Full Screen under X with Perl/Tk?

Rob Pinelli

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Apr 21, 1998, 3:00:00 AM4/21/98

to

Hello,

I'm currently working on a project using Perl/Tk and
it's going along great. However, I would like to give
the user the option of entering "full screen" mode where
the windowing environment disappears and I can take
control of the entire screen.

Basically, I want to know if there is a way to suppress
the underlying window manager and treat the entire screen
as a giant canvas. Is this possible to do with Perl/Tk
or will I have to dig way down into low-level X programming?

If the latter, then I think I'll just forget about it. =)
Incidentially, I am using Accel-X with Red Hat Linux 5.0 if
it makes a difference. Any and all help appreciated!!

--Rob
--
Rob Pinelli rpin...@nortel.ca | I do not speak for my
Dept. 3Z31 ISDN Display Services | employer. However, the
NORTEL, Inc. (919) 991-8940 | opinions expressed here may
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709 | be bought for a nominal fee.

Nick Ing-Simmons

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Apr 21, 1998, 3:00:00 AM4/21/98

to Rob Pinelli

Rob Pinelli wrote:
>
> Hello,
>
> I'm currently working on a project using Perl/Tk and
> it's going along great. However, I would like to give
> the user the option of entering "full screen" mode where
> the windowing environment disappears and I can take
> control of the entire screen.
>
> Basically, I want to know if there is a way to suppress
> the underlying window manager and treat the entire screen
> as a giant canvas. Is this possible to do with Perl/Tk
> or will I have to dig way down into low-level X programming?
>
> If the latter, then I think I'll just forget about it. =)
> Incidentially, I am using Accel-X with Red Hat Linux 5.0 if
> it makes a difference. Any and all help appreciated!!

I needed that for my presentation at conference so in Tk402 and later:

$toplevel->FullScreen(0); # leave title bar
$toplevel->FullScreen(1); # Loose that too

Where $toplevel is anything decended from Tk::Wm e.g. Toplevel,
MainWindow.

You can of course have a canvas which fills all that.

And this isn't bypassing window manager - just telling it to give
you whole screen.

Andrew Allen

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Apr 22, 1998, 3:00:00 AM4/22/98

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Rob Pinelli (rpin...@bnr.ca) wrote:
: I'm currently working on a project using Perl/Tk and

: it's going along great. However, I would like to give
: the user the option of entering "full screen" mode where
: the windowing environment disappears and I can take
: control of the entire screen.

: Basically, I want to know if there is a way to suppress
: the underlying window manager and treat the entire screen
: as a giant canvas. Is this possible to do with Perl/Tk
: or will I have to dig way down into low-level X programming?

You could do a:

$toplevel->overrideredirect(1);

and then "maximize" your window to the full screen size, using the the
'maxsize' and 'geometry' methods.

Personally, if a program did this to _my_ X display, I'd be rather
annoyed.

Andrew

Rob Pinelli

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Apr 23, 1998, 3:00:00 AM4/23/98

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In article <6hlufm$4...@fcnews.fc.hp.com>, a...@fc.hp.com (Andrew Allen) writes:

Boy, people sure are touchy about losing control of their window
size! =) Sounds a lot like <BLINK> in HTML.

I guess I need to explain, since everyone I've asked about this seems to
get uptight about losing the window manager. The reason I want full-screen
video is because I am writing an application that interfaces with a weather
computer I have. In addition to a regular real-time display (which will
be in the normal window-managed fashion), the user has the ability to start
a "broadcast". What the broadcast does is switch to full screen mode and
cycle the current conditions from the weather computer, plus forecasts and
radar images from the net. This mode is intended to be used with a scan
converter for broadcast to closed circuit TVs. The ultimate goal is that
I kick the program into broadcast mode and then I can see the local forecasts
on demand on channel 3 of any TV in my house. So, you can see why I don't
want window widgets cluttering up the display.

To ally everyone's fears, the FullScreen window will be a new MainWindow
and will not suppress or resize any of the underlying windows. In
addition, this window will ONLY appear when the user requests it, and
is intended SOLELY for use as a source signal for a TV broadcast, NOT
as a user-interactive application. To quit the broadcast mode, a user
would hit Escape or click on the mouse and the FullScreen window will
disappear revealing everything else exactly as it was.

As for screen size, my personal scan converter only handles 640x480 @ 60Hz,
so I create a new MainWindow at FullScreen size and then pack the upper
right hand corner with my info, up to a size of 640x480. I suppose I can
make it work with any resolution, but then again this isn't a commercial
product. I'm debating whether or not to even release it to the public domain.

Anyhow, thanks to everyone who responded!!

--
Rob Pinelli rpin...@nortel.ca | I do not speak for my

Dept. 3Z32 Internet Call Management | employer, however the
NORTEL (919) 991-8940 | opinions expressed here may