[OS X TeX] Re: Flashmode-Alpha Trial version

[Claus Gerhardt]

Knowing another tcl command would be helpful. It doesn't affect 
Flashmode itself but one the accompanying scripts: finding and removing 
a string in the front window, in short writing

find "string"
replace by ""

Claus

On Jan 5, 2005, at 13:25, Claus Gerhardt wrote:

> Joachim,
>
> Thanks for the information. I did know about the DoScript 
> constructions, but was unable to find the tcl equivalents for the 
> commands I needed.
>
> The two commands, you gave, work as advertised and knowing them would 
> have saved me a couple of hours. It would be helpful, if the Alpha 
> distribution, or the Alpha homepage for that matter, would contain a 
> link to a corresponding "dictionary".
>
> Claus
>
> On Jan 5, 2005, at 11:55, Joachim Kock wrote:
>
>>> A trial version of Flashmode-Alpha, for the combination
>>> AlphaX/TeXniscope, can be downloaded from
>>> http://www.math.uni-heidelberg.de/studinfo/gerhardt/tex/
>>
>> Hello Claus,
>>
>> thank you for conducting these interesting experiments.  I think we 
>> are
>> many that are excited about these developments.  It is admirable that 
>> you
>> make an effort to make this work in Alpha too, although it seems that 
>> you
>> don't know much about Alpha.
>>
>>> Please, read the instructions!
>>
>> Yes, that is always good advice.  It goes for Alpha too!  :-)
>>
>>> The developers of AlphaX obviously never thought that AlphaX itsself
>>> might be the target of Applescripts.
>>
>> (Wir sind gewohnt das die Mennschen verhöhnen was sie nicht 
>> verstehen.)
>>
>>> Alpha's Applescript dictionary contains only a minimal amount of 
>>> classes
>>> and commands; fortunately, it understands the 'save' command, which 
>>> is
>>> infinitely more than Emacs' knowledge of Applescript commands, and 
>>> enough
>>> for producing a working version of Flashmode.
>>
>> In addition to a couple of required classes and commands, Alpha sports
>> only one applescript command (quite a minimal set, indeed):
>>
>>     DoScript
>>
>> This command allows for the execution of *any* Tcl script or command.
>> Hence *every* existing or imaginable command in Alpha, including all 
>> menu
>> items, keystrokes, event hooks, advanced searches and filter actions,
>> preference settings, can be executed via an applescript.  This makes 
>> Alpha
>> one of the most scriptable of all applications, and this design is
>> extremely flexible and powerful.  No need to update a dictionary each 
>> time
>> a command is added; user-defined Alpha commands are immediately 
>> callable
>> through AppleScripts too.  I think the developers *did* design Alpha 
>> to be
>> a target for AppleScripts!
>>
>>
>>> It would be more satisfactory, if the following Applescript commands
>>> (and properties) could be implemented in AlphaX (considered only as
>>> target)
>>
>> I don't think it would be more satisfactory to reinvent the wheel like
>> this for every scripting language.  Alpha is written in Tcl and every
>> Tcl command can be executed directly.  What do you need more?
>>
>>
>>> 1. get path of front document --unix path
>>
>> simply do
>>
>>     DoScript "win::Current"
>>
>>
>>> 2. if document texName is modified then
>>
>> simply do
>>
>>     DoScript "win::getInfo texName dirty"
>>
>> this will return 1 or 0 (for true or false).
>>
>>
>> If you want to avoid applescripts altogether (but I don't think you 
>> would,
>> since you are an expert in Applescript), you can also do all this 
>> over a
>> socket.  This is perhaps the preferred way for unix applications to
>> communicate with Alpha.
>>
>> Finally there is the obvious alternative of writing the whole flash
>> mechanism in pure Tcl and do everything entirely from within Alpha.  
>> I did
>> some naive experiments with this a long time ago, but decided that I 
>> would
>> rather wait until I upgrade to something faster than my current iBook
>> 500MHz.  But perhaps time is ripe to take up the challenge again...
>>
>>
>> Thanks again for your work.  If you have further questions or doubts,
>> don't hesitate to ask.
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Joachim.
>>
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------
>> Joachim Kock <kock at mat.uab.es>
>> Departament de Matemàtiques -- Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
>> Edifici C -- 08193 Bellaterra (Barcelona) -- ESPANYA
>> Phone: +34 93 581 32 50        Fax: +34 93 581 27 90
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>
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