The Modifying AlphaTcl Procedures wiki page outlines how one can change nearly any aspect of the AlphaTcl User Interface by redefining various procedures in preference files.
Alpha includes a feature named "Smarter Source" which allows users to redefine all of the procedures in an entire file in the standard distribution. To obtain more information about how this feature works, select the menu item
Help > More Features Help > Smarter Source
and then read the information in the new window that is created. Topics in this page include
Using the Smarter Source package
To create and modify Smarter Source files, you must
(1) Activate the Smarter Source feature, using the
Config > Global Setup > Features
dialog. Click on the checkbox next to "Smarter Source" and press the "OK" button.
(2) Define a Smarter Source Folder preference, using the
Config > Preferences > Input-Output Prefs > Files
dialog. The default value is your Alpha Prefs folder -- see the Where is my Alpha Preferences Folder? page for more information.
(3) Place a copy of the file of interest in this directory. Make your changes as necessary. Select the
Tcl Menu > Evaluate
menu item to source the code in the new version of the file, or save the file and restart Alpha.
Smarter Source Tips
* If you update your AlphaTcl library via the AlphaTcl CVS you should check to see if the original file has been changed. If so, you will not be using any procedure in the newer version. You should perform a 'diff' of the new original and your modified source and copy over any changes which are not relevant to your modifications. Open both windows and select the menu command
Utils > Compare > Windows
to do this.
* If you think that your modifications would be useful to the wider Alpha community of users, please advertise your changes on one of the AlphaTcl Mailing Lists. If your changes are accepted and included in the next release, be sure to remove your Smarter Source file when it is irrelevant.
* Many debugging questions are resolved after asking the reporter if s/he has created a Smarter Source file (and then forgotten about this.) It is useful to create a new fileset named "Smarter Source" so that you can quickly review its contents before reporting a bug or some other odd behavior.
* Some of the initialization files in AlphaTcl cannot be modified with Smarter Source files. This is because they are loaded using the [source] command with a 'hard-wired' file-path. The only option in the case is to modify the original file.