20  TCL/Tk interface

20.1   ScilabEval tcl instruction : Evaluate a string with scilab interpreter

• o str : tcl string character Contains the string to evaluate with the current scilab interpreter.

# this text must be saved into a file, for instance 
#  TMPDIR+'/test.tcl'
# then launch scilab and type TK_EvalFile(TMPDIR+'/test.tcl');
toplevel .w1
button .w1.b -text "Click here to see a new Scilab Graphic Window"\
  -command {ScilabEval "xselect()"}
pack .w1.b 

20.2   TK_EvalFile Reads and evaluate a tcl/tk file

• o filename : string character Contains the name of the file to read and evaluate.

20.3   TK_EvalStr Evaluate a string whithin the tcl/tk interpreter

• o str : string character Contains the string to evaluate within tcl/tk

TK_EvalStr('toplevel .foo');
// creates a toplevel TK window. 
TK_EvalStr('label .foo.l -text ""TK married Scilab !!!""');
// create a static label
TK_EvalStr('pack .foo.l');
// pack the label widget. It appears on the screen.
text='button .foo.b -text close -command {destroy .foo}';
TK_EvalStr(text);
TK_EvalStr('pack .foo.b');

20.4   TK_GetVar Get a tcl/tk variable value

• o varname : string character Contains the name of the tcl/tk variable.

• o value : string character Contains the value of the tcl/tk variable 'varname'.

TK_EvalStr('toplevel .foo');
// creates a toplevel TK window. 
TK_EvalStr('entry .foo.e -textvariable tvar');
// create an editable entry
TK_EvalStr('set tvar foobar');
// set the entry value
TK_EvalStr('pack .foo.e');
// pack the entry widget. It appears on the screen.
text=TK_GetVar('tvar')
// retrieve the variable value
// change the entry text and repeat the last command ...

20.5   TK_SetVar Set a tcl/tk variable value

• o varname : string character Contains the name of the tcl/tk variable to set.
• o value : string character Contains the value to set up in the tcl/tk variable

20.6   close close a figure

• o h : integer Handle of the window to close

h=figure();
// creates  figure number 1.  
uicontrol( h, 'style','text', ...
 'string','scilab is great', ...
 'position',[50 70 100 100], ...
 'fontsize',15);
// put a clever text in figure 1
figure();
// create figure 2
uicontrol( 'style','text', ...
 'string','Really great', 'position',[50 70 100 100], 'fontsize',15);
// put a text in figure 2
close();
// close the current graphic window (ie fig. 2)
close(h);
// close figure 1

20.7   figure create a figure

• o h : integer Handle of the window to create. If not specified, the first free handle is used
• o prop{1, 2 ...}: character string name of a property to set
• o val{1, 2 ...}: scilab object value to give to the corresponding property

h=figure(3);
// creates  figure number 1.
uicontrol( h, 'style','text', ...
 'string','This is a figure', ...
 'position',[50 70 100 100], ...
 'fontsize',15);
// put a  text in figure 3
figure();
// create figure 1
uicontrol( 'style','text', ...
 'string','Another figure', ...
 'position',[50 70 100 100], ...
 'fontsize',15);
// put a text in figure 1
close();
// close the current graphic window (ie fig. 1)
close(h);
// close figure 3

20.8   findobj find an object with specified property

• o prop : string character Name of the property to test.
• o value : string character specify the value the tested propoerty should be equal to.

h=figure();
// creates  figure number 1.
uicontrol( h, 'style','text', ...
 'string','This is a figure', ...
 'position',[50 70 100 100], ...
 'fontsize',15, ...
 'tag','Alabel');
// put a  text in figure 1
lab=findobj('tag','Alabel');
// find the object which 'tag' value is 'Alabel'
disp('the handle of the label is '+string(lab));
close();

20.9   gcf gets the current figure

figure(5);
figure();
figure();
gcf()
// returns 2
close(gcf());
// close figure 2
gcf()
// returns 1
close(1);
gcf()
// returns 5
close(5);

20.10   get get an UI object property value

• o h : integer the handle of the object to retrieve a property
• o prop : character string name of the property

• o val : scilab object value of the property

h=uicontrol('string', 'Button');
// Opens a window with a  button.
p=get(h,'position');
// get the geometric qspect of the button
disp('Button width: ' + string(p(3)));
// print the width of the button
close();
// close figure

20.11   set set an UI object property value

• o h : integer the handle of the object which to set a property up
• o prop : character string name of the property
• o val : scilab object value to give to the property

h=uicontrol('string', 'Button');
// Opens a window with a  button.
set(h,'position',[ 50 50 100 100]);
// set the geometric aspect of the button
close();
// close figure

20.12   uicontrol create a Graphic User Interface object

• o f : integer handle of the figure which will contain the control
• o prop{1, 2 ...}: character string name of a property to set
• o val{1, 2 ...}: scilab object value to give to the corresponding property

• o Check Boxes : Max is the value the 'value' property take when control is checked
• o Silders : Maximinum value of the slider
• o List boxes : if (Max-Min)>1 the list allows multiple selection, Otherwise not.

• o Check Boxes : Min is the value the 'value' property take when control is unchecked
• o Silders : Mininum value of the slider
• o List boxes : if (Max-Min)>1 the list allows multiple selection, Otherwise not.

• o List Boxes, Popup Menu the value can be a vector of string or a string where the items are separated by a '|'.

• o pushbutton A rectangular button generally used to run a callback.
• o radiobutton A button whith to states : on or off.
• o checkbox a small uicontrol that have to state : on or off
• o edit an editable string control
• o text a text control (generally static).
• o slider a scale control, that is a scrollbar use to set values between in range with the mouse.
• o frame a control representing a zone used to group of related controls.
• o listbox a control representing a list of item that can be scrolled. The item can be selected with the mouse.
• o popupmenu a button which make a menu appear when clicked.

• o Check boxes, Radio buttons value is set to Max (see above) when on and Min when off.
• o List Boxes, Popu Menu value is a vector of indexes corresponding to the index of the selected entry in the list. 1 is the first item of the list.
• o Sliders value indicated by the slider bar.

f=figure();
// create a figure
h=uicontrol(f,'style','listbox', ...
 'position', [10 10 150 160]);
// create a listbox
set(h, 'string', "item 1|item 2|item3");
// fill the list
set(h, 'value', [1 3]);
// select item 1 and 3 in the list
close();
// close the figure
f=figure();
// create a figure
h=uicontrol(f,'style','listbox', ...
 'position', [10 10 150 160]);
// create a listbox
set(h, 'string', "item 1|item 2|item3");
// fill the list
set(h, 'value', [1 3]);
// select (highlight) the item 1 and 3 in the list
close();
//close the figure

20.13   uimenu Create a menu or a submenu in a figure

• o parent : integer Handle of menu's parent
• o prop? : string character name of a propoerty to set up
• o val?? : scilab object value to affect to the corresponding property

• o h : integer handle of the corresponding menu

f=figure('position', [10 10 300 200]);
// create a figure
m=uimenu(f,'label', 'windows');
// create an item on the menu bar
m1=uimenu(m,'label', 'operations');
m2=uimenu(m,'label', 'quit scilab', 'callback', "exit");
//create two items in the menu "windows"
m11=uimenu(m1,'label', 'new window', 'callback',"xselect()");
m12=uimenu(m1,'label', 'clear  window', 'callback',"xbasc()");
// create a submenu to the item "operations"
close(f);
// close the figure