Version 13 of What about an application server

Arjen Markus (2 may 2007) Now that the Wiki is (almost) back in its former glory, I had a wildish idea about using the server it runs on for more Tcl applications.

Not hindered by much knowledge of the technical difficulties, I propose:

"We" implement a mechanism to run other Tcl applications
"We" use the Wiki as a repository for Tcl plugin demonstrations and more serious applications

Just to make it more concrete:

One possible application could be to make some of the Wiki entries interactive. Take for instance a page like Fun with functions. Rather than a static picture and a lot of code, the page could show a graph and a few entry widgets. You enter a few data, press the refresh button and there you are: a new graph for the new function or range.

More elaborate applications are possible too of course.

(Enough for now, this is the basic idea)

RS Um.. somehow this goes in the direction of remote Tclets - without Tcl/Tk Tclet Plugin. As I wrote Fun with functions, let's consider what would be needed in that case:

an interface where new user input (a string) would come in
the function graph is rendered on a canvas, so we'd need a screenshot (using Img)
This requires that the app is on-screen, and not covered by other windows :(
If that can be assured, making a screenshot and serving it to a designated image file (GIF or JPEG) is a matter of a few lines of code

 set im [image create photo -data .c] ;# or whatever the canvas is called
 $im write $filename -format JPEG
 # notify Wub that it can refresh the served page

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