chatwidget(3tk) 				      Composite widget for chat applications					   chatwidget(3tk)

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NAME

       chatwidget - Provides a multi-paned view suitable for display of chat room or irc channel information

SYNOPSIS

       package require Tk  8.5

       package require chatwidget  ?1.0.0?

       ::chatwidget::chatwidget path ?options?

       $widget topic command args

       $widget name nick args

       $widget message text args

       $widget hook command args

       $widget names args

       $widget entry args

       $widget chat args

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DESCRIPTION

       This is a composite widget designed to simplify the construction of chat applications. The widget contains display areas for chat messages,
       user names and topic and an entry area. It automatically handles colourization of messages per nick and manages nick completion.  A  system
       of  hooks  permit  the application author to adjust display features. The main chat display area may be split for use displaying history or
       for searching.

       The widget is made up of a number of text widget and panedwindow widgets so that the size of each part of the display may  be  adjusted	by
       the user. All the text widgets may be accessed via widget passthrough commands if fine adjustment is required. The topic and names sections
       can also be hidden if desired.

COMMANDS

       ::chatwidget::chatwidget path ?options?
	      Create a new chatwidget using the Tk window id path. Any options provided are currently passed directly to the main chat	text  wid-
	      get.

WIDGET COMMANDS

       $widget topic command args
	      The chat widget can display a topic string, for instance the topic or name given to a multi-user chatroom or irc channel.

	      show   Enable display of the topic.

	      hide   Disable display of the topic

	      set topic
		     Set the topic text to topic.

       $widget name nick args
	      Control the names and tags associated with names.

	      list ?-full?
		     Returns  a  list of all the user names from the names view. If -full is given then the list returned is a list of lists where
		     each sublist is made up of the nick followed by any options that have been set on this nick entry. This may be used to  exam-
		     ine any application specific options that may be applied to a nick when using the add command.

	      add nick ?options?

	      delete nick

       $widget message text args
	      Add messages to the display. options are -nick, -time, -type, -mark -tags

       $widget hook command args
	      Manage hooks. add (message, post names_group, names_nick, chatstate), remove, run

       $widget names args
	      Passthrough  to  the  name  display  text widget. See the text widget manual for all available commands. The chatwidget provides two
	      additional commands show and hide which are used to control the display of this element in the widget.

       $widget entry args
	      Passthrough to the entry text widget. See the text widget manual for all available commands.

       $widget chat args
	      Passthrough to the chat text widget. See the text widget manual for all available commands.

EXAMPLE

	       chatwidget::chatwidget .chat
	       proc speak {w msg} {$w message $msg -nick user}
	       .chat hook add post [list speak .chat]
	       pack .chat -side top -fill both -expand 1
	       .chat topic show
	       .chat topic set "Chat widget demo"
	       .chat name add "admin" -group admin
	       .chat name add "user" -group users -color tomato
	       .chat message "Chatwidget ready" -type system
	       .chat message "Hello, user" -nick admin
	       .chat message "Hello, admin" -nick user

       A more extensive example is available by examining the code for the picoirc program in the tclapps repository which ties the tcllib picoirc
       package to this chatwidget package to create a simple irc client.

SEE ALSO

       text(3tk)

KEYWORDS

       chat, chatwidget, composite widget, irc, mega-widget, widget

chatwidget							       1.0.0							   chatwidget(3tk)