radiobutton(n)

okay so bestie, this is radiobutton(n) from the Tk Built-In Commands fam, and it’s literally the pick-one widget. it’s giving “choose one, periodt” energy and I’m obsessed 💅

🎀 NAME 🎀

radiobutton — create and manipulate radiobutton pick-one widgets ✨

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

radiobutton pathName ?options?

✨ STANDARD OPTIONS ✨

okay so these are the standard-options besties, all present and accounted for 🫶

• -activebackground
• -disabledforeground
• -padx
• -activeforeground
• -font
• -pady
• -anchor
• -foreground
• -relief
• -background
• -highlightbackground
• -takefocus
• -bitmap
• -highlightcolor
• -text
• -borderwidth
• -highlightthickness
• -textvariable
• -compound
• -image
• -underline
• -cursor
• -justify
• -wraplength

See the options manual entry for details on the standard options 💖

💖 WIDGET-SPECIFIC OPTIONS 💖

-command

• Command-Line Name: -command
• Database Name: command
• Database Class: Command

Specifies a Tcl command to associate with the button. This command is typically invoked when mouse button 1 is released over the button window. The button’s global variable (-variable option) will be updated before the command is invoked 🔥

-height

• Command-Line Name: -height
• Database Name: height
• Database Class: Height

Specifies a desired height for the button. If an image or bitmap is being displayed in the button then the value is in screen units (i.e. any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels); for text it is in lines of text. If this option is not specified, the button’s desired height is computed from the size of the image or bitmap or text being displayed in it 💫

-indicatoron

• Command-Line Name: -indicatoron
• Database Name: indicatorOn
• Database Class: IndicatorOn

Specifies whether or not the indicator should be drawn. Must be a proper boolean value. If false, the -relief option is ignored and the widget’s relief is always sunken if the widget is selected and raised otherwise 👑

-offrelief

• Command-Line Name: -offrelief
• Database Name: offRelief
• Database Class: OffRelief

Specifies the relief for the checkbutton when the indicator is not drawn and the checkbutton is off. The default value is raised. By setting this option to flat and setting -indicatoron to false and -overrelief to raised, the effect is achieved of having a flat button that raises on mouse-over and which is depressed when activated. This is the behavior typically exhibited by the Align-Left, Align-Right, and Center radiobuttons on the toolbar of a word-processor, for example 🎀

-overrelief

• Command-Line Name: -overrelief
• Database Name: overRelief
• Database Class: OverRelief

Specifies an alternative relief for the radiobutton, to be used when the mouse cursor is over the widget. This option can be used to make toolbar buttons, by configuring -relief flat -overrelief raised. If the value of this option is the empty string, then no alternative relief is used when the mouse cursor is over the radiobutton. The empty string is the default value 🌈

-selectcolor

• Command-Line Name: -selectcolor
• Database Name: selectColor
• Database Class: Background

Specifies a background color to use when the button is selected. If indicatorOn is true then the color is used as the background for the indicator regardless of the select state. If -indicatoron is false, this color is used as the background for the entire widget, in place of -background or -activeBackground, whenever the widget is selected. If specified as an empty string then no special color is used for displaying when the widget is selected 🦋

-selectimage

• Command-Line Name: -selectimage
• Database Name: selectImage
• Database Class: SelectImage

Specifies an image to display (in place of the -image option) when the radiobutton is selected. This option is ignored unless the -image option has been specified 🌸

-state

• Command-Line Name: -state
• Database Name: state
• Database Class: State

Specifies one of three states for the radiobutton: normal, active, or disabled. In normal state the radiobutton is displayed using the -foreground and -background options. The active state is typically used when the pointer is over the radiobutton. In active state the radiobutton is displayed using the -activeforeground and -activebackground options. Disabled state means that the radiobutton should be insensitive: the default bindings will refuse to activate the widget and will ignore mouse button presses. In this state the -disabledforeground and -background options determine how the radiobutton is displayed 💀

-tristateimage

• Command-Line Name: -tristateimage
• Database Name: tristateImage
• Database Class: TristateImage

Specifies an image to display (in place of the -image option) when the radiobutton is selected. This option is ignored unless the -image option has been specified 🧚

-tristatevalue

• Command-Line Name: -tristatevalue
• Database Name: tristateValue
• Database Class: Value

Specifies the value that causes the radiobutton to display the multi-value selection, also known as the tri-state mode. Defaults to "" ⭐

-value

• Command-Line Name: -value
• Database Name: value
• Database Class: Value

Specifies value to store in the button’s associated variable whenever this button is selected 💜

-variable

• Command-Line Name: -variable
• Database Name: variable
• Database Class: Variable

Specifies the name of a global variable to set whenever this button is selected. Changes in this variable also cause the button to select or deselect itself. Defaults to the value selectedButton 🎀

-width

• Command-Line Name: -width
• Database Name: width
• Database Class: Width

Specifies a desired width for the button. If an image or bitmap is being displayed in the button, the value is in screen units (i.e. any of the forms acceptable to Tk_GetPixels); for text it is in characters. If this option is not specified, the button’s desired width is computed from the size of the image or bitmap or text being displayed in it ✨

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

The radiobutton command creates a new window (given by the pathName argument) and makes it into a radiobutton widget. Additional options, described above, may be specified on the command line or in the option database to configure aspects of the radiobutton such as its colors, font, text, and initial relief. The radiobutton command returns its pathName argument. At the time this command is invoked, there must not exist a window named pathName, but pathName’s parent must exist 👑

A radiobutton is a widget that displays a textual string, bitmap or image and a diamond or circle called an indicator. If text is displayed, it must all be in a single font, but it can occupy multiple lines on the screen (if it contains newlines or if wrapping occurs because of the -wraplength option) and one of the characters may optionally be underlined using the -underline option. A radiobutton has all of the behavior of a simple button: it can display itself in either of three different ways, according to the -state option; it can be made to appear raised, sunken, or flat; it can be made to flash; and it invokes a Tcl command whenever mouse button 1 is clicked over the check button 💅

In addition, radiobuttons can be selected. If a radiobutton is selected, the indicator is normally drawn with a selected appearance, and a Tcl variable associated with the radiobutton is set to a particular value (normally 1). Under Unix, the indicator is drawn with a sunken relief and a special color. Under Windows, the indicator is drawn with a round mark inside. If the radiobutton is not selected, then the indicator is drawn with a deselected appearance, and the associated variable is set to a different value (typically 0). The indicator is drawn without a round mark inside. Typically, several radiobuttons share a single variable and the value of the variable indicates which radiobutton is to be selected. When a radiobutton is selected it sets the value of the variable to indicate that fact; each radiobutton also monitors the value of the variable and automatically selects and deselects itself when the variable’s value changes. If the variable’s value matches the -tristatevalue, then the radiobutton is drawn using the tri-state mode. This mode is used to indicate mixed or multiple values. (This is used when the radiobutton represents the state of multiple items.) By default the variable selectedButton is used; its contents give the name of the button that is selected, or the empty string if no button associated with that variable is selected. The name of the variable for a radiobutton, plus the variable to be stored into it, may be modified with options on the command line or in the option database. Configuration options may also be used to modify the way the indicator is displayed (or whether it is displayed at all). By default a radiobutton is configured to select itself on button clicks 💖

💅 WIDGET COMMAND 💅

Okay so bestie, when you run the radiobutton command it literally gives birth to a brand-new Tcl command, and its name is pathName 🎀. That new command is your little remote control — you use it to poke at the widget and make it do stuff. Its general form is:

pathName option ?arg ...?

option and the args decide exactly what happens. Here's everything a radiobutton widget can do for you:

• pathName cget option — hands you back the current value of the configuration option you named in option. And option can be literally anything the radiobutton command itself accepts. No gatekeeping ✨
• pathName configure ?option? ?value option value ...? — query or change the widget's configuration options. Break it down like this:
  • no option at all? You get a list describing every available option for pathName (peep Tk_ConfigureInfo if you're curious about the format of that list 👀).
  • option with no value? You get a list describing just that one named option — and heads up, that list is identical to the matching sublist of what you'd get if you'd specified no option at all.
  • one or more option-value pairs? The command modifies those widget option(s) to the given value(s), and in this case it returns an empty string. Nothing. Nada. 🫥
  • either way, option can be any of the values the radiobutton command accepts.
• pathName deselect — un-selects the radiobutton and sets the associated variable to an empty string. If this radiobutton wasn't selected in the first place, the command just... does nothing. No effect. Not a single thing. 💀
• pathName flash — flashes the radiobutton 🔥. It does this by redisplaying the radiobutton several times, alternating between the active and normal colors. When the flash is done, the radiobutton is left in the same normal/active state it was in when you invoked the command (it's polite like that 🫶). Oh — and this command is ignored if the radiobutton's state is disabled.
• pathName invoke — does exactly what would've happened if the user had invoked the radiobutton with the mouse: it selects the button and invokes its associated Tcl command, if there is one 🖱️. The return value is the return value of that Tcl command — or an empty string if the radiobutton has no command associated with it. And yeah, this one's also ignored if the radiobutton's state is disabled.
• pathName select — selects the radiobutton and sets the associated variable to the value corresponding to this widget. Periodt. 👑

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🌸 BINDINGS 🌸

Tk automatically creates class bindings for radiobuttons, which hand them this default behavior:

1. On Unix systems, a radiobutton activates whenever the mouse passes over it, and deactivates whenever the mouse leaves the radiobutton. On Mac and Windows systems, when mouse button 1 is pressed over a radiobutton, the button activates whenever the mouse pointer is inside the button, and deactivates whenever the mouse pointer leaves the button. 💻🍎
2. When mouse button 1 is pressed over a radiobutton, it is invoked — meaning it becomes selected, and the command associated with the button gets invoked too, if there is one.
3. When a radiobutton has the input focus, the space key causes the radiobutton to be invoked. Space supremacy fr fr ⌨️

🚨 If the radiobutton's state is disabled, none of the above actions occur — the radiobutton is completely non-responsive. Like, ghosted. Fully unbothered. It's giving "do not perceive me."

The behavior of radiobuttons can be changed by defining new bindings for individual widgets, or by redefining the class bindings. You have the power 🧚

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👀 SEE ALSO 👀

checkbutton(n), labelframe(n), listbox(n), options(n), scale(n), ttk::radiobutton(n)

⭐ KEYWORDS ⭐

radiobutton, widget

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And that's the whole page, bestie, you ate that 💖 This little gem is from Tk 4.4, the radiobutton(n) page — go forth and radio-button your heart out 🌈🦋🎀