form(3pm) User Contributed Perl Documentation form(3pm)
NAME
Tk::form - Geometry manager based on attachment rules
SYNOPSIS
$widget->form?(args)?
$widget->formOption?(args)?
DESCRIPTION
The form method is used to communicate with the form Geometry Manager, a
geometry manager that arranges the geometry of the children in a parent
window according to attachment rules. The form geometry manager is very
flexible and powerful; it can be used to emulate all the existing
features of the Tk packer and placer geometry managers (see pack,
place). The form method can have any of several forms, depending on
Option:
$slave->form?(options)?
Sets or adjusts the attachment values of the slave window according
to the -option=>value argument pairs.
-b => attachment
Abbreviation for the -bottom option.
-bottom => attachment
Specifies an attachment for the bottom edge of the slave
window. The attachment must specified according to
"SPECIFYING ATTACHMENTS" below.
-bottomspring => weight
Specifies the weight of the spring at the bottom edge of the
slave window. See "USING SPRINGS" below.
-bp => value
Abbreviation for the -padbottom option.
-bs => weight
Abbreviation for the -bottomspring option.
-fill => style
Specifies the fillings when springs are used for this
widget. The value must be x, y, both or none.
-in => $master
Places the slave window into the specified $master window.
If the slave was originally in another master window, all
attachment values with respect to the original master window
are discarded. Even if the attachment values are the same as
in the original master window, they need to be specified
again. The -in flag, when needed, must appear as the first
flag of options. Otherwise an error is generated.
-l => attachment
Abbreviation for the -left option.
-left => attachment
Specifies an attachment for the left edge of the slave
window. The attachment must specified according to
"SPECIFYING ATTACHMENTS" below.
-leftspring => weight
Specifies the weight of the spring at the left edge of the
slave window. See "USING SPRINGS" below.
-lp => value
Abbreviation for the -padleft option.
-ls => weight
Abbreviation for the -leftspring option.
-padbottom => value
Specifies the amount of external padding to leave on the
bottom side of the slave. The value may have any of the
forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels.
-padleft => value
Specifies the amount of external padding to leave on the
left side of the slave.
-padright => value
Specifies the amount of external padding to leave on the
right side of the slave.
-padtop => value
Specifies the amount of external padding to leave on the top
side of the slave.
-padx => value
Specifies the amount of external padding to leave on both
the left and the right sides of the slave.
-pady => value
Specifies the amount of external padding to leave on both
the top and the bottom sides of the slave.
-r => attachment
Abbreviation for the -right option.
-right => attachment
Specifies an attachment for the right edge of the slave
window. The attachment must specified according to
"SPECIFYING ATTACHMENTS" below.
-rightspring => weight
Specifies the weight of the spring at the right edge of the
slave window. See "USING SPRINGS" below.
-rp => value
Abbreviation for the -padright option.
-rs => weight
Abbreviation for the -rightspring option.
-t => attachment
Abbreviation for the -top option.
-top => attachment
Specifies an attachment for the top edge of the slave
window. The attachment must specified according to
"SPECIFYING ATTACHMENTS" below.
-topspring => weight
Specifies the weight of the spring at the top edge of the
slave window. See "USING SPRINGS" below.
-tp => value
Abbreviation for the -padtop option.
-ts => weight
Abbreviation for the -topspring option.
$master->formCheck
This method checks whether there is circular dependency in the
attachments of the master's slaves (see "CIRCULAR DEPENDENCY"
below). It returns the Boolean value TRUE if it discover circular
dependency and FALSE otherwise.
$slave->formForget
Removes the slave from its master and unmaps its window. The slave
will no longer be managed by form. All attachment values with
respect to its master window are discarded. If another slave is
attached to this slave, then the attachment of the other slave will
be changed to grid attachment based on its geometry.
$master->formGrid?(x_size, y_size)?
When x_size and y_size are given, this method returns the number of
grids of the $master window in a pair of integers of the form
(x_size, y_size). When both x_size and y_size are given, this method
changes the number of horizontal and vertical grids on the master
window.
$slave->formInfo?(-option)?
Queries the attachment options of a slave window. -option can be any
of the options accepted by the form method. If -option is given,
only the value of that option is returned. Otherwise, this method
returns a list whose elements are the current configuration state of
the slave given in the same option-value form that might be
specified to form. The first two elements in this list list are
"-in=>$master" where $master is the slave's master window.
$master->formSlaves
Returns a list of all of the slaves for the master window. The order
of the slaves in the list is the same as their order in the packing
order. If master has no slaves then an empty string is returned.
SPECIFYING ATTACHMENTS
One can specify an attachment for each side of a slave window managed by
form. An attachment is specified in the the form "-side =>
[anchor_point, offset]". -side can be one of -top, -bottom, -left or
-right.
Offset is given in screen units (i.e. any of the forms acceptable to
Tk_GetPixels). A positive offset indicates shifting to a position to
the right or bottom of an anchor point. A negative offset indicates
shifting to a position to the left or top of an anchor point.
Anchor_point can be given in one of the following forms:
Grid Attachment
The master window is divided into a number of horizontal and
vertical grids. By default the master window is divided into 100x100
grids; the number of grids can be adjusted by the formGrid method. A
grid attachment anchor point is given by a % sign followed by an
integer value. For example, '%0' specifies the first grid line (the
top or left edge of the master window). '%100' specifies the last
grid line (the bottom or right edge of the master window).
Opposite Side Attachment
Opposite attachment specifies an anchor point located on the
opposite side of another slave widget, which must be managed by form
in the same master window. An opposite attachment anchor point is
given by the name of another widget. For example,
"$b->form(-top=>[$a,0])" attaches the top side of the widget $b to
the bottom of the widget $a.
Parallel Side Attachment
Opposite attachment specifies an anchor point located on the same
side of another slave widget, which must be managed by form in the
same master window. An parallel attachment anchor point is given by
the sign & follwed by the name of another widget. For example,
"$b->form(-top=>['&',$a,0])" attaches the top side of the widget $b
to the top of the widget $a, making the top sides of these two
widgets at the same vertical position in their parent window.
No Attachment
Specifies a side of the slave to be attached to nothing, indicated
by the keyword none. When the none anchor point is given, the offset
must be zero (or not present). When a side of a slave is attached
to ['none', 0], the position of this side is calculated by the
position of the other side and the natural size of the slave. For
example, if a the left side of a widget is attached to ['%0', 100],
its right side attached to ['none', 0], and the natural size of the
widget is 50 pixels, the right side of the widget will be positioned
at pixel ['%0', 149]. When both -top and -bottom are attached to
none, then by default -top will be attached to ['%0', 0]. When both
-left and -right are attached to none, then by default -left will be
attached to ['%0', 0].
Shifting effects can be achieved by specifying a non-zero offset with an
anchor point. In the following example, the top side of widget \$b is
attached to the bottom of \$a; hence \$b always appears below \$a.
Also, the left edge of \$b is attached to the left side of \$a with a 10
pixel offest. Therefore, the left edge of \$b is always shifted 10
pixels to the right of \$a's left edge:
$b->form(-left=>[$a,10], -top=>[$a,0]);
ABBREVIATIONS:
Certain abbreviations can be made on the attachment specifications:
First an offset of zero can be omitted. Thus, the following two lines
are equivalent:
$b->form(-top=>[$a,0], -right=>['%100',0]);
$b->form(-top=>[$a], -right=>'%100');
In the second case, when the anchor point is omitted, the offset must be
given. A default anchor point is chosen according to the value of the
offset. If the anchor point is 0 or positive, the default anchor point
%0 is used; thus, "$b->form(-top=>15)" attaches the top edge of $b to a
position 15 pixels below the top edge of the master window. If the
anchor point is "-0" or negative, the default anchor point %100 is used;
thus, "$a->form(-right=>-2)" attaches the right edge of \$a to a
position 2 pixels to the left of the master window's right edge. An
further example below shows a method with its equivalent abbreviation.
$b->form(-top=>['%0',10], -bottom=>['%100',0]);
$b->form(-top=>10, -bottom=>-0);
USING SPRINGS
To be written.
ALGORITHM OF FORM
form starts with any slave in the list of slaves of the master window.
Then it tries to determine the position of each side of the slave.
If the attachment of a side of the slave is grid attachment, the
position of the side is readily determined.
If the attachment of this side is none, then form tries to determine the
position of the opposite side first, and then use the position of the
opposite side and the natural size of the slave to determine the
position of this side.
If the attachment is opposite or parallel widget attachments, then form
tries to determine the positions of the other widget first, and then use
the positions of the other widget and the natural size of the slave
determine the position of this side. This recursive algorithmis carried
on until the positions of all slaves are determined.
CIRCULAR DEPENDENCY
The algorithm of form will fail if a circular dependency exists in the
attachments of the slaves. For example:
$c->form(-left=>$b);
$b->form(-right=>$c);
In this example, the position of the left side of $b depends on the
right side of $c, which in turn depends on the left side of $b.
When a circular dependency is discovered during the execution of the
form algorithm, form will generate a background error and the geometry
of the slaves are undefined (and will be arbitrary). Notice that form
only executes the algorithm when the specification of the slaves'
attachments is complete. Therefore, it allows intermediate states of
circular dependency during the specification of the slaves' attachments.
Also, unlike the Motif Form manager widget, form defines circular
dependency as ``dependency in the same dimension''. Therefore, the
following code fragment will does not have circular dependency because
the two widgets do not depend on each other in the same dimension ($b
depends $c in the horizontal dimension and $c depends on $b in the
vertical dimension):
$b->form(-left=>$c);
$c->form(-top=>$b);
BUGS
Springs have not been fully implemented yet.
SEE ALSO
Tk::grid Tk::pack Tk::place
KEYWORDS
geometry manager, form, attachment, spring, propagation, size, pack,
tix, master, slave
perl v5.40.1 2025-04-13 form(3pm)
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