3 - Common Widgets and Attributes

This chapter describes many of the widgets that are provided with FLTK and covers how to query and set the standard attributes.

Buttons

FLTK provides many types of buttons:

For all of these buttons you just need to include the corresponding <FL/Fl_xyz_Button.H> header file. The constructor takes the bounding box of the button and optionally a label string:

Each button has an associated type() which allows it to behave as a push button, toggle button, or radio button: For toggle and radio buttons, the value() method returns the current button state (0 = off, 1 = on). The set() and clear() methods can be used on toggle buttons to turn a toggle button on or off, respectively. Radio buttons can be turned on with the setonly() method; this will also turn off other radio buttons in the same group.

Text

FLTK provides several text widgets for displaying and receiving text: The Fl_Output and Fl_Multiline_Output widgets allow the user to copy text from the output field but not change it.

The value() method is used to get or set the string that is displayed:

The string is copied to the widget's own storage when you set the value() of the widget.

Valuators

Unlike text widgets, valuators keep track of numbers instead of strings. FLTK provides the following valuators:

The value() method gets and sets the current value of the widget. The minimum() and maximum() methods set the range of values that are reported by the widget.

Groups

The Fl_Group widget class is used as a general purpose "container" widget. Besides grouping radio buttons, the groups are used to encapsulate windows, tabs, and scrolled windows. The following group classes are available with FLTK:

Setting the Size and Position of Widgets

The size and position of widgets is usually set when you create them. You can access them with the x(), y(), w(), and h() methods.

You can change the size and position by using the position(), resize(), and size() methods:

If you change a widget's size or position after it is displayed you will have to call redraw() on the widget's parent.

Colors

The typedef Fl_Color is a 32-bit number that is used to store a color. For most widgets only the "indexed" colors are used, these are colors with a value less than 256 that is an index into a color palette of 256 colors. This is not the X or WIN32 colormap, but instead is an internal table with fixed contents.

There are symbols for naming some of the more common colors:

You can also get an arbitrary color with fl_rgb(r,g,b). However this does not work that well on 8-bit screens. The widget color can be set using the color() method:

Similarly, the label color can be set using the labelcolor() method:

Box Types

Fl_Widget::box() is a pointer to a struct Fl_Boxtype_. This describes how to draw the box around the widget. By making your own you can cause arbitrary drawing code to be called.

There are macros that are pointers to the built-in box types:

FL_NO_BOX means nothing is drawn at all, so whatever is already on the screen remains. The FL_..._FRAME types only draw their edges, leaving the interior unchanged. In the above diagram the blue color is the area that is not drawn by the box.

Labels and Label Types

The label(), image(), align(), labelfont(), labelsize(), and labeltype() methods control the labeling of widgets.

label()

The label() method sets the string that is displayed for the label. For the FL_SYMBOL_LABEL and image label types the string contains the actual symbol or image data.

image()

The image() method sets an image that is drawn with the label. The value is a pointer to a class Fl_Image. This class stores the data of the image and also stores a window-system cached copy that is created when the image is first drawn so that redrawing it is very fast.

Different subclasses draw different types of images. The provided types include Fl_Bitmap, Fl_Pixmap, Fl_RGB_Image.

align()

The align() method positions the label. The following constants are defined (they may be OR'd together as needed):

If there is an image, it is aligned first. Then the text label is aligned in the same way in the space that remains beside the image. If you need more complex layout you can try making your own image or labeltype objects.

label_type()

The label_type() method sets how to draw the text label. It does not affect the image. The following standard label types are included:

Fl_Widget::label_type() is a pointer to a struct Fl_Labeltype_. By making your own you can cause arbitrary drawing code to be called.

Symbol Labels

The FL_SYMBOL_LABEL label type uses the label() string to look up a small drawing procedure in a hash table. For historical reasons the string always starts with '@'; if it starts with something else (or the symbol is not found) the label is drawn normally:
The @ sign may be followed by the following optional "formatting" characters, in this order:

Callbacks

Callbacks are functions that are called when the value of a widget changes. A callback function is sent a Fl_Widget pointer of the widget that changed and optionally a pointer to data of some sort: The callback() method sets the callback function for a widget. You can optionally pass a pointer to some data needed for the callback: Normally callbacks are performed only when the value of the widget changes. You can change this using the when() method:

Shortcuts

Shortcuts are key sequences that activate widgets (usually buttons or menu items). The shortcut() method sets the shortcut for a widget: The shortcut value is the key event value (the ASCII value or one of the special keys like FL_Enter) combined with any modifiers (like shift, alt, and control).