Tk::Text::SuperText

Description

Tk::Text::SuperText is a Perl module that extends and in some ways redefines the standard Perl/Tk Tk::Text widget. It adds rectangular selections, selection left/right shift, unlimited undo and redo, auto-indent, 'inline' selection paste, matching parentheses highlight/find, commands bound via virtual events.

Author

Send comments, suggestions, flames :) to:

Current maintainer is Alexander Becker.

Originally written by Alessandro Iob.

Copyright

Copyright (c) 2016-2021 Alexander Becker. All rights reserved. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

Prerequisites

This module is tested with Perl 5.16.3 and Tk804.03.

How to build and install

Just type:

perl Makefile.PL
make
make test
make install

Feature example

Set -readonly => 1 to prevent user edits while keeping selection, copying, navigation, and programmatic insert/delete calls available. Toggle it with $text->configure(-readonly => 0) or $text->readonly(0).

Run the interactive playground from the repository root:

perl eg/feature-sample.pl

The prepared scenarios demonstrate rectangular selections, selection shifts, inline paste, auto-indentation, matching pairs, and undo/redo. Each scenario includes instructions and an editable scratch buffer. The Read-only checkbox lets you try the same commands with editing blocked. Switching scenarios or resetting a sample discards edits. The "Copy demo column" button replaces the clipboard with sample data.

TODO

Configurable syntax highlighting (as a separate module???).