Provided by: perl-tk_804.031-1build1_amd64 bug

NAME

       Tk::pack - Geometry manager that packs around edges of cavity

SYNOPSIS

           $widget->pack?(args)?

           $widget->packOption?(args)?

DESCRIPTION

       The pack method is used to communicate with the packer, a geometry manager that arranges
       the children of a parent by packing them in order around the edges of the parent.

       In this perl port of Tk it is normal to pack widgets one-at-a-time using the widget object
       to be packed to invoke a method call.  This is a slight distortion of underlying Tk
       interface (which can handle lists of windows to one pack method call) but has proven
       effective in practice.

       The pack method can have any of several forms, depending on Option:

       $slave->pack?(options)?
           The options consist of pairs of arguments that specify how to manage the slave.  See
           "THE PACKER ALGORITHM" below for details on how the options are used by the packer.
           The following options are supported:

           -after => $other
                   $other must be another window.  Use its master as the master for the slave,
                   and insert the slave just after $other in the packing order.

           -anchor => anchor
                   Anchor must be a valid anchor position such as n or sw; it specifies where to
                   position each slave in its parcel.  Defaults to center.

           -before => $other
                   $other must be another window.  Use its master as the master for the slave,
                   and insert the slave just before $other in the packing order.

           -expand => boolean
                   Specifies whether the slave should be expanded to consume extra space in their
                   master.  Boolean may have any proper boolean value, such as 1 or no.  Defaults
                   to 0.

           -fill => style
                   If a slave's parcel is larger than its requested dimensions, this option may
                   be used to stretch the slave.  Style must have one of the following values:

                   none        Give the slave its requested dimensions plus any internal padding
                               requested with -ipadx or -ipady.  This is the default.

                   x           Stretch the slave horizontally to fill the entire width of its
                               parcel (except leave external padding as specified by -padx).

                   y           Stretch the slave vertically to fill the entire height of its
                               parcel (except leave external padding as specified by -pady).

                   both        Stretch the slave both horizontally and vertically.

           -in => $master
                   Insert the slave(s) at the end of the packing order for the master window
                   given by $master.

           -ipadx => amount
                   Amount specifies how much horizontal internal padding to leave on each side of
                   the slave(s).  Amount must be a valid screen distance, such as 2 or .5c.  It
                   defaults to 0.

           -ipady => amount
                   Amount specifies how much vertical internal padding to leave on each side of
                   the slave(s).  Amount  defaults to 0.

           -padx => amount
                   Amount specifies how much horizontal external padding to leave on each side of
                   the slave(s).  Amount defaults to 0.

           -pady => amount
                   Amount specifies how much vertical external padding to leave on each side of
                   the slave(s).  Amount defaults to 0.

           -side => side
                   Specifies which side of the master the slave(s) will be packed against.  Must
                   be left, right, top, or bottom.  Defaults to top.

       If no -in, -after or -before option is specified then slave will be inserted at the end of
       the packing list for its parent unless it is already managed by the packer (in which case
       it will be left where it is).  If one of these options is specified then slave will be
       inserted at the specified point.  If the slave are already managed by the geometry manager
       then any unspecified options for them retain their previous values rather than receiving
       default values.

       $slave->packConfigure?(options)?
           Same as pack.

       $slave->packForget
           Removes slave from the packing order for its master and unmaps its window.  The slave
           will no longer be managed by the packer.

       $slave->packInfo
           Returns a list whose elements are the current configuration state of the slave given
           by $slave in the same option-value form that might be specified to packConfigure.  The
           first two elements of the list are ``-in=>$master'' where $master is the slave's
           master.

       $master->packPropagate?(boolean)?
           If boolean has a true boolean value such as 1 or on then propagation is enabled for
           $master, (see "GEOMETRY PROPAGATION" below).  If boolean has a false boolean value
           then propagation is disabled for $master.  In either of these cases an empty string is
           returned.  If boolean is omitted then the method returns 0 or 1 to indicate whether
           propagation is currently enabled for $master.  Propagation is enabled by default.

       $master->packSlaves
           Returns a list of all of the slaves in the packing order for $master.  The order of
           the slaves in the list is the same as their order in the packing order.  If $master
           has no slaves then an empty list/string is returned in array/scalar context,
           respectively

THE PACKER ALGORITHM

       For each master the packer maintains an ordered list of slaves called the packing list.
       The -in, -after, and -before configuration options are used to specify the master for each
       slave and the slave's position in the packing list.  If none of these options is given for
       a slave then the slave is added to the end of the packing list for its parent.

       The packer arranges the slaves for a master by scanning the packing list in order.  At the
       time it processes each slave, a rectangular area within the master is still unallocated.
       This area is called the cavity;  for the first slave it is the entire area of the master.

       For each slave the packer carries out the following steps:

       [1] The packer allocates a rectangular parcel for the slave along the side of the cavity
           given by the slave's -side option.  If the side is top or bottom then the width of the
           parcel is the width of the cavity and its height is the requested height of the slave
           plus the -ipady and -pady options.  For the left or right side the height of the
           parcel is the height of the cavity and the width is the requested width of the slave
           plus the -ipadx and -padx options.  The parcel may be enlarged further because of the
           -expand option (see "EXPANSION" below)

       [2] The packer chooses the dimensions of the slave.  The width will normally be the
           slave's requested width plus twice its -ipadx option and the height will normally be
           the slave's requested height plus twice its -ipady option.  However, if the -fill
           option is x or both then the width of the slave is expanded to fill the width of the
           parcel, minus twice the -padx option.  If the -fill option is y or both then the
           height of the slave is expanded to fill the width of the parcel, minus twice the -pady
           option.

       [3] The packer positions the slave over its parcel.  If the slave is smaller than the
           parcel then the -anchor option determines where in the parcel the slave will be
           placed.  If -padx or -pady is non-zero, then the given amount of external padding will
           always be left between the slave and the edges of the parcel.

           Once a given slave has been packed, the area of its parcel is subtracted from the
           cavity, leaving a smaller rectangular cavity for the next slave.  If a slave doesn't
           use all of its parcel, the unused space in the parcel will not be used by subsequent
           slaves.  If the cavity should become too small to meet the needs of a slave then the
           slave will be given whatever space is left in the cavity.  If the cavity shrinks to
           zero size, then all remaining slaves on the packing list will be unmapped from the
           screen until the master window becomes large enough to hold them again.

EXPANSION

       If a master window is so large that there will be extra space left over after all of its
       slaves have been packed, then the extra space is distributed uniformly among all of the
       slaves for which the -expand option is set.  Extra horizontal space is distributed among
       the expandable slaves whose -side is left or right, and extra vertical space is
       distributed among the expandable slaves whose -side is top or bottom.

GEOMETRY PROPAGATION

       The packer normally computes how large a master must be to just exactly meet the needs of
       its slaves, and it sets the requested width and height of the master to these dimensions.
       This causes geometry information to propagate up through a window hierarchy to a top-level
       window so that the entire sub-tree sizes itself to fit the needs of the leaf windows.
       However, the packPropagate method may be used to turn off propagation for one or more
       masters.  If propagation is disabled then the packer will not set the requested width and
       height of the packer.  This may be useful if, for example, you wish for a master window to
       have a fixed size that you specify.

RESTRICTIONS ON MASTER WINDOWS

       The master for each slave must either be the slave's parent (the default) or a descendant
       of the slave's parent.  This restriction is necessary to guarantee that the slave can be
       placed over any part of its master that is visible without danger of the slave being
       clipped by its parent.

PACKING ORDER

       If the master for a slave is not its parent then you must make sure that the slave is
       higher in the stacking order than the master.  Otherwise the master will obscure the slave
       and it will appear as if the slave hasn't been packed correctly.  The easiest way to make
       sure the slave is higher than the master is to create the master window first:  the most
       recently created window will be highest in the stacking order.  Or, you can use the raise
       and lower methods to change the stacking order of either the master or the slave.

SEE ALSO

       Tk::form Tk::grid Tk::place

KEYWORDS

       geometry manager, location, packer, parcel, propagation, size