonAction,
-postBackButtonAction: see "ACTION EVENT HANDLERS" for further information. More handlers, and more documentation, may be added.
Add to the wizard a page containing a chunk of text, specified in the parameter
-text. Suitable for an introductory "splash" page and for a final "all done" page.
Accepts exactly the same arguments as
blank_frame.
Add to the wizard a page containing a scrolling textbox, specified in the parameter
-boxedtext. If this is a reference to a scalar, it is taken to be plain text; if a plain scalar, it is taken to be the name of a file to be opened and read.
Accepts the usual
-title,
-subtitle, and
-text like
blank_frame.
$wizard->Show();
Draw and display the Wizard on the screen. Normally you would call
MainLoop right after this.
Convenience method to move the Wizard on a page by invoking the callback for the
nextButton.
You can automatically move forward after
$x tenths of a second by doing something like this:
$frame->after($x,sub{$wizard->forward});
Convenience method to move the Wizard back a page by invoking the callback for the
backButton.
my $current_page = $wizard->currentPage()
This returns the index of the page currently being shown to the user. Page are indexes start at 1, with the first page that is associated with the wizard through the
addPage method. See also the "addPage" entry.
Mark one or more pages to be skipped at runtime. All integer arguments are taken to be page numbers (ie the number returned by any of the
add*Page methods)
You should never set the first page to be skipped, and you can not set the last page to be skipped, though these rules are not (yet) enforced.
Mark one or more pages not to be skipped at runtime (ie reverse the effects of setPageSkip). All integer arguments are taken to be page numbers (ie the number returned by any of the addPage methods)
Returns the number of the page the Wizard will land on if the Next button is clicked (ie the integer returned by
add*Page).
Returns the number (ie the integer returned by add*Page) of the page the Wizard will land on if the Back button is clicked.
Equivalent to the JavaScript method of the same name: pops up a dialogue box to get a text string, and returns it. Arguments are:
The title of the dialogue box.
The text to display above the
Entry widget.
The initial value of the
Entry box.
Text
Label's wraplength: defaults to 275.
The
Entry widget's width: defaults to 40.
This is the default callback for -preCloseWindowAction. It gives the user a Yes/No dialog box; if the user clicks "Yes", this function returns true (otherwise returns a false value).
A Wizard is a series of pages that gather information and perform tasks based upon that information. Navigated through the pages is via Back and Next buttons, as well as Help, Cancel and Finish buttons.
In the
Tk::Wizard implementation, each button has associated with it one or more action event handlers, supplied as code-references executed before, during and/or after the button press.
The handler code should return a Boolean value, signifying whether the remainder of the action should continue. If a false value is returned, execution of the event handler halts.
This is a reference to a function that will be dispatched before the Next button is processed.
This is a reference to a function that will be dispatched after the Next button is processed. The function is called after the application has logically advanced to the next page, but before the next page is drawn on screen.
This is a reference to a function that will be dispatched before the Previous button is processed.
This is a reference to a function that will be dispatched after the Previous button is processed.
This is a reference to a function that will be dispatched before the Help button is processed.
This is a reference to a function that will be dispatched to handle the Help button action. By default there is no Help action; therefore unless you are providing this function, you should initialize your Wizard with -nohelpbutton => 1.
This is a reference to a function that will be dispatched after the Help button is processed.
This is a reference to a function that will be dispatched just before the Finish button action.
This is a reference to a function that will be dispatched to handle the Finish button action.
This is a reference to a function that will be dispatched before the Cancel button is processed. Default is to exit on user confirmation - see "DIALOGUE_really_quit".
This is a reference to a function that will be dispatched before the window is issued a close command. If this function returns a true value, the Wizard will close. If this function returns a false value, the Wizard will stay on the current page. Default is to exit on user confirmation - see "DIALOGUE_really_quit".
All active event handlers can be set at construction or using configure -- see "WIDGET-SPECIFIC OPTIONS" and Tk::options.
backButton nextButton helpButton cancelButton
If you must, you can access the Wizard's button through the object fields listed above, each of which represents a Tk::Button object. This may not be a good way to do it: patches always welcome ;)
This is not advised for anything other than disabling or re-enabling the display status of the buttons, as the
-command switch is used by the Wizard:
$wizard->{backButton}->configure( -state => "disabled" )
Note: the Finish button is simply the
nextButton with the label
$LABEL{FINISH}.
See also INTERNATIONALISATION.
The labels of the buttons can be changed (perhaps into a language other an English) by changing the values of the package-global
%LABELS hash, where keys are
BACK,
CANCEL,
HELP, and
FINISH.
The text of the callbacks can also be changed via the
%LABELS hash: see the top of the source code for details.
This widget is implemented using the Tk 'standard' API as far as possible, given that when I first needed a wizard in Perl/Tk, I had almost three weeks of exposure to the technology. Please, if you have a suggestion, or patch, send it to me directly via
LGoddard@CPAN.org, or via CPAN's RT.
The widget supports both
MainWindow and not
TopLevel window. Originally, only the former was supported - the reasoning was that Wizards are applications in their own right, and not usually parts of other applications. However, conventions are not always bad things, hence the update.
Tk::WizardNAMESPACE
In discussion on comp.lang.perl.tk, it was suggested by Dominique Dumont that the following guidelines for the use of the
Tk::Wizard namespace be followed:
Tk::Wizardact as a base module, providing all the basic services and components a Wizard might require.
If you are planning to sub-class
Tk::Wizard to create a different display style, there are three routines you will need to over-ride:
This may change, please bear with me.
Scrolled) as required.
Please use RT () to submit a bug report.
Lee Goddard (lgoddard@cpan.org) based on work by Daniel T Hable.
Thanks to Martin Thurn (mthurn@cpan.org) and Scott R. Keszler for support, patches, and extensions, whilst I'm elsewhere.
Wizard; set-up; setup; installer; uninstaller; install; uninstall; Tk; GUI.
This software is made available under the same terms as Perl itself.
This software is not endorsed by, or in any way associated with, the Microsoft Corp
Microsoft is, obvisouly, a registered trademark of Microsoft Corp.