NAME
       place - Geometry manager for fixed or rubber-sheet placement

SYNOPSIS
       place option arg ?arg ...?


DESCRIPTION
       The  placer  is  a  geometry  manager for Tk.  It provides simple fixed
       placement of windows, where you specify the exact size and location  of
       one window, called the slave, within another window, called the master.
       The placer also provides rubber-sheet placement, where you specify  the
       size  and  location of the slave in terms of the dimensions of the mas-
       ter, so that the slave changes size and location in response to changes
       in  the size of the master.  Lastly, the placer allows you to mix these
       styles of placement so that, for example, the slave has a  fixed  width
       and height but is centered inside the master.


       place window option value ?option value ...?
              Arrange  for  the placer to manage the geometry of a slave whose
              pathName is window.  The remaining arguments consist of  one  or
              more  option-value  pairs that specify the way in which window's
              geometry is managed.  Option may have any of the values accepted
              by the place configure command.

       place configure window ?option? ?value option value ...?
              Query  or modify the geometry options of the slave given by win-
              dow.  If no option is specified, this  command  returns  a  list
              describing  the  available  options  (see  Tk_ConfigureInfo  for
              information on the format of this list).  If option is specified
              with  no  value,  then the command returns a list describing the
              one named option (this list will be identical to the correspond-
              ing  sublist  of  the value returned if no option is specified).
              If one or more option-value pairs are specified, then  the  com-
              mand modifies the given option(s) to have the given value(s); in
              this case the command returns an empty string.

              The following option-value pairs are supported:

              -anchor where
                     Where specifies which point of window is to be positioned
                     at  the (x,y) location selected by the -x, -y, -relx, and
                     -rely options.  The anchor point is in terms of the outer
                     area  of  window  including  its border, if any.  Thus if
                     where is se then the lower-right corner of window's  bor-
                     der  will  appear at the given (x,y) location in the mas-
                     ter.  The anchor position defaults to nw.

              -bordermode mode
                     Mode determines the degree to which  borders  within  the
                     master  are  used  in  determining  the  placement of the
                     slave.  The default and most common value is inside.   In
                     this  case the placer considers the area of the master to
                     be the innermost area of the master, inside  any  border:
                     an  option  of  -x  0 corresponds to an x-coordinate just
                     inside the border and an option of  -relwidth  1.0  means
                     window will fill the area inside the master's border.

                     If  mode is outside then the placer considers the area of
                     the master to include its border; this mode is  typically
                     used  when placing window outside its master, as with the
                     options -x 0 -y 0 -anchor ne.  Lastly, mode may be speci-
                     fied  as  ignore, in which case borders are ignored:  the
                     area of the master is considered to  be  its  official  X
                     area,  which includes any internal border but no external
                     border.  A bordermode of ignore is probably not very use-
                     ful.

              -height size
                     Size  specifies  the  height  for  window in screen units
                     (i.e. any of the forms accepted  by  Tk_GetPixels).   The
                     height  will  be  the outer dimension of window including
                     its border, if any.  If size is an empty string, or if no
                     -height  or  -relheight  option  is  specified,  then the
                     height requested internally by the window will be used.

              -in master
                     Master specifies the path name of the window relative  to
                     which window is to be placed.  Master must either be win-
                     dow's parent or a  descendant  of  window's  parent.   In
                     addition,  master  and window must both be descendants of
                     the same top-level window.  These restrictions are neces-
                     sary  to guarantee that window is visible whenever master
                     is visible.  If this option isn't specified then the mas-
                     ter defaults to window's parent.

              -relheight size
                     Size  specifies  the height for window.  In this case the
                     height is specified as a floating-point  number  relative
                     to  the  height  of  the master: 0.5 means window will be
                     half as high as the master, 1.0 means  window  will  have
                     the  same  height  as  the  master,  and  so on.  If both
                     -height and -relheight are specified for a  slave,  their
                     values  are  summed.  For example, -relheight 1.0 -height
                     -2 makes the slave 2 pixels shorter than the master.

              -relwidth size
                     Size specifies the width for window.  In  this  case  the
                     width is specified as a floating-point number relative to
                     the width of the master: 0.5 means window will be half as
                     wide  as  the master, 1.0 means window will have the same
                     width as the master, and so on.  If both -width and -rel-
                     width are specified for a slave, their values are summed.
                     For example, -relwidth 1.0 -width 5  makes  the  slave  5
                     pixels wider than the master.

              -relx location
                     Location  specifies  the  x-coordinate  within the master
                     window of the anchor point for window.  In this case  the
                     location  is  specified in a relative fashion as a float-
                     ing-point number:  0.0 corresponds to the  left  edge  of
                     the  master  and 1.0 corresponds to the right edge of the
                     master.  Location need not be in the range  0.0-1.0.   If
                     both  -x  and  -relx are specified for a slave then their
                     values are summed.  For example, -relx 0.5  -x  -2  posi-
                     tions  the left edge of the slave 2 pixels to the left of
                     the center of its master.

              -rely location
                     Location specifies the  y-coordinate  within  the  master
                     window  of the anchor point for window.  In this case the
                     value is specified in a relative fashion as  a  floating-
                     point  number:   0.0  corresponds  to the top edge of the
                     master and 1.0 corresponds to the bottom edge of the mas-
                     ter.  Location need not be in the range 0.0-1.0.  If both
                     -y and -rely are specified for a slave then their  values
                     are  summed.   For  example, -rely 0.5 -x 3 positions the
                     top edge of the slave 3 pixels below the  center  of  its
                     master.

              -width size
                     Size specifies the width for window in screen units (i.e.
                     any of the forms accepted by  Tk_GetPixels).   The  width
                     will  be  the outer width of window including its border,
                     if any.  If size is an empty string, or if no  -width  or
                     -relwidth  option  is specified, then the width requested
                     internally by the window will be used.

              -x location
                     Location specifies the  x-coordinate  within  the  master
                     window  of  the anchor point for window.  The location is
                     specified in screen units (i.e. any of the forms accepted
                     by  Tk_GetPixels)  and  need not lie within the bounds of
                     the master window.

              -y location
                     Location specifies the  y-coordinate  within  the  master
                     window  of  the anchor point for window.  The location is
                     specified in screen units (i.e. any of the forms accepted
                     by  Tk_GetPixels)  and  need not lie within the bounds of
                     the master window.

              If the same value is specified  separately  with  two  different
              options,  such  as  -x and -relx, then the most recent option is
              used and the older one is ignored.

       place forget window
              Causes the placer to stop managing the geometry of window.  As a
              side  effect  of this command window will be unmapped so that it
              doesn't appear on the screen.  If window isn't currently managed
              by  the  placer  then  the  command has no effect.  This command
              returns an empty string.

       place info window
              Returns a list giving the current configuration of window.   The
              list  consists of option-value pairs in exactly the same form as
              might be specified to the place configure command.

       place slaves window
              Returns a list of all the slave windows for which window is  the
              master.   If there are no slaves for window then an empty string
              is returned.

       If the configuration of a window has been retrieved  with  place  info,
       that configuration can be restored later by first using place forget to
       erase any existing information for the window and then  invoking  place
       configure with the saved information.

FINE POINTS
       It is not necessary for the master window to be the parent of the slave
       window.  This feature is useful in at least two situations.  First, for
       complex  window  layouts it means you can create a hierarchy of subwin-
       dows whose only purpose is to assist in the layout of the parent.   The
       ``real  children'' of the parent (i.e. the windows that are significant
       for the application's user interface) can be children of the parent yet
       be  placed  inside  the  windows  of the geometry-management hierarchy.
       This means that the path names of the ``real children''  don't  reflect
       the geometry-management hierarchy and users can specify options for the
       real children without being aware of the structure of the geometry-man-
       agement hierarchy.

       A  second  reason for having a master different than the slave's parent
       is to tie two siblings together.  For example, the placer can  be  used
       to  force  a  window always to be positioned centered just below one of
       its siblings by specifying the configuration
              -in sibling -relx 0.5 -rely 1.0 -anchor n -bordermode outside
       Whenever the sibling is repositioned in the future, the slave  will  be
       repositioned as well.

       Unlike  many  other  geometry  managers (such as the packer) the placer
       does not make any attempt to manipulate the geometry of the master win-
       dows  or  the  parents  of  slave  windows  (i.e.  it doesn't set their
       requested sizes).  To control the sizes of  these  windows,  make  them
       windows like frames and canvases that provide configuration options for
       this purpose.

EXAMPLE
       Make the label occupy the middle bit of the toplevel, no matter how  it
       is resized:
              label .l -text "In the\nMiddle!" -bg black -fg white
              place .l -relwidth .3 -relx .35 -relheight .3 -rely .35


SEE ALSO
       grid(n), pack(n)


KEYWORDS
       geometry manager, height, location, master, place, rubber sheet, slave,
