/ 
Tk-HListbox-2.71
River stage one • 1 direct dependent • 1 total dependent
/ Tk::HListbox

NAME

Tk::HListbox - Tk Listbox widget supporting images and text entries, Tk::HList-based drop-in replacement for Tk::Listbox.

SYNOPSIS

$listbox = $parent->HListbox(?options?);

DESCRIPTION

The HListbox method creates a new window (given by the $widget argument) and makes it into an HListbox widget. Additional options, described above, may be specified on the command line or in the option database to configure aspects of the listbox such as its colors, font, text, and relief. The HListbox command returns its $widget argument. At the time this command is invoked, there must not exist a window named $widget, but $widget's parent must exist.

An HListbox is a widget that displays a list of strings, images, or both one per line. When first created, a new HListbox has no elements. Elements may be added or deleted using methods described below. In addition, one or more elements may be selected as described below. If an HListbox is exporting its selection (see exportSelection option), then it will observe the standard X11 protocols for handling the selection. HListbox selections are available as type STRING; the value of the selection will be the "text" of the selected elements, returned as an array of zero or more elements.

It is not necessary for all the elements to be displayed in the HListbox window at once; commands described below may be used to change the view in the window. HListboxes allow scrolling in both directions using the standard xScrollCommand and yScrollCommand options. They also support scanning, as described below.

STANDARD OPTIONS

-background -borderwidth -cursor -disabledforeground -exportselection -font -foreground -height -highlightbackground -highlightcolor -highlightthickness -offset -relief -selectbackground -selectborderwidth -selectforeground -setgrid -state -takefocus -width -xscrollcommand -yscrollcommand

See Tk::options for details of the standard options.

WIDGET-SPECIFIC OPTIONS

Name: Entries

Entries (rows) are added to HListbox vertically as rows, one per row (line) using either the insert method or inserting into a tied array. Entries can be either a text string (just like a standard Tk::Listbox entry), an image (a Tk::Photo object), or a hashref containing options specifying both, along with any other desired Tk::HList-valid options (see below). Example: $listbox->insert('end', {-image => $image, -text => 'string'}); Options for the referenced hash include:

-hidden => 1 | 0

Specifies whether or not the entry should be visible or hidden: (0 (false) for visible, 1 (true) for hidden).

Default: 0 (visible).

-indicatoritemtype => ['text' | 'image' | 'imagetext']

Specify an "indicator" of this type.

-indicatorimage = $image

Special image to be displayed next to entry (in addition to any other image specified in the entry).

-indicatortext = 'text'

Special text to be displayed next to entry (in addition to any other image specified in the entry).

-itemtype => ['text' | 'image' | 'imagetext']

Specifies the type of display item of this entry. Can be "text", "image", or "imagetext".

Default: Whatever is specified, if anything, for the widget, (see -itemtype under WIDGET OPTIONS below). If not specified there, then the default is "text", though "imagetext" allows for either or both an image or text.

-textanchor => ['n', 's', 'e', 'w']

Side of text the IMAGE is displayed on.

Default: 'w' (West / left, ie. image before text)

-style => $ImageStyleObject

Use an already-defined HList ItemStyle object (see Tk::ItemStyle and Tk::DItem)

-sort => 'value', -user => 'value'

Specifies user-specific data to be kept stored with the entry but not displayed. Such data would most likely be a string, but could be a reference to pretty much anything. Tk::HMListbox makes use of the -sort field for user-control of column sorting, refer to it's documentation for examples.

-text $string

Specifies a "text" entry. $string represents the text to be displayed in the entry.

These options are not passed to functions, but retained with data, useful for saving info with an entry for one's own use.

For example, one could put text in a -sort option of say, an image-only entry and then retrieve it in a sort function like "sort { $a->{-sort} cmp $b->{-sort} }".

Any other option, other than these or the standard applicable widget options, such as -background, etc. are treated as "Style" options and sent to the default ItemStyle for the data type. NOTE: Under the current implementation any "Style" options supplied with an entry will be applied to ALL entries of that "type" (ie. "image", "imagetext", or "text") in the listbox. To force a specific entry to have a different "style", define an ItemStyle object and use the -style option.

Name: activeForeground
Class: activeForeground
Switch: -activeforeground

Specifies an alternate color for the foreground of the "active" entry (the one the text cursor is on). This entry is also shown with a hashed box around it. The "activebackground" color, however, is always fixed as the same color as the the widget's background.

Default: Same color as the widget's foreground color.

Name: browsecmd
Class: BrowseCmd
Switch: -browsecmd

Specifies a perl/Tk callback to be executed when the user browses through the entries in the HList widget.

Name: command
Class: Command
Switch: -command

Specifies the perl/Tk callback to be executed when the user invokes a list entry in the HList widget. Normally the user invokes a list entry by double-clicking it or pressing the Return key.

Switch: -gap value

The amount of space between the image and text in rows that have both.

Default: 4 (pixels)

Name: height
Class: Height
Switch: -height

Specifies the desired height for the window, in number of characters. If zero or less, then the desired height for the window is based on the default for HList, which seems to be about 7 lines. WARNING: This is NOT accurate, ie. specifying a -height of 8 will typically display about 6-6 1/2 rows of text in the default font. Sorry, but this is a bug in the underlying Tk::HList widget.

Name: indicator
Class: Indicator
Switch -indicator

Reserves space for and allows for another image next to the entry, which HList calls an "indicator", which, unlike a normal "image" in an entry, can be attached to a callback routine (-indicatorcmd) to be invoked when the indicator image is clicked with the mouse, rather than the entry simply being selected. By default (if no -textanchor option given, the indicator image will appear to the left of the entry.

Name: indicatorCmd
Class: IndicatorCmd
Switch -indicatorcmd

Subroutine reference to be invoked when an indicator image is clicked.

Name: -ipadx

Specify horizontal padding style in pixels around the image for the rows in the listbox which are type image or imagetext.

Default: 0 (no padding added)

Name: -ipady

Specify vertical padding style in pixels around the image for the rows in the listbox which are type image or imagetext. NOTE: This changes the height of the affected rows.

Default: 1 (pixels added to both top and bottom, and setting to 0 is the same as 1).

Name: itemType
Class: ItemType
Switch: -itemtype

Specifies the default type of display item. Can be "text", "image", or "imagetext".

Default: "text", though "imagetext" allows for either or both an image or text.

Name: listVariable
Class: Variable
Switch: -listvariable

Specifies the reference of a variable. The value of the variable is an array to be displayed inside the widget; if the variable value changes then the widget will automatically update itself to reflect the new value. Attempts to unset a variable in use as a -listvariable may fail without error.

The listvariable reference is "TIEd" to the HListbox widget just as if one has done: "tie @listvariable, 'Tk::HListbox', $HListboxwidget, (ReturnType => 'index);" immediately after defining $HListboxwidget using the "tie @array" feature.

Name: selectBackground
Class: SelectBackground
Switch: -selectbackground

Specifies an alternate background color for item(s) currently "selected".

Default: A slightly brighter shade of the widget's current background color.

Name: selectForeground
Class: SelectForeground
Switch: -selectforeground

Specifies an alternate foreground color for item(s) currently "selected".

Default: The widget's current foreground color.

Name: selectMode
Class: SelectMode
Switch: -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, extended or dragdrop; the default value is browse.

Name: -showcursoralways
Class: -showcursoralways
Switch: -showcursoralways

Starting with version 2.4, Tk::HListbox no longer displays the keyboard cursor (active element) when the HListbox widget does not have the keyboard focus, in order to be consistent with the behaviour of Tk::Listbox. This option, when set to 1 (or a "true" value) restores the pre-v2.4 behaviour of always showing the keyboard cursor. Default 0 (False).

Name: state
Class: State
Switch: -state

Specifies one of two states for the listbox: normal or disabled. If the listbox is disabled then items may not be inserted or deleted, items are drawn in the -disabledforeground color, and selection cannot be modified and is not shown (though selection information is retained).

Name: takeFocus
Class: TakeFocus
Switch: -takefocus

There are actually three different focusing options: Specify 1 to both allow the widget to take keyboard focus itself and to enable grabbing the keyboard focus when a user clicks on a row in the listbox. Specify '' to allow the widget to take focus (via the <TAB> circulate order) but do not grab the focus when a user clicks on (selects) a row. This is the default focusing model. Specify 0 to not allow the widget to receive the keyboard focus.

Name: -tpadx => number

Specify horizontal padding style in pixels around the text for the rows in the listbox which are type text.

Default: 2 (pixels - added to both left and right side)

Name: -tpady => number

Specify vertical padding style in pixels around the text for the rows in the listbox which are type text. NOTE: This changes the height of the affected rows.

Default (seems to be): 2 (and setting to 0 is the same as 2).

Name: width
Class: Width
Switch: -width

Specifies the desired width for the window in characters. If the font doesn't have a uniform width then the width of the character "0" is used in translating from character units to screen units. If zero or less, then the desired width for the window is made just large enough to hold all the elements in the listbox.

LISTBOX OPTIONS AND METHODS NOT (YET?) SUPPORTED BY HLISTBOX

Name: activeStyle
Class: ActiveStyle
Switch: -activestyle

Ignored (not implemented in HList).

For the most part, Tk::HListbox can be used as drop-in replacement for the Tk::Listbox widget when you need to use images instead of or in addition to text values, or need other Tk::HListbox - specific features such as hidden or disabled entries, callbacks, etc.

INDICES

Many of the methods for HListboxes take one or more indices as arguments. An index specifies a particular element of the listbox, in any of the following ways:

number

Specifies the element as a numerical index, where 0 corresponds to the first element in the listbox.

active

Indicates the element that has the location cursor. This element will be displayed with a dashed-line frame border when the listbox has the keyboard focus, and it is specified with the activate method.

anchor

Indicates the anchor point for the selection, which is set with the selection anchor method.

end

Indicates the end (last element) of the HListbox. For most commands this refers to the last element in the HListbox, but for a few commands such as index and insert it refers to the element just after the last one.

@x,y

Indicates the element that covers the point in the HListbox window specified by x and y (in pixel coordinates). If no element covers that point, then the closest element to that point is used.

In the method descriptions below, arguments named index, first-index, and last-index always contain text indices in one of the above forms.

WIDGET METHODS

The HListbox 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 HListbox widgets:

$listbox->activate(index)

Sets the active element and the selection anchor to the one indicated by index. If index is outside the range of elements in the listbox then the closest element is activated. The active element is drawn similar to a "selected" element with a thin hashed border (similar to an underlined element in Tk::Listbox, and its index may be retrieved with the index "active".

NOTE: Not supported by Tk::HList.

$listbox->bbox(index)

Returns a list of four numbers describing the bounding box of the text in the element 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 text (specified in pixels relative to the widget) and the last two elements give the width and height of the area, in pixels. If no part of the element given by index is visible on the screen, or if index refers to a non-existent element, then the result is an empty string; if the element is partially visible, the result gives the full area of the element, including any parts that are not visible.

$listbox->curselection

Returns a list containing the numerical indices of all of the elements in the HListbox that are currently selected. If there are no elements selected in the listbox then an empty list is returned. This method is the complement (opposite) of selectionSet() in functionality.

NOTE: Not supported by Tk::HList.

$listbox->delete(first-index, ?last-index?)

Deletes one or more elements of the HListbox. First-index and last-index are indices specifying the first and last elements in the range to delete. If last-index isn't specified it defaults to first-index, i.e. a single element is deleted.

$listbox->findIndex(string?)

Given the text of an entry, return the index of the first entry whose text matches the string, or <undef> if no matches.

NOTE: Not supported by Tk::Listbox.

$listbox->fixListSize(width, height)

Will fix the height and width of the HListbox, caused by the underlying HList, when non-default fonts are used.

The width and height values are the required character width and the number of rows in the listbox.

NOTE: Not supported by Tk::HList or Tk::Listbox.

$listbox->fixPalette()

Under certain situations, changing the color theme via $mainwin->setPalette(...) does not always update do to the myriad of subwidgets and color options supported. Calling this method should fully update everything in the widget that have not been individually set by the user.

$listbox->get(first-index, ?last-index?)

If last-index is omitted, returns the contents of the listbox element indicated by first-index, or an empty string if first-index refers to a non-existent element. If last-index is specified, the command returns a list whose elements are all of the listbox elements between first-index and last-index, inclusive. Both first-index and last-index may have any of the standard forms for indices.

$listbox->getEntry(index?)

Given an index, returns the HList "entry" value, only useful with lower-level HList functions. Returns <undef> if no matches. This method is the complement (opposite) of indexOf() in functionality.

NOTE: Not supported by Tk::HList or Tk::Listbox.

$listbox->getListHeight(height)

Will return the correct height in pixels, of the HListbox, when a non-default -listfont is used.

height is the required number of rows for the listbox.

NOTE: Not supported by Tk::HList or Tk::Listbox.

$listbox->getListWidth(width)

Will return the correct width, in pixels, of the HListbox, when a non-default -listfont is used.

width is the required width in characters for the listbox.

NOTE: Not supported by Tk::HList or Tk::Listbox.

$listbox->hide([-entry => ] index)

Given an index, sets the entry to "hidden" so that it does not display in the listbox (but maintains it's index. The "-entry" argument is unnecessary, but retained for Tk::HList compatability.

NOTE: Not supported by Tk::Listbox.

$listbox->show([-entry => ] index)

Given an index, sets the entry to "not hidden" (the default) so that it is displayed in the listbox.

NOTE: Not supported by Tk::Listbox.

$listbox->index(index)

Returns the integer index value that corresponds to index. If index is end the return value is a count of the number of elements in the listbox (not the index of the last element). If the index is out of range or invalid, undef is returned. If the index is "end" and the list is empty, -1 is returned.

$listbox->indexOf(entry-path)

Returns the integer index value that corresponds to entry-path, or undef if the entry-path does not exist. This method is the complement (opposite) of getEntry() in functionality.

NOTE: Not supported by Tk::HList or Tk::Listbox.

$listbox->insert(index, ?element, element, ...?)

Inserts zero or more new elements (entries) in the list just before the element given by index. If index is specified as "end" then the new elements are added to the end of the list. Returns an empty string. If the index is not "end", the list will be automatically inserted in reverse order so that the entire list is inserted in the proper order before the element currently identified by the index.

$listbox->item(option, index, ?arg(s), ...?)

Creates and configures the display items at individual columns the entries. The form of additional of arguments depends on the choice of option:

NOTE: Not supported by Tk::Listbox.

$listbox->itemcget(index, option)

Returns the current value of the item configuration option given by option. Option may have any of the values accepted by the listbox itemconfigure command or by HList, including ItemStyles.

$listbox->itemconfigure(index, ?option, value, option, value, ...?)

Query or modify the configuration options of an item in the HListbox. If no option is specified, returns a list describing all of the available options for the item (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 following options are currently supported for items:

$listbox->ItemStyle(itemtype, ?option, value, ...?)

HList method to create a display style for the -style entry option. NOTE: It's better to change most display properties by listing them and their values when inserting entries since any HListbox-wide style options specified when creating the HListbox widget, ie. -foreground, etc. are NOT copied over into the style object.

-background => color

Color specifies the background color to use when displaying the item. It may have any of the forms accepted by Tk_GetColor.

-foreground => color

Color specifies the foreground color to use when displaying the item. It may have any of the forms accepted by Tk_GetColor. NOTE: may be returned as "-fg".

-selectbackground => color

Color specifies the background color to use when displaying the item while it is selected. It may have any of the forms accepted by Tk_GetColor.

-selectforeground => color

Color specifies the foreground color to use when displaying the item while it is selected. It may have any of the forms accepted by Tk_GetColor.

$listbox->nearest(y)

Given a y-coordinate within the listbox window, this command returns the index of the (visible) listbox element nearest to that y-coordinate.

NOTE: Not supported by Tk::Listbox.

$listbox->nearestToIndex(index)

Given a zero based index within the listbox window, this command returns the index of the (visible) listbox element nearest to the index.

If there is no visible bounding box associated with the zero-based index, then undef is returned.

NOTE: Not supported by Tk::HList or Tk::Listbox.

$listbox->scan(option, ?arg(s), ...?)

This command is used to implement scanning on listboxes. It has two forms, depending on option:

NOTE: Not supported by Tk::HList.

$listbox->scanMark(x, y)

Records x and y and the current view in the listbox 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.

$listbox->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 10 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.

$listbox->see(index)

Adjust the view in the HListbox so that the element given by index is visible. If the element is already visible then the command has no effect; if the element is near one edge of the window then the listbox scrolls to bring the element into view at the edge; otherwise the listbox scrolls to center the element.

$listbox->selection(option, ?arg(s), ...?)

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

$listbox->selectionAnchor(index)

Sets the selection anchor to the element given by index. If index refers to a non-existent element, then the closest element is used. 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 element.

$listbox->selectionClear(first-index, ?last-index?)

If any of the elements between first-index and last-index (inclusive) are selected, they are deselected. The selection state is not changed for elements outside this range.

$listbox->selectionGet

NOTE: Not recommended, nor supported by Tk::Listbox.

Returns a list containing the actual elements of all of the elements in the HListbox that are currently selected. If there are no elements selected in the listbox then an empty list is returned. NOTE: The opposite method of this (selectionSet()) is called with indices. Reason is that selectionGet is not supported by Tk::Listbox, but is a direct call to the corresponding method in Tk::HList.

The recommended method for fetching back the indicies selected (either by the user or by selectionSet()) is to call the curselection() method provided both here and in Tk::Listbox.

$listbox->selectionIncludes(index)

Returns 1 (true) if the element indicated by index is currently selected, 0 (false) if it isn't.

The recommended method for fetching back the indicies selected (either by the user or by selectionSet()) is to call the curselection() method provided both here and in Tk::Listbox.

$listbox->selectionSet(first-index, ?last-index?)

Selects all of the elements in the range between first-index and last-index, inclusive, without affecting the selection state of elements outside that range. This is the complement (opposite) of curselection() in functionality.

NOTE: Prior to v2.7, if more than two indices were passed to selectionSet(), then the element of each index in the list would be selected. Starting with v2.7, the list is limited to one or two indices (as is the case with both Tk::Listbox and Tk::HList). Two indices represents a range, causing all elements with indices between the two specified (inclusive) being selected.

$listbox->size

Returns a decimal string indicating the total number of elements in the listbox.

$listbox->xview(option, ?arg(s), ...?)

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:

$listbox->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 listbox'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.

$listbox->xview(index)

Adjusts the view in the window so that the character position given by index is displayed at the left edge of the window. Character positions are defined by the width of the character 0.

$listbox->xviewMoveto(fraction);

Adjusts the view in the window so that fraction of the total width of the listbox text is off-screen to the left. fraction must be a fraction between 0 and 1.

$listbox->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 character units (the width of the 0 character) 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.

$listbox->yview(option, ?arg(s), ...?)

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:

$listbox->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 listbox element at the top of the window, relative to the listbox as a whole (0.5 means it is halfway through the listbox, for example). The second element gives the position of the listbox element just after the last one in the window, relative to the listbox as a whole. These are the same values passed to scrollbars via the -yscrollcommand option.

$listbox->yview(index)

Adjusts the view in the window so that the element given by index is displayed at the top of the window.

$listbox->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 listbox, 0.33 indicates the element one-third the way through the listbox, and so on.

$listbox->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 lines; 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.

EXAMPLES

#!/usr/bin/perl

use Tk;
use Tk::HListbox;

my ( @array, $scalar, $other );
my %options = ( ReturnType => "index" );

my $MW = MainWindow->new();
my $licon=$MW->Photo(-file => '/usr/share/pixmaps/smallicons/Penguin.xpm');  #ICON IMAGE
my $wicon=$MW->Photo(-file => '/usr/share/pixmaps/smallicons/tiny_windowsxp.xpm');  #ICON IMAGE
my $lbox = $MW->Scrolled('HListbox',
		-scrollbars => 'se',
		-selectmode => 'extended',
		-itemtype => 'imagetext',
		-indicator => 1,
		-indicatorcmd => sub {
			print STDERR "---indicator clicked---(".join('|',@_).")\n";
		},
		-browsecmd => sub {
			print STDERR "---browsecmd!---(".join('|',@_).")\n";
		},
)->pack(-fill => 'y', -expand => 1);

$MW->Button(   #MAIN WINDOW BUTTON TO QUIT.
		-text => 'Bonus Tests',
		-underline => 0,
		-command => sub
{
#FETCH AND PRINT OUT THE SELECTED ITEMS:
	my @v = $lbox->curselection;
	print "--SELECTED=".join('|', @v)."= vcnt=$#v= MODE=".$lbox->cget('-selectmode')."=\n";
	for (my $i=0;$i<=$#v;$i++)
	{
		print "--selected($i)=".$lbox->get($v[$i])."=\n";
	}
#PRINT WHETHER THE LAST ITEM IS CURRENTLY SELECTED (2 WAYS):
	print "--select includes last one =".$lbox->selectionIncludes('end')."=\n";
	print "--select includes last one =".$lbox->selection('includes','end')."=\n";
#FETCH THE OLD ANCHOR AND SET THE ANCHOR TO THE 2ND ITEM:
	my $anchorWas = $lbox->index('anchor');
	$lbox->selectionAnchor(8);
	my $anchorNow = $lbox->index('anchor');
#DELETE THE 4TH ITEM & ****TURN OFF INDICATORS!**** TO SHOW NORMAL VIEW:
	$lbox->delete(4);
	$lbox->configure(-indicator => 0);
#SET THE VIEWPORT TO SHOW THE FIRST SELECTED ITEM:
	$lbox->yview($v[0]);
#PRINT THE DATA RETURNED BY yview() AND THE LAST ITEM;
	my @yview = $lbox->yview;
	my $last = $lbox->index('end');
	print "--YVIEW=".join('|',@yview)."= last=$last=\n";
#FETCH THE INDEX OF THE LAST ITEM:
	#FETCH AND DISPLAY SOME ATTRIBUTES:
	print "--anchor was=$anchorWas= now=$anchorNow= yview=".join('|',@yview)."=\n";
	print "-reqheight=".$lbox->reqheight."= height=".$lbox->cget('-height')."= size=".$lbox->size."=\n";
#PRINT OUT THE VALUES OF THE TIED VARIABLES:
	print "-scalar=".join('|',@{$scalar})."= array=".join('|',@array)."= other=".join('|',@{$other})."=\n";
#RECONFIGURE 2ND ITEM TO FOREGROUND:=GREEN:
	$lbox->itemconfigure(1,'-fg', 'green');
#FETCH THE HList STYLE OBJECT FOR 2ND ITEM:
	print "-itemcget(1)=".$lbox->itemcget(1, '-style')."=\n";
#FETCH JUST THE Listbox FOREGROUND COLOR FOR 2ND ITEM:
	print "-itemcget(2)=".$lbox->itemcget(1, '-fg')."=\n";
#FETCH THE "NEAREST" INDEX TO THE 2ND ITEM:
	print "-nearest(1)=".$lbox->nearest(1)."=\n";
#ADD AN ELEMENT VIA THE TIED ARRAY:
	push @array, {-image => $licon, -text => 'ArrayAdd!'};
#DELETE THE LAST ITEM USING THE TIED ARRAY:
	pop @array;
#FIND AND DISPLAY THE INDEX OF THE TEXT ENTRY "Y":
	print "-Index of 'Y' =".$lbox->findIndex('Y')."=\n";
}
)->pack(
		-side => 'bottom'
);
$MW->Button(   #MAIN WINDOW BUTTON TO QUIT.
		-text => 'Quit',
		-underline => 0,
		-command => sub { print "ok 5\n..done: 5 tests completed.\n"; exit(0) }
)->pack(
		-side => 'bottom'
);

#ADD SOME ITEMS (IMAGE+TEXT) TO OUR LISTBOX THE TRADITIONAL WAY:
	my @list = (
		{-image => $licon, -text => 'a' },
		{-image => $wicon, -text => 'bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbB', -foreground => '#0000FF' },
		{-text => 'c', -image => $licon },
		{-text => 'd:image & indicator!', -image => $licon, -indicatoritemtype, 'image', -indicatorimage => $wicon },
		{-image => $licon, -text => 'e' },
		{-image => $licon, -text => 'f:Switch sides!', -textanchor => 'w' },
		{-image => $licon, -text => 'z:Next is Image Only!' },
		$licon
	);
	$lbox->insert('end', @list );
	@list = ();
#ADD A BUNCH MORE JUST BEFORE THE 7TH ITEM ("
	foreach my $i ('G'..'Y')
	{
		push @list, {-image => $licon, -text => $i};
	}
	$lbox->insert(6, @list );

#FETCH THE 2ND ITEM AND DISPLAY IT'S TEXT:
	$_ = $lbox->get(1);
	if (ref $_) {
		print "-2nd value=$_= TEXT=".$_->{'-text'}."=\n";
	} else {
		print "-2nd value=$_=\n";
	}
#SET THE 3RD AND 5TH ITEMS AS INITIALLY-SELECTED:
	$lbox->selectionSet(2,4);
#AND ONE WITH AN "INDICATOR IMAGE" JUST BEFORE THE 4TH ITEM:
	$lbox->insert(3, 'TextOnly at 3',
			{'-text' => '<Click Indicator Icon', '-indicatoritemtype', 'image', '-indicatorimage' => $wicon});
#DISPLAY A LIST OF ALL THE CURRENT ITEMS IN THE LISTBOX:
	print "--current choices=".join('|',$lbox->get(0, 'end'))."=\n";

#TIE SOME VARIABLES TO THE LISTBOX:
	tie @array, "Tk::HListbox", $lbox;
	tie $scalar, "Tk::HListbox", $lbox;
	tie $other, "Tk::HListbox", $lbox, %options;

	MainLoop;

__END__

DEFAULT BINDINGS

Tk automatically creates class bindings for listboxes that give them Motif-like behavior. Much of the behavior of a listbox is determined by its selectMode option, which selects one of four ways of dealing with the selection.

If the selection mode is single or browse, at most one element can be selected in the listbox at once. In both modes, clicking button 1 on an element selects it and deselects any other selected item. In browse mode it is also possible to drag the selection with button 1.

If the selection mode is multiple or extended, any number of elements may be selected at once, including discontiguous ranges. In multiple mode, clicking button 1 on an element toggles its selection state without affecting any other elements. In extended mode, pressing button 1 on an element selects it, deselects everything else, and sets the anchor to the element under the mouse; dragging the mouse with button 1 down extends the selection to include all the elements between the anchor and the element under the mouse, inclusive.

Most people will probably want to use browse mode for single selections and extended mode for multiple selections; the other modes appear to be useful only in special situations.

Any time the selection changes in the listbox, the virtual event <<ListboxSelect>> will be generated. It is easiest to bind to this event to be made aware of any changes to listbox selection.

In addition to the above behavior, the following additional behavior is defined by the default bindings:

[1]

In extended mode, the selected range can be adjusted by pressing button 1 with the Shift key down: this modifies the selection to consist of the elements between the anchor and the element under the mouse, inclusive. The un-anchored end of this new selection can also be dragged with the button down.

[2]

In extended mode, pressing button 1 with the Control key down starts a toggle operation: the anchor is set to the element under the mouse, and its selection state is reversed. The selection state of other elements isn't changed. If the mouse is dragged with button 1 down, then the selection state of all elements between the anchor and the element under the mouse is set to match that of the anchor element; the selection state of all other elements remains what it was before the toggle operation began.

[3]

If the mouse leaves the HListbox window with button 1 down, the window scrolls away from the mouse, making information visible that used to be off-screen on the side of the mouse. The scrolling continues until the mouse re-enters the window, the button is released, or the end of the listbox is reached.

[4]

Mouse button 2 may be used for scanning. If it is pressed and dragged over the listbox, the contents of the listbox drag at high speed in the direction the mouse moves.

[5]

If the Up or Down key is pressed, the location cursor (active element) moves up or down one element. If the selection mode is browse or extended then the new active element is also selected and all other elements are deselected. In extended mode the new active element becomes the selection anchor.

[6]

In extended mode, Shift-Up and Shift-Down move the location cursor (active element) up or down one element and also extend the selection to that element in a fashion similar to dragging with mouse button 1.

[7]

The Left and Right keys scroll the listbox view left and right by the width of the character 0.

Control-Left and Control-Right scroll the listbox view left and right by the width of the window.

[8]

The Prior and Next keys scroll the listbox view up and down by one page (the height of the window).

Control-Prior and Control-Next scroll the listbox view up and down by one page while selecting a page's worth of items.

[9]

The Home and End keys scroll the listbox horizontally to the left and right edges, respectively.

[10]

Control-Home sets the location cursor to the the first element in the listbox, selects that element, and deselects everything else in the listbox.

[11]

Control-End sets the location cursor to the the last element in the listbox, selects that element, and deselects everything else in the listbox.

[12]

In extended mode, Control-Shift-Home extends the selection to the first element in the listbox and Control-Shift-End extends the selection to the last element.

[13]

In multiple mode, Control-Shift-Home moves the location cursor to the first element in the listbox and Control-Shift-End moves the location cursor to the last element.

[14]

The space and Select keys toggle a selection at the location cursor (active element) just as if mouse button 1 had been pressed over this element.

[15]

In extended mode, Control-Shift-space and Shift-Select extend the selection to the active element just as if button 1 had been pressed with the Shift key down.

[16]

In extended mode, the Escape key cancels the most recent selection and restores all the elements in the selected range to their previous selection state. NOTE: This may not be fully working correctly.

[17]

Control-slash selects everything in the widget, except in single and browse modes, in which case it selects the active element and deselects everything else.

[18]

Control-backslash deselects everything in the widget, except in browse mode where it has no effect.

[19]

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.

[20]

We've added <Ctrl-<Prior>> and <Ctrl-<Next>> bindings to scroll the listbox view up and down by one page while selecting a page's worth of items.

The behavior of HListboxes can be changed by defining new bindings for individual widgets or by redefining the class bindings.

TIED INTERFACE

The Tk::HListbox widget can also be tied to a scalar or array variable, with different behaviour depending on the variable type, with the following tie commands:

use Tk;

my ( @array, $scalar, $other );
my %options = ( ReturnType => "index" );

my $MW = MainWindow->new();
my $lbox = $MW->HListbox()->pack();

my @list = ( "a", "b", "c", "d", "e", "f" );
$lbox->insert('end', @list );

tie @array, "Tk::HListbox", $lbox
tie $scalar, "Tk::HListbox", $lbox;
tie $other, "Tk::HListbox", $lbox, %options;

currently only one modifier is implemented, a 3 way flag for tied scalars "ReturnType" which can have values "element", "index" or "both". The default is "element".

Tied Arrays

If you tie an array to the HListbox you can manipulate the items currently contained by the box in the same manner as a normal array, e.g.

print @array;
push(@array, @list);
my $popped = pop(@array);
my $shifted = shift(@array);
unshift(@array, @list);
delete $array[$index];
print $string if exists $array[$i];
@array = ();
splice @array, $offset, $length, @list

The delete function is implemented slightly differently from the standard array implementation. Instead of setting the element at that index to undef it instead physically removes it from the HListbox. This has the effect of changing the array indices, so for instance if you had a list on non-continuous indices you wish to remove from the HListbox you should reverse sort the list and then apply the delete function, e.g.

my @list = ( 1, 2, 4, 12, 20 );
my @remove = reverse sort { $a <=> $b } @list;
delete @array[@remove];

would safely remove indices 20, 12, 4, 2 and 1 from the HListbox without problems. It should also be noted that a similar warning applies to the splice function (which would normally be used in this context to perform the same job).

Tied Scalars

Unlike tied arrays, if you tie a scalar to the HListbox you can retrieve the currently selected elements in the box as an array referenced by the scalar, for instance:

my @list = ( "a", "b", "c", "d", "e", "f" );
$lbox->insert('end', sort @list );
$lbox->selectionSet(1);

inserts @list as elements in an already existing listbox and selects the element at index 1, which is "b". If we then:

print @$selected;

this will return the currently selected elements, in this case "b".

However, if the "ReturnType" argument is passed when tying the HListbox to the scalar with value "index" then the indices of the selected elements will be returned instead of the elements themselves, ie in this case "1". This can be useful when manipulating both contents and selected elements in the HListbox at the same time.

Importantly, if a value "both" is given the scalar will not be tied to an array, but instead to a hash, with keys being the indices and values being the elements at those indices.

You can also manipulate the selected items using the scalar. Equating the scalar to an array reference will select any elements that match elements in the HListbox, non-matching array items are ignored, e.g.

my @list = ( "a", "b", "c", "d", "e", "f" );
$lbox->insert('end', sort @list );
$lbox->selectionSet(1);

would insert the array @list into an already existing HListbox and select element at index 1, i.e. "b":

@array = ( "a", "b", "f" );
$selected = \@array;

would select elements "a", "b" and "f" in the HListbox.

Again, if the "index" we indicate we want to use indices in the options hash then the indices are use instead of elements, e.g.

@array = ( 0, 1, 5 );
$selected = \@array;

would have the same effect, selecting elements "a", "b" and "f" if the $selected variable was tied with %options = ( ReturnType => "index" ).

If we are returning "both", i.e. the tied scalar points to a hash, both key and value must match, e.g.

%hash = ( 0 => "a", 1 => "b", 5 => "f" );
$selected = \%hash;

would have the same effect as the previous examples.

It should be noted that, despite being a reference to an array (or possibly a hash), you still can not copy the tied variable without it being untied, instead you must pass a reference to the tied scalar between subroutines.

AUTHOR

Jim Turner, <https://metacpan.org/author/TURNERJW>.

COPYRIGHT

Copyright (c) 2015-2023 Jim Turner <mailto://turnerjw784@yahoo.com>. All rights reserved.

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

This is a derived work from Tk::Listbox and Tk::HList.

KEYWORDS

hlistbox, listbox, hlist

SEE ALSO

Tk::HList, Tk::Listbox, Tk::ItemStyle, Tk::DItem.