tabnotebook
tabnotebook(1) [incr Widgets] tabnotebook(1)
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NAME
tabnotebook - create and manipulate tabnotebook widgets
SYNOPSIS
tabnotebook pathName? options?
INHERITANCE
itk::Widget <- tabnotebook
STANDARD OPTIONS
background disabledForeground foregroundscrollCommand
cursor font height width
See the "options" manual entry for details on the standard options.
WIDGET-SPECIFIC OPTIONS
Name: angle
Class: Angle
Command-Line Switch: -angle
Specifes the angle of slope from the inner edge to the outer
edge of the tab. An angle of 0 specifies square tabs. Valid
ranges are 0 to 45 degrees inclusive. Default is 15 degrees. If
tabPos is e or w, this option is ignored.
Name: auto
Class: Auto
Command-Line Switch: -auto
Specifies whether to use the automatic packing/unpacking algo-
rithm of the notebook. A value of true indicates that page
frames will be unpacked and packed acoording to the algorithm
described in the select command. A value of false leaves the
current page packed and subsequent selects, next, or previous
commands do not switch pages automatically. In either case the
page's associated command (see the add command's description of
the command option) is invoked. The value may have any of the
forms accepted by the Tcl_GetBoolean, such as true, false, 0, 1,
yes, or no.
Name: backdrop
Class: Backdrop
Command-Line Switch: -backdrop
Specifies a background color to use when filling in the backdrop
area behind the tabs.
Name: background
Class: Background
Command-Line Switch: -background
Specifies a background color to use for displaying a page and
its associated tab. This can be thought of as the selected tab
background color, since the tab associated with the selected
page is the selected tab.
Name: bevelAmount
Class: BevelAmount
Command-Line Switch: -bevelamount
Specifes the size of tab corners. A value of 0 with angle set to
0 results in square tabs. A bevelAmount of 4, means that the tab
will be drawn with angled corners that cut in 4 pixels from the
edge of the tab. The default is 0.
Name: borderWidth
Class: BorderWidth
Command-Line Switch: -borderwidth
Specifies the width of shadowed border to place around the note-
book area of the tabnotebook. The default value is 2.
Name: disabledForeground
Class: DisabledForeground
Command-Line Switch: -disabledforeground
Specifies a foreground color to use for displaying a tab's label
when its state is disabled.
Name: equalTabs
Class: EqualTabs
Command-Line Switch: -equaltabs
Specifies whether to force tabs to be equal sized or not. A
value of true means constrain tabs to be equal sized. A value of
false allows each tab to size based on the text label size. The
value may have any of the forms accepted by the Tcl_GetBoolean,
such as true, false, 0, 1, yes, or no.
For horizontally positioned tabs (tabpos is either s or n), true
forces all tabs to be equal width (the width being equal to the
longest label plus any padX specified). Horizontal tabs are
always equal in height.
For vertically positioned tabs (tabpos is either w or e), true
forces all tabs to be equal height (the height being equal to
the height of the label with the largest font). Vertically ori-
ented tabs are always equal in width.
Name: foreground
Class: Foreground
Command-Line Switch: -foreground
Specifies a foreground color to use for displaying a page and
its associated tab label. This can be thought of as the selected
tab background color, since the tab associated with the selected
page is the selected tab.
Name: gap
Class: Gap
Command-Line Switch: -gap
Specifies the amount of pixel space to place between each tab.
Value may be any pixel offset value. In addition, a special key-
word overlap can be used as the value to achieve a standard
overlap of tabs. This value may have any of the forms acceptable
to Tk_GetPixels.
Name: margin
Class: Margin
Command-Line Switch: -Bmargin
Specifies the amount of space to place between the outside edge
of the tabnotebook and the outside edge of its tabs. If tabPos
is s, this is the amount of space between the bottom edge of the
tabnotebook and the bottom edge of the set of tabs. If tabPos is
n, this is the amount of space between the top edge of the tab-
notebook and the top edge of the set of tabs. If tabPos is e,
this is the amount of space between the right edge of the tab-
notebook and the right edge of the set of tabs. If tabPos is w,
this is the amount of space between the left edge of the tab-
notebook and the left edge of the set of tabs. This value may
have any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels.
Name: padX
Class: PadX
Command-Line Switch: -padx
Specifies a non-negative value indicating how much extra space
to request for a tab around its label in the X-direction. When
computing how large a window it needs, the tab will add this
amount to the width it would normally need The tab will end up
with extra internal space to the left and right of its text
label. This value may have any of the forms acceptable to
Tk_GetPixels.
Name: padY
Class: PadY
Command-Line Switch: -pady
Specifies a non-negative value indicating how much extra space
to request for a tab around its label in the Y-direction. When
computing how large a window it needs, the tab will add this
amount to the height it would normally need The tab will end up
with extra internal space to the top and bottom of its text
label. This value may have any of the forms acceptable to
Tk_GetPixels.
Name: raiseSelect
Class: RaiseSelect
Command-Line Switch: -raiseselect
Specifes whether to slightly raise the selected tab from the
rest of the tabs. The selected tab is drawn 2 pixels closer to
the outside of the tabnotebook than the unselected tabs. A value
of true says to raise selected tabs, a value of false turns this
feature off. The default is false. The value may have any of the
forms accepted by the Tcl_GetBoolean, such as true, false, 0, 1,
yes, or no.
Name: start
Class: Start
Command-Line Switch: -start
Specifies the amount of space to place between the left or top
edge of the tabnotebook and the starting edge of its tabs. For
horizontally positioned tabs, this is the amount of space
between the left edge of the notebook and the left edge of the
first tab. For vertically positioned tabs, this is the amount of
space between the top of the notebook and the top of the first
tab. This value may change if the user performs a MButton-2
scroll on the tabs. This value may have any of the forms accept-
able to Tk_GetPixels.
Name: state
Class: State
Command-Line Switch: -state
Sets the active state of the tabnotebook. Specifying normal
allows all pages to be selectable. Specifying disabled disables
the notebook causing all page tabs to be drawn in the disabled-
Foreground color.
Name: tabBackground
Class: TabBackground
Command-Line Switch: -tabbackground
Specifies a background color to use for displaying tab back-
grounds when they are in their unselected state. This is the
background associated with tabs on all pages other than the
selected page.
Name: tabBorders
Class: TabBorders
Command-Line Switch: -tabborders
Specifies whether to draw the borders of tabs that are not
selected. Specifying true (the default) draws these borders,
specifying false draws only the border around the selected tab.
The value may have any of the forms accepted by the Tcl_Get-
Boolean, such as true, false, 0, 1, yes, or no.
Name: tabForeground
Class: TabForeground
Command-Line Switch: -tabforeground
Specifies a foreground color to use for displaying tab labels
when they are in their unselected state. This is the foreground
associated with tabs on all pages other than the selected page.
Name: tabPos
Class: TabPos
Command-Line Switch: -tabpos
Specifies the location of the set of tabs in relation to the
notebook area. Must be n, s, e, or w. Defaults to s.
______________________________________________________________________________
DESCRIPTION
The tabnotebook command creates a new window (given by the pathName
argument) and makes it into a tabnotebook widget. Additional options,
described above may be specified on the command line or in the option
database to configure aspects of the tabnotebook such as its colors,
font, and text. The tabnotebook 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.
A tabnotebook is a widget that contains a set of tabbed pages. It dis-
plays one page from the set as the selected page. A Tab displays the
label for the page to which it is attached and serves as a page selec-
tor. When a page's tab is selected, the page's contents are displayed
in the page area. The selected tab has a three-dimensional effect to
make it appear to float above the other tabs. The tabs are displayed as
a group along either the left, top, right, or bottom edge. When first
created a tabnotebook has no pages. Pages may be added or deleted using
widget commands described below.
A special option may be provided to the tabnotebook. The -auto option
specifies whether the tabnotebook will automatically handle the unpack-
ing and packing of pages when pages are selected. A value of true sig-
nifies that the notebook will automatically manage it. This is the
default value. A value of false signifies the notebook will not perform
automatic switching of pages.
NOTEBOOK PAGES
A tabnotebook's pages area contains a single child site frame. When a
new page is created it is a child of this frame. The page's child site
frame serves as a geometry container for applications to pack widgets
into. It is this frame that is automatically unpacked or packed when
the auto option is true. This creates the effect of one page being vis-
ible at a time. When a new page is selected, the previously selected
page's child site frame is automatically unpacked from the tabnote-
book's child site frame and the newly selected page's child site is
packed into the tabnotebook's child site frame.
However, sometimes it is desirable to handle page changes in a differ-
ent manner. By specifying the auto option as false, child site packing
can be disabled and done differently. For example, all widgets might be
packed into the first page's child site frame. Then when a new page is
selected, the application can reconfigure the widgets and give the
appearance that the page was flipped.
In both cases the command option for a page specifies a Tcl Command to
execute when the page is selected. In the case of auto being true, it
is between the unpacking of the previously selected page and the pack-
ing of the newly selected page.
Notebook pages can also be controlled with scroll bars or other widgets
that obey the scrollcommand protocol. By giving a scrollbar a -command
to call the tabnotebook's select method, the tabnotebook can be con-
trolled with a scrollbar.
The notebook area is implemented with the notebook mega widget.
TABS
Tabs appear along the edge of the notebook area. Tabs are drawn to
appear attached to their associated page. When a tab is clicked on, the
associated page is selected and the tab is drawn as raised above all
other tabs and as a seamless part of its notebook page. Tabs can be
controlled in their location along the edges, the angle tab sides are
drawn with, gap between tabs, starting margin of tabs, internal padding
around text labels in a tab, the font, and its label.
The Tab area is implemented with the tabset mega widget. See tab-
set(1). Tabs may be oriented along either the north, south, east, or
west sides with the tabPos option. North and south tabs may appear as
angled, square, or bevelled. West and east tabs may appear as square or
bevelled. By changing tab gaps, tab angles, bevelling, orientations,
colors, fonts, start locations, and margins; tabs may appear in a wide
variety of styles. For example, it is possible to implement Microsoft-
style tabs, Borland property tab styles, or Borland Delphi style tabs
all with the same tabnotebook.
WIDGET-SPECIFIC METHODS
The tabnotebook command creates a new Tcl command whose name is path-
Name. This command may be used to invoke various operations on the wid-
get. 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 a notebook take as one argument an
indicator of which page of the notebook to operate on. These indicators
are called indexes and may be specified in any of the following forms:
number Specifies the page numerically, where 0 corresponds to the first
page in the notebook, 1 to the second, and so on.
select Specifies the currently selected page's index. If no page is
currently selected, the value -1 is returned.
end Specifes the last page in the tabnotebook's index. If the note-
book is empty this will return -1.
pattern
If the index doesn't satisfy any of the above forms, then this
form is used. Pattern is pattern-matched against the label of
each page in the notebook, in order from the first to the last
page, until a matching entry is found. The rules of Tcl_String-
Match are used. The following commands are possible for tab-
notebook widgets:
pathName add ?option value option value ...?
Add a new page at the end of the tabnotebook. A new child site
frame is created. Returns the child site pathName. If additional
arguments are present, they specify any of the following
options:
-angle value
Specifes the angle of slope from the inner edge to the
outer edge of the tab. An angle of 0 specifies square
tabs. Valid ranges are 0 to 45 degrees inclusive. Default
is 15 degrees. If this option is specified as an empty
string (the default), then the angle option for the over-
all tabnotebook is used. This is generally only set at
the tabnotebook level. Tabs normally will want to share
the same angle value.
-background value
Specifies a background color to use for displaying tabs
when they are selected and for displaying the current
page. If this option is specified as an empty string (the
default), then the background option for the overall tab-
notebook is used.
-bevelamount value
Specifes the size of tab corners. A value of 0 with angle
set to 0 results in square tabs. A bevelAmount of 4,
means that the tab will be drawn with angled corners that
cut in 4 pixels from the edge of the tab. The default is
0. This is generally only set at the tabnotebook level.
Tabs normally will want to share the same bevelAmount.
-bitmap value
If label is a non-empty string, specifies a bitmap to
display in this page's tab. Bitmap may be of any of the
forms accepted by Tk_GetPixmap.
-command value
Specifies a Tcl command to be executed when this page is
selected. This allows the programmer a hook to reconfig-
ure this page's widgets or any other page's widgets.
If the tabnotebook has the auto option set to true, when
a page is selected this command will be called immedi-
ately after the previously selected page is unpacked and
immediately before this page is selected. The index value
select is valid during this Tcl command. `index select'
will return this page's page number.
If the auto option is set to false, when a page is
selected the unpack and pack calls are bypassed. This Tcl
command is still called.
-disabledforeground value
Specifies a foreground color to use for displaying tab
labels when tabs are in their disable state. If this
option is specified as an empty string (the default),
then the disabledforeground option for the overall
tabnotebook is used.
-font value
Specifies the font to use when drawing a text label on a
page tab. If this option is specified as an empty string
then the font option for the overall tabnotebook is
used..
-foreground value
Specifies a foreground color to use for displaying tab
labels when they are selected. If this option is speci-
fied as an empty string (the default), then the fore-
ground option for the overall tabnotebook is used.
-label value
Specifies a string to display as an identifying label for
a notebook page. This label serves as an additional iden-
tifier used to reference the page. This label may be used
for the index value in widget commands.
-tabbackground value
Specifies a background color to use for displaying a tab
when it is not elected. If this option is specified as an
empty string (the default), then the tabBackground option
for the overall tabnotebook is used.
-tabforeground value
Specifies a foreground color to use for displaying the
tab's text label when it is not selected. If this option
is specified as an empty string (the default), then the
tabForeground option for the overall tabnotebook is used.
-padx value
Specifies a non-negative value indicating how much extra
space to request for a tab around its label in the X-
direction. When computing how large a window it needs,
the tab will add this amount to the width it would nor-
mally need The tab will end up with extra internal space
to the left and right of its text label. This value may
have any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels. If this
option is specified as an empty string (the default),
then the padX option for the overall tabnotebook is used
-pady value
Specifies a non-negative value indicating how much extra
space to request for a tab around its label in the Y-
direction. When computing how large a window it needs,
the tab will add this amount to the height it would nor-
mally need The tab will end up with extra internal space
to the top and bottom of its text label. This value may
have any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels. If this
option is specified as an empty string (the default),
then the padY option for the overall tabnotebook is used
-state value
Specifies one of two states for the page: normal or dis-
abled. In normal state unselected tabs are displayed
using the tabforeground and tabbackground option from the
tabnotebook or the page. Selected tabs and pages are dis-
played using the foreground and background option from
the tabnotebook or the page. The disabled state means
that the page and its tab is insensitive: it doesn't
respond to mouse button presses or releases. In this
state the entry is displayed according to its disabled-
Foreground option for the tabnotebook and the back-
ground/tabbackground option from the page or the
tabnotebook.
pathName childSite ?index?
If passed no arguments, returns a list of pathNames for all the
pages in the tabnotebook. If the tab notebook is empty, an empty
list is returned
If index is passed, it returns the pathName for the page's child
site frame specified by index. Widgets that are created with
this pathName will be displayed when the associated page is
selected. If index is not a valid index, an empty string is
returned.
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 avail-
able 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 tabnotebook command.
pathName delete index1 ?index2?
Delete all of the pages between index1 and index2 inclusive. If
index2 is omitted then it defaults to index1. Returns an empty
string.
pathName index index
Returns the numerical index corresponding to index.
pathName insert index ?option value option value ...?
Insert a new page in the tabnotebook before the page specified
by index. A new child site frame is created. The additional
arguments are the same as for the add command. Returns the child
site pathName.
pathName next
Advances the selected page to the next page (order is determined
by insertion order). If the currently selected page is the last
page in the notebook, the selection wraps around to the first
page in the notebook. It behaves as if the user selected the new
page.
For notebooks with auto set to true the current page's child
site is unpacked from the notebook's child site frame. Then the
next page's child site is packed into the notebook's child site
frame. The Tcl command given with the command option will be
invoked between these two operations.
For notebooks with auto set to false the Tcl command given with
the command option will be invoked.
pathName pageconfigure index ?option? ?value option value ...?
This command is similar to the configure command, except that it
applies to the options for an individual page, whereas configure
applies to the options for the tabnotebook as a whole. Options
may have any of the values accepted by the add widget command.
If options are specified, options are modified as indicated in
the command and the command returns an empty string. If no
options are specified, returns a list describing the current
options for page index (see Tk_ConfigureInfo for information on
the format of this list).
pathName prev
Moves the selected page to the previous page (order is deter-
mined by insertion order). If the currently selected page is the
first page in the notebook, the selection wraps around to the
last page in the notebook. It behaves as if the user selected
the new page.
For notebooks with auto set to true the current page's child
site is unpacked from the notebook's child site frame. Then the
previous page's child site is packed into the notebook's child
site frame. The Tcl command given with the command option will
be invoked between these two operations.
For notebooks with auto set to false the Tcl command given with
the command option will be invoked.
pathName select index
Selects the page specified by index as the currently selected
page. It behaves as if the user selected the new page.
For notebooks with auto set to true the current page's child
site is unpacked from the notebook's child site frame. Then the
index page's child site is packed into the notebook's child site
frame. The Tcl command given with the command option will be
invoked between these two operations.
For notebooks with auto set to false the Tcl command given with
the command option will be invoked.
pathName view
Returns the currently selected page. This command is for compat-
ibility with the scrollbar widget.
pathName view index
Selects the page specified by index as the currently selected
page. This command is for compatibility with the scrollbar wid-
get.
pathName view moveto fraction
Uses the fraction value to determine the corresponding page to
move to. This command is for compatibility with the scrollbar
widget.
pathName view scroll num what
Uses the num value to determine how many pages to move forward
or backward (num can be negative or positive). The what argument
is ignored. This command is for compatibility with the scrollbar
widget.
COMPONENTS
Generally all behavior of the internal components, tabset and notebook
are controlled via the pageconfigure method. The following section
documents these two components.
Name: tabset
Class: Tabset
This is the tabset component. It implements the tabs that are
associated with the notebook component.
See the "Tabset" widget manual entry for details on the tabset
component item.
Name: notebook
Class: Notebook
This is the notebook component. It implements the notebook that
contains the pages of the tabnotebook.
See the "Notebook" widget manual entry for details on the note-
book component item.
EXAMPLE
Following is an example that creates a tabnotebook with two pages.
# Create the tabnotebook widget and pack it.
tabnotebook .tn -width 100 -height 100
pack .tn \
-anchor nw \
-fill both \
-expand yes \
-side left \
-padx 10 \
-pady 10
# Add two pages to the tabnotebook,
# labelled "Page One" and "Page Two"
.tn add -label "Page One"
.tn add -label "Page Two"
# Get the child site frames of these two pages.
set page1CS [.tn childsite 0]
set page2CS [.tn childsite "Page Two"]
# Create buttons on each page of the tabnotebook.
button $page1CS.b -text "Button One"
pack $page1CS.b
button $page2CS.b -text "Button Two"
pack $page2CS.b
# Select the first page of the tabnotebook.
.tn select 0
AUTHOR
Bill W. Scott
KEYWORDS
tab tabset notebook tabnotebook page
Tk tabnotebook(1)
