Ubuntu Manpage: tixForm - Geometry manager based on attachment rules

NAME

       tixForm - Geometry manager based on attachment rules

SYNOPSIS

       tixForm option arg ?arg ...?

DESCRIPTION

The tixForm command is used to communicate with the tixForm Geometry Manager, a geometry
manager that arranges the geometry of the children in a parent window according to
attachment rules. The tixForm geometry manager is very flexible and powerful; it can be
used to emulate all the existing features of the Tk packer and placer geometry managers
(see pack(n), place(n)). The tixForm command can have any of several forms, depending on
the option argument:

tixForm slave ?options?
If the first argument to tixForm is a window name (any value starting with ``.''),
then the command is processed in the same way as tixForm configure.

tixForm check master
This command checks whether there is circular dependency in the attachments of the
master's slaves (see the section CIRCULAR DEPENDENCY below). It returns the Boolean
value TRUE if it discover circular dependency and FALSE otherwise.

tixForm configure slave ?-option value ...?
Sets or adjusts the attachment values of the slave window according to the -option
value argument pairs.

-b attachment
Abbreviation for the -bottom option.

-bottom attachment
Specifies an attachment for the bottom edge of the slave window. The
attachment must specied according to the section SPECIFYING ATTACHMENTS
below.

-bottomspring weight
Specifies the weight of the spring at the bottom edge of the slave window.
See the section USING SPRINGS below.

-bp value
Abbreviation for the -padbottom option.

-bs weight
Abbreviation for the -bottomspring option.

-fill master
Specifies the fillings when springs are used for this widget. The value must
be x, y, both or none.

-in master
Places the slave window into the specified master window. If the slave was
originally in another master window, all attachment values with respect to
the original master window are discarded. Even if the attachment values are
the same as in the original master window, they need to be specified again.
The -in flag, when needed, must appear as the first flag after the name of
the slave. Otherwise an error is generated.

-l attachment
Abbreviation for the -left option.

-left attachment
Specifies an attachment for the left edge of the slave window. The
attachment must specied according to the section SPECIFYING ATTACHMENTS
below.

-leftspring weight
Specifies the weight of the spring at the left edge of the slave window. See
the section USING SPRINGS below.

-lp value
Abbreviation for the -padleft option.

-ls weight
Abbreviation for the -leftspring option.

-padbottom value
Specifies the amount of external padding to leave on the bottom side of the
slave. The value may have any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels(3).

-padleft value
Specifies the amount of external padding to leave on the left side of the
slave.

-padright value
Specifies the amount of external padding to leave on the right side of the
slave.

-padtop value
Specifies the amount of external padding to leave on the top side of the
slave.

-padx value
Specifies the amount of external padding to leave on both the left and the
right sides of the slave.

-pady value
Specifies the amount of external padding to leave on both the top and the
bottom sides of the slave.

-r attachment
Abbreviation for the -right option.

-right attachment
Specifies an attachment for the right edge of the slave window. The
attachment must specied according to the section SPECIFYING ATTACHMENTS
below.

-rightspring weight
Specifies the weight of the spring at the right edge of the slave window.
See the section USING SPRINGS below.

-rp value
Abbreviation for the -padright option.

-rs weight
Abbreviation for the -rightspring option.

-t attachment
Abbreviation for the -top option.

-top attachment
Specifies an attachment for the top edge of the slave window. The attachment
must specied according to the section SPECIFYING ATTACHMENTS below.

-topspring weight
Specifies the weight of the spring at the top edge of the slave window. See
the section USING SPRINGS below.

-tp value
Abbreviation for the -padtop option.

-ts weight
Abbreviation for the -topspring option.

tixForm forget slave ?slave ...?
Removes each of the slaves from its master and unmaps their windows. The slaves
will no longer be managed by tixForm. All attachment values with respect to their
master windows are discarded. If another slave is attached to this slave, then the
attachment of the other slave will be changed to grid attachment based on its
geometry.

tixForm grid master ?x_size y_size?
When x_size and y_size are given, this command returns the number of grids of the
master window in a pair of integers of the form {x_size y_size}. When both x_size
and y_size are given, this command changes the number of horizontal and vertical
grids on the master window.

tixForm info slave ?option?
Queries the attachment options of a slave window. option can be any of the options
accepted by the tixForm configure command. If option is given, only the value of
that option is returned. Otherwise, this command returns a list whose elements are
the current configuration state of the slave given in the same option-value form
that might be specified to tixForm configure. The first two elements in this list
list are "-in master" where master is the slave's master window.

tixForm slaves master
Returns a list of all of the slaves for the master window. The order of the slaves
in the list is the same as their order in the packing order. If master has no
slaves then an empty string is returned.

SPECIFYING ATTACHMENTS

One can specify an attachment for each side of a slave window managed by tixForm. An
attachment is specified in the the form "-side {anchor_point offset}". -side can be one of
-top, -bottom, -left or -right.

Offset is given in screen units (i.e. any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels). A
positive offset indicates shifting to a position to the right or bottom of an anchor
point. A negative offset indicates shifting to a position to the left or top of an anchor
point.

Anchor_point can be given in one of the following forms:

Grid Attachment
The master window is divided into a number of horizontal and vertical grids.
By default the master window is divided into 100x100 grids; the number of
grids can be adjusted by the tixForm grid command. A grid attachment anchor
point is given by a % sign followed by an integer value. For example, %0
spceifies the first grid line (the top or left edge of the master window).
%100 spceifies the last grid line (the bottom or right edge of the master
window).

Opposite Side Attachment
Opposite attachment specifies an anchor point located on the opposite side
of another slave widget, which must be managed by tixForm in the same master
window. An opposite attachment anchor point is given by the name of another
widget. For example, "tixForm .b -top {.a 0}" attaches the top side of the
widget .b to the bottom of the widget .a.

Parallel Side Attachment
Opposite attachment specifies an anchor point located on the same side of
another slave widget, which must be managed by tixForm in the same master
window. An parallel attachment anchor point is given by the sign & follwed
by the name of another widget. For example, "tixForm .b -top {&.a 0}"
attaches the top side of the widget .b to the top of the widget .a, making
the top sides of these two widgets at the same vertical position in their
parent window.

No Attachment
Specifies a side of the slave to be attached to nothing, indicated by the
keyword none. When the none anchor point is given, the offser must be zero.

When a side of a slave is attached to {none 0}, the position of this side is
calculated by the position of the other side and the natural size of the
slave. For example, if a the left side of a widget is attached to {%0 100},
its right side attached to {none 0}, and the natural size of the widget is
50 pixels, the right side of the widget will be positioned at pixel {%0
149}.

When both -top and -bottom are attached to none, then by default -top will
be attached to {%0 0}. When both -left and -right are attached to none, then
by default -left will be attached to {%0 0}.

Shifting effects can be achieved by specifying a non-zero offset with an anchor point. In
the following example, the top side of widget .b is attached to the bottom of .a; hence .b
always appears below .a. Also, the left edge of .b is attached to the left side of .a
with a 10 pixel offest. Therefore, the left edge of .b is always shifted 10 pixels to the
right of .a's left edge:

tixForm .b -left {.a 10} -top {.a 0}

ABBREVIATIONS: Certain abbreviations can be made on the attachment specifications: First
an offset of zero can be omitted. Thus, the following two lines are equivalent:

tixForm .b -top {.a 0} -right {%100 0} tixForm .b -top {.a} -right {%100}

Also, because of the way TCL handles lists, when you omit the offset, you can also leave
out the braces. So you can further simplify the above to:

tixForm .b -top .a -right %100

In the second case, when the anchor point is omitted, the offset must be given. A default
anchor point is chosen according to the value of the offset. If the anchor point is 0 or
positive, the default anchor point %0 is used; thus, "tixForm .b -top 15" attaches the top
edge of .b to a position 15 pixels below the top edge of the master window. If the anchor
point is "-0" or negative, the default anchor point %100 is used; thus, "tixForm .a -right
-2" attaches the right edge of .a to a position 2 pixels to the left of the master
window's right edge. An further example below shows a command with its equivalent
abbreviation. tixForm .b -top {%0 10} -bottom {%100 0} tixForm .b -top 10 -bottom -0

USING SPRINGS

       To be written.

ALGORITHM OF TIXFORM

       TixForm starts with any slave in the list of slaves of the master window. Then it tries to
       determine the position of each side of the slave.

       If the attachment of a side of the slave is grid attachment, the position of the  side  is
       readily determined.

       If  the  attachment  of this side is none, then tixForm tries to determine the position of
       the opposite side first, and then use the position of the opposite side  and  the  natural
       size of the slave to determine the position of this side.

       If  the  attachment  is  opposite  or  parallel  widget attachments, then tixForm tries to
       determine the positions of the other widget first, and then use the positions of the other
       widget  and  the  natural  size  of  the  slave  determine the position of this side. This
       recursive algorithmis carried on until the positions of all slaves are determined.

CIRCULAR DEPENDENCY

       The algorithm of tixForm will fail if a circular dependency exists in the  attachments  of
       the slaves. For example:

       tixForm .c -left .b tixForm .b -right .c

       In  this  example,  the  position  of the left side of .b depends on the right side of .c,
       which in turn depends on the left side of .b.

       When a circular dependency is discovered during the execution of  the  tixForm  algorithm,
       tixForm will generate a background error and the geometry of the slaves are undefined (and
       will be arbitrary). Notice that tixForm only executes the algorithm when the specification
       of  the  slaves'  attachments  is  complete.   Therefore, it allows intermediate states of
       circular dependency during the specification of the slaves' attachments.  Also, unlike the
       Motif  Form manager widget, tixForm defines circular dependency as "dependency in the same
       dimension". Therefore, the following code fragment will does not have circular  dependency
       because  the  two widgets do not depend on each other in the same dimension (.b depends .c
       in the horizontal dimension and .c depends on .b in the vertical dimension):

       tixForm .b -left .c tixForm .c -top .b

BUGS

       Springs have not been fully implemented yet.

KEYWORDS

       Tix(n), Form, Geometry Management