The Tcl/Tk interface

In order to improve the usability of the program an interface to the main ASTRA^4.22 program is provided. Although it is not necessary to use this it makes general use of the program very much easier and therefore more efficient. It enables the model parameters to be entered interactively in a manner that hopefully reduces the chances of making mistakes whilst setting up the desired model. Once the model parameters have been entered they are automatically sorted into the necessary files for the ASTRA program to use (hence why use of this interface is not mandatory - it is still possible to set up these files by hand if desired). Once a particular model has been run the option to store it is provided. This stores the output for the run and the parameters of the model used for later retrieval. An interface to sort through older runs is provided and enables an older run to be slightly modified and re-run as well as providing the option to produce a hardcopy. The next few sections describe the use of the Tcl/Tk interface and the format of the files created.