# The jstools Application Suite

## Introduction

The jstools package is a suite of applications based on a common set of libraries. The applications share a set of libraries, so they have a consistent lookandfeel. They are extensively customisable, both through startup scripts and through a preferences mechanism. They are written in `wish`(1), an graphical shell based on the Tk toolkit and the Tcl scripting language (all three by John Ousterhout of Sun Microsystems).

This document describes version 4.1/4.4 of the jstools package.

### Compatibility

Version 4.1/4.3 of the jstools application suite is compatible with Tk 4.1 and Tcl 7.5; it may work properly with other versions, but then again, it might not. I have tested the jstools applications lightly under Tk 3.6, and they appear to work.

There's a bug in unpatched Tk 3.6 that causes `wish`(1) to die with a core dump under certain circumstances; you should apply the official patch to Tk, which is available with the Tk sources on the official Tk distribution sites.

There were focusrelated bugs in Tk 4.0b2 (the second beta release) which caused the jstools applications (and some others) to crash frequently; later versions of Tk do not suffer from this problem.

### Changes

See jstools changes since 4.0/4.0 for a change log (including pointers to earlier changes).

## Applications

The jstools package currently includes the following chief applications:

`jabbrevs` - an abbreviation manager (used by `jedit`)`
` `jdoc` - a documentation viewer, which you are presumably using to read this
`jedit` - an multimode, multiwindow text editor
`jmore` - a file viewer, essentially a graphical analogue to `more`(1)
`jprefs` - a tool to set preferences shared by the jstools applications

The `jedit` editor can also be embedded in other Tk applications (and `jmore` and `jprefs` are really just wrappers around library procedures, so they can as well). I hope to add this capability to the other applications in the future.

### Shell Utilities

The following little applications are also included. They are essentially wrappers around particular library routines, intended to make jstools panels available from shell scripts, windowmanager configuration files, etc.

`jalert` - display an alert panel
`jcolname` - prompt for a colour name
`jcolrgb` - prompt for a colour by RGB values
`jconfirm` - ask user for confirmation
`jfs` - allow user to select a file
`jprompt` - ask user to supply a string

### Unsupported Applications and Demos

There are also a few toy or demonstration applications distributed as part of jstools. Some of these are applications that aren't yet robust or functional enough to be considered productionquality, but which I intend to further develop; others are simply proofofconcept or specialpurpose hacks. These include:

`jcalendar` - a tool to edit and print calendar data in `xcalendar`(1) format
`jhotlist` - a tool to manage hotlists for an old version of NCSA Mosaic
`jlaunchpad` - a menu of applications and remote hosts, similar to SGI's `toolchest`.
`jmsgs` - a graphical analogue to the Berkeley `msgs`(1) command
`jpeople` - an addresslist and email alias manager
`jperson` - a commandline interface to the `jpeople` database
`jrtgrep` - search for a regular expression in a `.jrt` or `.jdoc` document

## Usage

Assuming jstools has been installed normally at your site, you shouldn't need to do anything special to use the applications, beyond making sure they're in your `PATH`. However, you can set the environment variable `JSTOOLS_LIB` to specify the directory that holds the jstools libraries. (This is normally /usr/local/jstools/lib or a location chosen by the person who installed jstools at your site.) You may want to do this if you have jstools in your own home directory for personal use, or to test jstools out before installing it.

For specific information on using or invoking particular applications, see the documentation for the individual application (referenced above under Applications).

## Credits and Copyright

### Author

Jay Sekora
`js@aq.org`
`http://www.aq.org/~js/`

### Copyright

The jstools distribution (applications, libraries, and support files) is copyright © 1992-1995 by Jay Sekora, but may be freely copied and modified for any purpose under the conditions spelled out in the copyright notices at the top of each code file.

### Thanks

Most importantly, I'd like to thank John Ousterhout `<ouster@tcl.eng.sun.com>`, the author of Tk and Tcl, for providing such a wonderful, robust, simple language for writing X Windows applications, and the Tcl community which has helped extend Tk and Tcl without forcing them to succumb to feature bloat.

In many places in the libraries, I've borrowed code from other people (with permission); they're mentioned in the documentation files for the individual libraries and in comments in the code itself.

## Preferences

The jstools applications (and other applications written with the jstools libraries) share a set of global preferences. These preferences can be set from within jstools applications through the Global Preferences panel, or with the `jprefs` application, (which is just a wrapper around the Global Preferences panel). Most jstools applications also provide applicationspecific preferences which can be set with an applicationspecific preferences panel.

Global preferences are saved in the file ~/.tk/defaults, which is in the standard X Windows resource format. (For more information on this format, see `X`(1), particularly the section RESOURCES, and `option`(n), particularly the section on `option readfile`.) Most jstools applications save their applicationspecific preferences in the same format in the file ~/.tk/application-defaults, where application is the name of the particular application, but some may save them someplace else and/or in some other format.

## Future Directions

- I intend to move more code from other applications into separate libraries.
- I intend to make `jdoc` (at least, and perhaps other applications as well) embeddable.
- I hope to overhaul the Preferences mechanism. I'd like to have some system similar to that in Brent Welch's `exmh` application, where preferences are organised into categories. I'd like a central preference panel to list the categories, and for each application to be able to add categories, instead of having separate global and applicationspecific panels. Also, I'd like to add an interface for editing all the standard Tk appearance resources, as described in `options`(n), so users don't have to edit defaults files by hand to adjust fonts, colours, relief options, etc.
- I'd like to add a notecardbrowser application, for typing and searching through lots of short notes - an electronic card file.
- I'd like to add a basic sketching program. (It would be nice if drawings created by it could be included in `jedit` documents.)
- I'd like to have some of the applications dynamically communicate among each other. For instance, as soon as you add an abbreviation with `jabbrevs`, it should be available in all your `jedit` sessions. Global preferences you change in one application should be reflected in all your running jstools applications. And perhaps various applications could communicate among each other to decide where to put their windows, so windows overlap as little as possible.

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