Slider

Slider [/Z] ctrlName [ keyword = value [, keyword = value ...] ]

The Slider operation creates or modifies a Slider control in the target window.

A Slider control sets or displays a single numeric value. The user can adjust the value by dragging a thumb along the length of the Slider.

For information about the state or status of the control, use the ControlInfo operation.

Parameters

ctrlName is the name of the Slider control to be created or changed.

The following keyword=value parameters are supported:

align=alignment	Sets the alignment mode of the control. The alignment mode controls the interpretation of the leftOrRight parameter to the pos keyword. The align keyword was added in Igor Pro 8.00.
	If alignment=0 (default), leftOrRight specifies the position of the left end of the control and the left end position remains fixed if the control size is changed.
	If alignment=1, leftOrRight specifies the position of the right end of the control and the right end position remains fixed if the control size is changed.
appearance={kind [, platform ]}
	Sets the appearance of the control. platform is optional. Both parameters are names, not strings.
	kind can be one of default or native.
	platform can be Win or All.
	See Button and DefaultGUIControls for more appearance details.
disable=d	Sets user editability of the control.
	d=0: Normal. d=1: Hide. d=2: Draw in gray state; disable control action.
fColor=(r,g,b[,a])	Sets the color of the tick marks. r, g, b, and a specify the the color and optional opacity as RGBA Values. The default is opaque black.
focusRing=fr	Enables or disables the drawing of a rectangle indicating keyboard focus:
	fr=0: Focus rectangle will not be drawn. fr=1: Focus rectangle will be drawn (default).
font="fontName "	Sets the font used to display the tick labels, e.g., font="Helvetica".
fsize=s	Sets the size of the type for tick mark labels.
guides={left, hcenter, right, top, vcenter, bottom}
	Controls attachments of anchor points to layout guides. See Laying Out Controls in Guides Mode for detailed information and examples.
	Each of left, hcenter, right, top, vcenter, bottom is replaced with the name of a layout guide of appropriate orientation. That is, left, hcenter, right indicate attachments to vertical guides, and top, vcenter, bottom indicate attachments to horizontal guides. Use the special name kwNone to represent an unattached anchor point.
	An error results if you overconstrain a control's layout.
	A vertically oriented Slider control (vert=1) has width set by the control, so you can only attach a single guide from left, hcenter, right. The height is user settable, allowing two guide attachments from top, vcenter, bottom.
	A horizontally oriented Slider control (vert=0) has height set by the control, so you can only attach a single guide from top, vcenter, bottom. The width is user settable, allowing two guide attachments from left, hcenter, right.
	Using kwNone for all anchor points results in completely detaching a control from the layout guides.
help={helpStr }	Sets the help for the control.
	helpStr is limited to 1970 bytes (255 in Igor Pro 8 and before).
	You can insert a line break by putting "\r" in a quoted string.
labelBack=(r,g,b[,a]) or 0
	Sets the background color of the Slider control.
	The labelBack keyword was added in Igor Pro 9.00.
	r, g, b, and a specify the color and optional opacity as RGBA Values.
	If you omit labelBack or specify labelBack=0, then the background color is that of the window in which the Slider is drawn.
limits= {low,high,inc }	low sets left or bottom value, high sets right or top value. Use inc =0 for continuous or use desired increment between stops.
live=l	l =0: Update only after mouse is released. l =1: Update as slider is moved. Default value.
noproc	Specifies that no procedure is to execute when the control's value is changed.
pos={leftOrRight,top }	Sets the position in control panel units of the top/left corner of the control if its alignment mode is 0 or the top/right corner of the control if its alignment mode is 1. See the align keyword above for details.
pos+={dx,dy }	Offsets the position of the slider in control panel units.
proc=procName	Specifies the action procedure for the slider.
rename=newName	Gives control a new name.
repeat={style,springback,rate,restingValue}
	Set the control to call its action procedure repeatedly at timed intervals while the user clicks the thumb. This feature was added in Igor Pro 8.00.
	style can take one of the following values:
	0: No repeat (default). Use this to turn the repeat feature off. 1: Slider repeats at a constant rate. 2: Slider repeats at a rate proportional to the distance from the restingValue.
	springback controls what happens to the slider value when the user releases the mouse. If springback is 1, the slider returns to the resting value. If it is 0, it remains at the last set value.
	rate specifies the rate at which the action procedure is called in calls per second. The maximum rate accepted rate is 1000. If rate is 0, it sets style to 0 which turns the repeating feature off.
	restingValue specifies the value to which the slider returns when the user releases the mouse. If springback is 1, the thumb automatically returns to restingValue when the mouse button is released. If springback is 0, restingValue has no effect.
side=s	s =0: Thumb is blunt and tick marks are suppressed. s =1: Thumb points right or down. Default value. s =2: Thumb points up or left.
size={width,height }	Sets width or height of control in control panel units. height is ignored if vert=0 and width is ignored if vert=1.
thumbColor=(r,g,b[,a])	If appearance={os9} is in effect, sets dominant foreground color of thumb. Only the hue and saturation are used. Therefore (0,1000,0) is the same tint of green as (0,10000,0). Alpha (a) is accepted but ignored.
ticks=t	t =0: No ticks. t =1: Number of ticks calculated from limits (no ticks drawn if calculated value is <2 or >100). Default value. t >1: t is number of ticks distributed between start and stop position. Ticks are labeled using the same automatic algorithm used for graph axes. Use negative tick values to force ticks to not be labeled. Ticks are shown on side specified by side keyword and are not drawn if side=0.
tkLblRot= deg	Rotates tick labels. deg is a value between -360 and 360.
userdata(UDName)=UDStr
	Sets the unnamed user data to UDStr. Use the optional (UDName) to specify a named user data to create.
userdata(UDName)+=UDStr
	Appends UDStr to the current unnamed user data. Use the optional (UDName) to append to the named user data.
userTicks={tvWave,tlblWave }
	User-defined tick positions and labels. tvWave contains the tick positions, and text wave tlblWave contains the labels. See discussion of the userticks keyword under ModifyGraph for more info. Overrides normal ticking specified by ticks keyword.
value=v	v is the new value for the Slider.
valueColor=(r,g,b[,a])	Sets the color of the tick labels. r, g, b, and a specify the the color and optional opacity as RGBA Values. The default is opaque black.
variable= var	Sets the variable (var) that the slider will update. It is not necessary to connect a Slider to a variable - you can get a Slider's value using the ControlInfo operation
vert=v	Set vertical (v =1; default) or horizontal (v =0) orientation of the slider.
win=winName	Specifies which window or subwindow contains the named control. If not given, then the top-most graph or panel window or subwindow is assumed.
	When identifying a subwindow with winName, see Subwindow Syntax for details on forming the window hierarchy.

Flags

/Z	No error reporting.

Details

The target window must be a graph or panel.

If you use negative ticks to suppress automatic labeling, you can label tick marks using drawing tools (panels only).

Slider Action Procedure

The action procedure for a Slider control takes a predefined WMSliderAction structure as a parameter to the function:

Function ActionProcName(S_Struct) : SliderControl
	STRUCT WMSliderAction &S_Struct
	...
	return 0
End

The ": SliderControl" designation tells Igor to include this procedure in the Procedure pop-up menu in the Slider Control dialog.

See WMSliderAction for details on the WMSliderAction structure.

See Handling Slider Events for a demonstration of slider event handling.

Although the return value is not currently used, action procedures should always return zero.

This old format for a slider action procedure should not be used in new code:

Function MySliderProc(name, value, event) : SliderControl
	String name		// name of this slider control
	Variable value	// value of slider
	Variable event	// bit field: bit 0: value set; 1: mouse down, 
						//   2: mouse up, 3: mouse moved
						
	return 0			// other return values reserved
End

Repeating Sliders

A repeating slider calls your action procedure periodically while the user is clicking the thumb. See Repeating Sliders for an overview.

When the repeat style is set to 2 (proportional rate) the rate is computed as

$$\displaystyle { Rate }_{ {max }} \cdot \frac{\left(V_{ {rest }}-V_{{thumb }}\right)}{\max \left(a b s\left(V_{{left }}-V_{{rest }}\right), a b s\left(V_{{right }}-V_{{rest }}\right)\right)}$$

V_rest is the restingValue, V_thumb is the value corresponding to the slider's thumb position, V_left is the value at the left or bottom end of the slider and V_right is the value at the right or top of the slider. The proportion is based on the larger distance of the resting value from either the right or left.

Whereas the rate can be set as high as 1000 calls per second, if your action procedure takes more time to execute than the period of the slider repeat, you will simply lose repeats. It is unlikely that a rate of more than about 50 calls per second can realistically be achieved.

Examples

Function SliderExample()
	NewPanel /W=(150,50,501,285)
	Variable/G var1
	Execute "ModifyPanel cbRGB=(56797,56797,56797)"
	SetVariable setvar0,pos={141,18},size={122,17},limits={-Inf,Inf,1},value= var1
	Slider foo,pos={26,31},size={62,143},limits={-5,10,1},variable= var1
	Slider foo2,pos={173,161},size={150,53}
	Slider foo2,limits={-5,10,1},variable= var1,vert= 0,thumbColor= (0,1000,0)
	Slider foo3,pos={80,31},size={62,143}
	Slider foo3,limits={-5,10,1},variable= var1,side= 2,thumbColor= (1000,1000,0)
	Slider foo4,pos={173,59},size={150,13}
	Slider foo4,limits={-5,10,1},variable= var1,side= 0,vert= 0,thumbColor= (1000,1000,1000)
	Slider foo5,pos={173,90},size={150,53}
	Slider foo5,limits={-5,10,1},variable= var1,side= 2,vert= 0,ticks= 5,thumbColor= (500,1000,1000)
End

See Also

Controls and Control Panels, Handling Slider Events

Demos

Open Slider Demo

Open Slider Repeat Demo