I'd like to create a simple Windows GUI for my Perl program. It basically needs to spawn a window, write log information to a text box, and have an input box and a couple of start/stop buttons.
Does anyone have any tips as to which Perl modules I use? The people I work with like Qt, so that may be a preference, but I'm not bothered.
Perl 5.10 from Activestate come pre-compiled with Tkx which is a Gui Platform. You can download Perl Tk if you'd like a module with more web examples. Which ever module you use, you can download GUIbuilder from sourceforge and it writes pretty good Tk or Tkx code for perl, and Tk code for python, ruby.
This code was largely generated by GuiBuilder as an example of output code:
use Tkx;
Tkx::package_require('BWidget');
sub example::ui {
my($root) = @_;
my($_entry_box) = $root->new_entry(
-width => 0,
);
my($_text_box) = $root->new_text(
-height => 0,
-width => 0,
);
my($_label) = $root->new_label(
-text => "Hello World",
);
my($_textbox_horiz_scrollbar) = $root->new_scrollbar(
-orient => "horizontal",
);
my($_textbox_vert_scrollbar) = $root->new_scrollbar(
);
my($_Start_Button) = $root->new_Button(
-text => "Start",
-width => 10,
);
my($_Stop_Button) = $root->new_Button(
-text => "Stop",
-width => 10,
);
$_entry_box->configure(
-invalidcommand => \&_entry_box_invalidcommand
);
$_entry_box->configure(
-validatecommand => \&_entry_box_validatecommand
);
$_entry_box->configure(
-xscrollcommand => \&_entry_box_xscrollcommand
);
$_text_box->configure(
-xscrollcommand => [ $_textbox_horiz_scrollbar => set ]
);
$_text_box->configure(
-yscrollcommand => [ $_textbox_vert_scrollbar => set ]
);
$_textbox_horiz_scrollbar->configure(
-command => [ $_text_box => xview ]
);
$_textbox_vert_scrollbar->configure(
-command => [ $_text_box => yview ]
);
$_Start_Button->configure(
-armcommand => \&_Start_Button_armcommand
);
$_Start_Button->configure(
-command => \&_Start_Button_command
);
$_Start_Button->configure(
-disarmcommand => \&_Start_Button_disarmcommand
);
$_Stop_Button->configure(
-armcommand => \&_Stop_Button_armcommand
);
$_Stop_Button->configure(
-command => \&_Stop_Button_command
);
$_Stop_Button->configure(
-disarmcommand => \&_Stop_Button_disarmcommand
);
sub _entry_box_xscrollcommand {}
# Geometry Management
$_entry_box->g_grid(
-in => $root,
-column => 1,
-row => 2,
-columnspan => 3,
-ipadx => 0,
-ipady => 0,
-padx => 0,
-pady => 5,
-rowspan => 1,
-sticky => "ew"
);
$_text_box->g_grid(
-in => $root,
-column => 1,
-row => 3,
-columnspan => 2,
-ipadx => 0,
-ipady => 0,
-padx => 0,
-pady => 0,
-rowspan => 1,
-sticky => "news"
);
$_label->g_grid(
-in => $root,
-column => 1,
-row => 1,
-columnspan => 3,
-ipadx => 0,
-ipady => 0,
-padx => 0,
-pady => 0,
-rowspan => 1,
-sticky => "ew"
);
$_textbox_horiz_scrollbar->g_grid(
-in => $root,
-column => 1,
-row => 4,
-columnspan => 2,
-ipadx => 0,
-ipady => 0,
-padx => 0,
-pady => 0,
-rowspan => 1,
-sticky => "ew"
);
$_textbox_vert_scrollbar->g_grid(
-in => $root,
-column => 3,
-row => 3,
-columnspan => 1,
-ipadx => 0,
-ipady => 0,
-padx => 0,
-pady => 0,
-rowspan => 1,
-sticky => "ns"
);
$_Start_Button->g_grid(
-in => $root,
-column => 1,
-row => 5,
-columnspan => 1,
-ipadx => 0,
-ipady => 0,
-padx => 0,
-pady => 0,
-rowspan => 1,
-sticky => ""
);
$_Stop_Button->g_grid(
-in => $root,
-column => 2,
-row => 5,
-columnspan => 2,
-ipadx => 0,
-ipady => 0,
-padx => 0,
-pady => 0,
-rowspan => 1,
-sticky => ""
);
# Resize Behavior
$root->g_grid_rowconfigure(1, -weight => 0, -minsize => 2, -pad => 0);
$root->g_grid_rowconfigure(2, -weight => 0, -minsize => 12, -pad => 0);
$root->g_grid_rowconfigure(3, -weight => 1, -minsize => 85, -pad => 0);
$root->g_grid_rowconfigure(4, -weight => 0, -minsize => 4, -pad => 0);
$root->g_grid_rowconfigure(5, -weight => 0, -minsize => 40, -pad => 0);
$root->g_grid_columnconfigure(1, -weight => 1, -minsize => 67, -pad => 0);
$root->g_grid_columnconfigure(2, -weight => 1, -minsize => 186, -pad => 0);
$root->g_grid_columnconfigure(3, -weight => 0, -minsize => 2, -pad => 0);
}
my($root) = Tkx::widget->new('.');
$root->g_wm_title('stackoverflow');
example::ui($root);
Tkx::MainLoop();
1;
I did use Win32::GUI once for such a simple project. The main window had a menu, a text-box and a few buttons and checkboxes. It worked.
Excerpt from the method that sets up the GUI (just to give you an idea):
my @menu_items = (
'&File' => 'File',
' > &Open' => {
-name => 'FileOpen',
-onClick => sub { $self->onFileOpen(@_) },
},
' > &Close' => {
-name => 'FileClose',
-onClick => sub { $self->onFileClose(@_) },
},
' > E&xit' => {
-name => 'FileExit',
-onClick => sub { $self->onFileExit(@_) },
},
'&Help' => 'Help',
' > &About' => {
-name => 'About',
-onClick => sub { $self->onHelpAbout(@_) },
},
);
$self->set_main_menu( Win32::GUI::MakeMenu(@menu_items) );
my $window = $self->set_main_window(
Win32::GUI::Window->new(
-menu => $self->get_main_menu,
-name => 'Main',
-sizable => 0,
-resizable => 0,
-hasmaximize => 0,
-maximizebox => 0,
-title => $self->get_program_name,
-onTerminate => sub { -1 },
-onTimer => sub { $self->onTimer(@_) },
),
);
$self->set_log_field(
$window->AddTextfield(
-name => 'Log',
-font => Win32::GUI::Font->new(
-name => 'LogFont',
-face => 'Courier New',
-size => 9,
),
-multiline => 1,
-wantreturn => 1,
-autovscroll => 1,
-vscroll => 1,
-readonly => 1,
),
);
$self->get_log_field->MaxLength(40000);
$self->set_status_bar(
$window->AddStatusBar(
-name => 'Status',
-text => $self->get_program_name,
),
);
You have several choices:
I am partial to Gtk2. It is easily installed in MS Windows via the CamelBox installer.
A simple "hello world" style application looks like
#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;
use Gtk2;
Gtk2->init;
my $window = Gtk2::Window->new;
my $vbox = Gtk2::VBox->new;
my $label = Gtk2::Label->new("Hello World");
my $button = Gtk2::Button->new("Press me");
$window->add($vbox);
$vbox->add($label);
$vbox->add($button);
my $i;
$button->signal_connect(clicked => sub {
$label->set_text("button pressed " . ++$i . " times");
});
$window->signal_connect(destroy => sub { Gtk2->main_quit });
$window->show_all;
Gtk2->main;
The only one I have used is Perl Tk. It was quick to learn, there are many examples on the web, and I was able to port from Mac OS X to Windows quickly.
The downside is that the GUI looks dated. It is great for in-house tools, but not for selling to third parties.