NAME
options - Standard options supported by widgets
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DESCRIPTION
This manual entry describes the common configuration
options supported by widgets in the Tk toolkit. Every
widget does not necessarily support every option (see the
manual entries for individual widgets for a list of the
standard options supported by that widget), but if a wid-
get 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 wid-
get .a.b.c, then the command
.a.b.c configure -foreground black
may be used to specify the value black for the option in
the 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.
Command-Line Name:-activebackground
Database Name: activeBackground
Database Class: Foreground
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 posi-
tioned 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.
Command-Line Name:-activeborderwidth
Database Name: activeBorderWidth
Database Class: BorderWidth
Specifies a non-negative value indicating the width
of the 3-D border drawn around active elements.
See above for definition of active elements. The
value may have any of the forms acceptable to
ment at a time (e.g. menus but not buttons).
Command-Line Name:-activeforeground
Database Name: activeForeground
Database Class: Background
Specifies foreground color to use when drawing
active elements. See above for definition of
active elements.
Command-Line Name:-anchor
Database Name: anchor
Database Class: Anchor
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.
Command-Line Name:-background or -bg
Database Name: background
Database Class: Background
Specifies the normal background color to use when
displaying the widget.
Command-Line Name:-bitmap
Database Name: bitmap
Database Class: Bitmap
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 jus-
tify. Typically, if this option is specified then
it overrides other options that specify a textual
value to display in the widget; 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.
Command-Line Name:-borderwidth or -bd
Database Name: borderWidth
Database Class: BorderWidth
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
Command-Line Name:-cursor
Database Name: cursor
Database Class: Cursor
Specifies the mouse cursor to be used for the wid-
get. The value may have any of the forms accept-
able to Tk_GetCursor.
Command-Line Name:-disabledforeground
Database Name: disabledForeground
Database Class: DisabledForeground
Specifies foreground color to use when drawing a
disabled element. If the option is specified as an
empty string (which is typically the case on
monochrome displays), disabled elements are drawn
with the normal foreground color but they are
dimmed by drawing them with a stippled fill pat-
tern.
Command-Line Name:-exportselection
Database Name: exportSelection
Database Class: ExportSelection
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_GetBoolean, such
as true, false, 0, 1, yes, or no. If the selection
is exported, then selecting in the widget deselects
the current X selection, selecting outside the wid-
get 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.
Command-Line Name:-font
Database Name: font
Database Class: Font
Specifies the font to use when drawing text inside
the widget.
Command-Line Name:-foreground or -fg
Database Name: foreground
Database Class: Foreground
Specifies the normal foreground color to use when
displaying the widget.
Command-Line Name:-geometry
Database Name: geometry
window, in the form widthxheight, where width is
the desired width of the window and height is the
desired height. The units for width and height
depend on the particular widget. For widgets dis-
playing text the units are usually the size of the
characters in the font being displayed; for other
widgets the units are usually pixels.
Command-Line Name:-highlightbackground
Database Name: highlightBackground
Database Class: HighlightBackground
Specifies the color to display in the traversal
highlight region when the widget does not have the
input focus.
Command-Line Name:-highlightcolor
Database Name: highlightColor
Database Class: HighlightColor
Specifies the color to use for the traversal high-
light rectangle that is drawn around the widget
when it has the input focus.
Command-Line Name:-highlightthickness
Database Name: highlightThickness
Database Class: HighlightThickness
Specifies a non-negative value indicating the width
of the highlight rectangle to draw around the out-
side 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 high-
light is drawn around the widget.
Command-Line Name:-image
Database Name: image
Database Class: Image
Specifies an image to display in the widget, which
must have been created with the image create com-
mand. Typically, if the image option is specified
then it overrides other options that specify a
bitmap or textual value to display in the widget;
the image option may be reset to an empty string to
re-enable a bitmap or text display.
Command-Line Name:-insertbackground
Database Name: insertBackground
Database Class: Foreground
Specifies the color to use as background in the
for the widget (or the selection background if the
insertion cursor happens to fall in the selection).
Command-Line Name:-insertborderwidth
Database Name: insertBorderWidth
Database Class: BorderWidth
Specifies a non-negative value indicating the width
of the 3-D border to draw around the insertion cur-
sor. The value may have any of the forms accept-
able to Tk_GetPixels.
Command-Line Name:-insertofftime
Database Name: insertOffTime
Database Class: OffTime
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.
Command-Line Name:-insertontime
Database Name: insertOnTime
Database Class: OnTime
Specifies a non-negative integer value indicating
the number of milliseconds the insertion cursor
should remain ``on'' in each blink cycle.
Command-Line Name:-insertwidth
Database Name: insertWidth
Database Class: InsertWidth
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.
Command-Line Name:-jump
Database Name: jump
Database Class: Jump
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
released to end the drag; at that point a single
notification is made (the value ``jumps'' rather
than changing smoothly).
Command-Line Name:-justify
Database Name: justify
Database Class: Justify
When there are multiple lines of text displayed in
a widget, 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.
Command-Line Name:-orient
Database Name: orient
Database Class: Orient
For widgets that can lay themselves out with either
a horizontal or vertical orientation, such as
scrollbars, this option specifies which orientation
should be used. Must be either horizontal or ver-
tical or an abbreviation of one of these.
Command-Line Name:-padx
Database Name: padX
Database Class: Pad
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 computing 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.
Command-Line Name:-pady
Database Name: padY
Database Class: Pad
Specifies a non-negative 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
determined 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.
Command-Line Name:-relief
Database Name: relief
Database Class: Relief
Specifies the 3-D effect desired for the widget.
Acceptable values are raised, sunken, flat, ridge,
and groove. The value indicates how the interior
of the widget should appear relative to its exte-
rior; for example, raised means the interior of
the widget should appear to protrude from the
screen, relative to the exterior of the widget.
Command-Line Name:-repeatdelay
Database Name: repeatDelay
Database Class: RepeatDelay
Specifies 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.
Command-Line Name:-repeatinterval
Database Name: repeatInterval
Database Class: RepeatInterval
Used in conjunction with repeatDelay: once auto-
repeat begins, this option determines the number of
milliseconds between auto-repeats.
Command-Line Name:-selectbackground
Database Name: selectBackground
Database Class: Foreground
Specifies the background color to use when display-
ing selected items.
Command-Line Name:-selectborderwidth
Database Name: selectBorderWidth
Database Class: BorderWidth
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.
Database Name: selectForeground
Database Class: Background
Specifies the foreground color to use when display-
ing selected items.
Command-Line Name:-setgrid
Database Name: setGrid
Database Class: SetGrid
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 inte-
gral numbers of these units. These natural window
sizes form a grid. If the setGrid option is set to
true then the widget will communicate with the win-
dow manager so that when the user interactively
resizes the top-level window that contains the wid-
get, the dimensions of the window will be displayed
to the user in grid units and the window size will
be constrained to integral numbers of grid units.
See the section GRIDDED GEOMETRY MANAGEMENT in the
wm manual entry for more details.
Command-Line Name:-takefocus
Database Name: takeFocus
Database Class: TakeFocus
Determines whether the window accepts the focus
during keyboard traversal (e.g., Tab and Shift-
Tab). Before setting the focus to a window, the
traversal scripts consult the value of the takeFo-
cus option. A value of 0 means that the window
should be skipped entirely during keyboard traver-
sal. 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 win-
dow 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 resulting 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
implement traversal: the widget implementations
ignore the option entirely, so you can change its
meaning if you redefine the keyboard traversal
scripts.
Command-Line Name:-text
Database Name: text
Database Class: Text
Specifies a string to be displayed inside the wid-
get. The way in which the string is displayed
depends on the particular widget and may be deter-
mined by other options, such as anchor or justify.
Command-Line Name:-textvariable
Database Name: textVariable
Database Class: Variable
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 automatically update itself to reflect
the new value. The way in which the string is dis-
played in the widget depends on the particular wid-
get and may be determined by other options, such as
anchor or justify.
Command-Line Name:-troughcolor
Database Name: troughColor
Database Class: Background
Specifies the color to use for the rectangular
trough areas in widgets such as scrollbars and
scales.
Command-Line Name:-underline
Database Name: underline
Database Class: Underline
Specifies the integer index of a character to
underline in the widget. This option is used by
the default bindings to implement keyboard traver-
sal for menu buttons and menu entries. 0 corre-
sponds to the first character of the text displayed
in the widget, 1 to the next character, and so on.
Command-Line Name:-wraplength
Database Name: wrapLength
Database Class: WrapLength
For widgets that can perform word-wrapping, this
option specifies the maximum line length. Lines
ified 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 charac-
ters in the text.
Command-Line Name:-xscrollcommand
Database Name: xScrollCommand
Database Class: ScrollCommand
Specifies the prefix for a command used to communi-
cate with horizontal 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 contents), 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 indicates the beginning of the docu-
ment, 1 indicates the end, .333 indicates a posi-
tion one third the way through the document, and so
on. The first fraction indicates the first infor-
mation in the document that is visible in the win-
dow, and the second fraction indicates the informa-
tion 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 when-
ever the view in the window changes. If this
option is not specified, then no command will be
executed.
Command-Line Name:-yscrollcommand
Database Name: yScrollCommand
Database Class: ScrollCommand
Specifies the prefix for a command used to communi-
cate with vertical scrollbars. This option is
treated in the same way as the xScrollCommand
option, except that it is used for vertical scroll-
bars and is provided by widgets that support verti-
cal scrolling. See the description of xScrollCom-
mand for details on how this option is used.
KEYWORDS
class, name, standard option, switch