Version 20 of Widgets in the initial Tk package

Updated 2006-12-07 13:01:58 by LV

Purpose: list the various Tk widgets by name, with a brief example.

[Have there been any Tk widgets added since this page was created?]

[TODO - Update for 8.5, add the ttk widgets button, checkbutton, combobox, entry, frame, label, labelframe, menubutton, notebook, progressbar, radiobutton, scrollbar, separator, sizegrip, style, treeview and demo how the look differs from the default widgets.]

I also think it might be a good idea to try and create screenshots that have the best look and feel possible, which to me means a standard gray/blue color theme. The somewhat unusual color choices may lead some to believe that Tk is ugly and won't fit in. This is a good place to put our best foot forward


CORE WIDGETS and no, the ordering is most definitely not aimless... DKF

  • button (generic graphical activatable item)

http://www.man.ac.uk/~zzcgudf/tcl/wikipix/button.gif http://www.man.ac.uk/~zzcgudf/tcl/wikipix/w_button.gif

http://www.man.ac.uk/~zzcgudf/tcl/wikipix/checkbutton.gif http://www.man.ac.uk/~zzcgudf/tcl/wikipix/w_checkbutton.gif

  • radiobutton (one button which eventually will be a mutually exclusive selection button)

http://www.man.ac.uk/~zzcgudf/tcl/wikipix/radiobutton.gif http://www.man.ac.uk/~zzcgudf/tcl/wikipix/w_radiobutton.gif

  • menubutton (one button storing a menu) slebetman A menubutton is what Windows developers call combobox. Unfortunately, on Windows, menubutton does not look like a proper combobox so users will usually be confused by the menubutton. On other operating systems like SunOS and the Mac, the menubutton is exactly what the user expects.

http://www.man.ac.uk/~zzcgudf/tcl/wikipix/menubutton.gif

  • label (textual information)

http://www.man.ac.uk/~zzcgudf/tcl/wikipix/label.gif http://www.man.ac.uk/~zzcgudf/tcl/wikipix/w_label.gif

  • labelframe (info attached to a group of widgets. NEW WIDGET IN 8.4!)

http://www.man.ac.uk/~zzcgudf/tcl/wikipix/labelframe.gif

  • message (a variation on the theme of labels; uncommon)

http://www.man.ac.uk/~zzcgudf/tcl/wikipix/message.gif http://www.man.ac.uk/~zzcgudf/tcl/wikipix/w_message.gif

  • frame (a box for other widgets)

(No picture, as frames don't look very impressive. They're not meant to...)

  • toplevel (a frame that doesn't live inside another widget)

(No picture, as toplevels don't look very impressive. They're not meant to...)

  • panedwindow (a container for widgets that lets the user proportion space between them. NEW WIDGET IN 8.4!)

http://zipguy.012webpages.com/tcl/panedwin.jpg

  • menu (accesses the real, OS menu on some platforms)

(A bit awkward to take a picture of this one... :^)

  • scale (for adjusting numeric values)

http://www.man.ac.uk/~zzcgudf/tcl/wikipix/scale.gif http://www.man.ac.uk/~zzcgudf/tcl/wikipix/w_scale.gif

http://www.man.ac.uk/~zzcgudf/tcl/wikipix/scrollbar.gif http://www.man.ac.uk/~zzcgudf/tcl/wikipix/w_scrollbar.gif

  • listbox (selection from a list; Configurable line colours new in 8.3)

http://www.man.ac.uk/~zzcgudf/tcl/wikipix/listbox.gif http://www.man.ac.uk/~zzcgudf/tcl/wikipix/w_listbox.gif

  • entry (Single-line text entry)

http://www.man.ac.uk/~zzcgudf/tcl/wikipix/entry.gif http://www.man.ac.uk/~zzcgudf/tcl/wikipix/w_entry.gif

  • spinbox (Numeric entry widget. NEW WIDGET IN 8.4!) MG The spinbox can also be used for non-numerical items. If you give it a list of strings, it'll scroll through them all.

http://www.man.ac.uk/~zzcgudf/tcl/wikipix/spinbox.gif

  • text (Multi-line text entry, but also hypertext and so much more. A very versatile widget indeed...)

http://www.man.ac.uk/~zzcgudf/tcl/wikipix/text.gif http://www.man.ac.uk/~zzcgudf/tcl/wikipix/w_text.gif

  • canvas (Hyper-graphics; extremely powerful)

http://www.man.ac.uk/~zzcgudf/tcl/wikipix/canvas.gif

DERIVED WIDGETS (implemented by OS on some platforms)

http://www.man.ac.uk/~zzcgudf/tcl/wikipix/w_option.gif

http://www.man.ac.uk/~zzcgudf/tcl/wikipix/dialog_w.gif

http://www.man.ac.uk/~zzcgudf/tcl/wikipix/messageBox_w.gif

Standard Tk on Unix:

http://www.man.ac.uk/~zzcgudf/tcl/wikipix/getOpenFile_tk.gif

Tk on Unix in Motif-emulation mode:

http://www.man.ac.uk/~zzcgudf/tcl/wikipix/getOpenFile_motif.gif

Standard Tk on Windows:

http://www.man.ac.uk/~zzcgudf/tcl/wikipix/getOpenFile_win.gif

(looks very similar to the above dialogs...)

http://www.man.ac.uk/~zzcgudf/tcl/wikipix/chooseColor_wpid.gif http://www.man.ac.uk/~zzcgudf/tcl/wikipix/chooseColor_w.jpg

http://zipguy.012webpages.com/tcl/choosedir.jpg


ZipGuy - added paned window and tk_chooseDirectory


[Category Widget|Category Dialog|Category GUI]