When asking how are you? is the proper question "How's tricks?" or "How's Trix?" and what is the origin?

An entry in the Urban Dictionary (a far from authoritative or reliable source) claims it should be "How's Trix?", because it originally was "How's Trixie and the kids?".

It was (still) an informal greeting, started in the early 20th century; but the entire phrase was "How are Trixie and the kids?"... basically asking how one's family was doing. Trixie was short for Beatrix, or Beatrice (a popular female name of the era) and came to be known as slang for "the wife". Over time the phrase was shortened to simply "How's Trix?"

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=How%27s%20tricks%3F

However, I can find no verification for this origin. The phrase is also said elsewhere to be a British idiom, using the word tricks in the sense of an action performed for amusement, rather than one intended to deceive.

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/trick

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/how-s-tricks

As a Brit, I've always taken it to be 'tricks' meaning 'what have you been up to?', and have never seen it written as 'Trix'. I've also never come across 'Trix' being used to refer to a wife. The use of 'Sheila' in Australia (to refer to any female) is unusual in being tied to one name, and I can't think off hand of any other similar use in English. 'Tricks' is much more likely, and when spoken, there's no distinction anyway. Only in written dialogue could there be a difference. It's a bit hard to reference a negative finding, so I'll refer to English literature from the late 19th and early 20th centuries in general, and to the Oxford Book of Names.

Addition: another telling thing is that Google gives 55,000 hits for "how's tricks", but only 2610 for "how's trix". Also, The Cambridge English Dictionary directs you to 'how's tricks' when searching for 'how's trix'. http://dictionary.cambridge.org/spellcheck/english/?q=how%27s+trix