Hi Ruby commuters

It is my distinct pleasure to announce the
availability of Runtime Library 3.0
and Gestalt Items 1.1 for Ruby-tk and Ruby.

Both libraries are written in Tcl/Tk >= version 8.4.
Ruby-tk based Ruby Wrapper classes are part the
libraries, making them accesible from Ruby.

The libraries contain a wide range of
composite windows for Tk:

Basic Container windows for
* scroll able dialogs
* automatic scrollbar management

Listboxes and Hierarchy
* Combobox
* A edit able listbox (called gistbox)
* Multi-column listboxes
* Tree

A complete AQUA compliant toolbar
infrastructure
* goolbar and zoolbar, toolbars
  implemented in Tk canvas and / or TkPath and
  TkZinc
* gooleditor the associated interactive
  toolbar editor.
* A multi-line toolbar (galette)

Dialogs:
* A dual shell, could serve as an
  interactive Ruby shell
* A Font selection dialog (Windows design)

tabset, status bar, ...


Take a look at the brand-new manual pages dedicated to Ruby:
http://gestaltitems.sourceforge.net/ruby/index.html

There is currently only one Ruby specific examples inside the
Ruby manual pages, sorry.

The Ruby wrapper classes do not contain typed
properties or methods, such as for tracing variables.
These Ruby-tk specific features are best implemnted through
inheritance. The Ruby wrapper classes are be generated
from the Tcl/Tk source.


Some Details about the Libraries:

All the composite windows
use explicit naming conventions
--they are predeterministic-- to keep
bi-directional communication between
Tcl and Ruby minimal.

Most of the composite windows either use the
Tk canvas or TkPath pathCanvas window in their
implementation. This makes it possible to convert
all the composites into SVG.
The SVG generator is a separate --unpublished-- tool
and not bundled with the libraries.
The manual pages contain such SVGs generated from Tk.

TkPath is highly recommended to gain a
visually sophisticated GUI. The libraries
do also work without TkPath. TkPath is
based on CAIRO under X11 and bypasses the
Tk X11-emulation layer under Windows and OSX.


Download Packages:
geitems11.tgz -- Gestalt Items Library in Tcl/Tk
geitemsRuby11.tgz -- Ruby classes for above Gestalt Items

rtl30.tgz -- Runtime Library in Tcl/Tk
rtlruby30.tgz -- Ruby classes for above Runtime Library

Also see the original documentation at:
http://gestaltitems.sourceforge.net

The Runtime Library (Tcl/Tk) is documented by two
books, the latest book is online at:
http://gestaltitems.sourceforge.net/rtl/index.html

The Gestalt Items book:
http://gestaltitems.sourceforge.net/geitems/index.html

All three books contain lots of Tcl/Tk examples
and screen shots (as bitmaps).


-roger