An interactive help utility that guides the user through a potentially complex task, such as configuring a PPP driver to work with a new modem. Wizards are often implemented as a sequence of dialog boxes which the user can move forwards and backwards through, filling in the details required. The implication is that the expertise of a human wizard in one of the above senses is encapsulated in the software wizard, allowing the average user to perform expertly.
What: TkWizard Where: http://www2.clearlight.com/~oakley/tcl/tkwizard/ Description: tkwizard is a megawidget for creating wizards. It is written in pure tcl and runs on any version of tcl/tk from 8.0 onward. Included with the distribution is a wizard for building wizards. While not a full fledged wizard IDE, it is sufficient to create the initial framework for a wizard. Plus it serves a dual purpose as an example of a simple wizard. I hope to add additional wizards when I release the final 1.0 product some day. Version: 1.0a1 Author: Bryan Oakley Updated: 2003/08/03
(Bryan Oakley 04-Aug-2003: I'm a bit embarrassed that I've let that project go without an update for almost two years. But, truth be told, in that two years I've only had perhaps a half-dozen comments, so it seems there's not a whole lot of interest. If interest picks up I'll take the time to make my latest changes available. So, the project isn't dead, I just haven't felt motivated to complete the docs and update the examples to work with the latest bits).
MGS [2003/08/04] - Well, I created this page because I was surprised to find one didn't exist. I started writing a package installer application, which then turned into a wizard, and so I started looking at TkWizard. I would certainly be interested in seeing whatever changes have been made since version 1.0a1. I am actually quite interested in incorporating some kind of wizard into my eWidgets Toolkit, whether it's based upon TkWizard, or whether I rip the guts out of my package installer. I think I may be trying to do more than what TkWizard is capable of, but then I may just be guilty of not fully reading and understanding the docs. Maybe some better examples could help?
schlenk [2003/08/07] - TkWizard is nice, but a bit unfinished in some respects (so the alpha is quite appropriate). Some better examples and some more work on layout control/images would be really great. (As would usage of msgcat).
SC [2005/02/22] -- snitwiz is my own wizard package based on snit.
MJ For a very basic wizard which leaves the creation of the separate pages up to you but will provide the navigation, the following can serve as a start:
package require Tk
# requires 8.5 because of use of {*}
package require Tcl 8.5
proc wizard {toplevel pages} {
toplevel $toplevel
set page_list {}
for {set i 1} {$i <= $pages} {incr i} {
set finish {}
set page $toplevel.p$i
frame $page
frame $page.page
lappend page_list $page.page
button $page.p -text Previous... -command [list move $page.page -1]
button $page.n -text Next... -command [list move $page.page 1]
if {$i == 1} {
$page.p configure -state disabled
}
if {$i == $pages} {
$page.n configure -state disabled
button $page.f -text Finish -command $toplevel.finish
set finish $page.f
}
grid $page.page -columnspan 4 -sticky nsew
grid $page.p $page.n {*}$finish
grid columnconfigure $page 3 -weight 1
grid rowconfigure $page 0 -weight 1
}
return $page_list
}
proc move {page {offset 0}} {
set page [winfo parent $page]
regexp {^(.*\.p)([0-9]+)$} $page -> root number
puts $number
pack forget $page
set newnumber [expr {$number + $offset}]
set newpage "$root$newnumber"
pack $newpage -fill both -expand 1
wm title [winfo toplevel $newpage] "Page $newnumber"
}
set pages [wizard .wzrd 10]
proc .wzrd.finish {args} {
# wzrd is finished
puts "finished"
destroy .wzrd
}
# set up pages
# every page returned by [wizard ...] is a frame where you can construct your page
foreach page $pages {
text $page.t
pack $page.t -fill both -expand 1
}
# show the first page
move [lindex $pages 1]
wm withdraw .
console show