SYNOPSIS

tixBalloon pathName ?options?

SUPER-CLASS

The tixBalloon class is derived from the TixShell class and inherits all the commands, options and subwidgets of its super-class.

STANDARD OPTIONS

The Balloon widget supports all the standard options of a frame widget. See the options(n) manual entry for details on the standard options.

WIDGET-SPECIFIC OPTIONS

[ -initwait initWait InitWait ] In milliseconds. Specifies how long the balloon should wait before popping up in a widget. [ -state state State ] Specifies the which help message to display when the mouse pointer enters a widget associated with this balloon. Valid options are both: display both the balloon message and the status bar message, balloon: display only the balloon message, status: display only the status bar message and none: display no messages. [ -statusbar statusBar statusBar ] Specifies the widget to use as the status bar of this balloon. This widget must have a "-text" option. Usually a label widget is used.

SUBWIDGETS

Name:           label
Class:          Label

The label widget that shows the little arrow bitmap in the pop-up balloon window.

Name:           message
Class:          Label

The message widget that shows the descriptive message in the the pop-up balloon window.

DESCRIPTION

The tixBalloon command creates a new window (given by the pathName argument) and makes it into a Balloon widget. Additional options, described above, may be specified on the command line or in the option database to configure aspects of the Balloon widget such as its cursor and relief.

The Balloon widget can be used to show popped-up messages that describe the functions of the widgets in an application. A Balloon widget can be bound to a number of widgets. When the user moves the cursor inside a widget to which a Balloon widget has been bound, a small pop-up window with a descriptive message will be shown on the screen.

WIDGET COMMANDS

The tixBalloon command creates a new Tcl command whose name is the same as the path name of the Balloon widget's window. This command may be used to invoke various operations on the widget. It has the following general form:

pathName option ?arg arg ...?

PathName is the name of the command, which is the same as the Balloon widget's path name. Option and the args determine the exact behavior of the command. The following commands are possible for Balloon widgets:

pathName bind widget ?option value ... ?

Binds the Balloon widget to the widget. The messages to be shown can be passed as extra arguments to this command in option value pairs. Possible options: -balloonmsg specifies the string to show on the pop-up balloon window; -statusmsg specifies the string to show on the status bar; -msg specifies a string to show on both the balloon window and the stats bar window. When used together, the -msg option has a lower precedence than the -balloonmsg and -statusmsg options.

The bind command can also be used to change the messages after the initial bindings were set. Example:

        button .b
        tixBalloon .bal
        # Add balloon binding
        .bal bind .b -msg "This is a button"
        ...
        # Change the balloon binding
        .bal bind .b -msg "This is a useful button"

pathName cget option

Returns the current value of the configuration option given by option. Option may have any of the values accepted by the tixBalloon command.

pathName configure ?option? ?value option value ...?

Query or modify the configuration options of the widget. If no option is specified, returns a list describing all of the available options for pathName (see Tk_ConfigureInfo for information on the format of this list). If option is specified with no value, then the command returns a list describing the one named option (this list will be identical to the corresponding sublist of the value returned if no option is specified). If one or more option-value pairs are specified, then the command modifies the given widget option(s) to have the given value(s); in this case the command returns an empty string. Option may have any of the values accepted by the tixBalloon command.

pathName unbind widget

Cancels the Balloon widget's binding with widget.

pathName subwidget name ?args?

When no options are given, this command returns the pathname of the subwidget of the specified name.

When options are given, the widget command of the specified subwidget will be called with these options.

BINDINGS

After a widget has be bound to a Balloon widget, when the user moves the cursor into this widget, the Balloon widget is activated: if the -balloonmsg option of this widget is set, the balloon window pops up; if the -statusmsg option of this widget is set, the message will be displayed in the status bar widget.

When the user moves the cursor out of the widget, the Balloon widget is de-activated: the balloon window is withdrawn and the status-bar message removed.

KEYWORDS

Tix(n)