NAME

       tixBalloon - Create and manipulate tixBalloon widgets

SYNOPSIS

       tixBalloon pathName ?options?

SUPER-CLASS

       The  tixBalloon  class  is  derived from the TixShell class and inherits all the commands,
       options and subwidgets of its super-class.

STANDARD OPTIONS

       The Balloon widget supports  all  the  standard  options  of  a  frame  widget.   See  the
       options(n) manual entry for details on the standard options.

WIDGET-SPECIFIC OPTIONS

       [-initwait initWait]  In  milliseconds.  Specifies how long the balloon should wait before
       popping up in a widget.  [-state state] Specifies the which help message to  display  when
       the  mouse  pointer  enters a widget associated with this balloon. Valid options are both:
       display both the balloon message and the status bar message,  balloon:  display  only  the
       balloon  message,  status:  display  only  the  status  bar  message  and none: display no
       messages.  [-statusbar statusBar] Specifies the widget to use as the status  bar  of  this
       balloon. This widget must have a "-text" option. Usually a label widget is used.

SUBWIDGETS

       Name:          label
       Class:         Label

              The label widget that shows the little arrow bitmap in the pop-up balloon window.

       Name:          message
       Class:         Label

              The  message  widget  that  shows the descriptive message in the the pop-up balloon
              window.

DESCRIPTION

       The tixBalloon command creates a new window (given by the pathName argument) and makes  it
       into  a  Balloon  widget.   Additional  options,  described above, may be specified on the
       command line or in the option database to configure aspects of the Balloon widget such  as
       its cursor and relief.

       The  Balloon  widget can be used to show popped-up messages that describe the functions of
       the widgets in an application. A Balloon widget can be bound to a number of widgets.  When
       the  user  moves  the  cursor  inside a widget to which a Balloon widget has been bound, a
       small pop-up window with a descriptive message will be shown on the screen.

WIDGET COMMANDS

       The tixBalloon command creates a new Tcl command whose name is the same as the  path  name
       of  the Balloon widget'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 Balloon widget's path  name.
       Option  and  the  args determine the exact behavior of the command. The following commands
       are possible for Balloon widgets:

       pathName bind widget ?option value ... ?
              Binds the Balloon widget to the widget. The messages to be shown can be  passed  as
              extra   arguments  to  this  command  in  option  value  pairs.  Possible  options:
              -balloonmsg specifies the string to show on the pop-up balloon  window;  -statusmsg
              specifies  the string to show on the status bar; -msg specifies a string to show on
              both the balloon window and the stats bar window.  When  used  together,  the  -msg
              option has a lower precedence than the -balloonmsg and -statusmsg options.

              The bind command can also be used to change the messages after the initial bindings
              were set. Example:

            button .b
            tixBalloon .bal

            # Add balloon binding
            .bal bind .b -msg "This is a button"

            ...

            # Change the balloon binding
            .bal bind .b -msg "This is a useful button"

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

       pathName unbind widget
              Cancels the Balloon widget's binding with widget.

       pathName subwidget  name ?args?
              When  no  options  are given, this command returns the pathname of the subwidget of
              the specified name.

              When options are given, the widget command  of  the  specified  subwidget  will  be
              called with these options.

BINDINGS

       After  a widget has be bound to a Balloon widget, when the user moves the cursor into this
       widget, the Balloon widget is activated: if the -balloonmsg option of this widget is  set,
       the  balloon  window  pops up; if the -statusmsg option of this widget is set, the message
       will be displayed in the status bar widget.

       When the user moves the cursor out of the widget, the Balloon widget is de-activated:  the
       balloon window is withdrawn and the status-bar message removed.

KEYWORDS

       Tix(n)