Chapter 1: Introduction to TCL

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TCL/Tk Introduction

• About TCL

• About Tk

• Basic TCL Syntax

• TCL Command Overview

• Tk Basic Commands

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TCL/Tk Introduction – About TCL and Tk

About TCL
• Simple and programmable syntax
• Can be used as standalone application or embedded in programs
• Open source
• Interpreted language
• New TCL commands can be implemented using C language

About Tk
• Graphical user interface (GUI) toolkit
• Tk adds about 35 TCL commands
• Create and manipulate widgets
• Widget is a window in GUI with particular appearance and behavior

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TCL/Tk Introduction – Basic Tcl Syntax

• First item of a command line is a command name.

• The words in the command line are separated by one or more spaces.

• Words can be grouped with double quotes or curly braces.

• Commands are terminated with new line or semi-colon.

• A word starting with a dollar sign ($) must be a variable name. The string
will be replaced by the value of the variable.

• Words enclosed within square brackets must be a legal Tcl command.

The strings would be replaced by the results of evaluating the command.

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TCL/Tk Introduction – TCL Command Overview

• Text Output

• Variables and Variable Substitution

• Expressions

• Command Substitution

• Comparisons and Loops

• Lists

• Arrays

• Strings

• Procedures

• Namespaces

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TCL Command Overview – Text Output

• Print a string using puts command

Input: puts HyperWorks

Output: HyperWorks

• If string is more than one word, the string must be enclosed in either
double quotes (“ “) or braces ({ })

Input: puts “This is an example with quotes”

puts {This is an example with braces}

Output: This is an example with quotes

This is an example with braces

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TCL Command Overview – Text Output

• TCL command terminated with newline or semicolon ;

• Comments are designated with # at beginning of line or after semicolon

Input: # An example using a semicolon

puts “This is line 1”; puts {This is line 2}; #Note after the ;

Output: This is line 1

This is line 2

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TCL Command Overview – Variables

• Variables do not need to be declared before using

• Create variables using set command

• Delete variables using unset command

• Variable substitution done using $ to access value stored in variable

Input: set software "HyperWorks"

puts "The software we are using is $software"

Output: The software we are using is HyperWorks

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TCL Command Overview – Variables

• Variable substitution inside strings
• Difference between using double quotes and braces

• Variable substitution with double quotes

• Using \ before variable results in literal value being printed

Input: set Z Albany

set Z_LABEL “The Capitol of New York is: “
puts “$Z_LABEL $Z” ; # Prints the value of Z
puts “$Z_LABEL \$Z”; #Prints a literal $Z instead of the value
of Z
Output Albany
The Capitol of New York is:
The Capitol of New York is: Albany
The Capitol of New York is: $Z

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TCL Command Overview – Variables

• Variable substitution with braces
• Braces disable the substitution of variables with braces

Input: puts "$Z_LABEL $Z"

puts {$Z_LABEL $Z}

Output: The Capitol of New York is: Albany

$Z_LABEL $Z

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TCL Command Overview – Variables

• Multiple variable substitution

Input: set month 2

set day 3
set year 09
set date "$month:$day:$year"
puts $date

Output: 2:3:09

• Using eval command

Input: set foo “puts hi”

eval $foo

Output: hi

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TCL Command Overview – Expressions

• Expressions are evaluated using expr command

• Mathematical and rational expressions allowed

• Expressions consist of operands, operators, parenthesis

• White space between these are allowed

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TCL Command Overview – Expressions

• Operands can be:
• Numerical values (integer or floating-point)
• TCL variable using $
• String enclosed in double quotes or braces
• TCL command enclosed in brackets

• Operators can be:

• - + ~ ! Unary minus, unary plus, bit-wise NOT, logical NOT.
• * / % Multiply, divide, remainder.
• + - Add and subtract.
• << >> Left and right shift.
• < > <= >= Boolean less, greater, less than or equal, and greater than or equal.
• == != Boolean equal and not equal.
• & Bit-wise AND.
• ^ Bit-wise exclusive OR.
• | Bit-wise OR.
• && Logical AND.
• || Logical OR.

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TCL Command Overview – Expressions

• Rational Expression
• 0 is false; 1 is true

Input: expr 0 == 1

Output: 0

Input: expr 1 == 1

Output: 1

• Mathematical Expression

Input: expr 4 + 5

Output: 9

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TCL Command Overview – Expressions

• Mathematical functions supported in expressions:
abs cosh log sqrt
acos double log10 srand
asin exp pow tan
atan floor rand tanh
atan2 fmod round wide
ceil hypot sin
cos int sinh

Input: expr sin(2)

Output: 0.909297

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TCL Command Overview – Command Substitution

• Square brackets [ ] are used to achieve command substitution

• Text between [ ] are evaluated and its result is substituted in its place

Input: set my_height 6.0

puts "If I was 2 inches taller, I would be [expr

$my_height + (2.0 / 12.0)] feet tall"

Output: If I was 2 inches taller, I would be 6.16667 feet tall

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TCL Command Overview – Comparisons & Loops

• Decision making commands
• If-else statements
• Switch statement

• Looping statements
• while
• for
• foreach

• Commands can alter the flow of execution in response to some condition

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TCL Command Overview – Comparisons & Loops

• Using if-else statements
• if test1 body1 ?elseif test2 body2 elseif ...? ?else bodyn?

Input: set k 35
if {$k == 35} {
puts "Handling is good."
} elseif {$k == 20} {
puts "Ride is good."
} else {
puts "I am not sure of the quality of ride or
handling."
}

Output: Handling is good.

• Indentations are not required, but they make it easier to read the code

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TCL Command Overview – Comparisons & Loops

• Using switch statements
• switch ?options? string {pattern body ?pattern
body ...?}

Input: set num_legs 4

switch $num_legs {
2 {puts "It could be a human."}
4 {puts "It could be a cow."}
6 {puts "It could be an ant."}
8 {puts "It could be a spider."}
default {puts "It could be anything."}
}

Output: It could be a cow.

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TCL Command Overview – Comparisons & Loops

• Using for statements
• for init test reinit body

Input: for {set i 0} {$i < 5} {incr i 1} {

puts "In the for loop, and i == $i"
}

Output: In the for loop, and i == 0

In the for loop, and i == 1
In the for loop, and i == 2
In the for loop, and i == 3
In the for loop, and i == 4

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TCL Command Overview – Comparisons & Loops

• Using while statements
• while test body
Input: set i 0
while {$i < 5} {
puts "In the while loop, and i == $i"
incr i 1
}

Output: In the while loop, and i == 0

In the while loop, and i == 1
In the while loop, and i == 2
In the while loop, and i == 3
In the while loop, and i == 4

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TCL Command Overview – Comparisons & Loops

• Using foreach statements
• foreach varName list body

Input: foreach vowel {a e i o u} {

puts "$vowel is a vowel"
}

Output: a is a vowel
e is a vowel
i is a vowel
o is a vowel
u is a vowel

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TCL Command Overview – Lists

• Simple way to group items

• Deal with the collection of items as a single entity

• Lists can be defined by:

• A string:
• set lst “item1 item2 item3”
• A variable to be a list of values
• set lst {{item1} {item2} {item3}}
• Using the split command
• set lst [split “item1.item2.item3” “.”]
• Using the list command
• set lst [list “item1” “item2” “item3”]

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TCL Command Overview – Lists

• An individual member of list can be accessed with lindex

Input: set simple_list “John Joe Mary Susan”

puts [lindex $simple_list 0]
puts [lindex $simple_list 2]

Output: John
Mary

• List indexing is zero-based

• Lists can be iterated through using the foreach command

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TCL Command Overview – Lists

• The length of a list can be determined with llength

Input: set names {Canada India USA UK}

puts “List length is: [llength $names]”

Output: List length is: 4

• A value can be inserted into a list using linsert

Input: set names {Canada India USA UK}

set newnames [linsert $names 2 China]
puts “New list is: $newnames”

Output: New list is: Canada India China USA UK

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TCL Command Overview – Lists

• A list can be appended to using the lappend command

Input: set names {Canada India USA UK}

set newnames [lappend names China]
puts “New list is: $newnames”

Output: New list is: Canada India USA UK China

• Notice how with lappend the name of a variable containing the list
(names) is used rather than the list itself ($names).

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TCL Command Overview – Arrays

• Unlike arrays in many other languages, Tcl arrays are indexed by
keywords. The keywords can be easy to remember strings or integers,
just as you like.

• The values of the array elements can also be strings or numbers. A Tcl
array is created when you assign the first array element:
Input: set myArray(foo) "bar"
puts $myArray(foo)

Output: bar

• The array command is used in Tcl to manipulate array data.

Input: array set fruitColors {tomato red banana yellow}
puts $fruitColors(tomato)

Output: red

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TCL Command Overview – Strings

• Strings are a set of alphanumeric characters stored and manipulated together

• All data items in Tcl, including numeric values, are treated as strings.
• They are treated as other data types only as needed.
• This makes string manipulation and the associated commands very important and
frequently utilized.

Input:
set str "This is Canada"
puts "The string is: $str"
puts "The length of the string is: [string length $str]"
puts "The character at index 3 is: [string index $str 3]"
puts "The characters from index 3 through end are: [string range $str 3 end]"
puts "The index of the first occurrence of letter \"i\" is: [string first i $str]“

Output:
This is Canada
The string is: This is Canada
The length of the string is: 14
The character at index 3 is: s
The characters from index 3 through end are: s is Canada
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The index of the first occurrence of letter “i” is: 2
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TCL Command Overview – Procedures

• TCL procedures similar to functions in C

• Procedures may take arguments and may return values

• The basic syntax for defining a procedure is:

• proc name argList body

• Once a procedure is created, it is considered to be a command

• Called using its name, followed by a value for each of its arguments

• By default, the return value from a procedure is the result of the last
command in its body

• However, to return another value, the return command may be used

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TCL Command Overview – Procedures

Input: proc sum_proc {a b} { Output: The sum is 26
return [expr $a + $b] The magnitude of 3 is 3
} The magnitude of -2 is 2
proc magnitude {num} {
if {$num > 0} {
return $num
}
set num [expr $num * (-1)]
return $num
}
set num1 12
set num2 14
set sum [sum_proc $num1 $num2]
puts "The sum is $sum"
puts "The magnitude of 3 is [magnitude 3]"
puts "The magnitude of -2 is [magnitude -2]"

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TCL Command Overview – Namespace

• A namespace is a collection of commands and variables.

• Create and manipulate contexts for commands and variables

• It encapsulates the commands and variables to ensure that they won't

interfere with the commands and variables of other namespaces.

• Tcl has always had one such collection, which we refer to as the global
namespace.

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TCL Command Overview – Namespace

• The namespace eval command lets • Creates a new namespace
you create new namespaces. For containing the variable num and
example, the procedure bump.
namespace eval Counter {
• The commands and variables
namespace export bump
in this namespace are separate
variable num 0
from other commands and
proc bump {} {
variables in the same program.
variable num
incr num • If there is a command named
} bump in the global namespace,
} for example, it will be different
from the command bump in the
Counter namespace.

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TCL/Tk Introduction – Tk Basic Commands

• tk_getOpenFile

• tk_getSaveFile

• tk_chooseDirectory

• tk_messageBox

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Tk Basic Commands - tk_getOpenFile

• tk_getOpenFile pops up a dialog box for the user to select a file to
open
• Associated with the Open command in the File menu
• Its purpose is for the user to select an existing file only
• This dialog box does not open a file, it simply returns the filename so that
it can be used in your script.

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Tk Basic Commands - tk_getOpenFile

Input: set filename [tk_getOpenFile]

puts $filename

Output:

C:/Documents and Settings/training/My Documents/autosave.mvw

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Tk Basic Commands - tk_getOpenFile

• Additional options can be used with
the following format:
tk_getOpenFile ?option value ...?

• Example with option –filetypes

set types {
{{Text Files} {.txt} }
{{TCL Scripts} {.tcl}}
{{All Files} * }
}

set filename [tk_getOpenFile -filetypes $types]

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Tk Basic Commands - tk_getSaveFile

• tk_getSaveFile pops up dialog box for user to select a file to save

• Associated with the Saveas command in the File menu

• This dialog box does not save a file, it simply returns the filename so that it can be
used in your script

• Behaves the same way as tk_getOpenFile procedure

• Have the same options

• Example using –title option

Input: set filename [tk_getSaveFile –title “Select a File”]
puts $filename
Output: C:/Documents and Settings/training/My Documents/test.txt

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Tk Basic Commands - tk_chooseDirectory

• tk_chooseDirectory pops up a dialog box for the user to select a
directory

• Allows user to set a directory name to a variable to be used in a script

Input: set dirname [tk_chooseDirectory]

puts $dirname

Output: C:/temp

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Tk Basic Commands - tk_messageBox

• tk_messageBox procedure creates and displays a message window with
an application-specified message, an icon, and a set of buttons.
• The following example illustrates the tk_messageBox command with the
message option.
• This option allows you to specify the message to be displayed in the
message box.
• Input: tk_messageBox -message "This is the message to be displayed"
• Output:

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