could you demonstrate your problem with a small runnable example like below? I doubt that it is caused by creating a composite but rather by the combination of Widgets / Options you use. (What exactly are your Options to specify 'passive colors').

use strict;
use warnings;
use Tk;

my $mw = tkinit;
$mw->optionAdd('*Custom*Background' => 'red');
my $f  = $mw->Entry(-class => 'Custom',
                    -text  => 'hello world!',
                )->pack;

MainLoop;
[download]

Cheers, Christoph

use Tk;

use lib '/genesis/oscripts/misc_scr/lib';
use OwegoCAM::GUI::GUIBuilder::LabelOption;

my($mw) = MainWindow->new;
my($fileloc) = "/genesis/oscripts/misc_scr/lib/OwegoCAM/GUI/GUIBuilder
+/.Xdefaults.ocd";
$mw->optionReadfile($fileloc) if (-e $fileloc);

my(%foo) = ('bar' => [qw/yes no maybe/]);

my($bah) = $mw->LabelOption(-class   => 'Lab2',
                -options => $foo{'bar'},
                -label   => 'Is it safe?',
                -labelPack => [-side => 'left']
               )->pack();

MainLoop;
[download]

And here's an excerpt from the .Xdefaults:

*Lab2*optionmenu*activeForeground:#000000
*Lab2*optionmenu*activeBackground:tan3
*Lab2*optionmenu*background:tan3
*Lab2*optionmenu*font:-adobe-helvetica-bold-r-normal--*-120-*-*-*-*-*-
+*
*Lab2*optionmenu*foreground:#000000
*Lab2*optionmenu*relief:raised
*Lab2*optionmenu*cursor:right_ptr
*Lab2*optionmenu*width:15
*Lab2*optionmenu*anchor:w
*Lab2*label*background:wheat1
*Lab2*label*font:-adobe-helvetica-bold-r-normal--*-120-*-*-*-*-*-*
*Lab2*label*foreground:black
*Lab2*label*relief:flat
*Lab2*label*width:15
*Lab2*label*anchor:w
[download]

The only thing that actually gets a color set is the option menu background when the mouse is over it, and the optionmenu's width. Thanks, -Peter Oh, sorry. Rereading the original post, I've since changed the original module that I was using. The Tk widget code now looks like this (mostly lifted from Mastering Perl/Tk):

package LabelOption;

use Tk::widgets qw /Optionmenu/;
use base qw/Tk::Frame/;
use strict;

Construct Tk::Widget 'LabelOption';

sub ClassInit
  {
    my($class, $mw) = @_;
    $class->SUPER::ClassInit($mw);
  }

sub Populate
  {
    my($self, $args) = @_;

    $self->SUPER::Populate($args);

    my($o) = $self->Optionmenu->pack();

    $self->Advertise('optionmenu' => $o);
    $self->ConfigSpecs('DEFAULT'  => [$o]);
    $self->Delegates('DEFAULT'    => $o);
  }

1;
[download]

Hi monksp,

Here is a possible solution: First you need to direct -bg/-fg to 'SELF' otherwise these options propagate down the Descendants hierarchy of your composite overriding anything else. Then there is a problem with the Label created by Frames -labelPack option which you inherit in your Composite. I didn't dig into it further, but you can work around by creating your own Label (see below).

use strict;
use warnings;
package LabelOption;

use Tk::widgets qw /Optionmenu/;
use base qw/Tk::Frame/;
use strict;

Construct Tk::Widget 'LabelOption';

sub ClassInit
  {
    my($class, $mw) = @_;
    $class->SUPER::ClassInit($mw);
  }

sub Populate
  {
    my($self, $args) = @_;

    $self->SUPER::Populate($args);
    my $l = $self->Label()->pack(-side => 'left');
    my $o = $self->Optionmenu->pack(-side => 'left');
    $self->Advertise('optionmenu' => $o);
    $self->ConfigSpecs(-options   => [$o],
                       -class      => [$self],
                       -background => 'SELF',
                       -foreground => 'SELF',
                       -label => [{-text=> $l}],
                       'DEFAULT'  => [$self],
                   );
    $self->Delegates('DEFAULT'    => $self);
  }

package main;

use Tk;
use Tk::Optionmenu;
my $mw  = tkinit;

my $fileloc = "Xdefaults.ocd";
$mw->optionReadfile($fileloc) if -e ($fileloc);

my(%foo) = ('bar' => [qw/yes no maybe/]);

  my $bah = $mw->LabelOption(-class   => 'Lab2',
                 -options => $foo{'bar'},
                 -label   => 'Is it safe?',
                # -labelPack => [-side => 'left'],
                )->pack();
  print  join("\n" ,map {$_->PathName} $mw->Descendants);

MainLoop;
[download]

Cheers, Christoph