ImPress Logo

ImPress 1.1 (beta 5) Documentation

Copyright © 1997-2000 Christopher J. Cox. All rights reserved.
ImPressTM, Copyright © 1994-2000 Christopher J. Cox. All rights reserved.

Abstract

ImPress is a vector based publishing tool with Slide Show capabilities.  Unlike raster paint programs, ImPress uses selectable objects which can be manipulated individually.  Like all vector based editing packages, the result is fully scalable graphics.
 

Table of Contents

1. Main Window
2. Next/Prev Paging Buttons
3. Template Toggle
4. Color Selection
5. Message Area
6. Functionality Tour via Menus
6.1 File Menu
6.1.1 New
6.1.2 Open...
6.1.3 Saving Files
6.1.3.1 Save As...
6.1.3.2 Save Clipart...
6.1.3.3 Save Template...
6.1.4 Print...
6.1.4.1 Print Cmd
6.1.4.2 Print Preview
6.1.4.3 Landscape
6.1.4.4 Print To File
6.1.4.5 Color / Gray Scale
6.1.4.6 All Pages / Select Pages
6.1.4.7 EPS (Encapsulated Postscript Output)
6.1.5 Slide Properties
6.1.5.1 Background Color
6.1.5.2 Circulate
6.1.5.3 Fit to Content
6.1.5.4 Cache Slides on Load
6.1.6 Page Properties
6.1.6.1 Landscape
6.1.6.2 Page Width / Page Height
6.1.7 Exit
6.2 View Menu
6.2.1 Toolbar
6.2.2 Palette
6.2.3 Key Input
6.3 Insert Menu
6.4 Edit Menu
6.5 Layout Menu
6.6 Preferences
6.6.1 Toolbar Preferences
6.6.1.1 Orientation Horizontal
6.6.1.2 Button Size
6.6.1.3 Buttons Per Segment
6.6.2 Unlock Objects
7. Functionality Tour via the Toolbar
7.1 Object Selection
7.2 Object Creation
7.2.1 Oval
7.2.2 Rectangle
7.2.3 Rounded Rectangle
7.2.4 Polygon
7.2.5 Line
7.2.6 Draw
7.2.7 Text
7.2.8 Image (Raster Images) Work in Progress
7.3 Object Manipulation
7.3.1 Moving
7.3.2 Scaling
7.3.3 Rotating
7.3.4 Duplicating
7.3.5 Flipping About Axis
7.3.6 Raising and Lowering
7.3.7 Grouping and Ungrouping
7.3.8 Cutting and Pasting
7.3.9 Object Properties
7.4 Positioning Ruler
8. Miscellaneous
8.1 Slide Mode
8.2 Executable Documents
8.3 EPS Clipart and Editable PostScript
8.4 Fonts and Ghostscript
8.4.1 Using TrueType Fonts with ImPress
8.4.2 Vectorizing Fonts
8.5 Later Versions of Tcl/Tk (e.g. 8.3)
8.6 ImPress Tclet
8.6.1 Enabling ImPress to Load URLs
8.6.2 Saving Files
8.6.3 Embedding ImPress into Your Own Page
8.7 Why ImPress?
End

ImPress Main WindowImPress ToolBar

1. Main Window

The main window is where all drawing takes place.  Object operations include:

2. Next/Prev Paging Buttons

These can be used to move forward or backward one page at a time throughout a document.  Alternatively, you can move forward or backward using the "Page Up" and "Page Down" keys on your keyboard.

3. Template Toggle

When highlighted, whatever the current Template graphic is will be drawn prior to everything else.  If it is not highlighted then the Template will not be used on that page of the Document.

4. Color Selection

Most drawing objects support two different color types: Outline and Fill.  The Outline color is generally used to make the border of a drawing object.  Double Click with Mouse Button 1 on the Outline or Fill buttons to bring up the Color Palette.

5. Message Area

Instead of "balloon" style hints for every widget, this area will contain a textual description about whatever widget you have your cursor over.

6. Functionality Tour via Menus

ImPress functionality is easily uncovered by taking a tour through the menus.

6.1 File Menu

6.1.1 New

Selecting this options will result in an empty document.  When ImPress is running standalone, NOT within a WWW browser, you will be prompted to save your existing data first.

6.1.2 Open...

All file selection dialogs look similar, here's the one for Open:
ImPress File Selection Dialog
Selecting this option will allow you to open various ImPress type formats: Currently, extension style typing of files in not enforced at all in ImPress.  Therefore, you may want to use file naming techniques to distinguish Documents, Templates and Clipart.  For example:  cat_doc.tk, cat_temp.tk, cat_clip.tk.

6.1.3 Saving Files

A pretty generic file dialog is used to save files.

6.1.3.1 Save As...

Selecting this option will allow you to save ImPress Documents.

6.1.3.2 Save Clipart...

Selecting this option will save just objects which are CURRENTLY SELECTED.  They will be saved in standard ImPress Clipart format which makes it easy to include them in pages of an ImPress Document.

6.1.3.3 Save Template...

Selecting this option will save just objects which are CURRENTLY SELECTED.  They will be saved in a way that makes them a valid ImPress Template.  Template objects are always drawn first and lower than other objects on any page where Templates are enabled.

6.1.4 Print...

Selecting this will bring up a Print dialog:
All data for printing out of ImPress is in PostScript format.  You will need either a PostScript capable printer, or a driver capable of turning PostScript into your printer's native graphics language.  A good example of a PostScript driver for other formats is Ghostscript.
ImPress Print Dialog

6.1.4.1 Print Cmd

This specifies the command to use to funnel the Postscript output.  Usually this is the name of a program which will spool data to a printer. A "%s" in the command will be replaced everywhere present with the temporary file name used in creating the Postscript for printing.

6.1.4.2 Print Preview

This specifies the action and command to execute in order to view the Postscript output from the current document. A "%s" in the command will be replaced everywhere present with the temporary file name used in creating the Postscript for printing.

6.1.4.3 Landscape (Deprecated)

As of Impress 1.1-b5, the Landscape option is considered to be deprecated.  Let me know if this options is still needed.  The new functionality allows lanscape postscript documents to be oriented correctly for online viewing.

Selects the necessary options for printing in the landscape page orientation.  Landscape orientation is where the width is greater than the height of the page.  It is basically taking the default portrait orientation and rotating it 90 degrees.

6.1.4.4 Print To File

The PostScript data can be redirected into a file.  This basically implements a "save as PostScript" option.

6.1.4.5 Color / Gray Scale

Select one or the other to control whether the output will have color enabled or not.

6.1.4.6 All Pages / Select Pages

Select one or the other to control whether the whole Document or just selected contiguous ranges will be output.

6.1.4.7 EPS (Encapsulated Postscript Output)

Selecting this option will print only the encapsulated postscript for each page.  Use a "%d" to have the page number inserted into the filename on output.  This option is used only when Print To File is also selected.  If "%d" is not used in your filename, then every page will be saved to the same filename overwriting the prior pages content leaving only the last page in the output.

6.1.5 Slide Properties

This will bring up a dialog for manipulating behavior while viewing the current ImPress Document in a full screen, borderless, menuless, dialogless data view mode.
ImPress Slide Properties

6.1.5.1 Background Color

Although the background color can be controlled with Templates, this technique is an easy way to set the background to a solid color for showing as slides.  The background color will not show up in Printing.  Note: Changing the Background Color also changes the color of the background while in normal document editing mode.  In either case, the Background Color will not be output in the printed Postscript.  Create a Template if you want a common printed background.

6.1.5.2 Circulate

This is a fancy way of saying that when the last slide is viewed, moving to the next slide results in looping back around to the first slide.

6.1.5.3 Fit to Content

Normally scaling for viewing data is based on fitting the entire page on the display.  Selecting this will result in the scaling calculation to use the bounding box of the actual data instead of the full page.

6.1.5.4 Cache Slides on Load

Page transitions in ImPress can be slow because all of the vector object content is rendered live....except in cases where the page had already been rendered.  Selecting this option will force the rendering of every page ahead of time.  This will reduce the time between slide transitions.

6.1.6 Page Properties

This brings up a dialog for manipulating the orientation, width and height of pages in a Document.  It also controls the selection of units: For example: 8.5i means 8.5 inches, 30c means 30 centimeters.
ImPress Page Properties

6.1.6.1 Landscape

Selecting this informs ImPress that the Document is to be formatted in landscape orientation for printing.  It is the same as the Landscape option on the Print dialog.

6.1.6.2 Page Width / Page Height

Use these entries to define the literal page boundaries for the current Document.

6.1.7 Exit

This will cause the ImPress application to exit.  It will prompt you about saving the existing Document and give an additional confirmation dialog before terminating.

6.2 View Menu

6.2.1 Toolbar

The collection of convenience buttons known as the Toolbar can be closed when run in standalone mode.  Select this option to make the Toolbar visible again.

6.2.2 Palette

The large collection of colored buttons known as the Color Palette can be closed when run in standalone mode.  Select this option to make the Color Palette visible again.  Double Clicking Mouse Button 1 on the button associated with a color selection will also pull up the Custom Color dialog, the new color will replace the entry on the palette without affecting objects that used the old color entry.  Note: Color Palettes are not stored with ImPress documents.  Modifications to the standard palette are only good within the current ImPress session.
ImPress Color Palette

ImPress Custom Color Dialog

6.2.3 Key Input

Fonts can contain characters that are difficult if not impossible to input from a keyboard.  Selecting this will bring up a dialog from which you can select and insert characters for text canvas items.
ImPress Key Input Dialog

6.3 Insert Menu

This provides a subset of functionality presented in the Toolbar.  It selects the type of object to be created and inserted into the current page.
  • Oval
  • Rectangle
  • Rounded Rectangle
  • Polygon
  • Line
  • Draw
  • Text
  • Image

    •  

    6.4 Edit Menu

    This provides a subset of functionality presented in the Toolbar.  It is primarily used to select objects and manipulate them.

    6.5 Layout Menu

    These commands control the arrangement of objects on a page.  Right now it consists solely of the Grid dialog.
    ImPress Grid Dialog

    6.6 Preferences Menu

    These commands control the properties of the ImPress application itself.

    6.6.1 Toolbar Preferences

    ImPress Toolbar Preferences

    6.6.1.1 Orientation Horizontal

    The default layout of the buttons known as the Toolbar is vertical.  Selecting this will cause the arrangement to be oriented horizontally.

    6.6.1.2 Button Size

    The buttons in the Toolbar are drawn objects and easily scale to whatever size desired.  The size is of each button is always square and can be specified in any of the valid units.
    ImPress Modified Toolbar

    6.6.1.3 Buttons Per Segment

    Specifies the number of buttons in a column (Orientation Vertical) or in a row (Orientation Horizontal).

    6.6.2 Unlock Objects

    Selecting this option allows you to manipulate objects even if tagged as Disabled.

    7.  Functionality Tour via the Toolbar

    Holds buttons which can be used to perform most of the ImPress functions including:

    7.1 Object Selection

    Shaped like an arrow, the Select button puts ImPress in selection mode. ImPress Selection Handles Note: Prior to Tk 8.3 (actually worked prior to Tk 4.0 too, I believe), you could not uses a selection box to select text.  I reported this bug about 2-3 years ago (complete with examples and debugging information)... it's fixed now.

    7.2 Object Creation

    The "shape" buttons put ImPress in object creation mode:
  • Oval
  • Rectangle
  • Rounded Rectangle
  • Polygon
  • Line
  • Draw
  • Text
  • Image

    • 7.2.1 Oval

    After selecting the Oval button or the Oval Menu item, click Mouse Button 1 to start the upper left corner of the bounding box to contain the oval and hold, drag and release to identify the bottom right corner of the bounding box.  Upon release of Mouse Button 1, the oval will be created.

    Ovals are implemented internally as Polygons in order to support object Rotation.  Thus Ovals have the same properties as Polygons.

    7.2.2 Rectangle

    After selecting the Rectangle button or the Rectangle Menu item, click Mouse Button 1 to start the upper left corner of the bounding box to define the rectangle and hold, drag and release to identify the bottom right corner of the rectangle.  Upon release of Mouse Button 1, the rectangle will be created.

    Rectangles are implemented internally as Polygons in order to support object Rotation.  Thus Rectangles have the same properties as Polygons.

    7.2.3 Rounded Rectangle

    After selecting the Rounded Rectangle button or the Rounded Rectangle Menu item, click Mouse Button 1 to start the upper left corner of the bounding box to contain the rectangle and hold, drag and release to identify the bottom right corner of the bounding box.  Upon release of Mouse Button 1, the rounded rectangle will be created.

    Rounded Rectangles are implemented internally as Polygons in order to support object Rotation.  Thus Rounded Rectangles have the same properties as Polygons.

    7.2.4 Polygon

    After selecting the Polygon button or the Polygon Menu item, click Mouse Button 1 to start creating vertices for the shape.  There must be a minimum of three vertices placed in order to create a polygon.  When done placing vertices, hit Mouse Button 3, this will create the polygon.

    Polygons have the following properties:

    7.2.5 Line

    After selecting the Line button or the Line Menu item, click Mouse Button 1 to start creating vertices for the line.  There must be a minimum of two vertices (endpoints) placed in order to create a line.  When done placing vertices, hit Mouse Button 3, this will create the line.

    Lines have the following properties:

    7.2.6 Draw

    After selecting the Draw button or the Draw Menu item, click Mouse Button 1, hold and begin drawing.  Release to end the line drawing.

    Draw segments are implemented internally as Lines.  Thus Draw segments have the same properties as Lines.

    7.2.7 Text

    After selecting the Text button or the Text Menu item, click Mouse Button 1, hold and drag out the bounding box for the text object (Note: actually it defines the width constraints for wrapping, it does not constrain the height).  Upon release of Mouse Button 1 a Text Dialog window will appear allowing you to choose your font and the content of the text to be displayed.
    ImPress Text/Font Dialog

    Due to a peculiarity with how the PostScript output works, the Text object will be actually anchored at the bottom left corner by default.  This means that the object "grows" in height upwards instead of downwards (which is probably opposite of what you would expect).

    Pressing the Open button will open up a file selection dialog to allow you to bring in text from an external text file.

    Pressing the Key Input button will bring up a dialog which allow for easy insertion of hard to type characters.

    Text objects have the following properties:

    7.2.8 Image (Raster Images) (Work in Progress)

    After selecting the Image button or the Image Menu item, an Image Dialog will appear.  Select an image name from the list or select <ADD IMAGE> with Mouse Button 1.  If <ADD IMAGE> is chosen then you will prompted for a file to use as the new image and you will also be prompted to give a logical name to the image.

    If you double-click on an Image name in the popup list, you will be allowed to change the image definition.  Use this with caution as it will change every occurrence of the raster image defined by this logical name.  Double-clicking on <ADD IMAGE> is a quick way of defining a new image and getting ready to use.

    Like Paste, once the Image creation is selected, you must hit the Select button or a Selection Menu button or another object creation button to terminate the action of placing images.

    Note: Raster images are NOT SCALABLE in ImPress currently.  This is primarily due to a limitation with Tcl/Tk which has very limited image scaling capabilities. Images are referenced by file name, they are NOT embedded into the document (though it will handle embedded images if already present in the file,  presumably inserted there manually).  Therefore, remember that a document with images depends upon the location of the graphic files.

    7.3 Object Manipulation

    After objects have been created on a page, they can be selected and then manipulated.

    7.3.1 Moving

    Move objects by selecting them (not on the handles!) and then dragging using Mouse Button 1.  When the Mouse Button is released, the object will reside at its new location.

    7.3.2 Scaling

    Scale selected objects by clicking on a selection handle with Mouse Button 1 and then dragging to the desired scale.  The corner handles result in uniform scaling in the X and Y axis directions.  Use the side handles to perform single axis scaling.

    Note: Cannot scale images.

    7.3.3 Rotating

    Rotate selected objects by clicking on the Rotate button or Rotate Menu item.  Then click Mouse Button 1 on the page wherever you desire the pivot point to be and drag to see a visible rotation arc.  The Message area turns into an entry dialog which can be used to give exact rotation values.  In order to leave the rotation mode, you will need to click on the Select button or an object creation tool.

    Note: Normal text cannot be rotated.  Need vectorized text for rotation.  Images likewise cannot be rotated, though in both cases, rotation may move the origin point of the object.

    7.3.4 Duplicating

    Clicking on the Duplicate button or Duplicate Menu item will result in the immediate duplication of selected objects.  They will be offset in both X and Y coordinates to avoid confusion.  The newly duplicated objects become the active selection.  It may be wise to Group objects if there are multiple object involved prior to duplication to avoid difficult selection situations.

    7.3.5 Flipping about Axis

    Clicking on either the Flip Horiz. or Flip Vert. buttons or their respective menu items will result in reflecting the selected objects around the chosen axis.

    Note: Cannot flip text about an axis unless it is vectorized text.  Cannot flip images.

    7.3.6 Raising and Lowering

    Selected objects can be raised or lowered with respect to other objects on the page by clicking on the Raise/Lower button or Raise/Lower Menu item.

    7.3.7 Grouping and Ungrouping

    Selected objects can be grouped using the button which shows shapes enclosed in thick rectangle.  Groupings are hierarchical, so you can create groups of groups.  Selecting the Ungroup button, shapes enclosed in a dashed rectangle, will remove the highest level of grouping on the selected objects.

    7.3.8 Cutting and Pasting

    Selected objects can be Cut (removed, yet saved into a clipboard space) by clicking on the Cut (scissors) button or the Cut Menu item.  Pasting an object requires selecting the Paste (glue) button or the Paste Menu item.  After paste mode has been established, then use Mouse Button 1 to place the contents into the document.  Disengage paste mode by hitting the Select button or an object creation button.

    7.3.9 Object Properties

    Some of the most popular object property settings are on the Toolbar: ImPress Arrow Dialog ImPress Properties Dialog

    7.4 Positioning Ruler

    Clicking Mouse Button 1 once on the Ruler button in the toolbar will activate positionable rulers, one for the X-axis and one for the Y-axis of the current page.  Clicking the Ruler button once they are displayed will result in moving them to their default positions at the top and left of the page respectively.  Double clicking Mouse Button 1 on the Ruler button will remove the rulers from the page.

    8. Miscellaneous

    8.1 Slide Mode

    Uses the command sequence <Alt-S> to switch to Slide Mode.  Use <Escape> to return (or Triple Mouse Button 3).  Mouse Button 1 advances a page, Mouse Button 3 goes back one page.  Alternatively, you can use the Page Up and Page Down keys.  This now works for ImPress running in a WWW browser.

    8.2 Executable Documents

    ImPress Documents, with the exception of Clipart, are valid standalone applications in addition to being valid formats.  Executing a Document results in the Document coming up in a mini-viewer.
    Mini-Viewer Window
    The viewer handles multiple pages which can be navigated using the Prev (Page Up) and Next (Page Down) buttons.  The Origin button will cause the entire page to be translated to the upper left corner of the page.  The Zoom entry allows you to specify a magnification level for the page.  The Lock Zoom check button will lock the Zoom factor across all pages while viewing.  Fit adjusts the magnification to make the entire page visible in the current window.  The Circulate check button allows the last page to jump back to the first page when the Next button is pressed.

    8.3 EPS Clipart and Editable PostScript

    There is a large number of CD's and downloadable clipart in Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) format.  Most of this clipart is really stored in formats like Adobe Illustrator, which is a binary file containing the EPS file.  The "transeps" utility provided with this distribution does a "reasonable" attempt at converting a binary piece of clipart into a form that can be used with "pstoedit".  Pstoedit can also be run on regular PostScript documents to convert them into a format which ImPress can edit.

    e.g. 

        $ transeps <my.ai >my.eps
    Once you have a text piece of EPS clipart, you can use "pstoedit" to convert the data into ImPress (Tcl/Tk) format.

    e.g. 

        $ pstoedit -f tk my.eps my.tk
    Use the Open option in ImPress to get your clipart into the current page.

    Pstoedit is a tool by Wolfgang Glunz which supports conversion from PostScript to a variety of different formats, including Tk.  The "Tk" plugin for "pstoedit" is currently maintained by Christopher Jay Cox <cjcox@acm.org>.

    A newer version of the pstoedit Tk plugin is available which handles text quite well.  You can NOW use pstoedit to allow you to edit PostScript documents with reasonable results.  PostScript files from TeX dvi output convert ok, but PostScript from Microsoft Word and PowerPoint covert quite well.  Note: PowerPoint uses a landscape orientation which is a rotated page, since ImPress does not support rotated text, you will want to convert from a PowerPoint PostScript file created using a 2-up page layout.  This will place two slides on one page, but will preserve the orientation required by ImPress.

    You will notice that in the sample below, the image did not translate.  The pstoedit Tk plugin does not support raster image data currently.

    Picture of Impress and Word

    8.4 Fonts and Ghostscript

    Ghostscript is an ideal package for taking the PostScript produced by ImPress and getting it to display or print to non-PostScript devices.

    The problem is that there is no relation between the fonts defined in Ghostscript and X11.  The fonts you generally want to use with ImPress are the scalable PostScript Type I fonts (you can use TrueType too...see below), but Ghostscript has its own format.  Ah Ha!  Ghostscript actually has the ability to use Type I fonts.  So all you really need to do is to define fonts from X11 to Ghostscript.  For example, let's say that you want to use the Bodoni-Bold font.  In X11 the XFLD description is:

    -*-bodoni-bold-r-normal--*-240-*-*-*-*-*-*

    from file:

    bodonib.pfb

    This X11 font needs to map to the Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) output coming from ImPress.  Defining a new font to Ghostscript is very interesting.    The "type1inst" program is useful for this.  It not only generated the fonts.dir file but also generated Fontmap entries for Ghostscript.  However, even without this tool, it's pretty straightforward on how do install GS fonts.

    Changing the Fontmap is a matter of associating an PS font name with the Type 1 file involved.
    For example:

    /Bodoni-Bold                 (bodonib.pdf)

    Hopefully now when the Bodoni-Bold font is used, it will use the font file defined.

    8.4.1 Using TrueType with ImPress

    Modern version of GNU Ghostscript understand TrueType (.ttf) fonts.  You define them to Ghostscript just like the Type 1 fonts mentioned earlier.  However, in order to see them on your display in ImPress, you will need to be running a TrueType font server for X11.  An example of one server is "xfstt".  The font server when executed usually looks somewhere for the TrueType fonts to serve and then it listens on a particular port for requests for fonts.  If you have ever used an X11 font server, it works essentially the same way.  You will need to add the font server and its port to your X11 FontPath.  This is usually done either with configuration files or you can do this dynamically by using "xset".  In the example below, it assumes that the host of the font server is the host of the X11 server, essentially the font server is local: 
    $ xset +fp unix:/7101
    If the font server is not local: 
    $ xset +fp inet/nonlocal.host.com:7101
    Note: Bad things will happen unless when you want to change "xfstt" you take the font server out of your FontPath first before stopping "xfstt" (my X11 server dies).  The utility "type1inst" works only with Type1 fonts.  You will need "ttmkfdir" to get similar functionality as "type1inst".

    8.4.2 Vectorizing Fonts

    ImPress does not support many transformations on text (pretty much just scaling and rudimentary property support).  In order to perform more complex transformation (e.g. rotation) on text, it will have to be converted into literal drawn objects.  Todd Prater's font3d tool does a good job of doing this.  I have made modifications to Todd's work to output ImPress (Tk) objects.  About the only strange thing about this is that the utility only works on TrueType fonts....which are not directly supported in ImPress in their non-vectorized form.

    Font3d was designed to create 3D vector data which is overkill for ImPress currently.  I have included a sample definition file, font3d.def, which attempts to minimize the data from the tool.

    8.5 Later Versions of Tcl/Tk (e.g. 8.3)

    Tcl/Tk continues to evolve.  ImPress now attempts to conform to an earlier version of Tcl/Tk (one that is Plugin compatible) for manipulating objects and saving files.

    One strange side effect has to do with the PostScript generation from Tcl/Tk canvases (i.e. ImPress drawing page).  Window objects are now printable....therefore, Window objects like the positioning rulers will show up on print outs (previously, this was a nice feature....anything in a window would not be output).  I'm wrestling with the "right thing to do" on this currently...for now, just Double Click Mouse Button 1 on the ruler button in the Toolbar to remove them from a page.

    Despite the compatibility feature of ImPress, it is still possible to embed options especially using the General Properties dialog which are not portable across different versions of Tcl/Tk.  You have been warned.

    8.6 ImPress Tclet

    One of the most interesting features of ImPress is that the same code which runs as a standalone Tcl/Tk application also run in a WWW browser that can handle Netscape style plugins using the Tcl Plugin.  Unlike Tcl/Tk, the Tcl Plugin has not been maintained and thus it conforms to Tcl/Tk from the Tcl 3.6/Tk 4.2 days.  Most of the features of ImPress in standalone mode also work inside of a Tcl Plugin enabled WWW browser (e.g. Netscape):
    Impress Tclet Main Window

    The reason why the toolbar and palette have to be part of the display is that popup windows from a browser application is pretty much a security issue.  Java gets around this because Java enabled WWW browsers know to wrap top level windows with some special text to help identify them....still, even this is a potential security issue.
     

    8.6.1 Enabling ImPress to Load URLs

    You have to enable the Tcl Plugin to know about paths which are allowed to be accessed by ImPress.  The file is called plugin.cfg and is usually under the tclplug/2.0/config directory which is found wherever your browser decides to to put such things.  For example: 
    /opt/netscape/tclplug/2.0/config/plugin.cfg
    Find the section labeled trustedJavascriptURLs.  To access the samples located on the ImPress home site add the the last line show in this sample:

    section trustedJavascriptURLs
        allow http://sunscript.sun.com:80/plugin/javascript/*
        allow http://www.ntlug.org:80/~ccox/impress/*

    Now you will be able to access the samples.  Clicking on the Page Properties button on the toolbar brings up the following dialog:
    ImPress Tclet Open URL Dialog

    Click on Open... and you will be prompted for the URL you want to load into ImPress.  Note: the default URL will be the location from which the ImPress application was loaded.

    ImPress Tclet Open URL Dialog

    It's that simple.  Depending upon your network speed you may want to increase the "Timeout" delay.
     

    8.6.2 Saving Files

    Saving a document is not quite as easy.  While it's true that you can load documents via URLs, you will not be able to save them that way.  However, you can save the file to a disk to which you have access.  So, you can load a document from an area on an accessible disk (which may be a remote disk) OR via URL and save to an area on an accessible disk (which may be a remote disk).  However, there is a bug (?) in Netscape which causes the "progress" dialog from Netscape to not go away even after the document is saved.  In fact, the only way to eliminate the "progress" dialog is to exit Netscape.  Note: Maybe I'll figure out a better way to do this someday...if anyone knows a way around this, please share the information!

    8.6.3 Embedding ImPress into Your Own Page

    In order to load ImPress into a browser page, you can either load it directly by URL (e.g. http://www.ntlug.org/~ccox/impress.tcl) or you can embed it into a page with something like: 
    <embed src=impress.tcl width=600 height=400>
    You can also use a javascript launcher.  Below is an example of using Javascript and HTML to launch ImPress when a button on a page is pressed (Note: ImPress uses the file= parameter to optionally tell it to load a file when starting): 
    <SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript">
function impress(name) {
    var newWindow
    var winwidth
    var content

    if (screen.availWidth > 800 ) {
        winwidth = "800"
        wintwidth = "775"
        winheight = "600"
        wintheight = "575"
    } else {
        winwidth = "600"
        wintwidth = "575"
        winheight = "480"
        wintheight = "455"
    }

    newWindow = window.open("","ImPress","scrollbars,menubar,height=" +
        winheight + ",width=" + winwidth)

    content="<embed src=impress.tcl "+
        "type=application/x-tcl height=" + wintheight + " width=" +
        wintwidth + " file=" + name + ">"
    newWindow.document.write(content)
    newWindow.document.close()
}
</SCRIPT>
    <FORM>
<INPUT TYPE="button" VALUE="Gospel Tract" onClick='impress("gospel.tk")'>
    </FORM>

    8.7 Why ImPress?

    Ok. So what's the big deal?  Yet Another Vector Drawing Package...

    I actually began writing ImPress in 1994.  Back then, Tcl/Tk was VERY hot!!  Tcl/Tk was being used everywhere to create very powerful graphical applications in an extremely short period of time.  Enamored with the technology was probably one reason to create ImPress, but there was a more compelling one...

    Linux.  At that time, Linux lacked any reasonable desktop-ware, especially in the area of presentation packages (ala Microsoft PowerPoint).  Since Tcl/Tk made creating an editor very easy, it seemed reasonable to develop the package since I have a very tight time budget (pretty normal family, church and occupation responsibilities).

    And now, I do the vast majority of my Linux presentations using ImPress.

    I know that I'm committed to Tcl/Tk with this project.  It's been more than a rough ride though...but not nearly as rough as the Java ride from Sun!!  Java clearly has momentum despite being a much lower level programming language.

    ImPress does what it does very well considering that it is all 100% Tcl/Tk.  I hope that you will enjoy using it as much as I enjoyed creating and maintaining it.  I estimate that it would have taken approximately 10 times more effort to create a Java version of this product....a lot more code and a lot more pain.

    End

    Feel free to contact me regarding ImPress or Linux.