NAME¶

treectrl - Create and manipulate hierarchical multicolumn widgets

SYNOPSIS¶

package require treectrl 2.2.8 treectrl pathName ?options? pathName activate itemDesc pathName bbox ?area? pathName canvasx screenx pathName canvasy screeny pathName cget option pathName collapse ?-recurse? ?itemDesc ...? pathName column option column ?arg ...? pathName column bbox columnDesc pathName column cget columnDesc option pathName column configure columnDesc ?option? ?value? ? option value ...? pathName column compare column1 op column2 pathName column count ?columnDesc? pathName column create ?option value ...? pathName column delete first ?last? pathName column dragcget option pathName column dragconfigure ?option? ?value? ?option value ...? pathName column index columnDesc pathName column id columnDesc pathName column list ?-visible? pathName column move columnDesc beforeDesc pathName column neededwidth columnDesc pathName column order columnDesc ?-visible? pathName column tag option ?arg arg ...? pathName column tag add columnDesc tagList pathName column tag expr columnDesc tagExpr pathName column tag names columnDesc pathName column tag remove columnDesc tagList pathName column width columnDesc pathName compare itemDesc1 op itemDesc2 pathName configure ?option? ?value option value ...? pathName contentbox pathName debug option ?arg arg ...? pathName debug alloc pathName debug cget option pathName debug configure ?option? ?value? ?option value ...? pathName debug dinfo option pathName debug expose x1 y1 x2 y2 pathName debug scroll pathName depth ?itemDesc? pathName dragimage option ?arg ...? pathName dragimage add itemDesc ?column? ?element? pathName dragimage cget option pathName dragimage clear pathName dragimage configure ?option? ?value? ?option value ...? pathName dragimage offset ?x y? pathName element option ?element? ?arg arg ...? pathName element cget element option pathName element configure element ?option? ?value? ? option value ...? pathName element create element type ?option value ...? pathName element delete ?element ...? pathName element names pathName element perstate element option stateList pathName element type element pathName expand ?-recurse? ?itemDesc ...? pathName identify x y pathName index itemDesc pathName item option ?arg ...? pathName item ancestors itemDesc pathName item bbox itemDesc ?column? ?element? pathName item cget itemDesc option pathName item children itemDesc pathName item collapse itemDesc ?-recurse? pathName item compare itemDesc1 op itemDesc2 pathName item complex itemDesc ?list...? pathName item configure itemDesc ?option? ?value? ? option value ...? pathName item count ?itemDesc? pathName item create ?option value ...? pathName item delete first ?last? pathName item descendants itemDesc pathName item dump itemDesc pathName item element command itemDesc column element ?arg ...? pathName item element actual itemDesc column element option pathName item element cget itemDesc column element option pathName item element configure itemDesc column element ? option? ?value? ?option value ...? pathName item element perstate itemDesc column element option ?stateList? pathName item enabled itemDesc ?boolean? pathName item expand itemDesc ?-recurse? pathName item firstchild parent ?child? pathName item id itemDesc pathName item image itemDesc ?column? ?image? ? column image ...? pathName item isancestor itemDesc descendant pathName item isopen itemDesc pathName item lastchild parent ?child? pathName item nextsibling sibling ?next? pathName item numchildren itemDesc pathName item order itemDesc ?-visible? pathName item parent itemDesc pathName item prevsibling sibling ?prev? pathName item range first last pathName item remove itemDesc pathName item rnc itemDesc pathName item sort itemDesc ?option ...? pathName item span itemDesc ?column? ?numColumns? ? column numColumns ...? pathName item state command itemDesc ?arg ...? pathName item state forcolumn itemDesc column ?stateDescList? pathName item state get itemDesc ?stateName? pathName item state set itemDesc ?lastItem? stateDescList pathName item style command itemDesc ?arg ...? pathName item style elements itemDesc column pathName item style map itemDesc column style map pathName item style set itemDesc ?column? ?style? ? column style ...? pathName item tag option ?arg arg ...? pathName item tag add itemDesc tagList pathName item tag expr itemDesc tagExpr pathName item tag names itemDesc pathName item tag remove itemDesc tagList pathName item text itemDesc ?column? ?text? ?column text ...? pathName item toggle itemDesc ?-recurse? pathName marquee option ?arg ...? pathName marquee anchor ?x y? pathName marquee cget option pathName marquee configure ?option? ?value? ?option value ...? pathName marquee coords ?x1 y1 x2 y2? pathName marquee corner ?x y? pathName marquee identify pathName notify option ?arg ...? pathName notify bind ?object? ?pattern? ?+??script? pathName notify configure object pattern ?option? ? value? ?option value ...? pathName notify detailnames eventName pathName notify eventnames pathName notify generate pattern ?charMap? ?percentsCommand? pathName notify install pattern ?percentsCommand? pathName notify install detail eventName detail ?percentsCommand? pathName notify install event eventName ?percentsCommand? pathName notify linkage pattern pathName notify linkage eventName ?detail? pathName notify unbind object ?pattern? pathName notify uninstall pattern pathName notify uninstall detail eventName detail pathName notify uninstall event eventName pathName numcolumns pathName numitems pathName orphans pathName range first last pathName scan option args pathName scan mark x y pathName scan dragto x y ?gain? pathName state option args pathName state define stateName pathName state linkage stateName pathName state names pathName state undefine ?stateName ...? pathName see itemDesc pathName selection option args pathName selection add first ?last? pathName selection anchor ?itemDesc? pathName selection clear ?first? ?last? pathName selection count pathName selection get ?first? ?last? pathName selection includes itemDesc pathName selection modify select deselect pathName style option ?element? ?arg arg ...? pathName style cget style option pathName style configure style ?option? ?value? ? option value ...? pathName style create style ?option value ...? pathName style delete ?style ...? pathName style elements style ?elementList? pathName style layout style element ?option? ? value? ?option value ...? pathName style names pathName toggle ?-recurse? ?itemDesc ...? pathName xview ?args? pathName xview pathName xview moveto fraction pathName xview scroll number what pathName yview ?args? pathName yview pathName yview moveto fraction pathName yview scroll number what E

DESCRIPTION¶

treectrl pathName ?options?

The treectrl command creates a new window (given by the pathName argument) and makes it into a treectrl widget. Additional options, described above, may be specified on the command line or in the option database to configure aspects of the treectrl such as its background color and relief. The treectrl command returns the path name of the new window. At the time this command is invoked, there must not exist a window named pathName, but pathName's parent must exist. A treectrl is a widget which displays items in a one- or two-dimensional arrangement. Items have a parent-child relationship with other items. Items have a set of states, which are boolean properties. Items may be spread about one or more columns. For each column of an item there is a style associated, which determines how to display the item's column taking into account the item's current state set. One column can be defined to display the data in a hierarchical structure. Normally the origin of the coordinate system is at the upper-left corner of the window containing the treectrl. It is possible to adjust the origin of the coordinate system relative to the origin of the window using the xview and yview widget commands; this is typically used for scrolling. A treectrl widget can be horizontal or vertical oriented like many other Tk widgets. For displaying hierarchical data only vertical orientation is useful, since only then the children of an item are displayed directly below their parent. If the treectrl widget is used only to display data in a multicolumn listbox, the specification of an orientation will give useful results.

STANDARD OPTIONS¶

-background

-borderwidth

-cursor

-font

-highlightbackground

-highlightcolor

-highlightthickness

-orient

-relief

-takefocus

-xscrollcommand

-yscrollcommand

-foreground

See the option manual entry for details on the standard options.

WIDGET SPECIFIC OPTIONS¶

Command-Line Switch:	 -backgroundimage
Database Name:	 backgroundImage
Database Class:	 BackgroundImage

Specifies the name of an image to draw as the list background. The image is tiled horizontally and vertically to fill the content area of the list. If the image is transparent it is drawn on top of the background color(s).

Command-Line Switch:	 -backgroundmode
Database Name:	 backgroundMode
Database Class:	 BackgroundMode

Specifies how the background color of items is chosen in each column. The value should be one of row, column, order, or ordervisible. The default is row. This option has only an effect for columns which have -itembackground defined as list of two or more colors (see section COLUMNS below for more on this). If row or column is specified, the background color is chosen based on the location of the item in the 1- or 2-dimensional grid of items as layed out on the screen; this layout of items is affected by the -orient and -wrap options as well as item visibility. When order or ordervisible is specified, the background color is chosen based on the result of the item order command, regardless of the layout of items.

Command-Line Switch:	 -buttonbitmap
Database Name:	 buttonBitmap
Database Class:	 ButtonBitmap

Specifies the bitmap to be used as the expand/collapse button to the left of an item. This is a per-state option. If a bitmap is specified for a certain item state, it overrides the effects of -usetheme.

Command-Line Switch:	 -buttoncolor
Database Name:	 buttonColor
Database Class:	 ButtonColor

Specifies the foreground color which should be used for drawing the outline and the plus or minus sign of the button to the left of an item.

Command-Line Switch:	 -buttonimage
Database Name:	 buttonImage
Database Class:	 ButtonImage

Specifies the image to be used as the expand/collapse button to the left of an item. This is a per-state option. If an image is specified for a certain item state, it overrides the effects of -buttonbitmap and -usetheme.

Command-Line Switch:	 -buttonsize
Database Name:	 buttonSize
Database Class:	 ButtonSize

Specifies the width and height of the button drawn to the left of an item in any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels.

Command-Line Switch:	 -buttonthickness
Database Name:	 buttonThickness
Database Class:	 ButtonThickness

Specifies the width of the outline and the plus or minus sign of the button to the left of an item in any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels.

Command-Line Switch:	 -columnprefix
Database Name:	 columnPrefix
Database Class:	 ColumnPrefix

Specifies an ascii string that changes the way column ids are reported and processed. If this option is a non-empty string, the usual integer value of a column id is prefixed with the given string. This can aid debugging but it is important your code doesn't assume column ids are integers if you use it.

Command-Line Switch:	 -columnproxy
Database Name:	 columnProxy
Database Class:	 ColumnProxy

If this option specifies a non empty value, it should be a screen distance in any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels. Then a 1 pixel thick vertical line will be drawn at the specified screen distance from the left edge of the treectrl widget, which reaches from top to bottom of the treectrl widget and uses an inverting color (i.e black on lighter background, white on darker background). This line can be used to give the user a visual feedback during column resizing.

Command-Line Switch:	 -columnresizemode
Database Name:	 columnResizeMode
Database Class:	 ColumnResizeMode

Specifies the visual feedback used when resizing columns. The value should be one of proxy or realtime. For proxy, a 1-pixel thick vertical line is drawn representing where the right edge of the column will be after resizing. For realtime, the column's size is changed while the user is dragging the right edge of the column.

Command-Line Switch:	 -columntagexpr
Database Name:	 columnTagExpr
Database Class:	 ColumnTagExpr

Specifies a boolean that enables or disables tag expressions in column descriptions. See ITEM AND COLUMN TAGS.

Command-Line Switch:	 -defaultstyle
Database Name:	 defaultStyle
Database Class:	 DefaultStyle

This option is deprecated; use the column option -itemstyle instead. Specifies a list of styles, one per column, to apply to each item created by the item create command. The number of styles in the list can be different from the number of tree columns. Each list element should be a valid style name or an empty string to indicate no style should be applied to a specific column. The list of styles is updated if a style is deleted or if a column is moved.

Command-Line Switch:	 -doublebuffer
Database Name:	 doubleBuffer
Database Class:	 DoubleBuffer

Specifies if double-buffering should be used to improve displaying. The value should be one of none, window, or item. For none no double-buffering is used at all, which may be most memory efficient, but will probably generate some flickering on the screen. For window the complete tree is double-buffered, which requires a buffer big enough to contain the complete widget. For item, which is the default, every item is separately double-buffered, so it works with a buffer size as big as the biggest item.

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

Specifies the desired height for the window in any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels. The default is 200 pixels. If this option is less than or equal to zero then the window will not request any size at all.

Command-Line Switch:	 -indent
Database Name:	 indent
Database Class:	 Indent

Specifies the screen distance an item is indented relative to its parent item in any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels. The default is 19 pixels.

Command-Line Switch:	 -itemheight
Database Name:	 itemHeight
Database Class:	 ItemHeight

Specifies a fixed height for every item in any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels. If non-zero, this option overrides the requested height of an item and the -minitemheight option. The default is 0, which means that every item has the height requested by the arrangement of elements in each column. Items are never shorter than the maximum height of a button.

Command-Line Switch:	 -itemprefix
Database Name:	 itemPrefix
Database Class:	 ItemPrefix

Specifies an ascii string that changes the way item ids are reported and processed. If this option is a non-empty string, the usual integer value of an item id is prefixed with the given string. This can aid debugging but it is important your code doesn't assume item ids are integers if you use it.

Command-Line Switch:	 -itemtagexpr
Database Name:	 itemTagExpr
Database Class:	 ItemTagExpr

Specifies a boolean that enables or disables tag expressions in item descriptions. See ITEM AND COLUMN TAGS.

Command-Line Switch:	 -itemwidth
Database Name:	 itemWidth
Database Class:	 ItemWidth

Specifies a fixed width for every item in any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels. If more than one column is visible, then this option has no effect. If the -orient option is vertical, and the -wrap option is unspecified, then this option has no effect (in that case all items are as wide as the column).

Command-Line Switch:	 -itemwidthequal
Database Name:	 itemWidthEqual
Database Class:	 ItemWidthEqual

Specifies a boolean that says whether all items should have the same width. If more than one column is visible, then this option has no effect. If the -orient option is vertical, and the -wrap option is unspecified, then this option has no effect (in that case all items are as wide as the column). If the -itemwidth option is specified, then this option has no effect.

Command-Line Switch:	 -itemwidthmultiple
Database Name:	 itemWidthMultiple
Database Class:	 ItemWidthMultiple

Specifies a screen distance that every item's width will be evenly divisible by in any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels. If more than one column is visible, then this option has no effect. If the -orient option is vertical, and the -wrap option is unspecified, then this option has no effect (in that case all items are as wide as the column). If the -itemwidth option is specified, then this option has no effect.

Command-Line Switch:	 -linecolor
Database Name:	 lineColor
Database Class:	 LineColor

Specifies the color which should be used for drawing the connecting lines between related items.

Command-Line Switch:	 -linestyle
Database Name:	 lineStyle
Database Class:	 LineStyle

Specifies the style of the connecting lines between related items, should be dot which is the default, or solid.

Command-Line Switch:	 -linethickness
Database Name:	 lineThickness
Database Class:	 LineThickness

Specifies the thickness of the connecting lines between related items in any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels.

Command-Line Switch:	 -minitemheight
Database Name:	 minItemHeight
Database Class:	 MinItemHeight

Specifies a minimum height for every item in any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels. The default is 0, which means that every item has the height requested by the arrangement of elements in each column. This option has no effect if the -itemheight option is specified. Items are never shorter than the maximum height of a button.

Command-Line Switch:	 -rowproxy
Database Name:	 rowProxy
Database Class:	 RowProxy

If this option specifies a non empty value, it should be a screen distance in any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels. Then a 1 pixel thick horizontal line will be drawn at the specified screen distance from the top edge of the treectrl widget, which reaches from left to right of the treectrl widget and uses an inverting color (i.e black on lighter background, white on darker background). This line can be used to give the user a visual feedback during row resizing.

Command-Line Switch:	 -scrollmargin
Database Name:	 scrollMargin
Database Class:	 ScrollMargin

Specifies a positive screen distance in any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels. This option is used by the default bindings to determine how close to the edges of the contentbox the mouse pointer must be before scrolling occurs. Specifying a positive value is useful when items may be drag-and-dropped. Defaults to 0.

Command-Line Switch:	 -selectmode
Database Name:	 selectMode
Database Class:	 SelectMode

Specifies one of several styles for manipulating the selection. The value of the option may be arbitrary, but the default bindings expect it to be either single, browse, multiple, or extended; the default value is browse.

Command-Line Switch:	 -showbuttons
Database Name:	 showButtons
Database Class:	 ShowButtons

Specifies a boolean value that determines whether this widget leaves indentation space to display the expand/collapse buttons next to items. The default value is true. The item option -button determines whether any item has a button. See also the treectrl option -showrootbutton.

Command-Line Switch:	 -showheader
Database Name:	 showHeader
Database Class:	 ShowHeader

Specifies a boolean value that determines whether this widget should display the header line with the column names at the top of the widget. The default value is true.

Command-Line Switch:	 -showlines
Database Name:	 showLines
Database Class:	 ShowLines

Specifies a boolean value that determines whether this widget should draw the connecting lines between related items. The default value is true.

Command-Line Switch:	 -showroot
Database Name:	 showRoot
Database Class:	 ShowRoot

Specifies a boolean value that determines whether this widget should draw the root item. By suppressing the drawing of the root item the widget can have multiple items that appear as toplevel items. The default value is true.

Command-Line Switch:	 -showrootbutton
Database Name:	 showRootButton
Database Class:	 ShowRootButton

Specifies a boolean value that determines whether this widget leaves indentation space to display the expand/collapse button next to the root item. The default value is false. The item option -button determines whether the root item has a button.

Command-Line Switch:	 -showrootchildbuttons
Database Name:	 showRootChildButtons
Database Class:	 ShowRootChildButtons

Specifies a boolean value that determines whether this widget should draw the expand/collapse buttons next to children of the root item. The default value is true.

Command-Line Switch:	 -showrootlines
Database Name:	 showRootLines
Database Class:	 ShowRootLines

Specifies a boolean value that determines whether this widget should draw the connecting lines between children of the root item. The default value is true.

Command-Line Switch:	 -treecolumn
Database Name:	 treeColumn
Database Class:	 TreeColumn

Specifies a column description that determines which column displays the buttons and lines. The default is unspecified.

Command-Line Switch:	 -usetheme
Database Name:	 useTheme
Database Class:	 UseTheme

Specifies a boolean value that determines whether this widget should draw parts of itself using a platform-specific theme manager. The default is false.

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

Specifies the desired width for the window in any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels. The default is 200 pixel. If this option is less than or equal to zero then the window will not request any size at all.

Command-Line Switch:	 -wrap
Database Name:	 wrap
Database Class:	 Wrap

Specifies whether items are arranged in a 1- or 2-dimensional layout. If the value is an empty string (the default), then items are arranged from top to bottom (-orient vertical) or from left to right (-orient horizontal) in a 1-dimensional layout. If the value is " N items", then a no more than N items will appear in a vertical group (-orient vertical) or horizontal group (-orient horizontal). If the value is " N pixels", then a no vertical group of items will be taller than N pixels (-orient vertical) or no horizontal group of items will be wider than N pixels (-orient horizontal). If the value is window, then a no vertical group of items will be taller than the window (-orient vertical) or no horizontal group of items will be wider than the window (-orient horizontal).

Command-Line Switch:	 -xscrolldelay
Database Name:	 xScrollDelay
Database Class:	 ScrollDelay

This option controls how quickly horizontal scrolling occurs while dragging the mouse with button 1 pressed. The value should be a list of 1 or 2 integers interpreted as microseconds. If 2 values are specified, then the first value determines the intial delay after the first scroll, and the second value determines the delay for all scrolling after the first. If only 1 value is specified, each scroll takes place after that delay.

Command-Line Switch:	 -xscrollincrement
Database Name:	 xScrollIncrement
Database Class:	 ScrollIncrement

Specifies an increment for horizontal scrolling, in any of the usual forms permitted for screen distances. If the value of this option is greater than zero, the horizontal view in the window will be constrained so that the x coordinate at the left edge of the window is always an even multiple of -xscrollincrement; furthermore, the units for scrolling (e.g., the change in view when the left and right arrows of a scrollbar are selected) will also be -xscrollincrement. If the value of this option is less than or equal to zero, then horizontal scrolling snaps to the left of an item, or part of an item if items are wider than the contentbox.

Command-Line Switch:	 -yscrolldelay
Database Name:	 yScrollDelay
Database Class:	 ScrollDelay

This option controls how quickly vertical scrolling occurs while dragging the mouse with button 1 pressed. The value should be a list of 1 or 2 integers interpreted as microseconds. If 2 values are specified, then the first value determines the intial delay after the first scroll, and the second value determines the delay for all scrolling after the first. If only 1 value is specified, each scroll takes place after that delay.

Command-Line Switch:	 -yscrollincrement
Database Name:	 yScrollIncrement
Database Class:	 ScrollIncrement

Specifies an increment for vertical scrolling, in any of the usual forms permitted for screen distances. If the value of this option is greater than zero, the vertical view in the window will be constrained so that the y coordinate at the top edge of the window is always an even multiple of -yscrollincrement; furthermore, the units for scrolling (e.g., the change in view when the top and bottom arrows of a scrollbar are selected) will also be -yscrollincrement. If the value of this option is less than or equal to zero, then vertical scrolling snaps to the top of an item, or part of an item if items are taller than the contentbox.

ITEM AND COLUMN TAGS¶

Columns and items may have any number of tags associated with them. A tag is just a string of characters, and it may take any form, including that of an integer, although the characters '(', ')', '&', '|', '^' and '!' should be avoided. The same tag may be associated with many columns or items. This is commonly done to group items in various interesting ways; for example, in a file browser all directories might be given the tag "directory". Tag expressions are used in column descriptions and item descriptions to specify which columns and items to operate on. A tag expression can be a single tag name or a logical expression of tags using operators '&&', '||', '^' and '!', and parenthesized subexpressions. For example:

or equivalently:

will return the unique ids of any items with either "a" or "b" tags, but not both. Within a tag expression a tag name may be enclosed in double quotes to avoid special processing of the operator characters. For example:

will return the unique ids of any items with either "a&&b" or "c" tags; in this example the && is not treated as an operator. A double-quote may be escaped within a quoted tag name using a backslash '\'. Tag operators may be bypassed completely by setting the -columntagexpr and -itemtagexpr options. This can be useful if your application has column or item tags containing arbitrary text.

WIDGET COMMAND¶

The treectrl command creates a new Tcl command whose name is the same as the path name of the treectrl's window. This command may be used to invoke various operations on the widget. It has the following general form: pathName option ?arg arg ...? PathName is the name of the command, which is the same as the treectrl widget's path name. Option and the args determine the exact behavior of the command. The following commands are possible for treectrl widgets:

pathName activate itemDesc

Sets the active item to the one described by itemDesc, and switches on the state active for this item. From now on the item can be retrieved with the item description active. An <ActiveItem> event is generated.

pathName bbox ?area?

Returns a list with four elements giving the bounding box (left, top, right and bottom) of an area of the window. If area is not specified, then the result is the bounding box of the entire window. If area is content, then the result is the part of the window not including borders, headers, or locked columns. If area is header, then the result is the part of the window not including borders where column titles are displayed. If area is left, then the result is the part of the window not including borders or headers where left-locked columns are displayed. If area is right, then the result is the part of the window not including borders or headers where right-locked columns are displayed. An empty string is returned if the display area has no height or width, which can be true for various reasons such as the window is too small, or the header is not displayed, or there aren't any locked columns.

pathName canvasx screenx

Given a window x-coordinate in the treectrl screenx, this command returns the treectrl x-coordinate that is displayed at that location.

pathName canvasy screeny

Given a window y-coordinate in the treectrl screeny, this command returns the treectrl y-coordinate that is displayed at that location.

pathName cget option

Returns the current value of the configuration option given by option. Option may have any of the values accepted by the tree command.

pathName collapse ?-recurse? ?itemDesc ...?

Use item collapse instead.

pathName column option column ?arg ...?

This command is used to manipulate the columns of the treectrl widget (see section COLUMNS below). The exact behavior of the command depends on the option argument that follows the column argument. The following forms of the command are supported:

pathName compare itemDesc1 op itemDesc2

Deprecated. Use the item compare command instead.

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 treectrl command.

pathName contentbox

Returns a list with four elements giving the bounding box of the screen area used to display items. This is the area of the window not including borders, column headers, or locked columns. An empty string is returned if the display area has no height or width, which can happen if the window is too small.

pathName debug option ?arg arg ...?

This command is used to facilitate debugging of the treectrl widget. The exact behavior of the command depends on the option argument that follows the debug argument. The following forms of the command are supported:

pathName depth ?itemDesc?

If the additional argument itemDesc is given, then the result is a decimal string giving the depth of the item described by itemDesc. If no itemDesc is specified, then the maximum depth of all items in the treectrl widget is returned instead. Depth is defined as the number of ancestors an item has.

pathName dragimage option ?arg ...?

This command is used to manipulate the dragimage, one or more dotted lines around rectangular regions of the treectrl widget. The exact behavior of the command depends on the option argument that follows the dragimage argument. The following forms of the command are supported:

pathName element option ?element? ? arg arg ...?

This command is used to manipulate elements (see ELEMENTS below). The exact behavior of the command depends on the option argument that follows the element argument. The following forms of the command are supported:

pathName expand ?-recurse? ?itemDesc ...?

Use item expand instead.

pathName identify x y

Returns a list describing what is displayed at the given window coordinates x and y. If the coordinates are outside the window, over the borders, or over any whitespace in the window, then the result is an empty string; otherwise the first word of the result is header or item.

 

If the coordinates are over a column header, then the first word of the result is header, followed by the unique id of the column (or the string tail). If the x coordinate is near the left or right end of a column, then a third word left or right is appended to the result.

 

If the coordinates are over an item, then the first word of the result is item followed by the unique id of that item. If the coordinates are not over the area for displaying buttons and lines, then column and a unique column id are the 3rd and 4th words of the result. If the coordinates are over an element within that column, then element and an element name are the 5th and 6th words of the result.

 

If the coordinates are over a button, then the first word of the result is item, followed by the unique id of that item, followed by the word button.

 

If the coordinates are over a line descending from an ancestor of an item (but not the parent of that item), then the first word of the result is item, followed by the unique id of that item, followed by the word line, followed by the unique id of the item the line is coming from. This is used to collapse the ancestor when the line is clicked on.

pathName index itemDesc

Deprecated. Use item id instead.

pathName item option ?arg ...?

This command is used to manipulate items. The exact behavior of the command depends on the option argument that follows the item argument. The following forms of the command are supported:

pathName marquee option ?arg ...?

This command is used to manipulate the marquee, a rectangular region of the treectrl widget optionally marked with a surrounding dotted line. One corner point of the marquee is fixed as long as the marquee is visible and called the anchor; the diagonally opposite corner is dragged with the mouse while resizing the marquee and simply called the corner. All coordinates handled by this widget command are treectrl coordinates, i.e. the canvasx or canvasy widget command should be used before any window coordinates can be used. The exact behavior of the command depends on the option argument that follows the marquee argument. The following forms of the command are supported:

pathName notify option ?arg ...?

Many Tk widgets communicate with the outside world via -command callbacks and/or virtual events. For example, the Text widget evaluates its -yscrollcommand when the view in the widget changes, and generates a <<Modified>> virtual event when text is inserted or deleted. A treectrl widget replaces both methods of communication with its own event mechanism accessed through the notify subcommands.

 

The exact behavior of the command depends on the option argument that follows the notify argument. The following forms of the command are supported:

pathName numcolumns

Deprecated. Use the column count command instead.

pathName numitems

Deprecated. Use the item count command instead.

pathName orphans

Returns a list containing the item ids of all items which have no parent. When an item is created, it has no parent by default, and can later become an orphan by means of the item remove widget command. The root item is not returned.

pathName range first last

Deprecated. Use the item range command instead.

pathName scan option args

This command is used to implement scanning on treectrls. It has two forms, depending on option:

pathName state option args

This command is used to manipulate the list of user-defined states, see section STATES below. The exact behavior of the command depends on the option argument that follows the state argument. The following forms of the command are supported:

pathName see itemDesc

Adjust the view in the treectrl so that the item described by itemDesc is visible. If the item is already visible then the command has no effect; otherwise the treectrl scrolls to bring the item into view, and the corresponding <Scroll-x> and/or <Scroll-y> events are generated.

pathName selection option args

This command is used to adjust the selection within a treectrl. It has several forms, depending on option:

pathName style option ?element? ? arg arg ...?

This command is used to manipulate styles, which can be thought of as a geometry manager for elements. The exact behavior of the command depends on the option argument that follows the style argument. The following forms of the command are supported:

pathName toggle ?-recurse? ?itemDesc ...?

Use item toggle instead.

pathName xview ?args?

This command is used to query and change the horizontal position of the information displayed in the treectrl's window. It can take any of the following forms:

pathName yview ?args?

This command is used to query and change the vertical position of the information displayed in the treectrl's window. It can take any of the following forms:

COLUMNS¶

A treectrl widget is capable of displaying multiple columns next to each other. An item can be considered as a row, which reaches over all columns. Columns in a treectrl may be specified in a number of ways. See COLUMN DESCRIPTION below. There is always one special column, the tail column, which fills all space to the right of the last ordinary column. This column has no number; it can only be specified by the keyword tail. When a column configuration option is specified as per-state, the state names are normal, active, pressed or up, i.e. do not use item state names. The following options are supported for columns:

-arrow direction

Indicates whether or not an arrow should be drawn in the column header. Direction must have one of the values none (the default), up, or down.

-arrowbitmap bitmap

Specifies as a per-state option the bitmap to use to draw the arrow if this column's -arrow option is not none.

-arrowimage image

Specifies as a per-state option the image to use to draw the arrow if this column's -arrow option is not none. If an image is specified for a certain state, it overrides the -arrowbitmap option.

-arrowside side

Indicates on which side of the bitmap/image/text the arrow should be drawn. Side must be either left or right (the default).

-arrowgravity side

Indicates onto which side an arrow should be packed, if there is more space available for drawing the arrow then needed. Side must be either left (the default) or right.

-arrowpadx amount

Amount specifies how much padding to leave on the left and right of the arrow. Amount may be a list of two values to specify padding for left and right separately; it defaults to 6.

-arrowpady amount

Amount specifies how much padding to leave on the top and bottom of the arrow. Amount may be a list of two values to specify padding for top and bottom separately; it defaults to 0.

-bitmap bitmap

Specifies the bitmap to display in the element to the left of the column title.

-background color

Specifies as a per-state option the color to use for the background of the column header.

-borderwidth size

Specifies a non-negative value indicating the width of the 3-D border to draw around the outside of the column header (if such a border is being drawn; the -relief column option determines this). The value may have any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels.

-button boolean

Indicates whether or not the column header should be treated like a pushbutton. When this option is true, the default bindings track <Button-1> events in the header and generate a <Header-invoke> event when a <ButtonRelease-1> event occurs in the header. See DYNAMIC EVENTS.

-expand boolean

Indicates whether or not any extra horizontal space should be distributed to this column. This option has no effect if the -width option is set.

-font fontName

Specifies the font to use for the column title inside the column header.

-image image

Specifies the image to display in the element to the left of the column title. This option overrides the -bitmap column option.

-imagepadx amount

Amount specifies how much padding to leave on the left and right of the image (or bitmap). Amount may be a list of two values to specify padding for left and right separately; it defaults to 6.

-imagepady amount

Amount specifies how much padding to leave on the top and bottom of the image (or bitmap). Amount may be a list of two values to specify padding for top and bottom separately; it defaults to 0.

-itembackground colorList

Specifies a list of zero or more colors, which are used as alternating background colors for items in this column. See also the -backgroundmode widget option for more on this.

-itemjustify justification

This option determines how the item styles in this column line up with each other. Must be one of left, center, or right. The default value is an empty string (for compatibility with older versions), in which case the column option -justify is used to align item styles in this column.

-itemstyle style

Style is the name of a style that should be set in this column for newly-created items.

-justify justification

This option determines how the image and text in the column header are positioned. It also affects the position of item styles in this column unless the column option -itemjustify is specified. Must be one of left (the default), center, or right.

-lock lock

This option allows a column to stick to the left or right edge of the window. A locked column scrolls vertically but not horizontally. Must be one of none (the default), left, or right.

-maxwidth size

Specifies the maximum size, in screen units, that will be permitted for this column. If size is an empty string, then there is no limit on the maximum size of the column. This option has no effect if the -width option is set.

-minwidth size

Specifies the minimum size, in screen units, that will be permitted for this column. If size is an empty string, then the minimum size of the column is zero. This option has no effect if the -width option is set.

-resize boolean

Specifies a boolean value that indicates whether the user should be allowed to resize the column by dragging the edge of the column's header. Default is true.

-squeeze boolean

Specifies a boolean value that indicates whether or not the column should shrink when the content width of the treectrl is less than the total needed width of all visible columns. Defaults to false, which means the column will not get smaller than its needed width. The column will not get smaller than the value of its -minwidth option, if specified. This option has no effect if the -width option is set.

-state state

Specifies one of three states for the column header: normal, active, or pressed. The active state is used when the mouse is over the header. The pressed state is used when the mouse button is pressed in the header.

-stepwidth size

Deprecated. Use the treectrl's -itemwidthmultiple option instead.

-tags tagList

TagList is a list of tag names that can be used to identify the column. See also the column tag command.

-text text

Specifies a text string to be displayed as the column title.

-textcolor color

Specifies a color, which should be used as foreground color to display the column title.

-textlines count

Specifies the maximum number of lines of text to display in the column title. If this value is zero, the number of lines displayed is determined by any newline characters and the effects of wrapping when the column width is less than needed. The default is 1. Note: Under OSX/Aqua this value is always set to 1 when the treectrl's -usetheme option is true, because the Appearance Manager uses a fixed height for the column header; there is only room for a single line of text.

-textpadx amount

Amount specifies how much padding to leave on the left and right of the text. Amount may be a list of two values to specify padding for left and right separately; it defaults to 6.

-textpady amount

Amount specifies how much padding to leave on the top and bottom of the text. Amount may be a list of two values to specify padding for top and bottom separately; it defaults to 0.

-uniform group

When a non-empty value is supplied, this option places the column in a uniform group with other columns that have the same value for -uniform. The space for columns belonging to a uniform group is allocated so that their sizes are always in strict proportion to their -weight values. This option is based on the grid geometry manager.

-visible boolean

Indicates whether or not the column should be displayed.

-weight integer

Sets the relative weight for apportioning any extra space among columns. A weight of zero (0) indicates the column will not deviate from its requested size. A column whose weight is two will grow at twice the rate as a column of weight one when extra space is allocated to columns. This option is based on the grid geometry manager.

-width size

Specifies a fixed width for the column. If this value is an empty string, then the column width is calculated as the maximum of: a) the width requested by items; b) the width requested by the column's header; and c) the column's -minwidth option. This calculated width is also affected by the -expand, -squeeze, -uniform and -weight options. In any case, the calculated width will not be greater than the -maxwidth option, if specified.

-widthhack boolean

Deprecated. Use the treectrl's -itemwidthequal option instead.

COLUMN DESCRIPTION¶

Many of the commands and options for a treectrl take as an argument a description of which column to operate on. See the EXAMPLES section for examples. The initial part of a column description must begin with one of the following terms:

id

Specifies the unique column identifier, where id should be the return value of a prior call of the column create widget command. See also the -columnprefix option.

QUALIFIERS

Specifies a list of qualifiers. This gives the same result as all followed by QUALIFIERS; i.e., every column is tested for a match.

tagExpr QUALIFIERS

TagExpr is a tag expression (see ITEM AND COLUMN TAGS) against which every column's tags are tested for a match. This keyword cannot be followed by any modifiers unless a single column is matched. You may run into trouble if tagExpr looks like a column id or other keyword; also, tagExpr must look like a single list element since column descriptions are properly-formed lists. To be safe you may want to use the tag qualifier followed by tagExpr.

all QUALIFIERS

Indicates every column, including the tail column if the command allows it, which match QUALIFIERS.

first QUALIFIERS

Indicates the leftmost column of the treectrl which matches QUALIFIERS.

end QUALIFIERS

last QUALIFIERS

Indicates the rightmost column of the treectrl (but not the tail column) which matches QUALIFIERS.

list columnDescs

ColumnDescs is a list (a single argument, i.e. "list {a b c}" not "list a b c") of other column descriptions. This keyword cannot be followed by any modifiers unless a single column is matched.

order n QUALIFIERS

Indicates the nth column in the list of columns as returned by the column order command.

range first last QUALIFIERS

First and last specify a range of columns. This keyword cannot be followed by any modifiers unless a single column is specified.

tail

Indicates the ever-present tail column of the treectrl.

tree

Indicates the column specified by the -treecolumn option of the treectrl.

The initial part of the column description (matching any of the values above) may be followed by one or more modifiers. A modifier changes the column used relative to the description up to this point. It may be specified in any of the following forms:

next QUALIFIERS

Use the column to the right matching QUALIFIERS.

prev QUALIFIERS

Use the column to the left matching QUALIFIERS. The word QUALIFIERS above represents a sequence of zero or more of the following terms that changes which column is chosen:

state stateList

StateList is a list of column state names. Only columns that have the given states set (or unset if the '!' prefix is used) are considered.

tag tagExpr

TagExpr is a tag expression (see ITEM AND COLUMN TAGS) against which a column's tags are tested for a match.

!tail

When this qualifier is given, the tail column is not matched.

visible

When this qualifier is given, only columns whose -visible option is TRUE are considered.

!visible

When this qualifier is given, only columns whose -visible option is FALSE are considered.

STATES¶

For every item a set of boolean states is managed. These states play an integral role in the appearance of each item. The following states are predefined for every item:

active

At all times this state is set for exactly one item. The active item is used with keyboard navigation. When the treectrl widget is created or when the active item is deleted, the root item will become the active item. This state can be modified by means of the widget command activate.

enabled

This state is set for every item when it is created. Disabled items cannot be selected and are ignored by the default bindings when navigating via the keyboard. This state can be modified by means of the widget command item enabled.

focus

This state is set for every item, if the treectrl widget currently has the focus. It cannot be modified by means of a widget command, but is maintained in reaction to the <FocusIn> and <FocusOut> events.

open

If this state is switched on, the descendants of the item are displayed - the item is expanded. If this state is switched off, the descendants of the item are not displayed - the item is collapsed. For a new item this state is switched on by default. This state can be modified by means of the widget commands item expand, item collapse, or item toggle.

selected

This state is set for every item included in the selection. It can be modified by means of the widget command selection.

By means of the state define widget command up to 27 additional states can be defined.

PER-STATE OPTIONS¶

The visual appearance of an item can change depending on the state the item is in, such as being the active item, being included in the selection, being collapsed, or some combination of those or other states. When a configuration option is described as per-state, it means the option describes a value which varies depending on the state of the item. If a per-state option is specified as a single value, the value is used for all states. Otherwise the per-state option must be specified as an even-numbered list. For example, to use the font "Times 12 bold" in a text element regardless of the item state you can write:

$T element configure MyTextElement -font {{Times 12 bold}}

However, to use a different font when the item is selected you could write:

$T element configure MyTextElement -font {{Courier 10} selected {Times 12 bold} {}}

In the example above, the -font option reads "value stateList value stateList". If stateList is an empty list, the preceding value is used regardless of the item state. A non-empty stateList specifies a list of states which must be set for the item in order to use the preceding value. Each stateList can also include state names preceded by a ! sign, indicating the state must *not* be set for the item. For example:

$T element configure MyRectElement -fill {blue {selected focus} gray {selected !focus}}

In the example above, the rect element is filled with blue when the treectrl has the focus and the item is selected. If the treectrl does not have the focus, the example specifies that gray should be used for selected items. Also note that if the item is not selected, no color is specified for the -fill option. Each value-stateList pair is checked in order from left to right. The value associated with the first stateList that matches the current item state is used. So stateLists should be listed from most-specific to least-specific.

$T element configure MyRectElement -fill {gray {selected} blue {selected focus}}

Written this way, gray will always be used for selected items since it appears first, and blue will never be used for selected items regardless of the focus. A value followed by an empty stateList should always be last since it will be chosen regardless of the item's state.

ELEMENTS¶

Elements are the smallest building blocks which are handled by a treectrl widget. One or more elements together can be combined to a style, which can be considered as a blueprint for an item. An element can be of type bitmap, border, image, rect, text or window. For each element type there is a section below describing the options which can modify an element of that type. All of the element configuration options described below are unspecified by default, meaning that no value whatsoever has been given to the option. It may seem strange to you that a boolean option would be unspecified instead of simply "true" or "false". The reason for this is that when an element displayed by an item has no value specified for an option, the element refers to the master element created by the element create command for a value for that option. This allows items which are displaying a certain element to be redisplayed when the master element's options change. The item element configure command can be used to override the master element's configuration options for a specific item.

BITMAP ELEMENT¶

An element of type bitmap can be used to display a bitmap in an item. The following options are supported for bitmap elements:

-background color

Specifies as a per-state option the color to use for each of the bitmap's '0' valued pixels. If the value for a certain state is an empty string (the default), the bitmap is drawn transparent.

-bitmap bitmap

Specifies as a per-state option the bitmap to display in the element.

-draw boolean

Deprecated; use the style layout option -draw instead. Specifies as a per-state option whether to draw the element. If the value for a certain state is an empty string (the default), it is treated as true and the element will be drawn.

-foreground color

Specifies as a per-state option the color to use for each of the bitmap's '1' valued pixels. If the value for a certain state is an empty string (the default), the bitmap's foreground color is black.

BORDER ELEMENT¶

An element of type border can be used to display a 3D border in an item. The following options are supported for border elements:

-background color

Specifies as a per-state option the color to use for the background of the border. If the value for a certain state is an empty string (the default), the element will not be drawn.

-draw boolean

Deprecated; use the style layout option -draw instead. Specifies as a per-state option whether to draw the element. If the value for a certain state is an empty string (the default), it is treated as true and the element will be drawn.

-filled boolean

Specifies whether the interior of the border should be filled with the background color. If this option is unspecified (the default), it it treated as false which means that only the edges of the border will be drawn.

-height size

Specifies the height of the border. If this value is unspecified (the default), the border will be exactly as tall as its display area as determined by the style layout options.

-relief relief

Specifies as a per-state option the relief of the border. If the value for a certain state is an empty string (the default), it is treated as flat. For acceptable values see the description of the -relief option in the options manual page.

-thickness thickness

Specifies the thickness of the edges of the border.

-width size

Specifies the width of the border. If this value is unspecified (the default), the border will be exactly as wide as its display area as determined by the style layout options.

IMAGE ELEMENT¶

An element of type image can be used to display an image in an item. The following options are supported for image elements:

-draw boolean

Deprecated; use the style layout option -draw instead. Specifies as a per-state option whether to draw the element. If the value for a certain state is an empty string (the default), it is treated as true and the element will be drawn.

-height size

Specifies the requested height of the display area for this element. If unspecified (the default), the element requests a height equal to the height of the image, or zero if there is no image.

-image image

Specifies as a per-state option the image to display in the element.

-width size

Specifies the requested width of the display area for this element. If unspecified (the default), the element requests a width equal to the width of the image, or zero if there is no image.

RECTANGLE ELEMENT¶

An element of type rect can be used to display a rectangle in an item. The following options are supported for rectangle elements:

-draw boolean

Deprecated; use the style layout option -draw instead. Specifies as a per-state option whether to draw the element. If the value for a certain state is an empty string (the default), it is treated as true and the element will be drawn.

-fill color

Specifies as a per-state option the color to be used to fill the rectangle's area. If the color for a certain state is an empty string (the default), then the rectangle will not be filled (but the outline may still be drawn).

-height size

Specifies the height of the rectangle. If this value is unspecified (the default), the rectangle will be exactly as tall as its display area as determined by the style layout options.

-open open

This option may be used to get an incomplete drawing of the outline. Open is a string that contains zero or more of the characters n, s, e or w. Each letter refers to a side (north, south, east, or west) that the outline will not be drawn. The default is the empty string, which causes the outline to be drawn completely.

-outline color

Specifies as a per-state option the color to be used to draw the outline of the rectangle. If the color for a certain state is an empty string (the default), then no outline is drawn for the rectangle.

-outlinewidth outlineWidth

Specifies the width of the outline to be drawn around the rectangle's region. outlineWidth may be in any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels. If this option is specified as an empty string (the default), then no outline is drawn.

-showfocus boolean

Specifies a boolean value indicating whether a "focus ring" should be drawn around the rectangle, if the item containing the rectangle is the active item and the treectrl widget currently has the focus. If this option is specified as an empty string (the default), then a focus rectangle is not drawn.

-width size

Specifies the width of the rectangle. If this value is unspecified (the default), the rectangle will be exactly as wide as its display area as determined by the style layout options.

TEXT ELEMENT¶

An element of type text can be used to display a text in an item. The following options are supported for text elements:

-draw boolean

Deprecated; use the style layout option -draw instead. Specifies as a per-state option whether to draw the element. If the value for a certain state is an empty string (the default), it is treated as true and the element will be drawn.

-data data

Specifies a value that together with the -datatype and -format options will be displayed as text.

-datatype dataType

Specifies the type of information in the -data option. Acceptable values are double, integer, long, string, or time.

-fill color

Specifies as a per-state option the foreground color to use when displaying the text. If the color for a certain state is an empty string (the default), then the text will be displayed using the color specified by the treectrl's -foreground option.

-format formatString

This option specifies the format string used to display the value of the -data option. If -datatype is time, formatString should be a valid format string for the Tcl clock command. For all other -datatype values formatString should be a valid format string for the Tcl format command. If this value is unspecified the following defaults are used: for -datatype double "%g", for -datatype integer "%d", for -datatype long "%ld", for -datatype string "%s", and for -datatype time the default format string of the Tcl clock command.

-font font

Specifies as a per-state option the font to use when displaying the text. If the font for a certain state is an empty string, the text is displayed using the font specified by the treectrl's -font option.

-justify how

Specifies how to justify the text when multiple lines are displayed. How must be one of the values left, right, or center. If this option is specified as an empty string (the default), left is used.

-lines lineCount

Specifies the maximum number of lines to display. If more than lineCount lines would be displayed, the last line will be truncated with an ellipsis at the right. If this option is specified as zero or an empty string (the default), there is no limit to the number of lines displayed.

-text string

String specifies a string to be displayed by the element. String may contain newline characters in which case multiple lines of text will be displayed. If this option is specified, the -data, -datatype, -format, and -textvariable options are ignored.

-textvariable varName

Specifies the name of a variable. The value of the variable is a string to be displayed by the element; if the variable value changes then the element will automatically update itself to display the new value. If this option is specified, the -data, -datatype, and -format options are ignored.

-underline charIndex

Specifies the integer index of a character to underline. 0 corresponds to the first character. If charIndex is unspecified (the default), less than zero or greater than the index of the last displayed character, the underline is not drawn.

-width size

Specifies the maximum line length in any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels. For text to wrap lines the value of the -width option must be less than the needed width of the text, or the display area for this element must be less than the needed width of the text. For the display area to be less than the needed width of the text, one of the style layout options -maxwidth, -width or -squeeze must be used.

-wrap mode

Mode specifies how to handle lines in the text that are longer than the maximum line length. Acceptable values are none, char or word. If this option is unspecified (the default), word is used. See the -width option for a description of how the maximum line length is determined.

WINDOW ELEMENT¶

An element of type window can be used to display a Tk window in an item. The following options are supported for window elements:

-clip boolean

Specifies whether the associated Tk window is a borderless frame which should be used to clip its child window so it doesn't overlap the header, borders, or other items or columns. When this option is true, the treectrl manages the geometry of both the -window widget and its first child widget; in this case the -window widget (which should be a borderless frame) is kept sized and positioned so that it is never out-of-bounds.

-destroy boolean

Specifies whether the associated Tk window should be destroyed when the element is deleted. The element is deleted when the item containing the element is deleted, when the column containing the element is deleted, or when the style assigned to the item's column is changed. If this option is unspecified (the default), it is treated as false and the Tk window will not be destroyed.

-draw boolean

Deprecated; use the style layout option -draw instead. Specifies as a per-state option whether to draw the element. If the value for a certain state is an empty string (the default), it is treated as true and the element will be drawn.

-window pathName

Specifies the window to associate with this element. The window specified by pathName must either be a child of the treectrl widget or a child of some ancestor of the treectrl widget. PathName may not refer to a top-level window. This option cannot be specified by the element create or element configure commands, only by the item element configure command; i.e., the element must be associated with a particular item.

ITEM DESCRIPTION¶

Many of the commands for a treectrl take as an argument a description of which items to operate on. An item description is a properly-formed tcl list of keywords and arguments. The first word of an item description must be one of the following:

id

Specifies the unique item identifier, where id should be the return value of a prior call of the item create widget command, or 0 to specify the ever-present root item. See also the -itemprefix option.

QUALIFIERS

Specifies a list of qualifiers. This gives the same result as all followed by QUALIFIERS; i.e., every item is tested for a match.

tagExpr QUALIFIERS

TagExpr is a tag expression (see ITEM AND COLUMN TAGS) against which every item's tags are tested for a match. This keyword cannot be followed by any modifiers unless a single item is matched. You may run into trouble if tagExpr looks like an item id or other keyword; also, tagExpr must look like a single list element since item descriptions are properly-formed lists. To be safe you may want to use the tag qualifier followed by tagExpr.

active

Indicates the item that is currently active, i.e. normally the item specified as argument of the last successful activate widget command, or the root item if no such call happened yet.

anchor

Indicates the anchor item of the selection, i.e. normally the item specified as argument of the last successful selection anchor widget command, or the root item if no such call happened yet.

all QUALIFIERS

Indicates every item including orphans which match QUALIFIERS. This keyword cannot be followed by any modifiers unless a single item is matched.

first QUALIFIERS

Indicates the first item of the treectrl (the root item), or the first item matching QUALIFIERS.

end QUALIFIERS

last QUALIFIERS

Indicates the last item which matches QUALIFIERS.

list itemDescs

ItemDescs is a list (a single argument, i.e. "list {a b c}" not "list a b c") of other item descriptions. This keyword cannot be followed by any modifiers unless a single item is matched.

nearest x y

Indicates the item nearest to the point given by x and y.

rnc row column

Indicates the item in the given row and column. The row and column corresponds to the on-screen arrangement of items as determined by the -orient and -wrap options. You can memorize rnc as an abbreviation of "row 'n' column".

range first last QUALIFIERS

First and last specify a range of items. This keyword cannot be followed by any modifiers unless a single item is matched.

root

Indicates the root item of the treectrl.

The initial part of the item description (matching any of the values above) may be followed by one or more modifiers. A modifier changes the item used relative to the description up to this point. It may be specified in any of the following forms:

above

Use the item one row above in this column.

ancestors QUALIFIERS

Use the ancestors of the item (like item ancestors but QUALIFIERS may change which ancestors match). This keyword cannot be followed by any modifiers.

below

Use the item one row below in this column.

bottom

Use the item in the last row of this column.

child n QUALIFIERS

Use the nth child of the item.

children QUALIFIERS

Use the children of the item (like item children but QUALIFIERS may change which children match). This keyword cannot be followed by any modifiers.

descendants QUALIFIERS

Use the descendants of the item (like item descendants but QUALIFIERS may change which descendants match). This keyword cannot be followed by any modifiers.

firstchild QUALIFIERS

Use the first child of the item.

lastchild QUALIFIERS

Use the last child of the item.

left

Use the item one column to the left in the same row.

leftmost

Use the item of the first column in the same row.

next QUALIFIERS

Use the next item, which is the first item from the following list: the first child, the next sibling or the next sibling of the nearest ancestor which has one.

nextsibling QUALIFIERS

Use the next sibling of the item.

parent

Use the parent of the item.

prev QUALIFIERS

Use the last child of the previous sibling, or the parent if there is no previous sibling.

prevsibling QUALIFIERS

Use the previous sibling of the item.

right

Use the item one column to the right in the same row.

rightmost

Use the item of the last column in the same row.

sibling n QUALIFIERS

Use the nth child of the item's parent.

top

Use the item in the first row of this column. The word QUALIFIERS above represents a series of zero or more of the following terms that changes which item is chosen:

depth depth

Matches items whose depth (as returned by the depth command) is equal to depth.

state stateList

StateList is a list of item state names (static and dynamic, see STATES). Only items that have the given states set (or unset if the '!' prefix is used) are considered.

tag tagExpr

TagExpr is a tag expression (see ITEM AND COLUMN TAGS) against which an item's tags are tested for a match.

visible

When this qualifier is given, only items that are displayed are considered.

!visible

When this qualifier is given, only items that are *not* displayed are considered. To get the first item in the list that is enabled:

$T item id "first state enabled"

    

To get the ancestors that are not open of the last item in the list:

$T item id "last ancestors state !open"

    

To get the visible descendants of the root item:

$T item id "root descendants visible"

    

To get the every hidden item with tag "a" or "b":

$T item id "all !visible tag a||b"
$T item id "!visible tag a||b"
$T item id "tag a||b !visible"
$T item id "a||b !visible"

    

EVENTS AND SCRIPT SUBSTITUTIONS¶

The script argument to notify bind is a Tcl script, which will be evaluated whenever the given event is generated. Script will be executed in the same interpreter that the notify bind command was executed in, and it will run at global level (only global variables will be accessible). If script contains any % characters, then the script will not be evaluated directly. Instead, a new script will be generated by replacing each %, and the character following it, with information from the current event. Unlike the regular Tk bind mechanism, each event generated by a treectrl widget has its own set of %-substitutions. The following %-substitutions are valid for all static events:

%% Replaced with a single %

%d The detail name

%e The event name

%P The pattern, either <event> or <event-detail>

%W The object argument to the notify bind command

%T The treectrl widget which generated the event

%? A list of the format {char value char value ...} for each

%-substitution character and the value it is replaced by

The following events may be generated by a treectrl widget:

<ActiveItem>

Generated whenever the active item changes.

<Collapse-before>

Generated before an item is collapsed.

<Collapse-after>

Generated after an item is collapsed.

<Expand-before>

Generated before an item is expanded. This event is useful if you want to add child items to the item just before the item is expanded.

<Expand-after>

Generated after an item is expanded.

<ItemDelete>

Generated when items are about to be deleted by the item delete command.

<ItemVisibility>

Generated when items become visible on screen and when items are no longer visible on screen. This event is useful if you have a very large number of items and want to assign styles only when items are actually going to be displayed.

<Scroll-x>

Generated whenever the view in the treectrl changes in such a way that a horizontal scrollbar should be redisplayed.

<Scroll-y>

Generated whenever the view in the treectrl changes in such a way that a vertical scrollbar should be redisplayed.

<Selection>

Generated whenever the selection changes. This event gives information about how the selection changed.

DYNAMIC EVENTS¶

In addition to the pre-defined static events such as <ActiveItem> and <Selection>, new dynamic events can be created by using the notify install command. The following events may be generated by the library scripts:

<ColumnDrag-begin>

<ColumnDrag-receive>

<ColumnDrag-end>

Generated whenever the user drag-and-drops a column header. The library scripts do not actually move a dragged column. You must bind to the receive event to move the column. See EXAMPLES.

<Drag-begin>

<Drag-receive>

<Drag-end>

Generated whenever the user drag-and-drops a file into a directory. This event is generated by the filelist-bindings.tcl library code, which is not used by default. See the "Explorer" demos.

<Edit-begin>

<Edit-accept>

<Edit-end>

The filelist-bindings.tcl code will display a text-editing window if the user clicks on a selected file/folder name. See the "Explorer" demos.

<Header-invoke>

Generated whenever the user clicks and releases the left mouse button in a column header if the column's -button option is true. You can bind a script to this event to sort the list.

The library scripts provide an example of using a dynamic event called <Header-invoke>, which is generated when the mouse button is released over a column header.

treectrl .t
	puts "header %C clicked in treectrl %T"
}
proc ::TreeCtrl::Release1 {w x y} {
	...
	$w notify generate <Header-invoke> [list C $Priv(column)] \
		[list ::TreeCtrl::PercentsCmd $w]
	...
}

In the example a new treectrl widget is created and the <Header-invoke> event is installed. For convenience there is no percentsCommand argument to notify install; instead the call to notify generate specifies the %-substitution command. A script is bound to the event with notify bind which will print out the column number and widget name to the console (in the demos, <Header-invoke> is used to sort the list based on the column that was clicked). The charMap argument to notify generate provides a list of %-substitution characters and values which is used by ::TreeCtrl::PercentsCmd. In this example any %C in any script bound to the <Header-invoke> event will be replaced by the value of $Priv(column).

DEFAULT BINDINGS¶

Tk automatically creates class bindings for treectrl widgets that give them the following default behavior.

[1]

Clicking mouse button 1 over an item positions the active cursor on the item, sets the input focus to this widget, and resets the selection of the widget to this item, if it is not already in the selection.

[2]

Clicking mouse button 1 with the Control key down will reposition the active cursor and add the item to the selection without ever removing any items from the selection.

[3]

If the mouse is dragged out of the widget while button 1 is pressed, the treectrl will automatically scroll to make more items visible (if there are more items off-screen on the side where the mouse left the window).

[4]

The Left and Right keys move the active cursor one item to the left or right; for an hierarchical tree with vertical orientation nothing will happen, since it has no two items in the same row. The selection is set to include only the active item. If Left or Right is typed with the Shift key down, then the active cursor moves and the selection is extended to include the new item.

[5]

The Up and Down keys move the active cursor one item up or down. The selection is set to include only the active item. If Up or Down is typed with the Shift key down, then the active cursor moves and the selection is extended to include the new item.

[6]

The Next and Prior keys move the active cursor forward or backwards by one screenful, without affecting the selection.

[7]

Control-Next and Control-Prior scroll the view right or left by one page without moving the active cursor or affecting the selection. Control-Left and Control-Right behave the same.

[8]

The Home and End keys scroll to the left or right end of the widget without moving the active cursor or affecting the selection.

[9]

The Control-Home and Control-End keys scroll to the top or bottom of the widget, they also activate and select the first or last item. If also the Shift key is down, then the active cursor moves and the selection is extended to include the new item.

[10]

The Space and Select keys set the selection to the active item.

[11]

Control-/ selects the entire contents of the widget.

[12]

Control-\\ clears any selection in the widget.

[13]

The + and - keys expand or collapse the active item, the Return key toggles the active item.

[14]

The mousewheel scrolls the view of the widget four lines up or down depending on the direction, the wheel was turned. The active cursor or the selection is not affected.

EXAMPLES¶

Get the unique identifier for the leftmost visible column:

set id [$T column index "first visible"]

Delete the leftmost column:

$T column delete "order 0"

Take the visible column that is to the left of the last column, and move that column in front of the tail column:

$T column move "last prev visible" tail

Get the unique identifier for the first visible item:

set id [$T item index "first visible"]

Delete the parent of the item that is under the point x,y:

$T item delete "nearest $x $y parent"

Add the 10th child of the second child of the root item to the selection:

$T selection add "root firstchild nextsibling child 10"

Move a column that the user drag-and-dropped:

$T column dragconfigure -enable yes
$T notify install <ColumnDrag-receive>
$T notify bind MyTag <ColumnDrag-receive> {
	%T column move %C %b
}

SEE ALSO¶

bind(3tk), bitmap(3tk), image(3tk), listbox(3tk), options(3tk)

KEYWORDS¶

tree, widget