/ 
Tk-Wizard-2.158
River stage one • 1 direct dependent • 1 total dependent
/ Tk::Wizard

NAME

Tk::Wizard - GUI for step-by-step interactive logical process

SYNOPSIS

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.

CHANGES

Please see the file Changes included with the distribution for change history.

DEPENDENCIES

Tk and modules of the current standard Perl Tk distribution.

On MS Win32 only: Win32API::File.

EXPORTS

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.

DESCRIPTION

In the context of this namespace, 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.

ADVERTISED SUB-WIDGETS

my $subwidget = $wizard->Subwidget('buttonPanel');
buttonPanel

The Frame that holds the navigation buttons and optional help button.

nextButton
backButton
cancelButton
helpButton

The buttons in the buttonPanel.

tagLine

The line above the buttonpanel, a Tk::Frame object.

tagText

The grayed-out text above the buttonpanel, a Tk::Label object.

tagBox

A Tk::Frame holding the tagText and tagLine.

imagePane

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.

wizardFrame

The frame that holds the content frame, the current Wizard page.

STANDARD OPTIONS

-title

Text that appears in the title bar.

-background

Main background colour of the Wizard's window.

WIDGET-SPECIFIC OPTIONS

Name: style
Class: Style
Switch: -style

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).

Name: imagepath
Class: Imagepath
Switch: -imagepath

Path to an image that will be displayed on the left-hand side of the screen. (Dimensions are not constrained.) One of either:

  • Path to a file from which to construct a Tk::Photo object without the format being specified; No checking is done, but paths ought to be absolute, as no effort is made to maintain or restore any initial current working directory.

  • A reference to a Base64-encoded image to pass in the -data field of the Tk::Photo object. This is the default form, and a couple of extra, unused images are supplied: see Tk::Wizard::Image.

Name: topimagepath
Class: Topimagepath
Switch: -topimagepath

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>.

Name: nohelpbutton
Class: Nohelpbutton
Switch: -nohelpbutton

Set to anything to disable the display of the Help button.

Name: resizable
Class: resizable
Switch: -resizable

Supply a boolean value to allow resizing of the window: default is to disable that feature to minimise display issues.

Switch: -tag_text

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.

-fontfamily

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.

-basefontsize

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.

-width

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.

-height

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.

-kill_self_after_finish

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".

WIZARD REFRESH RATE

$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.

METHODS

import

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;

new

Create a new Tk::Wizard object. You can provide custom values for any or all of the standard widget options or widget-specific options

Populate

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.

parent

my $apps_main_window = $wizard->parent;

This returns a reference to the parent Tk widget that was used to create the wizard.

background

Get/set the background color for the body of the Wizard.

update

Redraws the Wizard.

blank_frame

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:

-title

Printed in a big, bold font at the top of the frame

-subtitle

Subtitle/stand-first.

-text

Main body text.

-wait

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.

Beware that if you set this value too low, you find your callbacks interrupting previous callbacks, Values below 250 will be set to 250, but you may need 1000.

See also: Tk::after.

-width -height

Size of the CONTENT AREA of the wizard. Yes, you can set a different size for each page!

Also:

-background

addPage

$wizard->addPage ($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.

addSplashPage

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.

addTextFramePage

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.

Show

$wizard->Show();

Draw and display the Wizard on the screen.

Usually MainLoop is called immediately after this.

forward

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});

backward

Convenience method to move the Wizard back a page by invoking the callback for the backButton.

currentPage

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.

setPageSkip

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.

setPageUnskip

Mark one or more pages as not to be skipped at runtime (that is, reverse the effects of setPageSkip).

All integer arguments are taken to be page numbers (that is, the number returned by any of the addPage methods)

next_page_number

Returns the number of the page the Wizard will land on if the Next button is clicked (ie the integer returned by add*Page).

back_page_number

Returns the number (ie the integer returned by add*Page) of the page the Wizard will land on if the Back button is clicked.

prompt

Equivalent to the JavaScript method of the same name: pops up a dialogue box to get a text string, and returns it. Arguments are:

-title =>

The title of the dialogue box.

-text =>

The text to display above the Entry widget.

-value =>

The initial value of the Entry box.

-wraplength =>

Text Label's wraplength: defaults to 275.

-width =>

The Entry widget's width: defaults to 40.

CALLBACKS

DIALOGUE_really_quit

This is the default callback for -preCloseWindowAction. It gives the user a Yes/No dialog box; if the user clicks "Yes", this function returns a false value, otherwise a true value.

ACTION EVENT HANDLERS

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.

-preNextButtonAction =>

This is a reference to a function that will be dispatched before the Next button is processed.

-postNextButtonAction =>

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.

-preBackButtonAction =>

This is a reference to a function that will be dispatched before the Previous button is processed.

-postBackButtonAction =>

This is a reference to a function that will be dispatched after the Previous button is processed.

-preHelpButtonAction =>

This is a reference to a function that will be dispatched before the Help button is processed.

-helpButtonAction =>

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.

-postHelpButtonAction =>

This is a reference to a function that will be dispatched after the Help button is processed.

-preFinishButtonAction =>

This is a reference to a function that will be dispatched just before the Finish button action.

-finishButtonAction =>

This is a reference to a function that will be dispatched to handle the Finish button action.

-preCancelButtonAction =>

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".

-preCloseWindowAction =>

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.

BUTTONS

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.

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, NEXT, 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.

IMPLEMENTATION NOTES

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.

THE Tk::Wizard NAMESPACE

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:

  1. That the module Tk::Wizard act as a base module, providing all the basic services and components a Wizard might require.

  2. That modules beneath the base in the hierarchy provide implementations based on aesthetics and/or architecture.

NOTES ON SUB-CLASSING Tk::Wizard

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:

_initial_layout
_render_current_page
blank_frame

This may change, please bear with me.

CAVEATS

  • Bit messy when composing frames.

  • Task Frame LabFrame background colour doesn't set properly under 5.6.1.

  • 20 January 2003: the directory tree part does not create directories unless the eponymous button is clicked. Is this still an issue?

  • In Windows, with the system font set to > 96 DPI (via Display Properties / Settings / Advanced / General / Display / Font Size), the Wizard will not display pro pertly. This seems to be a Tk feature.

  • Nothing is currently done to ensure text fits into the window - it is currently up to the client to make frames Scrolled) as required.

BUGS

Please use RT (https://rt.cpan.org/Ticket/Create.html?Queue=Tk-Wizard) to submit a bug report.

AUTHOR

Lee Goddard (lgoddard@cpan.org) based on work by Daniel T Hable.

Please see the README.md file for a list of contributors and helpers - thanks to all.

KEYWORDS

Wizard; set-up; setup; installer; uninstaller; install; uninstall; Tk; GUI.

COPYRIGHT

Copyright (C) Lee Goddard, 11/2002 - 02/2010, 06/2015 ff.

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, obviously, a registered trademark of Microsoft Corp.