#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;
use Tk qw/tkinit DoOneEvent exit DONT_WAIT ALL_EVENTS/;
use Tk::JComboBox;

my $mw  = MainWindow->new();

my $combo = $mw->JComboBox(
    -choices => [
        { -name => 'Black', -value => 1 },
        { -name => 'Blue', -value => 2 },
        { -name => 'Green', -value => 3 },
        { -name => 'Purple', -value => 4 },
        'Red',
        { -name => 'Yellow', -value => 5 }
    ]
)->pack;

my $count = 0;
my $timer = $mw->repeat(1000,sub{ $count++; });


while ( Tk::Exists($mw)  ) {
  $mw->DoOneEvent( DONT_WAIT | ALL_EVENTS ); 
  print "$count\n";

  if( $count > 10 ){ $mw->destroy }
}

print "end of gui, press a key to continue\n";

<>;

print "exiting\n";
[download]

Hi.

In Tkx, there's Tkx::i::DoOneEvent(), which I also tried, but it's horribly slow (I believe it does literally ONE event each time it's called). Is there a Tkx equivalent of ( DONT_WAIT | ALL_EVENTS )? That looks like it would do what I need, but I've been unsuccessful with the Google on that one. Tkx.pm passes all arguments of DoOneEvent to Tcl/Tk, and I've tried all sorts of ways of putting ( DONT_WAIT | ALL_EVENTS ) in there without success.

Thanks.

Use pure Tk, if Tkx dosn't have DONT_WAIT.

---

I'm not really a human, but I play one on earth Remember How Lucky You Are

I don't have Tkx, and can't run your code, but you need to understand what an eventloop is. When you call MainLoop, you start the eventloop and the widgets work. What is probably happening is you are starting the after timer, then since you never start the MainLoop, there is no eventloop for it to run in.

I can't run your code, but you might try this, which is a manual MainLoop, at the end of your code, or put it in your while loop

while (1) { 
   $mw->DoOneEvent( DONT_WAIT | ALL_EVENTS ); 
}
[download]

But if you are converting from a console app to a gui, and need to keep things going in the background, there are much better ways than what you are trying. Post exactly what type of console app it is, what is does, and what kind of a gui you need for it. Usually a piped open, fork, or threads will work fine.

But Perl will let you do things the hard way if you want. :-)

Yes, I know what an eventloop is, but I have background stuff going on in addition to making widgets work. Calling Tkx::update() was one way to keep widgets working in my manual MainLoop, and Tkx::i::DoOneEvent was another way. DoOneEvent is way too slow; it seems like it does ONE event each time it's called, and with the background stuff, the GUI is quite unresponsive.

The main problem is that I am not starting the timer. Tkx or Tcl/Tk (since Tkx is supposed to be just a wrapper for this) is starting it when the dropdown opens, and fails to stop it if the dropdown is closed in a way other than by clicking the down arrow or clicking in the entry field directly beside the down arrow.

I guess my question is how to stop that timer automatically. Or how to determine the timer number associated with that dropdown so I can manually cancel it with Tkx::after_cancel().

Tkx::i::DoOneEvent( DONT_WAIT | ALL_EVENTS ); looks like it could do what I need, but unfortunately I have been unable to Google how to get it to recognize ( DONT_WAIT | ALL_EVENTS ), or what their Tkx equivalent is.

Widgets won't work right if you have background stuff going at the same time, unless your background stuff is forked or threaded. The execution pointer can only be at one place at a time in a process, and eventloop widgets won't work unless that eventloop is in control. Now there are exceptions to this. If in your while loop, you do DoOneEvent, and also run simple things like increments or file reads, you can keep things responsive. But if you try to run backticks or system on commands, or slow db accesses, it will make the gui unresponsive.

The best thing is to tell us what you are trying to do in the background.

As far as the DoOneEvent being slow, did you run my Tk version? I get very rapid response, where the digits 1 to 10 are repeatedly printed each second.