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Kevin Walzer, software developer.

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Last yaks

As I mentioned the other day, I've been working on two additional Tk extensions that further improve Tk's integration with OS X, in the areas of printing and AppleScript. Today I've released them: cocoaprint, and Tclapplescript.

As noted, the cocoaprint package (version 1.0) is a new library that uses native Cocoa print dialogs and the Mac's CorePrinting framework to implement a simple printing mechanism for Tk apps: it sends PDF files to the printer. By contrast, the Tclapplescript package is an update (to version 2.0) that simplifies and modernizes the library's API to its essential features, running AppleScript in-line from Tcl scripts and from external AppleScript files.

These libraries represent the end of my work on Tk extensions for the foreseeable future, as I now consider Tk to have no glaring omissions in comparison to other toolkits on the Mac. This wasn't the case a couple of years ago, when I began delving into Cocoa in earnest so I could begin to fill in gaps in Tk's functionality because no one had created packages to implement these features, or because existing packages were broken in some way. Since then, I've authored several packages, contributed to others, cheered as a few other developers created their own packages (such as the statusicon extension by the aMSN developers, which puts a status icon in the Mac's menu bar), or updated their own packages.

Because of the work that many people have done, including myself, I have asserted that Tk is now the best cross-platform toolkit for the Mac in terms of its platform-native integration--and I stand by the claim. Thanks to all who have contributed to this achievement.

And now, let me bid farewell to the last of the shaved yaks, and let me get back to making awesome Mac apps with Tcl/Tk.

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