# Tk supports only GIF? **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [January 22, 2009, 2:00pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/tk-supports-only-gif/158363 "2009-01-22T14:00:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![alby](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@alby](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alby)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 2:00pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/tk-supports-only-gif/158363/1 "2009-01-22T14:00:39Z")
I has this snippet to show images: require ‘tk’ TkLabel.new do image TkPhotoImage.new(‘file’=\> ‘world.gif’) end.pack Tk.mainloop But if I point it to some PNG or JPEG file, I get a “couldn’t recognize data in image file” exception. If I add an explicit ‘format’ =\> ‘png’, I get a “image file format ‘png’ is not supported” exception. I’m using Ubuntu. Doesn’t Tk support JPGs and PNGs out of the box? ---
**Author:** ![alby](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@alby](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alby)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 6:00pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/tk-supports-only-gif/158363/2 "2009-01-22T18:00:30Z")
From: Albert S. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) Subject: Tk supports only GIF? Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2009 21:58:54 +0900 Message-ID: [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) > I’m using Ubuntu. > > Doesn’t Tk support JPGs and PNGs out of the box? If you talk about standard Tcl/Tk only, the answer is “YES” (see “man n photo”). To support JPEGs, PNGs, and so on, Tcl/Tk needs “Img” extension. # Possibly, ubuntu package name is “libtk-img”. When your Tcl/Tk has “Img” extension, Ruby/Tk also supports it. Please call “require ‘tkextlib/tkimg’”, and you can use JPEGs and PNGs on your Ruby/Tk. ---
**Author:** ![alby](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@alby](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alby)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2009, 12:09am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/tk-supports-only-gif/158363/3 "2009-01-25T00:09:26Z")
Hidetoshi NAGAI wrote: > Possibly, ubuntu package name is “libtk-img”. > […] > Please call “require ‘tkextlib/tkimg’” Thanks! these two tips solved my problem. > > Doesn’t Tk support JPGs and PNGs out of the box? > > If you talk about standard Tcl/Tk only, the answer is “YES” BTW, I’m not sure I understand what you wrote here. (What does "standard Tcl/Tk mean?) ---
**Author:** ![alby](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@alby](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alby)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2009, 6:49pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/tk-supports-only-gif/158363/4 "2009-01-26T18:49:19Z")
Hidetoshi NAGAI wrote: > From: Albert S. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) > > > BTW […] what does “standard Tcl/Tk” mean? > > I said it as “Tcl/Tk with no extension”. > > As you know, Ruby/Tk uses Tcl/Tk libraries. > It means that functions supported by your Ruby/Tk depend on your > Tcl/Tk on your environment. > […] > Ruby/Tk can use almost all of Tcl/Tk extensions. > For some of them, Ruby/Tk has wrapper libraries (“tkextlib/\*”). > For others, although there are no wrapper libraries, Ruby/Tk can call > functions of those extensions directly (by “Tk.tk\_call” method) […] Thank you for the thorough explanation! (It’s a pity we don’t have a wiki to collect TK-related info. I did search for one.) ---
**Author:** ![alby](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@alby](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alby)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2009, 9:03pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/tk-supports-only-gif/158363/5 "2009-01-25T21:03:34Z")
From: Albert S. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) Subject: Re: Tk supports only GIF? Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2009 08:07:29 +0900 Message-ID: [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) > > If you talk about standard Tcl/Tk only, the answer is “YES” > > BTW, I’m not sure I understand what you wrote here. (What does "standard > > Tcl/Tk mean?) I’m sorry about my poor English. I said it as “Tcl/Tk with no extension”. As you know, Ruby/Tk uses Tcl/Tk libraries. It means that functions supported by your Ruby/Tk depend on your Tcl/Tk on your environment. When you have no Tcl/Tk extensions on your environment, Ruby/Tk can use Tcl/Tk’s standard (built-in) widgets and functions only. Tcl/Tk’s “photo” manual describes “At present, only GIF and PPM/PGM formats are supported”. Tcl/Tk’s “Img” extension library (loadable module) adds support for some other image formats to Tcl/Tk. And then, Ruby/Tk can treat image formats supported by “Img” extension. Ruby/Tk can use almost all of Tcl/Tk extensions. For some of them, Ruby/Tk has wrapper libraries (“tkextlib/\*”). For others, although there are no wrapper libraries, Ruby/Tk can call functions of those extensions directly (by “Tk.tk\_call” method), I think that it is not so difficult to write a wrapper library for such a extension. ---
**Author:** ![alby](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@alby](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alby)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 6:25pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/tk-supports-only-gif/158363/6 "2009-01-27T18:25:32Z")
Albert S. wrote: > > For some of them, Ruby/Tk has wrapper libraries (“tkextlib/\*”). > > For others, although there are no wrapper libraries, Ruby/Tk can call > > functions of those extensions directly (by “Tk.tk\_call” method) […] > > Thank you for the thorough explanation! > > (It’s a pity we don’t have a wiki to collect TK-related info. I did > search for one.) The Tcl community itself has an excellent wiki: > **[Welcome to the Tcler's Wiki!](https://wiki.tcl-lang.org/)** > > Tclers wiki While there isn’t much Ruby-specific content there, there is a huge amount of information about Tk.