options(n)                   Tk Built-In Commands                   options(n)



NAME
       options - Standard options supported by widgets


DESCRIPTION
       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.

       In the descriptions below, ``Command-Line 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 :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.  Command-line
       switches may be abbreviated, as long as the abbreviation is
       unambiguous.  ``Name'' refers to the option's name in the option
       database (e.g.  in .Xdefaults files).  ``Class'' refers to the option's
       class value in the option database. For each option, the STklos name is
       also specified. The STklos name is usually the same as the option name,
       except when it is a composite word, in which case words are separated
       with a dash.


       [:activebackground activeBackground] Specifies background color 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.  If strict
       Motif compliance has been requested by setting the *tk-strict-motif*
       variable, this option will normally be ignored;  the normal background
       color will be used instead.  For some elements on Windows  systems, the
       active color will only be used while mouse button 1 is pressed over the
       element.  [:activeborderwidth activeBorderWidth] Specifies a non-
       negative value indicating the width of the 3-D border drawn around
       active elements.  See above for definition of active elements.  The
       value may have any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels.  This
       option is typically only available in widgets displaying more than one
       element at a time (e.g. menus but not buttons).
       [:activeforeground activeForeground] Specifies foreground color to use
       when drawing active elements.  See above for definition of active
       elements.  [:anchor anchor] Specifies how the information in a widget
       (e.g. text or a bitmap) is to be displayed in the widget.  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.  [:background background] Specifies the
       normal background color to use when displaying the widget. This option
       can also be specified as :bg.  [:bitmap bitmap] Specifies a bitmap to
       display in the widget, in any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetBitmap.
       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.
       [:borderwidth borderWidth] 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.  The value may have any of the forms
       acceptable to Tk_GetPixels.  This option can also be specified as :bd.
       [:cursor cursor] Specifies the mouse cursor to be used for the widget.
       The value may have any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetCursor.
       [:disabledforeground disabledForeground] Specifies foreground color to
       use when drawing a disabled element.  If the option is specified as an
       empty string (which is typically the case on monochrome displays),
       disabled elements are drawn with the normal foreground color but they
       are dimmed by drawing them with a stippled fill pattern.
       [:exportselection exportSelection] Specifies whether or not a selection
       in the widget should also be the X selection.  The value must be a
       boolean value. If the selection is exported, then selecting in the
       widget deselects the current X selection, selecting outside the widget
       deselects any widget selection, and the widget will respond to
       selection retrieval requests when it has a selection.  The default is
       usually for widgets to export selections.  [:font font] Specifies the
       font to use when drawing text inside the widget.
       [:foreground foreground] Specifies the normal foreground color to use
       when displaying the widget.  This option can also be specified as :fg.
       [:highlightbackground highlightBackground] Specifies the color to
       display in the traversal highlight region when the widget does not have
       the input focus.  [:highlightcolor highlightColor] Specifies the color
       to use for the traversal highlight rectangle that is drawn around the
       widget when it has the input focus.
       [:highlightthickness highlightThickness] 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.  The value may have
       any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels.  If the value is zero, no
       focus highlight is drawn around the widget.  [:image image] 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.
       [:insertbackground insertBackground] Specifies the color to use as
       background in the area covered by the insertion cursor.  This color
       will normally override either the normal background for the widget (or
       the selection background if the insertion cursor happens to fall in the
       selection).  [:insertborderwidth insertBorderWidth] Specifies a non-
       negative value indicating the width of the 3-D border to draw around
       the insertion cursor.  The value may have any of the forms acceptable
       to Tk_GetPixels.  [:insertofftime insertOffTime] Specifies a non-
       negative integer value indicating the number of milliseconds the
       insertion cursor should remain ``off'' in each blink cycle.  If this
       option is zero then the cursor doesn't blink:  it is on all the time.
       [:insertontime insertOnTime] Specifies a non-negative integer value
       indicating the number of milliseconds the insertion cursor should
       remain ``on'' in each blink cycle.  [:insertwidth insertWidth]
       Specifies a  value indicating the total width of the insertion cursor.
       The value may have any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels.  If a
       border has been specified for the insertion cursor (using the
       insertBorderWidth option), the border will be drawn inside the width
       specified by the insertWidth option.  [:jump jump] 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.  The option's value must be a boolean of the form accepted by
       Tcl_GetBoolean.  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).  [:justify justify] When there are multiple lines of text
       displayed in a widget, this option determines how the lines line up
       with each other.  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.  [:orient orient] 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.  Must be either
       horizontal or vertical or an abbreviation of one of these.
       [:padx padX] Specifies a non-negative value indicating how much extra
       space to request for the widget in the X-direction.  The value may have
       any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels.  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.  [:pady padY] Specifies a non-negative
       value indicating how much extra space to request for the widget in the
       Y-direction.  The value may have any of the forms acceptable to
       Tk_GetPixels.  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.
       [:relief relief] Specifies the 3-D effect desired for the widget.
       Acceptable values are raised, sunken, flat, ridge, solid, 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.  [:repeatdelay repeatDelay] Specifies the
       number of milliseconds a button or key must be held down before it
       begins to auto-repeat.  Used, for example, on the up- and down-arrows
       in scrollbars.  [:repeatinterval repeatInterval] Used in conjunction
       with repeatDelay:  once auto-repeat begins, this option determines the
       number of milliseconds between auto-repeats.
       [:selectbackground selectBackground] Specifies the background color to
       use when displaying selected items.
       [: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 to
       use when displaying selected items.  [:setgrid setGrid] Specifies a
       boolean value that determines whether this widget controls the resizing
       grid for its top-level window.  This option is typically used in text
       widgets, where the information in the widget has a natural size (the
       size of a character) and it makes sense for the window's dimensions to
       be integral numbers of these units.  These natural window sizes form a
       grid.  If the setGrid option is set to true then the widget will
       communicate with the window manager so that when the user interactively
       resizes the top-level window that contains the widget, the dimensions
       of the window will be displayed to the user in grid units and the
       window size will be constrained to integral numbers of grid units.  See
       the section GRIDDED GEOMETRY MANAGEMENT in the wm manual entry for more
       details.  [:takefocus takeFocus] Determines whether the window accepts
       the focus during keyboard traversal (e.g., Tab and Shift-Tab).  Before
       setting the focus to a window, the traversal scripts consult the value
       of the takeFocus option.  A value of #f means that the window should be
       skipped entirely during keyboard traversal.  #t means that the window
       should receive the input focus as long as it is viewable (it and all of
       its ancestors are mapped).  An empty string for the option means that
       the traversal scripts make the decision about whether or not to focus
       on the window:  the current algorithm is to skip the window if it is
       disabled, if it has no key bindings, or if it is not viewable.  Value
       can also be a one parameter procedure. This procedure is called by the
       traversal algorithm with the window as parameter. The value retuned by
       he procedure must be #f, #t, or an empty string:  a #f or #t value
       specifies whether the window will receive the input focus, and an empty
       string results in the default decision described above. See the focus-
       next page for the focus-on and focus-off procedures.  Note: this
       interpretation of the option is defined entirely by the STk scripts
       that implement traversal:  the widget implementations ignore the option
       entirely, so you can change its meaning if you redefine the keyboard
       traversal scripts.  [:text text] Specifies a string 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.  [:textvariable textVariable] Specifies the name of
       a variable.  The value of the variable is a text string to be displayed
       inside the widget;  if the variable value changes then the widget will
       automatically update itself to reflect the new value.  The way in which
       the string is displayed in the widget depends on the particular widget
       and may be determined by other options, such as anchor or justify.
       [:troughcolor troughColor] Specifies the color to use for the
       rectangular trough areas in widgets such as scrollbars and scales.
       [:underline underline] 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.  [:wraplength wrapLength] For
       widgets that can perform word-wrapping, this option specifies the
       maximum line length.  Lines that would exceed this length are wrapped
       onto the next line, so that no line is longer than the specified
       length.  The value may be specified in any of the standard forms for
       screen distances.  If this value is less than or equal to 0 then no
       wrapping is done:  lines will break only at newline characters in the
       text.  [:xscrollcommand xScrollCommand] Specifies the procedure 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 call this procedure with two numbers as
       parameters.  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.  Typically the xScrollCommand option consists
       of a procedure of the form (lambda l (apply .x.scrollbar 'set l)) 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.  [:yscrollcommand yScrollCommand] 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.




STk                                   4.0                           options(n)
