Ubuntu Manpage: ttk::entry - Editable text field widget

NAME

       ttk::entry - Editable text field widget

SYNOPSIS

       ttk::entry pathName ?options?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________

DESCRIPTION

       An  ttk::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.

STANDARD OPTIONS

       -class                -cursor              -style
       -takefocus            -xscrollcommand

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

WIDGET-SPECIFIC OPTIONS

Command-Line Name:-exportselection
Database Name: exportSelection
Database Class: 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.

Command-Line Name:-invalidcommand
Database Name: invalidCommand
Database Class: InvalidCommand

A script template to evaluate whenever the validateCommand returns 0. See
VALIDATION below for more information.

Command-Line Name:-justify
Database Name: justify
Database Class: Justify

Specifies how the text is aligned within the entry widget. One of left, center, or
right.

Command-Line Name:-show
Database Name: show
Database Class: 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 “*” or a bullet. 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.

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

Compatibility option; see ttk::widget(3tk) for details. Specifies one of three
states for the entry, normal, disabled, or readonly. See WIDGET STATES, below.

Command-Line Name:-textvariable
Database Name: textVariable
Database Class: Variable

Specifies the name of a global 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.

Command-Line Name:-validate
Database Name: validate
Database Class: 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.

Command-Line Name:-validatecommand
Database Name: validateCommand
Database Class: 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.

Command-Line Name:-width
Database Name: width
Database Class: 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 is not 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 is not in the entry window.

       Abbreviations may be used for any of the forms above, e.g. “e” or  “sel.l”.   In  general,
       out-of-range indices are automatically rounded to the nearest legal value.

WIDGET COMMAND

The following subcommands 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 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 is not 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 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 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 is
not 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 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. See VALIDATION below for more details.

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.

The entry widget also supports the following generic ttk::widget widget subcommands (see
ttk::widget(3tk) for details):

cget configure identify
instate state

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 Tk
themed 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 re-enable validation after modifying the entry value in a validation script).

In addition, the standard entry widget invokes validation whenever the linked
-textvariable is modified; the Tk themed 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