NAME
-
entry - Create and manipulate entry widgets
SYNOPSIS
-
entry pathName ?options?
STANDARD OPTIONS
-
-background -highlightcolor -selectbackground
-borderwidth -highlightthickness -selectforeground
-font -justify -takefocus
-foreground -relief -xscrollcommand
WIDGET-SPECIFIC OPTIONS
-
- -show string
- 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.
- -state 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.
- -width dist
- Specifies an integer value indicating the desired width of the entry window.
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
to configure aspects of the entry such as its colours, 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.
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.
Entries 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).
WIDGET COMMAND
-
The entry command creates a new Tk 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 behaviour 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.
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 of all of
the available options for pathName. 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 see index
- Adjusts the view in the window so that the character given by index
is completely visible.
- 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 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.
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 bindings for entries that give them
the following default behaviour.
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.
- [3]
- If any normal printing characters are typed in an entry, the current
selection is deleted, and they are
inserted at the point of the insertion cursor
- [4]
- The view in the entry can be adjusted by dragging with mouse button 2.
- [5]
- 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.
Control-b and Control-f behave the same as Left and Right, respectively.
- [6]
- The Home key, or Control-a, will move the insertion cursor to the
beginning of the entry and clear any selection in the entry.
- [7]
- The End key, or Control-e, will move the insertion cursor to the
end of the entry and clear any selection in the entry.
- [8]
- Control-/ selects all the text in the entry.
- [9]
- Control-\ clears any selection in the entry.
- [10]
- 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.
- [11]
- 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.
- [12]
- Control-d deletes the character to the right of the insertion cursor.
- [13]
- Control-k deletes all the characters to the right of the insertion
cursor.
- [14]
- Control-w deletes the word to the left 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 behaviour of entries can be changed by defining new bindings for
individual widgets.
SEE ALSO
-
options(9),
types(9)