List Widget
Application header file <X11/Xaw/List.h>
Class header file <X11/Xaw/ListP.h>
Class listWidgetClass
Class Name List
Superclass Simple
The List widget contains a list of strings formatted into rows and
columns. When one of the strings is selected, it is highlighted, and the
List widget's Notify action is invoked, calling all routines on
its callback list. Only one string may be selected at a time.
Resources
When creating a List widget instance, the following resources are
retrieved from the argument list or from the resource database:
Name
Class
Type
Notes
Default Value
accelerators
Accelerators
AcceleratorTable
NULL
ancestorSensitive
AncestorSensitive
Boolean
D
True
background
Background
Pixel
XtDefaultBackground
backgroundPixmap
Pixmap
Pixmap
XtUnspecifiedPixmap
borderColor
BorderColor
Pixel
XtDefaultForeground
borderPixmap
Pixmap
Pixmap
XtUnspecifiedPixmap
borderWidth
BorderWidth
Dimension
1
callback
Callback
Callback
NULL
colormap
Colormap
Colormap
Parent's Colormap
columnSpacing
Spacing
Dimension
6
cursor
Cursor
Cursor
XC_left_ptr
cursorName
Cursor
String
NULL
defaultColumns
Columns
int
2
depth
Depth
int
C
Parent's Depth
destroyCallback
Callback
XtCallbackList
NULL
font
Font
FontStruct
XtDefaultFont
fontSet
FontSet
XFontSet
XtDefaultFontSet
forceColumns
Columns
Boolean
False
foreground
Foreground
Pixel
XtDefaultForeground
height
Height
Dimension
A
Enough space to contain the list
insensitiveBorder
Insensitive
Pixmap
GreyPixmap
internalHeight
Height
Dimension
2
internalWidth
Width
Dimension
4
international
International
Boolean
C
False
list
List
Pointer
name of widget
longest
Longest
int
A
0
mappedWhenManaged
MappedWhenManaged
Boolean
True
numberStrings
NumberStrings
int
A
computed for NULL terminated list
pasteBuffer
Boolean
Boolean
False
pointerColor
Foreground
Pixel
XtDefaultForeground
pointerColorBackground
Background
Pixel
XtDefaultBackground
rowSpacing
Spacing
Dimension
2
screen
Screen
Screen
R
Parent's Screen
sensitive
Sensitive
Boolean
True
translations
Translations
TranslationTable
See below
verticalList
Boolean
Boolean
False
width
Width
Dimension
A
Enough space to contain the list
x
Position
Position
0
y
Position
Position
0
_
callback
All functions on this list are called whenever the notify action is
invoked. The call_data argument contains information about the element
selected and is described in detail in the List Callbacks section.
columnSpacing
rowSpacing
The amount of space, in pixels, between each of the rows and columns
in the list.
defaultColumns
The default number of columns. This value is used when neither the
width nor the height of the List widget is specified or when
forceColumns is True.
font
The text font to use when displaying the list, when the
international resource is false.
fontSet
The text font set to use when displaying the list, when the
international resource is true.
forceColumns
Forces the default number of columns to be used regardless of the
List widget's current size.
foreground
A pixel value which indexes the widget's colormap to derive the color
used to paint the text of the list elements.
\fPinternalHeight\fP
\fPinternalWidth\fP
The margin, in pixels, between the edges of the list and the
corresponding edge of the List widget's window.
list
An array of text strings displayed in the List widget. If
numberStrings is zero (the default) then the list must be
NULL terminated. If a value is not specified for the list, then
numberStrings is set to 1, and the name of the widget is used as
the list, and longest is set to the length of the name of the
widget. The list is used in place, and must be available
to the List widget for the lifetime of this widget, or until it is
changed with XtSetValues or XawListChange.
longest
Specifies the width, in pixels, of the longest string in the current
list. The List widget will compute this value if zero (the default)
is specified. If this resource is set by hand, entries longer than this
will be clipped to fit.
numberStrings
The number of strings in the current list. If a value of zero (the
default) is specified, the List widget will compute it. When computing
the number of strings the List widget assumes that the list is NULL
terminated.
pasteBuffer
If this resource is set to True then the name of the currently
selected list element will be put into CUT_BUFFER_0.
verticalList
If this resource is set to True then the list elements will be
presented in column major order.
List Actions
The List widget supports the following actions:
Highlighting and unhighlighting the list element under the
pointer with Set and Unset
Processing application callbacks with Notify
The following is the default translation table used by the List Widget:
<Btn1Down>,<Btn1Up>: Set(\|) Notify(\|)
The full list of actions supported by List widget is:
Set(\|)
Sets the list element that is currently under the pointer. To
inform the user that this element is currently set, it is drawn with
foreground and background colors reversed. If this action is called when
there is no list element under the cursor, the currently set
element will be unset.
Unset(\|)
Cancels the set state of the element under the pointer,
and redraws it with normal foreground and background colors.
Notify(\|)
Calls all callbacks on the List widget's callback list. Information
about the currently selected list element is passed in the
call_data argument (see List Callbacks below).
List Callbacks
All procedures on the List widget's callback list will have a
XawListReturnStruct passed to them as call_data. The
structure is defined in the List widget's application header file.
typedef struct _XawListReturnStruct {
String string; /* string shown in the list. */
int list_index; /* index of the item selected. */
} XawListReturnStruct;
The list_index item used to be called simply index.
Unfortunately, this name collided with a global name defined on some
operating systems, and had to be changed.
Changing the List
To change the list that is displayed, use
XawListChange .
void XawListChange
Widget w
String* list
intnitems, longest
Boolean resize
w
Specifies the List widget.
list
Specifies the new list for the List widget to display.
nitems
Specifies the number of items in the list. If a value less than 1
is specified, list must be NULL terminated, and the number of
items will be calculated by the List widget.
longest
Specifies the length of the longest item in the list in pixels.
If a value less than 1 is specified, the List widget will calculate the
value.
resize
Specifies a Boolean value that if True indicates that the
List widget should try to resize itself after making the change.
The constraints of the List widget's parent are always enforced,
regardless of the value specified here.
XawListChange
will unset all list elements that are currently set before
the list is actually changed. The list is used in place, and must
remain usable for the lifetime of the List widget, or until list
has been changed again with this function or with XtSetValues.
Highlighting an Item
To highlight an item in the list, use
XawListHighlight .
void XawListHighlight
Widget w
int item
w
Specifies the List widget.
item
Specifies an index into the current list that indicates the item to be
highlighted.
Only one item can be highlighted at a time.
If an item is already highlighted when
XawListHighlight
is called,
the highlighted item is unhighlighted before the new item is highlighted.
Unhighlighting an Item
To unhighlight the currently highlighted item in the list, use
XawListUnhighlight .
void XawListUnhighlight
Widget w
w
Specifies the List widget.
Retrieving the Currently Selected Item
To retrieve the list element that is currently set, use
XawListShowCurrent .
XawListReturnStruct *XawListShowCurrent
Widget w
w
Specifies the List widget.
XawListShowCurrent
returns a pointer to an
XawListReturnStruct
structure,
containing the currently highlighted item.
If the value of the index member is XAW_LIST_NONE,
the string member is undefined, and no item is currently selected.
Restrictions
Many programmers create a ``scrolled list'' by putting a List
widget with many entries as a child of a Viewport widget. The
List continues to create a window as big as its contents, but
that big window is only visible where it intersects the parent
Viewport's window. (I.e., it is ``clipped.'')
While this is a useful technique, there is a serious drawback.
X does not support windows above 32,767 pixels in width or
height, but this height limit will be exceeded by a List's
window when the List has many entries (i.e., with a 12 point
font, about 3000 entries would be too many.)