1787 lines
55 KiB
Markdown
1787 lines
55 KiB
Markdown
Title: Getting Started with GTK
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Slug: gtk-getting-started
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GTK is a [widget toolkit](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Widget_toolkit).
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Each user interface created by GTK consists of widgets. This is implemented
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in C using [class@GObject.Object], an object-oriented framework for C. Widgets
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are organized in a hierarchy. The window widget is the main container.
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The user interface is then built by adding buttons, drop-down menus, input
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fields, and other widgets to the window. If you are creating complex user
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interfaces it is recommended to use GtkBuilder and its GTK-specific markup
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description language, instead of assembling the interface manually.
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GTK is event-driven. The toolkit listens for events such as a click
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on a button, and passes the event to your application.
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This chapter contains some tutorial information to get you started with
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GTK programming. It assumes that you have GTK, its dependencies and a C
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compiler installed and ready to use. If you need to build GTK itself first,
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refer to the [Compiling the GTK libraries](building.html) section in this
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reference.
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## Basics
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To begin our introduction to GTK, we'll start with a very simple
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application. This program will create an empty 200 × 200 pixel
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window.
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![A window](window-default.png)
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Create a new file with the following content named `example-0.c`.
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```c
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#include <gtk/gtk.h>
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static void
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activate (GtkApplication* app,
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gpointer user_data)
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{
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GtkWidget *window;
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window = gtk_application_window_new (app);
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gtk_window_set_title (GTK_WINDOW (window), "Window");
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gtk_window_set_default_size (GTK_WINDOW (window), 200, 200);
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gtk_window_present (GTK_WINDOW (window));
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}
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int
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main (int argc,
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char **argv)
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{
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GtkApplication *app;
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int status;
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app = gtk_application_new ("org.gtk.example", G_APPLICATION_DEFAULT_FLAGS);
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g_signal_connect (app, "activate", G_CALLBACK (activate), NULL);
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status = g_application_run (G_APPLICATION (app), argc, argv);
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g_object_unref (app);
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return status;
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}
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```
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You can compile the program above with GCC using:
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```
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gcc $( pkg-config --cflags gtk4 ) -o example-0 example-0.c $( pkg-config --libs gtk4 )
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```
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**Note**: If the above compilation does not work due to an error regarding `G_APPLICATION_DEFAULT_FLAGS`
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this could be due to your OS providing an older version of GLib. For GLib versions older than 2.74 you
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will need to replace `G_APPLICATION_DEFAULT_FLAGS` with `G_APPLICATION_FLAGS_NONE` in this example, and
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others in this documentation.
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For more information on how to compile a GTK application, please
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refer to the [Compiling GTK Applications](compiling.html)
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section in this reference.
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All GTK applications will, of course, include `gtk/gtk.h`, which declares
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functions, types and macros required by GTK applications.
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Even if GTK installs multiple header files, only the top-level `gtk/gtk.h`
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header can be directly included by third-party code. The compiler will abort
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with an error if any other header is directly included.
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In a GTK application, the purpose of the `main()` function is to create a
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[class@Gtk.Application] object and run it. In this example a
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[class@Gtk.Application] pointer named `app` is declared and then initialized
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using `gtk_application_new()`.
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When creating a [class@Gtk.Application], you need to pick an application
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identifier (a name) and pass it to [ctor@Gtk.Application.new] as parameter. For
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this example `org.gtk.example` is used. For choosing an identifier for your
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application, see [this guide](https://developer.gnome.org/documentation/tutorials/application-id.html).
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Lastly, [ctor@Gtk.Application.new] takes `GApplicationFlags` as input
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for your application, if your application would have special needs.
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Next the [activate signal](https://developer.gnome.org/documentation/tutorials/application.html) is
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connected to the activate() function above the `main()` function. The `activate`
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signal will be emitted when your application is launched with `g_application_run()`
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on the line below. The `g_application_run()` call also takes as arguments the
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command line arguments (the `argc` count and the `argv` string array).
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Your application can override the command line handling, e.g. to open
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files passed on the commandline.
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Within `g_application_run()` the activate signal is sent and we then proceed
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into the activate() function of the application. This is where we construct
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our GTK window, so that a window is shown when the application is launched.
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The call to [ctor@Gtk.ApplicationWindow.new] will create a new
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[class@Gtk.ApplicationWindow] and store it inside the `window` pointer. The
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window will have a frame, a title bar, and window controls depending on the
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platform.
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A window title is set using [`method@Gtk.Window.set_title`]. This function
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takes a `GtkWindow` pointer and a string as input. As our `window` pointer
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is a `GtkWidget` pointer, we need to cast it to `GtkWindow`; instead of
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casting `window` via a typical C cast like `(GtkWindow*)`, `window` can be
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cast using the macro `GTK_WINDOW()`. `GTK_WINDOW()` will check if the
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pointer is an instance of the `GtkWindow` class, before casting, and emit a
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warning if the check fails. More information about this convention can be
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found [in the GObject documentation](https://docs.gtk.org/gobject/concepts.html#conventions).
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Finally the window size is set using [`method@Gtk.Window.set_default_size`]
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and the window is then shown by GTK via [method@Gtk.Widget.show].
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When you close the window, by (for example) pressing the X button, the
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`g_application_run()` call returns with a number which is saved inside an
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integer variable named `status`. Afterwards, the `GtkApplication` object is
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freed from memory with `g_object_unref()`. Finally the status integer is
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returned and the application exits.
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While the program is running, GTK is receiving _events_. These are typically
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input events caused by the user interacting with your program, but also things
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like messages from the window manager or other applications. GTK processes
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these and as a result, _signals_ may be emitted on your widgets. Connecting
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handlers for these signals is how you normally make your program do something
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in response to user input.
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The following example is slightly more complex, and tries to
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showcase some of the capabilities of GTK.
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## Hello, World
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In the long tradition of programming languages and libraries,
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this example is called *Hello, World*.
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![Hello, world](hello-world.png)
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### Hello World in C
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Create a new file with the following content named `example-1.c`.
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```c
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#include <gtk/gtk.h>
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static void
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print_hello (GtkWidget *widget,
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gpointer data)
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{
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g_print ("Hello World\n");
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}
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static void
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activate (GtkApplication *app,
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gpointer user_data)
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{
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GtkWidget *window;
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GtkWidget *button;
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GtkWidget *box;
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window = gtk_application_window_new (app);
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gtk_window_set_title (GTK_WINDOW (window), "Window");
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gtk_window_set_default_size (GTK_WINDOW (window), 200, 200);
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box = gtk_box_new (GTK_ORIENTATION_VERTICAL, 0);
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gtk_widget_set_halign (box, GTK_ALIGN_CENTER);
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gtk_widget_set_valign (box, GTK_ALIGN_CENTER);
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gtk_window_set_child (GTK_WINDOW (window), box);
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button = gtk_button_new_with_label ("Hello World");
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g_signal_connect (button, "clicked", G_CALLBACK (print_hello), NULL);
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g_signal_connect_swapped (button, "clicked", G_CALLBACK (gtk_window_destroy), window);
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gtk_box_append (GTK_BOX (box), button);
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gtk_window_present (GTK_WINDOW (window));
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}
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int
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main (int argc,
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char **argv)
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{
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GtkApplication *app;
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int status;
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app = gtk_application_new ("org.gtk.example", G_APPLICATION_DEFAULT_FLAGS);
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g_signal_connect (app, "activate", G_CALLBACK (activate), NULL);
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status = g_application_run (G_APPLICATION (app), argc, argv);
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g_object_unref (app);
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return status;
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}
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```
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You can compile the program above with GCC using:
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```
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gcc $( pkg-config --cflags gtk4 ) -o example-1 example-1.c $( pkg-config --libs gtk4 )
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```
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As seen above, `example-1.c` builds further upon `example-0.c` by adding a
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button to our window, with the label "Hello World". Two new `GtkWidget`
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pointers are declared to accomplish this, `button` and `box`. The box
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variable is created to store a [class@Gtk.Box], which is GTK's way of
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controlling the size and layout of buttons.
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The `GtkBox` widget is created with [ctor@Gtk.Box.new], which takes a
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[enum@Gtk.Orientation] enumeration value as parameter. The buttons which
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this box will contain can either be laid out horizontally or vertically.
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This does not matter in this particular case, as we are dealing with only
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one button. After initializing box with the newly created `GtkBox`, the code
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adds the box widget to the window widget using [`method@Gtk.Window.set_child`].
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Next the `button` variable is initialized in similar manner.
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[`ctor@Gtk.Button.new_with_label`] is called which returns a
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[class@Gtk.Button] to be stored in `button`. Afterwards `button` is added to
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our `box`.
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Using `g_signal_connect()`, the button is connected to a function in our app called
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`print_hello()`, so that when the button is clicked, GTK will call this function.
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As the `print_hello()` function does not use any data as input, `NULL` is passed
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to it. `print_hello()` calls `g_print()` with the string "Hello World" which will
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print Hello World in a terminal if the GTK application was started from one.
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After connecting `print_hello()`, another signal is connected to the "clicked"
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state of the button using `g_signal_connect_swapped()`. This functions is similar
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to a `g_signal_connect()`, with the difference lying in how the callback function
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is treated; `g_signal_connect_swapped()` allows you to specify what the callback
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function should take as parameter by letting you pass it as data. In this case
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the function being called back is [method@Gtk.Window.destroy] and the `window` pointer
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is passed to it. This has the effect that when the button is clicked, the whole
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GTK window is destroyed. In contrast if a normal `g_signal_connect()` were used
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to connect the "clicked" signal with [method@Gtk.Window.destroy], then the function
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would be called on `button` (which would not go well, since the function expects
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a `GtkWindow` as argument).
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More information about creating buttons can be found
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[here](https://wiki.gnome.org/HowDoI/Buttons).
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The rest of the code in `example-1.c` is identical to `example-0.c`. The next
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section will elaborate further on how to add several [class@Gtk.Widget]s to your
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GTK application.
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## Packing
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When creating an application, you'll want to put more than one widget inside
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a window. When you do so, it becomes important to control how each widget is
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positioned and sized. This is where packing comes in.
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GTK comes with a large variety of _layout containers_ whose purpose it
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is to control the layout of the child widgets that are added to them, like:
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- [class@Gtk.Box]
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- [class@Gtk.Grid]
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- [class@Gtk.Revealer]
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- [class@Gtk.Stack]
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- [class@Gtk.Overlay]
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- [class@Gtk.Paned]
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- [class@Gtk.Expander]
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- [class@Gtk.Fixed]
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The following example shows how the [class@Gtk.Grid] container lets you
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arrange several buttons:
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![Grid packing](grid-packing.png)
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### Packing buttons
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Create a new file with the following content named `example-2.c`.
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```c
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#include <gtk/gtk.h>
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static void
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print_hello (GtkWidget *widget,
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gpointer data)
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{
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g_print ("Hello World\n");
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}
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static void
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activate (GtkApplication *app,
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gpointer user_data)
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{
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GtkWidget *window;
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GtkWidget *grid;
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GtkWidget *button;
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/* create a new window, and set its title */
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window = gtk_application_window_new (app);
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gtk_window_set_title (GTK_WINDOW (window), "Window");
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/* Here we construct the container that is going pack our buttons */
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grid = gtk_grid_new ();
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/* Pack the container in the window */
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gtk_window_set_child (GTK_WINDOW (window), grid);
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button = gtk_button_new_with_label ("Button 1");
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g_signal_connect (button, "clicked", G_CALLBACK (print_hello), NULL);
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/* Place the first button in the grid cell (0, 0), and make it fill
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* just 1 cell horizontally and vertically (ie no spanning)
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*/
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gtk_grid_attach (GTK_GRID (grid), button, 0, 0, 1, 1);
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button = gtk_button_new_with_label ("Button 2");
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g_signal_connect (button, "clicked", G_CALLBACK (print_hello), NULL);
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/* Place the second button in the grid cell (1, 0), and make it fill
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* just 1 cell horizontally and vertically (ie no spanning)
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*/
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gtk_grid_attach (GTK_GRID (grid), button, 1, 0, 1, 1);
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button = gtk_button_new_with_label ("Quit");
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g_signal_connect_swapped (button, "clicked", G_CALLBACK (gtk_window_destroy), window);
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/* Place the Quit button in the grid cell (0, 1), and make it
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* span 2 columns.
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*/
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gtk_grid_attach (GTK_GRID (grid), button, 0, 1, 2, 1);
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gtk_window_present (GTK_WINDOW (window));
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}
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int
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main (int argc,
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char **argv)
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{
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GtkApplication *app;
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int status;
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app = gtk_application_new ("org.gtk.example", G_APPLICATION_DEFAULT_FLAGS);
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g_signal_connect (app, "activate", G_CALLBACK (activate), NULL);
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status = g_application_run (G_APPLICATION (app), argc, argv);
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g_object_unref (app);
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return status;
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}
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```
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You can compile the program above with GCC using:
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```
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gcc $( pkg-config --cflags gtk4 ) -o example-2 example-2.c $( pkg-config --libs gtk4 )
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```
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## Custom Drawing
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Many widgets, like buttons, do all their drawing themselves. You just tell
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them the label you want to see, and they figure out what font to use, draw
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the button outline and focus rectangle, etc. Sometimes, it is necessary to
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do some custom drawing. In that case, a [class@Gtk.DrawingArea] might be the right
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widget to use. It offers a canvas on which you can draw by setting its
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draw function.
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The contents of a widget often need to be partially or fully redrawn, e.g.
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when another window is moved and uncovers part of the widget, or when the
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window containing it is resized. It is also possible to explicitly cause a
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widget to be redrawn, by calling [`method@Gtk.Widget.queue_draw`]. GTK takes
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care of most of the details by providing a ready-to-use cairo context to the
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draw function.
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The following example shows how to use a draw function with [class@Gtk.DrawingArea].
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It is a bit more complicated than the previous examples, since it also
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demonstrates input event handling with event controllers.
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![Drawing](drawing.png)
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### Drawing in response to input
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Create a new file with the following content named `example-3.c`.
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```c
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#include <gtk/gtk.h>
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/* Surface to store current scribbles */
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static cairo_surface_t *surface = NULL;
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static void
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clear_surface (void)
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{
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cairo_t *cr;
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cr = cairo_create (surface);
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cairo_set_source_rgb (cr, 1, 1, 1);
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cairo_paint (cr);
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cairo_destroy (cr);
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}
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/* Create a new surface of the appropriate size to store our scribbles */
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static void
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resize_cb (GtkWidget *widget,
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int width,
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int height,
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gpointer data)
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{
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if (surface)
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{
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cairo_surface_destroy (surface);
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surface = NULL;
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}
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if (gtk_native_get_surface (gtk_widget_get_native (widget)))
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{
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surface = gdk_surface_create_similar_surface (gtk_native_get_surface (gtk_widget_get_native (widget)),
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CAIRO_CONTENT_COLOR,
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gtk_widget_get_width (widget),
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gtk_widget_get_height (widget));
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/* Initialize the surface to white */
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clear_surface ();
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}
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}
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/* Redraw the screen from the surface. Note that the draw
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* callback receives a ready-to-be-used cairo_t that is already
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* clipped to only draw the exposed areas of the widget
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*/
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static void
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draw_cb (GtkDrawingArea *drawing_area,
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cairo_t *cr,
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int width,
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int height,
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gpointer data)
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{
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cairo_set_source_surface (cr, surface, 0, 0);
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cairo_paint (cr);
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}
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/* Draw a rectangle on the surface at the given position */
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static void
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draw_brush (GtkWidget *widget,
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double x,
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double y)
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{
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cairo_t *cr;
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/* Paint to the surface, where we store our state */
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cr = cairo_create (surface);
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cairo_rectangle (cr, x - 3, y - 3, 6, 6);
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cairo_fill (cr);
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cairo_destroy (cr);
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/* Now invalidate the drawing area. */
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gtk_widget_queue_draw (widget);
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}
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static double start_x;
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static double start_y;
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static void
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drag_begin (GtkGestureDrag *gesture,
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double x,
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double y,
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GtkWidget *area)
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{
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start_x = x;
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start_y = y;
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draw_brush (area, x, y);
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}
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static void
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drag_update (GtkGestureDrag *gesture,
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double x,
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double y,
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GtkWidget *area)
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{
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draw_brush (area, start_x + x, start_y + y);
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}
|
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static void
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drag_end (GtkGestureDrag *gesture,
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double x,
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double y,
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GtkWidget *area)
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{
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draw_brush (area, start_x + x, start_y + y);
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}
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static void
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pressed (GtkGestureClick *gesture,
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int n_press,
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||
double x,
|
||
double y,
|
||
GtkWidget *area)
|
||
{
|
||
clear_surface ();
|
||
gtk_widget_queue_draw (area);
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
static void
|
||
close_window (void)
|
||
{
|
||
if (surface)
|
||
cairo_surface_destroy (surface);
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
static void
|
||
activate (GtkApplication *app,
|
||
gpointer user_data)
|
||
{
|
||
GtkWidget *window;
|
||
GtkWidget *frame;
|
||
GtkWidget *drawing_area;
|
||
GtkGesture *drag;
|
||
GtkGesture *press;
|
||
|
||
window = gtk_application_window_new (app);
|
||
gtk_window_set_title (GTK_WINDOW (window), "Drawing Area");
|
||
|
||
g_signal_connect (window, "destroy", G_CALLBACK (close_window), NULL);
|
||
|
||
frame = gtk_frame_new (NULL);
|
||
gtk_window_set_child (GTK_WINDOW (window), frame);
|
||
|
||
drawing_area = gtk_drawing_area_new ();
|
||
/* set a minimum size */
|
||
gtk_widget_set_size_request (drawing_area, 100, 100);
|
||
|
||
gtk_frame_set_child (GTK_FRAME (frame), drawing_area);
|
||
|
||
gtk_drawing_area_set_draw_func (GTK_DRAWING_AREA (drawing_area), draw_cb, NULL, NULL);
|
||
|
||
g_signal_connect_after (drawing_area, "resize", G_CALLBACK (resize_cb), NULL);
|
||
|
||
drag = gtk_gesture_drag_new ();
|
||
gtk_gesture_single_set_button (GTK_GESTURE_SINGLE (drag), GDK_BUTTON_PRIMARY);
|
||
gtk_widget_add_controller (drawing_area, GTK_EVENT_CONTROLLER (drag));
|
||
g_signal_connect (drag, "drag-begin", G_CALLBACK (drag_begin), drawing_area);
|
||
g_signal_connect (drag, "drag-update", G_CALLBACK (drag_update), drawing_area);
|
||
g_signal_connect (drag, "drag-end", G_CALLBACK (drag_end), drawing_area);
|
||
|
||
press = gtk_gesture_click_new ();
|
||
gtk_gesture_single_set_button (GTK_GESTURE_SINGLE (press), GDK_BUTTON_SECONDARY);
|
||
gtk_widget_add_controller (drawing_area, GTK_EVENT_CONTROLLER (press));
|
||
|
||
g_signal_connect (press, "pressed", G_CALLBACK (pressed), drawing_area);
|
||
|
||
gtk_window_present (GTK_WINDOW (window));
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
int
|
||
main (int argc,
|
||
char **argv)
|
||
{
|
||
GtkApplication *app;
|
||
int status;
|
||
|
||
app = gtk_application_new ("org.gtk.example", G_APPLICATION_DEFAULT_FLAGS);
|
||
g_signal_connect (app, "activate", G_CALLBACK (activate), NULL);
|
||
status = g_application_run (G_APPLICATION (app), argc, argv);
|
||
g_object_unref (app);
|
||
|
||
return status;
|
||
}
|
||
```
|
||
|
||
You can compile the program above with GCC using:
|
||
|
||
```
|
||
gcc $( pkg-config --cflags gtk4 ) -o example-3 example-3.c $( pkg-config --libs gtk4 )
|
||
```
|
||
|
||
## Building user interfaces
|
||
|
||
When constructing a more complicated user interface, with dozens
|
||
or hundreds of widgets, doing all the setup work in C code is
|
||
cumbersome, and making changes becomes next to impossible.
|
||
|
||
Thankfully, GTK supports the separation of user interface
|
||
layout from your business logic, by using UI descriptions in an
|
||
XML format that can be parsed by the [class@Gtk.Builder] class.
|
||
|
||
### Packing buttons with GtkBuilder
|
||
|
||
Create a new file with the following content named `example-4.c`.
|
||
|
||
```c
|
||
#include <gtk/gtk.h>
|
||
#include <glib/gstdio.h>
|
||
|
||
static void
|
||
print_hello (GtkWidget *widget,
|
||
gpointer data)
|
||
{
|
||
g_print ("Hello World\n");
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
static void
|
||
quit_cb (GtkWindow *window)
|
||
{
|
||
gtk_window_close (window);
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
static void
|
||
activate (GtkApplication *app,
|
||
gpointer user_data)
|
||
{
|
||
/* Construct a GtkBuilder instance and load our UI description */
|
||
GtkBuilder *builder = gtk_builder_new ();
|
||
gtk_builder_add_from_file (builder, "builder.ui", NULL);
|
||
|
||
/* Connect signal handlers to the constructed widgets. */
|
||
GObject *window = gtk_builder_get_object (builder, "window");
|
||
gtk_window_set_application (GTK_WINDOW (window), app);
|
||
|
||
GObject *button = gtk_builder_get_object (builder, "button1");
|
||
g_signal_connect (button, "clicked", G_CALLBACK (print_hello), NULL);
|
||
|
||
button = gtk_builder_get_object (builder, "button2");
|
||
g_signal_connect (button, "clicked", G_CALLBACK (print_hello), NULL);
|
||
|
||
button = gtk_builder_get_object (builder, "quit");
|
||
g_signal_connect_swapped (button, "clicked", G_CALLBACK (quit_cb), window);
|
||
|
||
gtk_widget_set_visible (GTK_WIDGET (window), TRUE);
|
||
|
||
/* We do not need the builder any more */
|
||
g_object_unref (builder);
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
int
|
||
main (int argc,
|
||
char *argv[])
|
||
{
|
||
#ifdef GTK_SRCDIR
|
||
g_chdir (GTK_SRCDIR);
|
||
#endif
|
||
|
||
GtkApplication *app = gtk_application_new ("org.gtk.example", G_APPLICATION_DEFAULT_FLAGS);
|
||
g_signal_connect (app, "activate", G_CALLBACK (activate), NULL);
|
||
|
||
int status = g_application_run (G_APPLICATION (app), argc, argv);
|
||
g_object_unref (app);
|
||
|
||
return status;
|
||
}
|
||
```
|
||
|
||
Create a new file with the following content named `builder.ui`.
|
||
|
||
```xml
|
||
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
|
||
<interface>
|
||
<object id="window" class="GtkWindow">
|
||
<property name="title">Grid</property>
|
||
<child>
|
||
<object id="grid" class="GtkGrid">
|
||
<child>
|
||
<object id="button1" class="GtkButton">
|
||
<property name="label">Button 1</property>
|
||
<layout>
|
||
<property name="column">0</property>
|
||
<property name="row">0</property>
|
||
</layout>
|
||
</object>
|
||
</child>
|
||
<child>
|
||
<object id="button2" class="GtkButton">
|
||
<property name="label">Button 2</property>
|
||
<layout>
|
||
<property name="column">1</property>
|
||
<property name="row">0</property>
|
||
</layout>
|
||
</object>
|
||
</child>
|
||
<child>
|
||
<object id="quit" class="GtkButton">
|
||
<property name="label">Quit</property>
|
||
<layout>
|
||
<property name="column">0</property>
|
||
<property name="row">1</property>
|
||
<property name="column-span">2</property>
|
||
</layout>
|
||
</object>
|
||
</child>
|
||
</object>
|
||
</child>
|
||
</object>
|
||
</interface>
|
||
```
|
||
|
||
You can compile the program above with GCC using:
|
||
|
||
```
|
||
gcc $( pkg-config --cflags gtk4 ) -o example-4 example-4.c $( pkg-config --libs gtk4 )
|
||
```
|
||
|
||
Note that `GtkBuilder` can also be used to construct objects that are
|
||
not widgets, such as tree models, adjustments, etc. That is the reason
|
||
the method we use here is called [`method@Gtk.Builder.get_object`] and
|
||
returns a `GObject` instead of a `GtkWidget`.
|
||
|
||
Normally, you would pass a full path to [`method@Gtk.Builder.add_from_file`] to
|
||
make the execution of your program independent of the current directory.
|
||
A common location to install UI descriptions and similar data is
|
||
`/usr/share/appname`.
|
||
|
||
It is also possible to embed the UI description in the source code as a
|
||
string and use [`method@Gtk.Builder.add_from_string`] to load it. But keeping
|
||
the UI description in a separate file has several advantages:
|
||
|
||
- it is possible to make minor adjustments to the UI without recompiling your
|
||
program
|
||
- it is easier to isolate the UI code from the business logic of your
|
||
application
|
||
- it is easier to restructure your UI into separate classes using composite
|
||
widget templates
|
||
|
||
Using [GResource](https://docs.gtk.org/gio/struct.Resource.html) it is possible
|
||
to combine the best of both worlds: you can keep the UI definition files
|
||
separate inside your source code repository, and then ship them embedded into
|
||
your application.
|
||
|
||
## Building applications
|
||
|
||
An application consists of a number of files:
|
||
|
||
The binary
|
||
: This gets installed in `/usr/bin`.
|
||
|
||
A desktop file
|
||
: The desktop file provides important information about the application to
|
||
the desktop shell, such as its name, icon, D-Bus name, commandline to launch
|
||
it, etc. It is installed in `/usr/share/applications`.
|
||
|
||
An icon
|
||
: The icon gets installed in `/usr/share/icons/hicolor/48x48/apps`, where it
|
||
will be found regardless of the current theme.
|
||
|
||
A settings schema
|
||
: If the application uses GSettings, it will install its schema in
|
||
`/usr/share/glib-2.0/schemas`, so that tools like dconf-editor can find it.
|
||
|
||
Other resources
|
||
: Other files, such as GtkBuilder ui files, are best loaded from
|
||
resources stored in the application binary itself. This eliminates the
|
||
need for most of the files that would traditionally be installed in
|
||
an application-specific location in `/usr/share`.
|
||
|
||
GTK includes application support that is built on top of `GApplication`. In this
|
||
tutorial we'll build a simple application by starting from scratch, adding more
|
||
and more pieces over time. Along the way, we'll learn about [class@Gtk.Application],
|
||
templates, resources, application menus, settings, [class@Gtk.HeaderBar], [class@Gtk.Stack],
|
||
[class@Gtk.SearchBar], [class@Gtk.ListBox], and more.
|
||
|
||
The full, buildable sources for these examples can be found in the
|
||
`examples` directory of the GTK source distribution, or
|
||
[online](https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gtk/blob/main/examples) in the GTK
|
||
source code repository. You can build each example separately by using make
|
||
with the `Makefile.example` file. For more information, see the `README`
|
||
included in the examples directory.
|
||
|
||
### A trivial application
|
||
|
||
When using `GtkApplication`, the `main()` function can be very simple. We just call
|
||
`g_application_run()` and give it an instance of our application class.
|
||
|
||
```c
|
||
#include <gtk/gtk.h>
|
||
|
||
#include "exampleapp.h"
|
||
|
||
int
|
||
main (int argc, char *argv[])
|
||
{
|
||
return g_application_run (G_APPLICATION (example_app_new ()), argc, argv);
|
||
}
|
||
```
|
||
|
||
All the application logic is in the application class, which is a subclass of
|
||
`GtkApplication`. Our example does not yet have any interesting functionality.
|
||
All it does is open a window when it is activated without arguments, and open
|
||
the files it is given, if it is started with arguments.
|
||
|
||
To handle these two cases, we override the `activate()` vfunc, which gets
|
||
called when the application is launched without commandline arguments, and
|
||
the `open()` virtual function, which gets called when the application is
|
||
launched with commandline arguments.
|
||
|
||
To learn more about `GApplication` entry points, consult the GIO
|
||
[documentation](https://docs.gtk.org/gio/class.Application.html).
|
||
|
||
```c
|
||
#include <gtk/gtk.h>
|
||
|
||
#include "exampleapp.h"
|
||
#include "exampleappwin.h"
|
||
|
||
struct _ExampleApp
|
||
{
|
||
GtkApplication parent;
|
||
};
|
||
|
||
G_DEFINE_TYPE(ExampleApp, example_app, GTK_TYPE_APPLICATION);
|
||
|
||
static void
|
||
example_app_init (ExampleApp *app)
|
||
{
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
static void
|
||
example_app_activate (GApplication *app)
|
||
{
|
||
ExampleAppWindow *win;
|
||
|
||
win = example_app_window_new (EXAMPLE_APP (app));
|
||
gtk_window_present (GTK_WINDOW (win));
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
static void
|
||
example_app_open (GApplication *app,
|
||
GFile **files,
|
||
int n_files,
|
||
const char *hint)
|
||
{
|
||
GList *windows;
|
||
ExampleAppWindow *win;
|
||
int i;
|
||
|
||
windows = gtk_application_get_windows (GTK_APPLICATION (app));
|
||
if (windows)
|
||
win = EXAMPLE_APP_WINDOW (windows->data);
|
||
else
|
||
win = example_app_window_new (EXAMPLE_APP (app));
|
||
|
||
for (i = 0; i < n_files; i++)
|
||
example_app_window_open (win, files[i]);
|
||
|
||
gtk_window_present (GTK_WINDOW (win));
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
static void
|
||
example_app_class_init (ExampleAppClass *class)
|
||
{
|
||
G_APPLICATION_CLASS (class)->activate = example_app_activate;
|
||
G_APPLICATION_CLASS (class)->open = example_app_open;
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
ExampleApp *
|
||
example_app_new (void)
|
||
{
|
||
return g_object_new (EXAMPLE_APP_TYPE,
|
||
"application-id", "org.gtk.exampleapp",
|
||
"flags", G_APPLICATION_HANDLES_OPEN,
|
||
NULL);
|
||
}
|
||
```
|
||
|
||
Another important class that is part of the application support in GTK is
|
||
[class@Gtk.ApplicationWindow]. It is typically subclassed as well. Our
|
||
subclass does not do anything yet, so we will just get an empty window.
|
||
|
||
```c
|
||
#include <gtk/gtk.h>
|
||
|
||
#include "exampleapp.h"
|
||
#include "exampleappwin.h"
|
||
|
||
struct _ExampleAppWindow
|
||
{
|
||
GtkApplicationWindow parent;
|
||
};
|
||
|
||
G_DEFINE_TYPE(ExampleAppWindow, example_app_window, GTK_TYPE_APPLICATION_WINDOW);
|
||
|
||
static void
|
||
example_app_window_init (ExampleAppWindow *app)
|
||
{
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
static void
|
||
example_app_window_class_init (ExampleAppWindowClass *class)
|
||
{
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
ExampleAppWindow *
|
||
example_app_window_new (ExampleApp *app)
|
||
{
|
||
return g_object_new (EXAMPLE_APP_WINDOW_TYPE, "application", app, NULL);
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
void
|
||
example_app_window_open (ExampleAppWindow *win,
|
||
GFile *file)
|
||
{
|
||
}
|
||
```
|
||
|
||
As part of the initial setup of our application, we also
|
||
create an icon and a desktop file.
|
||
|
||
![An icon](exampleapp.png)
|
||
|
||
```
|
||
[Desktop Entry]
|
||
Type=Application
|
||
Name=Example
|
||
Icon=exampleapp
|
||
StartupNotify=true
|
||
Exec=@bindir@/exampleapp
|
||
```
|
||
|
||
Note that `@bindir@` needs to be replaced with the actual path to the binary
|
||
before this desktop file can be used.
|
||
|
||
Here is what we've achieved so far:
|
||
|
||
![An application](getting-started-app1.png)
|
||
|
||
This does not look very impressive yet, but our application is already
|
||
presenting itself on the session bus, it has single-instance semantics,
|
||
and it accepts files as commandline arguments.
|
||
|
||
### Populating the window
|
||
|
||
In this step, we use a `GtkBuilder` template to associate a
|
||
`GtkBuilder` ui file with our application window class.
|
||
|
||
Our simple ui file gives the window a title, and puts a `GtkStack`
|
||
widget as the main content.
|
||
|
||
```xml
|
||
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
|
||
<interface>
|
||
<template class="ExampleAppWindow" parent="GtkApplicationWindow">
|
||
<property name="title" translatable="yes">Example Application</property>
|
||
<property name="default-width">600</property>
|
||
<property name="default-height">400</property>
|
||
<child>
|
||
<object class="GtkBox" id="content_box">
|
||
<property name="orientation">vertical</property>
|
||
<child>
|
||
<object class="GtkStack" id="stack"/>
|
||
</child>
|
||
</object>
|
||
</child>
|
||
</template>
|
||
</interface>
|
||
```
|
||
|
||
To make use of this file in our application, we revisit our
|
||
`GtkApplicationWindow` subclass, and call
|
||
[`method@Gtk.WidgetClass.set_template_from_resource`] from the class init
|
||
function to set the ui file as template for this class. We also
|
||
add a call to [`method@Gtk.Widget.init_template`] in the instance init
|
||
function to instantiate the template for each instance of our
|
||
class.
|
||
|
||
```c
|
||
...
|
||
|
||
static void
|
||
example_app_window_init (ExampleAppWindow *win)
|
||
{
|
||
gtk_widget_init_template (GTK_WIDGET (win));
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
static void
|
||
example_app_window_class_init (ExampleAppWindowClass *class)
|
||
{
|
||
gtk_widget_class_set_template_from_resource (GTK_WIDGET_CLASS (class),
|
||
"/org/gtk/exampleapp/window.ui");
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
...
|
||
```
|
||
|
||
([full source](https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gtk/blob/main/examples/application2/exampleappwin.c))
|
||
|
||
You may have noticed that we used the `_from_resource()` variant of the function
|
||
that sets a template. Now we need to use
|
||
[GLib's resource functionality](https://docs.gtk.org/gio/struct.Resource.html)
|
||
to include the ui file in the binary. This is commonly done by listing all resources
|
||
in a `.gresource.xml` file, such as this:
|
||
|
||
```c
|
||
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
|
||
<gresources>
|
||
<gresource prefix="/org/gtk/exampleapp">
|
||
<file preprocess="xml-stripblanks">window.ui</file>
|
||
</gresource>
|
||
</gresources>
|
||
```
|
||
|
||
This file has to be converted into a C source file that will be compiled and linked
|
||
into the application together with the other source files. To do so, we use the
|
||
`glib-compile-resources` utility:
|
||
|
||
```
|
||
glib-compile-resources exampleapp.gresource.xml --target=resources.c --generate-source
|
||
```
|
||
|
||
The gnome module of the [Meson build system](https://mesonbuild.com)
|
||
provides the [`gnome.compile_resources()`](https://mesonbuild.com/Gnome-module.html#gnomecompile_resources)
|
||
method for this task.
|
||
|
||
Our application now looks like this:
|
||
|
||
![The application](getting-started-app2.png)
|
||
|
||
### Opening files
|
||
|
||
In this step, we make our application show the content of all the files
|
||
that it is given on the commandline.
|
||
|
||
**Note: Providing filenames (e.g. `./exampleapp examplewin.c examplewin.h`) at
|
||
the command line is a requirement for example apps 3-9 to display as shown in
|
||
the screenshots below.**
|
||
|
||
To this end, we add a member to the struct of our application window subclass
|
||
and keep a reference to the `GtkStack` there. The first member of the struct
|
||
should be the parent type from which the class is derived. Here,
|
||
`ExampleAppWindow` is derived from `GtkApplicationWindow`. The
|
||
[`func@Gtk.widget_class_bind_template_child`] function arranges things so that after
|
||
instantiating the template, the `stack` member of the struct will point to the
|
||
widget of the same name from the template.
|
||
|
||
```c
|
||
...
|
||
|
||
struct _ExampleAppWindow
|
||
{
|
||
GtkApplicationWindow parent;
|
||
|
||
GtkWidget *stack;
|
||
};
|
||
|
||
G_DEFINE_TYPE (ExampleAppWindow, example_app_window, GTK_TYPE_APPLICATION_WINDOW)
|
||
|
||
...
|
||
|
||
static void
|
||
example_app_window_class_init (ExampleAppWindowClass *class)
|
||
{
|
||
gtk_widget_class_set_template_from_resource (GTK_WIDGET_CLASS (class),
|
||
"/org/gtk/exampleapp/window.ui");
|
||
gtk_widget_class_bind_template_child (GTK_WIDGET_CLASS (class), ExampleAppWindow, stack);
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
...
|
||
```
|
||
|
||
([full source](https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gtk/blob/main/examples/application3/exampleappwin.c))
|
||
|
||
Now we revisit the `example_app_window_open()` function that is called for each
|
||
commandline argument, and construct a GtkTextView that we then add as a page
|
||
to the stack:
|
||
|
||
```c
|
||
...
|
||
|
||
void
|
||
example_app_window_open (ExampleAppWindow *win,
|
||
GFile *file)
|
||
{
|
||
char *basename;
|
||
GtkWidget *scrolled, *view;
|
||
char *contents;
|
||
gsize length;
|
||
|
||
basename = g_file_get_basename (file);
|
||
|
||
scrolled = gtk_scrolled_window_new ();
|
||
gtk_widget_set_hexpand (scrolled, TRUE);
|
||
gtk_widget_set_vexpand (scrolled, TRUE);
|
||
view = gtk_text_view_new ();
|
||
gtk_text_view_set_editable (GTK_TEXT_VIEW (view), FALSE);
|
||
gtk_text_view_set_cursor_visible (GTK_TEXT_VIEW (view), FALSE);
|
||
gtk_scrolled_window_set_child (GTK_SCROLLED_WINDOW (scrolled), view);
|
||
gtk_stack_add_titled (GTK_STACK (win->stack), scrolled, basename, basename);
|
||
|
||
if (g_file_load_contents (file, NULL, &contents, &length, NULL, NULL))
|
||
{
|
||
GtkTextBuffer *buffer;
|
||
|
||
buffer = gtk_text_view_get_buffer (GTK_TEXT_VIEW (view));
|
||
gtk_text_buffer_set_text (buffer, contents, length);
|
||
g_free (contents);
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
g_free (basename);
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
...
|
||
```
|
||
|
||
([full source](https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gtk/blob/main/examples/application3/exampleappwin.c))
|
||
|
||
Lastly, we add a [class@Gtk.StackSwitcher] to the titlebar area in the UI file, and we
|
||
tell it to display information about our stack.
|
||
|
||
The stack switcher gets all its information it needs to display tabs from
|
||
the stack that it belongs to. Here, we are passing the label to show for
|
||
each file as the last argument to the [`method@Gtk.Stack.add_titled`]
|
||
function.
|
||
|
||
Our application is beginning to take shape:
|
||
|
||
![Application window](getting-started-app3.png)
|
||
|
||
### A menu
|
||
|
||
The menu is shown at the right side of the headerbar. It is meant to collect
|
||
infrequently used actions that affect the whole application.
|
||
|
||
Just like the window template, we specify our menu in a ui file, and add it
|
||
as a resource to our binary.
|
||
|
||
```xml
|
||
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
|
||
<interface>
|
||
<menu id="menu">
|
||
<section>
|
||
<item>
|
||
<attribute name="label" translatable="yes">_Preferences</attribute>
|
||
<attribute name="action">app.preferences</attribute>
|
||
</item>
|
||
</section>
|
||
<section>
|
||
<item>
|
||
<attribute name="label" translatable="yes">_Quit</attribute>
|
||
<attribute name="action">app.quit</attribute>
|
||
</item>
|
||
</section>
|
||
</menu>
|
||
</interface>
|
||
```
|
||
|
||
To make the menu appear, we have to load the ui file and associate the
|
||
resulting menu model with the menu button that we've added to the headerbar.
|
||
Since menus work by activating GActions, we also have to add a suitable set
|
||
of actions to our application.
|
||
|
||
Adding the actions is best done in the `startup()` vfunc, which is guaranteed
|
||
to be called once for each primary application instance:
|
||
|
||
```c
|
||
...
|
||
|
||
static void
|
||
preferences_activated (GSimpleAction *action,
|
||
GVariant *parameter,
|
||
gpointer app)
|
||
{
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
static void
|
||
quit_activated (GSimpleAction *action,
|
||
GVariant *parameter,
|
||
gpointer app)
|
||
{
|
||
g_application_quit (G_APPLICATION (app));
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
static GActionEntry app_entries[] =
|
||
{
|
||
{ "preferences", preferences_activated, NULL, NULL, NULL },
|
||
{ "quit", quit_activated, NULL, NULL, NULL }
|
||
};
|
||
|
||
static void
|
||
example_app_startup (GApplication *app)
|
||
{
|
||
GtkBuilder *builder;
|
||
GMenuModel *app_menu;
|
||
const char *quit_accels[2] = { "<Ctrl>Q", NULL };
|
||
|
||
G_APPLICATION_CLASS (example_app_parent_class)->startup (app);
|
||
|
||
g_action_map_add_action_entries (G_ACTION_MAP (app),
|
||
app_entries, G_N_ELEMENTS (app_entries),
|
||
app);
|
||
gtk_application_set_accels_for_action (GTK_APPLICATION (app),
|
||
"app.quit",
|
||
quit_accels);
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
static void
|
||
example_app_class_init (ExampleAppClass *class)
|
||
{
|
||
G_APPLICATION_CLASS (class)->startup = example_app_startup;
|
||
...
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
...
|
||
```
|
||
|
||
([full source](https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gtk/blob/main/examples/application4/exampleapp.c))
|
||
|
||
Our preferences menu item does not do anything yet, but the Quit menu item
|
||
is fully functional. Note that it can also be activated by the usual Ctrl-Q
|
||
shortcut. The shortcut was added with [`method@Gtk.Application.set_accels_for_action`].
|
||
|
||
The application menu looks like this:
|
||
|
||
![Application window](getting-started-app4.png)
|
||
|
||
### A preference dialog
|
||
|
||
A typical application will have a some preferences that should be remembered
|
||
from one run to the next. Even for our simple example application, we may
|
||
want to change the font that is used for the content.
|
||
|
||
We are going to use [class@Gio.Settings] to store our preferences. `GSettings` requires
|
||
a schema that describes our settings:
|
||
|
||
```xml
|
||
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
|
||
<schemalist>
|
||
<schema path="/org/gtk/exampleapp/" id="org.gtk.exampleapp">
|
||
<key name="font" type="s">
|
||
<default>'Monospace 12'</default>
|
||
<summary>Font</summary>
|
||
<description>The font to be used for content.</description>
|
||
</key>
|
||
<key name="transition" type="s">
|
||
<choices>
|
||
<choice value='none'/>
|
||
<choice value='crossfade'/>
|
||
<choice value='slide-left-right'/>
|
||
</choices>
|
||
<default>'none'</default>
|
||
<summary>Transition</summary>
|
||
<description>The transition to use when switching tabs.</description>
|
||
</key>
|
||
</schema>
|
||
</schemalist>
|
||
```
|
||
|
||
Before we can make use of this schema in our application, we need to compile
|
||
it into the binary form that GSettings expects. GIO provides macros to do
|
||
this in Autotools-based projects, and the gnome module of the Meson build
|
||
system provides the [`gnome.compile_schemas()`](https://mesonbuild.com/Gnome-module.html#gnomecompile_schemas)
|
||
method for this task.
|
||
|
||
Next, we need to connect our settings to the widgets that they are supposed
|
||
to control. One convenient way to do this is to use `GSettings` bind
|
||
functionality to bind settings keys to object properties, as we do here
|
||
for the transition setting.
|
||
|
||
```c
|
||
...
|
||
|
||
static void
|
||
example_app_window_init (ExampleAppWindow *win)
|
||
{
|
||
gtk_widget_init_template (GTK_WIDGET (win));
|
||
win->settings = g_settings_new ("org.gtk.exampleapp");
|
||
|
||
g_settings_bind (win->settings, "transition",
|
||
win->stack, "transition-type",
|
||
G_SETTINGS_BIND_DEFAULT);
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
...
|
||
```
|
||
|
||
([full source](https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gtk/blob/main/examples/application5/exampleappwin.c))
|
||
|
||
The code to connect the font setting is a little more involved, since there
|
||
is no simple object property that it corresponds to, so we are not going to
|
||
go into that here.
|
||
|
||
At this point, the application will already react if you change one of the
|
||
settings, e.g. using the `gsettings` command line tool. Of course, we expect
|
||
the application to provide a preference dialog for these. So lets do that
|
||
now. Our preference dialog will be a subclass of [class@Gtk.Dialog], and
|
||
we'll use the same techniques that we've already seen: templates, private
|
||
structs, settings bindings.
|
||
|
||
Lets start with the template.
|
||
|
||
```xml
|
||
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
|
||
<interface>
|
||
<template class="ExampleAppPrefs" parent="GtkDialog">
|
||
<property name="title" translatable="yes">Preferences</property>
|
||
<property name="resizable">0</property>
|
||
<property name="modal">1</property>
|
||
<child internal-child="content_area">
|
||
<object class="GtkBox" id="content_area">
|
||
<child>
|
||
<object class="GtkGrid" id="grid">
|
||
<property name="margin-start">12</property>
|
||
<property name="margin-end">12</property>
|
||
<property name="margin-top">12</property>
|
||
<property name="margin-bottom">12</property>
|
||
<property name="row-spacing">12</property>
|
||
<property name="column-spacing">12</property>
|
||
<child>
|
||
<object class="GtkLabel" id="fontlabel">
|
||
<property name="label">_Font:</property>
|
||
<property name="use-underline">1</property>
|
||
<property name="mnemonic-widget">font</property>
|
||
<property name="xalign">1</property>
|
||
<layout>
|
||
<property name="column">0</property>
|
||
<property name="row">0</property>
|
||
</layout>
|
||
</object>
|
||
</child>
|
||
<child>
|
||
<object class="GtkFontButton" id="font">
|
||
<layout>
|
||
<property name="column">1</property>
|
||
<property name="row">0</property>
|
||
</layout>
|
||
</object>
|
||
</child>
|
||
<child>
|
||
<object class="GtkLabel" id="transitionlabel">
|
||
<property name="label">_Transition:</property>
|
||
<property name="use-underline">1</property>
|
||
<property name="mnemonic-widget">transition</property>
|
||
<property name="xalign">1</property>
|
||
<layout>
|
||
<property name="column">0</property>
|
||
<property name="row">1</property>
|
||
</layout>
|
||
</object>
|
||
</child>
|
||
<child>
|
||
<object class="GtkComboBoxText" id="transition">
|
||
<items>
|
||
<item translatable="yes" id="none">None</item>
|
||
<item translatable="yes" id="crossfade">Fade</item>
|
||
<item translatable="yes" id="slide-left-right">Slide</item>
|
||
</items>
|
||
<layout>
|
||
<property name="column">1</property>
|
||
<property name="row">1</property>
|
||
</layout>
|
||
</object>
|
||
</child>
|
||
</object>
|
||
</child>
|
||
</object>
|
||
</child>
|
||
</template>
|
||
</interface>
|
||
```
|
||
|
||
Next comes the dialog subclass.
|
||
|
||
```c
|
||
#include <gtk/gtk.h>
|
||
|
||
#include "exampleapp.h"
|
||
#include "exampleappwin.h"
|
||
#include "exampleappprefs.h"
|
||
|
||
struct _ExampleAppPrefs
|
||
{
|
||
GtkDialog parent;
|
||
|
||
GSettings *settings;
|
||
GtkWidget *font;
|
||
GtkWidget *transition;
|
||
};
|
||
|
||
G_DEFINE_TYPE (ExampleAppPrefs, example_app_prefs, GTK_TYPE_DIALOG)
|
||
|
||
static void
|
||
example_app_prefs_init (ExampleAppPrefs *prefs)
|
||
{
|
||
gtk_widget_init_template (GTK_WIDGET (prefs));
|
||
prefs->settings = g_settings_new ("org.gtk.exampleapp");
|
||
|
||
g_settings_bind (prefs->settings, "font",
|
||
prefs->font, "font",
|
||
G_SETTINGS_BIND_DEFAULT);
|
||
g_settings_bind (prefs->settings, "transition",
|
||
prefs->transition, "active-id",
|
||
G_SETTINGS_BIND_DEFAULT);
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
static void
|
||
example_app_prefs_dispose (GObject *object)
|
||
{
|
||
ExampleAppPrefs *prefs;
|
||
|
||
prefs = EXAMPLE_APP_PREFS (object);
|
||
|
||
g_clear_object (&prefs->settings);
|
||
|
||
G_OBJECT_CLASS (example_app_prefs_parent_class)->dispose (object);
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
static void
|
||
example_app_prefs_class_init (ExampleAppPrefsClass *class)
|
||
{
|
||
G_OBJECT_CLASS (class)->dispose = example_app_prefs_dispose;
|
||
|
||
gtk_widget_class_set_template_from_resource (GTK_WIDGET_CLASS (class),
|
||
"/org/gtk/exampleapp/prefs.ui");
|
||
gtk_widget_class_bind_template_child (GTK_WIDGET_CLASS (class), ExampleAppPrefs, font);
|
||
gtk_widget_class_bind_template_child (GTK_WIDGET_CLASS (class), ExampleAppPrefs, transition);
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
ExampleAppPrefs *
|
||
example_app_prefs_new (ExampleAppWindow *win)
|
||
{
|
||
return g_object_new (EXAMPLE_APP_PREFS_TYPE, "transient-for", win, "use-header-bar", TRUE, NULL);
|
||
}
|
||
```
|
||
|
||
Now we revisit the `preferences_activated()` function in our application
|
||
class, and make it open a new preference dialog.
|
||
|
||
```c
|
||
...
|
||
|
||
static void
|
||
preferences_activated (GSimpleAction *action,
|
||
GVariant *parameter,
|
||
gpointer app)
|
||
{
|
||
ExampleAppPrefs *prefs;
|
||
GtkWindow *win;
|
||
|
||
win = gtk_application_get_active_window (GTK_APPLICATION (app));
|
||
prefs = example_app_prefs_new (EXAMPLE_APP_WINDOW (win));
|
||
gtk_window_present (GTK_WINDOW (prefs));
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
...
|
||
```
|
||
|
||
([full source](https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gtk/blob/main/examples/application6/exampleapp.c))
|
||
|
||
After all this work, our application can now show a preference dialog
|
||
like this:
|
||
|
||
![Preference dialog](getting-started-app6.png)
|
||
|
||
### Adding a search bar
|
||
|
||
We continue to flesh out the functionality of our application. For now, we
|
||
add search. GTK supports this with [class@Gtk.SearchEntry] and
|
||
[class@Gtk.SearchBar]. The search bar is a widget that can slide in from the
|
||
top to present a search entry.
|
||
|
||
We add a toggle button to the header bar, which can be used to slide out
|
||
the search bar below the header bar.
|
||
|
||
```xml
|
||
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
|
||
<interface>
|
||
<template class="ExampleAppWindow" parent="GtkApplicationWindow">
|
||
<property name="title" translatable="yes">Example Application</property>
|
||
<property name="default-width">600</property>
|
||
<property name="default-height">400</property>
|
||
<child type="titlebar">
|
||
<object class="GtkHeaderBar" id="header">
|
||
<child type="title">
|
||
<object class="GtkStackSwitcher" id="tabs">
|
||
<property name="stack">stack</property>
|
||
</object>
|
||
</child>
|
||
<child type="end">
|
||
<object class="GtkMenuButton" id="gears">
|
||
<property name="direction">none</property>
|
||
</object>
|
||
</child>
|
||
<child type="end">
|
||
<object class="GtkToggleButton" id="search">
|
||
<property name="sensitive">0</property>
|
||
<property name="icon-name">edit-find-symbolic</property>
|
||
</object>
|
||
</child>
|
||
</object>
|
||
</child>
|
||
<child>
|
||
<object class="GtkBox" id="content_box">
|
||
<property name="orientation">vertical</property>
|
||
<child>
|
||
<object class="GtkSearchBar" id="searchbar">
|
||
<child>
|
||
<object class="GtkSearchEntry" id="searchentry">
|
||
<signal name="search-changed" handler="search_text_changed"/>
|
||
</object>
|
||
</child>
|
||
</object>
|
||
</child>
|
||
<child>
|
||
<object class="GtkStack" id="stack">
|
||
<signal name="notify::visible-child" handler="visible_child_changed"/>
|
||
</object>
|
||
</child>
|
||
</object>
|
||
</child>
|
||
</template>
|
||
</interface>
|
||
```
|
||
|
||
Implementing the search needs quite a few code changes that we are not
|
||
going to completely go over here. The central piece of the search
|
||
implementation is a signal handler that listens for text changes in
|
||
the search entry.
|
||
|
||
```c
|
||
...
|
||
|
||
static void
|
||
search_text_changed (GtkEntry *entry,
|
||
ExampleAppWindow *win)
|
||
{
|
||
const char *text;
|
||
GtkWidget *tab;
|
||
GtkWidget *view;
|
||
GtkTextBuffer *buffer;
|
||
GtkTextIter start, match_start, match_end;
|
||
|
||
text = gtk_editable_get_text (GTK_EDITABLE (entry));
|
||
|
||
if (text[0] == '\0')
|
||
return;
|
||
|
||
tab = gtk_stack_get_visible_child (GTK_STACK (win->stack));
|
||
view = gtk_scrolled_window_get_child (GTK_SCROLLED_WINDOW (tab));
|
||
buffer = gtk_text_view_get_buffer (GTK_TEXT_VIEW (view));
|
||
|
||
/* Very simple-minded search implementation */
|
||
gtk_text_buffer_get_start_iter (buffer, &start);
|
||
if (gtk_text_iter_forward_search (&start, text, GTK_TEXT_SEARCH_CASE_INSENSITIVE,
|
||
&match_start, &match_end, NULL))
|
||
{
|
||
gtk_text_buffer_select_range (buffer, &match_start, &match_end);
|
||
gtk_text_view_scroll_to_iter (GTK_TEXT_VIEW (view), &match_start,
|
||
0.0, FALSE, 0.0, 0.0);
|
||
}
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
static void
|
||
example_app_window_init (ExampleAppWindow *win)
|
||
{
|
||
|
||
...
|
||
|
||
gtk_widget_class_bind_template_callback (GTK_WIDGET_CLASS (class), search_text_changed);
|
||
|
||
...
|
||
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
...
|
||
```
|
||
|
||
([full source](https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gtk/blob/main/examples/application7/exampleappwin.c))
|
||
|
||
With the search bar, our application now looks like this:
|
||
|
||
![A search bar](getting-started-app7.png)
|
||
|
||
### Adding a side bar
|
||
|
||
As another piece of functionality, we are adding a sidebar, which demonstrates
|
||
[class@Gtk.MenuButton], [class@Gtk.Revealer] and [class@Gtk.ListBox].
|
||
|
||
```xml
|
||
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
|
||
<interface>
|
||
<template class="ExampleAppWindow" parent="GtkApplicationWindow">
|
||
<property name="title" translatable="yes">Example Application</property>
|
||
<property name="default-width">600</property>
|
||
<property name="default-height">400</property>
|
||
<child type="titlebar">
|
||
<object class="GtkHeaderBar" id="header">
|
||
<child type="title">
|
||
<object class="GtkStackSwitcher" id="tabs">
|
||
<property name="stack">stack</property>
|
||
</object>
|
||
</child>
|
||
<child type="end">
|
||
<object class="GtkToggleButton" id="search">
|
||
<property name="sensitive">0</property>
|
||
<property name="icon-name">edit-find-symbolic</property>
|
||
</object>
|
||
</child>
|
||
<child type="end">
|
||
<object class="GtkMenuButton" id="gears">
|
||
<property name="direction">none</property>
|
||
</object>
|
||
</child>
|
||
</object>
|
||
</child>
|
||
<child>
|
||
<object class="GtkBox" id="content_box">
|
||
<property name="orientation">vertical</property>
|
||
<child>
|
||
<object class="GtkSearchBar" id="searchbar">
|
||
<child>
|
||
<object class="GtkSearchEntry" id="searchentry">
|
||
<signal name="search-changed" handler="search_text_changed"/>
|
||
</object>
|
||
</child>
|
||
</object>
|
||
</child>
|
||
<child>
|
||
<object class="GtkBox" id="hbox">
|
||
<child>
|
||
<object class="GtkRevealer" id="sidebar">
|
||
<property name="transition-type">slide-right</property>
|
||
<child>
|
||
<object class="GtkScrolledWindow" id="sidebar-sw">
|
||
<property name="hscrollbar-policy">never</property>
|
||
<child>
|
||
<object class="GtkListBox" id="words">
|
||
<property name="selection-mode">none</property>
|
||
</object>
|
||
</child>
|
||
</object>
|
||
</child>
|
||
</object>
|
||
</child>
|
||
<child>
|
||
<object class="GtkStack" id="stack">
|
||
<signal name="notify::visible-child" handler="visible_child_changed"/>
|
||
</object>
|
||
</child>
|
||
</object>
|
||
</child>
|
||
</object>
|
||
</child>
|
||
</template>
|
||
</interface>
|
||
```
|
||
|
||
The code to populate the sidebar with buttons for the words found in each
|
||
file is a little too involved to go into here. But we'll look at the code
|
||
to add a checkbutton for the new feature to the menu.
|
||
|
||
```xml
|
||
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
|
||
<interface>
|
||
<menu id="menu">
|
||
<section>
|
||
<item>
|
||
<attribute name="label" translatable="yes">_Words</attribute>
|
||
<attribute name="action">win.show-words</attribute>
|
||
</item>
|
||
<item>
|
||
<attribute name="label" translatable="yes">_Preferences</attribute>
|
||
<attribute name="action">app.preferences</attribute>
|
||
</item>
|
||
</section>
|
||
<section>
|
||
<item>
|
||
<attribute name="label" translatable="yes">_Quit</attribute>
|
||
<attribute name="action">app.quit</attribute>
|
||
</item>
|
||
</section>
|
||
</menu>
|
||
</interface>
|
||
```
|
||
|
||
To connect the menuitem to the show-words setting, we use
|
||
a `GAction` corresponding to the given `GSettings` key.
|
||
|
||
```c
|
||
...
|
||
|
||
static void
|
||
example_app_window_init (ExampleAppWindow *win)
|
||
{
|
||
|
||
...
|
||
|
||
builder = gtk_builder_new_from_resource ("/org/gtk/exampleapp/gears-menu.ui");
|
||
menu = G_MENU_MODEL (gtk_builder_get_object (builder, "menu"));
|
||
gtk_menu_button_set_menu_model (GTK_MENU_BUTTON (priv->gears), menu);
|
||
g_object_unref (builder);
|
||
|
||
action = g_settings_create_action (priv->settings, "show-words");
|
||
g_action_map_add_action (G_ACTION_MAP (win), action);
|
||
g_object_unref (action);
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
...
|
||
```
|
||
|
||
([full source](https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gtk/blob/main/examples/application8/exampleappwin.c))
|
||
|
||
What our application looks like now:
|
||
|
||
![A sidebar](getting-started-app8.png)
|
||
|
||
### Properties
|
||
|
||
Widgets and other objects have many useful properties.
|
||
|
||
Here we show some ways to use them in new and flexible ways, by wrapping
|
||
them in actions with [class@Gio.PropertyAction] or by binding them with
|
||
[class@GObject.Binding].
|
||
|
||
To set this up, we add two labels to the header bar in our window template,
|
||
named `lines_label` and `lines`, and bind them to struct members in the
|
||
private struct, as we've seen a couple of times by now.
|
||
|
||
We add a new "Lines" menu item to the gears menu, which triggers the
|
||
show-lines action:
|
||
|
||
```xml
|
||
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
|
||
<interface>
|
||
<menu id="menu">
|
||
<section>
|
||
<item>
|
||
<attribute name="label" translatable="yes">_Words</attribute>
|
||
<attribute name="action">win.show-words</attribute>
|
||
</item>
|
||
<item>
|
||
<attribute name="label" translatable="yes">_Lines</attribute>
|
||
<attribute name="action">win.show-lines</attribute>
|
||
</item>
|
||
<item>
|
||
<attribute name="label" translatable="yes">_Preferences</attribute>
|
||
<attribute name="action">app.preferences</attribute>
|
||
</item>
|
||
</section>
|
||
<section>
|
||
<item>
|
||
<attribute name="label" translatable="yes">_Quit</attribute>
|
||
<attribute name="action">app.quit</attribute>
|
||
</item>
|
||
</section>
|
||
</menu>
|
||
</interface>
|
||
```
|
||
|
||
To make this menu item do something, we create a property action for the
|
||
visible property of the `lines` label, and add it to the actions of the
|
||
window. The effect of this is that the visibility of the label gets toggled
|
||
every time the action is activated.
|
||
|
||
Since we want both labels to appear and disappear together, we bind
|
||
the visible property of the `lines_label` widget to the same property
|
||
of the `lines` widget.
|
||
|
||
```c
|
||
...
|
||
|
||
static void
|
||
example_app_window_init (ExampleAppWindow *win)
|
||
{
|
||
...
|
||
|
||
action = (GAction*) g_property_action_new ("show-lines", win->lines, "visible");
|
||
g_action_map_add_action (G_ACTION_MAP (win), action);
|
||
g_object_unref (action);
|
||
|
||
g_object_bind_property (win->lines, "visible",
|
||
win->lines_label, "visible",
|
||
G_BINDING_DEFAULT);
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
...
|
||
```
|
||
|
||
([full source](https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gtk/blob/main/examples/application9/exampleappwin.c))
|
||
|
||
We also need a function that counts the lines of the currently active tab,
|
||
and updates the `lines` label. See the [full source](https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gtk/blob/main/examples/application9/exampleappwin.c)
|
||
if you are interested in the details.
|
||
|
||
This brings our example application to this appearance:
|
||
|
||
![Full application](getting-started-app9.png)
|