panedwindow - Create and manipulate a paned window widget

SYNOPSIS

panedwindow pathName ?options?
INHERITANCE
itk::Widget <- panedwindow
STANDARD OPTIONS

background
cursor

See the "options" manual entry for details on the standard options.
WIDGET-SPECIFIC OPTIONS

Name: height Class: Height Command-Line Switch: -height

Specifies the overall height of the paned window in any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels. The default is 10 pixels.

Name: orient Class: Orient Command-Line Switch: -orient

Specifies the orientation of the separators: vertical or horizontal. The default is horizontal.

Name: sashBorderWidth Class: BorderWidth Command-Line Switch: -sashborderwidth

Specifies a value indicating the width of the 3-D border to draw around the outside of the sash in any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels. The default is 2 pixels.

Name: sashCursor Class: Cursor Command-Line Switch: -sashcursor

Specifies the type of cursor to be displayed in the sash. The default is crosshair.

Name: sashHeight Class: Height Command-Line Switch: -sashheight

Specifies the height of the sash in any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels. The default is 10 pixels.

Name: sashIndent Class: SashIndent Command-Line Switch sashindent

Specifies the placement of the sash along the panes in any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels. A positive value causes the sash to be offset from the near (left/top) side of the pane, and a negative value causes the sash to be offset from the far (right/bottom) side. If the offset is greater than the width, then the sash is placed flush against the side. The default is -10 pixels.

Name: sashWidth Class: Width Command-Line Switch: -sashwidth

Specifies the width of the sash in any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels. The default is 10 pixels.

Name: showHandle Class: ShowHandle Command-Line Switch: -showhandle

Specifies whether or not to display the sashes on the window panes. The default is 1, and valid options are 0 and 1.

Name: thickness Class: Thickness Command-Line Switch: -thickness

Specifies the thickness of the separators in any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels. The default is 3 pixels.

Name: width Class: Width Command-Line Switch: -width

Specifies the overall width of the paned window in any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels. The default is 10 pixels.

DESCRIPTION

The panedwindow command creates a multiple paned window widget capable of orienting the panes either vertically or horizontally. Each pane is itself a frame acting as a child site for other widgets. The border separating each pane contains a sash which allows user positioning of the panes relative to one another.
METHODS

The panedwindow 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 the panedwindow take as one argument an indicator of which pane of the paned window to operate on. These indicators are called indexes and allow reference and manipulation of panes regardless of their current map state. Paned window indexes may be specified in any of the following forms:

number: Specifies the pane numerically, where 0 corresponds to the nearest (top/left-most) pane of the paned window.

end: Indicates the farthest (bottom/right-most) pane of the paned window.

pattern: If the index doesn't satisfy one of the above forms then this form is used. Pattern is pattern-matched against the tag of each pane in the panedwindow, in order from left/top to right/left, until a matching entry is found. The rules of Tcl_StringMatch are used.

WIDGET-SPECIFIC METHODS

pathName add tag ?option value option value?: Adds a new pane to the paned window on the far side (right/bottom). The following options may be specified:

-margin value: Specifies the border distance between the pane and pane contents is any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels. The default is 8 pixels.

-minimum value: Specifies the minimum size that a pane's contents may reach not inclusive of twice the margin in any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels. The default is 10 pixels. The add method returns the path name of the pane.

pathName cget option: Returns the current value of the configuration option given by option. Option may have any of the values accepted by the panedwindow command.

pathName childsite ?index?: Returns a list of the child site path names or a specific child site given an index. The list is constructed from the near side (left/top) to the far side (right/bottom).

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 panedwindow command.

pathName delete index: Deletes a specified pane given an index.

pathName fraction percentage percentage ?percentage percentage ...?: Sets the visible percentage of the panes. Specifies a set of percentages which are applied to the visible panes from the near side (left/top). The number of percentages must be equal to the current number of visible (mapped) panes and add up to 100.

pathName hide index: Changes the visiblity of the specified pane, allowing a previously displayed pane to be visually removed rather than deleted.

pathName index index: Returns the numerical index corresponding to index.

pathName insert index tag ?option value option value ...?: Same as the add command except that it inserts the new pane just before the one given by index, instead of appending to the end of the panedwindow. The option, and value arguments have the same interpretation as for the add widget command.

pathName paneconfigure index ?options?: This command is similar to the configure command, except that it applies to the options for an individual pane, whereas configure applies to the options for the paned window 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 entry index (see Tk_ConfigureInfo for information on the format of this list).

pathName reset: Redisplays the pane window using default percentages.

pathName show index: Changes the visiblity of the specified pane, allowing a previously hidden pane to be displayed.

NOTES

Dynamic changing of the margin and or minimum options to values which make the current configuration invalid will block subsequent sash movement until the fractions are modified via the fraction method. For example a panedwindow is created with three panes and the minimum and margin options are at their default settings. Next the user moves the sashes to compact the panes to one side. Now, if the minimum is increased on the most compressed pane via the paneconfigure method to a large enough value, then sash movement is blocked until the fractions are adjusted. This situation is unusual and under normal operation of the panedwindow, this problem will never occur.

EXAMPLE

 panedwindow .pw -width 300 -height 300 
 .pw add top
 .pw add middle -margin 10
 .pw add bottom -margin 10 -minimum 10

 pack .pw -fill both -expand yes

 foreach pane [.pw childSite] {
    button $pane.b -text $pane -relief raised -borderwidth 2
    pack $pane.b -fill both -expand yes
 }

 .pw fraction 50 30 20
 .pw paneconfigure 0 -minimum 20
 .pw paneconfigure bottom -margin 15

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

Jay Schmidgall

1994 - Base logic posted to comp.lang.tcl

Joe Hidebrand <hildjj@fuentez.com>

07/25/94 - Posted first multipane version to comp.lang.tcl

07/28/94 - Added support for vertical panes

Ken Copeland <ken@hilco.com>

09/28/95 - Smoothed out the sash movement and added squeezable panes.

AUTHOR

Mark L. Ulferts

KEYWORDS

panedwindow, widget