NAME
       pack - Geometry manager that packs around edges of cavity

SYNOPSIS
       pack option arg ?arg ...?


DESCRIPTION
       The  pack  command  is  used to communicate with the packer, a geometry
       manager that arranges the children of a parent by packing them in order
       around  the edges of the parent.  The pack command can have any of sev-
       eral forms, depending on the option argument:

       pack slave ?slave ...? ?options?
              If the first argument to pack is a window name (any value start-
              ing  with  ``.''), then the command is processed in the same way
              as pack configure.

       pack configure slave ?slave ...? ?options?
              The arguments consist of the names of one or more slave  windows
              followed  by  pairs  of arguments that specify how to manage the
              slaves.  See ``THE PACKER ALGORITHM'' below for details  on  how
              the  options  are used by the packer.  The following options are
              supported:

              -after other
                     Other must the name of another window.  Use its master as
                     the  master  for  the  slaves, and insert the slaves just
                     after other in the packing order.

              -anchor anchor
                     Anchor must be a valid anchor position such as n  or  sw;
                     it  specifies where to position each slave in its parcel.
                     Defaults to center.

              -before other
                     Other must the name of another window.  Use its master as
                     the  master  for  the  slaves, and insert the slaves just
                     before other in the packing order.

              -expand boolean
                     Specifies whether the slaves should be expanded  to  con-
                     sume  extra  space in their master.  Boolean may have any
                     proper boolean value, such as 1 or no.  Defaults to 0.

              -fill style
                     If a slave's parcel is larger than its  requested  dimen-
                     sions,  this  option  may  be  used to stretch the slave.
                     Style must have one of the following values:

                     none   Give the slave its requested dimensions  plus  any
                            internal  padding requested with -ipadx or -ipady.
                            This is the default.

                     x      Stretch the slave horizontally to fill the  entire
                            width of its parcel (except leave external padding
                            as specified by -padx).

                     y      Stretch the slave vertically to  fill  the  entire
                            height  of  its parcel (except leave external pad-
                            ding as specified by -pady).

                     both   Stretch the slave  both  horizontally  and  verti-
                            cally.

              -in other
                     Insert  the  slave(s) at the end of the packing order for
                     the master window given by other.

              -ipadx amount
                     Amount specifies how much horizontal internal padding  to
                     leave  on  each  side  of the slave(s).  Amount must be a
                     valid screen distance, such as 2 or .5c.  It defaults  to
                     0.

              -ipady amount
                     Amount  specifies  how  much vertical internal padding to
                     leave on each side of the slave(s).  Amount  defaults  to
                     0.

              -padx amount
                     Amount  specifies how much horizontal external padding to
                     leave on each side of the slave(s).  Amount may be a list
                     of two values to specify padding for left and right sepa-
                     rately.  Amount defaults to 0.

              -pady amount
                     Amount specifies how much vertical  external  padding  to
                     leave on each side of the slave(s).  Amount may be a list
                     of two values to specify padding for top and bottom sepa-
                     rately.  Amount defaults to 0.

              -side side
                     Specifies  which  side of the master the slave(s) will be
                     packed against.  Must be left,  right,  top,  or  bottom.
                     Defaults to top.

              If  no  -in,  -after or -before option is specified then each of
              the slaves will be inserted at the end of the packing  list  for
              its  parent unless it is already managed by the packer (in which
              case it will be left where it is).  If one of these  options  is
              specified  then all the slaves will be inserted at the specified
              point.  If any of the slaves are already managed by the geometry
              manager  then any unspecified options for them retain their pre-
              vious values rather than receiving default values.

       pack forget slave ?slave ...?
              Removes each of the slaves from the packing order for its master
              and  unmaps their windows.  The slaves will no longer be managed
              by the packer.

       pack info slave
              Returns a list whose  elements  are  the  current  configuration
              state  of the slave given by slave in the same option-value form
              that might be specified to pack configure.  The first  two  ele-
              ments of the list are ``-in master'' where master is the slave's
              master.

       pack propagate master ?boolean?
              If boolean has a true boolean value such as 1 or on then  propa-
              gation  is  enabled for master, which must be a window name (see
              ``GEOMETRY PROPAGATION'' below).  If boolean has a false boolean
              value  then  propagation  is  disabled for master.  In either of
              these cases an empty string is returned.  If boolean is  omitted
              then  the command returns 0 or 1 to indicate whether propagation
              is currently enabled for  master.   Propagation  is  enabled  by
              default.

       pack slaves master
              Returns  a  list  of  all of the slaves in the packing order for
              master.  The order of the slaves in the  list  is  the  same  as
              their  order in the packing order.  If master has no slaves then
              an empty string is returned.

THE PACKER ALGORITHM
       For each master the packer maintains an ordered list of  slaves  called
       the  packing  list.  The -in, -after, and -before configuration options
       are used to specify the master for each slave and the slave's  position
       in  the  packing  list.   If none of these options is given for a slave
       then the slave is added to the end of the packing list for its  parent.

       The  packer  arranges  the  slaves for a master by scanning the packing
       list in order.  At the time it processes each slave, a rectangular area
       within  the  master is still unallocated.  This area is called the cav-
       ity;  for the first slave it is the entire area of the master.

       For each slave the packer carries out the following steps:

       [1]    The packer allocates a rectangular parcel for  the  slave  along
              the  side  of  the cavity given by the slave's -side option.  If
              the side is top or bottom then the width of the  parcel  is  the
              width  of  the  cavity and its height is the requested height of
              the slave plus the -ipady and -pady options.  For  the  left  or
              right  side the height of the parcel is the height of the cavity
              and the width is the requested  width  of  the  slave  plus  the
              -ipadx  and  -padx  options.  The parcel may be enlarged further
              because of the -expand option (see ``EXPANSION'' below)

       [2]    The packer chooses the dimensions of the slave.  The width  will
              normally  be  the  slave's requested width plus twice its -ipadx
              option and the height will normally  be  the  slave's  requested
              height  plus  twice  its  -ipady  option.  However, if the -fill
              option is x or both then the width of the slave is  expanded  to
              fill  the width of the parcel, minus twice the -padx option.  If
              the -fill option is y or both then the height of  the  slave  is
              expanded  to fill the width of the parcel, minus twice the -pady
              option.

       [3]    The packer positions the slave over its parcel.  If the slave is
              smaller than the parcel then the -anchor option determines where
              in the parcel the slave will be placed.  If -padx  or  -pady  is
              non-zero,  then the given amount of external padding will always
              be left between the slave and the edges of the parcel.

       Once a given slave has been packed, the area  of  its  parcel  is  sub-
       tracted  from  the cavity, leaving a smaller rectangular cavity for the
       next slave.  If a slave doesn't use all of its parcel, the unused space
       in  the  parcel  will  not be used by subsequent slaves.  If the cavity
       should become too small to meet the needs of a  slave  then  the  slave
       will  be  given  whatever  space  is left in the cavity.  If the cavity
       shrinks to zero size, then all remaining slaves  on  the  packing  list
       will  be unmapped from the screen until the master window becomes large
       enough to hold them again.

EXPANSION
       If a master window is so large that there will be extra space left over
       after  all of its slaves have been packed, then the extra space is dis-
       tributed uniformly among all of the slaves for which the -expand option
       is  set.   Extra  horizontal  space is distributed among the expandable
       slaves whose -side is left or right, and extra vertical space  is  dis-
       tributed among the expandable slaves whose -side is top or bottom.

GEOMETRY PROPAGATION
       The packer normally computes how large a master must be to just exactly
       meet the needs of its slaves, and  it  sets  the  requested  width  and
       height  of the master to these dimensions.  This causes geometry infor-
       mation to propagate up through a window hierarchy to a top-level window
       so  that  the entire sub-tree sizes itself to fit the needs of the leaf
       windows.  However, the pack propagate command may be used to  turn  off
       propagation  for  one or more masters.  If propagation is disabled then
       the packer will not set the requested width and height of  the  packer.
       This  may  be  useful  if, for example, you wish for a master window to
       have a fixed size that you specify.

RESTRICTIONS ON MASTER WINDOWS
       The master for each slave  must  either  be  the  slave's  parent  (the
       default)  or  a  descendant of the slave's parent.  This restriction is
       necessary to guarantee that the slave can be placed over  any  part  of
       its master that is visible without danger of the slave being clipped by
       its parent.

PACKING ORDER
       If the master for a slave is not its parent then  you  must  make  sure
       that the slave is higher in the stacking order than the master.  Other-
       wise the master will obscure the slave and it will  appear  as  if  the
       slave  hasn't  been packed correctly.  The easiest way to make sure the
       slave is higher than the master is to create the master  window  first:
       the most recently created window will be highest in the stacking order.
       Or, you can use the raise and lower commands  to  change  the  stacking
       order of either the master or the slave.

EXAMPLE
              # Make the widgets
              label .t -text "This widget is at the top"    -bg red
              label .b -text "This widget is at the bottom" -bg green
              label .l -text "Left\nHand\nSide"
              label .r -text "Right\nHand\nSide"
              text .mid
              # Lay them out
              pack .t   -side top    -fill x
              pack .b   -side bottom -fill x
              pack .l   -side left   -fill y
              pack .r   -side right  -fill y
              pack .mid -expand 1    -fill both


SEE ALSO
       grid(n), place(n)


KEYWORDS
