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NAME

       busy - Make Tk widgets busy, temporarily blocking user interactions.

SYNOPSIS

       busy hold window ?option value?...

       busy release window ?window?...

       busy configure window ?option value?...

       busy forget window ?window?...

       busy isbusy ?pattern?

       busy names ?pattern?

       busy status window
_________________________________________________________________

DESCRIPTION

       The  busy  command  provides  a simple means to block keyboard, button, and pointer events
       from Tk widgets, while overriding the widget's cursor with a configurable busy cursor.

INTRODUCTION

       There are many times in applications where you want to temporarily restrict  what  actions
       the  user  can  take.   For  example,  an  application could have a "run" button that when
       pressed causes some processing to occur.  But while the application  is  busy  processing,
       you  probably don't want the the user to be able to click the "run" button again.  You may
       also want restrict the user from other tasks such as clicking a "print" button.

       The busy command lets you make Tk widgets busy. This means that user interactions such  as
       button  clicks,  moving the mouse, typing at the keyboard, etc. are ignored by the widget.
       You can set a special cursor (like a watch) that overrides  the  widget's  normal  cursor,
       providing feedback that the application (widget) is temporarily busy.

       When  a  widget  is  made  busy, the widget and all of its descendents will ignore events.
       It's easy to make an entire panel of widgets busy. You can simply make the toplevel widget
       (such  as  ".")  busy.   This  is  easier  and  far  much  more efficient than recursively
       traversing the widget hierarchy, disabling each widget and re-configuring its cursor.

       Often, the busy command can be used instead of  Tk's  grab  command.   Unlike  grab  which
       restricts  all  user  interactions  to one widget, with the busy command you can have more
       than one widget active (for example, a "cancel" dialog and a "help" button).

EXAMPLE

       You can make several widgets busy by simply making its ancestor widget busy using the hold
       operation.

              frame .top
              button .top.button; canvas .top.canvas
              pack .top.button .top.canvas
              pack .top
                . . .
              busy hold .top
              update

       All the widgets within .top (including .top) are now busy.  Using update insures that busy
       command will take effect before any other user events can occur.

       When the application is no longer busy processing, you can allow user  interactions  again
       by the release operation.

         busy release .top

       The  busy  window  has  a  configurable  cursor.  You can change the busy cursor using the
       configure operation.

         busy configure .top -cursor "watch"

       Finally, when you no longer need to the busy window, invoke the forget operation  to  free
       any resources it allocated.

         busy forget .top

       Destroying the widget will also clean up any resources allocated by the busy command.

OPERATIONS

       The following operations are available for the busy command:

       busy hold window ?option value?...
              Makes  the  widget  window  (and  its descendants in the Tk window hierarchy) busy.
              Window must be a valid path name of a Tk widget.  The busy  window  is  mapped  the
              next  time  idle  tasks  are  processed, and the widget and its descendants will be
              blocked from user interactions. All events in the widget window and its descendants
              are ignored.  Normally update should be called immediately afterward to insure that
              the hold operation is in effect before the application starts its  processing.  The
              following configuration options are valid:

              -cursor cursorName
                     Specifies  the  cursor  to  be  displayed  when  the  widget  is  made busy.
                     CursorName can be in any form accepted by Tk_GetCursor.  The default  cursor
                     is watch.

       busy configure window ?option value?...
              Queries  or modifies the busy command configuration options for window. Window must
              be the path name of a widget previously made busy by the  hold  operation.   If  no
              options  are  specified,  a list describing all of the available options for window
              (see Tk_ConfigureInfo for information on the format of this list) is returned.   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 the empty string.  Option may have any
              of the values accepted by the hold operation.

              Please note that the option database is referenced through window.  For example, if
              the  widget  .frame  is to be made busy, the busy cursor can be specified for it by
              either option command:

                option add *frame.busyCursor gumby
                option add *Frame.BusyCursor gumby

       busy forget window ?window?...
              Releases resources allocated by the busy command for  window,  including  the  busy
              window.   User  events  will again be received again by window.  Resources are also
              released when window is destroyed. Window must be the name of a widget specified in
              the hold operation, otherwise an error is reported.

       busy isbusy ?pattern?
              Returns  the  pathnames  of  all  widgets that are currently busy.  If a pattern is
              given, the path names of busy widgets matching pattern are returned.

       busy names ?pattern?
              Returns the pathnames of all widgets that have previously been made  busy  (i.e.  a
              busy  window  is allocated and associated with the widget).  It makes no difference
              if the window is currently busy or not.  If a pattern is given, the path  names  of
              busy widgets matching pattern are returned.

       busy release window ?window?...
              Restores  user  interactions  to  the  widget  window again.  This differs from the
              forget operation in that the busy window is not  destroyed,  but  simply  unmapped.
              Window  must  be  the  name of a widget specified in a hold operation, otherwise an
              error is reported.

       busy status window
              Returns the status of a widget window previously made busy.  An error  is  reported
              if  window  was never made busy, or the forget operation was invoked (i.e. does not
              currently have a busy window associated with it).  If window is presently  can  not
              receive user interactions, 1 is returned, otherwise 0.

BINDINGS

       The  event  blocking  feature  is implemented by creating and mapping a transparent window
       that completely covers the widget.  When the busy window is mapped, it  invisibly  shields
       the  widget  and  its  hierarchy  from all events that may be sent.  Like Tk widgets, busy
       windows have widget names in the Tk window hierarchy.  This means that  you  can  use  the
       bind command, to handle events in the busy window.

              busy hold .frame.canvas
              bind .frame.canvas_Busy <Enter> { ... }

       Normally  the  busy  window  is  a  sibling of the widget.  The name of the busy window is
       "widget_Busy" where widget is the name of the widget to be made  busy.   In  the  previous
       example, the pathname of the busy window is ".frame.canvas_Busy" The exception is when the
       widget is a toplevel widget (such as ".")  where the busy window can't be made a  sibling.
       The  busy  window  is  then a child of the widget named "widget._Busy" where widget is the
       name of the toplevel widget.  In the following example, the pathname of the busy window is
       "._Busy"

              busy hold .
              bind ._Busy <Enter> { ... }

ENTER/LEAVE EVENTS

       Mapping  and  unmapping  busy  windows  generates  Enter/Leave events for all widgets they
       cover.  Please note this if you are tracking Enter/Leave events in widgets.

KEYBOARD EVENTS

       When a widget is made busy, the widget is prevented from gaining the keyboard focus by the
       busy  window.  But if the widget already had focus, it still may received keyboard events.
       To prevent this, you must move focus to another window.

              busy hold .frame
              label .dummy
              focus .dummy
              update

       The above example moves the focus from .frame immediately after invoking the hold so  that
       no keyboard events will be sent to .frame or any of its descendants.

KEYWORDS

       busy, keyboard events, pointer events, window, cursor