tepam::argument_dialogbox - TEPAM argument_dialogbox, reference
manual
package require Tcl 8.3
package require Tk 8.3
package require tepam ?0.5?
tepam::argument_dialogbox item_name item_attributes
?item_name item_attributes? ?...?
tepam::argument_dialogbox {item_name item_attributes
?item_name item_attributes? ?...?}
The TEPAM argument_dialogbox is a flexible and easily
usable data entry form generator that is available if Tk has been loaded.
Each data entry element of a form is defined via a data entry item
that can be provided to argument_dialogbox in two formats:
- tepam::argument_dialogbox
item_name item_attributes ?item_name item_attributes? ?...?
- Using this first format, each data entry item is defined via a pair
of two arguments. The first one is the item name that defines the
entry widget that has to be used in the form. The second argument, called
item attributes, specifies the variable which is attributed to the
data entry element as well as eventual formatting and context information.
The argument_dialogbox returns ok if the entered
data have been acknowledged (via the OK button) and validated by
a data checker. If the entered data have been rejected (via the
Cancel button) the argument_dialogbox returns
cancel.
A small example illustrates how the argument_dialogbox
can be employed:
set DialogResult [tepam::argument_dialogbox \
-title "Itinerary selection" \
-file {-label "Itinerary report" -variable report_file} \
-frame {-label "Itinerary start"} \
-comment {-text "Specify your itinerary start location"} \
-entry {-label "City" -variable start_city -type string} \
-entry {-label "Street" -variable start_street -type string -optional 1} \
-entry {-label "Street number" -variable start_street_nbr -type integer -optional 1} \
-frame {-label "Itinerary destination"} \
-comment {-text "Specify your itinerary destination"} \
-entry {-label "City" -variable dest_city -type string} \
-entry {-label "Street" -variable dest_street -type string -optional 1} \
-entry {-label "Street number" -variable dest_street_nbr -type integer -optional 1} \
-frame {} \
-checkbutton {-label "Don't use highways" -variable no_highway}]
- This example opens a dialog box that has the title Itinerary
selection. A first entry widget in this box allows selecting a report
file. It follows two frames to define respectively an itinerary start and
end location. Each of these locations that are described with a comment
has three entry widgets to specify respectively the city, street and the
street number. Bellow the second frame there is a check button that allows
specifying if eventual highways should be ignored.
- tepam::argument_dialogbox
{item_name item_attributes ?item_name item_attributes?
?...?}
- Sometimes it is simpler to provide all the data entry item definitions in
form of a single list to argument_dialogbox, and not as individual
arguments. The second format that is supported by
argument_dialogbox corresponds exactly to the first one, except
that all item definitions are packed into a single list that is provided
to argument_dialogbox. The previous example can therefore also be
written in the following way:
set DialogResult [tepam::argument_dialogbox {
-title "Itinerary selection"
-file {-label "Itinerary report" -variable report_file}
...
-checkbutton {-label "Don't use highways" -variable no_highway} }]
The commands argument_dialogbox as well as procedure
are exported from the namespace tepam. To use these commands without
the tepam:: namespace prefix, it is sufficient to import them into
the main namespace:
namespace import tepam::*
set DialogResult [argument_dialogbox \
-title "Itinerary selection"
...
The following subsections explain the different argument item types that are
accepted by the argument_dialogbox, classified into three groups. The
first data entry item definition format will be used in the remaining
document, knowing that this format can always be transformed into the second
format by putting all arguments into a single list that is then provided to
argument_dialogbox.
The first item group allows specifying some context aspects of an
argument dialog box. These items are taking a simple character string as
item attribute:
tepam::argument_dialogbox \
-<argument_name> string \
...
The following items are classified into this group:
- -title
string
- The dialog box window title which is by default Dialog can be
changed with the -title item:
tepam::argument_dialogbox \
-title "System configuration" \
...
- -window
string
- The argument dialog box uses by default .dialog as dialog top level
window. This path can be changed with the -window item:
tepam::argument_dialogbox \
-window .dialog \
...
- -parent
string
- By defining a parent window, the argument dialog box will be displayed
beside this one. Without explicit parent window definition, the top-level
window will be considered as parent window.
tepam::argument_dialogbox \
-parent .my_appl \
...
- -context
string
- If a context is defined the dialog box state, e.g. the entered data as
well as the window size and position, is restored the next time the
argument dialog box is called. The assignment of a context allows saving
the dialog box state in its context to distinguish between different
usages of the argument dialog box.
tepam::argument_dialogbox \
-context destination_definitions \
...
Especially for big, complex forms it becomes important that the
different data entry widgets are graphically well organized and commented to
provide an immediate and clear overview to the user. A couple of items allow
structuring and commenting the dialog boxes.
The items of this classification group require as item attributes
a definition list, which contains itself attribute name and value pairs:
tepam::argument_dialogbox \
...
-<argument_name> {
?-<attribute_name> <attribute_value>?
?-<attribute_name> <attribute_value>?
?...?
}
...
The following items are classified into this group:
- -frame list
- The -frame item allows packing all following entry widgets into a
labeled frame, until a next frame item is defined or until the last entry
widget has been defined. It recognizes the following attributes inside the
item attribute list:
- -label
string
- An optional frame label can be specified with the -label
statement.
- Example:
tepam::argument_dialogbox \
...
-frame {-label "Destination address"}
...
- To close an open frame without opening a new one, an empty list has to be
provided to the -frame statement.
tepam::argument_dialogbox \
...
-frame {}
...
- -sep [const {{}}]
- Entry widgets can be separated with the -sep statement which
doesn't require additional definitions. The related definition list has to
exist, but its content is ignored.
tepam::argument_dialogbox \
...
-sep {}
...
- Comments and descriptions can be added with the -text attribute of
the -comment item. Please note that each entry widget itself can
also contain a -text attribute for comments and descriptions. But
the -comment item allows for example adding a description between
two frames.
tepam::argument_dialogbox \
...
-comment {-text "Specify bellow the destination address"}
...
- -yscroll
0|1|auto
- This attribute allows controlling an eventual vertical scrollbar. Setting
it to 0 will permanently disable the scrollbar, setting it to
1 will enable it. By default it is set to auto. The
scrollbar is enabled in this mode only if the vertical data entry form
size exceeds 66% of the screen height.
tepam::argument_dialogbox \
...
-yscroll auto
...
This item group allows specifying global custom checks to validate
the entered data.
- -validatecommand
script
- Custom data checks can be performed via validation commands that are
defined with the -validatecommand item. Example:
tepam::argument_dialogbox \
-entry {-label "Your comment" -variable YourCom} \
-validatecommand {IllegalWordDetector $YourCom}
- The validation command is executed in the context of the calling
procedure, once all the basic data checks have been performed and data
variables are assigned. All data is accessed via the data variables. Note
that there is also an entry widget specific attribute
-validatecommand that allows declaring custom checks for specific
data entries.
The attribute -validatecommand can be repeated to
declare multiple custom checks.
- -validatecommand_error_text
string
- This item allows overriding the default error message for a global custom
argument validation (defined by -validatecommand). Also this
attribute can be repeated in case multiple checks are declared.
- -validatecommand2
script
- -validatecommand2_error_text
string
- These items are mainly for TEPAM internal usage.
These items corrspond respectively to -validatecommand
and -validatecommand_error_text. However, the data validation is
not performed in the next upper stack level, but two stack levels
higher.
Data entry widgets are created with the widget items. These items
require as item attributes a definition list, which contains itself
attribute name and value pairs:
tepam::argument_dialogbox \
...
-<argument_name> {
?-<attribute_name> <attribute_value>?
?-<attribute_name> <attribute_value>?
?...?
}
...
The attribute list can contain various attributes to describe and comment an
entry widget and to constrain its entered value. All entry widgets are
accepting a common set of attributes that are described in the section
Entry Widget Item Attributes.
TEPAM defines a rich set of entry widgets. If necessary, this set
can be extended with additional application specific entry widgets (see
APPLICATION SPECIFIC ENTRY WIDGETS):
- -entry list
- The -entry item generates the simplest but most universal data
entry widget. It allows entering any kind of data in form of single line
strings.
tepam::argument_dialogbox \
-entry {-label Name -variable Entry}
- -text list
- The -text item generates a multi line text entry widget. The widget
height can be selected with the -height attribute.
tepam::argument_dialogbox \
-text {-label Name -variable Text -height 5}
- -checkbox
list
- A group of check boxes is created with the -checkbox item. The
number of check boxes and their option values are specified with a list
assigned to the -choices attribute or via a variable declared with
the -choicevariable attribute:
tepam::argument_dialogbox \
-checkbox {-label "Font sytle" -variable FontStyle \
-choices {bold italic underline} -default italic}
- If the labels of the check boxes should differ from the option values,
their labels can be defined with the -choicelabels attribute:
tepam::argument_dialogbox \
-checkbox {-label "Font sytle" -variable FontStyle \
-choices {bold italic underline} \
-choicelabels {Bold Italic Underline} \
-default italic}
- In contrast to a radio box group, a check box group allows selecting
simultaneously several choice options. The selection is stored for this
reason inside the defined variable in form of a list, even if only one
choice option has been selected.
- -radiobox
list
- A group of radio boxes is created with the -radiobox item. The
number of radio boxes and their option values are specified with a list
assigned to the -choices attribute or via a variable declared with
the -choicevariable attribute.
In contrast to a check box group, a radio box group allows
selecting simultaneously only one choice option. The selected option
value is stored directly, and not in form of a list, inside the defined
variable.
tepam::argument_dialogbox \
-radiobox {-label "Text adjustment" -variable Adjustment \
-choices {left center right} -default left}
- If the labels of the radio boxes should differ from the option values,
their labels can be defined with the -choicelabels attribute:
tepam::argument_dialogbox \
-radiobox {-label "Text adjustment" -variable Adjustment \
-choices {left center right} \
-choicelabels {Left Center Right} -default left}
- -checkbutton
list
- The -checkbutton entry widget allows activating or deactivating a
single choice option. The result written into the variable will either be
0 if the check button was not activated or 1 if it was
activated. An eventually provided default value has also to be either
0 or 1.
tepam::argument_dialogbox \
-checkbutton {-label Capitalize -variable Capitalize -default 1}
Several types of list and combo boxes are available to handle
selection lists.
- -combobox
list
- The combobox is a combination of a normal entry widget together with a
drop-down list box. The combobox allows selecting from this drop-down list
box a single element. The list of the available elements can be provided
either as a list to the -choices attribute, or via a variable that
is specified with the -choicevariable attribute.
tepam::argument_dialogbox \
-combobox {-label "Text size" -variable Size -choices {8 9 10 12 15 18} -default 12}
- And here is an example of using a variable to define the selection
list:
set TextSizes {8 9 10 12 15 18}
tepam::argument_dialogbox \
-combobox {-label "Text size" -variable Size -choicevariable TextSizes -default 12}
- -listbox
list
- In contrast to the combo box, the list box is always displayed by the
listbox entry widget. Only one element is selectable unless the
-multiple_selection attribute is set. The list box height can be
selected with the -height attribute. If the height is not
explicitly defined, the list box height is automatically adapted to the
argument dialog box size. The first example uses a variable to define the
available choices:
set set AvailableSizes
for {set k 0} {$k<16} {incr k} {lappend AvailableSizes [expr 1<<$k]}
tepam::argument_dialogbox \
-listbox {-label "Distance" -variable Distance \
-choicevariable AvailableSizes -default 6 -height 5}
- Here is a multi-element selection example. Please note that also the
default selection can contain multiple elements:
tepam::argument_dialogbox \
-listbox {-label "Text styles" -variable Styles \
-choices {bold italic underline overstrike} \
-choicelabels {Bold Italic Underline Overstrike} \
-default {bold underline} -multiple_selection 1 \
-height 3}
- -disjointlistbox
list
- A disjoint list box has to be used instead of a normal list box if the
selection order is important. The disjoint list box entry widget has in
fact two list boxes, one to select elements and one to display the
selected elements in the chosen order.
Disjoint listboxes allow always selecting multiple elements.
With the exception of the -multiple_selection attribute,
disjointed list boxes are accepting the same attributes as the normal
listbox, e.g. -height, -choices, -choicevariable, -default.
tepam::argument_dialogbox \
-disjointlistbox {-label "Preferred scripting languages" -variable Languages \
-comment "Please select your preferred languages in the order" \
-choices {JavaScript Lisp Lua Octave PHP Perl Python Ruby Scheme Tcl} \
-default {Tcl Perl Python}}
The file and directory selectors are building a next group of data
entry widgets. A paragraph of section Entry Widget Item Attributes
explains the widget specific attributes that allow specifying the targeted
file types, active directory etc.
- -file list
- The item -file creates a group composed by an entry widget together
with a button that allows opening a file browser. The data type
file is automatically selected for this entry if no data type has
been explicitly defined with the -type attribute.
tepam::argument_dialogbox \
-file {-label "Image file" -variable ImageF \
-filetypes {{"GIF" {*.gif}} {"JPG" {*.jpg}}} \
-initialfile "picture.gif"}
- -existingfile
list
- The item -existingfile creates a group composed by an entry widget
together with a button that allows opening a browser to select an existing
file. The data type existingfile is automatically selected for this
entry if no data type has been explicitly defined with the -type
attribute.
tepam::argument_dialogbox \
-existingfile {-label "Image file" -variable ImageF \
-filetypes {{"GIF" {*.gif}} {"JPG" {*.jpg}}} \
-initialfile "picture.gif"}
- -directory
list
- The item -directory creates a group composed by an entry widget
together with a button that allows opening a directory browser. The data
type directory is automatically selected for this entry if no data
type has been explicitly defined with the -type attribute.
tepam::argument_dialogbox \
-directory {-label "Report directory" -variable ReportDir}
- -existingdirectory
list
- The item -existingdirectory creates a group composed by an entry
widget together with a button that allows opening a browser to select an
existing directory. The data type existingdirectory is
automatically selected for this entry if no data type has been explicitly
defined with the -type attribute.
tepam::argument_dialogbox \
-existingdirectory {-label "Report directory" -variable ReportDir}
Finally, there is a last group of some other special data entry
widgets.
- -color list
- The color selector is composed by an entry widget together with a button
that allows opening a color browser. The data type color is
automatically selected for this entry widget type if no data type has been
explicitly defined with the -type attribute.
tepam::argument_dialogbox \
-color {-label "Background color" -variable Color -default red}
- -font list
- The font selector is composed by an entry widget together with a button
that allows opening a font browser. The data type font is
automatically selected for this entry widget type if no data type has been
explicitly defined with the -type attribute. The entry widget
displays an example text in the format of the selected font.
The font browser allows selecting by default the font families
provided by the font families Tk command as well as a reasonable
set of different font sizes between 6 points and 40 points. Different
sets of font families and font sizes can be specified respectively via
the -font_families or -font_sizes attributes.
If no default font is provided via the -default
attribute, the default font of the label widget to display the selected
font will be used as default selected font. If the font family of this
label widget is not part of the available families the first available
family is used as default. If the font size of this label widget is not
part of the available sizes the next close available size is selected as
default size.
tepam::argument_dialogbox \
-font {-label "Font" -variable Font \
-font_sizes {8 10 12 16} \
-default {Arial 20 italic}}
All the entry widget items are accepting the following
attributes:
- -text
string
- Eventual descriptions and comments specified with the -text
attribute are displayed above the entry widget.
tepam::argument_dialogbox \
-entry {-text "Please enter your name bellow" -variable Name}
- -label
string
- The label attribute creates left to the entry widget a label using the
provided string as label text:
tepam::argument_dialogbox \
-entry {-label Name -variable Name}
- -variable
string
- All entry widgets require a specified variable. After accepting the
entered information with the OK button, the entry widget data is stored
inside the defined variables.
tepam::argument_dialogbox \
-existingdirectory {-label "Report directory" -variable ReportDir}
- -default
string
- Eventual default data for the entry widgets can be provided via the
-default attribute. The default value is overridden if an argument
dialog box with a defined context is called another time. The value
acknowledged in a previous call will be used in this case as default
value.
tepam::argument_dialogbox \
-checkbox {-label "Font sytle" -variable FontStyle \
-choices {bold italic underline} -default italic}
- -optional
0|1
- Data can be specified as optional or mandatory with the -optional
attribute that requires either 0 (mandatory) or 1 (optional)
as attribute data.
In case an entry is optional and no data has been entered,
e.g. the entry contains an empty character string, the entry will be
considered as undefined and the assigned variable will not be
defined.
tepam::argument_dialogbox \
-entry {-label "City" -variable start_city -type string} \
-entry {-label "Street" -variable start_street -type string -optional 0} \
-entry {-label "Street number" -variable start_street_nbr -type integer -optional 1} \
- -type string
- If the data type is defined with the -type attribute the argument
dialog box will automatically perform a data type check after
acknowledging the entered values and before the dialog box is closed. If a
type incompatible value is found an error message box appears and the user
can correct the value.
The argument dialog box accepts all types that have been
specified by the TEPAM package and that are also used by
tepam::procedure (see the tepam::procedure reference
manual).
Some entry widgets like the file and directory widgets, as
well as the color and font widgets are specifying automatically the
default data type if no type has been specified explicitly with the
-type attribute.
tepam::argument_dialogbox \
-entry {-label "Street number" -variable start_street_nbr -type integer} \
- -range
string
- Values can be constrained with the -range attribute. The valid
range is defined with a list containing the minimum valid value and a
maximum valid value.
The -range attribute has to be used only for numerical
arguments, like integers and doubles.
tepam::argument_dialogbox \
-entry {-label Month -variable Month -type integer -range {1 12}}
- -validatecommand
string
- Custom argument value validations can be performed via specific validation
commands that are defined with the -validatecommand attribute. The
provided validation command can be a complete script in which the pattern
%P is placeholder for the argument value that has to be
validated.
tepam::argument_dialogbox \
-entry {-label "Your comment" -variable YourCom \
-validatecommand "IllegalWordDetector %P"}
- While the purpose of this custom argument validation attribute is the
validation of a specific argument, there is also a global data validation
attribute -validatecommand that allows performing validation that
involves multiple arguments.
- -validatecommand_error_text
string
- This attribute allows overriding the default error message for a custom
argument validation (defined by -validatecommand).
Some other attributes are supported by the list and combo boxes as
well as by the radio and check buttons.
- -choices
string
- Choice lists can directly be defined with the -choices attribute.
This way to define choice lists is especially adapted for smaller, fixed
selection lists.
tepam::argument_dialogbox \
-listbox {-label "Text styles" -variable Styles \
-choices {bold italic underline} -default underline
- -choicelabels
string (only check and radio buttons)
- If the labels of the check and radio boxes should differ from the option
values, they can be defined with the -choicelabels attribute:
tepam::argument_dialogbox \
-checkbox {-label "Font sytle" -variable FontStyle \
-choices {bold italic underline} \
-choicelabels {Bold Italic Underline}
- -choicevariable
string
- Another way to define the choice lists is using the -choicevariable
attribute. This way to define choice lists is especially adapted for huge
and eventually variable selection lists.
set TextSizes {8 9 10 12 15 18}
tepam::argument_dialogbox \
-combobox {-label "Text size" -variable Size -choicevariable TextSizes}
- -multiple_selection
0|1
- The list box item (-listbox) allows by default selecting only one
list element. By setting the -multiple_selection attribute to
1, multiple elements can be selected.
tepam::argument_dialogbox \
-listbox {-label "Text styles" -variable Styles \
-choices {bold italic underline} -default underline \
-multiple_selection 1 -height 3}
Some additional attributes are supported by the file and directory
selection widgets.
- -filetypes
string
- The file type attribute is used by the -file and
-existingfile items to define the file endings that are searched by
the file browser.
tepam::argument_dialogbox \
-file {-label "Image file" -variable ImageF \
-filetypes {{"GIF" {*.gif}} {"JPG" {*.jpg}}}}
- -initialfile
string
- The initial file used by the file browsers of the -file and
-existingfile widgets are by default the file defined with the
-default attribute, unless a file is specified with the
-initialfile attribute.
tepam::argument_dialogbox \
-file {-variable ImageF -initialfile "picture.gif"}
- -activedir
string
- The -activedir attribute will override the default active search
directory used by the file browsers of all file and directory entry
widgets. The default active search directory is defined by the directory
of a specified initial file (-initialfile) if defined, and
otherwise by the directory of the default file/directory, specified with
the -default attribute.
tepam::argument_dialogbox \
-file "-variable ImageF -activedir $pwd"
Finally, there is a last attribute supported by some widgets:
- -height
string
- All widgets containing a selection list (-listbox,
-disjointlistbox, -font) as well as the multi line
-text widget are accepting the -height attribute that
defines the number of displayed rows of the selection lists.
tepam::argument_dialogbox \
-listbox {-label "Text size" -variable Size \
-choices {8 9 10 12 15 18} -default 12 -height 3}
- If the no height has been explicitly specified the height of the widget
will be dynamically adapted to the argument dialog box size.
An application specific entry widget can be made available to the
argument dialog box by adding a dedicated procedure to the tepam
namespace. This procedure has three arguments; the first one is the widget
path, the second one a subcommand and the third argument has various
purposes:
proc tepam::ad_form(<WidgetName>) {W Command {Par ""}} {
upvar Option Option; # if required
variable argument_dialogbox; # if required
switch $Command {
"create" <CreateCommandSequence>
"set_choice" <SetChoiceCommandSequence>
"set" <SetCommandv>
"get" <GetCommandSequence>
}
}
Argument_dialogbox takes care about the -label and -text
attributes for all entry widgets. For any data entry widget it creates a frame
into which the data entry widget components can be placed. The path to this
frame is provided via the W argument.
The entry widget procedure has to support 3 mandatory and an
optional command that are selected via the argument Command:
- create
- The entry widget is called a first time with the command create to
build the data entry widget.
The frames that are made available by
argument_dialogbox for the entry widgets are by default only
extendable in the X direction. To make them also extendable in the Y
direction, for example for extendable list boxes, the command
ad_form(make_expandable) $W has to be executed when an entry
widget is built.
- set_choice
- The entry widget procedure is only called with the set_choice
command if the -choices or -choicevariable has been
specified. The command is therefore only relevant for list and combo
boxes.
The available selection list that is either specified with the
-choices or -choicevariable attribute is provided via the
Par argument to the entry widget procedure. This list can be used
to initialize an available choice list.
- set
- If a default value is either defined via the -default attribute or
via a preceding call the entry widget procedure is called with the
set command. The argument Par contains in this case the
value to which the entry widget has to be initialized.
- get
- The entry widget procedure command get has to return the current
value of the entry widget.
Eventually specified entry widget item attributes are available
via the Option array variable of the calling procedure. This variable
becomes accessible inside the entry widget procedure via the upvar
command.
There may be a need to store some information in a variable. The
array variable argument_dialogbox has to be used for this purpose
together with array indexes starting with "$W,", e.g.
argument_dialogbox($W,values).
Examples of entry widget procedures are directly provided by the
TEPAM package source file that specifies the standard entry widget
procedures. The simplest procedure is the one for the basic entry
widget:
proc tepam::ad_form(entry) {W Command {Par ""}} {
switch $Command {
"create" {pack [entry \$W.entry] -fill x \
-expand yes -pady 4 -side left}
"set" {\$W.entry insert 0 $Par}
"get" {return [\$W.entry get]}
}
}
It is also possible to relay on an existing entry widget procedure to derive a
new, more specific one. The radiobox widget is used for example, to
create a new entry widget that allows selecting either left,
center or right. The original radiobox widget is called
with the set_choice command immediately after the create
command, to define the fixed list of selection options.
proc tepam::ad_form(rcl) {W Command {Par ""}} {
set Res [ad_form(radiobox) $W $Command $Par]
if {$Command=="create"} {
ad_form(radiobox) $W set_choice {left center right}
}
return $Res
}
Please consult the TEPAM package source file to find additional and more complex
examples of entry widget procedures.
The argument_dialogbox is using two variables inside the
namespace ::tepam:
- argument_dialogbox
- Application specific entry widget procedures can use this array variable
to store their own data, using as index the widget path provided to the
procedure, e.g. argument_dialogbox($W,<sub_index>).
- last_parameters
- This array variable is only used by an argument dialog box if its context
has been specified via the -context attribute. The argument dialog
box position and size as well as its entered data are stored inside this
variable if the data are acknowledged and the form is closed. This allows
the form to restore its previous state once it is called another time.
To reuse the saved parameters not just in the actual
application session but also in another one, it is sufficient to store
the last_parameter array variable contents in a configuration
file which is loaded the next time an application is launched.
tepam(3tcl), tepam::procedure(3tcl)
data entry form, parameter entry form
Argument entry form, mega widget
Copyright (c) 2009-2013, Andreas Drollinger