Class Browser

Scrolling list of lines

Inherits from Browser_

Subclasses: Hold_Browser Multi_Browser Select_Browser

Property index

column_char	format_char	topline
column_widths	size	value

Function index

add	hide	middleline	selected	visible
bottomline	insert	move	set_text
clear	load	remove	show
displayed	make_visible	select	text

Key properties

type	name	summary
readonly integer	size	Number of lines
integer	value	Currently selected line
integer	topline	Top line number visible

Key functions

type	name	summary
void	add(string s)	Add an line at end
void	remove(integer n)	Remove an line
string	text(integer n)	Text of line
void	load(string filename)	Load contents from file

Description

The Browser widget displays a scrolling list of text lines. This is not a text editor or spreadsheet! But it is useful for showing a vertical list of named objects to the user.

Each line in the browser is identified by number. The numbers start at one; zero is reserved for "no line" in the selective browsers. Unless otherwise noted, the methods do not check to see if the passed line number is in range and legal. It must always be greater than zero and <= size.

The base class does nothing when the user clicks on it. The subclasses Select_Browser, Hold_Browser, and Multi_Browser react to user clicks to select lines in the browser and do callbacks.

The base class called Browser_ provides the scrolling and selection mechanisms of this and all the subclasses, but the dimensions and appearance of each item are determined by the subclass. Subclasses of Browser_ could display information other than text, or text that is dynamically produced from your own data structures. If you find that loading the browser is a lot of work or is inefficient, you may want to make a subclass of _Browser_.

Formatting codes at the beginning of each line modify how the rest of the line is printed:

@. Print rest of line, don't look for more '@' signs
@@ Print rest of line starting with '@'
@l Use a large (24 point) font
@m Use a medium large (18 point) font
@s Use a small (11 point) font
@b Use a bold font (adds FL_BOLD to font)
@i Use an italic font (adds FL_ITALIC to font)
@f or @t Use a fixed-pitch font (sets font to FL_COURIER)
@c Center the line horizontally
@r Right-justify the text
@B0, @B1, ... @B255 Fill the backgound with fl_color(n)
@C0, @C1, ... @C255 Use fl_color(n) to draw the text
@F0, @F1, ... Use fl_font(n) to draw the text
@S1, @S2, ... Use point size n to draw the text
@u or @_ Underline the text.
@- draw an engraved line through the middle.

Notice that the @. command can be used to reliably terminate the parsing. To print a random string in a random color, use sprintf("@C%d@.%s", color, string) and it will work even if the string starts with a digit or has the format character in it.

The format character @ may be changed with the format_char property, or all formatting can be disabled with clear_format_char()

Browsers support the display of multiple columns, if the column_widths property is set. Each line is split into columns by the column_char; it defaults to the tab character. See column_widths for more information.