JH: This page documents items intended for 8.5. It's not meant to be a wishlist (please create another page for that, like Tcl Wishlists), but a practical roadmap for 8.5.
Please restrict commentary on this page to reduce clutter. JH reserves the right to clean this page up to keep it easy to review. Do not add items to the list without approval, as this is meant to be a semi-official list. These lists are known to be incomplete, but I'd like to control what goes in so it all makes sense and, more importantly, is practically possible.
TIMING
- 8.5a3 June 2005
- 8.5a4 April 2006
- 8.5.b1 ???
- 8.5.0 following, based on testing, testing, testing of 8.5 betas
Remember that alphas are the feature creep releases. Beta is essentially release candidate, when we hope more people will pound on it.
Changes In Tcl/Tk 8.5 will document the TIPs that have been approved and integrated into the Tcl/Tk core.
OPEN UN-TIPPED ITEMS
8.5 is focused more on Tk, although Tcl changes will be notable as well. Tk will be most notable, because the whole look will be revamped. These items focus more on those not listed as tips [L1 ] already.
- font fallback ..., font fallbacks are currently hardcoded, which causes problems in some applications (perhaps also font alias control)
- font create ... -command. Named fonts need a callback command for when they are changed (like the WorldChangedProc for C widgets) for those who use them in megawidgets.
- pid <signal>, revive TIP #88 [L2 ]
- option clear -noreload, a way to prevent the xrdb from getting in the way of a Tk app
- More core Tk modules. There are several worth consideration as standard Tk modules, with tkdnd (drag and drop) being a key one, as well as tooltips.
- tktable - time to go into the core, with some option fix-ups
- megawidgets - come on, you know you want it
- tree - a tree widget (treectrl?, something else?)
- Improved accessibility support. Tk currently doesn't handle screen readers, tablet input, or some other newer accessibility things. It does handle stuff like the magnifier and carets correctly, but that's only a partial solution to full accessibility support.
- Bidi support (see bidi rendering). Any volunteers?
- Thread-enabled by default. Sure, it's a bit slower, but it may just be time to do it. This would include adding the Thread extension into the Tcl core. [*]
- Fix Tk bindings. Many of the Tk bindings are out of date with current standards. This includes things like many widgets not taking focus on <1>, which they should, and some key bindings. [*]
- Updates to make full use of [source -encoding]. [*]
- Revisions to support access to Unicode command lines. See [L3 ].
- Bundled TEA-compliant packages
- Support for alpha/beta package version numbers. [*]
- Internal filesystem.
DKF (26-Apr-2006): It's not clear to me that the items marked with [*] need TIPs at all. Thread support in Tk is progressing on Unix and Win (but not on OSX as far as I can tell) and Tcl shouldn't default to supporting threads until Tk does so too. But I regard it as a bug that it doesn't work, and the fix schedule for it can stretch into the beta period.
ITEMS REQUIRING WORK
- Documentation and demos. We need people willing to improve the Tcl/Tk docs and add more (and fancier) demos. (DKF notes that anyone wanting to work on this should concentrate on the content and let me handle how to encode it in nroff (or tmml/doctools if we switch to that). For demos, and especially the widget demo, we are particularly looking for demos that cover animation and, when they are added, any new widgets; other demos are welcome too though, especially of the "more complete worked app" variety.)
- Language bindings. I have rewritten the one for Perl (Tcl::Tk). It has some Perl/Tk compatability, but could use some more (probably as a separate module). The other languages (Python, Ruby, ...) could all use better bindings. For example, in redoing the Perl one, I made one that was faster and leaner than the original, as well as much more flexible (allowing any Tcl/Tk extension to be used, across more platforms).
- See other tips [L4 ] for open items that need an implementation or just a push.
DKF: Open TIPs:
- 86 Improved Debugger Support'
- 89 Try/Catch Exception Handling in the Core
- 97 Moving Vertices of Canvas Items
- 106 Add Encoding Abilities to the [dde] Command
- 119 Angled Text on a Canvas
- 122 Use tcl_{non,}wordchars Throughout Tcl/Tk
- 125 Adding [wm toplevel] Subcommand
- 128 Ability to Install a Custom Memory Allocator
- 133 Extending [expr] Operators
- 141 Multiple Initial-Files in [tk_getOpenFile] (just needs implementation)
- 145 Enhanced Tk Font Handling (just needs implementation)
- 154 Add Named Colors to Tk
- 160 Improvements to Terminal and Serial Channel Handling
- 162 IPv6 Sockets for Tcl
- 164 Add Rotate Subcommand to the Canvas Widget
- 166 Reading and Writing the Photo Image Alpha Channel
- 167 Add a New Option for Context Help for Windows
- 170 Better Support for Nested Lists
- 171 Change Default <MouseWheel> Bindings Behavior
- 174 Math Operators as Commands
- 178 [info pid] and [info tid] Subcommands
- 180 Add a Megawidget Support Core Package
- 185 Null Handling
- 186 Expose the Type and Modified-State of Widget Options
- 187 Procedures as Values
- 193 Simple Syntax Help System
- 195 Script Access to Tcl_GetIndexFromObj
- 197 Text Widget Persistant Cursor
- 198 Image Command XPM Extension
- 199 Specification of Alternatives to .wishrc/.tclshrc
- 210 Add 'tempname' Subcommand to [file]
- 211 Add Full Stack Trace Capability
- 213 A Standard Dialog for Font Selection
- 214 Add New Object Introspection Command
- 216 Handling Command-Line Options in Tclsh and Wish
- 220 Escalate Privileges in VFS Close Callback
- 224 Add New [array] Subcommands 'incr' and 'value'
- 225 Arithmetic Series with Optimized Space Complexity
- 228 Tcl Filesystem Reflection API
- 230 Tcl Channel Transformation Reflection API
- 234 Add Support For Zlib Compression
- 236 Absolute Positioning of Canvas Items
- 238 Fire Event when Widget Created
- 239 Enhance the 'load' Command
- 240 An Ensemble Command to Manage Processes
- 242 Preselect Filter on tk_get*File Dialogs (just needs implementation)
- 243 Supply Find Dialog for the Text Widget
- 244 PNG Photo Image Support for Tk
- 246 Unify Pattern Matching
- 248 Integrate Tile into Tk as Ttk (just needs implementation)
- 251 Enhance the 'list' Command
- 252 Add New 'string' Command Options
- 253 Consolidate Package-Related Commands
- 257 Object Orientation for Tcl
- 259 Making 'exec' Optionally Binary Safe
- 261 Return Imported Commands from [namespace import]
- 262 Background Images for Frames
- 264 Add Function to Retrieve the Interpreter of a Window
- 265 A Convenient C-side Command Option Parser for Tcl
- 266 Numbers are Commands
- 267 Allow 'exec' to Ignore Stderr
- 268 Enhanced 'package' Version Handling
- 269 Add 'string is list' to the 'string is' Subcommand
DKF: Additional notes on documentation that includes pictures:
If we are going to do this, we must move to doctools or tmml first, though it will still be possible to support inclusion of pictures within *roff format documentation using the .PSPIC macro [L5 ] provided we convert the pictures to postscript. It is not possible to support pictures in nroff output (how most Unix users use manual pages); ideally we'd provide a manual browser ourselves (with the demos?) that avoids this problem.
03-Feb-2006: Given that it's still at 8.5.a3, what's the current prediction for 8.5.0? I'm not complaining, mind you. Just curious.
04-Feb-2006 Paul Walton:
What about something like Tcl3D? Are there plans for something like that in the core, or is that better off left as an extension?
DKF (26-Apr-2006): No plans to do anything with 3D stuff for 8.5, and if it's fine as an extension, we could well leave it at that. Masses of apps don't need 3D, even if yours do. :-) But seriously, what (apart from possibly marketing) would be be the benefit to such integration? How would the code gain in functionality or speed from being in the core? Right now, this feels a bit like a WIBNI ("wouldn't it be nice if...")
US 26-Apr-2006: Isn't it time to add BLT's bgexec to the core (or something functionally similar)?
See TIP 240
Yeah! Great! This, a bit of signal handling and a way to change user/group ids would obsolete Tclx when it comes to writing daemons entirely in Tcl. The possibility to half-close a channel (came up in clt again recently) would complete the picture.
RLH 06-June-2006: I am just wondering how 8.5 is progressing. Are we going to see a release of it this year?
SYStems and I would like to ask about the Object Orientation tip, will it make the 8.5 release?
DKF: If I can find enough time to make method dispatch work right, yes. But I'm worked off my feet right now. :-(
RLH: If that is holding the release of 8.5 back then I would rather see a release and then an 8.5.1 or .2 with that included.
DKF: Tile/Ttk is the other big thing that we're waiting for. Everything else depends on people stepping up to the plate and having a go. :-)
RLH: Well okay, that is worth waiting for. : )
Category Documentation