In Chapter 15, "Anatomy of the MainLoop", we discussed the Tk:ExecuteCommand program. Here it is in its entirety; see Figure 15-1 for a demonstration.
$Tk::ExecuteCommand::VERSION = '1.1'; package Tk::ExecuteCommand; use IO::Handle; use Proc::Killfam; #use Tk::widgets qw/LabEntry ROText/; use Tk::widgets qw/ROText/; use base qw/Tk::Frame/; use strict; Construct Tk::Widget 'ExecuteCommand'; sub Populate { my($self, $args) = @_; $self->SUPER::Populate($args); my $f1 = $self->Frame->pack; $f1->LabEntry( -label => 'Command to Execute', -labelPack => [qw/-side left/], -textvariable => \$self->{-command}, )->pack(qw/-side left/); my $doit = $f1->Button(-text => 'Do It!')->pack(qw/-side left/); $self->Advertise('doit' => $doit); $self->_reset_doit_button; $self->Frame->pack(qw/pady 10/); $self->Label(-text => 'Command\'s stdout and stderr')->pack; my $text = $self->Scrolled('ROText', -wrap => 'none'); $text->pack(qw/-expand 1 -fill both/); $self->Advertise('text' => $text); $self->OnDestroy([$self => 'kill_command']); $self->{-finish} = 0; $self->ConfigSpecs( -command => [qw/METHOD command Command/, 'sleep 5; pwd'], ); } # end Populate sub command { my($self, $command) = @_; $self->{-command} = $command; } # end command sub _flash_doit { # Flash "Do It" by alternating its background color. my($self, $option, $val1, $val2, $interval) = @_; if ($self->{-finish} == 0) { $self->Subwidget('doit')->configure($option => $val1); $self->idletasks; $self->after($interval, [\&_flash_doit, $self, $option, $val2, $val1, $interval]); } } # end _flash_doit sub _read_stdout { # Called when input is available for the output window. Also checks # to see if the user has clicked Cancel. my($self) = @_; if ($self->{-finish}) { $self->kill_command; } else { my $h = $self->{-handle}; if ( sysread $h, $_, 4096 ) { my $t = $self->Subwidget('text'); $t->insert('end', $_); $t->yview('end'); } else { $self->{-finish} = 1; } } } # end _read_stdout sub _reset_doit_button { # Establish normal "Do It" button parameters. my($self) = @_; my $doit = $self->Subwidget('doit'); my $doit_bg = ($doit->configure(-background))[3]; $doit->configure( -text => 'Do It', -relief => 'raised', -background => $doit_bg, -state => 'normal', -command => [sub { my($self) = @_; $self->{-finish} = 0; $self->Subwidget('doit')->configure( -text => 'Working ...', -relief => 'sunken', -state => 'disabled' ); $self->execute_command; }, $self], ); } # end _reset_doit_button # Public methods. sub execute_command { # Execute the command and capture stdout/stderr. my($self) = @_; my $h = IO::Handle->new; die "IO::Handle->new failed." unless defined $h; $self->{-handle} = $h; $self->{-pid} = open $h, $self->{-command} . ' 2>&1 |'; if (not defined $self->{-pid}) { $self->Subwidget('text')->insert('end', "'" . $self->{-command} . "' : $!\n"); $self->kill_command; return; } $h->autoflush(1); $self->fileevent($h, 'readable' => [\&_read_stdout, $self]); my $doit = $self->Subwidget('doit'); $doit->configure( -text => 'Cancel', -relief => 'raised', -state => 'normal', -command => [\&kill_command, $self], ); my $doit_bg = ($doit->configure(-background))[3]; $self->_flash_doit(-background => $doit_bg, qw/cyan 500/); } # end execute_command sub kill_command { # A click on the blinking Cancel button resumes normal operations. my($self) = @_; $self->{-finish} = 1; my $h = $self->{-handle}; return unless defined $h; $self->fileevent($h, 'readable' => ''); # clear handler killfam 'TERM', $self->{-pid} if defined $self->{-pid}; close $h; $self->_reset_doit_button; } # end kill_command 1; __END__ =head1 NAME Tk::ExecuteCommand - execute a command asynchronously (non-blocking). =for pm Tk/ExecuteCommand.pm =for category Widgets =head1 SYNOPSIS S< >I<$exec> = I<$parent>-E<gt>B<ExecuteCommand>; =head1 DESCRIPTION Tk::ExecuteCommand runs a command yet still allows Tk events to flow. All command output and errors are displayed in a window. This ExecuteCommand mega widget is composed of an LabEntry widget for command entry, a "Do It" Button that initiates command execution, and a ROText widget that collects command execution output. While the command is executing, the "Do It" Button changes to a "Cancel" Button that can prematurely kill the executing command. The B<kill_command> method does the same thing programmatically. =over 4 =item B<-command> The command to execute asynchronously. =back =head1 METHODS =over 4 =item C<$exec-E<gt>B<execute_command>;> Initiates command execution. =item C<$exec-E<gt>B<kill_command>;> Terminates the command. This subroutine is called automatically via an OnDestroy handler when the ExecuteCommand widget goes away. =back =head1 EXAMPLE I<$exec> = I<$mw>-E<gt>B<ExecuteCommand>; =head1 KEYWORDS exec, command, fork, asynchronous, non-blocking, widget =head1 COPYRIGHT Copyright (C) 1999 - 2001 Stephen O. Lidie. All rights reserved. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself. =cut