RattleCAD User Manual/First Steps

First Steps edit

Download rattleCAD edit

ratlleCAD is hosted on sourceforge.net.

You can download rattleCAD here:

Architecture edit

RattleCAD User Manual/Architecture rattleCAD needs some external tools to provide its full functionality.

Tcl/Tk edit

The base external module ist Tcl/Tk. Tcl/Tk is the interpreter for rattleCAD.
rattleCAD is available for the main platforms e.g. Microsoft Windows, Linux and Mac OS X.
You can get information about Tcl/Tk here:

http://www.tcl.tk/

and download a "Batteries Included" version as an ActiveTcl Distribution:

http://www.activestate.com/activetcl/downloads

ghostscript edit

rattleCAD uses Ghostscript to create postscript- and pdf-files.
You can download Ghostscript here:

Ghostscript download

Currently rattleCAD uses the 32-bit Version of Ghostscript.

To use Ghostscript from any other location on your computer or if rattleCAD
cannot find Ghostscript itself, there is an option to configure ghostscript for rattleCAD manually.

.rattleCAD_<yourPCName>.init

   <exec>
        ...        
        <exec name="gs">C:/Program Files (x86)/gs/gs9.14/bin/gswin32c.exe</exec>
        ...
    </exec>

GSview edit

rattleCAD uses GhostView to view postscript-files.
You can download Ghostscript here:

GhostView download

Ressources edit

tbd.

Install and Configure edit

MS Windows edit

install Tcl/Tk edit

recommended destination for tcl/Tk 8.5:
C:\Program Files\Tcl\8.5

prepare install directory edit

prepare a directory for the current and future versions of rattlecad.
rattleCAD does not provide an install procedure. Therefore you have to provide a directory and extract the downloaded zip-files here.
C:\Users\username\rattleCAD

install rattleCAD edit

Download the current version from

http://sourceforge.net/projects/rattlecad/

and extract directly in the prepared directory
C:\Users\username\rattleCAD
Your directory should look like this:

  ./3.4.02.35/... 
             ./etc/... 
             ./lib/... 
             ./.../... 
             ./main.tcl 
             ./rattleCAD.tcl 
             ./readme.txt 
             ./... 
   ./rattleCAD.bat 
   ./rattleCAD.tcl 
   ./rattleCAD_3.4.02.35.exe 
   ./rattleCAD_3.4.02.35.kit 
   ./rattleCAD_3.4.02.35.zip 
   ./readme.txt 
   ./tclkit.ico

In this case:

rattleCAD.bat: runs the rattleCAD_3.4.02.35.exe
rattleCAD.tcl: runs the ./3.4.02.35/main.tcl

After installing updates your directory should look like this:

  ./3.4.02.35/... 
   ./3.4.02.36/... 
   ./3.4.02.37/... 
   ./3.4.02.38/... 
   ./3.4.02.38/etc/... 
             ./etc/... 
             ./lib/... 
             ./.../... 
             ./main.tcl 
             ./rattleCAD.tcl 
             ./readme.txt 
             ./... 
   ./rattleCAD.bat 
   ./rattleCAD.tcl 
   ./rattleCAD_3.4.02.35.exe 
   ./rattleCAD_3.4.02.35.kit 
   ./rattleCAD_3.4.02.35.zip 
   ./rattleCAD_3.4.02.36.exe 
   ./rattleCAD_3.4.02.36.kit 
   ./rattleCAD_3.4.02.36.zip 
   ./rattleCAD_3.4.02.37.exe 
   ./rattleCAD_3.4.02.37.kit 
   ./rattleCAD_3.4.02.37.zip 
   ./rattleCAD_3.4.02.38.exe 
   ./rattleCAD_3.4.02.38.kit 
   ./rattleCAD_3.4.02.38.zip 
   ./readme.txt 
   ./tclkit.ico

Mac OS edit

Mac OS X includes the context needed to run RattleCAD, but may be out of date depending on RattleCAD version dependencies. The reason is that the Python version included in OS X is also older.

Installation edit

RattleCAD installation is similar to other platforms. Create a folder and into it download rattleCAD_v.vv.vv.kit and rattleCAD_v.vv.vv_plugin.zip. The zip may auto-extract into a _plugin_ folder. If not, unarchive it.

Running edit

Open a terminal, navigate to the folder containing rattleCAD_v.vv.vv.kit and type wish rattleCAD_v.vv.vv.kit.

Updating Tcl/Tk edit

If you receive an error, check whether the Tcl/Tk version is 8.5 by typing wish and selecting 'About Tcl & Tk' from the Wish menu. If it is version 8.5 RattleCAD may not run.

You may also download rattleCAD_checkEnv.tcl from the RattleCAD project at SourceForge to check the environment by running tclsh rattleCAD_checkEnv.tcl. The output will display the Tk version and identify any missing components.

If you choose to update Tcl/Tk you can get a complete installation package for ActiveTcl Community Edition version 8.6+ from ActiveState. It contains the modules needed to run RattleCAD.

Linux edit

Configuration edit

There are two configuration Files for rattleCAD. They are located in your Project-directory.
e.g.: C:\Users\<yourUserName>\Documents\rattleCAD

.rattleCAD_<yourPCName>.init edit

rattleCAD brings a config-File to configure your environment for rattleCAD:

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
    <root>
        <hostname>anton-pc</hostname>
        <fileName>C:/Users/anton/Documents/rattleCAD/.rattleCAD_anton-pc.init</fileName>
        <fileCreated>2014.06.15 15:40</fileCreated>
        <GUI_Font>Helvetica 12</GUI_Font>
        <mime>
            <mime name=".test">_any_executable</mime>
        </mime>
        <exec>
            <exec name="gs">C:/Program Files (x86)/gs/gs9.14/bin/gswin32c.exe</exec>
            <exec name="_test">_any_executable</exec>
        </exec>
    </root>

.rattleCAD_<yourPCName>.Xdefaults edit

rattleCAD brings a config-File to configure visual appearance of rattleCAD:

    ! ... created by  rattleCAD (3.4.01.62)
    !     ... on  2014.06.15 14:58
    !
    !*Menu.foreground: black
    !
    !*Menu.background: lemonChiffon2
    !*Menu.foreground: red
    !
    !
    ! --- any untested examples: -----------------
    !       ... see: http://computer-programming-forum.com/57-tcl/714fcdf48fb18c6c.htm
    !
    ! ----- try some attributes ------------------
    !*padX: 10
    !*padY: 10
    !*sliderLength: 20
    !*yScrollSide: left
    !*Scale.width: 8
    ...