RBC

Files in the top-level directory in any check-in

RBC - Refactored BLT Components

This is version 0.1 of the RBC library.  It should be considered alpha
quality software.

RBC is an extension of the Tcl/Tk toolkit and contains refactored
components from version 2.4z of the BLT library.  These components
were refactored so that they would function with version Tcl/Tk 8.5.

RBC is available from:
	http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/rbctoolkit/
	
More information on BLT is available from:
	http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/blt/files
	
RBC is intended to work with Tcl/Tk versions 8.4 and 8.5, although it
may work with others.  RBC is a TEA compliant extension, although it
is not (yet) entirely free of dependency on Tcl/Tk private structures.

RBC is a subset of BLT, contains the essential components for
developing data graphing applications.  Some BLT components have been
superseded by advances in Tcl and Tk, and some others have been
extracted into separate extensions.  RBC contains the following BLT
components:

    graph, barchart, stripchart -

    These components use an X-Y coordinate system to plot data and
    are meant to be used with vector data objects.  The graphs will
    automatically be redrawn should the vector data change.

    vector -

    This component is used to manage floating point values.  They
    are meant to be used to handle data for the plotting components.

    winop -

    This component provides basic window operations.

    eps -

    This component is used to embed an EPS file into the canvas 
    displaying either an EPS preview image found in the file, or a
    Tk image that is provided.


Installation:

For binary installations, just unzip or untar the package into your
Tcl library.


Building from Source:

RBC is a TEA compliant extension.  You should be able to unpack the
source code, and perform the usual configure / make / make install
procedure.  Making the test target will run the automated test suite.

Since RBC still depends on some Tcl/Tk private data structures, you
may experience some difficulty in bulding it against some Tcl
distributions which do not have the complete set of public and private
headers.


History:	

In order to fulfill degree requirements, the four of us undertook the
refactoring of a few commonly used BLT components.  The project was
proposed by an alumnus of the students' institute and was accepted by
the school's Computer Science and Software Engineering Department. The
project began in the Fall of 2008 and culminated on the students'
graduation in the Spring of 2009.  In addition to refactoring parts of
BLT, we also began developing a graphical data analysis tool that is
designed to work with RBC (and BLT) and be easily extensible.  For
more information see the GDAT project available at:
http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/gdat/

In keeping with the spirit of BLT, we have released this project to
the open source community in hopes that you will continue development
and add more components from the BLT library that are compatible with
version 8.5 and later of Tcl/Tk.
	
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