Spinbox(3pm) User Contributed Perl Documentation Spinbox(3pm)
NAME
Tk::Spinbox - Create and manipulate Spinbox widgets
SYNOPSIS
$spinbox = $parent->Spinbox(?options?);
-activebackground -highlightthickness -repeatinterval
-background -insertbackground -selectbackground
-borderwidth -insertborderwidth -selectborderwidth
-cursor -insertontime -selectforeground
-exportselection -insertwidth -takefocus
-font -insertofftime -textvariable
-foreground -justify -xscrollcommand
-highlightbackground -relief
-highlightcolor -repeatdelay
WIDGET-SPECIFIC OPTIONS
Option: -buttonbackground
Name: buttonBackground
Class: Background
The background color to be used for the spin buttons.
Option: -buttoncursor
Name: buttonCursor
Class: Cursor
The cursor to be used when over the spin buttons. If this is empty
(the default), a default cursor will be used.
Option: -buttondownrelief
Name: buttonDownRelief
Class: Relief
The relief to be used for the upper spin button.
Option: -buttonuprelief
Name: buttonUpRelief
Class: Relief
The relief to be used for the lower spin button.
Option: -command
Name: command
Class: Command
Specifies a Perl/Tk callback to invoke whenever a Spinbutton is
invoked. The callback has these two arguments appended to any
existing callback arguments: the current value of the widget and the
direction of the button press (up or down).
Option: -disabledbackground
Name: disabledBackground
Class: DisabledBackground
Specifies the background color to use when the Spinbox is disabled.
If this option is the empty string, the normal background color is
used.
Option: -disabledforeground
Name: disabledForeground
Class: DisabledForeground
Specifies the foreground color to use when the Spinbox is disabled.
If this option is the empty string, the normal foreground color is
used.
Option: -format
Name: format
Class: Format
Specifies an alternate format to use when setting the string value
when using the -from and -to range. This must be a format specifier
of the form %<pad>.<pad>f, as it will format a floating-point
number.
Option: -from
Name: from
Class: From
A floating-point value corresponding to the lowest value for a
Spinbox, to be used in conjunction with -to and -increment. When
all are specified correctly, the Spinbox will use these values to
control its contents. This value must be less than the -to option.
If -values is specified, it supercedes this option.
Option: -invalidcommand
Alias: -invcmd
Name: invalidCommand
Class: InvalidCommand
Specifies a script to eval when validateCommand returns 0. Setting
it to an empty string disables this feature (the default). The best
use of this option is to set it to bell. See Validation below for
more information.
Option: -increment
Name: increment
Class: Increment
A floating-point value specifying the increment. When used with
-from and -to, the value in the widget will be adjusted by
-increment when a spin button is pressed (up adds the value, down
subtracts the value).
Option: -readonlybackground
Name: readonlyBackground
Class: ReadonlyBackground
Specifies the background color to use when the Spinbox is readonly.
If this option is the empty string, the normal background color is
used.
Option: -state
Name: state
Class: State
Specifies one of three states for the Spinbox: normal, disabled, or
readonly. If the Spinbox is readonly, then the value may not be
changed using methods and no insertion cursor will be displayed,
even if the input focus is in the widget; the contents of the widget
may still be selected. If the Spinbox is disabled, the value may
not be changed, no insertion cursor will be displayed, the contents
will not be selectable, and the Spinbox may be displayed in a
different color, depending on the values of the -disabledforeground
and -disabledbackground options.
Option: -to
Name: to
Class: To
A floating-point value corresponding to the highest value for the
Spinbox, to be used in conjunction with -from and -increment. When
all are specified correctly, the Spinbox will use these values to
control its contents. This value must be greater than the -from
option. If -values is specified, it supercedes this option.
Option: -validate
Name: validate
Class: Validate
Specifies the mode in which validation should operate: none, focus,
focusin, focusout, key, or all. It defaults to none. When you want
validation, you must explicitly state which mode you wish to use.
See Validation below for more.
Option: -validatecommand
Alias: -vcmd
Name: validateCommand
Class: ValidateCommand
Specifies a script to evaluate when you want to validate the input
in the widget. Setting it to an empty string disables this feature
(the default). Validation occurs according to the value of
-validate. This command must return a valid boolean value. If it
returns 0 (or the valid boolean equivalent) then the value of the
widget will not change and the invalidCommand will be evaluated if
it is set. If it returns 1, then value will be changed. See
Validation below for more information.
Option: -values
Name: values
Class: Values
Must be a proper list value. If specified, the Spinbox will use
these values as to control its contents, starting with the first
value. This option has precedence over the -from and -to range.
Option: -width
Name: width
Class: Width
Specifies an integer value indicating the desired width of the
Spinbox window, in average-size characters of the widget's font. If
the value is less than or equal to zero, the widget picks a size
just large enough to hold its current text.
Option: -wrap
Name: wrap
Class: Wrap
Must be a proper boolean value. If on, the Spinbox will wrap around
the values of data in the widget.
DESCRIPTION
The Spinbox method creates a new window (given by the $spinbox argument)
and makes it into a Spinbox widget. Additional options, described
above, may be specified on the command line or in the option database to
configure aspects of the Spinbox such as its colors, font, and relief.
A Spinbox is an extended Entry widget that allows he user to move, or
spin, through a fixed set of ascending or descending values such as
times or dates in addition to editing the value as in an entry. When
first created, a Spinbox's string is empty. A portion of the Spinbox
may be selected as described below. If a Spinbox is exporting its
selection (see the exportSelection option), then it will observe the
standard protocols for handling the selection; Spinbox selections are
available as type STRING. Spinboxes also observe the standard Tk rules
for dealing with the input focus. When a Spinbox has the input focus it
displays an insertion cursor to indicate where new characters will be
inserted.
Spinboxes are capable of displaying strings that are too long to fit
entirely within the widget's window. In this case, only a portion of
the string will be displayed; commands described below may be used to
change the view in the window. Spinboxes use the standard
-xscrollcommand mechanism for interacting with scrollbars (see the
description of the -xscrollcommand option for details). They also
support scanning, as described below.
VALIDATION
Validation works by setting the validateCommand option to a callback
which will be evaluated according to the validate option as follows:
none
Default. This means no validation will occur.
focus
validateCommand will be called when the Spinbox receives or loses
focus.
focusin
validateCommand will be called when the Spinbox receives focus.
focusout
validateCommand will be called when the Spinbox loses focus.
key validateCommand will be called when the Spinbox is edited.
all validateCommand will be called for all above conditions.
The validateCommand and invalidCommand callbacks are invoked with at
least 5 positional arguments, which are appended to any already
existing callback arguments:
• 1
The proposed value of the entry. If you are configuring the
entry widget to have a new textVariable, this will be the value
of that textVariable.
• 2
The characters to be added (or deleted). This will be "undef" if
validation is due to focus, explcit call to validate or if
change is due to "-textvariable" changing.
• 3
The current value of entry i.e. before the proposed change.
• 4
The index of character string to be added/deleted, if any.
Otherwise -1.
• 5
Type of action. 1 == INSERT, 0 == DELETE, -1 if it's a forced
validation or textVariable validation.
In general, the textVariable and validateCommand can be dangerous to
mix. Any problems have been overcome so that using the
validateCommand will not interfere with the traditional behavior of
the Spinbox widget. Using the textVariable for read-only purposes
will never cause problems. The danger comes when you try set the
textVariable to something that the validateCommand would not accept,
which causes validate to become none (the invalidCommand will not be
triggered). The same happens when an error occurs evaluating the
validateCommand.
Primarily, an error will occur when the validateCommand or
invalidCommand encounters an error in its script while evaluating or
validateCommand does not return a valid boolean value. The validate
option will also set itself to none when you edit the Spinbox widget
from within either the validateCommand or the invalidCommand. Such
editions will override the one that was being validated. If you
wish to edit the value of the widget during validation and still
have the validate option set, you should include the command
my $val = $spinbox->cget(-validate);
$spinbox->configure(-validate => $val);
in the validateCommand or invalidCommand (whichever one you were
editing the Spinbox widget from). It is also recommended to not set
an associated textVariable during validation, as that can cause the
Spinbox widget to become out of sync with the textVariable.
WIDGET METHODS
The Spinbox command creates a widget object whose name is $widget. This
command may be used to invoke various operations on the widget. It has
the following general form:
$widget->method(?arg arg ...?);
Many of the methods for Spinboxes take one or more indices as arguments.
An index specifies a particular character in the Spinbox's string, in
any of the following ways:
number
Specifies the character as a numerical index, where 0 corresponds to
the first character in the string.
anchor
Indicates the anchor point for the selection, which is set with the
select from and select adjust methods.
end Indicates the character just after the last one in the Spinbox's
string. This is equivalent to specifying a numerical index equal to
the length of the Spinbox's string.
insert
Indicates the character adjacent to and immediately following the
insertion cursor.
sel.first
Indicates the first character in the selection. It is an error to
use this form if the selection isn't in the Spinbox window.
sel.last
Indicates the character just after the last one in the selection.
It is an error to use this form if the selection isn't in the
Spinbox window.
@number
In this form, number is treated as an x-coordinate in the Spinbox's
window; the character spanning that x-coordinate is used. For
example, ``@0'' indicates the left-most character in the window.
Abbreviations may be used for any of the forms above, e.g. ``e'' or
``sel.f''. In general, out-of-range indices are automatically rounded
to the nearest legal value.
The following commands are possible for Spinbox widgets:
$widget->bbox(index);
Returns a list of four numbers describing the bounding box of the
character given by index. The first two elements of the list give
the x and y coordinates of the upper-left corner of the screen area
covered by the character (in pixels relative to the widget) and the
last two elements give the width and height of the character, in
pixels. The bounding box may refer to a region outside the visible
area of the window.
$widget->cget(option);
Returns the current value of the configuration option given by
option. Option may have any of the values accepted by the Spinbox
command.
$widget->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 $widget (see Tk::configure 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 Spinbox
command.
$widget->delete(first, ?last?);
Delete one or more elements of the Spinbox. First is the index of
the first character to delete, and last is the index of the
character just after the last one to delete. If last isn't
specified it defaults to first+1, i.e. a single character is
deleted. This command returns an empty string.
$widget->get;
Returns the Spinbox's string.
$widget->icursor(index);
Arrange for the insertion cursor to be displayed just before the
character given by index. Returns an empty string.
$widget->identify(x, y);
Returns the name of the window element corresponding to coordinates
x and y in the Spinbox. Return value is one of: none, buttondown,
buttonup, entry.
$widget->index(index);
Returns the numerical index corresponding to index.
$widget->insert(index, string);
Insert the characters of string just before the character indicated
by index. Returns an empty string.
$widget->invoke(element);
Causes the specified element, either buttondown or buttonup, to be
invoked, triggering the action associated with it.
$widget->scan(option, args);
This command is used to implement scanning on Spinboxes. It has two
forms, depending on option:
$widget->scanMark(x);
Records x and the current view in the Spinbox 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.
$widget->scanDragto(x);
This command computes the difference between its x argument and
the x argument to the last scan mark command for the widget. It
then adjusts the view left or right by 10 times the difference
in x-coordinates. This command is typically associated with
mouse motion events in the widget, to produce the effect of
dragging the Spinbox at high speed through the window. The
return value is an empty string.
$widget->selection(option, arg);
This command is used to adjust the selection within a Spinbox. It
has several forms, depending on option:
$widget->selectionAdjust(index);
Locate the end of the selection nearest to the character given
by index, and adjust that end of the selection to be at index
(i.e including but not going beyond index). The other end of
the selection is made the anchor point for future select to
commands. If the selection isn't currently in the Spinbox, then
a new selection is created to include the characters between
index and the most recent selection anchor point, inclusive.
Returns an empty string.
$widget->selectionClear;
Clear the selection if it is currently in this widget. If the
selection isn't in this widget then the command has no effect.
Returns an empty string.
$widget->selectionElement(?element?);
Sets or gets the currently selected element. If a spinbutton
element is specified, it will be displayed depressed.
$widget->selectionFrom(index);
Set the selection anchor point to just before the character
given by index. Doesn't change the selection. Returns an empty
string.
$widget->selectionPresent;
Returns 1 if there is are characters selected in the Spinbox, 0
if nothing is selected.
$widget->selectionRange(start, end);
Sets the selection to include the characters starting with the
one indexed by start and ending with the one just before end.
If end refers to the same character as start or an earlier one,
then the Spinbox's selection is cleared.
$widget->selectionTo(index);
If index is before the anchor point, set the selection to the
characters from index up to but not including the anchor point.
If index is the same as the anchor point, do nothing. If index
is after the anchor point, set the selection to the characters
from the anchor point up to but not including index. The anchor
point is determined by the most recent select from or select
adjust command in this widget. If the selection isn't in this
widget then a new selection is created using the most recent
anchor point specified for the widget. Returns an empty string.
$widget->set(?string?);
If string is specified, the Spinbox will try and set it to this
value, otherwise it just returns the Spinbox's string. If
validation is on, it will occur when setting the string.
$widget->validate;
This command is used to force an evaluation of the validateCommand
independent of the conditions specified by the validate option.
This is done by temporarily setting the validate option to all. It
returns 0 or 1.
$widget->xview(args);
This command is used to query and change the horizontal position of
the text in the widget's window. It can take any of the following
forms:
$widget->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 Spinbox'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.
$widget->xview(index);
Adjusts the view in the window so that the character given by
index is displayed at the left edge of the window.
$widget->xviewMoveto(fraction);
Adjusts the view in the window so that the character fraction of
the way through the text appears at the left edge of the window.
Fraction must be a fraction between 0 and 1.
$widget->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 average-width characters on the display; if it is pages
then the view adjusts by number screenfuls. If number is
negative then characters farther to the left become visible; if
it is positive then characters farther to the right become
visible.
DEFAULT BINDINGS
Tk automatically creates class bindings for Spinboxes that give them the
following default behavior. In the descriptions below, ``word'' refers
to a contiguous group of letters, digits, or ``_'' characters, or any
single character other than these.
[1] Clicking mouse button 1 positions the insertion cursor just before
the character underneath the mouse cursor, sets the input focus to
this widget, and clears any selection in the widget. Dragging with
mouse button 1 strokes out a selection between the insertion cursor
and the character under the mouse.
[2] Double-clicking with mouse button 1 selects the word under the mouse
and positions the insertion cursor at the beginning of the word.
Dragging after a double click will stroke out a selection consisting
of whole words.
[3] Triple-clicking with mouse button 1 selects all of the text in the
Spinbox and positions the insertion cursor before the first
character.
[4] The ends of the selection can be adjusted by dragging with mouse
button 1 while the Shift key is down; this will adjust the end of
the selection that was nearest to the mouse cursor when button 1 was
pressed. If the button is double-clicked before dragging then the
selection will be adjusted in units of whole words.
[5] Clicking mouse button 1 with the Control key down will position the
insertion cursor in the Spinbox without affecting the selection.
[6] If any normal printing characters are typed in a Spinbox, they are
inserted at the point of the insertion cursor.
[7] The view in the Spinbox can be adjusted by dragging with mouse
button 2. If mouse button 2 is clicked without moving the mouse,
the selection is copied into the Spinbox at the position of the
mouse cursor.
[8] If the mouse is dragged out of the Spinbox on the left or right
sides while button 1 is pressed, the Spinbox will automatically
scroll to make more text visible (if there is more text off-screen
on the side where the mouse left the window).
[9] The Left and Right keys move the insertion cursor one character to
the left or right; they also clear any selection in the Spinbox and
set the selection anchor. If Left or Right is typed with the Shift
key down, then the insertion cursor moves and the selection is
extended to include the new character. Control-Left and Control-
Right move the insertion cursor by words, and Control-Shift-Left and
Control-Shift-Right move the insertion cursor by words and also
extend the selection. Control-b and Control-f behave the same as
Left and Right, respectively. Meta-b and Meta-f behave the same as
Control-Left and Control-Right, respectively.
[10]
The Home key, or Control-a, will move the insertion cursor to the
beginning of the Spinbox and clear any selection in the Spinbox.
Shift-Home moves the insertion cursor to the beginning of the
Spinbox and also extends the selection to that point.
[11]
The End key, or Control-e, will move the insertion cursor to the end
of the Spinbox and clear any selection in the Spinbox. Shift-End
moves the cursor to the end and extends the selection to that point.
[12]
The Select key and Control-Space set the selection anchor to the
position of the insertion cursor. They don't affect the current
selection. Shift-Select and Control-Shift-Space adjust the
selection to the current position of the insertion cursor, selecting
from the anchor to the insertion cursor if there was not any
selection previously.
[13]
Control-/ selects all the text in the Spinbox.
[14]
Control-\ clears any selection in the Spinbox.
[15]
The F16 key (labelled Copy on many Sun workstations) or Meta-w
copies the selection in the widget to the clipboard, if there is a
selection.
[16]
The F20 key (labelled Cut on many Sun workstations) or Control-w
copies the selection in the widget to the clipboard and deletes the
selection. If there is no selection in the widget then these keys
have no effect.
[17]
The F18 key (labelled Paste on many Sun workstations) or Control-y
inserts the contents of the clipboard at the position of the
insertion cursor.
[18]
The Delete key deletes the selection, if there is one in the
Spinbox. If there is no selection, it deletes the character to the
right of the insertion cursor.
[19]
The BackSpace key and Control-h delete the selection, if there is
one in the Spinbox. If there is no selection, it deletes the
character to the left of the insertion cursor.
[20]
Control-d deletes the character to the right of the insertion
cursor.
[21]
Meta-d deletes the word to the right of the insertion cursor.
[22]
Control-k deletes all the characters to the right of the insertion
cursor.
[23]
Control-t reverses the order of the two characters to the right of
the insertion cursor.
If the Spinbox is disabled using the -state option, then the
Spinbox's view can still be adjusted and text in the Spinbox can
still be selected, but no insertion cursor will be displayed and no
text modifications will take place.
The behavior of Spinboxes can be changed by defining new bindings
for individual widgets or by redefining the class bindings.
KEYWORDS
Spinbox, Entry, widget
perl v5.40.1 2025-04-13 Spinbox(3pm)
Generated by dwww version 1.16 on Sat Oct 3 07:36:17 CEST 2026.