Your '/System/Library/...' paths indicate that you're using Mac OS X. With this sort of question it's useful to specify the OS, its version, and the Perl version you're using (along with the versions of any relevant modules). I'm using Mac OS X 10.12.3 (Sierra) and Perl 5.24.0. The version of Tkx I'm using is 1.09: the latest version at the time of writing. The version of pp from 'pp -V': PAR Packager, version 1.036 (PAR version 1.014) (also the latest version).

"But alas our work computers don't allow folders to be copied to System with out admin login in."

Not "alas" at all, in my opinion; that's actually very sensible. Don't mess the system Perl (or other system files). If you install a module that currently doesn't exist, the installation may upgrade a module that does exist due to a version dependency, which could break something used by Mac OS X. If you upgrade Mac OS X, it will likely remove the system Perl, along with all related files (modules, utilities, etc.), which will, no doubt, break (some of) your existing Perl programs. I recommend you use Perlbrew: I've been using this on many Mac OS X versions (10.6.x to 10.12.3) over the last seven years - it works well.

You have inconsistencies in your post that may have some bearing on your problems:

• In your description you have "System\Library\Tcl\8.5\TkDND"; in your pp command you're using "/System/Library/Tcl/8.4/..." exclusively. Note: 8.5 vs. 8.4; and, incorrect backward slashes (\) in the description.
• In your pp command you have '-M Tk::Text'. That's a Tk widget, not a Tkx widget.

"... it runs but doesn't display the main window."

I don't understand this. What exactly do you mean by "the main window"? Does the GUI not display but some other processing is occurring? Are you getting log entries, screen messages, or something else to indicate that it's running?

I put together a short script for testing 'pp'. It's basically the "Hello world" code from the Tkx Synopsis, plus a text widget (code from http://www.tkdocs.com/tutorial/morewidgets.html#text). Here's '~/tmp/pm_1182585_tkx_hello.pl' (which runs, without any issues, from the command line):

#!/usr/bin/env perl

use strict;
use warnings;

use Tkx;

my $mw = Tkx::widget->new(".");

$mw->new_button(
   -text => "Hello, world",
   -command => sub { $mw->g_destroy; },
)->g_pack;

my $text_widget = $mw->new_tk__text(-width => 40, -height => 10);
$text_widget->g_pack;
$text_widget->insert('1.0', 'Test text to test a text widget.');

Tkx::MainLoop();
[download]

I tried 'pp' with just the '-o' option.

ken@ganymede: ~/tmp
$ pp -o pm_1182585_tkx_hello pm_1182585_tkx_hello.pl
ken@ganymede: ~/tmp
$ ls -al pm_*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 ken staff 3261537 Feb 23 19:44 pm_1182585_tkx_hello
-rwxr-xr-x 1 ken staff     360 Feb 23 17:27 pm_1182585_tkx_hello.pl
ken@ganymede: ~/tmp
$ pm_1182585_tkx_hello
ken@ganymede: ~/tmp
$
[download]

The generated program, 'pm_1182585_tkx_hello', like the original script, 'pm_1182585_tkx_hello.pl', runs without any problems: it appears correctly; the text is displayed; the button works.

So, the base test shows Mac OS X, 'pp' and 'Tkx' all work together without any special options.

I'd go back and look at the inconsistencies I mentioned; maybe fixing those might help. I strongly advise you to stop using the system Perl. Upgrade 'pp' and 'Tkx' if you don't have the latest versions.

You should also try some minimal tests: can you successfully use 'pp' for a basic "Hello world" GUI? Repeat my test with the text widget: does that work? Slowly add elements to the GUI until you find something that fails: it may have nothing to do with 'TkDND'.

Another thing to check is $PATH. The 'which' command should show both 'perl' and 'pp' in the same 'bin' directory.

If all of that fails, describe exactly what you've tried, then put together a minimal script, such as I did, using 'TkDND', and describe how that fails (include verbatim warning and error messages).

is this on windows?

in Tkx example was:Re^3: Tcl & Tcl::Tk used for 1 main window i posted a working TKDND program i use from time to time. To get it to work i needed to place tkdnd2.6 into a known location (d:\active\tkx_extra\tkdnd2.6) and then use tk-magic

Tkx::lappend('::auto_path', 'd:\active\tkx_extra\tkdnd2.6');
Tkx::package_require('tkdnd');
[download]

tkkit is the name of a reduced tcl/tk environment that activestate perl makes available. based on your System\Library\Tcl\8.5\ path i dont think you are using it, but you might find some clues to extending it in http://grokbase.com/t/perl/tcltk/102hfq8ynx/drag-n-drop-in-perl-tkx/oldest

i suspect your -l magic with pp is making those needed files available SOMEWHERE. Based on your begin-magic structure above i suspect it is under $ENV{PAR_TEMP} somewhere. you might try playing with variants of

Tkx::lappend('::auto_path', $ENV{PAR_TEMP});
Tkx::package_require('tkdnd');
[download]

another option might just be to distribute the tkdnd2.8 package and install it to some location you know you can write to, such as where the pp'ed executable is. in that case you could do

my $where_tkdnd_is=cwd; # or some other way to determine where we are 
+running from 
Tkx::lappend('::auto_path', $where_tkdnd_is);
Tkx::package_require('tkdnd');
[download]

Hi,

You're debugging so you should turn on verbosity and debugging so you can see what is going on (what files end up where)

-M Tk::Text has nothing to do with Tkx module or Tcl module, or "tkdnd" so its not going to help you here

the -l option is for .dll/.so files not for pkgIndex.tcl....

You should investigate the -a option you might have better luck with something like -a "C:\Tcl"

It also maybe be interesting to see what happens with ppsimple.pl

And if you've got the time and are up for pure experimentation knowing ahead of time it won't be any easier than par/pp just different, maybe http://www.cavapackager.com/appdocs/overview-supportedos.htm

So i was bored and wanted to know more, and searched around.

The comments from Anonymous Monk and kcott seen very on target, specifically using -a rather than -l

I do still think you will need to include some sort of Tkx::lappend and Tkx::package_require statements but where should the lappend point to?

my first clue came in http://www.perl.com/pub/2007/07/ "A further consideration here is PAR , the tool for creating standalone executables from Perl programs. PAR lets you include data files as well as Perl code, so you can bundle a default settings file using a command such as:

pp hello -o hello.exe -a hello.conf
[download]

But i kept searching, i may want to use pp sometime myself, and got to http://cpansearch.perl.org/src/RSCHUPP/PAR-Packer-1.036/contrib/docs/where_is_it.txt. Pay particular attention to the sections begining "So much for program components. What if we want to put some data files intothe PAR package?" and then the section begining "So how can I access the files I added with -a or -A ?" and how the clean option modifies what is "unzipped". This will detail what you want to append to $ENV{PAR_TEMP} in the Tkx::lappend call depending on the stuff after the semi-colon in the -a option. I still suspect you will then need the Tkx::package_require('tkdnd'); call.

Good luck