Synopsis

gtk.Builder Build an interface from an XML UI definition. Synopsis gtk.Builder gobject.GObject gtk.Builder add_from_file filename add_from_string buffer add_objects_from_file filename object_ids add_objects_from_string buffer object_ids connect_signals object user_dataNone get_object name get_objects get_translation_domain get_type_from_name type_name set_translation_domain domain Ancestry +-- gobject.GObject +-- gtk.Builder gtk.Builder Properties

"translation-domain" Read/Write The translation domain used when translating property values that have been marked as translatable in interface descriptions. If the translation domain is None, GtkBuilder uses gettext(), otherwise dgettext(). Default value: None

Description A gtk.Builder is an auxiliary object that reads textual descriptions of a user interface and instantiates the described objects. To pass a description to a gtk.Builder, call add_from_file() or add_from_string(). These methods can be called multiple times; the builder merges the content of all descriptions. A gtk.Builder 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 methods get_object() and 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 methods 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. The methods connect_signals() and variants thereof can be used to connect handlers to the named signals in the description. gtk.Builder UI definition gtk.Builder parses textual descriptions of user interfaces which are specified in an XML format which can be roughly described by the DTD 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 GtkUIManager UI Definitions, which are more limited in scope. ]]> 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 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 _get_type() from the class name by applying heuristics. This works in most cases, but if necessary, it is possible to specify the name of the _get_type() explictly with the "type-func" attribute. As a special case, gtk.Builder allows to use an object that has been constructed by a gtk.UIManager in another part of the UI definition by specifying the id of the gtk.UIManager 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 get_object(). An id is also necessary to use the object as property value in other parts of the UI definition. Prior to GTK+ 2.20, gtk.Builder 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 gtk.gdk.color_parse()). Objects can be referred to by their name. Pixbufs can be specified as a filename of an image file to load. In general, GtkBuilder allows forward references to objects — 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(). 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). This can be achieved by setting the "internal-child" propery of the <child> element to a true value. Note that gtk.Builder 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 gtk.Builder UI definition example

]]> 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 their respective objects in the GTK+ Reference Manual. Constructor gtk.Builder Returns : a new builder object. Creates a new builder object. Methods gtk.Builder.add_from_file add_from_file filename filename : The name of the file to parse. Returns : A positive value on success, 0 if an error occurred. This method is available in PyGTK 2.12 and above. The add_from_file() method parses a file containing a GtkBuilder UI definition and merges it with the current contents of builder. gtk.Builder.add_from_string add_from_string buffer buffer : The string to parse. Returns : A positive value on success, 0 if an error occurred. This method is available in PyGTK 2.12 and above. The add_from_string() method parses a string containing a GtkBuilder UI definition and merges it with the current contents of builder. gtk.Builder.add_objects_from_file add_objects_from_file filename object_ids filename : The name of the file to parse. object_ids : A list of objects to build. Returns : A positive value on success, 0 if an error occurred. This method is available in PyGTK 2.14 and above. The add_objects_from_file() method parses a file containing a GtkBuilder UI definition building only the requested objects and merges it with the current contents of builder. Note that if you are adding an object that depends on an object that is not its child (for instance a gtk.TreeView that depends on its gtk.TreeModel), you have to explicitely list all of them in object_ids. gtk.Builder.add_objects_from_string add_objects_from_string buffer object_ids buffer : The string to parse. object_ids : A list of objects to build. Returns : A positive value on success, 0 if an error occurred. This method is available in PyGTK 2.14 and above. The add_objects_from_string() method parses a string containing a GtkBuilder UI definition building only the requested objects and merges it with the current contents of builder. Note that if you are adding an object that depends on an object that is not its child (for instance a gtk.TreeView that depends on its gtk.TreeModel), you have to explicitely list all of them in object_ids. gtk.Builder.connect_signals connect_signals object user_data object : A mapping or an instance. user_data : User data for every signal handler. This method is available in PyGTK 2.12 and above. The connect_signals() method uses Python's introspective features to look at the keys (if object is a mapping) or attributes (if object is an instance) and tries to match them with the signal handler names given in the interface description. The callbacks referenced by each matched key or attribute are connected to their matching signals. For each of handlers that cannot be found, a RuntimeWarning is issued. Also, if there is at least one such missing handler, connect_signals will return a list of their names, else return value is None. RuntimeWarning and return value for missing handlers was added in PyGTK 2.14. gtk.Builder.get_object get_object name name : Name of object to get. Returns : The object named name or None if it could not be found in the object tree. This method is available in PyGTK 2.12 and above. The get_object() method gets the object named name. gtk.Builder.get_objects get_objects Returns : A list containing all the objects constructed by the GtkBuilder instance This method is available in PyGTK 2.12 and above. The get_objects() method gets all objects that have been constructed by builder. gtk.Builder.get_translation_domain get_translation_domain Returns : The translation domain. This method is available in PyGTK 2.12 and above. The get_translation_domain() gets the translation domain of builder. gtk.Builder.get_type_from_name get_type_from_name type_name type_name : The name to lookup. Returns : The GType found for type_name or G_TYPE_INVALID if no type was found This method is available in PyGTK 2.12 and above. The get_type_from_name() method looks up a type by name, using the virtual function that GtkBuilder has for that purpose. gtk.Builder.set_translation_domain set_translation_domain domain domain : The translation domain or None. This method is available in PyGTK 2.12 and above. The set_translation_domain() method sets the translation domain of builder. See GtkBuilder:translation-domain property.