Still, using binary data seems to be faster:

Definitely worth having. I look forward to it filtering it's way through the chain into a an AS distribution.

Maybe it's somehow possible to prevent this, for example by using a special reference or magics for the value of -data, which wouldn't be upgraded by Tcl_GetString calls.

I'm not sure what you mean by a "special reference"?

To me, it doesn't make sense to pass such large volumes of data (as images tend to be) by value. Especially if the receiver is going to have to make another copy when it gets it. If the call was designed to take a reference, then it could read the data directly from the callers space as it does whatever (the first) conversion is needed.

That needn't even change the current interface. It just needs to test if it's been given a reference and do the current thing if not.

But I think I have first to learn how the Perl/Tk internals work at all...

Out of interest, how big are the sources for Perl/Tk? Anything beyond a few 10s of MB, and it gets silly trying to get an up to date copy via a 40kb/s connection. It changes faster than I can download it.

Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error.
Lingua non convalesco, consenesco et abolesco. -- Rule 1 has a caveat! -- Who broke the cabal?
"Science is about questioning the status quo. Questioning authority".
In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice.

In reply to Re^7: Tk:Photo -data with binary data? by BrowserUk
in thread Tk:Photo -data with binary data? by BrowserUk

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.