Aqua & Perl/Tk

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

I recently asked (as an Anonymous Monk) a question about Mac GUI options for Perl on OS/X, of which I recieved some great answers about CamelBones. Problem is though, CamelBones is against my culture -- I'm a vi man. :) Seriously, I don't like coding user interfaces using other user interfaces. I can't stand it.

So, "good news!" I said when I found these:
http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2004/07/27/ruby_pt3.html
http://www.rubygarden.org/ruby?RubyTkOnOSX

Well, almost, it's Spiffy Tk in Aqua without a GUI (rock on!), but note that the language is Ruby. While Ruby is a fine language, I am in agreement with Larry and his State of the Onion talk ... popping out of the Perl box will make me explode, and I'd love to continue coding in Perl. Why? CPAN. CPAN is the nectar of the Gods. Well, that, and Larry is funnier than Matz.

The question is thus: What would it take to make Perl/Tk on my system work with this Aqua version of Tcl/Tk? All usenet and forum inquiries have fallen on deaf ears, or no one has tried, but ... here's the kicker ... no one has asked on PerlMonks yet. So there may be hope. Some poeple have posted about trying but have given up hope ... but again, no one has asked on PerlMonks.

If no one has managed to compile Perl/Tk for Tcl/Tk/Aqua, I'd like to try ... if we need to modify the build scripts that would be nice too, especially if the package maintainer could pick them up. ("Do you want to use your installed copy of Tcl/Tk/Aqua ??").

Comment on Aqua & Perl/Tk

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
•Re: Aqua & Perl/Tk by merlyn (Sage) on Aug 25, 2004 at 00:43 UTC
My understanding (without success) is that Tcl::Tk will let you talk to a native Tcl/Tk, with a few restrictions. This should let you bridge from a Perl program to Aqua-Tk with a few weirdnesses. -- Randal L. Schwartz, Perl hacker Be sure to read my standard disclaimer if this is a reply.	[reply]
Re^2: Aqua & Perl/Tk by SpanishInquisition (Pilgrim) on Aug 25, 2004 at 13:58 UTC
I'll check this out too ... didn't realize there was an alternative to Perl/Tk ... thanks!	[reply]
Re: Aqua & Perl/Tk by kvale (Monsignor) on Aug 24, 2004 at 20:06 UTC
I do not know of a perl binding for the Aqua Tk toolkit (but that does not mean there isn't one). If you wanted the start using the Aqua toolkit now with a minimum of fuss, just write the GUI in Ruby or Tcl, the rest of the program in Perl, and open a pipe between the two components to connect them. I don't know about Ruby, but Tcl is a very easy language to learn and it would take little additional time to build the GUI in it. Having the GUI code separated from the main engine also has the advantage of allowing testing of the engine in a CLI environment, something that should appeal to vi-types. -Mark	[reply]
Re^2: Aqua & Perl/Tk by SpanishInquisition (Pilgrim) on Aug 24, 2004 at 22:38 UTC
Until Inline::Ruby is available :)	[reply]
Re: Aqua & Perl/Tk by borisz (Canon) on Aug 24, 2004 at 21:55 UTC
Here is already a native Tcl/Tk Aqua port. tcltkaqua Boris	[reply]
Re^2: Aqua & Perl/Tk by SpanishInquisition (Pilgrim) on Aug 24, 2004 at 22:37 UTC
Boris, This was EXACTLY what I was referring to in my post (see link to the home page for this exact same project), though it is unclear if it was compatible with Perl/Tk. Needless to say -- I'll try.	[reply]
Re^3: Aqua & Perl/Tk by borisz (Canon) on Aug 24, 2004 at 23:04 UTC
Ooppss, I did not follow the Ruby link, Sorry. I do not know of any perl bindings to that tcltk port. Boris	[reply]
Re: Aqua & Perl/Tk by Jaap (Curate) on Aug 25, 2004 at 11:40 UTC
Couldn't wxPerl (based on c++ wxWidgets) work for you? wxPerl screenshot page with MacOS X	[reply]
Re^2: Aqua & Perl/Tk by SpanishInquisition (Pilgrim) on Aug 25, 2004 at 13:55 UTC
Most likely that's the way to go... It turns out that even getting Ruby to link up with that Tk installation (which is a VERY nice Tk installation) is a bit challenging in it's own right. wxPerl is definitely portable enough. I don't neccessarily need something that is trivial to install, but if applications work in Windows, Linux, and MacOS after jumping through minimal hoops, it's all good :) I haven't played with wx in about a year (and then it was only explatory), so revisting it makes sense.	[reply]