TCL\TK for Window XP 64 bit

[Your Name]

Hello All,

I support our ME applications, specifically Pro/ENGINEER (solid
modeller). We had written a set of utilities for the tool using it's C
based API. At the time these utilities were written the API provided no
GUI support so we used the TCL/TK-C interface. Worked real nicely on 32
bit Windows.

Now, our databases are growing to the point where it looks like moving
to Windows XP 64 bit will be necessary. My question: Can I use the 32
bit TCL/TK libraries to recompile my apps, or must I compile from source
to obtain 64 bit versions?

Thanks,

Ben Bailey
Mechanical Engineering Automation Texas
Raytheon Company
bba...@raytheon.com

[davidh...@simplifiedlogic.com]

Wow - that is pretty cool - a Pro/ENGINEER admin/developer on the
Tcl/TK group. :)

We do a lot of Pro/TOOLKIT development with Tcl/TK and it is quite
handy. If you get stuck, you might want to take a look at at the
NitroMation-API (http://www.nitromation.com) to provide some of your
connectivity - it is a Web Service into Pro/E's Modeling Kernel - so
you can write networked applications with Pro/E quite easily using SOAP
and any other language you want. We just happen to provide Tcl/TK as a
foundation interface for writing applications (god this is a cool
language).

Not completely sure about the portability issues, just could not resist
posting to another Pro/E User. :)

Dave

[Michael Schlenker]

IIRC mixing 32-bit and 64-bit code in one program isn't possible. So if
your app now is a 64-bit app and you want to interface it directly with
Tcl/Tk you need a 64-bit build of the Tcl/Tk libraries. But I may be
wrong, best person to ask would probably be Jeff Hobbs of ActiveState
who did the Win64 port of Tcl/Tk.

Michael

[Jeff Hobbs]

Michael Schlenker wrote:
>> I support our ME applications, specifically Pro/ENGINEER (solid
>> modeller). We had written a set of utilities for the tool using it's C
>> based API. At the time these utilities were written the API provided no
>> GUI support so we used the TCL/TK-C interface. Worked real nicely on 32
>> bit Windows.
>>
>> Now, our databases are growing to the point where it looks like moving
>> to Windows XP 64 bit will be necessary. My question: Can I use the 32
>> bit TCL/TK libraries to recompile my apps, or must I compile from source
>> to obtain 64 bit versions?

> IIRC mixing 32-bit and 64-bit code in one program isn't possible. So if

> your app now is a 64-bit app and you want to interface it directly with
> Tcl/Tk you need a 64-bit build of the Tcl/Tk libraries. But I may be
> wrong, best person to ask would probably be Jeff Hobbs of ActiveState
> who did the Win64 port of Tcl/Tk.

All 32-bit x86 binaries should work on x64 (x86_64) 64-bit Windows
(and even ia64 64-bit Windows, but in a different way). If your ME
application remains 32-bit, then your existing 32-bit extensions
will work as before. If your ME app becomes native 64-bit, then
you will need to recompile the Tcl/C bits using a 64-bit compiled
Tcl.

I updated Tcl 8.4.12 with Windows 64-bit build support, but if you
want prebuilt supported binaries, then ActiveState provides those
as part of its Enterprise Edition binaries.

--
Jeff Hobbs, The Tcl Guy
http://www.ActiveState.com/, a division of Sophos