Suppose someone has given you an application, saying, "Here; this is
really cool.  You should run it on your own computer and see."  If just
[Tcl], or perhaps even Tcl and [Tk] were used to develop the application,
and you're unfamiliar with the [Tcl/Tk] language, you might not know what's
involved in "running it on your own computer."  Here's an explanation
of the minimum you need to know:

First determine whether you really need anything
other than the application.   Why?  Because some application developers
produce applications which 'stand alone' - they need nothing else to
run.  In that case, you really are set - just get the program, start it up,
and off you go.  It's pretty easy for a Tcl developer to create things like
that.  For that matter, a more experienced developer is likely to have the
ability to write his main code in [C]/[C++]/[Java]/etc. and then create Tcl
within that environment.

However, if the code you want/need to run is one or more plain Tcl scripts,
you will need to step through the following.

You likely don't have Tcl and Tk installed on your desktop.  It won't take long
to change that, though.  For quickest results, you'll pick a "working
directory" on your desktop, transfer a couple of (kinds of) files
into it, and launch a process.  At that point, the application will be
running.

The two (kinds of) files are
   * the Tcl/Tk interpreter, and
   * the application, written in Tcl/Tk .

Your acquaintance has probably already given you the application 
source, likely named something like 'myprogram.tcl'.  Make sure
you have a copy of that in your working directory.

Now, copy in a working Tk interpreter.  The easiest way to do this
is by choosing the [Tclkit] binary appropriate to your operating
system.  You might, for example, retrieve the most recent Windows
version at http://www.equi4.com/pub/tk/tclkit-win32.upx.exe  .

At this point, you have a copy of two or more files in your working directory
(or perhaps more; your acquaintance might package his work as a
bundle of several distinct-but-related files).  While at the 
"command prompt" specific to your operating system, move to the
working directory, and enter the command
    tclkit myprogram.tcl
After a few seconds, the program will begin to execute.  That's
all.

myprogram.tcl is likely a "plaintext" source, so you can examine it
with any common editor, and modify it as you choose.  Once you've made
a change, launch an instance of the updated application by repeating
the command
    tclkit myprogram.tcl
at the prompt.

----
Installing and launching Tk applications can be even simpler--radically
simpler, in fact, than for any other applications.  [Starkit] presents
advantages over [Java]'s .jar-s and even C's fully-compiled-and-linked
executables.
The Starkit-ted [TclWorld] at
[http://www.equi4.com/starkit/65]
hints at the possibilities.

Hopefully, the person who wrote the application you are using has either
kept their application to a single script file or has learned about
starkits and is making use of them.  If they will just read about how
to build a [starkit] or even better a [starpack], then they will
be able to create an application that stands alone.

----

[Turn a tcl-tk script into an application]

----

However, there is a gotcha here.  The application may make use of
extended functionality beyond what Tclkit supports.  In that case,
you have a bit more work to do.
[[add link to page that discusses how to tcl tcl apps which require
add on extensions into starkits]]

Several Tcl distributions are available as alternatives to Tclkit.
"[Places to find Tcl binaries and sources]" is a good guide to them.

Most people, in this case, turn to something like [ActiveTcl].
The reason - Activetcl's
installation process is relatively painless, and the end result is a
significantly larger amount of functionality for use within Tcl applications.

The last, and least attractive for a _user_ of a tcl application, would
be that case that you find you have to build Tcl, Tk, and the pieces yourself.
[[add a link to pages to help with this alternative]]

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[Category Tclkit]
| [Category Deployment]