Simple Runtime Debugging Message Dialog

At times it's useful to see what values variables hold, or offer some pause point before the code goes elsewhere before causing havoc. Its possible to write output to the terminal but this can get lost in copious forms of other outputs, besides, there's no pausing the script execution either. The following proc creates a custom dialog which displays ad message along with the point in the calling script from which it was invoked.

## simple runtime debugging feedback dialog, alternative to console based gnocl::msg
# @param msg message to display
# @returns none
#
proc xxx::msg {txt} {

set frame [info frame -1]

append msg "Message:\n\n"
append msg "$txt\n\n\n"
append msg "Called from:\n\n"
append msg "Proc:\t[lindex [info level -1] 0]\n"
append msg "File:\t[file tail [dict get $frame file]]\n"
append msg "Line:\t[dict get $frame line]\n"

gnocl::dialog \
-type info \
-text $msg \
-title [lindex [info level 0] 0] \
-setSize 0.2
}

Custom Dialogs

 Description

 

 

## project chooser dialog
# @param   wid
# @returns  none
# @notes  Uses global array ::app to store restrieved values
proc conze_project_chooser_dialog { wid } {
       
    set dir $::app(dirs,projects)

    set vbox [gnocl::vBox -data 0]
    set lst [gnocl::list -columns 2 -types "string string" -headersVisible 0 ]
    $lst columnConfigure 1 -visible 0
    $vbox add $lst -fill {1 1} -expand 1
    
    # create list of available projects
    foreach d [lsort [glob -type d -directory $dir *]] {
        $lst add [list [list [file tail $d] $d]]
    }
    
    # to right align completely, set expand and fill to 0
    set hbox [gnocl::hBox]
    set b1 [gnocl::button -text Select \
            -data "$lst $wid" \
            -onClicked {
                set ::app(project) [lindex [[lindex %d 0] getRow \
                            [[lindex %d 0] getSelection]] 1]
                %t delete
                $::app(statusBar) push "Project [file tail $::app(project)] selected"
                conze_set_title
                conze_open [lindex %d 1]
                } ]
    
    set b2 [gnocl::button -text Cancel -onClicked { %t delete } ]
    
    $vbox add $hbox -expand 0 -fill 0 -align right
    $hbox add $b1
    $hbox add $b2

    $lst configure -data $b1 -onButtonRelease { if { "%t" == "button2Press" } { %d clicked } }

    # create custom dialog
    set win [gnocl::window \
        -visible 0 \
        -title "Select Conze Project" \
        -child $vbox \
        -height 480 \
        -width 320 \
        -data $lst \
        -typeHint dialog \
        -modal 1]
       
    $win centre
    $win configure -visible 1
               
}

Creating a button box with right aligned widgets

The dialog widget has its own internal functionaluty to create and position buttons at the bottom right corner of the window container. When creating these for ourselves it must be born in mind that default settings for fill and expand are both 0.5. Failing to set these will always place the child objects in the centre, regardless of alignment. For most cases these defaults are acceptable but, to create that dialog-button arrangement, use the following snippet as a model!

  # to right align completely, set expand and fill to 0
set hbox [gnocl::hBox]

set b1 [gnocl::button -text Select \

            -data $lst 

            -onClicked { puts DO-SOMETHING-WITH-%d} ]

set b2 [gnocl::button -text Cancel -onClicked { puts DONE! } ]

$vbox add $hbox -expand 0 -fill 0 -align right

$hbox add $b1

$hbox add $b2

Chess Pieces in Unicode

Changing Namespaces

I've been toying with the idea of changing the namespace used by gnocl, to something simplier, a proposition much more appealing now that I've begun migration to Gtk3 and soon to Gtk4. The changes from Gtk2 to Gtk4 will be subtantial due to many chages occuring within the Gtk api.

Before committing myself, I thought how it would be useful to swap namespaces on the fly. So, here's a first quick solution:

 

package require -exact Gnocl 0.9.96

proc xxxx {ns1 ns2}  {
    namespace eval ::${ns2} {}
    set map [list $ns1 $ns2]
    
    foreach type {commands vars procs } {
        foreach item [info $type ${ns1}::*] {
            set err ""
            catch { rename $item [string map $map $item] } err
            if { $err != "" } { puts $err }
        }
    }
    
    namespace delete $ns1
}

xxxx g

set b1 [g::button -text BUTTON]
set w1 [g::window -child $b1]
set l1 [g::label -text rename]

$w1 configure -child $l1 -title TEST

Testing for the Presence of Dependencies - commands

 

catch {exec pdfgrep > /dev/null &} res

if {![string is integer -strict $res]} {

    gnocl::dialog \
    -title "pdfSeach" \
    -text "<b>ERROR!\n\n</b> <b>pdfgrep</b> not present on this computer!\n\nInstall using:\n\n<b>sudo apt install pdfgrep</b>\n\n" 
    -type error 
    return -code error  
}

Making Runtime Proceedure Script Modifications.

When using Gnocl widgets only a single callback script is permitted. This differs somewhat to the underlying Gtk bindings api which allows for a chain of callback functions to be defined.  

Rather than trying to produce a convoluted means of setting complex callbacks in C, simple changes can be made during application runtime because Tcl, as a dynamic language, allows everything to be reconfigurable.

Using a simple procedure which takes three arguments: the name of the procedure to be modified, the script modifications and a flag specifying append or prepend, the following proof of concept script can created.  

# !/bin/sh
# the next line restarts using tclsh \

exec tclsh "$0" "$@"

proc p1 {str} { puts $str }

proc procModify {proc script {mode -append} } {

   set args [info args $proc]
   set body [string trim [info body $proc]]

   set box

    if { $mode == "-prepend" } {
        set body $script\n$body
    } else {
        set body $body\n$script
    }

    proc $proc $args $body

}

procModify p1 "puts DONE!"
procModify p1 "puts READY!" -prepend

p1 HI