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The colors, fonts, layout arrangements, and many other aspects of the appearance of a screen display are controlled by display attributes. "Screen Management Functions" tells how to use the screen management primitive functions of and has to set and reference values of display attributes.Every display attribute is listed in "Display Attributes", together with a brief description and a set of keys. The meanings of the alphabetic keys are given in the next section.
For some display attributes, the information in "Display Attributes" is only a summary. For more information on:
- Keys with capital letters indicate the display classes for which an attribute is meaningful.
- Keys in lower case letters generally indicate characteristics of the attributes.
- Links to additional information about the attributes are indicated by "more".
Among the display attributes described here are those for specifying colors and fonts. Both colors and fonts are specified by symbols or character strings, as in `name or 'name'. A list of all available color names can be found in "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb.txt".
- Functional attributes, see "Functional Attributes";
- Attributes with callbacks, i.e., event attributes, consult "Attributes with Callbacks";
- User interactions related to certain attributes, such as select, see "User Interactions with Displays";
- Variables and additional functions related to attributes, consult "The s Context", including the "Attribute Default Variables" section. "Null (0)" or "Null (1)" in the Default column indicates the attribute will mirror a default variable whose default value is 0 or 1, respectively.
For convenience, a list pruned to the unique colors appears in "Colors". A list of all available font names can be produced by executing xlsfonts in an XTerm session (or $xlsfonts from A+). A list of preferred fonts (those available on the screen and for printing) is in "Preferred Fonts".
Display attributes are categorized as persistent and nonpersistent. Persistent attributes can be thought of as more directly connected to the concept of an array than nonpersistent ones. For example, the font in which the values of a variable will appear is a persistent attribute, while the thickness of the highlight border in its display is nonpersistent. The most distinguishing feature is that once a persistent attribute is set for a variable x, it will remain set, even as x is bound, freed, and bound again to another class; in effect, a persistent attribute is an attribute of A+ variables, not of particular display classes. Indeed, it can be set on an unbound variable. For this reason persistent attributes are also called attributes of variables. On the other hand, the setting of a nonpersistent attribute will not be maintained when a variable is freed, and some nonpersistent attributes cannot even be specified for variables bound to certain classes. Nonpersistent attributes are attributes of display classes, not of variables bound to those classes. Nonpersistent attributes are also called attributes of classes, or widget attributes.Even though a persistent attribute can be given a value for an object of any class, that value is not necessarily meaningful. For example, the font attribute, which specifies the font in which values are type set, is not meaningful for line graphs. For each persistent attribute, "Display Attributes" shows "ALL" as the key for the set of display classes to which it applies and - unless it is meaningful for all classes - lists in parentheses the classes for which it is actually meaningful, i.e., for which it has a visual effect. Note that an object contained in a table or graph is bound to the class tableField or graphTrace, respectively, no matter to what class it may have previously belonged.
Keys with capital letters in the second column of "Display Attributes" indicate classes to which the attributes apply. The ALL key means all classes except report, which is fundamentally different from the others, since it cannot be shown, and in some cases, such as navigation, children of reports. Only Rp refers to the report class. CNT means the container classes hgrid, hpane, layout, notebook, vgrid, and vpane.
Objects in layouts and panes have attributes for establishing their relative positions and behavior when the layouts are resized. See "Layouts, Geometry, Constraints", and also "The Layout Display Class".
Top-level objects, in the broad sense1, are objects that are not contained in other objects (and not reports). It is these objects that appear with certain window manager decorations, and there are attributes associated with this appearance and their interrelations among top-level objects. See "Windows" in "Introduction to Screen Management".
Graphs have four axes, the x axis on the bottom of the plot area, the y axis to the left, an alternate x axis above, and an alternate y axis to the right. Some attributes come in sets of four, with one attribute for each axis. For example, the font for the labels can be set separately for each axis, as xlabelfont for the x axis, ylabelfont for the y axis, Xlabelfont for the alternate x axis, and Ylabelfont for the alternate y axis. Whenever there is such a foursome, only the attribute for the x axis is given, with the key o.Similarly, for several attributes there are x-axis and alternate x-axis versions, but no y-axis or alternate y-axis versions. For these attributes, only the attribute for the x-axis is given, and with the key x. Analogously, for attributes with y-axis and alternate y-axis versions, but no x-axis or alternate x-axis versions, only the attribute for the y-axis is given, with the key y.
Certain attributes express an action to be taken, rather than a quality. For example, naturalsize is the attribute which causes an object to be resized to a size appropriate for its current value and attribute settings. It is not necessary to specify a value for this attribute, but only that the resizing actions should take place, as in`object has `naturalsizeSome action attributes also take values, but it is not necessary to specify a value to get the primary action to take place. For example, the show attribute can be given the value 1 to show an object or 0 to hide it, and
`object has (`show;1) is equivalent to `object has `show.
Some attributes can only be set, and have no stored value; s will complain if asked for a value. Other attributes can only be referenced; s will complain about any attempts to set values for them.
These attributes are associated with user interactions such as key and button presses. See "Attributes with Callbacks". This key is used as a link to the corresponding table entry in that chapter. Some attributes with this key have a default value of 0 or 1 and can also be given the other value of 1 or 0; in these cases either `false or `off can be used in place of 0, and either `true or `on can be used in place of 1.
These attributes provide efficient means for dynamically modifying their values based on changing circumstances in running applications. See "Functional Attributes". This key is used as a link to the corresponding table entry in that chapter.
The second column of this large table shows keys which explain the applicability of each attribute. To see a brief description of what a key represents, simply point to they key with your mouse... no clicking required.Alternatively, assuming you are using the frames version of the online manual, when you are looking at an entry in the table and are not sure what a key stands for, you can click on "Keys" under "Table of Attributes" in the lefthand frame. After ascertaining the key's meaning, you can return to the table by pressing the righthand mouse button with the pointer in the main frame and selecting "Back" from the menu that pops up.
Attribute
Meaning
A array B label C command D password E choice G graph gT graphTrace hG hgauge hM hmenu hP hpane hR hgrid hS hscale I radio K check L layout M matrix N action O notebook P page Q scalar R tree Rp report S slot T table tF tableField U button V view vG vgauge vM vmenu vP vpane vR vgrid vS vscale W window X text ALL all objects except reports (fundamentally different; can't be shown) ALL (list) ALL, but meaningful only for the classes in list CNFT NFT but only objects in containers CNT containers: layout, grids, panes, and notebook GS hgauge, vgauge, hscale, and vscale NFT not tableField or graphTrace TOP top-level and popup objects only o also for graph attributes prefixed X, y, Y, or x also for the attribute with prefix X y also for graph attribute prefixed Y a action cb attribute with callback fn functional p persistent r reference only (cannot be set) s set only
| Attribute | Keys (POINT TO KEY FOR INFO) |
Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| b |
| If 1, bottom justify this object in its layout cell. | 0 |
| backpagebg | 
| Background color of tabs and page edges. | `deep skyblue4 |
| backpagefg |
| Foreground color of tabs and page edges, but not the titles on the tabs, which get their color from fg. | `black |
| backpages |
| Number of apparent unshown pages, i.e., page edges. | 3 |
| backpage thickness |
| Thickness of each (unshown) page edge, in pixels. | 4 |
| banner | 
| Text of banner to be printed diagonally in background on each page, e.g., "Draft", "Internal use only". | |
| barwidth | ,
| The maximum pixel width of bars in bar and stack graphs. | 10 |
| be |  ( ),
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| If (cÖv) has (`be;(f;s)) and cÖv is a container, then f{s;d;i;p;c;v} is called to bind the child d of cÖv to a display class; s may be a display class, a list of display classes, or whatever will help in this process. | |
| bg | ,
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| The background color of this object. For tables and arrays, does not change the scrollbar background color if that color is different from the bg color that is being changed. A tableField inherits its value from its table, and when the value for tableField is reset to Null it uses the current value for table. | grey |
| bggrayscale | ,
| Background shade value in reports, 1 - white to 0 - black. A scalar or a function (in the callback i is the row). | 1 |
| bindingwidth |
| The width (diameter) of the spiral binding, in pixels. | 36 |
| blank | (,
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| What is to be displayed for a NA, e.g., on insertion of a row. Cf. na and s.AUTOBLANK. | Null |
| blink |  ,
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| Boolean mask controlling whether or not a cell blinks, i.e., its foreground and background colors oscillate. (The blink timer runs only when something is actively blinking). | |
| blinkrate |
| The rate of blinking in milliseconds. | 250 |
| bold | ,
| Boolean mask indicating which characters are bold. | |
| borderheight |
| Border area above and below the notebook, in pixels. | 7 |
| borderwidth |
| Border area on each side of the notebook, in pixels. | 7 |
| bottom | ,
| Distance from the bottom of the graph window to the x-axis rule (visible or not), as a percentage of the window height. | 0 |
| bottom margin |
| Bottom margin of report, in inches. | 1 |
| bound | ,
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| If 1, this object is bound; if 0, this object is free. | |
| box | ,
| An n by 4 matrix of boxes, where each row represents a box as first row, first col, number of rows, number of columns. | 0 4 Ò 0 |
| boxcolor |
| A symbolic vector of box colors. If boxcolor is specified with fewer colors than boxes, then the remaining boxes stay the color that they were before the specification. | |
| breakbggray scale | ,
| Background shade for breaks in reports, 1 - white to 0 - black. A scalar or function. | 1 |
| breakcriteria func | ,
| Determines whether a break occurs for this row (propagated to other columns). Must be functional and return 0 or 1. | If row (item) differs from previous row. |
| breakfggray scale | ,
| Foreground shade for breaks in reports, 1 - white to 0 - black. A scalar or function. | 0 |
| breakfont | ,
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| Font to be used for printing breaks. Value for table is used as a default if no value set for a tableField. | |
| breakleading | ,
| Distance in points between break and next row. | 2 |
| breakoffset | ,
| Distance in points between break and previous row. | 2 |
| breakon |
| Whether column can initiate breaks or not. | 0 |
| break processfunc | ,
| Function to be called to process data at a break if breakprocesson is 1. If none, computation mode is used. | |
| break processon |
| Whether to perform computations at breaks. | 1 |
| breakstyle | ,
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| Style for break: `left, `right, `top, `bottom, or a combination. Value for table used as default. | `left |
| breaktext |
| Text to be inserted at every break. | |
| buffer | ,
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| The character buffer of the command or text display class; a vector. | |
| build |  ,
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| If 1 and this object is a simple vector layout, use autobuilder; if 0, use a default arrangement; if Null, use the value of s.AUTOBUILD. | Null (0) |
| Attribute | Keys (POINT TO KEY FOR INFO) |
Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| C |  ,
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| If 1, make all virtual columns of this object the same size. | |
| cancel |
| Set to 1 (in a callback) to cancel report generation. | 0 |
| children | ,
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| A vector of all objects named in this variable. | |
| class | ,
| The display class of this object. | |
| clear | ,
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| Furnishes a callback function for a clear event. See "Accessing the Primary Selection Buffer". | |
| col | ,
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| The column index of the selected cell. Setting this attribute causes the selected column to appear in the display. In addition, if the row attribute is set to a valid row index, the cell at position (row, col) is highlighted. Setting it to -1 signifies that no column is selected (so none is highlighted). | 0 |
| colindex |
| A vector of indices of the selected column labels when the selectcol attribute is 1, in the order of selection. | É0 |
| colindexbg |
| The background color of the indexed column labels. | medium aquamarine |
| collabelrows |
| The maximum number of rows in the column labels. | 1 |
| color | ,
| Row indices for colormap attribute, for foreground, background color pairs for cells. Functional result must be same shape as variable; if nonfunctional, it is reshaped to match. | Null (0) |
| colormap |
| k by 2 matrix of color symbols; each row is a foreground, background pair. Indexed into by the color attribute. | 1 2 Ò `black `grey |
| colors |
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| A vector of colors that will be cycled through when a cell is updated by indexed specification (which can be caused by editing the cell on screen); see the cycle attribute. | |
| cols | ,
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| The number of visible columns. | Table: at most 5; text: 40. |
| colsep | ,
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| If n, column separators appear every n columns. | 1 |
| colspace | ,
| An integer vector specifying column widths. The first element applies to the row-label column. If there is only one element, it applies to all columns. Otherwise, all elements except the first are used cyclically, as in Reshape. | Null |
| column alignment |
| Horizontal alignment of data in the tableField. One of `left, `center, `right. | `left |
| column control |
| Vector of columns per page. | |
| column pagespan |
| Number of pages that the table's columns are to span. | |
| column resize | ,
| Controls whether columns can be resized by dragging their right borders (column separators): 1 - yes, 0 - no. | 0 |
| column spacing |
| Space between columns in reports, in inches. | |
| computation mode |
| Specify the default computation mode: `sum, `avg, `max, `min, `stddev, `variance. Used when breakprocesson is 1 and breakprocessfunc is not specified. | |
| compute pagebreakcb | ,
| For a callback that occurs at the completion of the pagebreak computation. | |
| compute sizecb | ,
| For a callback that occurs at the completion of the computation of the report size. | |
| constraints | ,
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| A slotfiller containing the resize attribute of each child, indexed by child's name. | Defaults for the children |
| coordinate | ,
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The pointer's x, y coordinates when a refer event occurs. |  ,
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All the x axis, y axis coordinates that make up the trace when a refer event occurs. |
| Coordinate | ,
| The pointer's X, Y coordinates when a refer event occurs. | |
| copy | (,
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| For an inserted line. If 1, copy the line that the new line is being inserted above or below. If 0, use na value. Cf. s.AUTOCOPY. | Null (0) |
| copy texttrace | ,
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| The action taken on a copy-a-text-trace event. | |
| copytrace | ,
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| The action taken on a copy-a-trace event. | |
| cornerindex |
| If 1, the corner label is "flagged"; if 0, it is not; see the selectcorner attribute. | 0 |
| corner indexbg | |
The background color of the corner label when it is flagged. | medium aquamarine |
| current breakcolumn | ,
| Column that is currently causing a break. | |
| current page |
| Name of the object that is being shown. Set it to show page. | |
| cursor | ,
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| The position of the cursor (number of characters from the left and, for page, top). | page: ¢1 ¢1; others: 0. |
| cycle | ,
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| The duration in milliseconds of the appearance of each color in the value of the colors attribute. If set on a table, it applies to all tableFields. | |
| cyclemode | ,
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If `fg, color cycling affects the foreground, if `bg, the background; if `reverse, color cycling is implemented by reverse video and the colors attribute is ignored. | `fg |
| Attribute | Keys (POINT TO KEY FOR INFO) |
Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| decrement | ,
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| An event callback function to be associated with the down arrow button that appears when arrowbuttons is 1. For a slot, there may be several down arrow buttons; the selected attribute gives the symbol for the entry whose button was pressed. | |
| deiconized |
(not popups),
| Function for event callback when the widget is deiconized, whether or not the window manager is CDE. See the caveats in the callback section. Cf. iconized. | |
| delete | ,
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| Controls the action when a user presses Meta-Delete or, on IBM, Alt-Delete. The default action is to delete the selected row. Set delete to 0 to turn off the Delete key, and 1 to get the default action. In the case of a graph, it applies only to selectable traces. See the selectable attribute. | 0 |
| delimiter |
| To be defined. | |
| descendents | ,
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| A vector of all objects contained in this object. | |
| disclaimer |
| Governs disclaimer: `none; `text only; text in `box; text with `rule above and below; text below `toprule; or text `appended to top-level window. | `none |
| disclaimer bottom margin |
| The bottom margin of the disclaimer, in inches. | .2777777778 |
| disclaimer file |
| The file containing the disclaimer text. | |
| disclaimer leftmargin |
| The left margin of the disclaimer, in inches. | .2777777778 |
| disclaimer right margin |
| The right margin of the disclaimer, in inches. | .2777777778 |
| disclaimer rule width |
| Width of any ruling for the disclaimer; see the disclaimer attribute. | |
| disclaimer topmargin |
| The top margin of the disclaimer, in inches. | .2777777778 |
| disclaimer orientation |
| Orientation of the disclaimer: same as the object if `none; else `portrait or `landscape regardless of the object. | `none |
| distribution method | 
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`linear or `table, indicating distributionlevels evenly spaced separators or the separators in distributiontable. | `linear |
| doc | ,
| An attribute that allows documentation, presumably text, to be attached to each object. Cf. s.AUTODOC. | >,< s.AUTODOC |
| done | (,
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| Holds the name of a function to be called at the end of the screen entry and refresh cycle. (The cycle is: in, preset callback, assignment, set callback, out, done.) | |
| downto |
| Object to which Shift-down-arrow moves keyboard focus. Connected to arrowlist. [Future use] | Null |
| dragdrop | ,
| Controls whether columns can be moved by dragging: 1 - yes, 0 - no. | 0 |
| dynamic |
| Set to 1 for this object to be resized automatically when necessary due to a font or text change. | 0 |
| Attribute | Keys (POINT TO KEY FOR INFO) |
Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| edit | ,
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| When edit is set to any nonzero value, if there is a selected cell and it is not protected, it is put in input (editing) mode. When edit is set to 0, if there is a cell in input mode, its contents are accepted and input mode ended, as if the viewer had pressed Enter while the pointer was in the object. | |
| editbegincb | ,
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| The callback function to be executed when a user begins editing the widget. | Null (none) |
| editbg | ,
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| The background color of the cell being edited. | black |
| editendcb | ,
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| The callback function to be executed when a user ends editing of the widget. | Null (none) |
| editfg | ,
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| The color of the text being entered while in edit mode. | grey |
| editspace |