entry - Create and manipulate entry widgets
SYNOPSIS
entry pathName ?options?
-background -highlightbackground -insertontime -selectforeground
-borderwidth -highlightcolor -insertwidth -takefocus
-cursor -highlightthickness -justify -textvariable
-exportselection -insertbackground -relief -xscrollcommand
-font -insertborderwidth -selectbackground
-foreground -insertofftime -selectborderwidth
WIDGET-SPECIFIC OPTIONS
Switch: -show
Name: show
Class: Show
If this option is specified, then the true contents of the entry
are not displayed in the window.
Instead, each character in the entry's value will be displayed as
the first character in the value of this option, such as ``*''.
This is useful, for example, if the entry is to be used to enter
a password.
If characters in the entry are selected and copied elsewhere, the
information copied will be what is displayed, not the true contents
of the entry.
Switch: -state
Name: state
Class: State
Specifies one of two states for the entry: normal or disabled.
If the entry is disabled then the value may not be changed using widget
commands and no insertion cursor will be displayed, even if the input focus is
in the widget.
Switch: -width
Name: width
Class: Width
Specifies an integer value indicating the desired width of the entry window,
in average-size characters of the widget's font.
If the value is less than or equal to zero, the widget picks a
size just large enough to hold its current text.
DESCRIPTION
The entry command creates a new window (given by the
pathName argument) and makes it into an entry widget.
Additional options, described above, may be specified on the
command line or in the option database
to configure aspects of the entry such as its colors, font,
and relief. The entry command returns its
pathName argument. At the time this command is invoked,
there must not exist a window named pathName, but
pathName's parent must exist.
An entry is a widget that displays a one-line text string and
allows that string to be edited using widget commands described below, which
are typically bound to keystrokes and mouse actions.
When first created, an entry's string is empty.
A portion of the entry may be selected as described below.
If an entry is exporting its selection (see the exportSelection
option), then it will observe the standard X11 protocols for handling the
selection; entry selections are available as type STRING.
Entries also observe the standard Tk rules for dealing with the
input focus. When an entry has the input focus it displays an
insertion cursor to indicate where new characters will be
inserted.
Entries are capable of displaying strings that are too long to
fit entirely within the widget's window. In this case, only a
portion of the string will be displayed; commands described below
may be used to change the view in the window. Entries use
the standard xScrollCommand mechanism for interacting with
scrollbars (see the description of the xScrollCommand option
for details). They also support scanning, as described below.
WIDGET COMMAND
The entry command creates a new Tcl command whose
name is pathName. This
command may be used to invoke various
operations on the widget. It has the following general form:
pathName option ?arg arg ...?
Option and the args
determine the exact behavior of the command.
Many of the widget commands for entries take one or more indices as
arguments. An index specifies a particular character in the entry's
string, in any of the following ways:
- number
- Specifies the character as a numerical index, where 0 corresponds
to the first character in the string.
- anchor
- Indicates the anchor point for the selection, which is set with the
select from and select adjust widget commands.
- end
- Indicates the character just after the last one in the entry's string.
This is equivalent to specifying a numerical index equal to the length
of the entry's string.
- insert
- Indicates the character adjacent to and immediately following the
insertion cursor.
sel.first
- Indicates the first character in the selection. It is an error to
- use this form if the selection isn't in the entry window.
sel.last
- Indicates the character just after the last one in the selection.
- It is an error to use this form if the selection isn't in the
entry window.
- @number
- In this form, number is treated as an x-coordinate in the
entry's window; the character spanning that x-coordinate is used.
For example, ``@0'' indicates the left-most character in the
window.
Abbreviations may be used for any of the forms above, e.g. ``e''
or ``sel.f''. In general, out-of-range indices are automatically
rounded to the nearest legal value.
The following commands are possible for entry widgets:
- pathName bbox index
- Returns a list of four numbers describing the bounding box of the
character given by index.
The first two elements of the list give the x and y coordinates of
the upper-left corner of the screen area covered by the character
(in pixels relative to the widget) and the last two elements give
the width and height of the character, in pixels.
The bounding box may refer to a region outside the visible area
of the window.
- pathName cget option
- Returns the current value of the configuration option given
by option.
Option may have any of the values accepted by the entry
command.
- 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 entry
command.
- pathName delete first ?last?
- Delete one or more elements of the entry.
First is the index of the first character to delete, and
last is the index of the character just after the last
one to delete.
If last isn't specified it defaults to first+1,
i.e. a single character is deleted.
This command returns an empty string.
- pathName get
- Returns the entry's string.
- pathName icursor index
- Arrange for the insertion cursor to be displayed just before the character
given by index. Returns an empty string.
- pathName index index
- Returns the numerical index corresponding to index.
- pathName insert index string
- Insert the characters of string just before the character
indicated by index. Returns an empty string.
- pathName scan option args
- This command is used to implement scanning on entries. It has
two forms, depending on option:
- pathName scan mark x
- Records x and the current view in the entry window; used in
conjunction with later scan dragto commands. Typically this
command is associated with a mouse button press in the widget. It
returns an empty string.
- pathName scan dragto x
- This command computes the difference between its x argument
and the x argument to the last scan mark command for
the widget. It then adjusts the view left or right by 10 times the
difference in x-coordinates. This command is typically associated
with mouse motion events in the widget, to produce the effect of
dragging the entry at high speed through the window. The return
value is an empty string.
- pathName selection option arg
- This command is used to adjust the selection within an entry. It
has several forms, depending on option:
- pathName selection adjust index
- Locate the end of the selection nearest to the character given by
index, and adjust that end of the selection to be at index
(i.e including but not going beyond index). The other
end of the selection is made the anchor point for future
select to commands. If the selection
isn't currently in the entry, then a new selection is created to
include the characters between index and the most recent
selection anchor point, inclusive.
Returns an empty string.
- pathName selection clear
- Clear the selection if it is currently in this widget. If the
selection isn't in this widget then the command has no effect.
Returns an empty string.
- pathName selection from index
- Set the selection anchor point to just before the character
given by index. Doesn't change the selection.
Returns an empty string.
- pathName selection present
- Returns 1 if there is are characters selected in the entry,
0 if nothing is selected.
- pathName selection range start end
- Sets the selection to include the characters starting with
the one indexed by start and ending with the one just
before end.
If end refers to the same character as start or an
earlier one, then the entry's selection is cleared.
- pathName selection to index
- If index is before the anchor point, set the selection
to the characters from index up to but not including
the anchor point.
If index is the same as the anchor point, do nothing.
If index is after the anchor point, set the selection
to the characters from the anchor point up to but not including
index.
The anchor point is determined by the most recent select from
or select adjust command in this widget.
If the selection isn't in this widget then a new selection is
created using the most recent anchor point specified for the widget.
Returns an empty string.
- pathName xview args
- This command is used to query and change the horizontal position of the
text in the widget's window. It can take any of the following
forms:
- pathName xview
- Returns a list containing two elements.
Each element is a real fraction between 0 and 1; together they describe
the horizontal span that is visible in the window.
For example, if the first element is .2 and the second element is .6,
20% of the entry's text is off-screen to the left, the middle 40% is visible
in the window, and 40% of the text is off-screen to the right.
These are the same values passed to scrollbars via the -xscrollcommand
option.
- pathName xview index
- Adjusts the view in the window so that the character given by index
is displayed at the left edge of the window.
- pathName xview moveto fraction
- Adjusts the view in the window so that the character fraction of the
way through the text appears at the left edge of the window.
Fraction must be a fraction between 0 and 1.
- pathName xview scroll number what
- This command shifts the view in the window left or right according to
number and what.
Number must be an integer.
What must be either units or pages or an abbreviation
of one of these.
If what is units, the view adjusts left or right by
number average-width characters on the display; if it is
pages then the view adjusts by number screenfuls.
If number is negative then characters farther to the left
become visible; if it is positive then characters farther to the right
become visible.
DEFAULT BINDINGS
Tk automatically creates class bindings for entries that give them
the following default behavior.
In the descriptions below, ``word'' refers to a contiguous group
of letters, digits, or ``_'' characters, or any single character
other than these.
[1]
Clicking mouse button 1 positions the insertion cursor
just before the character underneath the mouse cursor, sets the
input focus to this widget, and clears any selection in the widget.
Dragging with mouse button 1 strokes out a selection between
the insertion cursor and the character under the mouse.
[2]
Double-clicking with mouse button 1 selects the word under the mouse
and positions the insertion cursor at the beginning of the word.
Dragging after a double click will stroke out a selection consisting
of whole words.
[3]
Triple-clicking with mouse button 1 selects all of the text in the
entry and positions the insertion cursor before the first character.
[4]
The ends of the selection can be adjusted by dragging with mouse
button 1 while the Shift key is down; this will adjust the end
of the selection that was nearest to the mouse cursor when button
1 was pressed.
If the button is double-clicked before dragging then the selection
will be adjusted in units of whole words.
[5]
Clicking mouse button 1 with the Control key down will position the
insertion cursor in the entry without affecting the selection.
[6]
If any normal printing characters are typed in an entry, they are
inserted at the point of the insertion cursor.
[7]
The view in the entry can be adjusted by dragging with mouse button 2.
If mouse button 2 is clicked without moving the mouse, the selection
is copied into the entry at the position of the mouse cursor.
[8]
If the mouse is dragged out of the entry on the left or right sides
while button 1 is pressed, the entry will automatically scroll to
make more text visible (if there is more text off-screen on the side
where the mouse left the window).
[9]
The Left and Right keys move the insertion cursor one character to the
left or right; they also clear any selection in the entry and set
the selection anchor.
If Left or Right is typed with the Shift key down, then the insertion
cursor moves and the selection is extended to include the new character.
Control-Left and Control-Right move the insertion cursor by words, and
Control-Shift-Left and Control-Shift-Right move the insertion cursor
by words and also extend the selection.
Control-b and Control-f behave the same as Left and Right, respectively.
Meta-b and Meta-f behave the same as Control-Left and Control-Right,
respectively.
[10]
The Home key, or Control-a, will move the insertion cursor to the
beginning of the entry and clear any selection in the entry.
Shift-Home moves the insertion cursor to the beginning of the entry
and also extends the selection to that point.
[11]
The End key, or Control-e, will move the insertion cursor to the
end of the entry and clear any selection in the entry.
Shift-End moves the cursor to the end and extends the selection
to that point.
[12]
The Select key and Control-Space set the selection anchor to the position
of the insertion cursor. They don't affect the current selection.
Shift-Select and Control-Shift-Space adjust the selection to the
current position of the insertion cursor, selecting from the anchor
to the insertion cursor if there was not any selection previously.
[13]
Control-/ selects all the text in the entry.
[14]
Control-\ clears any selection in the entry.
[15]
The F16 key (labelled Copy on many Sun workstations) or Meta-w
copies the selection in the widget to the clipboard, if there is a selection.
[16]
The F20 key (labelled Cut on many Sun workstations) or Control-w
copies the selection in the widget to the clipboard and deletes
the selection.
If there is no selection in the widget then these keys have no effect.
[17]
The F18 key (labelled Paste on many Sun workstations) or Control-y
inserts the contents of the clipboard at the position of the
insertion cursor.
[18]
The Delete key deletes the selection, if there is one in the entry.
If there is no selection, it deletes the character to the right of
the insertion cursor.
[19]
The BackSpace key and Control-h delete the selection, if there is one
in the entry.
If there is no selection, it deletes the character to the left of
the insertion cursor.
[20]
Control-d deletes the character to the right of the insertion cursor.
[21]
Meta-d deletes the word to the right of the insertion cursor.
[22]
Control-k deletes all the characters to the right of the insertion
cursor.
[23]
Control-w deletes the word to the left of the insertion cursor.
[24]
Control-t reverses the order of the two characters to the right of
the insertion cursor.
If the entry is disabled using the -state option, then the entry's
view can still be adjusted and text in the entry can still be selected,
but no insertion cursor will be displayed and no text modifications will
take place.
The behavior of entries can be changed by defining new bindings for
individual widgets or by redefining the class bindings.
KEYWORDS
entry, widget