controlwidget(n)                 controlwidget                controlwidget(n)



______________________________________________________________________________

NAME
       controlwidget - Collection of widgets for displaying and controlling
       numerical values

SYNOPSIS
       package require Tcl  ?8.5?

       package require Tk  ?8.5?

       package require snit  ?2.0?

       package require controlwidget  ?0.1?

       ::controlwidget::meter w args

       ::controlwidget::slider w args

       ::controlwidget::equalizerBar w args

       ::controlwidget::thermometer w args

       ::controlwidget::voltmeter w args

       ::controlwidget::tachometer w args

       ::controlwidget::rdial w args

       $widget get

       $widget set value

       ::controlwidget::led w args

       ::controlwidget::radioMatrix w args

       $led on

       $led off

       $led setstate state

       $matrix get

       $matrix set index

______________________________________________________________________________

DESCRIPTION
       The controlwidget package focuses on the display and interactive
       control of numerical values.  It mimicks several of the meters and
       controls found in laboratory settings but also daily life: volt meters,
       equalizers and tachometers to name a few. They can be seen as
       alternatives for the scale widget.

       Note: The package has not sofar been tested extensively, and that may
       result in an unexpected appearance if you use sizes that are different
       than the defaults. Also not all options for the coloring of the various
       parts and fonts and so on have been tested, so that may be another
       source of bugs.

       A last note: some parts have not been included in any option, most
       notably the colors of parts that require lighter and darker shades to
       cooperate.

TYPES OF WIDGETS
       The package distinguishes several typed of widgets:

       o      Vertical meters: the value of the variable is translated into a
              vertical position, like with the coloured bars you find on your
              stereo installation.

       o      Angle displays: the value of the variable is related to the
              angle of a needle, like with tachometers.

       o      Interactive widgets: most widgets allow you to change the value
              of the variable by pressing the mouse button on the needle and
              shifting it up and down or left and right.

       o      Non-interactive widgets: some widgets, like the thermometer
              widget, do not allow such interaction.

       o      Logical or choice widgets: some widgets display the values as
              either on/off (or true/false) or as one of a set of discrete
              choices.

       All widgets have in common, however, that you can connect them to a
       variable and that changing the variable changes the display.
       Forthermore, all widgets have the set and get methods to interact with
       the value that the widget displays (whether that is stored in a global
       variable or not).

       They also have in common that their appearance and behaviour is
       determined by one or more options that you can set at creation time and
       often later on as well. The widgets are all based on the snit package,
       so that the methods configure and cget are available to set and get
       these options.

COMMANDS
       Currently the package contains these widgets of the vertical meter
       type:

       ::controlwidget::meter w args
              Create a vertical meter consisting of an axis and a moveable
              arrow.

              widget w (in)
                     Name of the widget to be created.

              arguments args (in)
                     List of key-value pairs, controlling the appearance and
                     behaviour of the widget:

                     variable name
                            Name of the variable to be associated with the
                            meter

                     background color
                            Background color for the widget

                     height pixels
                            Height of the widget

                     width pixels
                            Width of the widget

                     arrowthickness pixels
                            Thickness of the displayed arrow in pixels

                     arrowcolor color
                            Color of the displayed arrow

                     readonly boolean
                            Whether the arrow can be moved interactively or
                            not

       ::controlwidget::slider w args
              Create a widget containing one or more vertical sliders and an
              axis. You can shift the slider handles interactively via the
              mouse.

              widget w (in)
                     Name of the widget to be created.

              arguments args (in)
                     List of key-value pairs, controlling the appearance and
                     behaviour of the widget:

                     variable name
                            Name of the (list) variable to be associated with
                            the widget

                     number integer
                            Number of sliders in the widget

                     background color
                            Background color for the widget

                     height pixels
                            Height of the widget

                     width pixels
                            Width of the widget

                     sliderthickness pixels
                            Thickness of the slider handles

                     sliderwidth color
                            Width of the slider handles

                     troughwidth color
                            Width of the troughs holding the sliders

       ::controlwidget::equalizerBar w args
              Create a widget containing one or more vertical bars resembling
              those found on hifi graphical equalizers.  Note that it is a
              read-only widget.

              widget w (in)
                     Name of the widget to be created.

              arguments args (in)
                     List of key-value pairs, controlling the appearance and
                     behaviour of the widget:

                     variable name
                            Name of the (list) variable to be associated with
                            the widget

                     number integer
                            Number of bars in the widget

                     background color
                            Background color for the widget

                     height pixels
                            Height of the widget

                     width pixels
                            Width of the widget

                     barwidth pixels
                            Width of the bars

                     segments integer
                            Number of segments the bars are divided in

                     safecolor color
                            Color for values lower than the warning level

                     warningcolor color
                            Color for values greater than the warning level

                     warninglevel double
                            Threshold value, determines at what level the
                            color changes

       ::controlwidget::thermometer w args
              Create a thermometer widget (read-only)

              widget w (in)
                     Name of the widget to be created.

              arguments args (in)
                     List of key-value pairs, controlling the appearance and
                     behaviour of the widget:

                     variable name
                            Name of the (list) variable to be associated with
                            the widget

                     background color
                            Background color for the widget

                     height pixels
                            Height of the widget

                     width pixels
                            Width of the widget

                     linethickness pixels
                            Thickness of the line representing the
                            "temperature"

                     linecolor color
                            Color of the line

       These widgets all use a vertical axis and have the following options in
       common for configuring the axis:

       axisformat string
              Format string for formatting the numbers along the axis

       axisfont string
              Name of the font to be used for the numbers

       axiscolor color
              Color of the axis (including the numbers)

       from color
              Lower value for the axis

       to color
              Upper value for the axis

       majorticks integer
              Number of major tickmarks to draw (each is labelled)

       minorticks integer
              Number of minor tickmarks to draw between two major tickmarks

       log boolean
              Use a logarithmic axis (true) or a linear axis (false)

       The package contains the following widget based on angle displays:

       ::controlwidget::voltmeter w args
              Create a voltmeter-like widget.

              widget w (in)
                     Name of the widget to be created.

              arguments args (in)
                     List of key-value pairs, controlling the appearance and
                     behaviour of the widget:

                     variable name
                            Name of the variable to be associated with the
                            meter

                     value value
                            Value for the meter (if not associated with a
                            variable)

                     min value
                            The minimum value for data in the display

                     max value
                            The maximum value for data in the display

                     labels list
                            The labels to be shown along the scale. (These are
                            simply considered texts, so no relation with the
                            minimum and maximum perse)

                     title string
                            String to be shown below the dial

                     width pixels
                            The width of the widget

                     height pixels
                            The height of the widget

                     borderwidth pixels
                            The width of the border surrounding the entire
                            widget

                     relief string
                            The relief of the border surrounding the entire
                            widget

                     highlightthickness pixels
                            The width of the border to indicate the widget has
                            keyboard focus

                     labelfont fontname
                            Font of the labels to the scale

                     titlefont fontname
                            Font of the title below the dial

                     dialcolor color
                            Color of the dial holding the needle

                     needlecolor color
                            Color of the needle

                     scalecolor color
                            Color of the scale (arc and tickmarks)

                     labelcolor color
                            Color of the labels to the scale

                     titlecolor color
                            Color of the title below the dial

       ::controlwidget::tachometer w args
              Create a tachometer-like widget.

              widget w (in)
                     Name of the widget to be created.

              arguments args (in)
                     List of key-value pairs, controlling the appearance and
                     behaviour of the widget. In addition to the ones given
                     for the voltmeter widget:

                     variable name
                            Name of the variable to be associated with the
                            meter

                     value value
                            Value for the meter (if not associated with a
                            variable)

                     dangerlevel value
                            Level above which values are indicated with a
                            different color

                     dangercolor color
                            Color for the values above the "danger level"

                     dangerwidth pixels
                            Width for the colored band indicating the "danger
                            level"

                     pincolor color
                            Color for the needle and the pin

       ::controlwidget::rdial w args
              Create a rotating dial. You can drag the dial to change the
              value. With the shift button depressed the value changes slowly,
              with the control button depressed it changes fast.

              widget w (in)
                     Name of the widget to be created.

              arguments args (in)
                     List of key-value pairs, controlling the appearance and
                     behaviour of the widget:

                     variable name
                            Name of the variable to be associated with the
                            dial

                     value value
                            Value for the dial (if not associated with a
                            variable)

                     orient string
                            Whether a horizontal disk/dial is required
                            ("horizontal") or a vertical one ("vertical")

                     step value
                            Initial step for incrementing or decrementing the
                            value

                     slow value
                            Factor on the step size for incrementing or
                            decrementing the value slowly

                     fast value
                            Factor on the step size for incrementing or
                            decrementing the value fast

                     scale value
                            Scale value to be applied to the actual value

                     callback command
                            Command to be called when the value changes

                     width pixels
                            The width of the widget

                     height pixels
                            The height of the widget

                     background color
                            The background color of the widget (coloring of
                            the disk/dial)

                     foreground color
                            The foreground color of the widget (the marker
                            lines)

       All these widgets have the following methods:

       $widget get
              Return the current value or values shown in the widget

       $widget set value
              Reset the value or values shown in the widget. If the widget is
              associated with a variable, that variable is set as well.

              value double/list
                     New value or values for the widget

       Two further widgets are available, meant to display logical values:

       ::controlwidget::led w args
              Create a LED-like widget.

              widget w (in)
                     Name of the widget to be created.

              arguments args (in)
                     List of key-value pairs, controlling the appearance and
                     behaviour of the widget. In addition to the ones given
                     for the voltmeter widget:

                     variable name
                            Name of the variable to be associated with the LED

                     size pixels
                            Diameter of the LED widget

                     on color
                            Color to use for the "on" state

                     off color
                            Color to use for the "off" state

       ::controlwidget::radioMatrix w args
              Create a matrix of radio buttons that behaves as a single
              widget.

              widget w (in)
                     Name of the widget to be created.

              arguments args (in)
                     List of key-value pairs, controlling the appearance and
                     behaviour of the widget. In addition to the ones given
                     for the voltmeter widget:

                     variable name
                            Name of the variable to be associated with the
                            matrix

                     orient string
                            The way the radio buttons are to be arranged
                            (horizontal or vertical first)

                     rows integer
                            Number of rows in the matrix

                     columns integer
                            Number of columns in the matrix

                     command list
                            Command associated with the radio buttons. Invoked
                            when the active radio button changes.

       The LED widget has the following public methods:

       $led on
              Set the state to "on"

       $led off
              Set the state to "off"

       $led setstate state
              Set the state according to the value of "state"

              state boolean (in)
                     New state for the LED widget

       The radioMatrix widget has two public methods:

       $matrix get
              Return the index of the currently selected radio button

       $matrix set index
              Select the radio button with index "index"

              index integer
                     Index of the radio button to be set

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
       The code for most of these widgets first appeared on the Wiki. In many
       cases, Arjen Markus merely refactored the code a bit and "snitified"
       some of them. The original code was developed by the following people:

       o      Vertical meter, LED display, radio matrix: Ron Fox

       o      Rotating dials: Gerhard Reithofer

       o      Voltmeter and tachometer: Marco Maggi

       o      Code for moving the needle: ?

BUGS, IDEAS, FEEDBACK
       This document, and the package it describes, will undoubtedly contain
       bugs and other problems.  Please report such in the category
       controlwidget of the Tklib Trackers
       [http://core.tcl.tk/tklib/reportlist].  Please also report any ideas
       for enhancements you may have for either package and/or documentation.

KEYWORDS
       controlling, displaying, numerical values, scale widget

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright (c) 2010 Ron Fox <rfox@...>
       Copyright (c) 2010 Gerhard Reithofer <...@...>
       Copyright (c) 2010 Marco Maggi <...@...>
       Copyright (c) 2010 Arjen Markus <arjenmarkus@users.sourceforge.net>




tklib                                 0.1                     controlwidget(n)
