Hi - I am looking for a simple tool (preferably shareware, or even
merely a C++ code sample) - that will, roughly
1. Open a window area of the screen (like a drawing pallette)
2. Allow me to open a file chooser box and drag 1 or more a graphic
files onto the pallette
3. resize and change the placement of the graphics
4. When I press "save" (or OK) ... There is some file I can later
examine with the graphics filenames, and coordinates.
5. Even better if the same can be done with text (add text fields,
choosing fonts/colors)
6. And of course if I want to re-edit, I can open the file with this
utility and the layout is displayed.
7. Ideally I can limit the number of items on screen to 8 or so.

This sounds like a simple HTML layout tool, no?   Well - I cannot seem
to find a simple one.  The intent is to add this into another program
(the other program needs the layout-file for a different purpose).

So the intent is to compile in or otherwise call this utility from the
main application.   I don't need any other bells and whistles.  Fully
featured web development applications are just too big/unweildy.

I bet you will want to use Tk (a graphic part of tcl/Tk) .
  It is multiplaform, free, and written in c.

It integrates well with a c program (either way: extend tcl by c routines
 or call tcl routines from a c main).

You can easily drag objects, and transform them,

also callable from perl and other languages
Tcl::Tk - Extension module for Perl giving access to Tk via the
...Please see and try to run demo scripts 'demo.pl', widgets can be
created and handled entirely by Tcl/Tk code evaluated ...
http://search.cpan.org/~vkon/TclTk/Tk.pm

overview
http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/3114



code  looks like this:
http://wiki.tcl.tk/15073

flexible -examples of results
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Programming:Tcl_Tcl/Tk_examples

other examples
http://wiki.tcl.tk/1415




local demo 
For an example of programming with Tcl/Tk, see the demonstration
programs with come with the Tk distribution (particularly the widget
tour). If you have Tk installed on your machine, they are in the demo
subdirectory of the Tk library directory (probably either
/usr/X11R6/lib/tk/demo or /usr/local/lib/tk/demo).



more examples
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=754699#a
http://foto.hut.fi/~jussi/tcl/Tcl.html

download
http://tcl.activestate.com/software/tcltk/downloadnow83.html

after you install plugin - you can try these interactive demos
http://www.ma.utexas.edu/~voloch/tcl.html


book
http://www.msen.com/~clif/TclTutor.html

---

Request for Answer Clarification by vodguy-ga on 28 Aug 2006 08:11 PDT

I was looking for something just a little more specific.  It's sort of
like my asking for a specific Shakespeare quote and someone gives me
links to a dictionary and thesaurus  ; )

Yes, I suppose the answer is in there somewhere.   The TK platform you
reference does indeed look useful (I am not a software engineer, just
recommending a solution).  I was pretty specific in my question, and
in the application and use.   So some links or examples addressing my
specific question would be really helpful - otherwise I am still left
wanting for a solution.

this is more of a complaint.   I posted a specific question priced at
$50.   2-3 weeks later (today) a researched posted what I consider a
'general' answer .. and Google CHARGES me before I have a chance to
respond as to whether or not I am satisified with the answer!??   
What the hell?   Nice going.  It's like I asked for a quote on
Shakespeare, and someone gives me links to a dictionary and theseaurus
.. then takes the money and runs.    I want an answer, not a refund.  
And I think it is quite unfair for ANY answer to be accepted by Google
(not by me) as an acceptaple answer  (evidenced by the fact that I was
charged immediately).   I am very dissatisfied. Not with the
researcher, not with the answer (yet), but with Google!

Hi vodguy,

I guess you are familiar with software packages like Adobe Phostoshop,
Corel PhotoPaint, Macromedia Fireworks, Gimp and so on...

All of these packages have features you pointed on your question. And
these packages are very easy to learn and work with. So I recommend
you to use one of these packages. But from all these tools only Gimp
is solely free and provides its source-code. Others are proprietary
and are not free.

Did my comment help you with your problem?

If you have any further question, dont hesitate to ask...

regarding the comment about looking at Photoshop, Corel etc ... these
suggestions unfortunately are off-the-mark.  As per the original
question:  "The intent is to add this into another program (the other
program needs the layout-file for a different purpose).  So the intent
is to compile in or otherwise call this utility from the main
application."
Thanks for taking the time to chime in and help.  Much appreciated.