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. In addition, if an empty string is speci‐
68 fied, it indicates that the widget should defer to its parent for cur‐
69 sor specification. [-compound compound] Specifies if the widget should
70 display text and bitmaps/images at the same time, and if so, where the
71 bitmap/image should be placed relative to the text. Must be one of the
72 values none, bottom, top, left, right, or center. For example, the
73 (default) value none specifies that the bitmap or image should (if
74 defined) be displayed instead of the text, the value left specifies
75 that the bitmap or image should be displayed to the left of the text,
76 and the value center specifies that the bitmap or image should be dis‐
77 played on top of the text. [-disabledforeground disabledForeground]
78 Specifies foreground color to use when drawing a disabled element. If
79 the option is specified as an empty string (which is typically the case
80 on monochrome displays), disabled elements are drawn with the normal
81 foreground color but they are dimmed by drawing them with a stippled
82 fill pattern. [-exportselection exportSelection] Specifies whether or
83 not a selection in the widget should also be the X selection. The
84 value may have any of the forms accepted by Tcl_GetBoolean, such as
85 true, false, 0, 1, yes, or no. If the selection is exported, then
86 selecting in the widget deselects the current X selection, selecting
87 outside the widget deselects any widget selection, and the widget will
88 respond to selection retrieval requests when it has a selection. The
89 default is usually for widgets to export selections. [-font font]
90 Specifies the font to use when drawing text inside the widget. The
91 value may have any of the forms described in the font manual page under
92 FONT DESCRIPTION. [-foreground or -fg foreground] Specifies the normal
93 foreground color to use when displaying the widget. [-highlightback‐
94 ground highlightBackground] Specifies the color to display in the tra‐
95 versal highlight region when the widget does not have the input focus.
96 [-highlightcolor highlightColor] Specifies the color to use for the
97 traversal highlight rectangle that is drawn around the widget when it
98 has the input focus. [-highlightthickness highlightThickness] Speci‐
99 fies a non-negative value indicating the width of the highlight rectan‐
100 gle to draw around the outside of the widget when it has the input
101 focus. The value may have any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels.
102 If the value is zero, no focus highlight is drawn around the widget.
103 [-image image] Specifies an image to display in the widget, which must
104 have been created with the image create command. Typically, if the
105 image option is specified then it overrides other options that specify
106 a bitmap or textual value to display in the widget, though this is con‐
107 trolled by the compound option; the image option may be reset to an
108 empty string to re-enable a bitmap or text display. [-insertback‐
109 ground insertBackground] Specifies the color to use as background in
110 the area covered by the insertion cursor. This color will normally
111 override either the normal background for the widget (or the selection
112 background if the insertion cursor happens to fall in the selection).
113 [-insertborderwidth insertBorderWidth] Specifies a non-negative value
114 indicating the width of the 3-D border to draw around the insertion
115 cursor. The value may have any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPix‐
116 els. [-insertofftime insertOffTime] Specifies a non-negative integer
117 value indicating the number of milliseconds the insertion cursor should
118 remain “off” in each blink cycle. If this option is zero then the cur‐
119 sor does not blink: it is on all the time. [-insertontime insertOn‐
120 Time] Specifies a non-negative integer value indicating the number of
121 milliseconds the insertion cursor should remain “on” in each blink
122 cycle. [-insertwidth insertWidth] Specifies a value indicating the
123 total width of the insertion cursor. The value may have any of the
124 forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels. If a border has been specified for
125 the insertion cursor (using the insertBorderWidth option), the border
126 will be drawn inside the width specified by the insertWidth option.
127 [-jump jump] For widgets with a slider that can be dragged to adjust a
128 value, such as scrollbars, this option determines when notifications
129 are made about changes in the value. The option's value must be a
130 boolean of the form accepted by Tcl_GetBoolean. If the value is false,
131 updates are made continuously as the slider is dragged. If the value
132 is true, updates are delayed until the mouse button is released to end
133 the drag; at that point a single notification is made (the value
134 “jumps” rather than changing smoothly). [-justify justify] When there
135 are multiple lines of text displayed in a widget, this option deter‐
136 mines how the lines line up with each other. Must be one of left, cen‐
137 ter, or right. Left means that the lines' left edges all line up, cen‐
138 ter means that the lines' centers are aligned, and right means that the
139 lines' right edges line up. [-orient orient] For widgets that can lay
140 themselves out with either a horizontal or vertical orientation, such
141 as scrollbars, this option specifies which orientation should be used.
142 Must be either horizontal or vertical or an abbreviation of one of
143 these. [-padx padX] Specifies a non-negative value indicating how much
144 extra space to request for the widget in the X-direction. The value
145 may have any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels. When computing
146 how large a window it needs, the widget will add this amount to the
147 width it would normally need (as determined by the width of the things
148 displayed in the widget); if the geometry manager can satisfy this
149 request, the widget will end up with extra internal space to the left
150 and/or right of what it displays inside. Most widgets only use this
151 option for padding text: if they are displaying a bitmap or image,
152 then they usually ignore padding options. [-pady padY] Specifies a
153 non-negative value indicating how much extra space to request for the
154 widget in the Y-direction. The value may have any of the forms accept‐
155 able to Tk_GetPixels. When computing how large a window it needs, the
156 widget will add this amount to the height it would normally need (as
157 determined by the height of the things displayed in the widget); if
158 the geometry manager can satisfy this request, the widget will end up
159 with extra internal space above and/or below what it displays inside.
160 Most widgets only use this option for padding text: if they are dis‐
161 playing a bitmap or image, then they usually ignore padding options.
162 [-relief relief] Specifies the 3-D effect desired for the widget.
163 Acceptable values are raised, sunken, flat, ridge, solid, and groove.
164 The value indicates how the interior of the widget should appear rela‐
165 tive to its exterior; for example, raised means the interior of the
166 widget should appear to protrude from the screen, relative to the exte‐
167 rior of the widget. [-repeatdelay repeatDelay] Specifies the number of
168 milliseconds a button or key must be held down before it begins to
169 auto-repeat. Used, for example, on the up- and down-arrows in scroll‐
170 bars. [-repeatinterval repeatInterval] Used in conjunction with
171 repeatDelay: once auto-repeat begins, this option determines the num‐
172 ber of milliseconds between auto-repeats. [-selectbackground select‐
173 Background] Specifies the background color to use when displaying
174 selected items. [-selectborderwidth selectBorderWidth] Specifies a
175 non-negative value indicating the width of the 3-D border to draw
176 around selected items. The value may have any of the forms acceptable
177 to Tk_GetPixels. [-selectforeground selectForeground] Specifies the
178 foreground color to use when displaying selected items. [-setgrid set‐
179 Grid] Specifies a boolean value that determines whether this widget
180 controls the resizing grid for its top-level window. This option is
181 typically used in text widgets, where the information in the widget has
182 a natural size (the size of a character) and it makes sense for the
183 window's dimensions to be integral numbers of these units. These natu‐
184 ral window sizes form a grid. If the setGrid option is set to true
185 then the widget will communicate with the window manager so that when
186 the user interactively resizes the top-level window that contains the
187 widget, the dimensions of the window will be displayed to the user in
188 grid units and the window size will be constrained to integral numbers
189 of grid units. See the section GRIDDED GEOMETRY MANAGEMENT in the wm
190 manual entry for more details. [-takefocus takeFocus] Determines
191 whether the window accepts the focus during keyboard traversal (e.g.,
192 Tab and Shift-Tab). Before setting the focus to a window, the traver‐
193 sal scripts consult the value of the takeFocus option. A value of 0
194 means that the window should be skipped entirely during keyboard tra‐
195 versal. 1 means that the window should receive the input focus as long
196 as it is viewable (it and all of its ancestors are mapped). An empty
197 value for the option means that the traversal scripts make the decision
198 about whether or not to focus on the window: the current algorithm is
199 to skip the window if it is disabled, if it has no key bindings, or if
200 it is not viewable. If the value has any other form, then the traver‐
201 sal scripts take the value, append the name of the window to it (with a
202 separator space), and evaluate the resulting string as a Tcl script.
203 The script must return 0, 1, or an empty string: a 0 or 1 value speci‐
204 fies whether the window will receive the input focus, and an empty
205 string results in the default decision described above. Note: this
206 interpretation of the option is defined entirely by the Tcl scripts
207 that implement traversal: the widget implementations ignore the option
208 entirely, so you can change its meaning if you redefine the keyboard
209 traversal scripts. [-text text] Specifies a string to be displayed
210 inside the widget. The way in which the string is displayed depends on
211 the particular widget and may be determined by other options, such as
212 anchor or justify. [-textvariable textVariable] Specifies the name of
213 a variable. The value of the variable is a text string to be displayed
214 inside the widget; if the variable value changes then the widget will
215 automatically update itself to reflect the new value. The way in which
216 the string is displayed in the widget depends on the particular widget
217 and may be determined by other options, such as anchor or justify.
218 [-troughcolor troughColor] Specifies the color to use for the rectangu‐
219 lar trough areas in widgets such as scrollbars and scales. This option
220 is ignored for scrollbars on Windows (native widget does not recognize
221 this option). [-underline underline] Specifies the integer index of a
222 character to underline in the widget. This option is used by the
223 default bindings to implement keyboard traversal for menu buttons and
224 menu entries. 0 corresponds to the first character of the text dis‐
225 played in the widget, 1 to the next character, and so on.
226 [-wraplength wrapLength] For widgets that can perform word-wrapping,
227 this option specifies the maximum line length. Lines that would exceed
228 this length are wrapped onto the next line, so that no line is longer
229 than the specified length. The value may be specified in any of the
230 standard forms for screen distances. If this value is less than or
231 equal to 0 then no wrapping is done: lines will break only at newline
232 characters in the text. [-xscrollcommand xScrollCommand] Specifies the
233 prefix for a command used to communicate with horizontal scrollbars.
234 When the view in the widget's window changes (or whenever anything else
235 occurs that could change the display in a scrollbar, such as a change
236 in the total size of the widget's contents), the widget will generate a
237 Tcl command by concatenating the scroll command and two numbers. Each
238 of the numbers is a fraction between 0 and 1, which indicates a posi‐
239 tion in the document. 0 indicates the beginning of the document, 1
240 indicates the end, .333 indicates a position one third the way through
241 the document, and so on. The first fraction indicates the first infor‐
242 mation in the document that is visible in the window, and the second
243 fraction indicates the information just after the last portion that is
244 visible. The command is then passed to the Tcl interpreter for execu‐
245 tion. Typically the xScrollCommand option consists of the path name of
246 a scrollbar widget followed by “set”, e.g. “.x.scrollbar set”: this
247 will cause the scrollbar to be updated whenever the view in the window
248 changes. If this option is not specified, then no command will be exe‐
249 cuted. [-yscrollcommand yScrollCommand] Specifies the prefix for a
250 command used to communicate with vertical scrollbars. This option is
251 treated in the same way as the xScrollCommand option, except that it is
252 used for vertical scrollbars and is provided by widgets that support
253 vertical scrolling. See the description of xScrollCommand for details
254 on how this option is used.
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258 colors, cursors, font
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262 class, name, standard option, switch
263Tk 4.4 options(n)