NewzPoint

NewzPoint by Michael Jacobson

Description (Updated Oct 10, 2002 ~ Version 1.7.6)

NewzPoint is an information browser written in Tcl/Tk. NewzPoint can display multiple web pages in a two-tiered tab layout system using Microsoft's Internet Explorer as the display engine. This tab system allows for quick accessibility for each web page. NewzPoint also keeps all these web pages current by pulling content from the web at a constant (yet adjustable rate). Buttons located in the Toolbar are available to assist with navigation, help and configuration.

NewzPoint also has the ability to generate, update and serve webpages. This feature is used in the display of the Comics page (shown below).

Initial options are saved in a configuration file 'newzpoint.ini' which is read at startup, on exit the current configuration changes and saved (including window placement and tab poisition).

Uses

1. Be the 1st to see a Slashdot[L1 ] news article ;-)
2. Keep checking on webmail (like Yahoo mail) at a specified rate
3. Watch a bid page on ebay (in one window) and bid in another
4. Keep a check on the Tcl Wiki's Changes page[L2 ]
5. Read newsgroups through Google (kept current with auto refresh)
6. Watch the stock market
7. Keep an eye on the news of the day
8. ...

Requirements

• Tcl/Tk version 8.3.4 (or greater) or TclKit or Executable Version
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 (or greater)
• Microsoft Windows 95 (or greater)

Installation and Execution

Windows Executable

The easiest way to get NewzPoint is to download a single executable containing TclKit and NewzPoint at https://www.tcl-lang.org/starkits/newzpoint.exe its (around 1.1 Mbytes). Place it in a directory and run the newzpoint executable. If you already have newzpoint then put the executable in the same directory as the current newzpoint.ini file (see note in the Configuration section about the change to the comics page).

StarKit - Scripted Document

If you want to use TclKit to run the StarKit then download https://www.tcl-lang.org/starkits/newzpoint.kit (around 245 Kbytes). Run the file by running the TclKit executable with the newzpoint.kit as the first argument.

Tcl/Tcl Script

If you want all the scripts and you Tcl/Tk installed then download http://mywebpages.comcast.net/jakeforce/newzpoint17.vfs.zip (around 242 Kbytes). Unzip the file (keep the tree structure) and run the main.tcl file located in the root directory.

Change Log

Current version is 1.7.6 (10/10/2002)

This version has the following changes:

1. Comic server is now done in a safe interp and can serve files or Tcl commands
2. Comic page now has a 1 week or 1 month history for each comic
3. Help document uses HelpSystem files
4. Google pointer change be changed by the ini file for regional google sites.
5. Use Mozilla ActiveX component by using this set tknews(activex) {Mozilla} in the ini file.
6. Updated how webpages are launched externally
7. Updated the tab menu popup commands (right click)
8. Reset the refesh counter whenever a page link is clicked
9. Updated default newzpoint.ini websites
10. Patched to allow spaces in the parent tab name

NOTE

   Existing users need to change location of the comics page to
               http://localhost:9107/Comic
   from its current local absolute path.

see newzpoint.ini file for information on what it being loaded

On the Horizon

• Reimplement using BWidget's NoteBook
• This will allow for delete a page "on the fly"
• Allow renameing of parent tabs
• Replace the help with with locally servered pages like SnackAmp does.
• Ability to load different set of pages at run time
• Ability to define a startup group and page
• Ability to save and to reload the configuration file

User Contributions

I would like to thank all the users of NewzPoint that have sent in suggestions and patches. Below is a list of people that have helped with NewzPoint or components used by NewzPoint.

• Farzad Pezeshkpour for optcl control that allows the embedding of MSIE in a Tk frame.
• Steve Landers for showing me how to generate a scripted document (now noted in the installation section).
• Jean-Claude Wippler for all of his work on the TclKit and Scripted Documents.
• D. Richard Hipp for the Notebook widget [L3 ].
• Jason Tang for adding the tab swapping feature to the Notebook widget
• Michael Doyle for the Url and Google Search box located in the toolbar.
• Martin Lemburg for adding some save application state code (iconic, zoomed).
• David Snyderman for showing me that you may not want a page auto-refreshed if you're viewing it (like editing in Yahoo Mail).
• Alan Collins for the help files.
• Roger E Critchlow for ffidl which is used to access system Dlls.

Sorry if I have forgotten anyone in the above list but I appreciate any those have contributed to this project.

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