| ActiveTcl User Guide |

# messagebox - Create and manipulate a messagebox text widget

## SYNOPSIS

messagebox pathName ?options?

## INHERITANCE

itk::Widget <- Labeledwidget <- Scrolledwidget <- Messagebox

## STANDARD OPTIONS

activeBackground cursor highlightColor relief | activeForeground exportSelection highlightThickness setGrid | background font padX | borderWidth foreground padY

See the "options" manual entry for details on the standard options.

## ASSOCIATED OPTIONS

labelBitmap labelPos | labelFont labelText | labelImage labelVariable | labelMargin

See the "labeledwidget" class manual entry for details on the above associated options.

activeRelief | elementBorderWidth | jump | troughColor

See the "scrollbar" widget manual entry for details on the above associated options.

height textBackground | hscrollMode visibleItems | sbWidth vscrollMode | scrollMargin width

See the "scrolledtext" widget manual entry for details on the above associated options.

spacing1 | spacing2 | spacing3 |

See the "text" widget manual entry for details on the above associated options.

## WIDGET-SPECIFIC OPTIONS

    Name:                   fileName
    Class:                  FileName
    Command-Line Switch:    -filename

Specifies the filename to be displayed in the file selection dialog when it pops up during a save of the messagebox contents operation.

    Name:                   maxLines
    Class:                  MaxLines
    Command-Line Switch:    -maxlines

Specifies the maximum number of lines allowed in the text area of the messagebox. When this limit is reached, the oldest line will be deleted such that the total number of lines remains maxlines.

    Name:                   saveDir
    Class:                  SaveDir
    Command-Line Switch:    -savedir

Specifies the default directory to display when the file selection dialog pops up during a save of the messagebox contents operation. If this parameter is not specified, then the files in the current working directory are displayed.

## DESCRIPTION

The messagebox command creates a scrolled information messages area widget. Message types can be user defined and configured. Their options include foreground, background, font, bell, and their display mode of on or off. This allows message types to defined as needed, removed when no longer so, and modified when necessary. An export method is provided for file I/O.

The number of lines displayed may be limited with the default being 1000. When this limit is reached, the oldest line is removed. A popup menu which appears when the right mouse button has been pressed in the message area has been predefined. The contents of the popup menu by default support clearing the area and saving its contents to a file. Additional operations may be defined or existing operations removed by using the component command to access the popup menu.

## MESSAGE TYPES

The display characteristics of messages issued to the messagebox vary with the message type. Types are defined by the user and they may be added, removed, and configured. The options of the message type control the display include the following:

-background color
  Color specifies the background color to use for characters associated with the message type. It may have any of the forms accepted by Tk_GetColor.

-bell boolean
  Specifies whether or not to ring the bell whenenver a message of this type is issued. Boolean may have any of the forms accepted by Tk_GetBoolean. The default is 0.

-font\ fontName
  FontName is the name of a font to use for drawing characters. It may have any of the forms accepted by Tk_GetFontStruct.

-foreground color
  Color specifies the foreground color to use for characters associated with the message type. It may have any of the forms accepted by Tk_GetColor.

-show boolean
  Specifies whether of not to display this message type when issued. Boolean may have any of the forms accepted by Tk_GetBoolean. The default is 1.

## METHODS

The messagebox command creates a new Tcl command whose name is pathName. This command may be used to invoke various operations on the widget. It has the following general form:

    pathName option ?arg arg ...?

Option and the args determine the exact behavior of the command. The following commands are possible for messagebox widgets:

## WIDGET-SPECIFIC METHODS

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

pathName clear
  Clear the messagebox of all messages.

pathName export filename
  Write text to a file. If filename exists then contents are replaced with text widget contents.

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 messagebox command.

pathName type option msgtype ?arg arg ...?
  This command is used to manipulate message types. The behavior of the command depends on the option argument that follows the type keyword. The following forms of the command are supported:

pathName type add msgtype ?option value ...?
  Adds a new message type given by msgtype with the display properties defined by the option value pairs. See MESSAGE TYPES for information on the options that are supported.

pathName type cget msgtype option
  Returns the value of a configuration option for a message type. Msgtype identifies the message type, and option specifies a particular configuration option, which must be one of the ones listed in the section MESSAGE TYPES.

pathName type configure msgtype ?option value ...?
  Query or modify the configuration options for a message type. If no option is specified, returns a list describing all of the available options for the message type msgtype. If option is specified with no value, then the command returns a list describing the one named option. If one or more option-value pairs are specified, then the command modifies the given option(s) to have the given value(s); in this case the command returns an empty string. See MESSAGE TYPES for information on the options that are supported. pathName type remove msgtype Removes an existing message type given by msgtype.

pathName issue string ?level? ?tags?
  Print a string to the text area at the given level and with any additional tags specified.

## COMPONENTS

    Name:                   itemMenu
    Class:                  Menu

This is the popup menu that gets displayed when you right-click in the text area of the messagebox. Its contents may be modified via the component command.

    Name:                   text
    Class:                  Scrolledtext

The text component is the scrolledtext widget. See the "scrolledtext" widget manual entry for details on the text component item.

## EXAMPLE

     messagebox .mb -hscrollmode dynamic -labeltext "Messages" -labelpos n \\
        -height 120 -width 550 -savedir "/tmp" -textbackground #d9d9d9

     pack .mb -padx 5 -pady 5 -fill both -expand yes

     .mb type add ERROR -background red -foreground white -bell 1
     .mb type add WARNING -background yellow -foreground black
     .mb type add INFO -background white -foreground black

     .mb issue "This is an error message in red with a beep" ERROR
     .mb issue "This warning message in yellow" WARNING
     .mb issue "This is an informational message" INFO

## AUTHORS

Alfredo Jahn V

Mark L. Ulferts

## KEYWORDS

messagebox, scrolledtext, text, widget