Re: Win32::GUI vs Tk

I've done a fair amount of work with Tk under Windows in the past. When a new project came up, I decided to re-evaluate this Win32::Gui that I'd heard about.

My bout with Win32::Gui was short and painful. I found it severely under-documented -- whereas Tk has many, many pages of POD detailing every function, parameter, and copious examples -- not to mention a book on the subject -- Win32::Gui has less than minimal documentation. The examples use features which are labelled (TBD) in the docs.

Thus, I would say that the learning curve for Win32::Gui is rather steep. You'll also probably find more people out there who are aquainted with Tk than Win32::Gui. I can't really comment on speed -- but I would imagine that Win32::Gui might have a slight edge in that category. Unfortunatly, I never got to the point where that was an issue.

Hope this helps.

Update: I was unaware of the existance of the mailing list that dvergin points out below. As he says, this might make Win32::Gui a little more palatable.

perl -e 'print "I love $^X$\"$]!$/"#$&V"+@( NO CARRIER'

Comment on Re: Win32::GUI vs Tk

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Re: Re: Win32::GUI vs Tk by Jouke (Curate) on Apr 12, 2001 at 12:01 UTC
I'm working with Tk under Linux as well as Win32, and while not always easy, I found it a better option than Win32::GUI. Why? Like Chmrr says the documentation: What I did with Win32::GUI was hardly documented. Stability. The things I tried in Win32::GUI were very unstable and crashed more often than Windows itself ;-) Tk is portable. I run the same code on Win32 as on Linux. With NO change. There's not even a single command I have to keep in mind that does work on one, and doesn't work on another platform. But of course there are a few advantages of Win32::GUI too: Real Win32 gui elements. Tk comes from the X-environments and the look and feel is not 100% Win32...With Win32::GUI you're accessing the real Windows-controls If you're familiar with windows-programming at all (like in VC(++) or VB), it is probably easier to use Win32::GUI in Perl. Just my $0.02... Jouke Visser, Perl 'Adept'	[reply]
Re: Re: Re: Win32::GUI vs Tk by kevin_i_orourke (Friar) on May 08, 2001 at 18:53 UTC
My two reasons for using Tk: Canvases - make drawing very easy and interactive graphics a doddle Text - the text widget is easy to use and powerful, it's also been extended by various people -- Kevin O'Rourke	[reply]