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Motif 2.1 Programmer's Guide

ScrollBar

A widget can act as a viewport onto a virtual scroll. The ScrollBar is the control that moves the viewport horizontally or vertically relative to the underlying scroll. A ScrollBar consists of a rectangle, called the scroll region, representing the full size of the scroll. It has a smaller rectangle, called the slider, within the scroll region, representing the position and size of the viewport relative to the full scroll. The ScrollBar usually has arrow graphics at both ends of the larger rectangle.

A ScrollBar has translations and actions that allow the user to move the slider. By clicking on an arrow, the user moves the slider one small increment in the direction of the arrow. By clicking in the scroll region between an arrow and the slider, the user moves the slider a larger increment (the page increment) in the direction of the arrow. When the ScrollBar has keyboard focus, the user can use the keyboard to move the slider in this way. The user can also drag the slider using the mouse.

By itself, the ScrollBar does not have an association with a widget acting as a viewport onto a scroll. Most applications use a ScrolledWindow, a Manager widget with a child to be scrolled and possibly with one or two ScrollBars to control the scrolling. ScrolledWindow can automatically control the interaction between the scrolled child and the ScrollBars, or it can allow the application to control the interaction. For more information see Chapter 8.

ScrollBar has a number of resources that allow the application to use it to control scrolling:

  1. A minimum value (XmNminimum), representing the position of the slider at one end of the scroll region, and a maximum value (XmNmaximum), representing the position of the slider at the other end of the scroll region. These values can be in any integral units the application chooses, so long as the maximum is greater than the minimum.

  2. The length of the slider (XmNsliderSize) between 1 and (XmNmaximum - XmNminimum).

  3. A value (XmNvalue), ranging between XmNminimum and (XmNmaximum - XmNsliderSize), representing the current position of the slider between the maximum and minimum values.

  4. Values for the increment (XmNincrement) and page increment (XmNpageIncrement) by which the user can move the slider.

  5. A resource (XmNprocessingDirection) that determines whether the minimum value is on the left or right for horizontal ScrollBars or is on the bottom or top for vertical ScrollBars.

  6. Distinct callbacks that the widget invokes when the user moves the slider by one increment in either direction, by one page increment in either direction, or all the way to either end of the scroll region. The widget invokes other callbacks as the user drags the slider and when the user stops dragging the slider. The application does not have to provide routines for all these callback lists; if it provides only an XmNvalueChangedCallback procedure, the widget invokes that procedure whenever the ScrollBar value changes (except during interactive dragging of the slider).

  7. Resources to control the color of the scroll region, whether the ScrollBar is horizontal or vertical, and whether or not the ScrollBar has arrows.

  8. Resources to control the delays before the widget moves the slider continuously as the user presses and holds Btn1 on an arrow or the scroll region.

  9. A resource (XmNsnapBackMultiple to specify the distance over which the ScrollBar slider snaps back to its original position when the user drags the mouse outside the ScrollBar edge.

  10. Resources to specify the appearance of the slider (XmNsliderMark and XmNsliderVisual).

  11. A resource (XmNslidingMode) to specify the mode the slider works in. For example, this resource could make the ScrollBar look like an old-fashioned mercury thermometer (XmTHERMOMETER mode) or like a carpenter's level (XmSLIDER mode).

    Two convenience routines, XmScrollBarGetValues and XmScrollBarSetValues, allow the application to get and set the value, slider size, increment, and page increment in one call.

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