[GH-ISSUE #362] SetBackgroundColor draws over grid #268

New issue

Closed

opened 2026-03-04 01:03:29 +03:00 by kerem · 1 comment

kerem commented

2026-03-04 01:03:29 +03:00

Owner

Originally created by @ghost on GitHub (Oct 31, 2019).
Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/rivo/tview/issues/362

When i set the background color after creating a grid, the entire terminal gets the color and i can't see the grid anymore.

package main

import (
        "github.com/rivo/tview"
        "github.com/gdamore/tcell"
)

func main() {
        newPrimitive := func(text string) tview.Primitive {
                return tview.NewTextView().
                        SetTextAlign(tview.AlignCenter).
                        SetText(text)
        }
        songList := newPrimitive("songs")
        songInfo := newPrimitive("info")
        grid := tview.NewGrid().
                SetRows(-1, 5).
                SetColumns(0).
                SetBorders(true).
                AddItem(songList, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, false).
                AddItem(songInfo, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, false).
                SetBackgroundColor(tcell.ColorDefault)


        if err := tview.NewApplication().SetRoot(grid, true).SetFocus(grid).Run(); err != nil {
                panic(err)
        }
}

Seizing the opportunity. I'm learning programming right now and i started with Go and tview. I made a function that lists all the songs in a folder, prints and play the songs in sequence. How do i execute this function inside the songList primitive in this grid? I want the song list printed there.

Thanks!

Originally created by @ghost on GitHub (Oct 31, 2019). Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/rivo/tview/issues/362 When i set the background color after creating a grid, the entire terminal gets the color and i can't see the grid anymore. ``` package main import ( "github.com/rivo/tview" "github.com/gdamore/tcell" ) func main() { newPrimitive := func(text string) tview.Primitive { return tview.NewTextView(). SetTextAlign(tview.AlignCenter). SetText(text) } songList := newPrimitive("songs") songInfo := newPrimitive("info") grid := tview.NewGrid(). SetRows(-1, 5). SetColumns(0). SetBorders(true). AddItem(songList, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, false). AddItem(songInfo, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, false). SetBackgroundColor(tcell.ColorDefault) if err := tview.NewApplication().SetRoot(grid, true).SetFocus(grid).Run(); err != nil { panic(err) } } ``` Seizing the opportunity. I'm learning programming right now and i started with Go and tview. I made a function that lists all the songs in a folder, prints and play the songs in sequence. How do i execute this function inside the songList primitive in this grid? I want the song list printed there. Thanks!

kerem closed this issue

2026-03-04 01:03:30 +03:00

kerem commented

2026-03-04 01:03:30 +03:00

Author

Owner

@rivo commented on GitHub (Nov 27, 2019):

SetBackgroundColor() is a function of Box and it will return an instance of Box so your grid variable is not a Grid. This means that only the grid's super class (Box) will be drawn. It's empty so you don't see anything. You should call SetBackgroundColor() separately:

package main

import (
	"github.com/gdamore/tcell"
	"github.com/rivo/tview"
)

func main() {
	newPrimitive := func(text string) tview.Primitive {
		return tview.NewTextView().
			SetTextAlign(tview.AlignCenter).
			SetText(text)
	}
	songList := newPrimitive("songs")
	songInfo := newPrimitive("info")
	grid := tview.NewGrid().
		SetRows(-1, 5).
		SetColumns(0).
		SetBorders(true).
		AddItem(songList, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, false).
		AddItem(songInfo, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, false)
	grid.SetBackgroundColor(tcell.ColorDefault)

	if err := tview.NewApplication().SetRoot(grid, true).SetFocus(grid).Run(); err != nil {
		panic(err)
	}
}

Regarding your other question, you can write to a TextView at any time:

fmt.Fprintln(textView,"Song A")

See also SetChangedFunc() for some information on how to deal with that.

Let me know in case there's anything else that needs clarification.

@rivo commented on GitHub (Nov 27, 2019): `SetBackgroundColor()` is a function of `Box` and it will return an instance of `Box` so your `grid` variable is not a `Grid`. This means that only the grid's super class (`Box`) will be drawn. It's empty so you don't see anything. You should call `SetBackgroundColor()` separately: ```go package main import ( "github.com/gdamore/tcell" "github.com/rivo/tview" ) func main() { newPrimitive := func(text string) tview.Primitive { return tview.NewTextView(). SetTextAlign(tview.AlignCenter). SetText(text) } songList := newPrimitive("songs") songInfo := newPrimitive("info") grid := tview.NewGrid(). SetRows(-1, 5). SetColumns(0). SetBorders(true). AddItem(songList, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, false). AddItem(songInfo, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, false) grid.SetBackgroundColor(tcell.ColorDefault) if err := tview.NewApplication().SetRoot(grid, true).SetFocus(grid).Run(); err != nil { panic(err) } } ``` Regarding your other question, you can write to a `TextView` at any time: ```go fmt.Fprintln(textView,"Song A") ``` See also [`SetChangedFunc()`](https://godoc.org/github.com/rivo/tview#TextView.SetChangedFunc) for some information on how to deal with that. Let me know in case there's anything else that needs clarification.

kerem referenced this issue

2026-03-04 01:08:25 +03:00

[PR #268] [CLOSED] Optimizations for TextView #891