Table of Contents



NAME

table - Create and manipulate tables

SYNOPSIS

table pathName ?options?

STANDARD OPTIONS

-anchor    -background    -borderwidth    -cursor
-font    -foreground    -highlightbackground    -highlightcolor
-highlightthickness    -insertbackground    -insertborderwidth
-insertofftime    -insertontime    -insertwidth    -relief
-takefocus    -xscrollcommand    -yscrollcommand

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

WIDGET-SPECIFIC OPTIONS

Command-Line Name:    -autoclear
Database Name:    autoClear
Database Class:    AutoClear

A boolean value which specifies whether the first keypress in a cell will
delete whatever text was previously there. Defaults to 0.

Command-Line Name:    -batchmode
Database Name:    batchMode
Database Class:    BatchMode

If true, updates are not forced out at any point, the widget waits for Tk to
be idle before it repaints the screen. Otherwise flashes, variable updates and the cursor changes are forced immediately to the screen. Defaults to 0.

Command-Line Name:    -colorigin
Database Name:    colOrigin
Database Class:    Origin

Column origin of top left corner of screen into the array variable
First column maps to array(x, $colorigin). Defaults to 0.

Command-Line Name:    -cols
Database Name:    cols
Database Class:    Cols

Number of cols in the table. Defaults to 10.

Command-Line Name:    -colstretchmode
Database Name:    colStretchMode
Database Class:    StretchMode

Specifies one of the following stretch modes for columns to fill extra
allocated window space:
none
Columns will not stretch to fill the assigned window space. If the columns are too narrow, there will be a blank space at the right of the table. This is the default.
unset
Only columns that do not have a specific width set will be stretched.
all
All columns will be stretched by the same number of pixels to fill the window space allocated to the table.
last
The last column will be stretched to fill the window space allocated to the table.
fill (only valid for rowstretch currently)
The table will get more or less columns according to the window space allocated to the table.

Command-Line Name:    -coltagcommand
Database Name:    colTagCommand
Database Class:    TagCommand

Provides the name of a procedure that will be evaluated by the widget to
determine the tag to be used for a given column. When displaying a cell, the table widget will first check to see if a tag has been defined using the coltag widget command. If no tag is found, it will evaluate the named procedure passing the column number in question as the sole argument. The procedure is expected to return the name of a tag to use, or a null string. Errors occuring during the evaluation of the procedure, or the return of an invalid tag name are silently ignored.

Command-Line Name:    -drawmode
Database Name:    drawMode
Database Class:    DrawMode

Sets the table drawing mode to one of the following options:
slow
The table is drawn to an offscreen pixmap using the Tk bordering functions. This means there will be no flashing, but this mode is slow for all but small tables.
compatible
The table is drawn directly to the screen using the Tk border functions. It is faster, but the screen may flash on update. This is the default.
fast
The table is drawn directly to the screen and the borders are done with fast X calls, so they are always one pixel wide only. This mode provides best performance for large tables, but can flash on redraw and is not 100% Tk compatible on the border mode.

Command-Line Name:    -flashmode
Database Name:    flashMode
Database Class:    FlashMode

A boolean value which specifies whether cells should flash when their value
changes. The table tag flash will be applied to these cells for the duration specified by -flashtime. Defaults to 0.

Command-Line Name:    -flashtime
Database Name:    flashTime
Database Class:    FlashTime

The amount of time, in 1/4 second increments, for which a cell should flash
when it is edited. -flashmode must be on. Defaults to 2.

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

Height of default row in pixels (-1, the default, means set to font height).

Command-Line Name:    -maxheight
Database Name:    maxHeight
Database Class:    MaxHeight

The max height in pixels that the window will request. Defaults to 800.

Command-Line Name:    -maxwidth
Database Name:    maxWidth
Database Class:    MaxWidth

The max width in pixels that the window will request. Defaults to 1000.

Command-Line Name:    -rowfirstmode
Database Name:    rowFirstMode
Database Class:    RowFirstMode

If true, the index into the array is (row,col) else it is (col,row).
Defaults to true.

Command-Line Name:    -roworigin
Database Name:    rowOrigin
Database Class:    Origin

Row origin of top left corner of screen into the array variable.
First row maps to array(x, $roworigin). Defaults to 0.

Command-Line Name:    -rows
Database Name:    rows
Database Class:    Rows

Number of rows in the table. Defaults to 10.

Command-Line Name:    -rowstretchmode
Database Name:    rowStretchMode
Database Class:    StretchMode

Specifies the stretch modes for rows to fill extra
allocated window space. See -colstretchmode for valid options.

Command-Line Name:    -rowtagcommand
Database Name:    rowTagCommand
Database Class:    TagCommand

Provides the name of a procedure that can evaluated by the widget to
determine the tag to be used for a given row. The procedure must be defined by the user to accept a single argument (the row number), and return a tag name or null string. This operates in a similar manner as

Command-Line Name:    -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 single. These styles are like those for the Tk listbox, except expanded for 2 dimensions.

Command-Line Name:    -state
Database Name:    state
Database Class:    State

Specifies one of two states for the entry: normal or disabled.
If the table is disabled then the value may not be changed using widget commands and no insertion cursor will be displayed, even if the input focus is in the widget.

Command-Line Name:    -titlerows
Database Name:    titleRows
Database Class:    TitleRows

Number of rows to use as a title area. Defaults to 0.

Command-Line Name:    -titlecols
Database Name:    titleCols
Database Class:    TitleCols

Number of columns to use as a title area. Defaults to 0.

Command-Line Name:    -variable
Database Name:    variable
Database Class:    Variable

Tcl array variable to attach to the table's C array. It will be created
if it doesn't already exist. The table is effectively useless without an attached array (no data will be stored).

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

Default column width in characters in the default font. Defaults to 10.

DESCRIPTION

The table command creates a 2-dimensional grid of cells which can used to display, or update the contents of a Tcl array variable. The table can index into the array on either a row-first or column-first basis. The widget has a selected cell, the contents of which can be edited (when the state is normal). The widget supports a default style for the cells and also multiple tags, which can be used to change the foreground, background, font, relief and anchor for a row, column or cell. A cell flash can be set up so that newly changing cells will change color for a specified amount of time.

In order to obtain good performance, the Table widget supports three drawing modes, two of which are fully Tk compatible.

INDICES

Many of the widget commands for tables take one or more indices as arguments. An index specifies a particular cell of the table, in any of the following ways:

number,number
Specifies the cell as a numerical index of row,col (or col,row if -rowfirstmode is 0), where -roworigin,-colorigin corresponds to the first cell in the table (0,0 by default).
active
Indicates the cell that has the location cursor. It is specified with the activate widget command.
anchor
Indicates the anchor point for the selection, which is set with the selection anchor widget command.
end
Indicates the bottom right cell of the table.
origin
Indicates the top-leftmost editable cell of the table, not necessarily in the display. This takes into account the user specified origin and title area.
select
Indicates the last selected cell of the table.
topleft
Indicates the top-leftmost editable cell visible in the table (this excludes title cells).
@x,y
Indicates the cell that covers the point in the table window specified by x and y (in pixel coordinates). If no cell covers that point, then the closest cell to that point is used.

In the widget command descriptions below, arguments named index, first, and last always contain text indices in one of the above forms.

TAGS

A tag is a textual string that is associated with zero or more rows, columns or cells in a table. Tags may contain arbitrary characters, but it is probably best to avoid using names which look like indices. There may be any number of tags associated with rows, columns or cells in a table. There are several permanent tags in each table that can be configured by the user and will determine the attributes for special cells:

active
This tag is given to the active cell
flash
If flash mode is on, this tag is given to any recently edited cells.
sel
This tag is given to any selected cells.
title
This tag is given to any cells in the title rows and columns.

Tags control the way cells are displayed on the screen. By default, cells are displayed as determined by the background, font, and foreground options for the table widget. However, display options may be associated with individual tags using the ``pathName tag configure'' widget command. If a cell has been tagged, then the display options associated with the tag override the default display style. The following options are currently supported for tags:

-anchor
anchoring in the cell space
-background or -bg
background color of the cell
-font
font for the cell
-foreground or -fg
foreground color of the cell
-relief
the relief for the cell

A priority order is defined among tags, and this order is used in implementing some of the tag-related functions described below. When a cell is displayed, its properties are determined by the tags which are assigned to it. Including the special tags, this order is active, flash, sel, title, celltag, rowtag, coltag, default.

If a cell has several tags associated with it, and if their display options conflict, then the options of the highest priority tag are used. If a particular display option hasn't been specified for a particular tag, or if it is specified as an empty string, then that option will never be used; the next-highest-priority tag's option will used instead. If no tag specifies a particular display option, then the default style for the widget will be used.

WIDGET COMMAND

The table 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.

The following commands are possible for table widgets:

pathName activate index
Sets the active cell to the one indicated by index.
pathName bbox index
Gives the x, y, width and height of the cell at the index in pixels, if it is visible in the display. Otherwise an empty string is returned.
pathName boundary top|left|bottom|right ?rowOrCol?
If no argument is given, it prints the value of the rowOrCol that is displayed at that edge of the displayed region. For top|left, that rowOrCol can be set with the extra argument.
pathName cget option
Returns the current value of the configuration option given by option. Option may have any of the values accepted by the table command.
pathName configure ?option? ?value option value ...?
Query or modify the configuration options of the widget. If no option is specified, returns a list describing all of the available options for pathName (see Tk_ConfigureInfo for information on the format of this list). If option is specified with no value, then the command returns a list describing the one named option (this list will be identical to the corresponding sublist of the value returned if no option is specified). If one or more option-value pairs are specified, then the command modifies the given widget option(s) to have the given value(s); in this case the command returns an empty string. Option may have any of the values accepted by the table command.
pathName curselection ?set value?
With no arguments, it returns the indices of the currently selected cells. Otherwise it sets all the selected cells to the given value. The set has no effect if there is no associated Tcl array or the state is disabled.
pathName curvalue
Returns the value of the cell being edited (indexed by active).
pathName delete option arg ?arg?
This command is used to delete various things in a table. It has several forms, depending on the option:
pathName delete active index ?index?
Deletes text from the active cell. If only one index is given, it deletes the character after that index, otherwise it deletes from the first index to the second. index can be a number, insert or end.
pathName delete cols col ?number?
Currently unsupported.
pathName delete rows row ?number?
Currently unsupported.
pathName get first ?last?
Returns the value of the cells specified by the table indices first and (optionally) last.
pathName height ?row? ?value row value ...?
If no row is specified, returns a list describing all rows for which a height has been set. If row is specified with no value, it prints out the height of that row in pixels. If one or more row-value pairs are specified, then it sets each row to be that height in pixels. If value is negative, then the row uses the default height.
pathName icursor ?arg?
With no arguments, prints out the location of the insertion cursor in the active cell. With one argument, sets the cursor to that point in the string. 0 is before the first character, you can also use insert or end for the current insertion point or the end of the text.
pathName index index ?row|col?
Returns the integer cell coordinate that corresponds to index in the form row,col (or col,row if -rowfirstmode is 0). If row or col is specified, them only the row or col index is returned.
pathName insert option arg arg
This command is used to into various things into a table. It has several forms, depending on the option:
pathName insert active index value
The value is a text string which is inserted at the index postion of the active cell. The cursor is then positioned after the new text. index can be a number, insert or end.
pathName insert cols col number
Currently unsupported.
pathName insert rows row number
Currently unsupported.
pathName reread
Rereads the old contents of the cell back into the editing buffer. Useful for a key binding when <esc> is pressed to abort the edit.
pathName scan option args
This command is used to implement scanning on tables. It has two forms, depending on option:
pathName scan mark x y
Records x and y and the current view in the table window; used in conjunction with later scan dragto commands. Typically this command is associated with a mouse button press in the widget. It returns an empty string.
pathName scan dragto x y.
This command computes the difference between its x and y arguments and the x and y arguments to the last scan mark command for the widget. It then adjusts the view by 5 times the difference in coordinates. This command is typically associated with mouse motion events in the widget, to produce the effect of dragging the list at high speed through the window. The return value is an empty string.
pathName see index
Adjust the view in the table so that the cell given by index is positioned as the cell one off from top left (excluding title rows and columns) if the cell is not currently visible on the screen. The actual cell may be different to keep the screen full.
pathName selection option arg
This command is used to adjust the selection within a table. It has several forms, depending on option:
pathName selection anchor index
Sets the selection anchor to the cell given by index. The selection anchor is the end of the selection that is fixed while dragging out a selection with the mouse. The index anchor may be used to refer to the anchor cell.
pathName selection clear first ?last?
If any of the cells between first and last (inclusive) are selected, they are deselected. The selection state is not changed for cells outside this range. first may be specified as all to remove the selection from all cells.
pathName selection includes index
Returns 1 if the cell indicated by index is currently selected, 0 if it isn't.
pathName selection set first ?last?
Selects all of the cells in the range between first and last, inclusive, without affecting the selection state of cells outside that range.
pathName set index value ?index value ...?
Sets the specified index to the associated value.
pathName tag option ?arg arg ...?
This command is used to manipulate tags. The exact behavior of the command depends on the option argument that follows the tag argument. The following forms of the command are currently supported:
pathName tag celltag tag ?index ... ?
With no arguments, prints out the list of cells that use the tag. Otherwise it sets the specified cells to use the tag. If tag is {}, the cells are reset to the default tag. Tags added during -*tagcommand evaluation do not register here.
pathName tag cget tagName option
This command returns the current value of the option named option associated with the tag given by tagName. Option may have any of the values accepted by the tag configure widget command.
pathName tag coltag tag ?col ... ?
With no arguments, prints out the list of cols that use the tag. Otherwise it sets the specified cols to use the tag. If tag is {}, the cols are reset to the default tag. Tags added during -coltagcommand evaluation do not register here.
pathName tag configure tagName ?option? ?value? ?option value ...?
This command is similar to the configure widget command except that it modifies options associated with the tag given by tagName instead of modifying options for the overall text widget. If no option is specified, the command returns a list describing all of the available options for tagName (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 option(s) to have the given value(s) in tagName; in this case the command returns an empty string. See TAGS above for details on the options available for tags.
pathName tag delete tagName
Deletes a tag. No error if the tag does not exist.
pathName tag exists tagName
Returns 1 if the named tag exists, 0 otherwise.
pathName tag names ?pattern?
If no pattern is specified, shows the names of all defined tags. Otherwise the pattern is used as a glob pattern to show only tags matching that pattern.
pathName tag rowtag tag ?row ...?
With no arguments, prints out the list of rows that use the tag. Otherwise it sets the specified rows to use the tag. If tag is {}, the rows are reset to use the default tag. Tags added during -rowtagcommand evaluation do not register here.
pathName width ?col? ?value col value ...?
If no col is specified, returns a list describing all cols for which a width has been set. If col is specified with no value, it prints out the width of that col in characters. If one or more col-value pairs are specified, then it sets each col to be that width in characters. If value is negative, then the col uses the default width.
pathName xview args
This command is used to query and change the horizontal position of the information in the widget's window. It can take any of the following forms:
pathName xview
Returns a list containing two elements. Each element is a real fraction between 0 and 1; together they describe the horizontal span that is visible in the window. For example, if the first element is .2 and the second element is .6, 20% of the table's text is off-screen to the left, the middle 40% is visible in the window, and 40% of the text is off-screen to the right. These are the same values passed to scrollbars via the -xscrollcommand option.
pathName xview index
Adjusts the view in the window so that the character position given by index is displayed at the left edge of the window. Character positions are defined by the width of the character 0.
pathName xview moveto fraction
Adjusts the view in the window so that fraction of the total width of the table text is off-screen to the left. fraction must be a fraction between 0 and 1.
pathName xview scroll number what
This command shifts the view in the window left or right according to number and what. Number must be an integer. What must be either units or pages or an abbreviation of one of these. If what is units, the view adjusts left or right by number character units (the width of the 0 character) on the display; if it is pages then the view adjusts by number screenfuls. If number is negative then characters farther to the left become visible; if it is positive then characters farther to the right become visible.
pathName yview ?args?
This command is used to query and change the vertical position of the text in the widget's window. It can take any of the following forms:
pathName yview
Returns a list containing two elements, both of which are real fractions between 0 and 1. The first element gives the position of the table element at the top of the window, relative to the table as a whole (0.5 means it is halfway through the table, for example). The second element gives the position of the table element just after the last one in the window, relative to the table as a whole. These are the same values passed to scrollbars via the -yscrollcommand option.
pathName yview index
Adjusts the view in the window so that the element given by index is displayed at the top of the window.
pathName yview moveto fraction
Adjusts the view in the window so that the element given by fraction appears at the top of the window. Fraction is a fraction between 0 and 1; 0 indicates the first element in the table, 0.33 indicates the element one-third the way through the table, and so on.
pathName yview scroll number what
This command adjusts the view in the window up or down according to number and what. Number must be an integer. What must be either units or pages. If what is units, the view adjusts up or down by number lines; if it is pages then the view adjusts by number screenfuls. If number is negative then earlier elements become visible; if it is positive then later elements become visible.

DEFAULT BINDINGS

The initialization creates class bindings that give the following default behaviour:

  1. Clicking the mouse button in a cell activates that cell.
  2. Moving the mouse while button 1 is pressed will stroke out a selection area. Exiting while button 1 is pressed causing scanning to occur on the table along with selection.
  3. Moving the mouse while button 2 is pressed causes scanning to occur without any selection.
  4. Home moves the table to have the origin in view.
  5. End moves the table to have the end cell in view.
  6. Control-Home moves the table to the origin and activates that cell.
  7. Control-End moves the table to the end and activates that cell.
  8. Shift-Control-Home extends the selection to the origin.
  9. Shift-Control-End extends the selection to the end.
  10. The left, right, up and down arrows move the active cell.
  11. Shift-<arrow> extends the selection in that direction.
  12. Control-leftarrow and Control-rightarrow move the insertion cursor within the cell.
  13. Control-slash selects all the cells.
  14. Control-backslash clears selection from all the cells.
  15. Backspace deletes the character before the insertion cursor in the active cell.
  16. Delete deletes the character after the insertion cursor in the active cell.
  17. Escape rereads the value of the active cell from the array variable, discarding any edits that have may been performed on the cell.
  18. Return sets the array value of the active cell to the edited value and moves to the next cell down.
  19. Control-a moves the insertion cursor to the beginning of the active cell.
  20. Control-e moves the insertion cursor to the end of the active cell.
  21. Control-minus and Control-equals decrease and increase the width of the column with the active cell in it.

Some bindings may have slightly different behavior dependent on the -selectionmode of the widget.

If the widget is disabled using the -state option, then its view can still be adjusted and cells can still be selected, but no insertion cursor will be displayed and no cell modifications will take place.

The behavior of tables can be changed by defining new bindings for individual widgets or by redefining the class bindings. The default bindings are either compiled in or read from a file expected to correspond to: "[lindex $tcl_pkgPath 0]/Tktable/tkTable.tcl".

KEYWORDS

table, widget, extension


Table of Contents