NAME¶
ntext - Alternative Bindings for the Text Widget
SYNOPSIS¶
package require
Tcl 8.5
package require
Tk 8.5
package require
ntext ?0.81?
DESCRIPTION¶
The purpose of the
ntext package is to make the text widget behave more
like other text-editing applications. It makes the text widget more useful for
implementing a text editor, and makes it behave in a way that will be more
familiar to most users.
The package provides a binding tag named
Ntext for use by text widgets in
place of the default
Text binding tag.
Package
ntext 's functions and variables are contained entirely in the
::ntext namespace; its other code is contained in the binding tag
Ntext.
ntext has no exports to the global or other namespaces,
and no new widget commands. It uses modified copies of the Tk code, leaving
the original code, and the
Text binding tag, unchanged.
The differences between the
Ntext binding tag and the default
Text
binding tag are in three categories:
- •
- Some Text bindings behave differently from most
text-editing applications. Ntext gives these bindings more familiar
behaviour. For details see ntextBindings.
- •
- When a logical line with leading whitespace is word-wrapped
onto more than one display line, the wrapped display lines begin further
to the left than the first display line, which can make the text layout
untidy and difficult to read. Ntext can indent the wrapped lines to
match the leading whitespace of the first display line (this facility is
switched off by default). For details see ntextIndent.
- •
- When the user navigates or selects text, Tcl/Tk sometimes
needs to detect word boundaries. Ntext provides improved rules for
word boundary detection. For details see ntextWordBreak.
The remainder of this page describes the basic use and configuration of all
three aspects of
Ntext. For more detailed information on the different
facilities of
Ntext, see the pages
ntextBindings,
ntextIndent, and
ntextWordBreak.
See Section
EXAMPLE for how to apply the
Ntext binding tag in
place of the
Text binding tag.
CONFIGURATION OPTIONS¶
Ntext provides alternatives to a number of behaviours of the classic
Text binding tag. Where there is an option, the
Ntext behaviour
(except for display-line indentation) is switched on by default.
The behaviour of
Ntext may be configured application-wide by setting the
values of a number of namespace variables:
::ntext::classicAnchor
- •
- 0 - (default value) selects Ntext behaviour,
i.e. the anchor point is fixed
- •
- 1 - selects classic Text behaviour, i.e. the
anchor point is variable
::ntext::classicExtras
- •
- 0 - (default value) selects Ntext behaviour,
i.e. several traditional Text bindings are de-activated
- •
- 1 - selects classic Text behaviour, i.e. all
Text bindings are activated
::ntext::classicMouseSelect
- •
- 0 - (default value) selects Ntext behaviour,
i.e. the anchor point for mouse selection operations is moved by keyboard
navigation
- •
- 1 - selects classic Text behaviour
::ntext::classicWordBreak
- •
- 0 - (default value) selects Ntext behaviour,
i.e. platform-independent, two classes of word characters and one class of
non-word characters.
- •
- 1 - selects classic Text behaviour, i.e.
platform-dependent, one class of word characters and one class of non-word
characters
- •
- After changing this value, the matching patterns should be
recalculated. See ntextWordBreak for details and advanced
configuration options.
::ntext::classicWrap
- •
- 0 - selects Ntext behaviour, i.e. display
lines of text widgets in -wrap word mode are indented to
match the initial whitespace of the first display line of a logical line.
If the widget already holds text when this value is set, a function call
may be necessary. See ntextIndent for detailed instructions on the
use of Ntext 's indentation.
- •
- 1 - (default value) selects classic Text
behaviour, i.e. no indentation
::ntext::overwrite
- •
- 0 - (initial value) text typed at the keyboard is
inserted into the widget
- •
- 1 - text typed at the keyboard overwrites text
already in the widget
- •
- The value is toggled by the Insert key.
EXAMPLE¶
To create a text widget .t and use the
Ntext bindings:
package require ntext
text .t
bindtags .t {.t Ntext . all}
See bindtags for more information.
SEE ALSO¶
bindtags, ntextBindings, ntextIndent, ntextWordBreak, re_syntax, regexp, text
KEYWORDS¶
bindtags, re_syntax, regexp, text