Window Stacking Order

The raise and lower commands control the window stacking order. The stacking order controls the display of windows. Windows higher in the stacking order obscure windows lower in the stacking order. By default, new windows are created at the top of the stacking order so they obscure older windows. Consider this sequence of commands:

button .one
frame .two
pack .one -in .two

If you do this, you do not see the button. The problem is that the frame is higher in the stacking order so it obscures the button. You can change the stacking order with the raise command:

raise .one .two

This puts .one just above .two in the stacking order. If .two was not specified, then .one would be put at the top of the stacking order.

The lower command has a similar form. With one argument, it puts that window at the bottom of the stacking order. Otherwise, it puts it just below another window in the stacking order.

You can use raise and lower on top-level windows to control their stacking order among all other top-level windows. For example, if a user requests a dialog that is already displayed, use raise to make it pop to the foreground of their cluttered desktop.