sx1 vx1 ix1 ix2 vx2 sx2 | | | | | | +-------------------------------------------------+ | | | +--------------------+ | | | | | | | +------+ | | | | | item | | | | | +------+ | | | | | | | | visible area | | | +--------------------+ | | | | scroll region | +-------------------------------------------------+ The scroll region is where are all your items. For a canvas generally you set the scroll region with: .cnv config -scrollregion [.cnv bbox all] sx1 & sx2 are the x coordinates of the scroll region. sx1, the beginning, sx2, the end. You get sx1 & sx2 with .cnv cget -scrollregion. The visible area is the visible surface of the canvas displayed on screen. vx1 & vx2 are the x coordinates of the visible area. vx1, the beginning, vx2, the end. You know vx1 & vx2 because vx1 is 0 and you fixed vx2 with -width $vx2. ix1 & ix2 are the x coordinates of the item. ix1, the beginning, ix2, the end. You can get ix1 & ix2 with [.cnv bbox item_tag]. Scrolling is varying the position of the visible area within the scroll region. If you want to see the beginning of your item you need to have ix1 between vx1 & vx2. For a canvas, the operation to use is: .cnv xview moveto $fraction where $fraction is ($vx1 - $sx1) / ($sx2 - $sx1) (the percent of the scroll region before the visible area). So, if you want ix1 == vx1 (the beginning of the item at the beginning of the visible area) for a canvas you need to do: .cnv xview moveto [expr {double($ix1 - $sx1) / ($sx2 - $sx1)}]
A canvas example:
# create the canvas & the item canvas .c -width 100 -height 100 \ -scrollregion {-400 -400 400 400} -bg white -bd 1 -relief sunken .c create text 200 200 -text hidden -tags hidden # the 'view' proc proc view {tag} \ { foreach {x1 y1 x2 y2} [.c bbox $tag] break foreach {s1 t1 s2 t2} [.c cget -scrollregion] break .c xview moveto [expr {double($x1 - $s1) / ($s2 - $s1)}] .c yview moveto [expr {double($y1 - $t1) / ($t2 - $t1)}] } # some stuff for the demo proc hide {} \ { .c xview moveto 0.0 .c yview moveto 0.0 } button .v -text view -command {view hidden} button .h -text hide -command {hide} grid .c -columnspan 2 grid .v .h