SATGUI |
PLEASE NOTE:
What is SATGUI |
SATGUI is a framework in which (Microsoft -or- X) Windows Client / Unix Server applications can be developed. SATGUI is intended for small/simple applications with a reletively small user base, where the heavy-weight development tools from the likes of Oracle/Ingres are too expensive/bloated/complex.
With this in mind SAT was developed using the following guidelines:-
No (Microsoft -or- X) Windows development skills are required. Any programmer with a reasonable grasp of Unix shell script can produce useful applications with the minimum of fuss. Take a look at the demo application to see just how easy SATGUI is.
SAT applications can be written in most Unix character based languages; C, Shell script, Perl etc. To produce SQL based database applications the SAT package includes a filter to simplify interfacing SAT with the MySQL database system.
The UNIX components of SATGUI are implemented as scripts for easy portability.
How SATGUI works |
SATGUI uses a very thin client architecture similar in concept to the HTML Server/Browser, though to be honest, the actual inspiration came from the ultimate and earliest thin client implementation - The Mainframe.
SATGUI is intended to be used in a private network (intranet/dial-up) environment for the development of small scale (Microsoft -or X) Windows Client/Unix Server applications.
Why use SATGUI if the concept is so similar to the HTML Server/Browser?
HTML was designed as an environment in which to store and navigate hypertext documents. Over the years functionality has been added to HTML to enable it to be used as a client for interactive applicaions. However, the basic framework of HTML is still a hypertext system. The applications are, on the whole, obviously Web based and lack a native "look and feel".
SATGUI has been developed from the outset as an environment for creating applications. The SATGUI Display Language (SAT/DL) is very simple, and as with HTML applications, can be used in conjunction with back-end applications written in a variety of languages.
A SATGUI application is composed from a set of screens and processes. The screens define the layout of the window, while the processes are associated with the activation of certain screen Items (Buttons, Listbox selections etc). Screens/Processes are equivalent to HTML Documents/CGI Scipts.
Release Status |
SATGUI is currently at release Alpha3
System Requirements |
Client
The client executables have been tested under Windows 98, NT4 and Linux. The client source
(which requires TCL/TK 8.3 or greater) has been tested under Windows 98, NT4, Solaris and AIX.
Server
The GUI server source code requires TCL 8.0 or greater.
NOTE: TCL is not required when using the Linux executables.
Tool
The client development tool executables have been tested under Windows 98, NT4 and Linux. The
client source (which requires TCL/TK 8.3 or greater) has been tested under Windows 98, NT4,
Solaris and AIX.
NOTE: TCL information and download can be found at Tcl Developer Xchange.
SATGUI Components |
satgui (Linux) satgui.exe (Windows) satgui.tcl (Source) |
SATGUI Client. Executes SATGUI Display Language (SAT/DL) commands to create user interface.
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satguisvr (Linux) satguisvr.tcl (Source) |
SATGUI Server. Server to which SATGUI clients connect. The SATGUI server handles communication
with all clients using a SAT application. Each SAT application requires its own copy
of SATGUISVR to be running.
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satguistart (Script) |
SATGUI Server startup script. Reads configuration file and starts SATGUISVR with the
appropriate parameters.
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satguitool (Linux) satguitool.exe (Windows) satguitool.tcl (Source) |
SATGUI Client Development Tool. Interactive tool which executes SATGUI Display Language (SAT/DL) commands to create a sample user interface. |
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Installation |
To extract the Unix "tar" files
Client
The directory location of the SAT GUI Client (satgui|satgui.exe|satgui.tcl) is not
important, but it is suggested that it be placed in C:\Program Files\SATiSOFT (Windows) -or- /usr/local/bin (Unix).
If the source code version is to be used under Unix, the first line of satgui.tcl...
#!/usr/local/bin/wish8.3
Will probably need to be changed to reflect the location of the wish (TCL/TK) interpreter on your system.
Server
The directory location of the SAT Server files (satguisvr|satguisvr.tcl and satguistart)
is not important, but it is suggested that they be placed in the /usr/local/bin directory.
If the source code version is to be used under Unix, the first line of satguisvr.tcl...
#!/usr/local/bin/tcl8.0
Will probably need to be changed to reflect the location of the tcl (TCL) interpreter on your system. Also, it will be be necessary to either: Rename satguisvr.tcl to satguisvr -or- Edit satguistart and change the reference to satguisvr to satguisvr.tcl.
Tool
The directory location of the SAT GUI Client Development Tool (satguitool|satguitool.exe|satguitool.tcl)
is not important, but it is suggested that it be placed in C:\Program Files\SATiSOFT (Windows) -or-
/usr/local/bin (Unix).
If the source code version is to be used under Unix, the first line of satguitool.tcl...
#!/usr/local/bin/wish8.3
Will probably need to be changed to reflect the location of the wish (TCL/TK) interpreter on your system.
Release History |
Alpha3 02/2001 |
Adds Menubar support. | Alpha2 11/2000 |
Fixes addCheckButtons (Invalid command name "sey") bug. | Alpha1 10/2000 |
First public release. Due to lack of resources it has not been possible to perform thorough multi-user testing. I am therefore, very interested to hear from anybody who has tried SATGUI with a number of users, the good and the bad! |
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Known Bugs |