specPerl 1.0 Windows 95 and NT notes

Here are two email messages Conrad Schneiker sent me regarding the installation and use of specPerl on Windows systems. Note that his email address has chenged since he wrote these letters. He is now at schneik@azstarnet.com Thanks Conrad!

First one:

From: schneiker_conrad@burr-brown.com
To: kvale@phy.ucsf.EDU
Date: Fri, 10 Oct 1997 09:58:29 -0700
Subject: Re: specPerl (Windows 95 & NT)

Hi Mark,

I just tried out SpecPerl on both Windows 95 and Windows NT.
Looks good so far.

I used it with the perl5_00402-bindist04-bc version of perl from CPAN.

Instead of the installation step # 2 given for SpecPerl 1.0,
I used this procedure:
(a) make a copy of SpecTcl's startup shortcut (open the "Start" menu to get to it),
(b) rename it to SpecPerl,
(c) use the right mouse button to open it's properties window,
(c) select the shorcut tab,
(d) append -perl after the following the ending double quote in the "Target:" entry field
(dd) [simplification: clone the SpecJava shortcut and change '-java' to '-perl'.]
(e) change the "Start in:" path if desired to the directory containing your SpecPerl demos.
(f) copy the new shortcut to your desktop if desired.
(g) close all the windows opened by the above steps.

Then you are ready fire up SpecPerl.

Conrad

P. S. - I also used Tcl 8.0/Tk 8.0; I don't know if that has any effect on SpecTcl 1.1, but it might be worth mentioning to maximize the odds that this will work for others.

Second one:

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Date: Mon, 24 Nov 1997 13:25:05 -0700
Subject: Re: Run Perl-TK on Win NT/95 without DOS win.
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Hi Rodger,

Your welcome. I think the procedure below should do what you want.

Maybe Mark can add this to the page you found the Win 95/NT stuff on.
(And thanks again Mark for SpecPerl--It's been a tremendous help.)

Conrad

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

I'm not sure the following method is the best way to do this (I typically
run my Perl/TK stuff in a shell window running the www.cygnus.com port of
the GNU bash shell for win-32--thanks Cygnus), but this example worked
when I tried it on Win-95 just now:

(1) Create a "tkdemo.bat" file (you can use any file name, but use a
".bat" extension) with the following line:

perl
C:\perl\perl5.00402-bindist04-bc\distfiles\Tk402.002\demos\widget

(2) In a Windows Explorer window, right-click on this file's icon and
select the "Properties" option on the popup menu.

(3) Select the "Program" tab on the dialog.

(4) On the "Run:" entry, select "Minimized".

(5) Check the "Close on exit" box.

(6) Press the "Change Icon" button and select some appropriate icon and
press "OK".

(7) Press OK.

A new file (shortcut) will appear in the Explorer window, with the same
file name, except without the ".bat" extension. This may be copied to your
desktop. When you double click on it, it should do what you want (in this
case, running the widget demo).

One disadvantage of running this way is that STDOUT & STDERR get lost,
although there are almost certainly various means to get around this, but
which I haven't pursued.

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

B.Wenz@DeutschePost.de on 11/24/97 01:52:39 AM

To: schneiker_conrad@u2.bbrown.com
cc: (bcc: Conrad Schneiker/Tuc/BB1)
Subject: Perl-TK on Win/NT,95 more sexy

Hi Conrad Schneiker,
I saw your article about specPERL 1.0 and thought you can give me
maybe some answers to "ptk" on Windows-Systems...I did'nt find any
suitable answers on the internet. Maybe you can help me (if any one can...)
1) Is there a possibility to start a perl-Skript with Perl-Tk without
the DOS-Window to open. It just not very "sexy" to see always this
DOS-Box next to this nice Tk-Window. I tried to start the perl-Skript
in Icon or Background with the command start on Windows-NT. But
starting it as Icon, the Tk-Window is also a Icon...
Sorry to bother you about this.
Thank you and have a nice day.
Roger Straub
straub.ma@sni.de or Roger.Straub@gd.postag.de