NAME

       chatwidget - Provides a multi-paned view suitable for display of chat room or irc channel information

SYNOPSIS

       package require Tk  8.5

       package require chatwidget  ?1.0.0?

       ::chatwidget::chatwidget path ?options?

       $widget topic command args

       $widget name nick args

       $widget message text args

       $widget hook command args

       $widget names args

       $widget entry args

       $widget chat args

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DESCRIPTION

       This  is  a  composite  widget  designed  to  simplify  the construction of chat applications. The widget
       contains display areas for chat messages, user names and  topic  and  an  entry  area.  It  automatically
       handles  colourization  of  messages  per  nick and manages nick completion. A system of hooks permit the
       application author to adjust display features. The main chat display area may be split for use displaying
       history or for searching.

       The widget is made up of a number of text widget and panedwindow widgets so that the size of each part of
       the display may be adjusted by the user. All the text widgets may  be  accessed  via  widget  passthrough
       commands if fine adjustment is required. The topic and names sections can also be hidden if desired.

COMMANDS

       ::chatwidget::chatwidget path ?options?
              Create  a  new  chatwidget  using the Tk window id path. Any options provided are currently passed
              directly to the main chat text widget.

WIDGET COMMANDS

       $widget topic command args
              The chat widget can display a topic string, for instance the topic or name given to  a  multi-user
              chatroom or irc channel.

              show   Enable display of the topic.

              hide   Disable display of the topic

              set topic
                     Set the topic text to topic.

       $widget name nick args
              Control the names and tags associated with names.

              list ?-full?
                     Returns a list of all the user names from the names view. If ?-full? is given then the list
                     returned is a list of lists where each sublist is made up  of  the  nick  followed  by  any
                     options  that have been set on this nick entry. This may be used to examine any application
                     specific options that may be applied to a nick when using the add command.

              add nick ?options?

              delete nick

       $widget message text args
              Add messages to the display. options are -nick, -time, -type, -mark -tags

       $widget hook command args
              Manage hooks. add (message, post names_group, names_nick, chatstate), remove, run

       $widget names args
              Passthrough to the name display text  widget.  See  the  text  widget  manual  for  all  available
              commands.  The chatwidget provides two additional commands show and hide which are used to control
              the display of this element in the widget.

       $widget entry args
              Passthrough to the entry text widget. See the text widget manual for all available commands.

       $widget chat args
              Passthrough to the chat text widget. See the text widget manual for all available commands.

EXAMPLE

              chatwidget::chatwidget .chat
              proc speak {w msg} {$w message $msg -nick user}
              .chat hook add post [list speak .chat]
              pack .chat -side top -fill both -expand 1
              .chat topic show
              .chat topic set "Chat widget demo"
              .chat name add "admin" -group admin
              .chat name add "user" -group users -color tomato
              .chat message "Chatwidget ready" -type system
              .chat message "Hello, user" -nick admin
              .chat message "Hello, admin" -nick user

       A more extensive example is available by examining the code  for  the  picoirc  program  in  the  tclapps
       repository  which  ties  the  tcllib  picoirc  package  to this chatwidget package to create a simple irc
       client.

SEE ALSO

       text(3tk)

KEYWORDS

       chat, chatwidget, composite widget, irc, mega-widget, widget