Other New Tk Features

Listbox Enhancements

Listboxes have a new listVariable attribute to link the contents of the listbox to a variable that contains a list value (in much the same way that the textVariable option is used in several other widgets). Listboxes also have new itemconfigure and itemcget operations to set and query the color of individual items.

New Directory Chooser Dialog

A new tk_chooseDirectory command allows users to browse a directory hierarchy and select a directory, in much the same way as the tk_getOpenFile command works for regular files.

Window Manager Interactions with Toplevel Windows

The wm state command now accepts an optional argument allowing you to set the state of a toplevel. On Windows systems, wm state also supports a new zoomed state for maximized windows.

Support Added for Windows System Cursors

On Windows systems, you can now use Windows system cursors in .ani and .cur files by using the format -cursor @filename when setting a widget's cursor.

Mousewheel Support for Listbox and Text Widgets on Unix

Default binding were added to listbox and text widgets so that on Unix system that report mousewheel events as <ButtonPress-4> and <ButtonPress-5> events, the listbox and text widgets respond to the mousewheel.

New Quadruple Event Modifier

You can use Quadruple as a modifier (e.g., <Quadruple-ButtonPress-1>.)

X Input Methods (XIM)

A new tk useinputmethods command changes the behavior of Tk on X where X Input Methods (XIM) were recognized and used without question. With 8.3, they are recognized and initialized, but not used unless XIM is turned on (tk useinputmethods 1). This should only affect users with special input methods, and the new default behavior should be more beneficial to the average user.