Tk_Name(3Tk)Tk_Name(3Tk)NAME
Tk_Name, Tk_PathName, Tk_NameToWindow - convert between names and window
tokens
SYNOPSIS
#include <tk.h>
Tk_Uid
Tk_Name(tkwin)
char *
Tk_PathName(tkwin)
Tk_Window
Tk_NameToWindow(interp, pathName, tkwin)
ARGUMENTS
Tk_Window tkwin (in) Token for window.
Tcl_Interp *interp (out) Interpreter to use for error
reporting.
char *pathName (in) Character string containing path name
of window.
DESCRIPTION
Each window managed by Tk has two names, a short name that identifies a
window among children of the same parent, and a path name that identifies
the window uniquely among all the windows belonging to the same main
window. The path name is used more often in Tk than the short name;
many commands, like bind, expect path names as arguments.
The Tk_Name macro returns a window's short name, which is the same as the
name argument passed to Tk_CreateMainWindow or Tk_CreateTopLevelWindow or
Tk_CreateChildWindow when the window was created. The value is returned
as a Tk_Uid, which may be used just like a string pointer but also has
the properties of a unique identifier (see the manual entry for Tk_GetUid
for details).
The Tk_PathName macro returns a hierarchical name for tkwin. Path names
have a structure similar to file names in Unix but with dots between
elements instead of slashes: the main window for an application (one
created by calling Tk_CreateMainWindow or by calling
Tk_CreateTopLevelWindow with a NULL parent argument) has the path name
``.''; its children have names like ``.a'' and ``.b''; their children
have names like ``.a.aa'' and ``.b.bb''; and so on. A window is
considered to be be a child of another window for naming purposes if the
second window was named as the first window's parent when the first
window was created. This is not always the same as the X window
hierarchy. For example, a pop-up is created as a child of the root
window, but its logical parent will usually be a window within the
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Tk_Name(3Tk)Tk_Name(3Tk)
application.
The procedure Tk_NameToWindow returns the token for a window given its
path name (the pathName argument) and another window belonging to the
same main window (tkwin). It normally returns a token for the named
window, but if no such window exists Tk_NameToWindow leaves an error
message in interp->result and returns NULL. The tkwin argument to
Tk_NameToWindow is needed because path names are only unique within a
single application hierarchy. If, for example, a single process has
opened two main windows, each will have a separate naming hierarchy and
the same path name might appear in each of the hierarchies. Normally
tkwin is the main window of the desired hierarchy, but this need not be
the case: any window in the desired hierarchy may be used.
KEYWORDS
name, path name, token, window
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