Index

Package: Builder

Description

package Gtk.Builder is

A GtkBuilder is an auxiliary object that reads textual descriptions of a user interface and instantiates the described objects. To pass a description to a GtkBuilder, call Gtk.Builder.Add_From_File or Gtk.Builder.Add_From_String. These functions can be called multiple times; the builder merges the content of all descriptions.

A GtkBuilder holds a reference to all objects that it has constructed and drops these references when it is finalized. This finalization can cause the destruction of non-widget objects or widgets which are not contained in a toplevel window. For toplevel windows constructed by a builder, it is the responsibility of the user to call Gtk.Widget.Destroy to get rid of them and all the widgets they contain.

The functions Gtk.Builder.Get_Object and Gtk.Builder.Get_Objects can be used to access the widgets in the interface by the names assigned to them inside the UI description. Toplevel windows returned by these functions will stay around until the user explicitly destroys them with Gtk.Widget.Destroy. Other widgets will either be part of a larger hierarchy constructed by the builder (in which case you should not have to worry about their lifecycle), or without a parent, in which case they have to be added to some container to make use of them. Non-widget objects need to be reffed with g_object_ref to keep them beyond the lifespan of the builder.

The function Gtk.Builder.Connect_Signals and variants thereof can be used to connect handlers to the named signals in the description. == GtkBuilder UI Definitions == GtkBuilder parses textual descriptions of user interfaces which are specified in an XML format which can be roughly described by the RELAX NG schema below. We refer to these descriptions as 'GtkBuilder UI definitions' or just 'UI definitions' if the context is clear. Do not confuse GtkBuilder UI Definitions with <link linkend="XML-UI">GtkUIManager UI Definitions</link>, which are more limited in scope. It is common to use '.ui' as the filename extension for files containing GtkBuilder UI definitions. <xi:include xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" parse="text" href="../../../../gtk/gtkbuilder.rnc"> <xi:fallback>FIXME: MISSING XINCLUDE CONTENT</xi:fallback> </xi:include> The toplevel element is <interface>. It optionally takes a "domain" attribute, which will make the builder look for translated strings using dgettext in the domain specified. This can also be done by calling Gtk.Builder.Set_Translation_Domain on the builder. Objects are described by <object> elements, which can contain <property> elements to set properties, <signal> elements which connect signals to handlers, and <child> elements, which describe child objects (most often widgets inside a container, but also e.g. actions in an action group, or columns in a tree model). A <child> element contains an <object> element which describes the child object. The target toolkit version(s) are described by <requires> elements, the "lib" attribute specifies the widget library in question (currently the only supported value is "gtk+") and the "version" attribute specifies the target version in the form "<major>.<minor>". The builder will error out if the version requirements are not met.

Typically, the specific kind of object represented by an <object> element is specified by the "class" attribute. If the type has not been loaded yet, GTK+ tries to find the <function>_get_type</function> from the class name by applying heuristics. This works in most cases, but if necessary, it is possible to specify the name of the <function>_get_type</function> explictly with the "type-func" attribute. As a special case, GtkBuilder allows to use an object that has been constructed by a Gtk.UI_Manager.Gtk_UI_Manager in another part of the UI definition by specifying the id of the Gtk.UI_Manager.Gtk_UI_Manager in the "constructor" attribute and the name of the object in the "id" attribute.

Objects must be given a name with the "id" attribute, which allows the application to retrieve them from the builder with Gtk.Builder.Get_Object.

An id is also necessary to use the object as property value in other parts of the UI definition.

Note: Prior to 2.20, GtkBuilder was setting the "name" property of constructed widgets to the "id" attribute. In GTK+ 2.20 or newer, you have to use Gtk.Buildable.Get_Name instead of Gtk.Widget.Get_Name to obtain the "id", or set the "name" property in your UI definition.

Setting properties of objects is pretty straightforward with the <property> element: the "name" attribute specifies the name of the property, and the content of the element specifies the value. If the "translatable" attribute is set to a true value, GTK+ uses gettext (or dgettext if the builder has a translation domain set) to find a translation for the value. This happens before the value is parsed, so it can be used for properties of any type, but it is probably most useful for string properties. It is also possible to specify a context to disambiguate short strings, and comments which may help the translators.

GtkBuilder can parse textual representations for the most common property types: characters, strings, integers, floating-point numbers, booleans (strings like "TRUE", "t", "yes", "y", "1" are interpreted as True, strings like "FALSE, "f", "no", "n", "0" are interpreted as False), enumerations (can be specified by their name, nick or integer value), flags (can be specified by their name, nick, integer value, optionally combined with "|", e.g. "GTK_VISIBLE|GTK_REALIZED") and colors (in a format understood by gdk_color_parse). Pixbufs can be specified as a filename of an image file to load. Objects can be referred to by their name and by default refer to objects declared in the local xml fragment and objects exposed via Gtk.Builder.Expose_Object.

In general, GtkBuilder allows forward references to objects &mdash declared in the local xml; an object doesn't have to be constructed before it can be referred to. The exception to this rule is that an object has to be constructed before it can be used as the value of a construct-only property.

Signal handlers are set up with the <signal> element. The "name" attribute specifies the name of the signal, and the "handler" attribute specifies the function to connect to the signal. By default, GTK+ tries to find the handler using g_module_symbol, but this can be changed by passing a custom Gtk_Builder_Connect_Func to Gtk.Builder.Connect_Signals_Full. The remaining attributes, "after", "swapped" and "object", have the same meaning as the corresponding parameters of the g_signal_connect_object or g_signal_connect_data functions. A "last_modification_time" attribute is also allowed, but it does not have a meaning to the builder.

Sometimes it is necessary to refer to widgets which have implicitly been constructed by GTK+ as part of a composite widget, to set properties on them or to add further children (e.g. the Vbox of a Gtk.Dialog.Gtk_Dialog).

This can be achieved by setting the "internal-child" propery of the <child> element to a true value. Note that GtkBuilder still requires an <object> element for the internal child, even if it has already been constructed.

A number of widgets have different places where a child can be added (e.g. tabs vs. page content in notebooks). This can be reflected in a UI definition by specifying the "type" attribute on a <child>. The possible values for the "type" attribute are described in the sections describing the widget-specific portions of UI definitions. == A GtkBuilder UI Definition == <interface> <object class="GtkDialog" id="dialog1"> <child internal-child="vbox"> <object class="GtkVBox" id="vbox1"> <property name="border-width">10</property> <child internal-child="action_area"> <object class="GtkHButtonBox" id="hbuttonbox1"> <property name="border-width">20</property> <child> <object class="GtkButton" id="ok_button"> <property name="label">gtk-ok</property> <property name="use-stock">TRUE</property> <signal name="clicked" handler="ok_button_clicked"/> </object> </child> </object> </child> </object> </child> </object> </interface> Beyond this general structure, several object classes define their own XML DTD fragments for filling in the ANY placeholders in the DTD above. Note that a custom element in a <child> element gets parsed by the custom tag handler of the parent object, while a custom element in an <object> element gets parsed by the custom tag handler of the object.

These XML fragments are explained in the documentation of the respective objects, see <link linkend="GtkWidget-BUILDER-UI">GtkWidget</link>, <link linkend="GtkLabel-BUILDER-UI">GtkLabel</link>, <link linkend="GtkWindow-BUILDER-UI">GtkWindow</link>, <link linkend="GtkContainer-BUILDER-UI">GtkContainer</link>, <link linkend="GtkDialog-BUILDER-UI">GtkDialog</link>, <link linkend="GtkCellLayout-BUILDER-UI">GtkCellLayout</link>, <link linkend="GtkColorSelectionDialog-BUILDER-UI">GtkColorSelectionDialog</link>, <link linkend="GtkFontSelectionDialog-BUILDER-UI">GtkFontSelectionDialog</link>, <link linkend="GtkExpander-BUILDER-UI">GtkExpander</link>, <link linkend="GtkFrame-BUILDER-UI">GtkFrame</link>, <link linkend="GtkListStore-BUILDER-UI">GtkListStore</link>, <link linkend="GtkTreeStore-BUILDER-UI">GtkTreeStore</link>, <link linkend="GtkNotebook-BUILDER-UI">GtkNotebook</link>, <link linkend="GtkSizeGroup-BUILDER-UI">GtkSizeGroup</link>, <link linkend="GtkTreeView-BUILDER-UI">GtkTreeView</link>, <link linkend="GtkUIManager-BUILDER-UI">GtkUIManager</link>, <link linkend="GtkActionGroup-BUILDER-UI">GtkActionGroup</link>. <link linkend="GtkMenuItem-BUILDER-UI">GtkMenuItem</link>, <link linkend="GtkMenuToolButton-BUILDER-UI">GtkMenuToolButton</link>, <link linkend="GtkAssistant-BUILDER-UI">GtkAssistant</link>, <link linkend="GtkScale-BUILDER-UI">GtkScale</link>, <link linkend="GtkComboBoxText-BUILDER-UI">GtkComboBoxText</link>, <link linkend="GtkRecentFilter-BUILDER-UI">GtkRecentFilter</link>, <link linkend="GtkFileFilter-BUILDER-UI">GtkFileFilter</link>, <link linkend="GtkTextTagTable-BUILDER-UI">GtkTextTagTable</link>. == Embedding other XML == Apart from the language for UI descriptions that has been explained in the previous section, GtkBuilder can also parse XML fragments of <link linkend="gio-GMenu-Markup">GMenu markup</link>. The resulting Glib.Menu.Gmenu object and its named submenus are available via Gtk.Builder.Get_Object like other constructed objects.

Packages

Connect_Signals_Full_User_Data (generic)

Classes

Gtk_Builder_Record

type Gtk_Builder_Record is new GObject_Record with null record;

Ancestors:

Immediate Children:

Primitive operations:

Add_From_File
Add_From_Resource
Add_From_String
Add_Objects_From_File
Add_Objects_From_Resource
Add_Objects_From_String
Connect_Signals
Connect_Signals_Full
Expose_Object
Get_Translation_Domain
Get_Type_From_Name
Glib.Object.Deallocate (Inherited)
Glib.Object.Get_Type (Inherited)
Glib.Object.Notify (Inherited)
Glib.Object.Ref (Inherited)
Glib.Object.Ref_Sink (Inherited)
Glib.Object.Unref (Inherited)
Set_Translation_Domain
Value_From_String
Value_From_String_Type

Types

Gtk_Builder

type Gtk_Builder is access all Gtk_Builder_Record'Class;

Gtk_Builder_Connect_Func

type Gtk_Builder_Connect_Func is access procedure
     (Builder        : not null access Gtk_Builder_Record'Class;
      Object         : not null access Glib.Object.GObject_Record'Class;
      Signal_Name    : UTF8_String;
      Handler_Name   : UTF8_String;
      Connect_Object : access Glib.Object.GObject_Record'Class;
      Flags          : Glib.G_Connect_Flags);
This is the signature of a function used to connect signals. It is used by the Gtk.Builder.Connect_Signals and Gtk.Builder.Connect_Signals_Full methods. It is mainly intended for interpreted language bindings, but could be useful where the programmer wants more control over the signal connection process. Note that this function can only be called once, subsequent calls will do nothing. Since: gtk+ 2.12 "builder": a Gtk.Builder.Gtk_Builder "object": object to connect a signal to "signal_name": name of the signal "handler_name": name of the handler "connect_object": a Glib.Object.GObject, if non-null, use g_signal_connect_object "flags": Glib.G_Connect_Flags to use

Constants & Global variables

Translation_Domain_Property (Glib.Properties.Property_String)

Translation_Domain_Property : constant Glib.Properties.Property_String;
The translation domain used when translating property values that have been marked as translatable in interface descriptions. If the translation domain is null, Gtk.Builder.Gtk_Builder uses gettext, otherwise g_dgettext.

Subprograms & Entries

Gtk_New

procedure Gtk_New 
(Builder: out Gtk_Builder);

Initialize

procedure Initialize 
(Builder: not null access Gtk_Builder_Record'Class);
Creates a new builder object. Since: gtk+ 2.12

Gtk_Builder_New

function Gtk_Builder_New return Gtk_Builder;
Creates a new builder object. Since: gtk+ 2.12

Get_Type

function Get_Type return Glib.GType;

Add_From_File

function Add_From_File 
(Builder: not null access Gtk_Builder_Record;
Filename: UTF8_String;
Error: access Glib.Error.GError) return Guint;
Parses a file containing a <link linkend="BUILDER-UI">GtkBuilder UI definition</link> and merges it with the current contents of Builder. Upon errors 0 will be returned and Error will be assigned a Gerror.Gerror from the GTK_BUILDER_ERROR, G_MARKUP_ERROR or G_FILE_ERROR domain. Since: gtk+ 2.12 "filename": the name of the file to parse

Add_From_Resource

function Add_From_Resource 
(Builder: not null access Gtk_Builder_Record;
Resource_Path: UTF8_String;
Error: access Glib.Error.GError) return Guint;
Parses a resource file containing a <link linkend="BUILDER-UI">GtkBuilder UI definition</link> and merges it with the current contents of Builder. Upon errors 0 will be returned and Error will be assigned a Gerror.Gerror from the GTK_BUILDER_ERROR, G_MARKUP_ERROR or G_RESOURCE_ERROR domain. Since: gtk+ 3.4 "resource_path": the path of the resource file to parse

Add_From_String

function Add_From_String 
(Builder: not null access Gtk_Builder_Record;
Buffer: UTF8_String;
Error: access Glib.Error.GError) return Guint;
Parses a string containing a <link linkend="BUILDER-UI">GtkBuilder UI definition</link> and merges it with the current contents of Builder. Upon errors 0 will be returned and Error will be assigned a Gerror.Gerror from the GTK_BUILDER_ERROR or G_MARKUP_ERROR domain. Since: gtk+ 2.12 "buffer": the string to parse

Add_Objects_From_File

function Add_Objects_From_File 
(Builder: not null access Gtk_Builder_Record;
Filename: UTF8_String;
Object_Ids: GNAT.Strings.String_List;
Error: access Glib.Error.GError) return Guint;
Parses a file containing a <link linkend="BUILDER-UI">GtkBuilder UI definition</link> building only the requested objects and merges them with the current contents of Builder. Upon errors 0 will be returned and Error will be assigned a Gerror.Gerror from the GTK_BUILDER_ERROR, G_MARKUP_ERROR or G_FILE_ERROR domain. Note: If you are adding an object that depends on an object that is not its child (for instance a Gtk.Tree_View.Gtk_Tree_View that depends on its Gtk.Tree_Model.Gtk_Tree_Model), you have to explicitely list all of them in Object_Ids. Since: gtk+ 2.14 "filename": the name of the file to parse "object_ids": nul-terminated array of objects to build

Add_Objects_From_Resource

function Add_Objects_From_Resource 
(Builder: not null access Gtk_Builder_Record;
Resource_Path: UTF8_String;
Object_Ids: GNAT.Strings.String_List;
Error: access Glib.Error.GError) return Guint;
Parses a resource file containing a <link linkend="BUILDER-UI">GtkBuilder UI definition</link> building only the requested objects and merges them with the current contents of Builder. Upon errors 0 will be returned and Error will be assigned a Gerror.Gerror from the GTK_BUILDER_ERROR, G_MARKUP_ERROR or G_RESOURCE_ERROR domain. Note: If you are adding an object that depends on an object that is not its child (for instance a Gtk.Tree_View.Gtk_Tree_View that depends on its Gtk.Tree_Model.Gtk_Tree_Model), you have to explicitely list all of them in Object_Ids. Since: gtk+ 3.4 "resource_path": the path of the resource file to parse "object_ids": nul-terminated array of objects to build

Add_Objects_From_String

function Add_Objects_From_String 
(Builder: not null access Gtk_Builder_Record;
Buffer: UTF8_String;
Length: Gsize;
Object_Ids: GNAT.Strings.String_List;
Error: access Glib.Error.GError) return Guint;
Parses a string containing a <link linkend="BUILDER-UI">GtkBuilder UI definition</link> building only the requested objects and merges them with the current contents of Builder. Upon errors 0 will be returned and Error will be assigned a Gerror.Gerror from the GTK_BUILDER_ERROR or G_MARKUP_ERROR domain. Note: If you are adding an object that depends on an object that is not its child (for instance a Gtk.Tree_View.Gtk_Tree_View that depends on its Gtk.Tree_Model.Gtk_Tree_Model), you have to explicitely list all of them in Object_Ids. Since: gtk+ 2.14 "buffer": the string to parse "length": the length of Buffer (may be -1 if Buffer is nul-terminated) "object_ids": nul-terminated array of objects to build

Connect_Signals

procedure Connect_Signals 
(Builder: not null access Gtk_Builder_Record;
User_Data: System.Address);
This method is a simpler variation of Gtk.Builder.Connect_Signals_Full. It uses GModule's introspective features (by opening the module null) to look at the application's symbol table. From here it tries to match the signal handler names given in the interface description with symbols in the application and connects the signals. Note that this function can only be called once, subsequent calls will do nothing. Note that this function will not work correctly if GModule is not supported on the platform. When compiling applications for Windows, you must declare signal callbacks with G_MODULE_EXPORT, or they will not be put in the symbol table. On Linux and Unices, this is not necessary; applications should instead be compiled with the -Wl,--export-dynamic CFLAGS, and linked against gmodule-export-2.0. Since: gtk+ 2.12 "user_data": a pointer to a structure sent in as user data to all signals

Connect_Signals_Full

procedure Connect_Signals_Full 
(Builder: not null access Gtk_Builder_Record;
Func: Gtk_Builder_Connect_Func);
This function can be thought of the interpreted language binding version of Gtk.Builder.Connect_Signals, except that it does not require GModule to function correctly. Since: gtk+ 2.12 "func": the function used to connect the signals

Expose_Object

procedure Expose_Object 
(Builder: not null access Gtk_Builder_Record;
Name: UTF8_String;
Object: not null access Glib.Object.GObject_Record'Class);
Add Object to the Builder object pool so it can be referenced just like any other object built by builder. Since: gtk+ 3.8 "name": the name of the object exposed to the builder "object": the object to expose

Get_Object

function Get_Object 
(Builder: not null access Gtk_Builder_Record;
Name: UTF8_String) return Glib.Object.GObject;
Gets the object named Name. Note that this function does not increment the reference count of the returned object. Since: gtk+ 2.12 "name": name of object to get

Get_Objects

function Get_Objects 
(Builder: not null access Gtk_Builder_Record) return Glib.Object.Object_List.GSlist;
Gets all objects that have been constructed by Builder. Note that this function does not increment the reference counts of the returned objects. Since: gtk+ 2.12

Get_Translation_Domain

function Get_Translation_Domain 
(Builder: not null access Gtk_Builder_Record) return UTF8_String;
Gets the translation domain of Builder. Since: gtk+ 2.12

Set_Translation_Domain

procedure Set_Translation_Domain 
(Builder: not null access Gtk_Builder_Record;
Domain: UTF8_String := "");
Sets the translation domain of Builder. See Gtk.Builder.Gtk_Builder:translation-domain. Since: gtk+ 2.12 "domain": the translation domain or null

Get_Type_From_Name

function Get_Type_From_Name 
(Builder: not null access Gtk_Builder_Record;
Type_Name: UTF8_String) return GType;
Looks up a type by name, using the virtual function that Gtk.Builder.Gtk_Builder has for that purpose. This is mainly used when implementing the Gtk.Buildable.Gtk_Buildable interface on a type. Since: gtk+ 2.12 "type_name": type name to lookup

Value_From_String

procedure Value_From_String 
(Builder: not null access Gtk_Builder_Record;
Pspec: in out Glib.Param_Spec;
String: UTF8_String;
Value: out Glib.Values.GValue;
Success: out Boolean);
This function demarshals a value from a string. This function calls g_value_init on the Value argument, so it need not be initialised beforehand. This function can handle char, uchar, boolean, int, uint, long, ulong, enum, flags, float, double, string, Gdk.Color.Gdk_Color, Gdk.RGBA.Gdk_RGBA and Gtk.Adjustment.Gtk_Adjustment type values. Support for Gtk.Widget.Gtk_Widget type values is still to come. Upon errors False will be returned and Error will be assigned a Gerror.Gerror from the GTK_BUILDER_ERROR domain. Since: gtk+ 2.12 "pspec": the Glib.Param_Spec for the property "string": the string representation of the value "value": the Glib.Values.GValue to store the result in

Value_From_String_Type

function Value_From_String_Type 
(Builder: not null access Gtk_Builder_Record;
The_Type: GType;
String: UTF8_String;
Value: access Glib.Values.GValue) return Boolean;
Like Gtk.Builder.Value_From_String, this function demarshals a value from a string, but takes a GType instead of Glib.Param_Spec. This function calls g_value_init on the Value argument, so it need not be initialised beforehand. Upon errors False will be returned and Error will be assigned a Gerror.Gerror from the GTK_BUILDER_ERROR domain. Since: gtk+ 2.12 "type": the GType of the value "string": the string representation of the value "value": the Glib.Values.GValue to store the result in