ActiveTcl 8.6.10 Documentation

The vsapi element factory creates a new element in the current theme whose visual appearance is drawn using the Microsoft Visual Styles API which is responsible for the themed styles on Windows XP and Vista. This factory permits any of the Visual Styles parts to be declared as Ttk elements that can then be included in a style layout to modify the appearance of Ttk widgets.

className and partId are required parameters and specify the Visual Styles class and part as given in the Microsoft documentation. The stateMap may be provided to map Ttk states to Visual Styles API states (see STATE MAP).

OPTIONS

Valid options are:

-padding padding: Specify the element's interior padding. padding is a list of up to four integers specifying the left, top, right and bottom padding quantities respectively. If fewer than four elements are specified, bottom defaults to top, right defaults to left, and top defaults to left. In other words, a list of three numbers specify the left, vertical, and right padding; a list of two numbers specify the horizontal and the vertical padding; a single number specifies the same padding all the way around the widget. This option may not be mixed with any other options.
-margins padding: Specifies the elements exterior padding. padding is a list of up to four integers specifying the left, top, right and bottom padding quantities respectively. This option may not be mixed with any other options.
-width width: Specifies the height for the element. If this option is set then the Visual Styles API will not be queried for the recommended size or the part. If this option is set then -height should also be set. The -width and -height options cannot be mixed with the -padding or -margins options.
-height height: Specifies the height of the element. See the comments for -width.

STATE MAP

The stateMap parameter is a list of ttk states and the corresponding Visual Styles API state value. This permits the element appearance to respond to changes in the widget state such as becoming active or being pressed. The list should be as described for the ttk::style map command but note that the last pair in the list should be the default state and is typically an empty list and 1. Unfortunately all the Visual Styles parts have different state values and these must be looked up either in the Microsoft documentation or more likely in the header files. The original header to use was tmschema.h, but in more recent versions of the Windows Development Kit this is vssym32.h.

If no stateMap parameter is given there is an implicit default map of {{} 1}

EXAMPLE

Create a correctly themed close button by changing the layout of a ttk::button(n). This uses the WINDOW part WP_SMALLCLOSEBUTTON and as documented the states CBS_DISABLED, CBS_HOT, CBS_NORMAL and CBS_PUSHED are mapped from ttk states.

ttk::style element create smallclose vsapi WINDOW 19 \
    {disabled 4 pressed 3 active 2 {} 1}
ttk::style layout CloseButton {CloseButton.smallclose -sticky news}
pack [ttk::button .close -style CloseButton]

Change the appearance of a ttk::checkbutton(n) to use the Explorer pin part EBP_HEADERPIN.

ttk::style element create pin vsapi EXPLORERBAR 3 {
    {pressed !selected} 3
    {active !selected} 2
    {pressed selected} 6
    {active selected} 5
    {selected} 4
    {} 1
}
ttk::style layout Explorer.Pin {Explorer.Pin.pin -sticky news}
pack [ttk::checkbutton .pin -style Explorer.Pin]

KEYWORDS

style, theme, appearance, windows