Tcl/Tk 8.3

Tcl/Tk 8.3.5 (Oct 18, 2002)
This release focused on stability and build fixes. Source releases, the exact changes and ChangeLog for each release are available in the SourceForge Tcl project's file distribution area:

Tcl and Tk source releases

The change information is also included in each distribution.

New Tcl/Tk 8.3 Features

Tk is getting much deserved attention in this release. Adoption of the Img and Dash patches by Jan Nijtmans add many features to the Tk core that have been long awaited. The new features added since the Tcl/Tk 8.2 release include:

octal error messages We improved the error messages generated when an invalid octal number (e.g., 0899) is used in a math expression.
lsort -unique This new option to lsort removes duplications from lists as it sorts.
glob Added the -type, -path, -directory, and -join switches to give more control over how files are matched.
file date stamps. The file atime and mtime commands were extended to allow setting the file modify and access time.
file channels. This new command lists the open channels.
scan This can now return a list of values instead of assigning to variables.
array unset This command can clear an array without complaining if the array doesn't exist.
Img Patch. Adopted the "Img" patch from Jan Nijtmans that makes the image command Tcl_Obj-based, adds support for binary -data args, adds alpha channel to images, adds GIF write capability (non patent-infringing run-length-encoding).
Dash Patch. This patch adds a variety of features, including:
- Dashed line support on the canvas.
- Pointer warping via the event -warp option,
- Support for <Quadruple> clicks
- Entry widget validation routines.
- New -state hidden in text widgets. TkMan users no longer have to patch Tk!
- New -state -active* -disabled* -offset options to canvas items.
- Postscript printing of images and windows from the canvas.
Canvas. Advanced tag searching has been added to operations like 'find' and 'addtag'. You can search for canvas items using boolean functions of their tags:
```
$canvas find withtag {linetag && redtag}
```
Listboxes Added the -listvariable option to link a listbox to a variable, end added itemconfigure to allow coloring individual items.
Standard Dialogs. updated dialogs to use color icons on Unix. Improved behavior of -initialfile to tk_get*File.