Ubuntu Manpage: ntext - Alternative Bindings for the Text Widget

NAME

       ntext - Alternative Bindings for the Text Widget

SYNOPSIS

       package require Tcl  8.5

       package require Tk  8.5

       package require ntext  ?0.81?

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DESCRIPTION

The purpose of the ntext package is to make the text widget behave more like other text-
editing applications. It makes the text widget more useful for implementing a text editor,
and makes it behave in a way that will be more familiar to most users.

The package provides a binding tag named Ntext for use by text widgets in place of the
default Text binding tag.

Package ntext 's functions and variables are contained entirely in the ::ntext namespace;
its other code is contained in the binding tag Ntext. ntext has no exports to the global
or other namespaces, and no new widget commands. It uses modified copies of the Tk code,
leaving the original code, and the Text binding tag, unchanged.

The differences between the Ntext binding tag and the default Text binding tag are in
three categories:

• Some Text bindings behave differently from most text-editing applications. Ntext
gives these bindings more familiar behaviour. For details see ntextBindings.

• When a logical line with leading whitespace is word-wrapped onto more than one
display line, the wrapped display lines begin further to the left than the first
display line, which can make the text layout untidy and difficult to read. Ntext
can indent the wrapped lines to match the leading whitespace of the first display
line (this facility is switched off by default). For details see ntextIndent.

• When the user navigates or selects text, Tcl/Tk sometimes needs to detect word
boundaries. Ntext provides improved rules for word boundary detection. For
details see ntextWordBreak.

The remainder of this page describes the basic use and configuration of all three aspects
of Ntext. For more detailed information on the different facilities of Ntext, see the
pages ntextBindings, ntextIndent, and ntextWordBreak.

See Section EXAMPLE for how to apply the Ntext binding tag in place of the Text binding
tag.

CONFIGURATION OPTIONS

       Ntext provides alternatives to a number of behaviours of the  classic  Text  binding  tag.
       Where  there  is  an  option, the Ntext behaviour (except for display-line indentation) is
       switched on by default.

       The behaviour of Ntext may be configured application-wide  by  setting  the  values  of  a
       number of namespace variables:

       ::ntext::classicAnchor

       •      0 - (default value) selects Ntext behaviour, i.e. the anchor point is fixed

       •      1 - selects classic Text behaviour, i.e. the anchor point is variable

       ::ntext::classicExtras

       •      0 - (default value) selects Ntext behaviour, i.e. several traditional Text bindings
              are de-activated

       •      1 - selects classic Text behaviour, i.e. all Text bindings are activated

       ::ntext::classicMouseSelect

       •      0 - (default value) selects Ntext  behaviour,  i.e.  the  anchor  point  for  mouse
              selection operations is moved by keyboard navigation

       •      1 - selects classic Text behaviour

       ::ntext::classicWordBreak

       •      0 - (default value) selects Ntext behaviour, i.e. platform-independent, two classes
              of word characters and one class of non-word characters.

       •      1 - selects classic Text behaviour, i.e.  platform-dependent,  one  class  of  word
              characters and one class of non-word characters

       •      After  changing  this  value,  the  matching  patterns should be recalculated.  See
              ntextWordBreak for details and advanced configuration options.

       ::ntext::classicWrap

       •      0 - selects Ntext behaviour, i.e. display lines of text widgets in -wrap word  mode
              are indented to match the initial whitespace of the first display line of a logical
              line.  If the widget already holds text when this value is set, a function call may
              be  necessary.   See  ntextIndent  for detailed instructions on the use of Ntext 's
              indentation.

       •      1 - (default value) selects classic Text behaviour, i.e. no indentation

       ::ntext::overwrite

       •      0 - (initial value) text typed at the keyboard is inserted into the widget

       •      1 - text typed at the keyboard overwrites text already in the widget

       •      The value is toggled by the Insert key.

EXAMPLE

       To create a text widget .t and use the Ntext bindings:

              package require ntext
              text .t
              bindtags .t {.t Ntext . all}

       See bindtags for more information.

KEYWORDS