Itcl Message Bar Widget

The message bar widget acts similarly to a label widget. However, the widget can be configured to remove messages after a certain amount of time and to flash its display to bring it to the attention of the user.

Synopsis

msgbar pathName ?options?
create a new message bar widget named pathName.
pathName option ?args...?
manipulate the message bar widget named pathName.

Options

Name: foreground
Class: Foreground
Command-Line Switch: -foreground
Default: black
Specifies the foreground colour of the widget - the colour in which the text is drawn.

Name: background
Class: Background
Command-Line Switch: -background
Default: #ccc
Specifies the background colour of the widget.

Name: relief
Class: Relief
Command-Line Switch: -relief
Default: flat
Specifies the appearance of the widget's three-dimensional border. This option can take any of the values accepted by Tk_GetRelief(3).

Name: borderWidth
Class: BorderWidth
Command-Line Switch: -borderwidth
Default: 0
Specifies the width of the widget's three-dimensional border in screen units.

Name: width
Class: Width
Command-Line Switch: -width
Default: 0
Specifies the width in characters which the widget requests from its geometry manager. If this option is set to 0 (the default) the requested width is calculated from the size of the text to be displayed.

Name: font
Class: Font
Command-Line Switch: -font
Default: -*-clean-medium-r-*-*-8-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Specifies the font in which the text is displayed.

Name: text
Class: Text
Command-Line Switch: -text
Default: ""
Specifies the text to be displayed in the message bar.

Name: flashForeground
Class: FlashForeground
Command-Line Switch: -flashforeground
Default: black
When flashing, the widget's foreground colour alternates between its foreground and its flashForeground.

Name: flashBackground
Class: FlashBackground
Command-Line Switch: -flashbackground
Default: goldenrod
When flashing, the widget's background colour alternates between its background and its flashBackground.

Name: flashTime
Class: FlashTime
Command-Line Switch: -flashtime
Default: 50
Specifies the time (in milliseconds) between colour changes, when the widget is flashing.

Name: flashes
Class: Flashes
Command-Line Switch: -flashes
Default: 10
Specifies the number of colour changes to be performed by the widget in response to its flash operation.

Name: showTime
Class: ShowTime
Command-Line Switch: -showtime
Default: 0
Specifies the duration (in milliseconds) for which the widget's text is displayed; after this time, the text is cleared. If set to 0 (the default), the message is never cleared - it is displayed until replaced the next time the widget has its text option configured.

Widget Command

pathName configure ?option value...?
configure the widget.

pathName flash
Flashes the widget so as to bring its contents to the attention of the user. The widget is flashed by alternating the colours of its display between its foreground and background and its flashForeground and flashBackground a number of times, the number determined by the widget'sflashes option. The delay between each colour change is determined by the widget's flashTime option.