Introspect

Introspect is a graphical application for examining and modifying the application state of other programs via send/dde. It can be invoked in an application via <Control-Alt-Shift-2> or run directly using:

 wize /zvfs/wiz/introspect.tcl

Introspect uses a TreeView to display resources such as Procs, Vars, Widgets, Fonts, etc. It contains a Sandbox environment to let you experiment with widgets/elements, the command/option hierarcy of all builtin commands, and access to all online documention.

Here are screenshots of the Introspect tabs:

Interps

Interps uses a TreeView to display all non-windows resources. This includes namespaces (both commands and variables), fonts, images and events. These are all indexed by interp name, one for each Tk program running under the window managers display.

Variables can have their value changed by double clicking on the Value column.

Command procs can be dynamically edited in the running program by double clicking on the proc value column. The file containing a proc can be edited by double clicking on the file value column.

Usually, a sub-tree can be refreshed just by closing and reopening it.

There are several checkboxes that control viewing:

Remotes

Check to show all remote interps.

Hide Commands

Hide all non-proc commands.

Hide Builtins

Hide all commands, procs or vars that are considered builtin. These mostly affect only the :: namespace.

Windows

Windows uses a TreeView to display all widget window resources. These are all indexed by interp name, one for each Tk program running under the window managers display.

Option values can be changed by double clicking on the Value column.

The following checkbox option is available.

Hide Properties

Check to display only the window tree hierarchy, without the properties (bindings, winfo and options).

Sandbox

The Sandbox environment contains one of every Tk widgets available in Wize as well as one of each type of item (for widgets supporting items).

The widgets/items may be examined and changed dynamically. This provides instantaneous access to real working widgets and items and their options.

Cmds

The command/option hierarcy for all builtin commands in Wize. Many commands in Tcl take sub-commands and even sub-sub-commands each of which may take various arguments and options. This allows you to view the signatures for each command.

Double clicking on any command gives a detailed breakdown of that commands arguments in the right hand pane. Some commands have detailed type information included For and example, checkout Tcl/fconfigure.

These are broken down into 5 groups:

• Widgets - The widget commands.
• Tcl - The Tcl commands.
• Tk - The Tk commands
• Blt - The BLT specific extension commands.
• Misc - Reserved for future use.

Manuals

Finally, it provides access to all online documention, both for the Tcl/Tk commands and for Tcl's C-programming API.

Double clicking on any man page will display the manual in a new tab. Right click on any tab to close it. Or use <Control-s> to search the page.

Click on the INDEX link at top to go to the table of contents, where you can click on more links. Use <Alt-left> to return from a link.

© 2008 Peter MacDonald