--- name: "Tk::TableMatrix" section: "3pm" platform: "linux" package: "perl-tk-tablematrix" version: "1.29-6" release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01" platforms: ["linux"] url: "https://new.carta.tech/Tk::TableMatrix" --- # Tk::TableMatrix(3pm) Create and manipulate tables ## NAME TableMatrix - Create and manipulate tables ## Synopsis *$table* = *$parent*-\>**TableMatrix**(?*options*?); ## STANDARD OPTIONS **-anchor -background -cursor** \ **-exportselection -font -foreground -highlightbackground -highlightcolor** \ **-highlightthickness -insertbackground -insertborderwidth -insertofftime** \ **-insertontime -insertwidth -invertselected -relief -takefocus** \ **-xscrollcommand -yscrollcommand** ## Widget-specific Options - Switch: **-autoclear** - Name: **autoClear** - Class: **AutoClear** A boolean value which specifies whether the first keypress in a cell will delete whatever text was previously there. Defaults to 0. - Switch: **-bordercursor** - Name: **borderCursor** - Class: **Cursor** Specifies the name of the cursor to show when over borders, a visual indication that interactive resizing is allowed (it is thus affect by the value of -resizeborders). Defaults to *crosshair*. - Switch: **-borderwidth or -bd** - Name: **borderWidth** - Class: **BorderWidth** Specifies a non-negative pixel value or list of values indicating the width of the 3-D border to draw on interior table cells (if such a border is being drawn; the \ option typically determines this). If one value is specified, a rectangle of this width will be drawn. If two values are specified, then only the left and right edges of the cell will have borders. If four values are specified, then the values correspond to the {left right top bottom} edges. This can be overridden by the a tag's borderwidth option. It can also be affected by the defined **-drawmode** for the table. Each value in the list must have one of the forms acceptable to **Tk\_GetPixels**. - Switch: **-browsecommand or -browsecmd** - Name: **browseCommand** - Class: **BrowseCommand** Specifies a command (callback) which will be evaluated anytime the active cell changes. The Previous Index and the Current index is passed to this command as arguments. - Switch: **-cache** - Name: **cache** - Class: **Cache** A boolean value that specifies whether an internal cache of the table contents should be kept. This greatly enhances speed performance when used with **-command** but uses extra memory. Can maintain state when both **-command** and **-variable** are empty. The cache is automatically flushed whenever the value of **-cache** or **-variable** changes, otherwise you have to explicitly call **clear** on it. Defaults to off. - Switch: **-colorigin** - Name: **colOrigin** - Class: **Origin** Specifies what column index to interpret as the leftmost column in the table. This value is used for user indices in the table. Defaults to 0. - Switch: **-cols** - Name: **cols** - Class: **Cols** Number of cols in the table. Defaults to 10. - Switch: **-colseparator** - Name: **colSeparator** - Class: **Separator** Specifies a separator character that will be interpreted as the column separator when cutting or pasting data in a table. By default, columns are separated as elements of a tcl list. - Switch: **-colstretchmode** - Name: **colStretchMode** - Class: **StretchMode** Specifies one of the following stretch modes for columns to fill extra allocated window space: - **none** Columns will not stretch to fill the assigned window space. If the columns are too narrow, there will be a blank space at the right of the table. This is the default. - **unset** Only columns that do not have a specific width set will be stretched. - **all** All columns will be stretched by the same number of pixels to fill the window space allocated to the table. This mode can interfere with interactive border resizing which tries to force column width. - **last** The last column will be stretched to fill the window space allocated to the table. - **fill** (only valid for **-rowstretch** currently) The table will get more or less columns according to the window space allocated to the table. This mode has numerous quirks and may disappear in the future. - Switch: **-coltagcommand** - Name: **colTagCommand** - Class: **TagCommand** Provides the name of a procedure that will be evaluated by the widget to determine the tag to be used for a given column. When displaying a cell, the table widget will first check to see if a tag has been defined using the **tag col** widget method. If no tag is found, it will evaluate the named procedure passing the column number in question as the sole argument. The procedure is expected to return the name of a tag to use, or a null string. Errors occuring during the evaluation of the procedure, or the return of an invalid tag name are silently ignored. The Current column number is passed as an argument to the col command. - Switch: **-colwidth** - Name: **colWidth** - Class: **ColWidth** Default column width, interpreted as characters in the default font when the number is positive, or pixels if it is negative. Defaults to 10. - Switch: **-command** - Name: **command** - Class: **Command** Specified a command to use as a procedural interface to cell values. If **-usecommand** is true, this command will be used instead of any reference to the **-variable** array. When retrieving cell values, the return value of the command is used as the value for the cell. Args passed to this callback: The Set Flag (=1 if setting, else retrieving), the current row, the current col, the cell value (if setting). - Switch: **-drawmode** - Name: **drawMode** - Class: **DrawMode** Sets the table drawing mode to one of the following options: - **slow** The table is drawn to an offscreen pixmap using the Tk bordering functions (double-buffering). This means there will be no flashing, but this mode is slow for larger tables. - **compatible** The table is drawn directly to the screen using the Tk border functions. It is faster, but the screen may flash on update. This is the default. - **fast** The table is drawn directly to the screen and the borders are done with fast X calls, so they are always one pixel wide only. As a side effect, it restricts **-borderwidth** to a range of 0 or 1. This mode provides best performance for large tables, but can flash on redraw and is not 100% Tk compatible on the border mode. - **single** The table is drawn to the screen as in fast mode, but only single pixel lines are drawn (not square borders). - Switch: **-flashmode** - Name: **flashMode** - Class: **FlashMode** A boolean value which specifies whether cells should flash when their value changes. The table tag **flash** will be applied to these cells for the duration specified by **-flashtime**. Defaults to 0. - Switch: **-flashtime** - Name: **flashTime** - Class: **FlashTime** The amount of time, in 1/4 second increments, for which a cell should flash when its value has changed. **-flashmode** must be on. Defaults to 2. - Switch: **-height** - Name: **height** - Class: **Height** Specifies the desired height for the window, in rows. If zero or less, then the desired height for the window is made just large enough to hold all the rows in the table. The height can be further limited by **-maxheight** . - Switch: **-invertselected** - Name: **invertSelected** - Class: **InvertSelected** Specifies whether the foreground and background of an item should simply have their values swapped instead of merging the *sel* tag options when the cell is selected. Defaults to 0 (merge *sel* tag). - Switch: **-ipadx** - Name: **ipadX** - Class: **Pad** A pixel value specifying the internal offset X padding for text in a cell. This value does not grow the size of the cell, it just causes the text to be drawn further from the cell border. It only affects one side (depending on anchor). Defaults to 0. See **-padx** for an alternate padding style. - Switch: **-ipady** - Name: **ipadY** - Class: **Pad** A pixel value specifying the internal offset Y padding for text in a cell. This value does not grow the size of the cell, it just causes the text to be drawn further from the cell border. It only affects one side (depending on anchor). Defaults to 0. See **-pady** for an alternate padding style. - Switch: **-justify** - Name: **justify** - Class: **Justify** How to justify multi-line text in a cell. It must be one of **left**, **right**, or **center**. Defaults to left. - Switch: **-maxheight** - Name: **maxHeight** - Class: **MaxHeight** The max height in pixels that the window will request. Defaults to 600. - Switch: **-maxwidth** - Name: **maxWidth** - Class: **MaxWidth** The max width in pixels that the window will request. Defaults to 800. - Switch: **-multiline** - Name: **multiline** - Class: **Multiline** Specifies the default setting for the multiline tag option. Defaults to 1. - Switch: **-pady** - Name: **padX** - Class: **Pad** A pixel value specifying the offset X padding for a cell. This value causes the default size of the cell to increase by two times the value (one for each side), unless a specific pixel size is chosen for the cell with the **width** command. This will force an empty area on the left and right of each cell edge. This padding affects all types of data in the cell. Defaults to 0. See **-ipadx** for an alternate padding style. - Switch: **-pady** - Name: **padY** - Class: **Pad** A pixel value specifying the offset Y padding for a cell. This value causes the default size of the cell to increase by two times the value (one for each side), unless a specific pixel size is chosen for the cell with the **height** command. This will force an empty area on the top and bottom of each cell edge. This padding affects all types of data in the cell. Defaults to 0. See **-ipadx** for an alternate padding style. - Switch: **-resizeborders** - Name: **resizeBorders** - Class: **ResizeBorders** Specifies what kind of interactive border resizing to allow, must be one of row, col, both (default) or none. - Switch: **-rowheight** - Name: **rowHeight** - Class: **RowHeight** Default row height, interpreted as lines in the default font when the number is positive, or pixels if it is negative. Defaults to 1. - Switch: **-roworigin** - Name: **rowOrigin** - Class: **Origin** Specifies what row index to interpret as the topmost row in the table. This value is used for user indices in the table. Defaults to 0. - Switch: **-rows** - Name: **rows** - Class: **Rows** Number of rows in the table. Defaults to 10. - Switch: **-rowseparator** - Name: **rowSeparator** - Class: **Separator** Specifies a separator character that will be interpreted as the row separator when cutting or pasting data in a table. By default, rows are separated as tcl lists. - Switch: **-rowstretchmode** - Name: **rowStretchMode** - Class: **StretchMode** Specifies the stretch modes for rows to fill extra allocated window space. See **-colstretchmode** for valid options. - Switch: **-rowtagcommand** - Name: **rowTagCommand** - Class: **TagCommand** Provides the name of a procedure that can evaluated by the widget to determine the tag to be used for a given row. The procedure must be defined by the user to accept a single argument (the row number), and return a tag name or null string. This operates in a similar manner as **-coltagcommand**, except that it applies to row tags. The Current row number is passed as an argument to the row command. - Switch: **-selectioncommand or -selcmd** - Name: **selectionCommand** - Class: **SelectionCommand** Specifies a command (callback) to evaluate when the selection is retrieved from a table via the selection mechanism (ie: evaluating "**selection get**"). The return value from this command will become the string passed on by the selection mechanism. The following arguments are passed to this callback: The number of rows in the selection, number of columns in the selection, the selection string, the number of cell in the selection. - Switch: **-selectmode** - Name: **selectMode** - 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**. These styles are like those for the Tk listbox, except expanded for 2 dimensions. - Switch: **-selecttitle** - Name: **selectTitles** - Class: **SelectTitles** Specifies whether title cells should be allowed in the selection. Defaults to 0 (disallowed). - Switch: **-selecttype** - Name: **selectType** - Class: **SelectType** Specifies one of several types of selection for the table. The value of the option may be one of **row**, **col**, **cell**, or **both** (meaning **row &&** **col**); the default value is **cell**. These types define whether an entire row/col is affected when a cell's selection is changed (set or clear). - Switch: **-sparsearray** - Name: **sparseArray** - Class: **SparseArray** A boolean value that specifies whether an associated Tcl array should be kept as a sparse array (1, the default) or as a full array (0). If true, then cell values that are empty will be deleted from the array (taking less memory). If false, then all values in the array will be maintained. - Switch: **-state** - Name: **state** - Class: **State** Specifies one of two states for the entry: **normal** or **disabled**. If the table is disabled then the value may not be changed using widget commands and no insertion cursor will be displayed, even if the input focus is in the widget. Also, all insert or delete methods will be ignored. Defaults to **normal**. - Switch: **-titlecols** - Name: **titleCols** - Class: **TitleCols** Number of columns to use as a title area. Defaults to 0. - Switch: **-titlerows** - Name: **titleRows** - Class: **TitleRows** Number of rows to use as a title area. Defaults to 0. - Switch: **-usecommand** - Name: **useCommand** - Class: **UseCommand** A boolean value which specifies whether to use the **command** option. This value sets itself to zero if **command** is used and returns an error. Defaults to 1 (will use **command** if specified). - Switch: **-validate** - Name: **validate** - Class: **Validate** A boolean specifying whether validation should occur for the active buffer. Defaults to 0. - Switch: **-validatecommand or -vcmd** - Name: **validateCommand** - Class: **ValidateCommand** Specifies a command (callback) to execute when the active cell is edited. This command is expected to return a 1 or 0. If it returns 1, then it is assumed the new value is OK, otherwise the new value is rejected (the edition will not take place). Errors in this command are handled in the background. The following arguments are supplied to the callback: row, col, oldContents of cell, potential new contents of cell, Current Index in the cell. - Switch: **-variable** - Name: **variable** - Class: **Variable** Global Tcl array variable to attach to the table's C array. It will be created if it doesn't already exist or is a simple variable. Keys used by the table in the array are of the form *row*,*col* for cells and the special key *active* which contains the value of the active cell buffer. The Tcl array is managed as a sparse array (the table doesn't require all valid indices have values). No stored value for an index is equivalent to the empty string, and clearing a cell will remove that index from the Tcl array, unless the **-sparsearray** options is set to 0. - Switch: **-width** - Name: **width** - Class: **Width** Specifies the desired width for the window, in columns. If zero or less, then the desired width for the window is made just large enough to hold all the columns in the table. The width can be further limited by **-maxwidth**. - Switch: **-wrap** - Name: **wrap** - Class: **Wrap** Specifies the default wrap value for tags. Defaults to 0. ## DESCRIPTION The **TableMatrix** command creates a 2-dimensional grid of cells. The table can use a Tcl array variable or Tcl command for data storage and retrieval. The widget has an active cell, the contents of which can be edited (when the state is normal). The widget supports a default style for the cells and also multiple *tags*, which can be used to change the style of a row, column or cell (see TAGS for details). A cell *flash* can be set up so that changed cells will change color for a specified amount of time ("blink"). \ Cells can have embedded images or windows, as described in Tags and "Embedded Windows" respectively. One or more cells may be selected as described below. \ If a table is exporting its selection (see **-exportselection** option), then it will observe the standard X11 protocols for handling the selection. \ See "the Selection" for details. It is not necessary for all the cells to be displayed in the table window at once; commands described below may be used to change the view in the window. Tables allow scrolling in both directions using the standard **-xscrollcommand** and **-yscrollcommand** options. \ They also support scanning, as described below. In order to obtain good performance, the table widget supports multiple drawing modes, two of which are fully Tk compatible. ## Indices Many of the widget commands for tables take one or more indices as arguments. An index specifies a particular cell of the table, in any of the following ways: - *number,number* Specifies the cell as a numerical index of row,col which corresponds to the index of the associated Perl Hash, where **-roworigin,-colorigin** corresponds to the first cell in the table (0,0 by default). The values for row and column will be constrained to actual values in the table, which means a valid cell is always found. - **active** Indicates the cell that has the location cursor. It is specified with the **activate** widget command. - **anchor** Indicates the anchor point for the selection, which is set with the **selection anchor** widget command. - **bottomright** Indicates the bottom-rightmost cell visible in the table. - **end** Indicates the bottom right cell of the table. - **origin** Indicates the top-leftmost editable cell of the table, not necessarily in the display. This takes into account the user specified origin and title area. - **topleft** Indicates the top-leftmost editable cell visible in the table (this excludes title cells). - **@x,y** Indicates the cell that covers the point in the table window specified by *x* and *y* (in pixel coordinates). If no cell covers that point, then the closest cell to that point is used. In the widget command descriptions below, arguments named *index*, *first*, and *last* always contain text indices in one of the above forms. ## Tags A tag is a textual string that is associated with zero or more rows, columns or cells in a table. Tags may contain arbitrary characters, but it is probably best to avoid using names which look like indices to reduce coding confusion. There may be any number of tags in a table, but each row, column or cell can only have one tag associated with it at a time. There are several permanent tags in each table that can be configured by the user and will determine the attributes for special cells: - **active** This tag is given to the *active* cell - **flash** If flash mode is on, this tag is given to any recently edited cells. - **sel** This tag is given to any selected cells. - **title** This tag is given to any cells in the title rows and columns. This tag has **-state** *disabled* by default. Tags control the way cells are displayed on the screen. Where appropriate, the default for displaying cells is determined by the options for the table widget. However, display options may be associated with individual tags using the tagConfigure method. If a cell, row or column has been tagged, then the display options associated with the tag override the default display style. The following options are currently supported for tags: - **-anchor** *anchor* Anchor for item in the cell space. - **-background** or **-bg** *color* Background color of the cell. - **-borderwidth** or **-bd** *pixel* Borderwidth of the cell, of the same format for the table, but may also be empty to inherit the default table borderwidth value (the default). - **-font** *fontName* Font for text in the cell. - **-foreground** or **-fg** *color* Foreground color of the cell. - **-justify** *justify* How to justify multi-line text in a cell. It must be one of **left**, **right**, or **center**. - **-image** *imageName* An image to display in the cell instead of text. - **-multiline** *boolean* Whether to display text with newlines on multiple lines. - **-relief** The relief for the cell. May be the empty string to cause this tag to not disturb the value. - **-showtext** *boolean* Whether to show the text over an image. - **-state** *state* The state of the cell, to allow for certain cells to be disabled. This prevents the cell from being edited by the *insert* or *delete* methods, but a direct *set* will not be prevented. - **-wrap** *boolean* Whether characters should wrap in a cell that is not wide enough. A priority order is defined among tags based on creation order (first created tag has highest default priority), and this order is used in implementing some of the tag-related functions described below. When a cell is displayed, its properties are determined by the tags which are assigned to it. The priority of a tag can be modified by the *tagLower* and the *tagRaise* methods. If a cell has several tags associated with it that define the same display options (eg - a **title** cell with specific **row** and **cell** tags), then the options of the highest priority tag are used. If a particular display option hasn't been specified for a particular tag, or if it is specified as an empty string, then that option will not be used; the next-highest-priority tag's option will be used instead. If no tag specifies a particular display option, then the default style for the widget will be used. Images are used for display purposes only. Editing in that cell will still be enabled and any querying of the cell will show the text value of the cell, regardless of the value of **-showtext**. Note: There can be only one tag for a given tag type. ( Tag types = **flash**, **active**, **sel**, **title**, **celltag** **rowtag**, **coltag**.) For example, you can't apply two cell tags to a single cell (or two row tags to a single row, etc) and expect the tag's properties to be merged. The last tag-type applied will be the one that is used. ## Embedded Windows There may be any number of embedded windows in a table widget (one per cell), and any widget may be used as an embedded window (subject to the usual rules for geometry management, which require the table window to be the parent of the embedded window or a descendant of its parent). The embedded window's position on the screen will be updated as the table is modified or scrolled, and it will be mapped and unmapped as it moves into and out of the visible area of the table widget. Each embedded window occupies one cell's worth of space in the table widget, and it is referred to by the index of the cell in the table. Windows associated with the table widget are destroyed when the table widget is destroyed. Windows are used for display purposes only. A value still exists for that cell, but will not be shown unless the window is deleted in some way. If the window is destroyed or lost by the table widget to another geometry manager, then any data associated with it is lost (the cell it occupied will no longer appear in **window names**). When an embedded window is added to a table widget with the window configure widget command, several configuration options may be associated with it. These options may be modified with later calls to the window configure widget command. The following options are currently supported: - **-create** *callback* NOT CURRENTLY SUPPORTED. Specifies a Tcl script that may be evaluated to create the window for the annotation. \ If no -window option has been specified for this cell then this script will be evaluated when the cell is about to be displayed on the screen. \ Script must create a window for the cell and return the name of that window as its result. If the cell's window should ever be deleted, the script will be evaluated again the next time the cell is displayed. - **-background** or **-bg** *color* Background color of the cell. If not specified, it uses the table's default background. - **-borderwidth** or **-bd** *pixelList* Borderwidth of the cell, of the same format for the table, but may also be empty to inherit the default table borderwidth value (the default). - **-padx** *pixels* As defined in the Tk options man page. - **-pady** *pixels* As defined in the Tk options man page. - **-relief** *relief* The relief to use for the cell in which the window lies. If not specified, it uses the table's default relief. - **-sticky** *sticky* Stickiness of the window inside the cell, as defined by the **grid** command. - **-window** *$widget* Specifies the a window to display in the annotation. It must exist before being specified here. ## the Selection Table selections are available as type STRING. By default, the value of the selection will be the values of the selected cells in nested Tcl list form where each row is a list and each column is an element of a row list. You can change the way this value is interpreted by setting the **-rowseparator** and **-colseparator** options. \ For example, default Excel format would be to set **-rowseparator** to "\\n" and **-colseparator** to "\\t". Changing these values affects both how the table sends out the selection and reads in pasted data, ensuring that the table should always be able to cut and paste to itself. It is possible to change how pastes are handled by editing the table library procedure **tk\_tablePasteHandler** . This might be necessary if **-selectioncommand** is set. ## Row/Col Spanning Individual cells can span multiple rows and/or columns. This is done via the **spans** command (see below for exact arguments). Cells in the title area that span are not permitted to span beyond the title area, and will be constrained accordingly. If the title area shrinks during a configure, sanity checking will occur to ensure the above. You may set spans on regular cells that extend beyond the defined row/col area. These spans will not be constrained, so that when the defined row/col area expands, the span will expand with it. When setting a span, checks are made as to whether the span would overlap an already spanning or hidden cell. This is an error and it not allowed. Spans can affect the overall speed of table drawing, although not significantly. If spans are not used, then there is no performance loss. Cells *hidden* by spanning cells still have valid data. This will be seen during cut and paste operations that involve hidden cells, or through direct access by a command like **get** or **set**. The drawing properties of spanning cells apply to only the visual area of the cell. For example, if a cell is center justified over 5 columns, then when viewing any portion of those columns, it will appear centered in the visible area. The non-visible column area will not be considered in the centering calculations. ## Command Substitution The various option based commands that the table supports all support the familiar Tk %-substitution model (see Tk::bind for more details). \ The following %-sequences are recognized and substituted by the table widget: - **%c** For **SelectionCommand**, it is the maximum number of columns in any row in the selection. Otherwise it is the column of the triggered cell. - **%C** A convenience substitution for *%r*,*%c*. - **%i** For **SelectionCommand**, it is the total number of cells in the selection. For **Command**, it is 0 for a read (get) and 1 for a write (set). Otherwise it is the current cursor position in the cell. - **%r** For **SelectionCommand**, it is the number of rows in the selection. Otherwise it is the row of the triggered cell. - **%s** For **ValidateCommand**, it is the current value of the cell being validated. For **SelectionCommand**, it is the default value of the selection. For **BrowseCommand** , it is the index of the last active cell. For **Command**, it is empty for reads (get) and the current value of the cell for writes (set). - **%S** For **ValidateCommand**, it is the potential new value of the cell being validated. For **BrowseCommand**, it is the index of the new active cell. - **%W** The pathname to the window for which the command was generated. ## Widget Methods The **$window-**\>**TableMatrix** method creates a widget object. This object supports the **configure** and **cget** methods described in Tk::options which can be used to enquire and modify the options described above. The widget also inherits all the methods provided by the generic Tk::Widget class. The following additional methods are available for scale widgets: - *$table*-\>**activate**(*index*) Sets the active cell to the one indicated by *index*. - *$table*-\>**bbox**(*first*, ?*last*?) It returns the bounding box for the specified cell (range) as a 4-tuple of x, y, width and height in pixels. It clips the box to the visible portion, if any, otherwise an empty string is returned. - *$table*-\>**border**(*option, args*) This command is a voodoo hack to implement border sizing for tables. This is normally called through bindings, with the following as valid options: - *$table*-\>**borderMark**(*x, y*, ?*row\|col*?) Records *x* and *y* and the row and/or column border under that point in the table window, if any; used in conjunction with later **border dragto** commands. Typically this command is associated with a mouse button press in the widget. If *row* or *col* is not specified, it returns a tuple of both border indices (an empty item means no border). Otherwise, just the specified item is returned. - *$table*-\>**borderDragto**(*x, y*) This command computes the difference between its *x* and *y* arguments and the *x* and *y* arguments to the last **border mark** command for the widget. It then adjusts the previously marked border by the difference. This command is typically associated with mouse motion events in the widget, to produce the effect of interactive border resizing. - *$table*-\>**cget**(*option*) Returns the current value of the configuration option given by *option*. *Option* may have any of the values accepted by the **table** command. - *$table*-\>**clear**(*option*, ?*first*?, ?*last*?) This command is a convenience routine to clear certain state information managed by the table. *first* and *last* represent valid table indices. If neither are specified, then the command operates on the whole table. The following options are recognized: - *$table*-\>**clearCache**(?*first*?, ?*last*?) Clears the specified section of the cache, if the table has been keeping one. - *$table*-\>**clearSizes**(?*first*?, ?*last*?) Clears the specified row and column areas of specific height/width dimensions. When just one index is specified, for example **2,0**, that is interpreted as row 2 **and** column 0. - *$table*-\>**clearTags**(?*first*?, ?*last*?) Clears the specified area of tags (all row, column and cell tags). - *$table*-\>**clearAll**(?*first*?, ?*last*?) Performs all of the above clear functions on the specified area. - *$table*-\>**colWidth**(?*col*?, ?*value, col, value, ...*?) If no *col* is specified, returns a list describing all cols for which a width has been set. If **col** is specified with no value, it prints out the width of that col in characters (positive number) or pixels (negative number). If one or more *col-value* pairs are specified, then it sets each col to be that width in characters (positive number) or pixels (negative number). If *value* is *default*, then the col uses the default width, specified by **-colwidth**. - *$table*-\>**configure**(?*option*?, ?*value, option, value, ...*?) Query or modify the configuration options of the widget. If no *option* is specified, returns a list describing all of the available options for *pathName* (see **Tk\_ConfigureInfo** for information on the format of this list). If *option* is specified with no *value*, then the command returns a list describing the one named option (this list will be identical to the corresponding sublist of the value returned if no *option* is specified). If one or more *option-value* pairs are specified, then the command modifies the given widget option(s) to have the given value(s); in this case the command returns an empty string. *Option* may have any of the values accepted by the **table** command. - *$table*-\>**curselection**(?*value*?) With no arguments, it returns the sorted indices of the currently selected cells. Otherwise it sets all the selected cells to the given value. The set has no effect if there is no associated Tcl array or the state is disabled. - *$table*-\>**curvalue**(?*value*?) If no value is given, the value of the cell being edited (indexed by **active**) is returned, else it is set to the given value. - *$table*-\>**delete**(*option, arg*, ?*arg*?) This command is used to delete various things in a table. It has several forms, depending on the *option*: - *$table*-\>**deleteActive**(*index*, ?*index*?) Deletes text from the active cell. If only one index is given, it deletes the character after that index, otherwise it deletes from the first index to the second. *index* can be a number, **insert** or **end**. - *$table*-\>**deleteCols**(?*switches*?, *index*, ?*count*?) Deletes *count* cols starting at (and including) col *index*. The *index* will be constrained to the limits of the tables. If *count* is negative, it deletes cols to the left. Otherwise it deletes cols to the right. *count* defaults to 1 (meaning just the column specified). The selection will be cleared. At the moment, spans are not adjusted with this action. Optional switches are: - **-holddimensions** Causes the table cols to be unaffected by the deletion (empty cols may appear). \ By default the dimensions are adjusted by **count**. - **-holdtags** Causes the tags specified by the *tag* method to not move along with the data. Also prevents specific widths set by the *width* method from being adjusted. \ By default, these tags are properly adjusted. - **-holdwindows** Causes the embedded windows created with the *window* method to not move along with the data. By default, these windows are properly adjusted. - **-keeptitles** Prevents title area cells from being changed. Otherwise they are treated just like regular cells and will move as specified. - *$table*-\>**deleteRows**(?*switches*?, *index*, ?*count*?) Deletes **count** rows starting at (and including) row **index**. If **count** is negative, it deletes rows going up. Otherwise it deletes rows going down. The selection will be cleared. The switches are the same as those for column deletion. - *$table*-\>**get**(*first*, ?*last*?) Returns the value of the cells specified by the table indices *first* and (optionally) *last* in a list. - *$table*-\>**hidden**(?*index*?, ?*index, ...*?) When called without args, it returns all the *hidden* cells (those cells covered by a spanning cell). If one index is specified, it returns the spanning cell covering that index, if any. If multiple indices are specified, it returns 1 if all indices are hidden cells, 0 otherwise. - *$table*-\>**icursor**(?*arg*?) With no arguments, prints out the location of the insertion cursor in the active cell. With one argument, sets the cursor to that point in the string. 0 is before the first character, you can also use **insert** or **end** for the current insertion point or the end of the text. If there is no active cell, or the cell or table is disabled, this will return -1. - *$table*-\>**index**(*index*, ?*row\|col*?) Returns the integer cell coordinate that corresponds to *index* in the form row,col. If **row** or **col** is specified, then only the row or column index is returned. - *$table*-\>**insert**(*option, arg, arg*) This command is used to into various things into a table. It has several forms, depending on the *option*: - *$table*-\>**insertActive**(*index, value*) The *value* is a text string which is inserted at the *index* postion of the active cell. The cursor is then positioned after the new text. *index* can be a number, **insert** or **end**. - *$table*-\>**insertCols**(?*switches*?, *index*, ?*count*?) Inserts **count** cols starting at col **index**. If **count** is negative, it inserts before the specified col. Otherwise it inserts after the specified col. The selection will be cleared. The switches are the same as those for column deletion. - *$table*-\>**insertRows**(?*switches*?, *index*, ?*count*?) Inserts **count** rows starting at row **index**. If **count** is negative, it inserts before the specified row. Otherwise it inserts after the specified row. The selection will be cleared. The switches are the same as those for column deletion. - *$table*-\>**reread**() Rereads the old contents of the cell back into the editing buffer. Useful for a key binding when \ is pressed to abort the edit (a default binding). - *$table*-\>**rowHeight**(?*row*?, ?*value, row, value, ...*?) If no *row* is specified, returns a list describing all rows for which a height has been set. If **row** is specified with no value, it prints out the height of that row in characters (positive number) or pixels (negative number). If one or more *row-value* pairs are specified, then it sets each row to be that height in lines (positive number) or pixels (negative number). If *value* is *default*, then the row uses the default height, specified by **-rowheight**. - *$table*-\>**scan**(*option, args*) This command is used to implement scanning on tables. It has two forms, depending on *option*: - *$table*-\>**scanMark**(*x, y*) Records *x* and *y* and the current view in the table window; \ used in conjunction with later **scan dragto** commands. Typically this command is associated with a mouse button press in the widget. It returns an empty string. - *$table*-\>**scanDragto**(*x, y*.) This command computes the difference between its *x* and *y* arguments and the *x* and *y* arguments to the last **scan mark** command for the widget. It then adjusts the view by 5 times the difference in coordinates. This command is typically associated with mouse motion events in the widget, to produce the effect of dragging the list at high speed through the window. The return value is an empty string. - *$table*-\>**see**(*index*) Adjust the view in the table so that the cell given by *index* is positioned as the cell one off from top left (excluding title rows and columns) if the cell is not currently visible on the screen. The actual cell may be different to keep the screen full. - *$table*-\>**selection**(*option, arg*) This command is used to adjust the selection within a table. \ It has several forms, depending on *option*: - *$table*-\>**selectionAnchor**(*index*) Sets the selection anchor to the cell given by *index*. The selection anchor is the end of the selection that is fixed while dragging out a selection with the mouse. The index **anchor** may be used to refer to the anchor cell. - *$table*-\>**selectionClear**(*first*?*last*?) If any of the cells between *first* and *last* (inclusive) are selected, they are deselected. \ The selection state is not changed for cells outside this range. *first* may be specified as **all** to remove the selection from all cells. - *$table*-\>**selectionIncludes**(*index*) Returns 1 if the cell indicated by *index* is currently selected, 0 if it isn't. - *$table*-\>**selectionSet**(*first*, ?*last*?) Selects all of the cells in the range between *first* and *last*, inclusive, without affecting the selection state of cells outside that range. perltk note this needs to be perlized - *$table*-\>**set**(?*row\|col*?, *index*, ?*value*?, ?*index, value, ...*?) Sets the specified index to the associated value. Table validation will not be triggered via this method. If **row** or **col** precedes the list of index/value pairs, then the value is assumed to be a Tcl list whose values will be split and set into the subsequent columns (if **row** is specified) or rows (for **col**). For example, **set row 2,3 {2,3 2,4 2,5}** will set 3 cells, from 2,3 to 2,5. The setting of cells is silently bounded by the known table dimensions. - *$table*-\>**spans**(?*index*?, ?*rows,cols, index, rows,cols, ...*?) This command is used to manipulate row/col spans. When called with no arguments, all known spans are returned as a list of tuples of the form {index span}. When called with only the *index*, the span for that *index* only is returned, if any. Otherwise an even number of *index rows,cols* pairs are used to set spans. A span starts at the *index* and continues for the specified number of rows and cols. Negative spans are not supported. A span of 0,0 unsets any span on that cell. See EXAMPLES for more info. - *$table*-\>**tag**(option, ?*arg, arg, ...*?) This command is used to manipulate tags. The exact behavior of the command depends on the *option* argument that follows the **tag** argument. *cget*, *cell*, and *row\|col* complain about unknown tag names. The following forms of the command are currently supported: - *$table*-\>**tagCell**(*tagName, ?index, ...?*) With no arguments, prints out the list of cells that use the *tag*. Otherwise it sets the specified cells to use the named tag, replacing any tag that may have been set using this method before. If *tagName* is '', the cells are reset to the default *tag*. Tags added during -\*tagcommand evaluation do not register here. If *tagName* does not exist, it will be created with the default options. - *$table*-\>**tagCget**(*tagName, option*) This command returns the current value of the option named *option* associated with the tag given by *tagName*. *Option* may have any of the values accepted by the **tag configure** widget command. - *$table*-\>**tagCol**(*tagName, ?col, ...?*) With no arguments, prints out the list of cols that use the *tag*. Otherwise it sets the specified columns to use the named tag, replacing any tag that may have been set using this method before. If \ is '', the cols are reset to the default *tag*. Tags added during -coltagcommand evaluation do not register here. If *tagName* does not exist, it will be created with the default options. - *$table*-\>**tagConfigure**(*tagName*, ?*option*?, ?*value*?, ?*option, value, ...*?) This command is similar to the **configure** widget command except that it modifies options associated with the tag given by *tagName* instead of modifying options for the overall table widget. If no *option* is specified, the command returns a list describing all of the available options for *tagName* (see **Tk\_ConfigureInfo** for information on the format of this list). If *option* is specified with no *value*, then the command returns a list describing the one named option (this list will be identical to the corresponding sublist of the value returned if no *option* is specified). If one or more *option-value* pairs are specified, then the command modifies the given option(s) to have the given value(s) in *tagName*; in this case the command returns an empty string. See TAGS above for details on the options available for tags. - *$table*-\>**tagDelete**(*tagName*) Deletes a tag. No error if the tag does not exist. - *$table*-\>**tagExists**(*tagName*) Returns 1 if the named tag exists, 0 otherwise. - *$table*-\>**tagIncludes**(*tagName, index*) Returns 1 if the specified index has the named tag, 0 otherwise. - *$table*-\>**tagLower**(*tagName, ?belowThis?*) Lower the priority of the named tag. If *belowThis* is not specified, then the tag's priority is lowered to the bottom, otherwise it is lowered to one below *belowThis*. - *$table*-\>**tagNames**(?*pattern*?) If no pattern is specified, shows the names of all defined tags. Otherwise the *pattern* is used as a glob pattern to show only tags matching that pattern. Tag names are returned in priority order (highest priority tag first). - *$table*-\>**tagRaise**(*tagName, ?aboveThis?*) Raise the priority of the named tag. If *aboveThis* is not specified, then the tag's priority is raised to the top, otherwise it is raised to one above *aboveThis*. - *$table*-\>**tagRow**(*tagName, ?row, ...?*) With no arguments, prints out the list of rows that use the *tag*. Otherwise it sets the specified columns to use the named tag, replacing any tag that may have been set using this method before. If *tagName* is '', the rows are reset to use the default tag. Tags added during -rowtagcommand evaluation do not register here. If *tagName* does not exist, it will be created with the default options. - *$table*-\>**validate**(*index*) Explicitly validates the specified index based on the current **-validatecommand** and returns 0 or 1 based on whether the cell was validated. - *$table*-\>**window**(option, ?*arg, arg, ...*?) This command is used to manipulate embedded windows. The exact behavior of the command depends on the *option* argument that follows the **window** argument. The following forms of the command are currently supported: - *$table*-\>**windowCget**(*index, option*) This command returns the current value of the option named *option* associated with the window given by *index*. *Option* may have any of the values accepted by the **window configure** widget command. - *$table*-\>**windowConfigure**(*index*, ?*option*?, ?*value*?, ?*option, value, ...*?) This command is similar to the **configure** widget command except that it modifies options associated with the embedded window given by *index* instead of modifying options for the overall table widget. If no *option* is specified, the command returns a list describing all of the available options for *index* (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 *index*; in this case the command returns an empty string. See EMBEDDED WINDOWS above for details on the options available for windows. - *$table*-\>**windowDelete**(*index*, ?*index, ...*?) Deletes an embedded window from the table. The associated window will also be deleted. - *$table*-\>**windowMove**(*indexFrom, indexTo*) Moves an embedded window from one cell to another. If a window already exists in the target cell, it will be deleted. - *$table*-\>**windowNames**(?*pattern*?) If no pattern is specified, shows the cells of all embedded windows. Otherwise the *pattern* is used as a glob pattern to show only cells matching that pattern. - *$table*-\>**xview**(*args*) This command is used to query and change the horizontal position of the information in the widget's window. It can take any of the following forms: - *$table*-\>**xview**() Returns a list containing two elements. Each element is a real fraction between 0 and 1; together they describe the horizontal span that is visible in the window. For example, if the first element is .2 and the second element is .6, 20% of the table's text is off-screen to the left, the middle 40% is visible in the window, and 40% of the text is off-screen to the right. These are the same values passed to scrollbars via the **-xscrollcommand** option. - *$table*-\>**xview**(*index*) Adjusts the view in the window so that the column given by *index* is displayed at the left edge of the window. - *$table*-\>**xviewMoveto**(*fraction*) Adjusts the view in the window so that *fraction* of the total width of the table text is off-screen to the left. *fraction* must be a fraction between 0 and 1. - *$table*-\>**xviewScroll**(*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 by *number* cells on the display; if it is **pages** then the view adjusts by *number* screenfuls. If *number* is negative then cells farther to the left become visible; if it is positive then cells farther to the right become visible. - *$table*-\>**yview**(*?args*?) This command is used to query and change the vertical position of the text in the widget's window. It can take any of the following forms: - *$table*-\>**yview**() Returns a list containing two elements, both of which are real fractions between 0 and 1. The first element gives the position of the table element at the top of the window, relative to the table as a whole (0.5 means it is halfway through the table, for example). The second element gives the position of the table element just after the last one in the window, relative to the table as a whole. These are the same values passed to scrollbars via the **-yscrollcommand** option. - *$table*-\>**yview**(*index*) Adjusts the view in the window so that the row given by *index* is displayed at the top of the window. - *$table*-\>**yviewMoveto**(*fraction*) Adjusts the view in the window so that the element given by *fraction* appears at the top of the window. *Fraction* is a fraction between 0 and 1; 0 indicates the first element in the table, 0.33 indicates the element one-third the way through the table, and so on. - *$table*-\>**yviewscroll**(*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 by *number* cells; if it is **pages** then the view adjusts by *number* screenfuls. If *number* is negative then earlier elements become visible; if it is positive then later elements become visible. ## Default Bindings The initialization creates class bindings that give the following default behaviour: - \[1\] Clicking Button-1 in a cell activates that cell. Clicking into an already active cell moves the insertion cursor to the character nearest the mouse. - \[2\] Moving the mouse while Button-1 is pressed will stroke out a selection area. Exiting while Button-1 is pressed causing scanning to occur on the table along with selection. - \[3\] Moving the mouse while Button-2 is pressed causes scanning to occur without any selection. - \[4\] Home moves the table to have the origin in view. - \[5\] End moves the table to have the **end** cell in view. - \[6\] Control-Home moves the table to the origin and activates that cell. - \[7\] Control-End moves the table to the end and activates that cell. - \[8\] Shift-Control-Home extends the selection to the origin. - \[9\] Shift-Control-End extends the selection to the end. - \[10\] The left, right, up and down arrows move the active cell. - \[11\] Shift-\ extends the selection in that direction. - \[12\] Control-leftarrow and Control-rightarrow move the insertion cursor within the cell. - \[13\] Control-slash selects all the cells. - \[14\] Control-backslash clears selection from all the cells. - \[15\] Backspace deletes the character before the insertion cursor in the active cell. - \[16\] Delete deletes the character after the insertion cursor in the active cell. - \[17\] Escape rereads the value of the active cell from the specified data source, discarding any edits that have may been performed on the cell. - \[18\] Control-a moves the insertion cursor to the beginning of the active cell. - \[19\] Control-e moves the insertion cursor to the end of the active cell. - \[20\] Control-minus and Control-equals decrease and increase the width of the column with the active cell in it. - \[21\] Moving the mouse while Button-3 (the right button on Windows) is pressed while you are over a border will cause interactive resizing of that row and/or column to occur, based on the value of **-resizeborders**. Some bindings may have slightly different behavior dependent on the **-selectionmode** of the widget. If the widget is disabled using the **-state** option, then its view can still be adjusted and cells can still be selected, but no insertion cursor will be displayed and no cell modifications will take place. The behavior of tables can be changed by defining new bindings for individual widgets or by redefining the class bindings. The default bindings are either compiled in the TableMatrix.pm file ## Performance Issues The number of rows and columns or a table widget should not significantly affect the speed of redraw. Recalculation and redraw of table parameters and cells is restricted as much as possible. The display cell with the insert cursor is redrawn each time the cursor blinks, which causes a steady stream of graphics traffic. Set the **-insertofftime** option to 0 avoid this. The use of a **-command** with the table without a cache can cause significant slow-down, as the command is called once for each request of a cell value. ## Examples Set the topleft title area to be one spanning cell. This overestimates both row and column span by one, but the command does all the constraining for us. **$table span \[$table cget -roworigin\],\[$table cget -colorigin\] \[$table** **cget -titlerows\],\[$table cget -titlecols\]** Force a table window refresh (useful for the slight chance that a bug in the table is not causing proper refresh): **$table configure -padx \[$table cget -padx\]** ## Keywords table, widget, extension