Note that the easiest way to learn how to use these procedures is to look at a working example. In Tk, the simplest example is the code that implements the button family of widgets, which is in tkButton.c. Other examples are in tkSquare.c and tkMenu.c.
In order to use these procedures, the code that implements the widget must contain a static array of Tk_OptionSpec structures. This is a template that describes the various options supported by that class of widget; there is a separate template for each kind of widget. The template contains information such as the name of each option, its type, its default value, and where the value of the option is stored in the widget record. See TEMPLATES below for more detail.
In order to process configuration options efficiently, the static template must be augmented with additional information that is available only at runtime. The procedure Tk_CreateOptionTable creates this dynamic information from the template and returns a Tk_OptionTable token that describes both the static and dynamic information. All of the other procedures, such as Tk_SetOptions, take a Tk_OptionTable token as argument. Typically, Tk_CreateOptionTable is called the first time that a widget of a particular class is created and the resulting Tk_OptionTable is used in the future for all widgets of that class. A Tk_OptionTable may be used only in a single interpreter, given by the interp argument to Tk_CreateOptionTable. When an option table is no longer needed Tk_DeleteOptionTable should be called to free all of its resources. All of the option tables for a Tcl interpreter are freed automatically if the interpreter is deleted.
Tk_InitOptions is invoked when a new widget is created to set the default values. Tk_InitOptions is passed a token for an option table (optionTable) and a pointer to a widget record (recordPtr), which is the C structure that holds information about this widget. Tk_InitOptions uses the information in the option table to choose an appropriate default for each option, then it stores the default value directly into the widget record, overwriting any information that was already present in the widget record. Tk_InitOptions normally returns TCL_OK. If an error occurred while setting the default values (e.g., because a default value was erroneous) then TCL_ERROR is returned and an error message is left in interp's result if interp is not NULL. For any widget's configuration option that has TK_OPTION_DONT_SET_DEFAULT set in its flags field, the above initialization is fully skipped, see below.
Tk_SetOptions is invoked to modify configuration options based on information specified in a Tcl command. The command might be one that creates a new widget, or a command that modifies options on an existing widget. The objc and objv arguments describe the values of the arguments from the Tcl command. Objv must contain an even number of objects: the first object of each pair gives the name of an option and the second object gives the new value for that option. Tk_SetOptions looks up each name in optionTable, checks that the new value of the option conforms to the type in optionTable, and stores the value of the option into the widget record given by recordPtr. Tk_SetOptions normally returns TCL_OK. If an error occurred (such as an unknown option name or an illegal option value) then TCL_ERROR is returned and an error message is left in interp's result if interp is not NULL.
Tk_SetOptions has two additional features. First, if the maskPtr argument is not NULL then it points to an integer value that is filled in with information about the options that were modified. For each option in the template passed to Tk_CreateOptionTable there is a typeMask field. The bits of this field are defined by the code that implements the widget; for example, each bit might correspond to a particular configuration option. Alternatively, bits might be used functionally. For example, one bit might be used for redisplay: all options that affect the widget's display, such that changing the option requires the widget to be redisplayed, might have that bit set. Another bit might indicate that the geometry of the widget must be recomputed, and so on. Tk_SetOptions OR's together the typeMask fields from all the options that were modified and returns this value at *maskPtr; the caller can then use this information to optimize itself so that, for example, it does not redisplay the widget if the modified options do not affect the widget's appearance.
The second additional feature of Tk_SetOptions has to do with error recovery. If an error occurs while processing configuration options, this feature makes it possible to restore all the configuration options to their previous values. Errors can occur either while processing options in Tk_SetOptions or later in the caller. In many cases the caller does additional processing after Tk_SetOptions returns; for example, it might use an option value to set a trace on a variable and may detect an error if the variable is an array instead of a scalar. Error recovery is enabled by passing in a non-NULL value for the savePtr argument to Tk_SetOptions; this should be a pointer to an uninitialized Tk_SavedOptions structure on the caller's stack. Tk_SetOptions overwrites the structure pointed to by savePtr with information about the old values of any options modified by the procedure. If Tk_SetOptions returns successfully, the caller uses the structure in one of two ways. If the caller completes its processing of the new options without any errors, then it must pass the structure to Tk_FreeSavedOptions so that the old values can be freed. If the caller detects an error in its processing of the new options, then it should pass the structure to Tk_RestoreSavedOptions, which will copy the old values back into the widget record and free the new values. If Tk_SetOptions detects an error then it automatically restores any options that had already been modified and leaves *savePtr in an empty state: the caller need not call either Tk_FreeSavedOptions or Tk_RestoreSavedOptions. If the savePtr argument to Tk_SetOptions is NULL then Tk_SetOptions frees each old option value immediately when it sets a new value for the option. In this case, if an error occurs in the third option, the old values for the first two options cannot be restored.
Tk_GetOptionValue returns the current value of a configuration option for a particular widget. The namePtr argument contains the name of an option; Tk_GetOptionValue uses optionTable to lookup the option and extract its value from the widget record pointed to by recordPtr, then it returns an object containing that value. If an error occurs (e.g., because namePtr contains an unknown option name) then NULL is returned and an error message is left in interp's result unless interp is NULL.
Tk_GetOptionInfo returns information about configuration options in a form suitable for configure widget commands. If the namePtr argument is not NULL, it points to an object that gives the name of a configuration option; Tk_GetOptionInfo returns an object containing a list with five elements, which are the name of the option, the name and class used for the option in the option database, the default value for the option, and the current value for the option. If the namePtr argument is NULL, then Tk_GetOptionInfo returns information about all options in the form of a list of lists; each sublist describes one option. Synonym options are handled differently depending on whether namePtr is NULL: if namePtr is NULL then the sublist for each synonym option has only two elements, which are the name of the option and the name of the other option that it refers to; if namePtr is non-NULL and names a synonym option then the object returned is the five-element list for the other option that the synonym refers to. If an error occurs (e.g., because namePtr contains an unknown option name) then NULL is returned and an error message is left in interp's result unless interp is NULL.
Tk_FreeConfigOptions must be invoked when a widget is deleted. It frees all of the resources associated with any of the configuration options defined in recordPtr by optionTable.
The Tk_Offset macro is provided as a safe way of generating the objOffset and internalOffset values for entries in Tk_OptionSpec structures. It takes two arguments: the name of a type of record, and the name of a field in that record. It returns the byte offset of the named field in records of the given type.
typedef struct {
Tk_OptionType type;
const char *optionName;
const char *dbName;
const char *dbClass;
const char *defValue;
int objOffset;
int internalOffset;
int flags;
const void *clientData;
int typeMask;
} Tk_OptionSpec;
The type field indicates what kind of configuration option this is
(e.g. TK_OPTION_COLOR for a color value, or TK_OPTION_INT for
an integer value). Type determines how the
value of the option is parsed (more on this below).
The optionName field is a string such as -font or -bg;
it is the name used for the option in Tcl commands and passed to
procedures via the objc or namePtr arguments.
The dbName and dbClass fields are used by Tk_InitOptions
to look up a default value for this option in the option database; if
dbName is NULL then the option database is not used by
Tk_InitOptions for this option. The defValue field
specifies a default value for this configuration option if no
value is specified in the option database. The objOffset and
internalOffset fields indicate where to store the value of this
option in widget records (more on this below); values for the objOffset
and internalOffset fields should always be generated with the
Tk_Offset macro.
The flags field contains additional information
to control the processing of this configuration option (see below
for details).
ClientData provides additional type-specific data needed
by certain types. For instance, for TK_OPTION_COLOR types,
clientData is a string giving the default value to use on
monochrome displays. See the descriptions of the different types
below for details.
The last field, typeMask, is used by Tk_SetOptions to
return information about which options were modified; see the description
of Tk_SetOptions above for details.
When Tk_InitOptions and Tk_SetOptions store the value of an option into the widget record, they can do it in either of two ways. If the objOffset field of the Tk_OptionSpec is greater than or equal to zero, then the value of the option is stored as a (Tcl_Obj *) at the location in the widget record given by objOffset. If the internalOffset field of the Tk_OptionSpec is greater than or equal to zero, then the value of the option is stored in a type-specific internal form at the location in the widget record given by internalOffset. For example, if the option's type is TK_OPTION_INT then the internal form is an integer. If the objOffset or internalOffset field is negative then the value is not stored in that form. At least one of the offsets must be greater than or equal to zero.
The flags field consists of one or more bits ORed together. The following flags are supported:
The type field of each Tk_OptionSpec structure determines how to parse the value of that configuration option. The legal value for type, and the corresponding actions, are described below. If the type requires a tkwin value to be passed into procedures like Tk_SetOptions, or if it uses the clientData field of the Tk_OptionSpec, then it is indicated explicitly; if not mentioned, the type requires neither tkwin nor clientData.
However, the widget code is responsible for storing NULL or None in all pointer and token fields before invoking Tk_InitOptions. This is needed to allow proper cleanup in the rare case where an error occurs in Tk_InitOptions.
The second reason to use the objOffset field is in order to implement new types of options not supported by these procedures. To implement a new type of option, you can use TK_OPTION_STRING as the type in the Tk_OptionSpec structure and set the objOffset field but not the internalOffset field. Then, after calling Tk_SetOptions, convert the object to internal form yourself.
Ttk widgets do not support the internalOffset machinery. Option values of Ttk widgets are always stored as (Tcl_Obj *), meaning that the objOffset field must be used.
typedef struct Tk_ObjCustomOption {
const char *name;
Tk_CustomOptionSetProc *setProc;
Tk_CustomOptionGetProc *getProc;
Tk_CustomOptionRestoreProc *restoreProc;
Tk_CustomOptionFreeProc *freeProc;
ClientData clientData;
} Tk_ObjCustomOption;
typedef int Tk_CustomOptionSetProc(
ClientData clientData,
Tcl_Interp *interp,
Tk_Window tkwin,
Tcl_Obj **valuePtr,
char *recordPtr,
int internalOffset,
char *saveInternalPtr,
int flags);
typedef Tcl_Obj *Tk_CustomOptionGetProc(
ClientData clientData,
Tk_Window tkwin,
char *recordPtr,
int internalOffset);
typedef void Tk_CustomOptionRestoreProc(
ClientData clientData,
Tk_Window tkwin,
char *internalPtr,
char *saveInternalPtr);
typedef void Tk_CustomOptionFreeProc(
ClientData clientData,
Tk_Window tkwin,
char *internalPtr);
The Tk_ObjCustomOption structure contains six fields: a name for the custom option type; pointers to the four procedures; and a clientData value to be passed to those procedures when they are invoked. The clientData value typically points to a structure containing information that is needed by the procedures when they are parsing and printing options. RestoreProc and freeProc may be NULL, indicating that no function should be called for those operations.
The setProc procedure is invoked by Tk_SetOptions to convert a Tcl_Obj into an internal representation and store the resulting value in the widget record. The arguments are:
SetProc returns a standard Tcl result: TCL_OK to indicate successful processing, or TCL_ERROR to indicate a failure of any kind. An error message may be left in the Tcl interpreter given by interp in the case of an error.
The getProc procedure is invoked by Tk_GetOptionValue and Tk_GetOptionInfo to retrieve a Tcl_Obj representation of the internal representation of an option. The clientData argument is a copy of the clientData field in the Tk_ObjCustomOption structure. Tkwin is a copy of the tkwin argument to Tk_GetOptionValue or Tk_GetOptionInfo. RecordPtr is a pointer to the beginning of the widget record to query. InternalOffset is the offset in bytes from the beginning of the widget record to the location where the internal representation of the option value is stored. GetProc must return a pointer to a Tcl_Obj representing the value of the option.
The restoreProc procedure is invoked by Tk_RestoreSavedOptions to restore a previously saved internal representation of a custom option value. The clientData argument is a copy of the clientData field in the Tk_ObjCustomOption structure. Tkwin is a copy of the tkwin argument to Tk_GetOptionValue or Tk_GetOptionInfo. InternalPtr is a pointer to the location where internal representation of the option value is stored. SaveInternalPtr is a pointer to the saved value. RestoreProc must copy the value from saveInternalPtr to internalPtr to restore the value. RestoreProc need not free any memory associated with either internalPtr or saveInternalPtr; freeProc will be invoked to free that memory if necessary. RestoreProc has no return value.
The freeProc procedure is invoked by Tk_SetOptions and Tk_FreeSavedOptions to free any storage allocated for the internal representation of a custom option. The clientData argument is a copy of the clientData field in the Tk_ObjCustomOption structure. Tkwin is a copy of the tkwin argument to Tk_GetOptionValue or Tk_GetOptionInfo. InternalPtr is a pointer to the location where the internal representation of the option value is stored. The freeProc must free any storage associated with the option. FreeProc has no return value.