Commands Related to Tile Themes

Contents

• Overview
• The mentry::setTheme Command
• The mentry::getCurrentTheme Command
• The mentry::getThemes Command
• The mentry::setThemeDefaults Command

Overview

The commands described in this reference page should only be invoked when using the package Mentry_tile.  They enable you to set and query the current theme, to retrieve a list of the available themes, and to make sure that your widgets will have a theme-specific appearance.

The mentry::setTheme Command

NAME

mentry::setTheme – Set the current theme

SYNOPSIS

mentry::setTheme theme

DESCRIPTION

This command sets the current theme to theme, loading it if necessary.  It is simply an alias for ttk::setTheme or tile::setTheme, depending on the tile version loaded into the interpreter.  (The tile::setTheme command was renamed to ttk::setTheme in tile version 0.8.)

Being just an alias for a tile library procedure, the mentry::setTheme command does exactly the same as the original one: It loads the package implementing the given theme if needed, sets the theme to the specified one, and saves the latter in the variable ttk::currentTheme or tile::currentTheme, depending on the current tile version.

KEYWORDS

mentry, theme, tile

The mentry::getCurrentTheme Command

NAME

mentry::getCurrentTheme – Get the current theme

SYNOPSIS

mentry::getCurrentTheme

DESCRIPTION

This command returns the name of the current theme by invoking the  ttk::style theme use  command.  If an old tile version is being used which doesn't yet support this method then the command returns the value of the variable ttk::currentTheme or tile::currentTheme, depending on the tile version.  (The namespace containing the variable currentTheme was changed in tile version 0.8 from tile to ttk.)

KEYWORDS

mentry, theme, tile

The mentry::getThemes Command

NAME

mentry::getThemes – Get the themes registered in the package database

SYNOPSIS

mentry::getThemes

DESCRIPTION

This command returns a list of the themes registered in the package database.  It is simply an alias for ttk::themes or tile::availableThemes, depending on the tile version loaded into the interpreter.  (The tile::availableThemes command was renamed to ttk::themes in tile version 0.8.)

KEYWORDS

mentry, theme, tile

The mentry::setThemeDefaults Command

NAME

mentry::setThemeDefaults – Set theme-specific default values of some mentry configuration options

SYNOPSIS

mentry::setThemeDefaults

DESCRIPTION

This command populates the array mentry::themeDefaults with theme-specific default values of a series of Mentry configuration options.  The array names are the command-line names of the options, and the corresponding array values are the default values of these configuration options for the currently set tile theme.

The options whose names and values are written into the array mentry::themeDefaults are: -background, -foreground, and -font.  In addition, the command sets some other array elements to theme-specific default values, needed for internal purposes, like updating the background and foreground colors of the label components of a mentry widget in disabled or readonly state; the corresponding array names are: -disabledbackground, -disabledforeground, and -readonlybackground.  Finally, the array values associated with the names -selectbackground, -selectforeground, and -selectborderwidth are not used by Mentry_tile, but might prove useful for other purposes, as described below.

The mentry::setThemeDefaults command is invoked by Mentry_tile automatically at application start time and when the <<ThemeChanged>> virtual event is sent to the main window.  It is also invoked on Mac OS 10.14 (Mojave) and later whenever the main window receives a <<LightAqua>> or <<DarkAqua>> virtual event, if the current theme is aqua.  In these cases, after invoking the mentry::setThemeDefaults command, Mentry_tile sends the virtual event <<MentryThemeDefaultsChanged>> to the main window and reconfigures all mentry widgets of the application, using the new default values of those options that were not set explicitly to values different from the corresponding defaults.

On Mac OS 10.14 (Mojave) and later, the virtual events <<LightAqua>> and <<DarkAqua>> are sent by Tk 8.6.10 and later to all toplevel widgets whenever the system appearance toggles between Light Mode and Dark Mode or the Accent Color in the General Preferences changes.  Tk versions 8.6.11 and later send these events on Mac OS 10.15 (Catalina) and later also when changing the Highlight Color in the General Preferences.

Besides being used by Mentry_tile, this command can also be invoked in application code, although with current Mentry_tile versions there is no need for calling it explicitly.

By using the default values contained in the array mentry::themeDefaults, you can make sure that classical Tk widgets, e.g., text, will have a theme-specific appearance, just like the tile widgets.  For example, you can add some common configuration options to the option database as follows:

if {[tk windowingsystem] eq "x11"} {
    option add *Text.background   $mentry::themeDefaults(-background)
    option add *Text.foreground   $mentry::themeDefaults(-foreground)
    option add *selectBackground  $mentry::themeDefaults(-selectbackground)
    option add *selectForeground  $mentry::themeDefaults(-selectforeground)
}
option add *selectBorderWidth     $mentry::themeDefaults(-selectborderwidth)
option add *Font                  $mentry::themeDefaults(-font)

You can also make use of the virtual event <<MentryThemeDefaultsChanged>> to update the appearance of your Tk widgets according to the new values contained in the array mentry::themeDefaults, by binding to the dedicated binding tag MentryMain associated with the main window:

bind MentryMain <<MentryThemeDefaultsChanged>> ...

The binding tag MentryMain is assigned by Mentry_tile to the main window and used internally for handling the virtual events <<ThemeChanged>>, <<LightAqua>>, and <<DarkAqua>>.  As shown above, applications can make use of it, e.g., to handle the virtual event <<MentryThemeDefaultsChanged>>.

KEYWORDS

mentry, theme, tile