Perl/Tkx Entry widget problem

David S has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

When I use an entry widget in Perl/Tkx, the behavior is not what I expect. Here is sample code:

use strict;
use Tkx;
Tkx::package_require("tile");
Tkx::package_require("style");

my $mw = Tkx::widget->new(".");
my $text = "abc";
my $entry = $mw->new_ttk__entry(-width => 20, -textvariable => \$text)
+;
$entry->configure(-font => "helvetica 14 bold");
$entry->g_grid(-column => 0, -row => 0, -sticky => 'w');
$entry->configure(-validate => 'all', -validatecommand => \&Entry);

Tkx::MainLoop();

sub Entry
{
    ### Tkx::update();
    print "text = '$text'\n";
    return 1;
}
[download]

When I run the script and click in the entry widget, I get text = 'abc' printed, which is what I expect. When I then type '1' in the entry widget, I still get text = 'abc' printed, but I expected to get text = 'abc1'. When I then type '2', I get text = 'abc1', but I expected to see text = 'abc12'. When I click outside of the widget, the correct string is then printed. Is there a way to have the validatecommand get the current value of the textvariable? I've tried changing the -validate value from "all" to other values, but that doesn't help. I've tried adding a call to Tkx::update() (see commented out code), but that doesn't seem to have any affect. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Dave

Comment on Perl/Tkx Entry widget problem Download Code

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Re: Perl/Tkx Entry widget problem by jethro (Monsignor) on Jan 10, 2011 at 17:05 UTC
From the docs: The validateCommand and invalidCommand are called with the following arguments: * The proposed value of the entry. If you are configuring the entry widget to have a new textvariable, this will be the value of that textvariable. * The characters to be added (or deleted). This will be undef if validation is due to focus, explcit call to validate or if change is due to -textvariable changing. * The current value of entry i.e. before the proposed change. * index of char string to be added/deleted, if any. -1 otherwise * type of action. 1 == INSERT, 0 == DELETE, -1 if it's a forced validation or textvariable validation When you validate in your sub, the variabel $text is still unchanged, because the new value isn't validated yet. You can observe proposed changes in the parameters to your Entry function and you should return 0 or 1 depending on your validation result.	[reply]
Re^2: Perl/Tkx Entry widget problem by David S (Sexton) on Jan 10, 2011 at 21:25 UTC
I got some help elsewhere for this. Needed to read (and understand) the ttk::entry manual page. Using a Tkx::Ev event in the -validatecommand is new to me. Here is a revised script that prints out all the information described in the ttk::entry man page. The $P parameter is the one I'm interested in. use strict; use Tkx; Tkx::package_require("tile"); Tkx::package_require("style"); my $mw = Tkx::widget->new("."); my $text = "abc"; my $entry = $mw->new_ttk__entry(-width => 20, -textvariable => \$text) +; $entry->configure(-font => "helvetica 14 bold"); $entry->g_grid(-column => 0, -row => 0, -sticky => 'w'); # $entry->configure(-validate => 'all', -validatecommand => \&Entry); $entry->configure(-validate => 'all', -validatecommand => \&Entry); # $entry->configure(-validatecommand => [\&Entry, Tkx::Ev('%P'), $entr +y]); #$entry->configure(-validatecommand => [\&Entry, Tkx::Ev('%d', '%i', ' +%P', '%s', '%S', '%v', '%V', '%W'), $entry]); $entry->configure(-validatecommand => [\&Entry, Tkx::Ev('%d', '%i', '% +P', '%s', '%S', '%v', '%V', '%W'), $entry]); Tkx::MainLoop(); sub Entry { my ($d, $i, $P, $s, $S, $v, $V, $W) = @_; print "action = '$d'\n"; print "index = '$i'\n"; print "new value = '$P'\n"; print "current value = '$s'\n"; print "insert string = '$S'\n"; print "validate option = '$v'\n"; print "validation trigger = '$V'\n"; print "widget name = '$W'\n"; return 1; } [download] David	[reply] [d/l]