treectrl(n) 1.1 "Tk Commands"

NAME

treectrl - Create and manipulate hierarchical multicolumn widgets

SYNOPSIS

The treectrl command creates a new window (given by the pathName argument) and makes it into a treectrl widget. Additional options, described above, may be specified on the command line or in the option database to configure aspects of the treectrl such as its background color and relief. The treectrl command returns the path name of the new window. At the time this command is invoked, there must not exist a window named pathName, but pathName's parent must exist.

A treectrl is a widget which displays items one per line. Every item has a set of states, which are boolean properties. The item may be spread about one or more columns. For each column of an item there is a style associated, which determines how to display the item's column respecting the item's current state set. One column can be defined to display the data in a hierarchical structure.

Normally the origin of the coordinate system is at the upper-left corner of the window containing the treectrl. It is possible to adjust the origin of the coordinate system relative to the origin of the window using the xview and yview widget commands; this is typically used for scrolling.

A treectrl widget can be horizontal or vertical oriented like many other Tk widgets. For displaying hierarchical data only vertical orientation is useful, since only then the children of an item are displayed directly below their parent. If the treectrl widget is used only to display data in a multicolumn listbox, the specification of an orientation will give useful results.

STANDARD OPTIONS

-background
-borderwidth
-cursor
-font
-highlightbackground
-highlightcolor
-highlightthickness
-orient
-relief
-takefocus
-xscrollcommand
-yscrollcommand
-foreground

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

WIDGET SPECIFIC OPTIONS

Command-Line Switch: -backgroundimage
Database Name: backgroundImage
Database Class: BackgroundImage: Specifies the name of an image to draw as the list background. The image is tiled horizontally and vertically to fill the content area of the list. If the image is transparent it is drawn on top of the background color(s).
Command-Line Switch: -backgroundmode
Database Name: backgroundMode
Database Class: BackgroundMode: Specifies the desired mode for changing the background of individual items. The value should be one of row, column, index, or visindex. The default is row. This option has only an effect for columns which have -itembackground defined as list of two or more colors (see section COLUMNS below for more on this). The color of items is changed for any row or column, if row or column is specified respectively. When index is specified, collapsed items are counted also for evaluating the background color, for visindex only the visible items are counted.
Command-Line Switch: -buttoncolor
Database Name: buttonColor
Database Class: ButtonColor: Specifies the foreground color which should be used for drawing the outline and the plus or minus sign of the button to the left of an item.
Command-Line Switch: -buttonsize
Database Name: buttonSize
Database Class: ButtonSize: Specifies the diameter of the button drawn to the left of an item in any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels.
Command-Line Switch: -buttonthickness
Database Name: buttonThickness
Database Class: ButtonThickness: Specifies the width of the outline and the plus or minus sign of the button to the left of an item in any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels.
Command-Line Switch: -closedbuttonbitmap
Database Name: closedButtonBitmap
Database Class: ClosedButtonBitmap: Specifies the bitmap to be used as the button to the left of a closed item in any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels.
Command-Line Switch: -closedbuttonimage
Database Name: closedButtonImage
Database Class: ClosedButtonImage: Specifies the image to be used as the button to the left of a closed item in any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetImage.
Command-Line Switch: -columnproxy
Database Name: columnProxy
Database Class: ColumnProxy: If this option specifies a non empty value, it should be a screen distance in any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels. Then a 1 pixel thick vertical line will be drawn at the specified screen distance from the left edge of the treectrl widget, which reaches from top to bottom of the treectrl widget and uses an inverting color (i.e black on lighter background, white on darker background). This line can be used to give the user a visual feedback during column resizing.
Command-Line Switch: -defaultstyle
Database Name: defaultStyle
Database Class: DefaultStyle: Specifies a list of styles, one per column, to apply to each item created by the item create command. The number of styles in the list can be different from the number of tree columns. Each list element should be a valid style name or an empty string to indicate no style should be applied to a specific column. The list of styles is updated if a style is deleted or if a column is moved.
Command-Line Switch: -doublebuffer
Database Name: doubleBuffer
Database Class: DoubleBuffer: Specifies if double-buffering should be used to improve displaying. The value should be one of none, window, or item. For none no double-buffering is used at all, which may be most memory efficient, but will probably generate some flickering on the screen. For window the complete tree is double-buffered, which requires a buffer big enough to contain the complete widget. For item, which is the default, every item is separately double-buffered, so it works with a buffer size as big as the biggest item.
Command-Line Switch: -height
Database Name: height
Database Class: Height: Specifies the desired height for the window in any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels. The default is 200 pixel. If this option is less than or equal to zero then the window will not request any size at all.
Command-Line Switch: -indent
Database Name: indent
Database Class: Indent: Specifies the amount of indentation in any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels. The default is 19 pixel. Indentation is the screen distance an item is displayed more to the right than its father.
Command-Line Switch: -itemheight
Database Name: itemHeight
Database Class: ItemHeight: Specifies a fixed height for every item in any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels. The default is 0, which means that every item has the height requested by the arrangement of elements in each column.
Command-Line Switch: -linecolor
Database Name: lineColor
Database Class: LineColor: Specifies the color which should be used for drawing the connecting lines between related items.
Command-Line Switch: -linestyle
Database Name: lineStyle
Database Class: LineStyle: Specifies the style of the connecting lines between related items, should be dot which is the default, or solid.
Command-Line Switch: -linethickness
Database Name: lineThickness
Database Class: LineThickness: Specifies the thickness of the connecting lines between related items in any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels.
Command-Line Switch: -openbuttonbitmap
Database Name: openButtonBitmap
Database Class: OpenButtonBitmap: Specifies the bitmap to be used as the button to the left of an opened item in any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetBitmap.
Command-Line Switch: -openbuttonimage
Database Name: openButtonImage
Database Class: OpenButtonImage: Specifies the image to be used as the button to the left of an opened item in any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetImage.
Command-Line Switch: -scrollmargin
Database Name: scrollMargin
Database Class: ScrollMargin: The interpretation of this option is left to Tcl scripts that implement scrolling: the widget implementation ignores this option entirely. Defaults to 0.
Command-Line Switch: -selectmode
Database Name: selectMode
Database Class: SelectMode: Specifies one of several styles for manipulating the selection. The value of the option may be arbitrary, but the default bindings expect it to be either single, browse, multiple, or extended; the default value is browse.
Command-Line Switch: -showbuttons
Database Name: showButtons
Database Class: ShowButtons: Specifies a boolean value that determines whether this widget displays a button to the left of any item. If the button is actually drawn can be configured for every item with the item hasbutton widget command, but if this option is set to false, the configuration of an item has no effect. The default value is true.
Command-Line Switch: -showheader
Database Name: showHeader
Database Class: ShowHeader: Specifies a boolean value that determines whether this widget should display the header line with the column names at the top of the widget. The default value is true.
Command-Line Switch: -showlines
Database Name: showLines
Database Class: ShowLines: Specifies a boolean value that determines whether this widget should draw the connecting lines between related items. The default value is true.
Command-Line Switch: -showroot
Database Name: showRoot
Database Class: ShowRoot: Specifies a boolean value that determines whether this widget should draw the root item. By suppressing the drawing of the root item the widget can have multiple items that appear as toplevel items. The default value is true.
Command-Line Switch: -showrootbutton
Database Name: showRootButton
Database Class: ShowRootButton: Specifies a boolean value that determines whether this widget should draw a button before the root item. The default value is false.
Command-Line Switch: -treecolumn
Database Name: treeColumn
Database Class: TreeColumn: Specifies an integer value that determines which column displays the data in an hierarchical fashion. Default is 0 meaning that the first column displays the tree.
Command-Line Switch: -width
Database Name: width
Database Class: Width: Specifies the desired width for the window in any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels. The default is 200 pixel. If this option is less than or equal to zero then the window will not request any size at all.
Command-Line Switch: -wrap
Database Name: wrap
Database Class: Wrap: Specifies how to arrange items inside treectrl's window. The value must be an empty string, window, or a list with an integer as first element and either items or pixels as second element. The empty string as wrap mode means that each item appears on exactly one line on the screen. In the other modes multiple items may be displayed in one screen line. In window mode a screen line break may occur after any element; in items mode a line break will only be made after the specified number of items; in pixels mode a line break will only be made after the specified screen distance is reached.
Command-Line Switch: -xscrolldelay
Database Name: xScrollDelay
Database Class: ScrollDelay: Specifies the amount of time before the default binding should handle repeating mouse motion events in horizontal direction with button 1 pressed. The value should be a list of upto 2 integers. The first integer specifies the timespan in microseconds before the active item should be changed to get nearer to the current mouse position. If there are two integers specified, the first is only used for the first motion event, any repeating motion events are handled after the seconds amount of miliseconds is elapsed.
Command-Line Switch: -xscrollincrement
Database Name: xScrollIncrement
Database Class: ScrollIncrement: Specifies an increment for horizontal scrolling, in any of the usual forms permitted for screen distances. If the value of this option is greater than zero, the horizontal view in the window will be constrained so that the x coordinate at the left edge of the window is always an even multiple of -xscrollincrement; furthermore, the units for scrolling (e.g., the change in view when the left and right arrows of a scrollbar are selected) will also be -xscrollincrement. If the value of this option is less than or equal to zero, then horizontal scrolling is unconstrained.
Command-Line Switch: -yscrolldelay
Database Name: yScrollDelay
Database Class: ScrollDelay: Specifies the amount of time before the default binding should handle repeating mouse motion events in vertical direction with button 1 pressed. The value should be a list of upto 2 integers. The first integer specifies the timespan in microseconds before the active item should be changed to get nearer to the current mouse position. If there are two integers specified, the first is only used for the first motion event, any repeating motion events are handled after the seconds amount of miliseconds is elapsed.
Command-Line Switch: -yscrollincrement
Database Name: yScrollIncrement
Database Class: ScrollIncrement: Specifies an increment for vertical scrolling, in any of the usual forms permitted for screen distances. If the value of this option is greater than zero, the vertical view in the window will be constrained so that the y coordinate at the top edge of the window is always an even multiple of -yscrollincrement; furthermore, the units for scrolling (e.g., the change in view when the top and bottom arrows of a scrollbar are selected) will also be -yscrollincrement. If the value of this option is less than or equal to zero, then vertical scrolling is unconstrained.

WIDGET COMMAND

The treectrl command creates a new Tcl command whose name is the same as the path name of the treectrl's window. This command may be used to invoke various operations on the widget. It has the following general form:

pathName option ?arg arg ...?

PathName is the name of the command, which is the same as the treectrl widget's path name. Option and the args determine the exact behavior of the command. The following commands are possible for treectrl widgets:

pathName activate itemDesc

Sets the active item to the one described by itemDesc, and switches on the state active for this item. From now on the item can be retrieved with the item description active. An <ActiveItem> event is generated.

pathName canvasx screenx

Given a window x-coordinate in the treectrl screenx, this command returns the treectrl x-coordinate that is displayed at that location.

pathName canvasy screeny

Given a window y-coordinate in the treectrl screeny, this command returns the treectrl y-coordinate that is displayed at that location.

pathName cget option

Returns the current value of the configuration option given by option. Option may have any of the values accepted by the tree command.

pathName collapse ?-recurse? ?itemDesc ...?

Use item collapse instead.

pathName column option column ?arg ...?

This command is used to manipulate the columns of the treectrl widget (see section COLUMNS below). The exact behavior of the command depends on the option argument that follows the column argument. The following forms of the command are supported:

pathName column bbox column: Returns a list with four elements giving an approximate bounding box for the column header specified by column. If the treectrl is configured to don't display the column headers by means of the -showheader option, an empty list is returned instead.
pathName column cget column option: This command returns the current value of the option named option for the column specified by column, Column may also be the string tail to specify the tail column. Option may have any of the values accepted by the column configure widget command.
pathName column configure column ?option? ?value? ?option value ...?: This command is similar to the configure widget command except that it modifies options associated with the column specified by column instead of modifying options for the overall treectrl widget. Column may also be the string tail to specify the tail column. If no option is specified, the command returns a list describing all of the available options for column (see Tk_ConfigureInfo for information on the format of this list). 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 option(s) to have the given value(s) for column; in this case the command returns an empty string.

See COLUMNS below for details on the options available for columns.
pathName column create ?option value ...?: This command creates a new column in the treectrl widget. The new column is placed to the right of all other columns (except the tail column). Any option-value arguments configure the new column according to the column configure command. The return value is the zero-based index of the new column.
pathName column delete column: Deletes the specified column from the treectrl widget. All remaining columns of the treectrl widget will get new column numbers: in an unchanged order, but with succesive numbers.
pathName column index column: This command returns a decimal string giving the column number of the column specified by column, which may also be the string tail to specify the tail column.
pathName column move column before: Moves the specified column to the left of the column specified by before. If before is the string tail, the column column will become the last column.
pathName column neededwidth column: This command returns a decimal string giving the needed width of the column specified by column. The needed width is the maximum of the width of the column header and the width of the widest currently visible item.
pathName column width column: This command returns a decimal string giving the width in pixels of the column specified by column, even if the treectrl is configured to not display the column headers by means of the -showheader option.

pathName compare itemDesc1 op itemDesc2

From both items described by the itemDescs the index is retrieved (as returned from the item index widget command). Then these indexes are compared using the operator op, which must be either <, <=, ==, >=, >, or !=. The return value of this command is 1 if the comparison evaulated to true, 0 otherwise.

pathName configure ?option? ?value option value ...?

Query or modify the configuration options of the widget. If no option is specified, returns a list describing all of the available options for pathName (see Tk_ConfigureInfo for information on the format of this list). 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 an empty string. Option may have any of the values accepted by the treectrl command.

pathName contentbox

Returns a list with four elements giving an approximate bounding box for the space used to display the items inside the columns, i.e. the space of the treectrl widget without the surrounding borders and the column headers.

pathName debug option ?arg arg ...?

This command is used to facilitate debugging of the treectrl widget. The exact behavior of the command depends on the option argument that follows the debug argument. The following forms of the command are supported:

pathName debug cget element option

This command returns the current value of the debugging option named option. Option may have any of the values accepted by the debug configure widget command.

pathName debug configure element ?option? ?value? ?option value ...?

This command is similar to the configure widget command except that it modifies debugging options instead of modifying options for the overall treectrl widget. If no option is specified, the command returns a list describing all of the available debugging options (see Tk_ConfigureInfo for information on the format of this list). 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 debugging option(s) to have the given value(s); in this case the command returns an empty string.

The following debugging options are supported:

-displaydelay millis: Specifies a time duration in milliseconds, which should be waited after something has been drawn to the screen. Setting this option has only an effect, if the debugging options -enable and -display are switched on.
-data boolean: If this option is switched on (together with the debugging option -enable), at various places a consistence check on the internal data structure is made (e.g. for every item is checked, if the registered number of children is equal to the number of child items). If an inconsistency was found, a Tcl background error is raised.
-display boolean: If this option is switched on (together with the debugging option -enable), at varios places additional debugging output is printed to stdout.
-enable boolean: All other debugging options only take effect, if this option is also switched on.
-erasecolor color: Use this color, when parts of the treectrl widget should be deleted. If you use an unusual color for this option (like pink), superflous screen redraws can be spotted more easily. Setting this option has only an effect, if the debugging options -enable and -display are switched on.

pathName debug dinfo

For every of the treectrl widget a line with some internal valuess info about all items is printed to stdout. The command returns the empty string.

pathName debug scroll

Returns a string useful for debugging vertical scrolling.

pathName depth ?itemDesc?

If the additional argument itemDesc is specified, returns a decimal string giving the depth of the item describing by itemDesc, whereas depth is defined as the number of steps you must go upward to reach to root item. If no itemDesc is specified, the maximum depth of all items in the treectrl widget is returned instead.

pathName dragimage option ?arg ...?

This command is used to manipulate the dragimage, one or more dotted lines around rectangular regions of the treectrl widget. The exact behavior of the command depends on the option argument that follows the dragimage argument. The following forms of the command are supported:

pathName dragimage add itemDesc ?column? ?element?

Adds the shapes of the item described by itemDesc to the shapes of the dragimage. Specifying additional arguments reduces the number of rectangles that are added to the dragimage. If no additional arguments is specified, for every element of the item in every column a dotted rectangles is added. If column is specified, all elements in other columns are ignored. If also element is specified, only a rectangle for this one element of the specified item in the given column is added.

pathName dragimage cget option

This command returns the current value of the dragimage option named option. Option may have any of the values accepted by the dragimage configure widget command.

pathName dragimage clear

Removes all shapes (if there are any) from the dragimage. This command does not modify the dragimage offset.

pathName dragimage configure ?option? ?value? ?option value ...?

This command is similar to the configure widget command except that it modifies the dragimage options instead of modifying options for the overall treectrl widget. If no option is specified, the command returns a list describing all of the available dragimage options (see Tk_ConfigureInfo for information on the format of this list). If option is specified with no value, then the command returns a list describing the one named dragimage 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 dragimage option(s) to have the given value(s); in this case the command returns an empty string.

The following dragimage options are supported:

-visible boolean: Specifies a boolean value which determines whether the dragimage should currently be visible.

pathName dragimage offset ?x y?

Returns a list containing the x and y offsets of the dragimage, if no additional arguments are specified. The dragimage offset is the screen distance, the image is displayed relative to the item its shape is derived from. If two coordinates are specified, sets the dragimage offset to the given coordinates x and y.

pathName element option ?element? ?arg arg ...?

This command is used to manipulate elements (see ELEMENTS below). The exact behavior of the command depends on the option argument that follows the element argument. The following forms of the command are supported:

pathName element cget element option: This command returns the current value of the option named option associated with the element given by element. Option may have any of the values accepted by the element configure widget command.
pathName element configure element ?option? ?value? ?option value ...?: This command is similar to the configure widget command except that it modifies options associated with the element given by element instead of modifying options for the overall treectrl widget. If no option is specified, the command returns a list describing all of the available options for element (see Tk_ConfigureInfo for information on the format of this list). 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 option(s) to have the given value(s) in element; in this case the command returns an empty string. See ELEMENTS below for details on the options available for elements.
pathName element create element type ?option value ...?: Create a new elememt in pathName of type type with name element. The exact format of the arguments after type depends on type, but generally consist of specifications for zero or more element options. See the subsections on individual element types below for more on the syntax of this command. This command returns the name for the new element.
pathName element delete ?element ...?: Deletes each of the named elements and returns an empty string. If an element is deleted while it is still configured as an element of one or more styles by means of the style elements widget command, it is also removed from the element lists of these styles.
pathName element names: Returns a list containing the names of all existing elements.
pathName element type element: Returns the type of the elements given by element, such as rect or text.

pathName expand ?-recurse? ?itemDesc ...?

Use item expand instead.

pathName identify x y

Returns a list containing some diagnostics about what is displayed at the given windows coordinates x and y. The resulting list may be empty, if nothing is displayed at the given coordinates, otherwise the first list element is header or item.

If the coordinates are in the header area and thus the first element of the result is header, the number of the column or the string tail is the second element in the resulting list; if the x coordinate is near the left or right end of the header, a third element left or right is added respectively.

If the coordinates are below the header area and thus the first element of the result is item, the numerical id of the item is the second element in the resulting list. If the x coordinate doesn't fall into the column displaying the hierarchical structure, the elements column and the column number are added. If the x coordinate is within the column displaying the hierarchical structure, the following elements are added to the resulting list: line and the numerical id of the item the line comes from, if the x coordinate is above an item connecting line; button, if the x coordinate is above a button; column, the column number, elem, and the element name, if the x coordinate is above an element of the item; column and the column number, if the x coordinate is to the right of the elements; nothing otherwise.

pathName index itemDesc

This command returns a decimal string giving the numerical id of the item specified by itemDesc (see ITEM DESCRIPTION below).

pathName item option ?arg ...?

This command is used to manipulate items. The exact behavior of the command depends on the option argument that follows the item argument. The following forms of the command are supported:

pathName item ancestors itemDesc

Returns a list containing the numerical indexes of all ancestors of the item specified by itemDesc from its parent upto the root item.

pathName item bbox itemDesc ?column? ?element?

Returns a list with four elements giving an approximate bounding box for the item described by itemDesc. If no further argument is specified, the bbox spans the area of the item over all columns. If a column is specified, only the area of the item in this column is considered, if an additional element is specified, the area of this element in column of the specified item is returned.

pathName item cget itemDesc option

Returns the current value of the configuration option for the item specified by itemDesc whose name is option. Option may have any of the values accepted by the item create command when the item was created.

pathName item children itemDesc

Returns a list containing the numerical indexes of all children of the item specified by itemDesc in the correct order from the first child to the last child.

pathName item collapse itemDesc ?-recurse?

Switches off the open state of the item(s) described by itemDesc. If the item has descendants, they are no longer displayed. If the item is configured to have a button, the button will now display the image or bitmap configured with the widget options -closedbuttonimage or -closedbuttonbitmap, or a + sign if no image or bitmap is configured. If the item is already closed, this command has no effect. ItemDesc may also be the string all, in which case all items of the treectrl widget are collapsed. If -recurse is specified, all descendants of itemDesc will also be collapsed. For every item, that actually will be collapsed, two events are generated: a <Collapse-before> event before the item state is changed, and a <Collapse-after> event after the item state was changed.

pathName item complex itemDesc list ...

Modifies the elements of the item described by itemDesc. For every column of the treectrl there may be specified one list, which in turn is an odd elemented list with at least three elements: the name of an element followed by option-value pairs. Every option must be known by the element's type (see ELEMENTS below). The corresponding value will overwrite the value of the element for this one column in this item.

pathName item configure itemDesc ?option? ?value? ?option value ...?

If no option is specified, returns a list describing all of the available options for the item given by itemDesc (see Tk_ConfigureInfo for information on the format of this list). 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 an empty string. The options and values are the same as those permissible in the item create command when the item was created.

pathName item create ?option value ...?

Creates a new item and returns its unique identifier. The new item has the states open and enabled set by default. If the treectrl widget currently has the focus, the state focus is also set. Each option-value pair sets one of the configuration options for the item. These same option-value pairs may be used in the item configure command to change the item's configuration.

The following options are supported by items:

-button boolean: Boolean must have one of the forms accepted by Tk_GetBoolean. It indicates whether or not an expand/collapse button should be drawn next to this item, typically to indicate the item has children. The button will only be displayed if: a) the column specified by the widget option -treecolumn is visible; and b) the widget option -showbuttons is true
-visible boolean: Boolean must have one of the forms accepted by Tk_GetBoolean. It indicates that the item should be displayed in the list. The item will only be displayed if: a) each ancestor is a descendant of the root item (not an orphan); and b) each ancestor's -visible option is true

pathName item delete first ?last?

Deletes the specified item(s). First and last must be the string all or an itemDesc. If either first or last is specified as all, all items are deleted; if first is specified as itemDesc and last isn't specified, the item described by first is deleted. If both first and last are specified, they must decribe items with a common ancestor; then the range of items between first and last is deleted.

Deleting an item deletes any child items of the deleted item recursively. If the current active item is deleted, the root item becomes the new active item. If the current selection anchor item is deleted, the root item becomes the new anchor item. There is no way to delete the root item of the treectrl widget; in all cases the specification of the root item is ignored.

pathName item dump itemDesc

Returns a list with six elements in the form index index indexVis indexVis neededHeight neededHeight.

pathName item element command itemDesc column element ?arg ...?

This command is used to manipulate elements of the item. The exact behavior of the command depends on the command argument that follows the element argument. The following forms of the command are supported:

pathName item element actual itemDesc column element option: This command returns the current value of the configuration option named option associated with element inside column of the item described by itemDesc. If option was configured using the item element configure command, the return value is the same as if the item element cget command was used. Otherwise the value of the configuration option of the underlying element is returned. Option may have any of the values accepted by the type of the specified element (see ELEMENTS below)
pathName item element cget itemDesc column element option: This command returns the value of the option named option associated with element inside column of the item described by itemDesc, if it was already configured for the actual item. Option may have any of the values accepted by the type of the specified element (see ELEMENTS below)
pathName item element configure itemDesc column element ?option? ?value? ?option value ...?: This command is similar to the configure widget command except that it modifies options associated with element inside column of the item described by itemDesc instead of modifying options for the overall treectrl widget. If no option is specified, the command returns a list describing all of the available options for the element (see Tk_ConfigureInfo for information on the format of this list). 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 option(s) to have the given value(s) in the element inside column of the item described by itemDesc; in this case the command returns an empty string.

pathName item expand itemDesc ?-recurse?

Switches on the open state of the item(s) described by itemDesc. If the item has descendants, they are now displayed. If the item is configured to have a button, the button will now display the image or bitmap configured with the widget options -openbuttonimage or -openbuttonbitmap, or a - sign if no image or bitmap is configured. If the item is already open, this command has no effect. ItemDesc may also be the string all, in which case all items of the treectrl widget are expanded. If -recurse is specified, all descendants of itemDesc will also be expanded. For every item, that actually will be expanded, two events are generated: an <Expand-before> event before the item state is changed, and an <Expand-after> event after the item state was changed.

pathName item firstchild parent ?child?

If child is not specified, returns the numerical index of the first child of the item described by parent. If child is specified, it must described an item that is not an ancestor of parent. Then it will become the new first child of parent.

pathName item index itemDesc

Returns a list of two integers, which corresponds to the row of the item described by itemDesc, if all items above are counted and if only the displayed items are counted. This command should not be confused with the index widget command, which return the invariable item id. The index here is basically the row of the item.

pathName item isancestor itemDesc descendant

Returns 1 if the item described by itemDesc is a direct or indirect parent of the item decribed by descendant, 0 otherwise.

pathName item isopen itemDesc

Returns 1, if the item described by itemDesc has cuurently the state open switched on, 0 otherwise.

pathName item lastchild parent ?child?

If child is not specified, returns the numerical index of the last child of the item described by parent. If child is specified, it must described an item that is not an ancestor of parent. Then it will become the new last child of parent.

pathName item nextsibling sibling ?next?

If next is not specified, returns the numerical index of the next sibling of the item described by sibling. If next is specified, it must described an item that is not an ancestor of sibling. Then it will become the new next sibling of sibling.

pathName item numchildren itemDesc

Returns the number of children of the item described by itemDesc.

pathName item parent itemDesc

Returns the numerical index of the parent of the item described by itemDesc.

pathName item prevsibling sibling ?prev?

If prev is not specified, returns the numerical index of the previous sibling of the item described by sibling. If prev is specified, it must described an item that is not an ancestor of sibling. Then it will become the new previous sibling of sibling.

pathName item remove itemDesc

Removes the item described by itemDesc from the children list of its father, so that it will become an orphan.

pathName item rnc itemDesc

Returns a list of two integers, which corresponds to the row and column of the item described by itemDesc.

pathName item sort itemDesc ?option ...?

Sorts the children of the item described by itemDesc, and redisplays the tree with the items in the new order.

The range of items which should be sorted can be restricted by means of the -first and/or -last options, which should be children of the item described by itemDesc; the order between these two limiting items doesn't matter.

The sort column can be specified by means of the -column option; this option can be used repeatedly to define a multi column sort. The sorting is done by looking at the text of the element specified by the -element option, which must be a text element defined in the style of the sorting column, by default the first text element is used.

If the -notreally option is specified, no rearranging of the items is done; instead the sorted items are returned as result of the command.

By default ASCII sorting is used with the result returned in increasing order. Any of the following options may be specified to control the sorting process of the previously specified column (unique abbreviations are accepted):

-ascii: Use string comparison with ASCII collation order. This is the default.
-command command: Use command as a comparison command. To compare two items, evaluate a Tcl script consisting of command with the numerical ids of the two items appended as additional arguments. The script should return an integer less than, equal to, or greater than zero if the first item is to be considered less than, equal to, or greater than the second, respectively.
-decreasing: Sort the items in decreasing order ("largest" items first).
-dictionary: Use dictionary-style comparison. This is the same as -ascii except (a) case is ignored except as a tie-breaker and (b) if two strings contain embedded numbers, the numbers compare as integers, not characters. For example, in -dictionary mode, bigBoy sorts between bigbang and bigboy, and x10y sorts between x9y and x11y.
-increasing: Sort the items in increasing order ("smallest" items first). This is the default.
-integer: Convert to integers and use integer comparison.
-real: Convert to floating-point values and use floating comparison.

pathName item state command itemDesc ?arg ...?

This command is used to manipulate the states of an item. The exact behavior of the command depends on the command argument that follows the style argument. The following forms of the command are supported:

pathName item state forcolumn itemDesc column ?stateDescList?: Just like item state set but manipulates user-defined states for a single item column, not the item as a whole.
pathName item state get itemDesc ?stateName ...?: If no stateName is specified, returns a list containing the names of all (predefined and user defined) states which are currently switched on for the item described by itemDesc. If a stateName is specified, 1 is returned if the specified state is currently switched on for the item, 0 otherwise.
pathName item state set itemDesc ?lastItem? ?stateDescList?: Every element of stateDescList must describe a user defined state (see STATES below), with the particularity that the state name may have also a leading ~. Every state with a leading ! will be switched off for the item described by itemDesc, every state with a leading ~ will be toggled, and every state without leading ! or ~ will be switched on. If lastItem is specified, the state changes will be made for all items in the range betwen itemDesc and lastItem. ItemDesc may be the string all, then the state changes are made for all items of the treectrl widget.

pathName item style command itemDesc ?arg ...?

This command is used to manipulate the styles of an item. The exact behavior of the command depends on the command argument that follows the style argument. The following forms of the command are supported:

pathName item style elements itemDesc column: A list is returned containing the currently defined elements of the style, which is set for the item described by itemDesc in column.
pathName item style map itemDesc column style map: Like the item style set command, this command may be used to assign a style to a specific column of an item. Unlike item style set, this command can transfer configuration values of elements in the current style to elements in the new style specified by style. Map must be a list of elementOld-elementNew pairs, where elementOld is an element in the current style, and elementNew is an element in the style specified by style. Both elementOld and elementNew must be of the same type (bitmap, text etc).
pathName item style set itemDesc ?column? ?style? ?column style ...?: If no column is specified, returns a list containing the names of the styles set for all columns of the item described by itemDesc. If no style argument is specified, returns the name of the style set for the item described by itemDesc in column. If there are one or more style arguments specified, it must be column-style pairs; then the style(s) of item in column will be set to style.

pathName item text itemDesc column ?text? ?column text ...?

If no text argument is specified, returns the text of the first text element in column for the item described by itemDesc. If there are one or more text arguments specified, it must be column-text pairs; then the text(s) of item in column will be set to text. Note that this command is provided as a convenience. Use the item element configure command if you want to set the text of a specific text element.

pathName item toggle itemDesc ?-recurse?

Changes the open state of the item(s) described by itemDesc. If the state is currently switched off, this command does the same as the item expand widget command, otherwise the same as the item collapse widget command. ItemDesc may also be the string all, in which case the state of all items of the treectrl widget are toggled. If -recurse is specified, the state of all descendants of itemDesc will also be toggled.

pathName marquee option ?arg ...?

This command is used to manipulate the marquee, a rectangular region of the treectrl widget optionally marked with a surrounding dotted line. One corner point of the marquee is fixed as long as the marquee is visible and called the anchor; the diagonally opposite corner is dragged with the mouse while resizing the marquee and simply called the corner. All coordinates handled by this widget command are treectrl coordinates, i.e. the canvasx or canvasy widget command should be used before any window coordinates can be used. The exact behavior of the command depends on the option argument that follows the marquee argument. The following forms of the command are supported:

pathName marquee anchor ?x y?

Returns a list containing the x and y coordinates of the anchor, if no additional arguments are specified. If two coordinates are specified, sets the anchor to the given coordinates x and y.

pathName marquee cget option

This command returns the current value of the marquee option named option. Option may have any of the values accepted by the marquee configure widget command.

pathName marquee configure ?option? ?value? ?option value ...?

This command is similar to the configure widget command except that it modifies the marquee options instead of modifying options for the overall treectrl widget. If no option is specified, the command returns a list describing all of the available marquee options (see Tk_ConfigureInfo for information on the format of this list). If option is specified with no value, then the command returns a list describing the one named marquee 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 marquee option(s) to have the given value(s); in this case the command returns an empty string.

The following marquee options are supported:

-visible boolean: Specifies a boolean value which determines whether the dotted line surrounding the region of the marquee should currently be visible.

pathName marquee coords ?x1 y1 x2 y2?

Returns a list containing the x and y coordinates of the anchor followed by the x and y coordinates of the corner, if no additional arguments are specified. If four coordinates are specified, sets the anchor to the given coordinates x1 and y1 and the corner to the coordinates x2 and y2.

pathName marquee corner ?x y?

Returns a list containing the x and y coordinates of the corner, if no additional arguments are specified. If two coordinates are specified, sets the corner to the given coordinates x and y.

pathName marquee identify

Returns a list with information about the items inside the marquee. The list has as elements a list itself for every item which is displayed inside the marquee. The first element of these lists is the numerical item id, followed by another list with information about every column of the item inside the marque. These lists start with the column number, followed by the elements of the style defined for the item in this column if there are any.

pathName notify option ?arg ...?

This command is used to manipulate the event mechanism of a treectrl widget, which stands in parallel to Tk's event mechanism. It has two major advantages: arbitrary new events can be defined together with arbitrary details, and before the event is triggered the called Tcl command underlys a customizable percent substitution.

The exact behavior of the command depends on the option argument that follows the notify argument. The following forms of the command are supported:

pathName notify bind ?object? ?pattern? ?script?

This command associates script with the object given by object such that whenever the event sequence given by pattern occurs for the object the command will be invoked. This widget command is similar to the bind command except that it operates on any object in a treectl rather than entire widgets, and it works also for non X11 event pattern. If all arguments are specified then a new binding is created, replacing any existing binding for the same pattern and object (if the first character of script is + then script augments an existing binding rather than replacing it). In this case the return value is an empty string. If script is omitted then the command returns the script associated with object and pattern (an error occurs if there is no such binding). If both script and pattern are omitted then the command returns a list of all the sequences for which bindings have been defined for object. If no optional argument is specified, a list of all objects to which a pattern-script combination is bound yet, is returned.

pathName notify configure window pattern ?option? ?value? ?option value ...?

This command is similar to the configure widget command except that it modifies event options defined for pattern in window instead of modifying options for the overall treectrl widget. If no option is specified, the command returns a list with option-value pairs describing all the available event options for pattern in window. If option is specified with no value, then the command does nothing. If one or more option-value pairs are specified, then the command modifies the given option(s) to have the given value(s) for the layout; in this case the command returns an empty string.

The following event options are supported:

-active boolean: Specifies if the event should be active. As long as this option is specified as false, the event will not trigger.

pathName notify detailnames eventName

Returns a list containing the names of all details, which are installed for the event with the name eventName by means of the notify install detail widget command or by the treectrl widget itself.

pathName notify eventnames

Returns a list containing the names of all events, which are installed by means of the notify install event widget command or by the treectrl widget itself.

pathName notify generate pattern ?charMap?

The event with the pattern pattern is generated, if it is configured as active. If there are details defined for the event, pattern must describe an eventName-detail pair, otherwise pattern should be a simple event name.

The optional charMap is a list of key-value pairs as in the form returned by array get; each key has to be exactly one character. If this argument is specified, the following substitution will be done in the script registered for the generated event before it will be evaluated: every occurence of a percent character (%) followed by a key will be replaced with its corresponding value.

pathName notify install detail eventName detail ?percentsCommand?

Installs a new detail detail for the event with the name eventName. A detail create by this command is called dynamic, whereas details created by the treectrl widget itself are called static.

The optional percentsCommand will be called before the event is triggered for every two character sequence starting with a percent character (%). The script is called with at least four additional arguments: the second character of the sequence, the window for which the event is triggered, eventName and detail, and finally the field-value pairs specified as arguments in the notify generate call to generate the event (the leading dash is dropped from the fields). The two character sequence of the command will be replaced by the returning string, or by an empty string if the command returns with a returnCode other than 0.

pathName notify install event eventName ?percentsCommand?

Installs a new event with the name eventName. An event create by this command is called dynamic, whereas events created by the treectrl widget itself are called static. For the optional percentsCommand argument see the description of the notify install detail widget command above; the value for the argument detail is the empty string.

pathName notify linkage eventName ?detail?

Returns a string indicating whether the specified event or detail is created by means of the notify install widget command (dynamic) or by the treectrl widget itself (static).

pathName notify uninstall detail eventName detail

If the specified detail detail of the event with the name eventName is static (i.e. created by the treectrl widget itself), an error is generated. Otherwise the dynamic detail is removed from the event.

pathName notify uninstall event eventName

If the specified event with the name eventName is static (i.e. created by the treectrl widget itself), an error is generated. Otherwise the dynamic event is removed.

pathName numcolumns

Returns a decimal string giving the number of columns created by the column create widget command which haven't been deleted by the column delete widget command. The tail column is not counted.

pathName numitems

Returns a decimal string giving the number of items created by the item create widget command which haven't been deleted by the item delete widget command. This number is always positive, since a newly created treectrl widget has already the root item, which cannot be deleted.

pathName orphans

Returns a list containing the numerical ids of all items which has no parent item. An item is created without having a parent, and can later become an orphan again by means of the item remove widget command.

pathName range first last

First and last must be an itemDesc. Returns a list containing the numerical ids of all items in the range between first and last, inclusive. The order between first and last doesn't matter, and the result is always ordered by the increasing index of the items.

pathName state option ?stateName?

This command is used to manipulate the list of user defined states, see section STATES below. The exact behavior of the command depends on the option argument that follows the state argument. The following forms of the command are supported:

pathName state define stateName: Defines a new state with the name stateName, which must not be the name of a predefined or already user defined state.
pathName state linkage stateName: Returns a string indicating whether the specified state is user defined by means of the state define widget command (dynamic) or predefined by the treectrl widget itself (static).
pathName state names: Returns a list containing the names of all user defined states.
pathName state undefine ?stateName ...?: Every stateName must be the name of a user defined state. Removes this state from the list of user defined states.

pathName see itemDesc

Adjust the view in the treectrl so that the item described by itemDesc is visible. If the item is already visible then the command has no effect; otherwise the treectrl scrolls to bring the item into view, and the corresponding <Scroll-x> and/or <Scroll-y> events are generated.

pathName selection option arg

This command is used to adjust the selection within a treectrl. It has several forms, depending on option:

pathName selection add first ?last?: First and last (if specified) must be the string all or an itemDesc. Selects all of the items in the range between first and last, inclusive, without affecting the selection state of items outside that range. If one of the arguments is the string all, all items of the treectrl widget are added to the selection instead. A <Selection> event is generated.
pathName selection anchor ?itemDesc?: If itemDesc is specified, the selection anchor is set to the described item. The selection anchor is the end of the selection that is fixed while dragging out a selection with the mouse. The item description anchor may be used to refer to the anchor item. This command doesn't modify the selection state of any item. Returns the numerical id of the selection anchor item.
pathName selection clear ?first? ?last?: First and last (if specified) must be the string all or an itemDesc. If any of the items between first and last (inclusive) are selected, they are deselected. The selection state is not changed for items outside this range. If no additional arguments is given or one of the arguments is the string all, the selection is completely cleared instead. A <Selection> event is generated.
pathName selection count: Returns an integer indicating the number of items in the treectrl that are currently selected.
pathName selection get: Returns a list containing the numerical ids of all of the items in the treectrl that are currently selected. If there are no items selected in the treectrl then an empty string is returned.
pathName selection includes itemDesc: Returns 1 if the item indicated by itemDesc is currently selected, 0 if it isn't.
pathName selection modify select deselect: Both arguments select and deselect must be the string all or a possibly empty list of itemDescs. Selects all of the items described by select, then deselects all items described by deselect, without affecting the selection state of any item not mentioned in both arguments. If one item is described in both arguments select and deselect, it is added to the selection. A <Selection> event is generated.

pathName style option ?element? ?arg arg ...?

This command is used to manipulate styles, which could be considered as a geometry manager for the elements of one item. The exact behavior of the command depends on the option argument that follows the style argument. The following forms of the command are supported:

pathName style cget style option

This command returns the current value of the option named option associated with the style given by style. Option may have any of the values accepted by the style configure widget command.

pathName style configure style ?option? ?value? ?option value ...?

This command is similar to the configure widget command except that it modifies options associated with the style given by style instead of modifying options for the overall treectrl widget. If no option is specified, the command returns a list describing all of the available options for style (see Tk_ConfigureInfo for information on the format of this list). 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 option(s) to have the given value(s) in style; in this case the command returns an empty string.

The options of a style have effect on all elements managed by the style. The following options are supported:

-orient varName: This option specifies which orientation should be used when laying out the elements associated with this style. Must be either horizontal (the default) or vertical or an abbreviation of one of these.

pathName style create style ?option value ...?

Create a new style in pathName with name style. After style there may be any number of option-value pairs, each of which sets one of the configuration options for the style. These same option-value pairs may be used in style configure widget commands to change the style's configuration. Returns the name of the new style.

pathName style delete ?style ...?

Deletes each of the named styles and returns an empty string. If a style is deleted while it is still used to display one or more items, it is also removed from the style list of these items.

pathName style elements style ?elementList?

Specifies the elements which should be layed out by this style. Each element of elementList must be the name of an element created by the widget command element create. Duplicate names in elementList are ignored. An element which was specified in a former call of this command for style but is not included in elementList, will be deleted from the elements layed out by style.

If the elementList argument is not specified, a list is returned containing the currently defined elements of style.

pathName style layout style element ?option? ?value? ?option value ...?

This command is similar to the configure widget command except that it modifies options used by style for laying out element instead of modifying options for the overall treectrl widget. If no option is specified, the command returns a list with option-value pairs describing all of the available options for the layout. If option is specified with no value, then the command returns the value of the named option. If one or more option-value pairs are specified, then the command modifies the given option(s) to have the given value(s) for the layout; in this case the command returns an empty string.

The options of a layout have effect on exactly the one element element managed by style. The following options are supported:

-padx amount
-pady amount: Amount specifies how much external padding to leave on the left and right (for -padx) or top and bottom (for -pady) side of the element. Amount may be a list of two values to specify padding for the two sides separately, it defaults to 0.
-ipadx amount
-ipady amount: Amount specifies how much internal padding to leave on the left and right (for -ipadx) or top and bottom (for -ipady) side of the element. Amount may be a list of two values to specify padding for the two sides separately, it defaults to 0.
-expand style
-iexpand style: It can happen that the element's space is larger than its requested dimensions. These options may be used to position (or stretch) the slave within its cell. Style is a string that contains zero or more of the characters n, s, e or w. Each letter refers to a side (north, south, east, or west) in which direction the element will grow in.
-squeeze style: If an element's area is smaller than its requested dimensions, this option may be used to allow shrinking of the element. Style is a string that contains zero or more of the characters x or y. x shrinks the element horizontally, y shrinks it vertically.
-union elementList: Specifies a list of other elements, which should be layed out inside the space of this element.
-detach boolean: Specifies whether the element should be positioned by themselves, i.e. independent from the other elements.

pathName style names

Returns a list containing the names of all existing styles.

pathName toggle ?-recurse? ?itemDesc ...?

Use item toggle instead.

pathName xview ?args?

This command is used to query and change the horizontal position of the information displayed in the treectrl'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 tree's area is off-screen to the left, the middle 40% is visible in the window, and 40% of the tree is off-screen to the right. These are the same values passed to scrollbars via the -xscrollcommand option.
pathName xview moveto fraction: Adjusts the view in the window so that fraction of the total width of the tree is off-screen to the left. Fraction must be a fraction between 0 and 1. A <Scroll-x> event is generated.
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 or an abbreviation of one of these. If what is units, the view adjusts left or right in units of the -xscrollincrement option, if it is greater than zero, or in units of one-tenth the window's width otherwise. If what is pages then the view adjusts in units of nine-tenths the window's width. If number is negative then information farther to the left becomes visible; if it is positive then information farther to the right becomes visible. A <Scroll-x> event is generated.

pathName yview ?args?

This command is used to query and change the vertical position of the information displayed in the treectrl's window. It can take any of the following forms:

pathName yview: Returns a list containing two elements. Each element is a real fraction between 0 and 1; together they describe the vertical span that is visible in the window. For example, if the first element is .6 and the second element is 1.0, the lowest 40% of the tree's area is visible in the window. These are the same values passed to scrollbars via the -yscrollcommand option.
pathName yview moveto fraction: Adjusts the view in the window so that fraction of the tree's area is off-screen to the top. Fraction is a fraction between 0 and 1. A <Scroll-y> event is generated.
pathName yview scroll number what: This command adjusts the view in the window up or down according to number and what. Number must be an integer. What must be either units or pages. If what is units, the view adjusts up or down in units of the -yscrollincrement option, if it is greater than zero, or in units of one-tenth the window's height otherwise. If what is pages then the view adjusts in units of nine-tenths the window's height. If number is negative then higher information becomes visible; if it is positive then lower information becomes visible. A <Scroll-y> event is generated.

COLUMNS

A treectrl widget is capable of displaying multiple columns next to each other. An item can be considered as a row, which reaches over all columns.

Columns in a treectrl may be named in either of two ways: by number or by tag. If a number is given it must be an integer from zero to N, where N is one less than the result of the numcolumns widget command. A column may also be named by the value of its -tag configuration option.

There is always one special column, the tail column, which fills all space to the right of the last ordinary column. This column has no number; it can only be specified by its tag tail, which cannot be modified. It is explicitely mentioned for a widget command, if its column argument can also specify the tail column.

The following options are supported for columns:

-arrow direction: Indicates whether or not an arrow should be drawn in the column header to the right of the column title. Direction must have one of the values none (the default), up, or down.
-arrowside side: Indicates on which side an arrow should be drawn, if at all. Side must be either left or right (the default).
-arrowgravity side: Indicates onto which side an arrow should be packed, if there is more space available for drawing the arrow then needed. Side must be either left (the default) or right.
-arrowpad amount: Amount specifies how much padding to leave on the left and right side of the arrow. Amount may be a list of two values to specify padding for left and right separately, it defaults to 0.
-bitmap bitmap: Specifies the bitmap to display in the element to the left of the column title.
-background color: Specifies the color to use for the background of the column header.
-borderwidth size: Specifies a non-negative value indicating the width of the 3-D border to draw around the outside of the column header (if such a border is being drawn; the -relief column option determines this). The value may have any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels.
-button boolean: Indicates whether or not a mouse click on the column header should change the sorting order of the tree.
-expand boolean: Indicates whether or not any extra horizontal space should be distributed to this column. This option will actually only work if the column has no fixed width defined by means of the -width column option.
-font fontName: Specifies the font to use for the column title inside the column header.
-image image: Specifies the image to display in the element to the left of the column title. This option overrides the -bitmap column option.
-imagepadx amount
-imagepady amount: Amount specifies how much padding to leave on the left and right (for -imagepadx) or top and bottom (for -imagepady) side of the image. Amount may be a list of two values to specify padding for the two sides separately, it defaults to 0.
-itembackground colorList: Specifies a list of colors, which should be used as alternating background color for the items of this column. See also the -backgroundmode widget option for more on this.
-justify justification: This option determines how the items (and the title) line up with each other. Must be one of left (the default), center, or right.
-minwidth size: Specifies the minimum size, in screen units, that will be permitted for this column.
-relief relief: Specifies the 3-D effect desired for the column header containing the title. Acceptable values are the typical relief values, but the value seems to be ignored anyway; better use the -sunken column option instead.
-squeeze boolean: Specifies a boolean value that indicates whether or not the column should shrink when the content width of the treectrl is less than the total needed width of all visible columns. Defaults to false, which means the column will not get smaller than its needed width. The column will not get smaller than the value of its -minwidth option, if specified. This option has no effect if the -width option is set.
-stepwidth size: Specifies a sort of tabbed alignment for columns that displays more than one item next to each other (typically in a treectrl widget with horizontal orientation). Every item will get an x-coordinate which is a multiple of size.
-sunken boolean: Indicates whether or not the column header containing the column title will be displayed with a sunken relief.
-tag tag: Defines a unique name for the columns which can be used in subsequent calls of the treectrl widget commands, wherever a column must be specified.
-text text: Specifies a text to be displayed inside the column title.
-textcolor color: Specifies a color, which should be used as foreground color to display the column title.
-textpadx amount
-textpady amount: Amount specifies how much padding to leave on the left and right (for -textpadx) or top and bottom (for -textpady) side of the text. Amount may be a list of two values to specify padding for the two sides separately, it defaults to 0.
-visible boolean: Indicates whether or not the column should be displayed.
-width size: Specifies a fixed width for the column. If this value is zero, the column width is calculated as the maximum of: a) the width requested by items; b) the width requested the column header; c) and the column -minwidth. This calculated width is also affected by the -expand option of all columns.
-widthhack boolean: Indicates whether or not all items should have the same width. This option only has effect when all of these conditions are met: a) the tree -orientation option is vertical; b) only a single tree column is visible; c) the single visible tree column -width option is zero; d) and the tree -wrap option results in wrapping.

STATES

A state consists basically of just a string: its stateName. For every item a set of these states is managed, which means that every item can have every state switched on or off. The following states are predefined for every item:

active: At every time this state is set for exactly one item, which therefore is called the active item. When the treectrl widget is created or when the active item is deleted, the root item will become the active element. This state can be modified by means of the widget command activate.
enabled: This state is set for every item, when it is created. It cannot be modified.
focus: This state is set for every item, if the treectrl widget has currently the focus. It cannot be modified by means of a widget command, but is maintained as reaction of a <FocusIn> or <FocusOut> event.
open: If this state is switched on, the descendants of the item are displayed - the item is expanded. If this state is switched off, the descendants of the item are not displayed - the item is collapsed. For a new item this state is switched on. It can be modified by means of the widget commands expand, collapse, or toggle.
selected: This state is set for every item, which is included in the selection. It can be modified by means of the widget command selection.

By means of the state define widget command upto 27 additional stateNames can be defined.

Some widget commands expect a stateDesc argument, which is a stateName optionally preceded by an exclamation mark (!). If the stateName has no leading ! it describes a currently switched on state, if it has a leading ! it describes a currently switched off state.

Some widget commands expect a statePattern argument, which should be a non empty list of stateDescs. The pattern matches, if for every element of the list the stateDesc describes the same state as the item currently has.

ELEMENTS

Elements are the smallest building block which are handled by a treectrl widget. One or more elements together can be combined to a style, which can be considered as a blueprint for an item. They can also be used to create an item directly by means of the item complex widget command. An element can be of type bitmap, border, image, rect, or text. For each element type there is a section below describing all options which can modify the behaviour of an element of this type.

There are some options which can be configured to get different values dependent on the state of the item in which their element is included. The values of these options are basically a list. If the list has one element, the value is valid regardless of the item state. A list with an even number of elements (value-statePattern pairs) specifies different values for different states. For acceptable values of statePattern see the section STATES above. The last statePattern can be empty, implementing a sort of otherwise clause. The options with this behaviour are called per state options.

BITMAP ELEMENT

An element of type bitmap can be used to display a bitmap in an item. The following options are supported for bitmap elements:

-background color: Specifies as a per state option the color to use for each of the bitmap's '0' valued pixels.
-bitmap bitmap: Specifies as a per state option the bitmap to display in the element.
-foreground color: Specifies as a per state option the color to use for each of the bitmap's '1' valued pixels.

BORDER ELEMENT

An element of type border can be used to add a border to an item. The following options are supported for border elements:

-background color: Specifies as a per state option the color to use for the background of the border.
-filled boolean: Specifies whether the interior of the border should also be filled with the specified background color. Default to false, which means that the background color of the tree is visible between the borders.
-height size: Specifies the height of the area of the border.
-relief reliefList: Specifies as a per state option relief of the border. For acceptable values see the description of the -relief option in the options manual page.
-thickness thickness: Specifies the thickness of the border.
-width size: Specifies the width of the area of the border.

IMAGE ELEMENT

An element of type image can be used to display an image in an item. The following options are supported for image elements:

-height size: Specifies the height of the image.
-image image: Specifies as a per state option the image to display in the element.
-width size: Specifies the width of the image.

RECTANGLE ELEMENT

An element of type rect can be used to display a rectangle in an item. The following options are supported for rectangle elements:

-fill fillColor: Specifies as a per state option the color to be used to fill rectangle's area. Color may have any of the forms accepted by Tk_GetColor. If color is an empty string (the default), then the rectangle will not be filled.
-height size: Specifies the height of the rectangle.
-open open: This option may be used to get an incomplete drawing of the outline. Open is a string that contains zero or more of the characters n, s, e or w. Each letter refers to a side (north, south, east, or west) that the outline will not be drawn. The default is the empty string, which causes the outline to be drawn completely.
-outline outlineColor: Specifies as a per state option the color that should be used to draw the outline of the rectangle. Color may have any of the forms accepted by Tk_GetColor. If color is specified as an empty string (the default), then no outline is drawn for the rectangle.
-outlinewidth outlineWidth: Specifies the width of the outline to be drawn around the rectangle's region. outlineWidth may be in any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels. If the -outline option has been specified as an empty string (the default), then no outline is drawn.
-showfocus boolean: Specifies a boolean value indicating whether a "focus ring" should be drawn around the rectangle, if the item containing the rectangle is the active item and the treectrl widget has currently the focus.
-width size: Specifies the width of the rectangle.

TEXT ELEMENT

An element of type text can be used to display a text in an item. The following options are supported for text elements:

-data data: Specifies raw data to be printed as text.
-datatype dataType: Specifies the datatype which should be used to convert the value of the -data option to the text to be printed. Acceptable values are double, integer, long, string, or time.
-fill color: Specifies as a per state option the color to be used as foreground color of the text. Color may have any of the forms accepted by Tk_GetColor. If color is an empty string (the default), then the text will be displayed with the color specified as foreground color of the treectrl widget.
-format format: This option overwrites the default format choosen by means of the -datatype option. For a datatype time format should be a valid format string for the clock command, for all other datatypes it should be a valid format element of the format command.
-font fontName: Specifies as a per state option the font to use for the text. FontName may be any string acceptable to Tk_GetFont. If this option isn't specified, it defaults to the font configured for the treectrl widget.
-justify how: Specifies how to justify the text within its bounding region. How must be one of the values left, right, or center. This option will only matter if the text is displayed as multiple lines. If the option is omitted, it defaults to left.
-lines lineCount: Specifies the maximal number of lines the text should be printed. If the doesn't fit into the area of lineCount lines with the configured width, it will be truncated at the right end and filled up with an ellipsis.
-text string: String specifies the characters to be displayed in the text. Non printable characters are displayed in their escaped form (e.g. a new line character is displayed as the two characters \n). If this option is specified, any values of -data, -datatype, and -format are ignored.
-width size: Specifies the width of the area of the text.
-wrap mode: Mode specifies how to handle lines that are wider than the text's area. Acceptable values are char or word.

ITEM DESCRIPTION

Many of the widget commands for a treectrl take as one argument an indicator of which item of the treectrl to operate on. These indicators are called itemDescs and may be specified in any of the following forms:

number: Specifies the item numerically, where number should be the return value of a prior call of the item create widget command, or 0 to specify the root item.
active: Indicates the item that is currently active, i.e. normally the item specified as argument of the last successful activate widget command, or the root item if no such call happened yet.
anchor: Indicates the anchor item of the selection, i.e. normally the item specified as argument of the last successful selection anchor widget command, or the root item if no such call happened yet.
first ?visible?: Indicates the first item of the treectrl, i.e. the root item. If visible is specified and the widget is configured with -showroot no, the first visible child of the root node is specified instead.
last ?visible?: Indicates the last item of the treectrl. If visible is specified and the last item is currently not visible, i.e. one of its father nodes is collapsed, the last visible item is specified instead.
nearest x y: Indicates the item nearest to the point given by x and y.
rnc row column: Indicates the item in the given row and column. You can memorize rnc as abbreviation of "row 'n' column".
root: Indicates the root item of the treectrl.

The itemDesc may be followed by one or more modifiers. A modifier changes the item described by the itemDesc relative to the description upto this point. It may be specified in any of the following forms:

above: Use the item one row above in this column.
below: Use the item one row below in this column.
bottom: Use the item in the last row of this column.
child n ?visible?: Use the nth child of the item.
firstchild ?visible?: Use the first child of the item.
lastchild ?visible?: Use the last child of the item.
left: Use the item one column to the left in the same row.
leftmost: Use the item of the first column in the same row.
next ?visible?: Use the next item, which is the first existant (or visible) item of the following list: the first child, the next sibling or the next sibling of the nearest parent which has one.
nextsibling ?visible?: Use the next sibling of the item.
parent: Use the parent of the item.
prev ?visible?: Use the last child of the previous sibling, or the parent if there is no previos sibling.
prevsibling ?visible?: Use the previous sibling of the item.
right: Use the item one column to the right in the same row.
rightmost: Use the item of the last column in the same row.
sibling n ?visible?: Use the nth child of the item's parent.
top: Use the item in the first row of this column.

EVENTS AND SCRIPT SUBSTITUTIONS

Many Tk widgets communicate with the outside world via -command callbacks and/or virtual events. A treectrl widget uses quasi-events which are like virtual events but each quasi-event can have its own event details and set of %-substitutions.

By means of the notify bind widget command Tcl scripts can be specified, which will be executed whenever the event triggers. The command will be executed in the same interpreter that the notify bind command was executed in, and it will run at global level (only global variables will be accessible). If the script contains any % characters, then the script will not be executed directly. Instead, a new script will be generated by replacing each %, and the character following it, with information from the current event. The replacement depends on the character following the %, as defined in the list below.

The following %-substitutions are valid for all events:

%%: Replaced with a single %
%d: The detail name
%e: The event name
%W: The object argument to the notify bind command
%T: The treectrl widget which generated the event

The following events may be generated by a treectrl widget:

<ActiveItem>

Generated whenever the active item changes.

%c: The current active item
%p: The previous active item

<Collapse-before>

Generated before an item is collapsed.

%I: The item id

<Collapse-after>

Generated after an item is collapsed.

%I: The item id

<Expand-before>

Generated before an item is expanded.

%I: The item id

<Expand-after>

Generated after an item is expanded.

%I: The item id

<Scroll-x>

Generated whenever the view in the treectrl changes in such a way that a horizontal scrollbar should be redisplayed.

%l: Same as the first fraction appended to -xscrollcommand. Think lower.
%u: Same as the second fraction appended to -xscrollcommand. Think upper.

<Scroll-y>

Generated whenever the view in the treectrl changes in such a way that a vertical scrollbar should be redisplayed.

%l: Same as the first fraction appended to -yscrollcommand. Think lower.
%u: Same as the second fraction appended to -yscrollcommand. Think upper.

<Selection>

Generated whenever the selection changes. This event gives information about how the selection changed.

%c: Same as the selection count widget command
%D: List of newly-deselected item ids
%S: List of newly-selected item ids

DEFAULT BINDINGS

Tk automatically creates class bindings for treectrls that give them the following default behavior.

Clicking mouse button 1 over an item positions the active cursor on the item, sets the input focus to this widget, and resets the selection of the widget to this item, if it is not already in the selection.
Clicking mouse button 1 with the Control key down will reposition the active cursor and add the item to the selection without ever removing any items from the selection.
If the mouse is dragged out of the widget while button 1 is pressed, the treectrl will automatically scroll to make more items visible (if there are more items off-screen on the side where the mouse left the window).
The Left and Right keys move the active cursor one item to the left or right; for an hierarchical tree with vertical orientation nothing will happen, since it has no two items in the same row. The selection is set to include only the active item. If Left or Right is typed with the Shift key down, then the active cursor moves and the selection is extended to include the new item.
The Up and Down keys move the active cursor one item up or down. The selection is set to include only the active item. If Up or Down is typed with the Shift key down, then the active cursor moves and the selection is extended to include the new item.
The Next and Prior keys move the active cursor forward or backwards by one screenful, without affecting the selection.
Control-Next and Control-Prior scroll the view right or left by one page without moving the active cursor or affecting the selection. Control-Left and Control-Right behave the same.
The Home and End keys scroll to the left or right end of the widget without moving the active cursor or affecting the selection.
The Control-Home and Control-End keys scroll to the top or bottom of the widget, they also activate and select the first or last item. If also the Shift key is down, then the active cursor moves and the selection is extended to include the new item.
The Space and Select keys set the selection to the active item.
Control-/ selects the entire contents of the widget.
Control-\\ clears any selection in the widget.
The + and - keys expand or collapse the active item, the Return key toggles the active item.
The mousewheel scrolls the view of the widget four lines up or down depending on the direction, the wheel was turned. The active cursor or the selection is not affected.

KEYWORDS

tree, widget