NAME¶

tixHList - Create and manipulate Tix Hierarchial List widgets

SYNOPSIS¶

tixHList pathName ?options? -background -borderWidth -cursor -foreground -font -height -highlightColor -highlightThickness -relief -selectBackground -selectForeground -xScrollCommand -yScrollCommand -width

WIDGET-SPECIFIC OPTIONS¶

[-browsecmd browsecmd] Specifies a TCL command to be executed when the user browses through the entries in the HList widget. [-columns columns] Specifies the number of columns in this HList widget. This option can only be set during the creation of the HList widget and cannot be changed subsequently. [-command command] Specifies the TCL command to be executed when the user invokes a list entry in the HList widget. Normally the user invokes a list entry by double-clicking it or pressing the Return key. [-drawbranch drawBranch] A Boolean value to specify whether branch line should be drawn to connect list entries to their parents.

Name:		foreground
Class:		Foreground
Switch:		-foreground
Alias:		-fg

[OBSOLETE] Specifies the default foreground color for the list entries. [-gap gap] [OBSOLETE] The default distance between the bitmap/image and the text in list entries. [-header header] A Boolean value specifying whether headers should be displayed for this HList widget (see the header widget command below). [-height height] Specifies the desired height for the window in number of characters. [-indent indent] Specifies the amount of horizontal indentation between a list entry and its children. Must be a valid screen distance value. [-indicator indicator] Specifies whether the indicators should be displayed inside the HList widget. See the indicator widget command below. [-indicatorcmd indicatorCmd] Specifies a TCL command to be executed when the user manipulates the indicator of an HList entry. The -indicatorcmd is triggered when the user press or releases the mouse button over the indicator in an HList entry. By default the TCL command specified by -indicatorcmd is executed with one additional argument, the entryPath of the entry whose indicator has been triggered. Additional information about the event can be obtained by the tixEvent command. [-itemtype itemType] Specifies the default type of display item for this HList widget. When you call the add and addchild widget commands, display items of this type will be created if the -itemtype option is not specified . [-padx padX] [OBSOLETE] The default horizontal padding for list entries. [-padx padY] [OBSOLETE] The default vertical padding for list entries. [-selectbackground selectBackground] Specifies the background color for the selected list entries. [-selectborderwidth selectBorderWidth] 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. [-selectforeground selectForeground] Specifies the foreground color for the selected list entries. [-selectmode selectMode] Specifies one of several styles for manipulating the selection. The value of the option may be arbitrary, but the default bindings expect it to be either single, browse, multiple, or extended; the default value is single. [-sizecmd sizeCmd] Specifies a TCL script to be called whenever the HList widget changes its size. This command can be useful to implement "user scroll bars when needed" features. [-separator separator] Specifies the character to used as the separator character when intepreting the path-names of list entries. By default the character "." is used. [-width width] Specifies the desired width for the window in characters.

DESCRIPTION¶

The tixHList command creates a new window (given by the pathName argument) and makes it into a HList widget. Additional options, described above, may be specified on the command line or in the option database to configure aspects of the HList widget such as its cursor and relief.

The HList widget can be used to display any data that have a hierarchical structure, for example, file system directory trees. The list entries are indented and connected by branch lines according to their places in the hierachy.

Each list entry is identified by an entryPath. The entryPath is a sequence of entry names separated by the separator charactor (specified by the -separator option). An entry name can be any string that does not contain the separator charactor, or it can be the a string that contains only one separator charactor.

For example, when "." is used as the separator charactor, "one.two.three" is the entryPath for a list entry whose parent is "one.two", whose parent is "one", which is a toplevel entry (has no parents).

Another examples: ".two.three" is the entryPath for a list entry whose parent is ".two", whose parent is ".", which is a toplevel entry.

DISPLAY ITEMS¶

Each list entry in an HList widget is associated with a display item. The display item determines what visual information should be displayed for this list entry. Please see the tixDisplayStyle manual page for a list of all display items.

When a list entry is created by the add or addchild widget commands, the type of its display item is determined by the -itemtype option passed to these commands. If the -itemtype is omitted, then by default the type specified by this HList widget's -itemtype option is used.

WIDGET COMMAND¶

The tixHList command creates a new Tcl command whose name is the same as the path name of the HList widget's window. This command may be used to invoke various operations on the widget. It has the following general form:

pathName add entryPath ?option value ...?

Creates a new list entry with the pathname entryPath. A list entry must be created after its parent is created (unless this entry is a top-level entry, which has no parent). This command returns the entryPath of the newly created list entry. The following configuration options can be given to configure the list entry:

pathName addchild parentPath ?option value ... ?

Adds a new child entry to the children list of the list entry identified by parentPath. Or, if parentPath is set to be the empty string, then creates a new toplevel entry. The name of the new list entry will be a unique name automatically generated by the HList widget. Usually if parentPath is foo, then the entryPath of the new entry will be foo.1, foo.2, ... etc. This command returns the entryPath of the newly created list entry. option can be any option for the add widget command.

pathName anchor set entryPath

Sets the anchor to the list entry identified by entryPath. The anchor is the end of the selection that is fixed while the user is dragging out a selection with the mouse.

pathName anchor clear

Removes the anchor, if any, from this HList widget. This only removes the surrounding highlights of the anchor entry and does not affect its selection status.

pathName cget option

Returns the current value of the configuration option given by option. Option may have any of the values accepted by the tixHList command.

pathName column width col ?-char? ?width?

Querys or sets the width of a the column col in the HList widget. The value of col is zero-based: 0 stands for the first column, 1 stands for the second, and so on. If no further parameters are given, returns the current width of this column (in number of pixels). Additional parameters can be given to set the width of this column:

pathName configure ?option? ?value option value ...?

Query or modify the configuration options of the widget. If no option is specified, returns a list describing all of the available options for pathName (see Tk_ConfigureInfo for information on the format of this list). If option is specified with no value, then the command returns a list describing the one named option (this list will be identical to the corresponding sublist of the value returned if no option is specified). If one or more option-value pairs are specified, then the command modifies the given widget option(s) to have the given value(s); in this case the command returns an empty string. Option may have any of the values accepted by the tixHList command.

pathName delete option ?entryPath?

Delete one or more list entries. option may be one of the following:

pathName dragsite set entryPath

Sets the dragsite to the list entry identified by entryPath. The dragsite is used to indicate the source of a drag-and-drop action. Currently drag-and-drop functionality has not been implemented in Tix yet.

pathName dragsite clear

Remove the dragsite, if any, from the this HList widget. This only removes the surrounding highlights of the dragsite entry and does not affect its selection status.

pathName dropsite set entryPath

Sets the dropsite to the list entry identified by entryPath. The dropsite is used to indicate the target of a grag-and-drop action. Currently drag-and-drop functionality has not been implemented in Tix yet.

pathName dropsite clear

Remove the dropsite, if any, from the this HList widget. This only removes the surrounding highlights of the dropsite entry and does not affect its selection status.

pathName entrycget entryPath option

Returns the current value of the configuration option given by option for the entry indentfied by entryPath. Option may have any of the values accepted by the add widget command.

pathName entryconfigure entryPath ?option? ?value option value ...?

Query or modify the configuration options of the list entry indentfied by entryPath. If no option is specified, returns a list describing all of the available options for entryPath (see Tk_ConfigureInfo for information on the format of this list.) If option is specified with no value, then the command returns a list describing the one named option (this list will be identical to the corresponding sublist of the value returned if no option is specified). If one or more option-value pairs are specified, then the command modifies the given option(s) to have the given value(s); in this case the command returns an empty string. Option may have any of the values accepted by the add or addchild widget command. The exact set of options depends on the value of the -itemtype option passed to the the add or addchild widget command when this list entry is created.

pathName header option col ?args ...?

Manipulates the header items of this HList widget. If the -header option of this HList widget is set to true, then a header item is displayed at the top of each column. The col argument for this command must be a valid integer. 0 indicates the first column, 1 the second column, ... and so on. This command supports the following options:

pathName hide option ?entryPath?

Makes some of entries invisible invisible without deleting them. Option can be one of the following:

pathName indicator option entryPath ?args ...?

Manipulates the indicator on the list entries. An indicator is usually a small display item (such as an image) that is displayed to the left to an entry to indicate the status of the entry. For example, it may be used to indicator whether a directory is opened or closed. option can be one of the following:

pathName info option arg ...

Query information about the HList widget. option can be one of the following:

pathName item option ?args ...?

Creates and configures the display items at individual columns the entries. The form of additional of arguments depends on the choice of option:

pathName nearest y

Given a y-coordinate within the HList window, this command returns the entryPath of the (visible) HList element nearest to that y-coordinate.

pathName see entryPath

Adjust the view in the HList so that the entry given by entryPath is visible. If the entry is already visible then the command has no effect; if the entry is near one edge of the window then the HList scrolls to bring the element into view at the edge; otherwise the HList widget scrolls to center the entry.

pathName selection option arg ...

This command is used to adjust the selection within a HList widget. It has several forms, depending on option:

pathName show option ?entryPath?

Show the entries that are hidden by the hide command, option can be one of the following:

pathName xview args

This command is used to query and change the horizontal position of the information in the widget's window. It can take any of the following forms:

pathName yview ?args?

This command is used to query and change the vertical position of the entries in the widget's window. It can take any of the following forms:

BINDINGS¶

[1]

If the -selectmode is "browse", when the user drags the mouse pointer over the list entries, the entry under the pointer will be highlighted and the -browsecmd procedure will be called with one parameter, the entryPath of the highlighted entry. Only one entry can be highlighted at a time. The -command procedure will be called when the user double-clicks on a list entry.

[2]

If the -selectmode is "single", the entries will only be highlighted by mouse <ButtonRelease-1> events. When a new list entry is highlighted, the -browsecmd procedure will be called with one parameter indicating the highlighted list entry. The -command procedure will be called when the user double-clicks on a list entry.

[3]

If the -selectmode is "multiple", when the user drags the mouse pointer over the list entries, all the entries under the pointer will be highlighted. However, only a contiguous region of list entries can be selected. When the highlighted area is changed, the -browsecmd procedure will be called with an undefined parameter. It is the responsibility of the -browsecmd procedure to find out the exact highlighted selection in the HList. The -command procedure will be called when the user double-clicks on a list entry.

[4]

If the -selectmode is "extended", when the user drags the mouse pointer over the list entries, all the entries under the pointer will be highlighted. The user can also make disjointed selections using <Control-ButtonPress-1>. When the highlighted area is changed, the -browsecmd procedure will be called with an undefined parameter. It is the responsibility of the -browsecmd procedure to find out the exact highlighted selection in the HList. The -command procedure will be called when the user double-clicks on a list entry.

[5]

Arrow key bindings: <Up> arrow key moves the anchor point to the item right on top of the current anchor item. <Down> arrow key moves the anchor point to the item right below the current anchor item. <Left> arrow key moves the anchor to the parent item of the current anchor item. <Right> moves the anchor to the first child of the current anchor item. If the current anchor item does not have any children, moves the anchor to the item right below the current anchor item.

EXAMPLE¶

This example demonstrates how to use an HList to store a file directory structure and respond to the user's browse events:

tixHList .h -separator "/" -browsecmd browse -selectmode single \
-itemtype text
.h add / -text /
.h add /home -text /home
.h add /home/ioi -text /home/ioi
.h add /home/foo -text /home/foo
.h add /usr -text /usr
.h add /usr/lib -text /usr/lib
pack .h

proc browse {file} {
puts "$file browsed"
}

BUGS¶

The fact that the display item at column 0 is implicitly associated with the whole entry is probably a design bug. This was done for backward compatibility purposes. The result is that there is a large overlap between the item command and the add, addchild, entrycget and entryconfigure commands. Whenever multiple columns exist, the programmer should use ONLY the item command to create and configure the display items in each column; the add, addchild, entrycget and entryconfigure should be used ONLY to create and configure entries.

KEYWORDS¶

Tix(n), Hierarchical Listbox