1listbox(n) Tk Built-In Commands listbox(n)
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8 listbox - Create and manipulate listbox widgets
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11 listbox pathName ?options?
12
14 -background -borderwidth -cursor
15 -disabledforeground -exportselection -font
16 -foreground -highlightbackground -highlightcolor
17 -highlightthickness -relief -selectbackground
18 -selectborderwidth -selectforeground -setgrid
19 -takefocus -xscrollcommand -yscrollcommand
20
21 See the options manual entry for details on the standard options.
22
24 [-activestyle activeStyle] Specifies the style in which to draw the
25 active element. This must be one of dotbox (show a focus ring around
26 the active element), none (no special indication of active element) or
27 underline (underline the active element). The default is underline on
28 Windows, and dotbox elsewhere. [-height height] Specifies the desired
29 height for the window, in lines. If zero or less, then the desired
30 height for the window is made just large enough to hold all the ele‐
31 ments in the listbox. [-listvariable listVariable] Specifies the name
32 of a variable. The value of the variable is a list to be displayed
33 inside the widget; if the variable value changes then the widget will
34 automatically update itself to reflect the new value. Attempts to
35 assign a variable with an invalid list value to -listvariable will
36 cause an error. Attempts to unset a variable in use as a -listvariable
37 will fail but will not generate an error. [-selectmode selectMode]
38 Specifies one of several styles for manipulating the selection. The
39 value of the option may be arbitrary, but the default bindings expect
40 it to be either single, browse, multiple, or extended; the default
41 value is browse. [-state state] Specifies one of two states for the
42 listbox: normal or disabled. If the listbox is disabled then items
43 may not be inserted or deleted, items are drawn in the -disabledfore‐
44 ground color, and selection cannot be modified and is not shown (though
45 selection information is retained). [-width width] Specifies the
46 desired width for the window in characters. If the font does not have
47 a uniform width then the width of the character “0” is used in trans‐
48 lating from character units to screen units. If zero or less, then the
49 desired width for the window is made just large enough to hold all the
50 elements in the listbox.
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52
54 The listbox command creates a new window (given by the pathName argu‐
55 ment) and makes it into a listbox widget. Additional options,
56 described above, may be specified on the command line or in the option
57 database to configure aspects of the listbox such as its colors, font,
58 text, and relief. The listbox command returns its pathName argument.
59 At the time this command is invoked, there must not exist a window
60 named pathName, but pathName's parent must exist.
61
62 A listbox is a widget that displays a list of strings, one per line.
63 When first created, a new listbox has no elements. Elements may be
64 added or deleted using widget commands described below. In addition,
65 one or more elements may be selected as described below. If a listbox
66 is exporting its selection (see exportSelection option), then it will
67 observe the standard X11 protocols for handling the selection. Listbox
68 selections are available as type STRING; the value of the selection
69 will be the text of the selected elements, with newlines separating the
70 elements.
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72 It is not necessary for all the elements to be displayed in the listbox
73 window at once; commands described below may be used to change the
74 view in the window. Listboxes allow scrolling in both directions using
75 the standard xScrollCommand and yScrollCommand options. They also sup‐
76 port scanning, as described below.
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79 Many of the widget commands for listboxes take one or more indices as
80 arguments. An index specifies a particular element of the listbox, in
81 any of the following ways:
82
83 number Specifies the element as a numerical index, where 0 corre‐
84 sponds to the first element in the listbox.
85
86 active Indicates the element that has the location cursor. This
87 element will be displayed as specified by -activestyle when
88 the listbox has the keyboard focus, and it is specified
89 with the activate widget command.
90
91 anchor Indicates the anchor point for the selection, which is set
92 with the selection anchor widget command.
93
94 end Indicates the end of the listbox. For most commands this
95 refers to the last element in the listbox, but for a few
96 commands such as index and insert it refers to the element
97 just after the last one.
98
99 @x,y Indicates the element that covers the point in the listbox
100 window specified by x and y (in pixel coordinates). If no
101 element covers that point, then the closest element to that
102 point is used.
103
104 In the widget command descriptions below, arguments named index, first,
105 and last always contain text indices in one of the above forms.
106
108 The listbox command creates a new Tcl command whose name is pathName.
109 This command may be used to invoke various operations on the widget.
110 It has the following general form:
111 pathName option ?arg arg ...?
112 Option and the args determine the exact behavior of the command. The
113 following commands are possible for listbox widgets:
114
115 pathName activate index
116 Sets the active element to the one indicated by index. If index
117 is outside the range of elements in the listbox then the closest
118 element is activated. The active element is drawn as specified
119 by -activestyle when the widget has the input focus, and its
120 index may be retrieved with the index active.
121
122 pathName bbox index
123 Returns a list of four numbers describing the bounding box of
124 the text in the element given by index. The first two elements
125 of the list give the x and y coordinates of the upper-left cor‐
126 ner of the screen area covered by the text (specified in pixels
127 relative to the widget) and the last two elements give the width
128 and height of the area, in pixels. If no part of the element
129 given by index is visible on the screen, or if index refers to a
130 non-existent element, then the result is an empty string; if
131 the element is partially visible, the result gives the full area
132 of the element, including any parts that are not visible.
133
134 pathName cget option
135 Returns the current value of the configuration option given by
136 option. Option may have any of the values accepted by the list‐
137 box command.
138
139 pathName configure ?option? ?value option value ...?
140 Query or modify the configuration options of the widget. If no
141 option is specified, returns a list describing all of the avail‐
142 able options for pathName (see Tk_ConfigureInfo for information
143 on the format of this list). If option is specified with no
144 value, then the command returns a list describing the one named
145 option (this list will be identical to the corresponding sublist
146 of the value returned if no option is specified). If one or
147 more option-value pairs are specified, then the command modifies
148 the given widget option(s) to have the given value(s); in this
149 case the command returns an empty string. Option may have any
150 of the values accepted by the listbox command.
151
152 pathName curselection
153 Returns a list containing the numerical indices of all of the
154 elements in the listbox that are currently selected. If there
155 are no elements selected in the listbox then an empty string is
156 returned.
157
158 pathName delete first ?last?
159 Deletes one or more elements of the listbox. First and last are
160 indices specifying the first and last elements in the range to
161 delete. If last is not specified it defaults to first, i.e. a
162 single element is deleted.
163
164 pathName get first ?last?
165 If last is omitted, returns the contents of the listbox element
166 indicated by first, or an empty string if first refers to a non-
167 existent element. If last is specified, the command returns a
168 list whose elements are all of the listbox elements between
169 first and last, inclusive. Both first and last may have any of
170 the standard forms for indices.
171
172 pathName index index
173 Returns the integer index value that corresponds to index. If
174 index is end the return value is a count of the number of ele‐
175 ments in the listbox (not the index of the last element).
176
177 pathName insert index ?element element ...?
178 Inserts zero or more new elements in the list just before the
179 element given by index. If index is specified as end then the
180 new elements are added to the end of the list. Returns an empty
181 string.
182
183 pathName itemcget index option
184 Returns the current value of the item configuration option given
185 by option. Option may have any of the values accepted by the
186 listbox itemconfigure command.
187
188 pathName itemconfigure index ?option? ?value? ?option value ...?
189 Query or modify the configuration options of an item in the
190 listbox. If no option is specified, returns a list describing
191 all of the available options for the item (see Tk_ConfigureInfo
192 for information on the format of this list). If option is spec‐
193 ified with no value, then the command returns a list describing
194 the one named option (this list will be identical to the corre‐
195 sponding sublist of the value returned if no option is speci‐
196 fied). If one or more option-value pairs are specified, then
197 the command modifies the given widget option(s) to have the
198 given value(s); in this case the command returns an empty
199 string. The following options are currently supported for items:
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201 -background color
202 Color specifies the background color to use when display‐
203 ing the item. It may have any of the forms accepted by
204 Tk_GetColor.
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206 -foreground color
207 Color specifies the foreground color to use when display‐
208 ing the item. It may have any of the forms accepted by
209 Tk_GetColor.
210
211 -selectbackground color
212 color specifies the background color to use when display‐
213 ing the item while it is selected. It may have any of the
214 forms accepted by Tk_GetColor.
215
216 -selectforeground color
217 color specifies the foreground color to use when display‐
218 ing the item while it is selected. It may have any of the
219 forms accepted by Tk_GetColor.
220
221 pathName nearest y
222 Given a y-coordinate within the listbox window, this command
223 returns the index of the (visible) listbox element nearest to
224 that y-coordinate.
225
226 pathName scan option args
227 This command is used to implement scanning on listboxes. It has
228 two forms, depending on option:
229
230 pathName scan mark x y
231 Records x and y and the current view in the listbox win‐
232 dow; used in conjunction with later scan dragto com‐
233 mands. Typically this command is associated with a mouse
234 button press in the widget. It returns an empty string.
235
236 pathName scan dragto x y.
237 This command computes the difference between its x and y
238 arguments and the x and y arguments to the last scan mark
239 command for the widget. It then adjusts the view by 10
240 times the difference in coordinates. This command is
241 typically associated with mouse motion events in the wid‐
242 get, to produce the effect of dragging the list at high
243 speed through the window. The return value is an empty
244 string.
245
246 pathName see index
247 Adjust the view in the listbox so that the element given by
248 index is visible. If the element is already visible then the
249 command has no effect; if the element is near one edge of the
250 window then the listbox scrolls to bring the element into view
251 at the edge; otherwise the listbox scrolls to center the ele‐
252 ment.
253
254 pathName selection option arg
255 This command is used to adjust the selection within a listbox.
256 It has several forms, depending on option:
257
258 pathName selection anchor index
259 Sets the selection anchor to the element given by index.
260 If index refers to a non-existent element, then the clos‐
261 est element is used. The selection anchor is the end of
262 the selection that is fixed while dragging out a selec‐
263 tion with the mouse. The index anchor may be used to
264 refer to the anchor element.
265
266 pathName selection clear first ?last?
267 If any of the elements between first and last (inclusive)
268 are selected, they are deselected. The selection state
269 is not changed for elements outside this range.
270
271 pathName selection includes index
272 Returns 1 if the element indicated by index is currently
273 selected, 0 if it is not.
274
275 pathName selection set first ?last?
276 Selects all of the elements in the range between first
277 and last, inclusive, without affecting the selection
278 state of elements outside that range.
279
280 pathName size
281 Returns a decimal string indicating the total number of elements
282 in the listbox.
283
284 pathName xview args
285 This command is used to query and change the horizontal position
286 of the information in the widget's window. It can take any of
287 the following forms:
288
289 pathName xview
290 Returns a list containing two elements. Each element is
291 a real fraction between 0 and 1; together they describe
292 the horizontal span that is visible in the window. For
293 example, if the first element is .2 and the second ele‐
294 ment is .6, 20% of the listbox's text is off-screen to
295 the left, the middle 40% is visible in the window, and
296 40% of the text is off-screen to the right. These are
297 the same values passed to scrollbars via the -xscrollcom‐
298 mand option.
299
300 pathName xview index
301 Adjusts the view in the window so that the character
302 position given by index is displayed at the left edge of
303 the window. Character positions are defined by the width
304 of the character 0.
305
306 pathName xview moveto fraction
307 Adjusts the view in the window so that fraction of the
308 total width of the listbox text is off-screen to the
309 left. fraction must be a fraction between 0 and 1.
310
311 pathName xview scroll number what
312 This command shifts the view in the window left or right
313 according to number and what. Number must be an integer.
314 What must be either units or pages or an abbreviation of
315 one of these. If what is units, the view adjusts left or
316 right by number character units (the width of the 0 char‐
317 acter) on the display; if it is pages then the view
318 adjusts by number screenfuls. If number is negative then
319 characters farther to the left become visible; if it is
320 positive then characters farther to the right become vis‐
321 ible.
322
323 pathName yview ?args?
324 This command is used to query and change the vertical position
325 of the text in the widget's window. It can take any of the fol‐
326 lowing forms:
327
328 pathName yview
329 Returns a list containing two elements, both of which are
330 real fractions between 0 and 1. The first element gives
331 the position of the listbox element at the top of the
332 window, relative to the listbox as a whole (0.5 means it
333 is halfway through the listbox, for example). The second
334 element gives the position of the listbox element just
335 after the last one in the window, relative to the listbox
336 as a whole. These are the same values passed to scroll‐
337 bars via the -yscrollcommand option.
338
339 pathName yview index
340 Adjusts the view in the window so that the element given
341 by index is displayed at the top of the window.
342
343 pathName yview moveto fraction
344 Adjusts the view in the window so that the element given
345 by fraction appears at the top of the window. Fraction
346 is a fraction between 0 and 1; 0 indicates the first
347 element in the listbox, 0.33 indicates the element one-
348 third the way through the listbox, and so on.
349
350 pathName yview scroll number what
351 This command adjusts the view in the window up or down
352 according to number and what. Number must be an integer.
353 What must be either units or pages. If what is units,
354 the view adjusts up or down by number lines; if it is
355 pages then the view adjusts by number screenfuls. If
356 number is negative then earlier elements become visible;
357 if it is positive then later elements become visible.
358
360 Tk automatically creates class bindings for listboxes that give them
361 Motif-like behavior. Much of the behavior of a listbox is determined
362 by its selectMode option, which selects one of four ways of dealing
363 with the selection.
364
365 If the selection mode is single or browse, at most one element can be
366 selected in the listbox at once. In both modes, clicking button 1 on
367 an element selects it and deselects any other selected item. In browse
368 mode it is also possible to drag the selection with button 1. On but‐ │
369 ton 1, the listbox will also take focus if it has a normal state and │
370 -takefocus is true.
371
372 If the selection mode is multiple or extended, any number of elements
373 may be selected at once, including discontiguous ranges. In multiple
374 mode, clicking button 1 on an element toggles its selection state with‐
375 out affecting any other elements. In extended mode, pressing button 1
376 on an element selects it, deselects everything else, and sets the
377 anchor to the element under the mouse; dragging the mouse with button
378 1 down extends the selection to include all the elements between the
379 anchor and the element under the mouse, inclusive.
380
381 Most people will probably want to use browse mode for single selections
382 and extended mode for multiple selections; the other modes appear to be
383 useful only in special situations.
384
385 Any time the selection changes in the listbox, the virtual event
386 <<ListboxSelect>> will be generated. It is easiest to bind to this
387 event to be made aware of any changes to listbox selection.
388
389 In addition to the above behavior, the following additional behavior is
390 defined by the default bindings:
391
392 [1] In extended mode, the selected range can be adjusted by pressing
393 button 1 with the Shift key down: this modifies the selection
394 to consist of the elements between the anchor and the element
395 under the mouse, inclusive. The un-anchored end of this new
396 selection can also be dragged with the button down.
397
398 [2] In extended mode, pressing button 1 with the Control key down
399 starts a toggle operation: the anchor is set to the element
400 under the mouse, and its selection state is reversed. The
401 selection state of other elements is not changed. If the mouse
402 is dragged with button 1 down, then the selection state of all
403 elements between the anchor and the element under the mouse is
404 set to match that of the anchor element; the selection state of
405 all other elements remains what it was before the toggle opera‐
406 tion began.
407
408 [3] If the mouse leaves the listbox window with button 1 down, the
409 window scrolls away from the mouse, making information visible
410 that used to be off-screen on the side of the mouse. The
411 scrolling continues until the mouse re-enters the window, the
412 button is released, or the end of the listbox is reached.
413
414 [4] Mouse button 2 may be used for scanning. If it is pressed and
415 dragged over the listbox, the contents of the listbox drag at
416 high speed in the direction the mouse moves.
417
418 [5] If the Up or Down key is pressed, the location cursor (active
419 element) moves up or down one element. If the selection mode is
420 browse or extended then the new active element is also selected
421 and all other elements are deselected. In extended mode the new
422 active element becomes the selection anchor.
423
424 [6] In extended mode, Shift-Up and Shift-Down move the location cur‐
425 sor (active element) up or down one element and also extend the
426 selection to that element in a fashion similar to dragging with
427 mouse button 1.
428
429 [7] The Left and Right keys scroll the listbox view left and right
430 by the width of the character 0. Control-Left and Control-Right
431 scroll the listbox view left and right by the width of the win‐
432 dow. Control-Prior and Control-Next also scroll left and right
433 by the width of the window.
434
435 [8] The Prior and Next keys scroll the listbox view up and down by
436 one page (the height of the window).
437
438 [9] The Home and End keys scroll the listbox horizontally to the
439 left and right edges, respectively.
440
441 [10] Control-Home sets the location cursor to the first element in
442 the listbox, selects that element, and deselects everything else
443 in the listbox.
444
445 [11] Control-End sets the location cursor to the last element in the
446 listbox, selects that element, and deselects everything else in
447 the listbox.
448
449 [12] In extended mode, Control-Shift-Home extends the selection to
450 the first element in the listbox and Control-Shift-End extends
451 the selection to the last element.
452
453 [13] In multiple mode, Control-Shift-Home moves the location cursor
454 to the first element in the listbox and Control-Shift-End moves
455 the location cursor to the last element.
456
457 [14] The space and Select keys make a selection at the location cur‐
458 sor (active element) just as if mouse button 1 had been pressed
459 over this element.
460
461 [15] In extended mode, Control-Shift-space and Shift-Select extend
462 the selection to the active element just as if button 1 had been
463 pressed with the Shift key down.
464
465 [16] In extended mode, the Escape key cancels the most recent selec‐
466 tion and restores all the elements in the selected range to
467 their previous selection state.
468
469 [17] Control-slash selects everything in the widget, except in single
470 and browse modes, in which case it selects the active element
471 and deselects everything else.
472
473 [18] Control-backslash deselects everything in the widget, except in
474 browse mode where it has no effect.
475
476 [19] The F16 key (labelled Copy on many Sun workstations) or Meta-w
477 copies the selection in the widget to the clipboard, if there is
478 a selection.
479
480 The behavior of listboxes can be changed by defining new bindings for
481 individual widgets or by redefining the class bindings.
482
484 ttk_treeview(n)
485
487 listbox, widget
488
489
490
491Tk 8.4 listbox(n)