Tk Source Code

The file macosx/tkMacOSXDefault.h contains the lines

#define SELECT_BG               "systemSelectedTextBackgroundColor"
#define SELECT_FG               "systemSelectedTextColor"

#define DEF_LISTBOX_SELECT_COLOR        SELECT_BG
#define DEF_LISTBOX_SELECT_FG_COLOR     SELECT_FG

These colors are used not only for text, (ttk::)entry, (ttk::)spinbox, and ttk::combobox widgets, but also for listbox and ttk::treeview widgets.  For the themed widgets this is due to the following lines in the file library/ttk/aquaTheme.tcl:

ttk::style configure . \
    ...
    -selectbackground systemSelectedTextBackgroundColor \
    -selectforeground systemSelectedTextColor \
    ...

ttk::style map Treeview \
    -background {
        selected systemSelectedTextBackgroundColor
    }

However, the resulting appearance of the selected rows/cells of a listbox or ttk::treeview widget is different from what the mac users can see in native list and table view windows.  The patch implemented in the branch aqua_select_colors eliminates this long-standing discrepancy by applying a few straightforward changes to the files library/ttk/aquaTheme.tcl and macosx/ttkMacOSXTheme.c.

I have successfully tested the proposed patch with the macOS versions 10.13.6, 10.14.6, 10.15.6, 15.7, and 26.2.  Any comments are highly appreciated!

Fixed in trunk with commits [19bc3769] and [4edc873d], and in core-9-0-branch with commits [107dce5b], [4b4fd370], and [d323fc1f].

Many thanks, Jan!

I can recall a discussion concerning the minimum supported macOS version. AFAIR, it was Marc who opted for 10.13 as earliest OS version to support.

All tests pass on MacOS 12

MacOS 10.13 (High Sierra) is obsolete reached end-of-life status on November 12, 2020 (so 5 years ago). Many 3th-party apps don't work on it any more. I would be OK for me (for Tk 9.1) to drop support for MacOS < 10.14.

I'm running MacOS 12, which went end-of-life the end of 2024.

Thanks!

"I successful" -> "If successful", sorry!

Jan, could you repeat the test, please? I successful then I will apply the changes to core-9-0-branch, too.

Many thanks, Jan! This is bad news, indeed. I have just seen your comment. I have started to fix this issue, I will commit a new version ASAP.

Starting with [107dce5beb17e227|this] commit, Tk 9.0 has the same problem :-(

Sorry, bad news. I see 35 new test failures on MacOS (only), here's the first one:

safe.test

==== safe-1.1 Safe Tk loading into an interpreter FAILED
==== Contents of test case:

safe::loadTk [safe::interpCreate a]
    safe::interpDelete a
    set x {}
    return $x


---- Test generated error; Return code was: 1
---- Return code should have been one of: 0 2
---- errorInfo: Can't find a usable tk.tcl in the following directories: 
    {$p(:12:)}

$p(:12:)/tk.tcl: can't read "::tcl_platform(osVersion)": no such element in array
can't read "::tcl_platform(osVersion)": no such element in array
    invoked from within
"source {$p(:12:)/tk.tcl}"
    ("uplevel" body line 1)
    invoked from within
"uplevel #0 [list source $file]"

This probably means that tk wasn't installed properly.

while executing
"error $msg"
    (procedure "tcl_findLibrary" line 161)
    invoked from within
"tcl_findLibrary tk $tk_version $tk_patchLevel tk.tcl TK_LIBRARY tk_library"
    (procedure "tkInit" line 4)
    invoked from within
"tkInit"
    ("interp eval" body line 8)
    invoked from within
"load {} Tk $child"
    (procedure "safe::loadTk" line 61)
    invoked from within
"safe::loadTk [safe::interpCreate a]"
    ("uplevel" body line 2)
    invoked from within
"uplevel 1 $script"
---- errorCode: NONE
==== safe-1.1 FAILED

Explanation: You cannot use $::tcl_platform(osVersion) in a safe interpreter, it doesn't exist there.

Nicolas, I must first clear with Brian O'Hagan whether we can use TTK_STATE_FOCUS rather than TTK_STATE_USER1, and I am still waiting for Marc to get some time for a review.

Hi Csaba,
any chance to have this branch merged "soon" ?

best regards,
nicolas

Kevin, many thanks for your positive feedback!

Some more progress:

With the commit [394fb431] we now have a greatly improved appearance on aqua, including more native-like open/close indicator colors and different default selection colors depending on whether the widget has the input focus or not.

And the commit [aeb8d2cb] eliminates any conflicts with the enhanced treeview implementation by Brian O'Hagan.

Csaba, this looks great! The selection color on list boxes and tree views has been a long-standing annoyance - this corrects that issue very well. I'm in favor of merging to trunk and core-9-0. Are we merging ANY fixes to 8.6 at this point? If so, and it doesn't break anything else, I'm fine with merging this to that branch as well. Thanks for your great work.

I have just committed a significantly improved version of the file macosx/ttkMacOSXTheme.c, in which the disclosure chevrons and filled triangles for ttk::treeview widgets are drawn with the same functions, thus making sure that the right colors are used for all supported macOS versions (white if the row or cell is selected, and the text color otherwise).

Thanks Nicolas, this confirms my positive test results.

I am still waiting for further feedback, especially from Marc, Kevin, Christopher, ...  In case the Mac experts agree with merging the branch aqua_select_colors into main, the next question is whether it may be merged also into core-9-0-branch (and core-8-6-branch).  Actually, the proposed patch fixes a very long-standing bug related to the visual appearance of the listbox and ttk::treeview widgets, present in all Tk versions.  OTOH, I think we need consent regarding the affected Tk versions.

Hi Csaba,
I've tried your branch for listbox and it works fine (macOS 26.2). I can open the Preferences app and change used colour and it's responsive in my app.

bg and fg works accordingly 

best regards,
nicolas