neilwatson has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Fellow monks,
I am delving into Tk in an attempt to teach a child multiplication tables. My idea was:
  1. Use a scale from 1 to 12 to select times tables being tested.
  2. Generate question and answer box.
  3. Get answer.
  4. Check answer.
  5. Compute score.
  6. Regenerate question and answer box...

I am not familiar with the 'flow' of widgets and windows which makes it hard for me to generate code. Could some kind monks please help me? Here is what I have so far: 

#!/usr/bin/perl

use warnings;
use strict;
use Tk;

#flashcards for multiplication tables
#Neil H watson
#Tue Jul 15 20:24:47 EDT 2003

#upper time table limit
my $scale; 
my $table; 
my ($score, $guess, $num1, $num2, $answer);

#define main window
my $mw = MainWindow->new;
$mw->title("Times Table");

#scale to select upper limit (up to 12)
$mw->Scale(-from => 1,
           -to => 12,
           -variable => \$scale)->pack(-side => 'left');

question();

#guess widget
$mw->Entry(-width => 3,
           -takefocus => 1,
           -textvariable => \$guess)->pack(-side => 'right');

#question widget
$mw->Label(-text => "$num1 X $num2 =")->pack(-side => 'right');

#checking
if ($answer == $guess) {
    $score++
}else{
    $score--
}

MainLoop;

sub question {
    $table = $scale->get();
    $num1 = int(rand($table)+1);
    $num2 = int(rand(12)+1);
    $answer = $num1*$num2;
}

[download]

It doesn't do alot at this point (very rough code). Here are my questions:

  1. The get is not working. How do I get the value of the scale at any given time?
  2. After the user enters and answer and hits enter, how do I get the window to checks answers, compute scores and generate a new question?

Neil Watson
watson-wilson.ca

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Newbie Perl/Tk help
by Mr. Muskrat (Canon) on Jul 17, 2003 at 15:41 UTC

    1. $table = $scale;

    2. Couple things to do here.

    ....

my ($score, $guess, $num1, $num2, $answer, $question); # added $questi
+on

....

#question widget
$mw->Label(-textvariable => \$question)->pack(-side => 'right'); # cha
+nged -text to -textvariable
# button to submit answer
$mw->Button(-text => 'Check me', -command => sub { checkanswer(); } )-
+>pack(-side => 'right');

# add you score display stuff too

....

sub question {
    $table = $scale;
    $num1 = int(rand($table)+1);
    $num2 = int(rand(12)+1);
    $answer = $num1*$num2;
    $question = "$num1 x $num2 = ";
}

sub checkanswer {
  if ($answer == $guess) {
    $score++
  }else{
    $score--
  }

  # update score display here

  question(); # <-- generate a new question
}

    [download]

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Re: Newbie Perl/Tk help
by cbro (Pilgrim) on Jul 17, 2003 at 15:40 UTC
    Here is a small example that hints answers towards both of your questions.
    #!c:/perl/bin
use Tk;
use strict;
my $main = MainWindow->new();
my $value;
#
# here is an example of how to catch the key return.
# Again, this is just an example, but you will
# see that you get into the calc() function every time
# the user presses enter.

$main->bind('<Key-Return>', \&calc);
# O/K now that the Enter key is bound to the
# window, let's bind $value to the Scale and
# also give Scale a function where we can access
# it's members (e.g. the value of $value)
$main->Scale('orient' => 'horizontal',
             '-from' => 0,
             '-to' => 12,
             '-tickinterval' => 1,
             '-label' => 'Select Time Table',
             '-variable' => \$value,
             '-command' => \&calc)->pack;
MainLoop;

sub calc {
    # remember this is just an example.
    # This prints to the console, but
    # it shows that you have access to the value.
    print $value . "\n";
    #
    # Now that you're in the function, I'll leave
    # it up to you how to do the calculations, and
    # draw up/print a new question.
    # just know that you still have access to all of the
    # widgets that are part of the MainWindow. 
}

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