<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>prototype new GIS Manager in TclTk</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<FONT FACE="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN DEFANGED_STYLE='font-size:12.0px'>Following up on the discussions on the next generation GUI for GRASS, I’m working with several people on an interim GUI in TclTk that will begin to implement ideas in the UI roadmap. The idea is to enhance the current TclTk GUI so that display functions can increasingly be built into the GUI system rather than depending on d.* modules’ interactions with an x-display. We hope that this will encourage GRASS developers in general to modify GRASS display modules so that they do not require an x-display, and can be implemented in a wider variety of display/GUI systems.<BR>
<BR>
My first step for TclTk has been to move GRASS map displays to a TclTk canvas, and create display management tools in TclTk. I’ve done this using the PNG driver, so it doesn’t depend on x11 for display. This has a number of advantages for usability (easier zooming and panning, constant display of geographic coordinates in an indicator window), seems faster for large maps, and has several nice features for continued development. One is direct printing to postcript (currently I’ve got a very simple version of this running with eps output). Another is the ability for each display to have it’s own layer tree and region settings (the next thing I’ll try to implement).<BR>
<BR>
Basic raster querying is functioning, but vector query will need to await modification of d.what.vect to accept xy coordinates. I <B>think</B> that nviz displays in a canvas. If so, it could be better integrated in the new display system. To drop the xdriver completely would require changes to programs that require it for display—including v.digit and r.digit, d.rast.edit, d.profile, and i.points at least. For now, these can run by simply opening an x-display using d.mon. In the interim, we simply need to create a set of scripts or TclTk procedures that will automatically open (and hopefully close) the required x-monitor.<BR>
<BR>
Please don’t hesitate to give the new prototype GIS Manager a try. To install, simply drop the gis.m script into $GISBASE/scripts and put the /gm folder into $GISBASE/etc. Then run gis.m & from the GRASS command line to start it. You'll want to open a canvas display monitor, using the grey monitor button on the left. <BR>
<BR>
You can find it on my website at <<FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><U><a href="http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton/files/grass_gismgr/gism_o50110.tgz">http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton/files/grass_gismgr/gism_o50110.tgz</a></U></FONT>><BR>
</SPAN></FONT><FONT SIZE="2"><FONT FACE="Monaco, Courier New"><SPAN DEFANGED_STYLE='font-size:10.0px'><BR>
</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT FACE="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN DEFANGED_STYLE='font-size:12.0px'>Enjoy! And let me know your thoughts.<BR>
<BR>
Michael<BR>
______________________________<BR>
Michael Barton, Professor of Anthropology<BR>
School of Human Evolution and Social Change<BR>
Arizona State University<BR>
Tempe, AZ 85287-2402<BR>
USA<BR>
<BR>
voice: 480-965-6262; fax: 480-965-7671<BR>
www: <a href="http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton">http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton</a><BR>
</SPAN></FONT>
</BODY>
</HTML>