ANNOUNCE: Pmw megawidgets 1.2

Greg McFarlane gregm@iname.com
Fri, 22 Aug 2003 23:10:06 +1000


                   Pmw megawidgets for Tkinter

                          Version 1.2

                  Greg McFarlane <gregm@iname.com>
                    http://pmw.sourceforge.net/

                            --oOo--

A new release of Pmw is out.  This release makes Pmw compatable with
recent releases of python and Tcl/Tk.

This version of Pmw was tested against python 2.3, Tcl/Tk 8.4.2 and
Blt 2.4z.  Except for Blt, all tests pass.  Blt seems to be more
flacky than usual, with core dumps occuring in the Graph code.  Since
this is a problem in Blt (not Pmw), the Blt test script has been
removed from the default Pmw test sequence.

Several other bug fixes and improvements were made.  See the change
log for details.

To download Pmw or for more information, see the home page at
  http://pmw.sourceforge.net/

If you have any comments, enhancements or new contributions, please
contact me (gregm@iname.com).

=====================================================================

What is Pmw?

    Pmw is a toolkit for building high-level compound widgets, or
    megawidgets, constructed using other widgets as component parts. 
    It promotes consistent look and feel within and between graphical
    applications, is highly configurable to your needs and is easy to
    use.  It uses the Tkinter python library.

    Pmw consists of:

        - A few base classes, providing a foundation for building
          megawidgets.

        - A library of flexible and extensible megawidgets built on
          the base classes, such as buttonboxes, notebooks,  
          comboboxes, selection widgets, paned widgets, scrolled
          widgets and dialog windows.

        - A lazy importer/dynamic loader which is automatically
          invoked when Pmw is first imported.  This gives unified
          access to all Pmw classes and functions through the Pmw.
          prefix.  It also speeds up module loading time by only
          importing Pmw sub-modules when needed.

        - Complete reference documentation, covering all classes and
          functions including all megawidgets and their options,
          methods and components.  Helpful tutorial material is also
          available.

        - A test framework and tests for Pmw megawidgets.

        - A slick demonstration of the megawidgets.

        - An interface to the BLT busy, graph and vector commands.

    The interface to Pmw megawidgets is similar to basic Tk widgets,
    so it is easy for developers to include both megawidgets and basic
    Tk widgets in their graphical applications.  In addition, Pmw
    megawidgets may themselves be extended, using either inheritance
    or composition.

    The use of the Pmw megawidgets replaces common widget combinations
    with higher level abstractions.  This simplifies code, making it
    more readable and maintainable.  The ability to extend Pmw
    megawidgets enables developers to create new megawidgets based on
    previous work.


-- 
Greg McFarlane  Really Good Software Pty Ltd  Sydney Australia  gregm@iname.com