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options(n) Tk Built-In Commands options(n)
NAME
options - Standard options supported by widgets
DESCRIPTION
This manual entry describes the common configuration options supported
by widgets in the Tk toolkit. Every widget does not necessarily sup-
port every option (see the manual entries for individual widgets for a
list of the standard options supported by that widget), but if a widget
does support an option with one of the names listed below, then the
option has exactly the effect described below.
In the descriptions below, ``Command-Line Name'' refers to the switch
used in class commands and configure widget commands to set this value.
For example, if an option's command-line switch is -foreground and
there exists a widget .a.b.c, then the command .a.b.c config-
ure -foreground black may be used to specify the value black for the
option in the widget .a.b.c. Command-line switches may be abbreviated,
as long as the abbreviation is unambiguous. ``Database Name'' refers
to the option's name in the option database (e.g. in .Xdefaults
files). ``Database Class'' refers to the option's class value in the
option database. Specifies background color to use when drawing active
elements. An element (a widget or portion of a widget) is active if
the mouse cursor is positioned over the element and pressing a mouse
button will cause some action to occur. If strict Motif compliance has
been requested by setting the tk_strictMotif variable, this option will
normally be ignored; the normal background color will be used instead.
For some elements on Windows and Macintosh systems, the active color
will only be used while mouse button 1 is pressed over the element.
Specifies a non-negative value indicating the width of the 3-D border
drawn around active elements. See above for definition of active ele-
ments. The value may have any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels.
This option is typically only available in widgets displaying more than
one element at a time (e.g. menus but not buttons). Specifies fore-
ground color to use when drawing active elements. See above for defi-
nition of active elements. Specifies how the information in a widget
(e.g. text or a bitmap) is to be displayed in the widget. Must be one
of the values n, ne, e, se, s, sw, w, nw, or center. For example, nw
means display the information such that its top-left corner is at the
top-left corner of the widget. Specifies the normal background color
to use when displaying the widget. Specifies a bitmap to display in
the widget, in any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetBitmap. The exact
way in which the bitmap is displayed may be affected by other options
such as anchor or justify. Typically, if this option is specified then
it overrides other options that specify a textual value to display in
the widget but this is controlled by the compound option; the bitmap
option may be reset to an empty string to re-enable a text display. In
widgets that support both bitmap and image options, image will usually
override bitmap. Specifies a non-negative value indicating the width
of the 3-D border to draw around the outside of the widget (if such a
border is being drawn; the relief option typically determines this).
The value may also be used when drawing 3-D effects in the interior of
the widget. The value may have any of the forms acceptable to Tk_Get-
Pixels. Specifies the mouse cursor to be used for the widget. The
value may have any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetCursor. Specifies
if the widget should display text and bitmaps/images at the same time,
and if so, where the bitmap/image should be placed relative to the
text. Must be one of the values none, bottom, top, left, right, or
center. For example, the (default) value none specifies that the bit-
map or image should (if defined) be displayed instead of the text, the
value left specifies that the bitmap or image should be displayed to
the left of the text, and the value center specifies that the bitmap or
image should be displayed on top of the text. Specifies foreground
color to use when drawing a disabled element. If the option is speci-
fied as an empty string (which is typically the case on monochrome dis-
plays), disabled elements are drawn with the normal foreground color
but they are dimmed by drawing them with a stippled fill pattern.
Specifies whether or not a selection in the widget should also be the X
selection. The value may have any of the forms accepted by Tcl_Get-
Boolean, such as true, false, 0, 1, yes, or no. If the selection is
exported, then selecting in the widget deselects the current X selec-
tion, selecting outside the widget deselects any widget selection, and
the widget will respond to selection retrieval requests when it has a
selection. The default is usually for widgets to export selections.
Specifies the font to use when drawing text inside the widget. The
value may have any of the forms accepted by Tk_GetFont. Specifies the
normal foreground color to use when displaying the widget. Specifies
the color to display in the traversal highlight region when the widget
does not have the input focus. Specifies the color to use for the tra-
versal highlight rectangle that is drawn around the widget when it has
the input focus. Specifies a non-negative value indicating the width
of the highlight rectangle to draw around the outside of the widget
when it has the input focus. The value may have any of the forms
acceptable to Tk_GetPixels. If the value is zero, no focus highlight
is drawn around the widget. Specifies an image to display in the wid-
get, which must have been created with the image create command. Typi-
cally, if the image option is specified then it overrides other options
that specify a bitmap or textual value to display in the widget, though
this is controlled by the compound option; the image option may be
reset to an empty string to re-enable a bitmap or text display. Speci-
fies the color to use as background in the area covered by the inser-
tion cursor. This color will normally override either the normal back-
ground for the widget (or the selection background if the insertion
cursor happens to fall in the selection). Specifies a non-negative
value indicating the width of the 3-D border to draw around the inser-
tion cursor. The value may have any of the forms acceptable to Tk_Get-
Pixels. Specifies a non-negative integer value indicating the number
of milliseconds the insertion cursor should remain ``off'' in each
blink cycle. If this option is zero then the cursor doesn't blink: it
is on all the time. Specifies a non-negative integer value indicating
the number of milliseconds the insertion cursor should remain ``on'' in
each blink cycle. Specifies a value indicating the total width of the
insertion cursor. The value may have any of the forms acceptable to
Tk_GetPixels. If a border has been specified for the insertion cursor
(using the insertBorderWidth option), the border will be drawn inside
the width specified by the insertWidth option. For widgets with a
slider that can be dragged to adjust a value, such as scrollbars, this
option determines when notifications are made about changes in the
value. The option's value must be a boolean of the form accepted by
Tcl_GetBoolean. If the value is false, updates are made continuously
as the slider is dragged. If the value is true, updates are delayed
until the mouse button is released to end the drag; at that point a
single notification is made (the value ``jumps'' rather than changing
smoothly). When there are multiple lines of text displayed in a wid-
get, this option determines how the lines line up with each other.
Must be one of left, center, or right. Left means that the lines' left
edges all line up, center means that the lines' centers are aligned,
and right means that the lines' right edges line up. For widgets that
can lay themselves out with either a horizontal or vertical orienta-
tion, such as scrollbars, this option specifies which orientation
should be used. Must be either horizontal or vertical or an abbrevia-
tion of one of these. Specifies a non-negative value indicating how
much extra space to request for the widget in the X-direction. The
value may have any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels. When com-
puting how large a window it needs, the widget will add this amount to
the width it would normally need (as determined by the width of the
things displayed in the widget); if the geometry manager can satisfy
this request, the widget will end up with extra internal space to the
left and/or right of what it displays inside. Most widgets only use
this option for padding text: if they are displaying a bitmap or
image, then they usually ignore padding options. Specifies a non-nega-
tive value indicating how much extra space to request for the widget in
the Y-direction. The value may have any of the forms acceptable to
Tk_GetPixels. When computing how large a window it needs, the widget
will add this amount to the height it would normally need (as deter-
mined by the height of the things displayed in the widget); if the
geometry manager can satisfy this request, the widget will end up with
extra internal space above and/or below what it displays inside. Most
widgets only use this option for padding text: if they are displaying
a bitmap or image, then they usually ignore padding options. Specifies
the 3-D effect desired for the widget. Acceptable values are raised,
sunken, flat, ridge, solid, and groove. The value indicates how the
interior of the widget should appear relative to its exterior; for
example, raised means the interior of the widget should appear to pro-
trude from the screen, relative to the exterior of the widget. Speci-
fies the number of milliseconds a button or key must be held down
before it begins to auto-repeat. Used, for example, on the up- and
down-arrows in scrollbars. Used in conjunction with repeatDelay: once
auto-repeat begins, this option determines the number of milliseconds
between auto-repeats. Specifies the background color to use when dis-
playing selected items. Specifies a non-negative value indicating the
width of the 3-D border to draw around selected items. The value may
have any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels. Specifies the fore-
ground color to use when displaying selected items. Specifies a
boolean value that determines whether this widget controls the resizing
grid for its top-level window. This option is typically used in text
widgets, where the information in the widget has a natural size (the
size of a character) and it makes sense for the window's dimensions to
be integral numbers of these units. These natural window sizes form a
grid. If the setGrid option is set to true then the widget will commu-
nicate with the window manager so that when the user interactively
resizes the top-level window that contains the widget, the dimensions
of the window will be displayed to the user in grid units and the win-
dow size will be constrained to integral numbers of grid units. See
the section GRIDDED GEOMETRY MANAGEMENT in the wm manual entry for more
details. Determines whether the window accepts the focus during key-
board traversal (e.g., Tab and Shift-Tab). Before setting the focus to
a window, the traversal scripts consult the value of the takeFocus
option. A value of 0 means that the window should be skipped entirely
during keyboard traversal. 1 means that the window should receive the
input focus as long as it is viewable (it and all of its ancestors are
mapped). An empty value for the option means that the traversal
scripts make the decision about whether or not to focus on the window:
the current algorithm is to skip the window if it is disabled, if it
has no key bindings, or if it is not viewable. If the value has any
other form, then the traversal scripts take the value, append the name
of the window to it (with a separator space), and evaluate the result-
ing string as a Tcl script. The script must return 0, 1, or an empty
string: a 0 or 1 value specifies whether the window will receive the
input focus, and an empty string results in the default decision
described above. Note: this interpretation of the option is defined
entirely by the Tcl scripts that implement traversal: the widget
implementations ignore the option entirely, so you can change its mean-
ing if you redefine the keyboard traversal scripts. Specifies a string
to be displayed inside the widget. The way in which the string is dis-
played depends on the particular widget and may be determined by other
options, such as anchor or justify. Specifies the name of a variable.
The value of the variable is a text string to be displayed inside the
widget; if the variable value changes then the widget will automati-
cally update itself to reflect the new value. The way in which the
string is displayed in the widget depends on the particular widget and
may be determined by other options, such as anchor or justify. Speci-
fies the color to use for the rectangular trough areas in widgets such
as scrollbars and scales. This option is ignored for scrollbars on
Windows (native widget doesn't recognize this option). Specifies the
integer index of a character to underline in the widget. This option
is used by the default bindings to implement keyboard traversal for
menu buttons and menu entries. 0 corresponds to the first character of
the text displayed in the widget, 1 to the next character, and so on.
For widgets that can perform word-wrapping, this option specifies the
maximum line length. Lines that would exceed this length are wrapped
onto the next line, so that no line is longer than the specified
length. The value may be specified in any of the standard forms for
screen distances. If this value is less than or equal to 0 then no
wrapping is done: lines will break only at newline characters in the
text. Specifies the prefix for a command used to communicate with hor-
izontal scrollbars. When the view in the widget's window changes (or
whenever anything else occurs that could change the display in a
scrollbar, such as a change in the total size of the widget's con-
tents), the widget will generate a Tcl command by concatenating the
scroll command and two numbers. Each of the numbers is a fraction
between 0 and 1, which indicates a position in the document. 0 indi-
cates the beginning of the document, 1 indicates the end, .333 indi-
cates a position one third the way through the document, and so on.
The first fraction indicates the first information in the document that
is visible in the window, and the second fraction indicates the infor-
mation just after the last portion that is visible. The command is
then passed to the Tcl interpreter for execution. Typically the
xScrollCommand option consists of the path name of a scrollbar widget
followed by ``set'', e.g. ``.x.scrollbar set'': this will cause the
scrollbar to be updated whenever the view in the window changes. If
this option is not specified, then no command will be executed. Speci-
fies the prefix for a command used to communicate with vertical scroll-
bars. This option is treated in the same way as the xScrollCommand
option, except that it is used for vertical scrollbars and is provided
by widgets that support vertical scrolling. See the description of
xScrollCommand for details on how this option is used.
SEE ALSO
colors, cursors, font
KEYWORDS
class, name, standard option, switch
Tk 4.4 options(n)
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