Multi-Entry Widgets for Date and Time

by

Csaba Nemethi

csaba.nemethi@t-online.de

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The mentry::dateMentry Command

NAME
mentry::dateMentry - Create and manipulate mentry widgets for date

SYNOPSIS 
mentry::dateMentry pathName format separator ?options?

DESCRIPTION
This command creates a new mentry widget pathName for displaying and editing a date according to the format argument, which must be a string of length 3, consisting of the letters "d" for the day (01 - 31), "m" for the month (01 - 12), and "y" or "Y" for the year without century (00 - 99) or with century (e.g., 2003), in an arbitrary order.  These field descriptor characters have the same meanings as in the  clock format  command.  The separator argument specifies the text to be displayed in the labels separating the three entry children of the mentry widget (the most common values are the "/", "-", and "." characters).  The supported options are the same as in the case of the mentry::mentry command.

The command sets the type attribute of the widget to the value "Date", saves the value of format in its format attribute, and returns the name of the newly created widget.

DEFAULT BINDINGS
The mentry::dateMentry command defines two new bindings for the entry children of the mentry widget it creates:  The Up key increments the entry's value if the latter is less than the allowed maximum for that child.  Similarly, the Down key decrements the entry's value if the latter is greater than the allowed minimum for that child.  If the entry is empty then both keys insert the child-specific minimum value into the entry.

KEYWORDS
mentry, widget, date

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The mentry::timeMentry Command

NAME
mentry::timeMentry - Create and manipulate mentry widgets for time

SYNOPSIS 
mentry::timeMentry pathName format separator ?options?

DESCRIPTION
This command creates a new mentry widget pathName for displaying and editing a time according to the format argument, which must be a string of length 2 or 3, consisting of the following field descriptor characters of the  clock format  command: "H" or "I", followed by "M", and optionally the letter "S".  An "H" as first character specifies the time format "%H:%M" or "%H:%M:%S" (i.e., with the hour between 0 and 23), while the letter "I" stands for  "%I:%M %p"  or  "%I:%M:%S %p"  (i.e., with AM/PM indicator).  The separator argument specifies the text to be displayed in the labels separating the entry children of the mentry widget.  (this is usually the ":" character).  The options are the same as in the case of the mentry::mentry command.

The command sets the type attribute of the widget to the value "Time", saves the value of format in its format attribute, and returns the name of the newly created widget.

DEFAULT BINDINGS
The mentry::timeMentry command defines two new bindings for the entry children of the mentry widget it creates:  The Up key increments the entry's value if the latter is less than the allowed maximum for that child.  Similarly, the Down key decrements the entry's value if the latter is greater than the allowed minimum for that child.  If the entry is empty then both keys insert the child-specific minimum value into the entry.

KEYWORDS
mentry, widget, time

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The mentry::putClockVal Command

NAME
mentry::putClockVal - Output a clock value to a date or time mentry

SYNOPSIS 
mentry::putClockVal clockValue pathName ?-gmt boolean?

DESCRIPTION
This command outputs the date or time corresponding to the integer clockValue to the mentry widget pathName, which must have been created with the mentry::dateMentry or mentry::timeMentry command (this is checked by examining the widget's type attribute, which must have the value "Date" or "Time").

Like in the case of the  clock format  command, the optional argument pair  -gmt boolean specifies whether the clock value is to be formatted as Greenwich Mean Time or according to the local timezone as defined by the operating environment.

KEYWORDS
mentry, widget, date, time, clock

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The mentry::getClockVal Command

NAME
mentry::getClockVal - Get the clock value from a date or time mentry

SYNOPSIS 
mentry::getClockVal pathName ?-base clockValue? ?-gmt boolean?

DESCRIPTION
This command returns the clock value corresponding to the date or time contained in the mentry widget pathName, which must have been created with the mentry::dateMentry or mentry::timeMentry command (this is checked by examining the widget's type attribute, which must have the value "Date" or "Time").

Like in the case of the  clock scan  command, the optional argument pair  -base clockValue specifies that the date contained in clockValue is to be used when getting the clock value from the given mentry widget, and the optional argument pair  -gmt boolean specifies whether the clock value is to be calculated relative to Greenwich Mean Time or according to the local timezone as defined by the operating environment.

If an error occurs during the conversion, the command sets the focus to the first erronous entry child, generates an error, and returns one of the values contained in the following table:

Return value Meaning
"EMPTY" Any entry child (except the one containing the seconds) is empty.
"BAD" The value of the day, month, or hour (the latter only if the AM/PM indicator is present) is 0.
"BAD_DATE" The <year, month, day> triple is invalid (note that the command is aware of leap years).
"BAD_YEAR" The above triple is valid, but the conversion (made with the aid of the  clock scan  command) failed because of an unsupported year value (e.g., between 38 and 70).

KEYWORDS
mentry, widget, date, time, clock

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