Window

Main application or form area. Window dimensions are provided by the Window Manager. All applications use the Window widget as the application canvas.

Dialog Box

A dialog window with a title bar. Used as a foreground window, often to display options or preference details.

Horizontal Box

Also referred to as "H Box," this layout widget is used to display content in columns. For example, in a dialog it could be used to place an icon to the left of a block of text.

Vertical Box

Also referred to as "V Box," this layout widget is used to display content in rows. For instance, it could be used to place a button region below a Text View.

Table

A layout widget that displays its content in a grid format. It is used in the week and month views of the Calendar application to display days of the month.

Notebook

The Notebook widget presents tabs that allow the user to switch between multiple associated forms. In the Calendar application's Day View, the Notebook widget allows the user to select between the days of the week.

Menu Bar

A menu bar that can display menu items. You would only use this widget in an application that doesn't have an ACCESS Title Bar (otherwise, you should use an ACCESS Menu Bar widget instead).

Tool Bar

A palette of tools as you might find in an application such as Adobe Photoshop or Microsoft Word.

Horizontal Button Box

Displays a horizontal row of buttons. This widget is usually much better than placing individual buttons into a Horizontal Box widget. The command button region at the bottom of a form is generally done using a Horizontal Button Box.

Vertical Button Box

Displays a vertical row of buttons.

Layout

A generic container widget that supports scrolling natively (you can add it to a Scrolled Window widget).

Event Box

Gives functionality to widgets that normally have no interaction. Wrapping an image in an Event Box allows an action event to be assigned to it. You could use this to allow an image to be selectable, for instance.

Viewport

Allows widgets that do not natively support scrolling to be placed inside of a Scrolled Window widget. If you put an Image widget inside a Viewport, for example, and then put the Viewport inside a Scrolled Window widget, the image will be scrollable.

Scrolled Window

Presents scrolling controls for content that is too large to fit in the window. Widgets that do not have native scrolling (the Image widget, for example) can be placed inside a Viewport widget which in turn can be placed inside of a Scrolled Window widget to enable scrolling. Whenever you have content that must have the ability to scroll, use a Scrolled Window widget. Note that Text View, Tree View, Icon View, and Layout widgets can all be directly added to a Scrolled Window widget.

Alignment

Controls the alignment and size of the widgets within the area allocated to it. The Alignment widget has four settings: xscale, yscale, xalign, and yalign, all of which can have a value ranging from 0 to 1. These are used to specify how much the child widget should expand to fill the allocated space.

Button

A button that generates an event when selected.

Check Button

Check Buttons allow the user to select options. When the check mark is present, the option is on. When it is absent, the option is off. Calendar uses a check box to allow the user to specify whether or not an alarm should sound at the time of an event.

Radio Button

Allows the user to select one (and only one) of a number of associated items. The Calendar application uses radio buttons when deleting a repeating event: it presents options for Current, Future, or All—only one of which may be selected.

Image

Displays an image. You specify the image's height and width, as well as the image data to be displayed. By itself, the user cannot interact with an Image widget. Image widgets are used throughout ACCESS Linux Platform to display icons and other images.

Label

Displays descriptive text that cannot be edited or interacted with. This widget is used to apply labels to buttons or to describe the name of a field. It can also be used to display non-editable blocks of text.

Text Entry

Allows the entry and editing of a single line of text. You use it whenever screen real estate is constrained and no scrolling is desired. Text Entry widgets are frequently used in areas where the user can assign a name to an object; for example, to assign a name to an alarm in the Clock application.

Text View

Displays multiple lines of editable or non-editable text. The Memo application uses a Text View widget for text editing. The Messaging application uses one to show the text of a received message.

Vertical Scrollbar

An element that both indicates that there is off-screen content and allows access to that content.

Combo Box

Has both a text entry area as well as a drop-down menu. If an item is selected from the drop-down list, it is displayed in the text entry area. This widget is used for category lists, filters, sorts, etc.

Progress Bar

Shows that an operation is active and indicates how much longer the operation might take. The Audio Player application, for instance, shows the playback position within an audio track. The Browser uses this widget to show the status of a file download.

Tree View

Displays a list of actionable items. A Tree View can have multiple columns. This widget is frequently used whenever selecting an item in a list "opens" or "acts upon" the item. The Contacts application uses it to display a list of contacts and their contact numbers.

Icon View

A grid of "actionable" icons or images, optionally with labels. The Launcher uses an Icon View widget to display the application icons and names.The Picture Viewer uses one to display image thumbnails.

Calendar

Displays the days of the month in a grid format. The Date Selector widget uses the Calendar widget to display the days of the currently-selected month.

Popup Menu

Contextual menu used to display a list of items to the user. This widget is frequently used to present a list of actions when a button is pressed. For example, in the Contacts application when the user selects the picture field a Popup Menu is used to present a list of options: Remove, Take Picture, and Choose.

Horizontal Separator

A graphic element used to separate regions or elements on a form or in a dialog. This widget is commonly used to separate "header" options from options that change based upon the header selection.

Arrow

A simple arrow graphic. This widget is used in combination with a button to become an interactive element (when used with a button, the button widget becomes transparent). The Messaging application uses Arrow widgets, in combination with buttons, to allow the user to navigate between messages when they are open.

Drawing Area

A canvas for drawing objects onto the screen. The Calendar's week view uses a Drawing Area: the hour table cells each have a rectangle drawn into them to give a color to the cell that can change depending upon whether or not an event has been set for that time slot.

Custom Widget

A container used to hold widgets that do not show in the Glade palette. For instance, if you place this widget in a Window and give it an ID for the ACCESS Media Selector widget, the ACCESS Media Selector is then displayed.