This is a bit of code I ([Neil Madden]) wrote recently to parse an [XML] report write up into a Tk canvas display, and then produce postscript from it. It uses Iwidgets scrolledcanvas, but you can achieve the same with a normal canvas and a couple of scrollbars - I'm just lazy. Before I give the code, here is an example XML document in this report markup (it contains all the elements allowed). You could extend the system to easily add support for new elements, and generalize to allow any XML language. [NEM] 2008-04-16: This code was originally written around 2001. Here is an updated one to use [snit] and [tdom], which is a little better constructed. The basic processing model is the same as before. OK - here's a sample doc: XML to Tk Canvas 1. First Section 1.1 Sub section This is some text. Here is a quote 1.2 Lists This is a list: Item one The second item And here is the code: ====== # report.tcl - # # Simple XML Report Writer: http://wiki.tcl.tk/2741 # Updated to correct bugs, show better style. # package require Tcl 8.5 package require Tk 8.5 package require tdom 0.8 package require snit 2.2 snit::widget XMLReport { hulltype toplevel component menu component canvas delegate option * to hull # XML parser variable parser # Stack used to hold current display state during parsing variable stack [list] # Current configuration dictionary variable config { width 18c offset 1.3 font {"Times New Roman" 12} indent 1.0 anchor nw justify left } variable nextline 1.5c # Currently open document variable document "" constructor {} { install menu using menu $win.mb install canvas using canvas $win.c \ -width 21c -height 15c \ -background white -state normal \ -cursor xterm -xscrollcommand [list $win.hsb set] \ -yscrollcommand [list $win.vsb set] scrollbar $win.hsb -orient horizontal -command [list $win.c xview] scrollbar $win.vsb -orient vertical -command [list $win.c yview] # Basic menu $self configure -menu $menu menu $menu.file -tearoff 0 $menu add cascade -label File -menu $menu.file $menu.file add command -label "Open..." -command [mymethod open] $menu.file add command -label "Export..." -command [mymethod export] $menu.file add separator $menu.file add command -label "Exit" -underline 1 -command exit # Layout grid $canvas $win.vsb -sticky nsew grid $win.hsb -sticky ew grid rowconfigure $win 0 -weight 1 grid columnconfigure $win 0 -weight 1 # Set up XML parser set parser [xml::parser -elementstartcommand [mymethod StartTag] \ -elementendcommand [mymethod EndTag] \ -characterdatacommand [mymethod CData]] } # Open a report to display method open {} { set file [tk_getOpenFile -defaultextension xml \ -filetypes {{"XML Files" .xml}} \ -parent $win] if {$file eq ""} { return } $canvas delete all $parser reset # Let tDOM read the file to handle XML encoding correctly $parser parse [tDOM::xmlReadFile $file] set document [file normalize $file] wm title $win [file tail $document] if {[tk windowingsystem] eq "aqua"} { wm attributes $win -titlepath $document } $canvas yview moveto 0 } # Export the file to postscript method export {} { set file [tk_getSaveFile \ -parent $win \ -defaultextension eps \ -filetypes {{"Encapsulated PostScript Files" .eps}} \ -initialfile [file tail [file rootname $document]].eps] if {$file eq ""} { return } # Generate the postscript output $canvas postscript -colormode gray \ -x 0 -y 0 -width 21c -height $nextline \ -pageheight 29.7c -pagewidth 21c \ -file $file } method push {newconfig} { lappend stack $config set config [dict merge $config $newconfig] } method pop {} { set config [lindex $stack end] set stack [lreplace $stack end end] } method document {} {} method title {} { $self push { indent 9 anchor center font {Arial 30 bold} justify center } } method heading1 {} { $self push { indent 0 anchor nw font {Arial 12 bold} justify left } } method heading2 {} { $self push { indent 0.4 anchor nw font {Arial 10 bold} justify left } } method text {} { $self push { indent 1 anchor nw font {"Times New Roman" 12} justify left } } method quote {} { $self push { indent 1.3 anchor nw font {"Times New Roman" 12 italic} justify left } } method list {} { $self push { indent 1.4 } } method item {} { $self push {} set pos [expr {$nextline + 6}] $canvas create oval 2.4c $pos 2.3c [expr {$pos + 5}] -fill black } method br {} { incr nextline 14 } method StartTag {tag attrs args} { $self $tag } method CData text { if {[string length $text] < 3} { return } set ntext "" foreach line [split $text \n] { append ntext [string trim $line]\n } set t [$canvas create text \ [expr {[dict get $config indent] + [dict get $config offset]}]c \ $nextline -width [dict get $config width] \ -font [dict get $config font] \ -anchor [dict get $config anchor] \ -text [string trim $ntext]] set nextline [lindex [$canvas bbox $t] 3] } method EndTag args { if {[lindex $args 0] ne "br"} { $self pop } } } wm withdraw . XMLReport .xml ====== Have fun! '''[NEM]''' Rolf says that the above works with the SAX interface in [tDOM] with trivial alterations. [RFox] asks if: list Stack isn't just a fancy no-op and whether maybe you intended: set Stack [list] As what's there just creates a list with an entry "Stack" and then destroys it: % list Stack Stack % puts $Stack can't read "Stack": no such variable % [NEM]: Yes, that is incorrect, as is the code that does [[list [[array get ...]]]] and then has to use [join] elsewhere... It works as [lappend] will auto-create the list as needed. In my defense, this code is ancient and written in a hurry! ---- %| [Category XML] | [Category Application] |%