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ScrolledText

ScrolledText is a multi-line text widget with integrated scrollbars and consistent mouse wheel support.

It wraps a tkinter.Text widget inside a themed container and delegates Text methods so you can use it like a normal Text widget—just with better scrolling behavior and consistent theming.

Use ScrolledText for logs, notes, editors, and any situation where text content needs to scroll.

scrolledtext states

Quick start

import bootstack as bs

app = bs.App()

st = bs.ScrolledText(app, height=10, scrollbar_visibility="scroll")
st.pack(fill="both", expand=True, padx=20, pady=20)

st.insert("end", "Insert your text here.\n" * 20)

app.mainloop()

When to use

Use ScrolledText when:

  • you need multi-line, scrollable text content (logs, notes, simple editors)
  • you want integrated scrollbars and consistent wheel behavior

Consider a different control when...

  • you need a form-ready, validated single-line field (label/message/events) -> use TextEntry
  • you need to scroll arbitrary widgets (forms, panels, composites) -> use ScrollView

Examples and patterns

Value model

ScrolledText is a direct wrapper around tkinter.Text:

  • content is addressed by Text indices ("1.0", "end-1c", etc.)
  • there is no commit-time value model (it's free-form text)
st.insert("end", "Hello")
text = st.get("1.0", "end-1c")

Scroll direction: scroll_direction

  • "vertical" (default)
  • "horizontal"
  • "both"
st = bs.ScrolledText(app, scroll_direction="both")  # wrap defaults to 'none'

Wrapping: wrap

When horizontal scrolling is enabled, wrap typically should be "none".

code = bs.ScrolledText(app, scroll_direction="both", wrap="none")

Horizontal scrolling uses Shift + Mouse Wheel.

Scrollbar visibility: scrollbar_visibility

  • "always"
  • "never"
  • "hover"
  • "scroll" (auto-hide after autohide_delay)
st = bs.ScrolledText(app, scrollbar_visibility="hover")
st.configure(scrollbar_visibility="always")

st = bs.ScrolledText(app, scrollbar_visibility="scroll", autohide_delay=1200)

Access underlying Text: text

text_widget = st.text

Events

ScrolledText uses standard tkinter.Text events:

st.bind("<KeyRelease>", lambda e: print("changed"))
st.bind("<FocusOut>", lambda e: print("focus out"))

Validation and constraints

ScrolledText does not provide form-level validation or commit semantics.

If you need validation/messages, use field-based controls like TextEntry (single-line) or a dedicated editor component.

Behavior

ScrolledText is designed specifically for text content (not arbitrary widgets).

  • scrolling and mouse wheel behavior are handled internally for cross-platform consistency
  • the container and scrollbars participate in bootstack theming via accent

For scrolling arbitrary widgets, use ScrollView instead.

Additional resources

  • TextEntry - single-line, form-ready text control
  • Entry - low-level single-line text input
  • ScrollView - scroll container for arbitrary widgets
  • Scrollbar - scrollbar primitive used internally

API reference