OPTIONS(9) Kernel Developer's Manual OPTIONS(9)

options - Standard options supported by widgets

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 widget does support an option with one of the names listed below, then the option has exactly the effect described below. For a description of kinds of values that can passed to the various options, see types (9).

In the descriptions below, the 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 set to -foreground and there exists a widget .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.
Specifies background colour 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.
Specifies foreground colour to use when drawing active elements. See above for definition of active elements.
Returns the current x position of the widget in screen coordinates.
Returns the current y position of the widget in screen coordinates.
Returns the current allocated width of the widget.
Returns the current allocated height of the widget.
Specifies how the information in a widget (e.g. text or a bitmap) is to be displayed in the widget. Val 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 colour to use when displaying the widget.
Specifies a bitmap to display in the widget. 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; 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. For those widgets that support the foreground option, if the bitmap is monochrome it is displayed using the foreground colour.
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.
Specifies the foreground colour to use when drawing disabled widgets. Certain widgets can be disabled by use of their -state option.
Specifies the font to use when drawing text inside the widget.
Specifies the normal foreground colour to use when displaying the widget.
Specifies the colour to use for the traversal 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. If the value is zero, no focus highlight is drawn around the widget.
Specifies an image to display in the widget, which must have been created with the image create command. 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. For those widgets that support the foreground option, if the image is monochrome it is displayed using the foreground colour.
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. 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 widget, this option determines how the lines line up with each other. Val 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 orientation, such as scrollbars, this option specifies which orientation should be used. Orientation must be either horizontal or vertical.
Specifies a non-negative value indicating how much extra space to request for the widget in the X-direction. 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.
Specifies a non-negative value indicating how much extra space to request for the widget in the Y-direction. When computing how large a window it needs, the widget will add this amount to the height it would normally need (as 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.
Specifies the 3-D effect desired for the widget. Acceptable values for val are raised, sunken, flat, ridge, 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 protrude from the screen, relative to the exterior of the widget.
Specifies the background colour to use when displaying selected items.
Specifies a non-negative value indicating the width of the 3-D border to draw around selected items.
Specifies the foreground colour to use when displaying selected items.
Determines whether clicking on the widget will automatically give it the keyboard focus, and also whether the widget will become part of the keyboard focus list and made accessible by keyboard navigation.
Specifies a string, val, to be displayed inside the widget. The way in which the string is displayed depends on the particular widget and may be determined by other options, such as anchor or justify.
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.
Specifies the prefix for a command used to communicate 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 Tk command by concatenating 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 document, 1 indicates the end, .333 indicates 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 information just after the last portion that is visible. The command is then passed to the Tk 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.
Specifies the prefix for a command used to communicate with vertical scrollbars. 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.