1options(n) Tk Built-In Commands options(n)
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8 options - Standard options supported by widgets
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13 This manual entry describes the common configuration options supported
14 by widgets in the Tk toolkit. Every widget does not necessarily sup‐
15 port every option (see the manual entries for individual widgets for a
16 list of the standard options supported by that widget), but if a widget
17 does support an option with one of the names listed below, then the
18 option has exactly the effect described below.
19 In the descriptions below, ``Command-Line Name'' refers to the switch
21 used in class commands and configure widget commands to set this value.
22 For example, if an option's command-line switch is -foreground and
23 there exists a widget .a.b.c, then the command
24 .a.b.c configure -foreground black
25 may be used to specify the value black for the option in the widget
26 .a.b.c. Command-line switches may be abbreviated, as long as the
27 abbreviation is unambiguous. ``Database Name'' refers to the option's
28 name in the option database (e.g. in .Xdefaults files). ``Database
29 Class'' refers to the option's class value in the option database.
30 [-activebackground activeBackground] Specifies background color to use
31 when drawing active elements. An element (a widget or portion of a
32 widget) is active if the mouse cursor is positioned over the element
33 and pressing a mouse button will cause some action to occur. If strict
34 Motif compliance has been requested by setting the tk_strictMotif vari‐
35 able, this option will normally be ignored; the normal background
36 color will be used instead. For some elements on Windows and Macintosh │
37 systems, the active color will only be used while mouse button 1 is │
38 pressed over the element. [-activeborderwidth activeBorderWidth] Spec‐
39 ifies a non-negative value indicating the width of the 3-D border drawn
40 around active elements. See above for definition of active elements.
41 The value may have any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels. This
42 option is typically only available in widgets displaying more than one
43 element at a time (e.g. menus but not buttons). [-activefore‐
44 ground activeForeground] Specifies foreground color to use when drawing
45 active elements. See above for definition of active elements.
46 [-anchor anchor] Specifies how the information in a widget (e.g. text
47 or a bitmap) is to be displayed in the widget. Must be one of the val‐
48 ues n, ne, e, se, s, sw, w, nw, or center. For example, nw means dis‐
49 play the information such that its top-left corner is at the top-left
50 corner of the widget. [-background or -bg background] Specifies the
51 normal background color to use when displaying the widget. [-bit‐
52 map bitmap] Specifies a bitmap to display in the widget, in any of the
53 forms acceptable to Tk_GetBitmap. The exact way in which the bitmap is
54 displayed may be affected by other options such as anchor or justify.
55 Typically, if this option is specified then it overrides other options
56 that specify a textual value to display in the widget but this is con‐
57 trolled by the compound option; the bitmap option may be reset to an
58 empty string to re-enable a text display. In widgets that support both
59 bitmap and image options, image will usually override bitmap. [-bor‐
60 derwidth or -bd borderWidth] Specifies a non-negative value indicating
61 the width of the 3-D border to draw around the outside of the widget
62 (if such a border is being drawn; the relief option typically deter‐
63 mines this). The value may also be used when drawing 3-D effects in
64 the interior of the widget. The value may have any of the forms
65 acceptable to Tk_GetPixels. [-cursor cursor] Specifies the mouse cur‐
66 sor to be used for the widget. The value may have any of the forms
67 acceptable to Tk_GetCursor. [-compound compound] Specifies if the wid‐ │
68 get should display text and bitmaps/images at the same time, and if so, │
69 where the bitmap/image should be placed relative to the text. Must be │
70 one of the values none, bottom, top, left, right, or center. For exam‐ │
71 ple, the (default) value none specifies that the bitmap or image should │
72 (if defined) be displayed instead of the text, the value left specifies │
73 that the bitmap or image should be displayed to the left of the text, │
74 and the value center specifies that the bitmap or image should be dis‐ │
75 played on top of the text. [-disabledforeground disabledForeground]
76 Specifies foreground color to use when drawing a disabled element. If
77 the option is specified as an empty string (which is typically the case
78 on monochrome displays), disabled elements are drawn with the normal
79 foreground color but they are dimmed by drawing them with a stippled
80 fill pattern. [-exportselection exportSelection] Specifies whether or
81 not a selection in the widget should also be the X selection. The
82 value may have any of the forms accepted by Tcl_GetBoolean, such as
83 true, false, 0, 1, yes, or no. If the selection is exported, then
84 selecting in the widget deselects the current X selection, selecting
85 outside the widget deselects any widget selection, and the widget will
86 respond to selection retrieval requests when it has a selection. The
87 default is usually for widgets to export selections. [-font font]
88 Specifies the font to use when drawing text inside the widget. The
89 value may have any of the forms accepted by Tk_GetFont. [-foreground
90 or -fg foreground] Specifies the normal foreground color to use when
91 displaying the widget. [-highlightbackground highlightBackground]
92 Specifies the color to display in the traversal highlight region when
93 the widget does not have the input focus. [-highlightcolor highlight‐
94 Color] Specifies the color to use for the traversal highlight rectangle
95 that is drawn around the widget when it has the input focus. [-high‐
96 lightthickness highlightThickness] Specifies a non-negative value indi‐
97 cating the width of the highlight rectangle to draw around the outside
98 of the widget when it has the input focus. The value may have any of
99 the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels. If the value is zero, no focus
100 highlight is drawn around the widget. [-image image] Specifies an
101 image to display in the widget, which must have been created with the
102 image create command. Typically, if the image option is specified then
103 it overrides other options that specify a bitmap or textual value to
104 display in the widget, though this is controlled by the compound
105 option; the image option may be reset to an empty string to re-enable a
106 bitmap or text display. [-insertbackground insertBackground] Specifies
107 the color to use as background in the area covered by the insertion
108 cursor. This color will normally override either the normal background
109 for the widget (or the selection background if the insertion cursor
110 happens to fall in the selection). [-insertborderwidth insertBorder‐
111 Width] Specifies a non-negative value indicating the width of the 3-D
112 border to draw around the insertion cursor. The value may have any of
113 the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels. [-insertofftime insertOffTime]
114 Specifies a non-negative integer value indicating the number of mil‐
115 liseconds the insertion cursor should remain ``off'' in each blink
116 cycle. If this option is zero then the cursor doesn't blink: it is on
117 all the time. [-insertontime insertOnTime] Specifies a non-negative
118 integer value indicating the number of milliseconds the insertion cur‐
119 sor should remain ``on'' in each blink cycle. [-insertwidth inser‐
120 tWidth] Specifies a value indicating the total width of the insertion
121 cursor. The value may have any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPix‐
122 els. If a border has been specified for the insertion cursor (using
123 the insertBorderWidth option), the border will be drawn inside the
124 width specified by the insertWidth option. [-jump jump] For widgets
125 with a slider that can be dragged to adjust a value, such as scroll‐
126 bars, this option determines when notifications are made about changes
127 in the value. The option's value must be a boolean of the form
128 accepted by Tcl_GetBoolean. If the value is false, updates are made
129 continuously as the slider is dragged. If the value is true, updates
130 are delayed until the mouse button is released to end the drag; at
131 that point a single notification is made (the value ``jumps'' rather
132 than changing smoothly). [-justify justify] When there are multiple
133 lines of text displayed in a widget, this option determines how the
134 lines line up with each other. Must be one of left, center, or right.
135 Left means that the lines' left edges all line up, center means that
136 the lines' centers are aligned, and right means that the lines' right
137 edges line up. [-orient orient] For widgets that can lay themselves
138 out with either a horizontal or vertical orientation, such as scroll‐
139 bars, this option specifies which orientation should be used. Must be
140 either horizontal or vertical or an abbreviation of one of these.
141 [-padx padX] Specifies a non-negative value indicating how much extra
142 space to request for the widget in the X-direction. The value may have
143 any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels. When computing how large
144 a window it needs, the widget will add this amount to the width it
145 would normally need (as determined by the width of the things displayed
146 in the widget); if the geometry manager can satisfy this request, the
147 widget will end up with extra internal space to the left and/or right
148 of what it displays inside. Most widgets only use this option for pad‐
149 ding text: if they are displaying a bitmap or image, then they usually
150 ignore padding options. [-pady padY] Specifies a non-negative value
151 indicating how much extra space to request for the widget in the Y-
152 direction. The value may have any of the forms acceptable to Tk_Get‐
153 Pixels. When computing how large a window it needs, the widget will
154 add this amount to the height it would normally need (as determined by
155 the height of the things displayed in the widget); if the geometry
156 manager can satisfy this request, the widget will end up with extra
157 internal space above and/or below what it displays inside. Most wid‐
158 gets only use this option for padding text: if they are displaying a
159 bitmap or image, then they usually ignore padding options.
160 [-relief relief] Specifies the 3-D effect desired for the widget.
161 Acceptable values are raised, sunken, flat, ridge, solid, and groove.
162 The value indicates how the interior of the widget should appear rela‐
163 tive to its exterior; for example, raised means the interior of the
164 widget should appear to protrude from the screen, relative to the exte‐
165 rior of the widget. [-repeatdelay repeatDelay] Specifies the number of
166 milliseconds a button or key must be held down before it begins to
167 auto-repeat. Used, for example, on the up- and down-arrows in scroll‐
168 bars. [-repeatinterval repeatInterval] Used in conjunction with
169 repeatDelay: once auto-repeat begins, this option determines the num‐
170 ber of milliseconds between auto-repeats. [-selectbackground select‐
171 Background] Specifies the background color to use when displaying
172 selected items. [-selectborderwidth selectBorderWidth] Specifies a
173 non-negative value indicating the width of the 3-D border to draw
174 around selected items. The value may have any of the forms acceptable
175 to Tk_GetPixels. [-selectforeground selectForeground] Specifies the
176 foreground color to use when displaying selected items. [-setgrid set‐
177 Grid] Specifies a boolean value that determines whether this widget
178 controls the resizing grid for its top-level window. This option is
179 typically used in text widgets, where the information in the widget has
180 a natural size (the size of a character) and it makes sense for the
181 window's dimensions to be integral numbers of these units. These natu‐
182 ral window sizes form a grid. If the setGrid option is set to true
183 then the widget will communicate with the window manager so that when
184 the user interactively resizes the top-level window that contains the
185 widget, the dimensions of the window will be displayed to the user in
186 grid units and the window size will be constrained to integral numbers
187 of grid units. See the section GRIDDED GEOMETRY MANAGEMENT in the wm
188 manual entry for more details. [-takefocus takeFocus] Determines
189 whether the window accepts the focus during keyboard traversal (e.g.,
190 Tab and Shift-Tab). Before setting the focus to a window, the traver‐
191 sal scripts consult the value of the takeFocus option. A value of 0
192 means that the window should be skipped entirely during keyboard tra‐
193 versal. 1 means that the window should receive the input focus as long
194 as it is viewable (it and all of its ancestors are mapped). An empty
195 value for the option means that the traversal scripts make the decision
196 about whether or not to focus on the window: the current algorithm is
197 to skip the window if it is disabled, if it has no key bindings, or if
198 it is not viewable. If the value has any other form, then the traver‐
199 sal scripts take the value, append the name of the window to it (with a
200 separator space), and evaluate the resulting string as a Tcl script.
201 The script must return 0, 1, or an empty string: a 0 or 1 value speci‐
202 fies whether the window will receive the input focus, and an empty
203 string results in the default decision described above. Note: this
204 interpretation of the option is defined entirely by the Tcl scripts
205 that implement traversal: the widget implementations ignore the option
206 entirely, so you can change its meaning if you redefine the keyboard
207 traversal scripts. [-text text] Specifies a string to be displayed
208 inside the widget. The way in which the string is displayed depends on
209 the particular widget and may be determined by other options, such as
210 anchor or justify. [-textvariable textVariable] Specifies the name of
211 a variable. The value of the variable is a text string to be displayed
212 inside the widget; if the variable value changes then the widget will
213 automatically update itself to reflect the new value. The way in which
214 the string is displayed in the widget depends on the particular widget
215 and may be determined by other options, such as anchor or justify.
216 [-troughcolor troughColor] Specifies the color to use for the rectangu‐
217 lar trough areas in widgets such as scrollbars and scales. This option
218 is ignored for scrollbars on Windows (native widget doesn't recognize
219 this option). [-underline underline] Specifies the integer index of a
220 character to underline in the widget. This option is used by the
221 default bindings to implement keyboard traversal for menu buttons and
222 menu entries. 0 corresponds to the first character of the text dis‐
223 played in the widget, 1 to the next character, and so on.
224 [-wraplength wrapLength] For widgets that can perform word-wrapping,
225 this option specifies the maximum line length. Lines that would exceed
226 this length are wrapped onto the next line, so that no line is longer
227 than the specified length. The value may be specified in any of the
228 standard forms for screen distances. If this value is less than or
229 equal to 0 then no wrapping is done: lines will break only at newline
230 characters in the text. [-xscrollcommand xScrollCommand] Specifies the
231 prefix for a command used to communicate with horizontal scrollbars.
232 When the view in the widget's window changes (or whenever anything else
233 occurs that could change the display in a scrollbar, such as a change
234 in the total size of the widget's contents), the widget will generate a
235 Tcl command by concatenating the scroll command and two numbers. Each
236 of the numbers is a fraction between 0 and 1, which indicates a posi‐
237 tion in the document. 0 indicates the beginning of the document, 1
238 indicates the end, .333 indicates a position one third the way through
239 the document, and so on. The first fraction indicates the first infor‐
240 mation in the document that is visible in the window, and the second
241 fraction indicates the information just after the last portion that is
242 visible. The command is then passed to the Tcl interpreter for execu‐
243 tion. Typically the xScrollCommand option consists of the path name of
244 a scrollbar widget followed by ``set'', e.g. ``.x.scrollbar set'':
245 this will cause the scrollbar to be updated whenever the view in the
246 window changes. If this option is not specified, then no command will
247 be executed. [-yscrollcommand yScrollCommand] Specifies the prefix for
248 a command used to communicate with vertical scrollbars. This option is
249 treated in the same way as the xScrollCommand option, except that it is
250 used for vertical scrollbars and is provided by widgets that support
251 vertical scrolling. See the description of xScrollCommand for details
252 on how this option is used.
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256 colors, cursors, font
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260 class, name, standard option, switch
261Tk 4.4 options(n)