Marto is right about the -x switch; I hadn't yet read that far in the pp docs, but now I see why "pp" would want to run the program first, to further evaluate what other modules (eg. DLLs) are needed.

He's also correct about the cached files, it seems that using the -C (or --clean) switch to "pp" will:

Clean up temporary files extracted from the application at runtime. By
+ default, these files are cached in the temporary directory; this all
+ows the program to start up faster next time.
[download]

I'm excited that this new way (for me) of packaging Perl programs seems an elegant (and cheap) alternative to ASP's "perlapp". I tried using it with Tk and it worked very smoothly.

Here's my demo program; you can call it with --exe to build the executable:

##
#  PAR::Packer example using Tk
#
#  Notes:
#
#      1.  Run this script, and it creates a simple Tk App
#      2.  Install PAR::Packer in Windows using:
#
#           C:\>  ppm install MinGW
#           C:\>  cpanp i PAR::Packer
#
#          Don't worry if Win32::Exe tests fail:
#
#            dmake.exe:  Error code 129, while making 'test_dynamic'
#            dmake.exe:  Error code @55, while making 'sudirs-test'
#
#          Just select 'y' when prompted:  Proceed anyway? [y/N]: y
#
#      3.  To make the executable, type "<script> --exe"
#
#


###############
## Libraries ##
###############
use strict;
use warnings;
use File::Basename;
use Tk;


##################
## Main program ##
##################
my $src = basename $0;
(my $exe = $src) =~ s/[.]pl$/.exe/;

if (@ARGV > 0 and $ARGV[0] eq '--exe') {
    my $cmd = "pp --gui -o $exe $src";
    print "Command:  $cmd\n";
    system($cmd);
    exit;
}


# Tk Gui
my $mw  = new MainWindow(-title => 'PAR::Packer with Tk Example');
my $frm = $mw->Frame->pack(-expand => 1, -fill => 'both');
my $b1  = $frm->Button(-bg => '#ffefb3', -text => 'Hello World');
my $b2  = $frm->Button(-bg => '#ffefb3', -text => 'Quit (^Q)');
$b1->configure(-command => sub { print "Hello world!\n" });
$b2->configure(-command => sub { exit });
$b1->pack(-side => 'left');
$b2->pack(-side => 'right');
$mw->bind("<Control-q>" => sub { $b2->invoke });
$mw->MainLoop;
[download]

You may also be interested in -T which allows you to specify a location for the cache. Out of interest have you tested using Strawberry Perl vs ActiveState?

Thanks again. Now I have to go and learn how to use Tk beyond a simple test case.
Do you have any suggestions on a good site.
I've googled but it's always nice to hear what people in the know think.

• Re: TclTk interface with Perl code, is it possible?
• perl Tk help
• RFC: Learning Perl/Tk
• Perl/Tk: For Beginners
• Re^3: [Tkx] Search for dialog box for text input
• Re^2: GUI toolkit+designer for the perl newbie
• Re: Easier GUI
• Re: Should I use Perl/TK?
• Re^2: need a popup gui stdin
• some Tkx tutorial links

Some offsite resources:

• the Tk distro
• Perl/Tk Tutorial
• PerlTk.org
• notes for a basic intro by Kobes
• Reginald Tapo's tutorials Tk::Tree and Tk::DirTree; and Perl/Tk Named Colors (aka rgb.txt)

The main way I've gotten experience in perl/Tk is via the book "Learning Perl/Tk" from O'Reilly, by Nancy Walsh.

There are so many great things you can do with perl/Tk, and it's platform agnostic, so anything I write for Linux is useable under Windows as well.

Try writing some simple applications that are of interest to you, and let us know when you have any questions. ;)

say  substr+lc crypt(qw $i3 SI$),4,5