This is an example of creating a derived widget - in this case for drawing a graph. The main differences are: - lines to be drawn are defined in 'user coordinates' not pixels - the coordiantes use normal graph directions (canvas pixels are defined as 0 at top, large at bottom of screen). - the pen colour is an option. The code is a simplification of [Overloading widgets] and shows how to add an option to a derived widget. I do not like my use of globals here to store the widget's options. Any improvements/suggestions sought. proc grapharea {w args} { ;# a graph plotter canvas derived thing. set dx 400 set dy 400 global $w.pencolour $w.xrange $w.yrange set $w.pencolour black set $w.xrange {-1 1} set $w.yrange {-1 1} array set options {{-colour} red} # split off the custom options: set textArgs [list] foreach {opt val} $args { switch -- $opt { {-pencolour} {set options($opt) $val} default {lappend textArgs $opt $val} } } eval canvas $w $textArgs interp hide {} $w # Install the alias: interp alias {} $w {} graphareaCmd $w foreach opt [array names options] { $w configure $opt $options($opt) } return $w ;# the original canvas } proc graphareaCmd {self cmd args} { switch -- $cmd { configure {eval graphareaConfigure $self $cmd $args} cget {eval graphareaCget $self $args} addline { set args [split $args] set penc [$self cget pencolour];# get "local" pen colour name set x0 [$self cget xmin] set x1 [$self cget xmax] set y0 [$self cget ymin] set y1 [$self cget ymax] set wid [$self cget -width] set ht [$self cget -height] #puts "Xys [llength $args] $args " foreach {x y} $args { # puts "Xys [llength $args] $x $y" lappend xylist [expr $wid*double($x-$x0)/($x1-$x0)] lappend xylist [expr $ht*double($y-$y1)/($y0-$y1)] } interp invokehidden {} $self create line $xylist -fill $penc } } } proc graphareaConfigure {self cmd args} { # 3 scenarios: # # $args is empty -> return all options with their values # $args is one element -> return current values # $args is 2+ elements -> configure the options switch [llength $args] { 0 { ;# return argument values set result [ option get $self -pencolour ""] # default options: lappend result [interp invokehidden {} $self configure ] # lappend result [uplevel 1 $self cconfigure] return $result } 1 { switch -- $args { {-pencolour} {return [uplevel 1 [list interp invokehidden {} $self configure -pencolour]]} default {return [uplevel 1 interp invokehidden {} $self configure $args]} } } default { ;# >1 arg - an option and its value # go through each option: foreach {option value} $args { switch -- $option { {-xmin} - {-xmax} - {-ymin} - {-ymax} - {-pencolour} { if {1==0} { This is the part I dont like - I create a global variable for each added option. } global $self.[string range $option 1 end] set $self.[string range $option 1 end] $value } default {puts " default $option, $value for $self";$self configure $option $value} ;#$self configure $option $value } } return {} } } } proc graphareaCget {self args} { # cget defaults done by the canvas cget command #puts "In graphareaCget option $self $args" if {[info exists ::$self.$args]} {upvar #0 $self.$args val; return $val} switch -- $args { {-pencolour} {return [uplevel 1 [list interp invokehidden {} $self cget pencolour]]} default {return [uplevel 1 [list interp invokehidden {} $self cget $args]]} } } catch {destroy .fib} set dr2 [grapharea .fib -width 400 -height 400 -pencolour red] # points are drawn with the canvas area scaled to these values: $dr2 configure -xmin -2 -xmax 22 -ymin -1.02 -ymax 1.02 pack $dr2 $dr2 configure -pencolour blue ;# this value persist for all lines from here set xold 0 set yold [expr sin(0)] for {set x 0} {$x<20} {set x [expr $x+.25]} { set y [expr sin($x)*exp(-0.1*$x)] $dr2 addline $xold $yold $x $y set xold $x set yold $y } $dr2 configure -pencolour orange set xold 0 set yold [expr cos(0)] for {set x 0} {$x<20} {set x [expr $x+.25]} { set y [expr cos($x)*exp(-0.1*$x)] $dr2 addline $xold $yold $x $y set xold $x set yold $y } $dr2 configure -pencolour green # a simple rectangle drawn as a line with 5 coordinates (10 values, last repeats first) $dr2 addline 0 1 20 1 20 -1 0 -1 0 1 # you can also add canvas options to the grapharea: interp invokehidden {} $dr2 create rectangle 20 20 390 390 interp invokehidden {} $dr2 create text 120 30 -fill black -text "Graph Area"