entry(3tcl)
NAME
ttk::entry - Editable text field widget
SYNOPSIS
ttk::entry pathName ?options?
DESCRIPTION
An entry widget displays a one-line text string and allows that string to be edited by the user. The value of the string may be linked to a Tcl variable with the -textvariable option. Entry widgets support horizontal scrolling with the standard -xscrollcommand option and xview widget command. -class -cursor -style -takefocus -xscrollcommand
WIDGET-SPECIFIC OPTIONS
[-exportselection exportSelection] A boolean value specifying whether or not a selection in the widget should be linked to the X selection. If the selection is exported, then selecting in the widget deselects the current X selection, selecting outside the widget deselects any widget selection, and the widget will respond to selection retrieval requests when it has a selection. [-invalidcommand invalidCommand] A script template to evaluate whenever the validateCommand returns 0. See VALIDATION below for more information. [-justify justify] Specifies how the text is aligned within the entry widget. One of left, center, or right. [-show show] If this option is specified, then the true contents of the entry are not displayed in the window. Instead, each character in the entry's value will be displayed as the first character in the value of this option, such as ``*''. This is useful, for example, if the entry is to be used to enter a password. If characters in the entry are selected and copied elsewhere, the information copied will be what is displayed, not the true contents of the entry. [-state state] Compatibility option; see widget(n) for details. Specifies one of three states for the entry, normal, disabled, or readonly. See WIDGET STATES, below. [-textvariable textVariable] Specifies the name of a variable whose value is linked to the entry widget's contents. Whenever the variable changes value, the widget's contents are updated, and vice versa. [-validate validate] Specifies the mode in which validation should operate: none, focus, focusin, focusout, key, or all. Default is none, meaning that validation is disabled. See VALIDATION below. [-validatecommand validateCommand] A script template to evaluate whenever validation is triggered. If set to the empty string (the default), validation is disabled. The script must return a boolean value. See VALIDATION below. [-width width] Specifies an integer value indicating the desired width of the entry window, in average-size characters of the widget's font.
NOTES
A portion of the entry may be selected as described below. If an entry is exporting its selection (see the exportSelection option), then it will observe the standard X11 protocols for handling the selection; entry selections are available as type STRING. Entries also observe the standard Tk rules for dealing with the input focus. When an entry has the input focus it displays an insert cursor to indicate where new characters will be inserted. Entries are capable of displaying strings that are too long to fit entirely within the widget's window. In this case, only a portion of the string will be displayed; commands described below may be used to change the view in the window. Entries use the standard xScrollCommand mechanism for interacting with scrollbars (see the description of the xScrollCommand option for details).
INDICES
Many of the entry widget commands take one or more indices as
arguments. An index specifies a particular character in the entry's
string, in any of the following ways:
number Specifies the character as a numerical index, where 0
corresponds to the first character in the string.
@number
In this form, number is treated as an x-coordinate in the
entry's window; the character spanning that x-coordinate is
used. For example, ``@0'' indicates the left-most character in
the window.
end Indicates the character just after the last one in the entry's
string. This is equivalent to specifying a numerical index
equal to the length of the entry's string.
insert Indicates the character adjacent to and immediately following
the insert cursor.
sel.first
Indicates the first character in the selection. It is an error
to use this form if the selection isn't in the entry window.
sel.last
Indicates the character just after the last one in the
selection. It is an error to use this form if the selection
isn't in the entry window.
Abbreviations may be used for any of the forms above, e.g. ``e'' or
``sel.f''. In general, out-of-range indices are automatically rounded
to the nearest legal value.
WIDGET COMMAND
The following commands are possible for entry widgets:
pathName bbox index
Returns a list of four numbers describing the bounding box of
the character given by index. The first two elements of the
list give the x and y coordinates of the upper-left corner of
the screen area covered by the character (in pixels relative to
the widget) and the last two elements give the width and height
of the character, in pixels. The bounding box may refer to a
region outside the visible area of the window.
pathName cget option
Returns the current value of the specified option. See
widget(n).
pathName configure ?option? ?value option value ...?
Modify or query widget options. See widget(n).
pathName delete first ?last?
Delete one or more elements of the entry. First is the index of
the first character to delete, and last is the index of the
character just after the last one to delete. If last isn't
specified it defaults to first+1, i.e. a single character is
deleted. This command returns the empty string.
pathName get
Returns the entry's string.
pathName icursor index
Arrange for the insert cursor to be displayed just before the
character given by index. Returns the empty string.
pathName identify x y
Returns the name of the element at position x, y, or the empty
string if the coordinates are outside the window.
pathName index index
Returns the numerical index corresponding to index.
pathName insert index string
Insert string just before the character indicated by index.
Returns the empty string.
pathName instate statespec ?script?
Test the widget state. See widget(n).
pathName selection option arg
This command is used to adjust the selection within an entry.
It has several forms, depending on option:
pathName selection clear
Clear the selection if it is currently in this widget.
If the selection isn't in this widget then the command
has no effect. Returns the empty string.
pathName selection present
Returns 1 if there is are characters selected in the
entry, 0 if nothing is selected.
pathName selection range start end
Sets the selection to include the characters starting
with the one indexed by start and ending with the one
just before end. If end refers to the same character as
start or an earlier one, then the entry's selection is
cleared.
pathName state ?stateSpec?
Modify or query the widget state. See widget(n).
pathName validate
Force revalidation, independent of the conditions specified by
the -validate option. Returns 0 if validation fails, 1 if it
succeeds. Sets or clears the invalid state accordingly.
pathName xview args
This command is used to query and change the horizontal position
of the text in the widget's window. It can take any of the
following forms:
pathName xview
Returns a list containing two elements. Each element is
a real fraction between 0 and 1; together they describe
the horizontal span that is visible in the window. For
example, if the first element is .2 and the second
element is .6, 20% of the entry's text is off-screen to
the left, the middle 40% is visible in the window, and
40% of the text is off-screen to the right. These are
the same values passed to scrollbars via the
-xscrollcommand option.
pathName xview index
Adjusts the view in the window so that the character
given by index is displayed at the left edge of the
window.
pathName xview moveto fraction
Adjusts the view in the window so that the character
fraction of the way through the text appears at the left
edge of the window. Fraction must be a fraction between
0 and 1.
pathName xview scroll number what
This command shifts the view in the window left or right
according to number and what. Number must be an integer.
What must be either units or pages. If what is units,
the view adjusts left or right by number average-width
characters on the display; if it is pages then the view
adjusts by number screenfuls. If number is negative then
characters farther to the left become visible; if it is
positive then characters farther to the right become
visible.
VALIDATION
The -validate, -validatecommand, and -invalidcommand options are used
to enable entry widget validation.
VALIDATION MODES
There are two main validation modes: prevalidation, in which the
-validatecommand is evaluated prior to each edit and the return value
is used to determine whether to accept or reject the change; and
revalidation, in which the -validatecommand is evaluated to determine
whether the current value is valid.
The -validate option determines when validation occurs; it may be set
to any of the following values:
none Default. This means validation will only occur when
specifically requested by the validate widget command.
key The entry will be prevalidated prior to each edit (specifically,
whenever the insert or delete widget commands are called). If
prevalidation fails, the edit is rejected.
focus The entry is revalidated when the entry receives or loses focus.
focusin
The entry is revalidated when the entry receives focus.
focusout
The entry is revalidated when the entry loses focus.
all Validation is performed for all above conditions.
The -invalidcommand is evaluated whenever the -validatecommand returns
a false value.
The -validatecommand and -invalidcommand may modify the entry widget's
value via the widget insert or delete commands, or by setting the
linked -textvariable. If either does so during prevalidation, then the
edit is rejected regardless of the value returned by the
-validatecommand.
If -validatecommand is empty (the default), validation always succeeds.
VALIDATION SCRIPT SUBSTITUTIONS
It is possible to perform percent substitutions on the -validatecommand
and invalidCommand, just as in a bind script. The following
substitutions are recognized:
%d Type of action: 1 for insert prevalidation, 0 for delete
prevalidation, or -1 for revalidation.
%i Index of character string to be inserted/deleted, if any,
otherwise -1.
%P In prevalidation, the new value of the entry if the edit is
accepted. In revalidation, the current value of the entry.
%s The current value of entry prior to editing.
%S The text string being inserted/deleted, if any, {} otherwise.
%v The current value of the -validate option.
%V The validation condition that triggered the callback (key,
focusin, focusout, or forced).
%W The name of the entry widget.
DIFFERENCES FROM TK ENTRY WIDGET VALIDATION
* The standard Tk entry widget automatically disables validation
(by setting -validate to none) if the -validatecommand or
-invalidcommand modifies the entry's value. The Tile entry
widget only disables validation if one of the validation scripts
raises an error, or if -validatecommand does not return a valid
boolean value. (Thus, it is not necessary to reenable
validation after modifying the entry value in a validation
script).
* The standard entry widget invokes validation whenever the linked
-textvariable is modified; the Tile entry widget does not.
DEFAULT BINDINGS
The entry widget's default bindings enable the following behavior. In
the descriptions below, ``word'' refers to a contiguous group of
letters, digits, or ``_'' characters, or any single character other
than these.
* Clicking mouse button 1 positions the insert cursor just before
the character underneath the mouse cursor, sets the input focus
to this widget, and clears any selection in the widget.
Dragging with mouse button 1 down strokes out a selection
between the insert cursor and the character under the mouse.
* Double-clicking with mouse button 1 selects the word under the
mouse and positions the insert cursor at the end of the word.
Dragging after a double click strokes out a selection consisting
of whole words.
* Triple-clicking with mouse button 1 selects all of the text in
the entry and positions the insert cursor at the end of the
line.
* The ends of the selection can be adjusted by dragging with mouse
button 1 while the Shift key is down. If the button is double-
clicked before dragging then the selection will be adjusted in
units of whole words.
* Clicking mouse button 1 with the Control key down will position
the insert cursor in the entry without affecting the selection.
* If any normal printing characters are typed in an entry, they
are inserted at the point of the insert cursor.
* The view in the entry can be adjusted by dragging with mouse
button 2. If mouse button 2 is clicked without moving the
mouse, the selection is copied into the entry at the position of
the mouse cursor.
* If the mouse is dragged out of the entry on the left or right
sides while button 1 is pressed, the entry will automatically
scroll to make more text visible (if there is more text off-
screen on the side where the mouse left the window).
* The Left and Right keys move the insert cursor one character to
the left or right; they also clear any selection in the entry.
If Left or Right is typed with the Shift key down, then the
insertion cursor moves and the selection is extended to include
the new character. Control-Left and Control-Right move the
insert cursor by words, and Control-Shift-Left and Control-
Shift-Right move the insert cursor by words and also extend the
selection. Control-b and Control-f behave the same as Left and
Right, respectively.
* The Home key and Control-a move the insert cursor to the
beginning of the entry and clear any selection in the entry.
Shift-Home moves the insert cursor to the beginning of the entry
and extends the selection to that point.
* The End key and Control-e move the insert cursor to the end of
the entry and clear any selection in the entry. Shift-End moves
the cursor to the end and extends the selection to that point.
* Control-/ selects all the text in the entry.
* Control-\ clears any selection in the entry.
* The standard Tk <<Cut>>, <<Copy>>, <<Paste>>, and <<Clear>>
virtual events operate on the selection in the expected manner.
* The Delete key deletes the selection, if there is one in the
entry. If there is no selection, it deletes the character to
the right of the insert cursor.
* The BackSpace key and Control-h delete the selection, if there
is one in the entry. If there is no selection, it deletes the
character to the left of the insert cursor.
* Control-d deletes the character to the right of the insert
cursor.
* Control-k deletes all the characters to the right of the
insertion cursor.
WIDGET STATES
In the disabled state, the entry cannot be edited and the text cannot be selected. In the readonly state, no insert cursor is displayed and the entry cannot be edited (specifically: the insert and delete commands have no effect). The disabled state is the same as readonly, and in addition text cannot be selected. Note that changes to the linked -textvariable will still be reflected in the entry, even if it is disabled or readonly. Typically, the text is "grayed-out" in the disabled state, and a different background is used in the readonly state. The entry widget sets the invalid state if revalidation fails, and clears it whenever validation succeeds.
KEYWORDS
entry, widget, text field
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