GI.Gtk.Objects.Builder

A GtkBuilder is an auxiliary object that reads textual descriptions of a user interface and instantiates the described objects. To create a GtkBuilder from a user interface description, call builderNewFromFile, builderNewFromResource or builderNewFromString.

In the (unusual) case that you want to add user interface descriptions from multiple sources to the same GtkBuilder you can call builderNew to get an empty builder and populate it by (multiple) calls to builderAddFromFile, builderAddFromResource or builderAddFromString.

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 widgetDestroy to get rid of them and all the widgets they contain.

The functions builderGetObject and builderGetObjects 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 widgetDestroy. 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 objectRef to keep them beyond the lifespan of the builder.

The function builderConnectSignals and variants thereof can be used to connect handlers to the named signals in the description.

# GtkBuilder UI Definitions # {BUILDER-UI}

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 [GtkUIManager UI Definitions][XML-UI], which are more limited in scope. It is common to use .ui as the filename extension for files containing GtkBuilder UI definitions.

RELAX NG Compact Syntax

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 builderSetTranslationDomain 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() 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 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 UIManager in another part of the UI definition by specifying the id of the UIManager in the “constructor” attribute and the name of the object in the “id” attribute.

Objects may be given a name with the “id” attribute, which allows the application to retrieve them from the builder with builderGetObject. An id is also necessary to use the object as property value in other parts of the UI definition. GTK+ reserves ids starting and ending with ___ (3 underscores) for its own purposes.

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 rGBAParse).

GVariants can be specified in the format understood by variantParse, and 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 builderExposeObject. In general, GtkBuilder allows forward references to objects — 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.

It is also possible to bind a property value to another object's property value using the attributes "bind-source" to specify the source object of the binding, "bind-property" to specify the source property and optionally "bind-flags" to specify the binding flags. Internally builder implements this using GBinding objects. For more information see objectBindProperty

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 moduleSymbol, but this can be changed by passing a custom BuilderConnectFunc to builderConnectSignalsFull. 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 Dialog). This can be achieved by setting the “internal-child” property 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

xml code

<interface>
  <object class="GtkDialog" id="dialog1">
    <child internal-child="vbox">
      <object class="GtkBox" id="vbox1">
        <property name="border-width">10</property>
        <child internal-child="action_area">
          <object class="GtkButtonBox" 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.

Additionally, since 3.10 a special <template> tag has been added to the format allowing one to define a widget class’s components. See the [GtkWidget documentation][composite-templates] for details.

Exported types

newtype Builder

Memory-managed wrapper type.

Constructors

Builder (ManagedPtr Builder)

Instances

Eq Builder

Defined in GI.Gtk.Objects.Builder

Methods

(==) :: Builder -> Builder -> Bool

(/=) :: Builder -> Builder -> Bool

GObject Builder

Defined in GI.Gtk.Objects.Builder

ManagedPtrNewtype Builder

Defined in GI.Gtk.Objects.Builder

Methods

toManagedPtr :: Builder -> ManagedPtr Builder

TypedObject Builder

Defined in GI.Gtk.Objects.Builder

Methods

glibType :: IO GType

HasParentTypes Builder

Defined in GI.Gtk.Objects.Builder

IsGValue (Maybe Builder)

Convert Builder to and from GValue. See toGValue and fromGValue.

Defined in GI.Gtk.Objects.Builder

Methods

gvalueGType_ :: IO GType

gvalueSet_ :: Ptr GValue -> Maybe Builder -> IO ()

gvalueGet_ :: Ptr GValue -> IO (Maybe Builder)

type ParentTypes Builder

Defined in GI.Gtk.Objects.Builder

type ParentTypes Builder = '[Object]

class (GObject o, IsDescendantOf Builder o) => IsBuilder o

Type class for types which can be safely cast to Builder, for instance with toBuilder.

Instances

(GObject o, IsDescendantOf Builder o) => IsBuilder o

Defined in GI.Gtk.Objects.Builder

toBuilder :: (MonadIO m, IsBuilder o) => o -> m Builder

Cast to Builder, for types for which this is known to be safe. For general casts, use castTo.

Methods

Click to display all available methods, including inherited ones

Methods

addCallbackSymbol, addFromFile, addFromResource, addFromString, addObjectsFromFile, addObjectsFromResource, addObjectsFromString, bindProperty, bindPropertyFull, connectSignals, connectSignalsFull, exposeObject, extendWithTemplate, forceFloating, freezeNotify, getv, isFloating, notify, notifyByPspec, ref, refSink, runDispose, stealData, stealQdata, thawNotify, unref, valueFromString, valueFromStringType, watchClosure.

Getters

getApplication, getData, getObject, getObjects, getProperty, getQdata, getTranslationDomain, getTypeFromName.

Setters

setApplication, setData, setDataFull, setProperty, setTranslationDomain.

addCallbackSymbol

builderAddCallbackSymbol

Arguments

:: (HasCallStack, MonadIO m, IsBuilder a)

=> a

builder: a Builder

-> Text

callbackName: The name of the callback, as expected in the XML

-> Callback

callbackSymbol: The callback pointer

-> m ()

Adds the callbackSymbol to the scope of builder under the given callbackName.

Using this function overrides the behavior of builderConnectSignals for any callback symbols that are added. Using this method allows for better encapsulation as it does not require that callback symbols be declared in the global namespace.

Since: 3.10

addFromFile

builderAddFromFile

Arguments

:: (HasCallStack, MonadIO m, IsBuilder a)

=> a

builder: a Builder

-> Text

filename: the name of the file to parse

-> m Word32

Returns: A positive value on success, 0 if an error occurred (Can throw GError)

Parses a file containing a [GtkBuilder UI definition][BUILDER-UI] and merges it with the current contents of builder.

Most users will probably want to use builderNewFromFile.

If an error occurs, 0 will be returned and error will be assigned a GError from the GTK_BUILDER_ERROR, G_MARKUP_ERROR or G_FILE_ERROR domain.

It’s not really reasonable to attempt to handle failures of this call. You should not use this function with untrusted files (ie: files that are not part of your application). Broken Builder files can easily crash your program, and it’s possible that memory was leaked leading up to the reported failure. The only reasonable thing to do when an error is detected is to call g_error().

Since: 2.12

addFromResource

builderAddFromResource

Arguments

:: (HasCallStack, MonadIO m, IsBuilder a)

=> a

builder: a Builder

-> Text

resourcePath: the path of the resource file to parse

-> m Word32

Returns: A positive value on success, 0 if an error occurred (Can throw GError)

Parses a resource file containing a [GtkBuilder UI definition][BUILDER-UI] and merges it with the current contents of builder.

Most users will probably want to use builderNewFromResource.

If an error occurs, 0 will be returned and error will be assigned a GError from the GTK_BUILDER_ERROR, G_MARKUP_ERROR or G_RESOURCE_ERROR domain.

It’s not really reasonable to attempt to handle failures of this call. The only reasonable thing to do when an error is detected is to call g_error().

Since: 3.4

addFromString

builderAddFromString

Arguments

:: (HasCallStack, MonadIO m, IsBuilder a)

=> a

builder: a Builder

-> Text

buffer: the string to parse

-> Int64

length: the length of buffer (may be -1 if buffer is nul-terminated)

-> m Word32

Returns: A positive value on success, 0 if an error occurred (Can throw GError)

Parses a string containing a [GtkBuilder UI definition][BUILDER-UI] and merges it with the current contents of builder.

Most users will probably want to use builderNewFromString.

Upon errors 0 will be returned and error will be assigned a GError from the GTK_BUILDER_ERROR, G_MARKUP_ERROR or G_VARIANT_PARSE_ERROR domain.

It’s not really reasonable to attempt to handle failures of this call. The only reasonable thing to do when an error is detected is to call g_error().

Since: 2.12

addObjectsFromFile

builderAddObjectsFromFile

Arguments

:: (HasCallStack, MonadIO m, IsBuilder a)

=> a

builder: a Builder

-> Text

filename: the name of the file to parse

-> [Text]

objectIds: nul-terminated array of objects to build

-> m Word32

Returns: A positive value on success, 0 if an error occurred (Can throw GError)

Parses a file containing a [GtkBuilder UI definition][BUILDER-UI] 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 from the GTK_BUILDER_ERROR, G_MARKUP_ERROR or G_FILE_ERROR domain.

If you are adding an object that depends on an object that is not its child (for instance a TreeView that depends on its TreeModel), you have to explicitly list all of them in objectIds.

Since: 2.14

addObjectsFromResource

builderAddObjectsFromResource

Arguments

:: (HasCallStack, MonadIO m, IsBuilder a)

=> a

builder: a Builder

-> Text

resourcePath: the path of the resource file to parse

-> [Text]

objectIds: nul-terminated array of objects to build

-> m Word32

Returns: A positive value on success, 0 if an error occurred (Can throw GError)

Parses a resource file containing a [GtkBuilder UI definition][BUILDER-UI] 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 from the GTK_BUILDER_ERROR, G_MARKUP_ERROR or G_RESOURCE_ERROR domain.

If you are adding an object that depends on an object that is not its child (for instance a TreeView that depends on its TreeModel), you have to explicitly list all of them in objectIds.

Since: 3.4

addObjectsFromString

builderAddObjectsFromString

Arguments

:: (HasCallStack, MonadIO m, IsBuilder a)

=> a

builder: a Builder

-> Text

buffer: the string to parse

-> Word64

length: the length of buffer (may be -1 if buffer is nul-terminated)

-> [Text]

objectIds: nul-terminated array of objects to build

-> m Word32

Returns: A positive value on success, 0 if an error occurred (Can throw GError)

Parses a string containing a [GtkBuilder UI definition][BUILDER-UI] 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 from the GTK_BUILDER_ERROR or G_MARKUP_ERROR domain.

If you are adding an object that depends on an object that is not its child (for instance a TreeView that depends on its TreeModel), you have to explicitly list all of them in objectIds.

Since: 2.14

connectSignals

builderConnectSignals

Arguments

:: (HasCallStack, MonadIO m, IsBuilder a)

=> a

builder: a Builder

-> Ptr ()

userData: user data to pass back with all signals

-> m ()

This method is a simpler variation of builderConnectSignalsFull. It uses symbols explicitly added to builder with prior calls to builderAddCallbackSymbol. In the case that symbols are not explicitly added; it uses Module’s introspective features (by opening the module Nothing) 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 unless builderAddCallbackSymbol is called for all signal callbacks which are referenced by the loaded XML, this function will require that Module be supported on the platform.

If you rely on Module support to lookup callbacks in the symbol table, the following details should be noted:

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: 2.12

connectSignalsFull

builderConnectSignalsFull

Arguments

:: (HasCallStack, MonadIO m, IsBuilder a)

=> a

builder: a Builder

-> BuilderConnectFunc

func: the function used to connect the signals

-> m ()

This function can be thought of the interpreted language binding version of builderConnectSignals, except that it does not require GModule to function correctly.

Since: 2.12

exposeObject

builderExposeObject

Arguments

:: (HasCallStack, MonadIO m, IsBuilder a, IsObject b)

=> a

builder: a Builder

-> Text

name: the name of the object exposed to the builder

-> b

object: the object to expose

-> m ()

Add object to the builder object pool so it can be referenced just like any other object built by builder.

Since: 3.8

extendWithTemplate

builderExtendWithTemplate

Arguments

:: (HasCallStack, MonadIO m, IsBuilder a, IsWidget b)

=> a

builder: a Builder

-> b

widget: the widget that is being extended

-> GType

templateType: the type that the template is for

-> Text

buffer: the string to parse

-> Word64

length: the length of buffer (may be -1 if buffer is nul-terminated)

-> m Word32

Returns: A positive value on success, 0 if an error occurred (Can throw GError)

Main private entry point for building composite container components from template XML.

This is exported purely to let gtk-builder-tool validate templates, applications have no need to call this function.

getApplication

builderGetApplication

Arguments

:: (HasCallStack, MonadIO m, IsBuilder a)

=> a

builder: a Builder

-> m (Maybe Application)

Returns: the application being used by the builder, or Nothing

Gets the Application associated with the builder.

The Application is used for creating action proxies as requested from XML that the builder is loading.

By default, the builder uses the default application: the one from applicationGetDefault. If you want to use another application for constructing proxies, use builderSetApplication.

Since: 3.10

getObject

builderGetObject

Arguments

:: (HasCallStack, MonadIO m, IsBuilder a)

=> a

builder: a Builder

-> Text

name: name of object to get

-> m (Maybe Object)

Returns: the object named name or Nothing if it could not be found in the object tree.

Gets the object named name. Note that this function does not increment the reference count of the returned object.

Since: 2.12

getObjects

builderGetObjects

Arguments

:: (HasCallStack, MonadIO m, IsBuilder a)

=> a

builder: a Builder

-> m [Object]

Returns: a newly-allocated SList containing all the objects constructed by the Builder instance. It should be freed by g_slist_free()

Gets all objects that have been constructed by builder. Note that this function does not increment the reference counts of the returned objects.

Since: 2.12

getTranslationDomain

builderGetTranslationDomain

Arguments

:: (HasCallStack, MonadIO m, IsBuilder a)

=> a

builder: a Builder

-> m Text

Returns: the translation domain. This string is owned by the builder object and must not be modified or freed.

Gets the translation domain of builder.

Since: 2.12

getTypeFromName

builderGetTypeFromName

Arguments

:: (HasCallStack, MonadIO m, IsBuilder a)

=> a

builder: a Builder

-> Text

typeName: type name to lookup

-> m GType

Returns: the GType found for typeName or G_TYPE_INVALID if no type was found

Looks up a type by name, using the virtual function that Builder has for that purpose. This is mainly used when implementing the Buildable interface on a type.

Since: 2.12

new

builderNew

Arguments

:: (HasCallStack, MonadIO m)

=> m Builder

Returns: a new (empty) Builder object

Creates a new empty builder object.

This function is only useful if you intend to make multiple calls to builderAddFromFile, builderAddFromResource or builderAddFromString in order to merge multiple UI descriptions into a single builder.

Most users will probably want to use builderNewFromFile, builderNewFromResource or builderNewFromString.

Since: 2.12

newFromFile

builderNewFromFile

Arguments

:: (HasCallStack, MonadIO m)

=> Text

filename: filename of user interface description file

-> m Builder

Returns: a Builder containing the described interface

Builds the [GtkBuilder UI definition][BUILDER-UI] in the file filename.

If there is an error opening the file or parsing the description then the program will be aborted. You should only ever attempt to parse user interface descriptions that are shipped as part of your program.

Since: 3.10

newFromResource

builderNewFromResource

Arguments

:: (HasCallStack, MonadIO m)

=> Text

resourcePath: a Resource resource path

-> m Builder

Returns: a Builder containing the described interface

Builds the [GtkBuilder UI definition][BUILDER-UI] at resourcePath.

If there is an error locating the resource or parsing the description, then the program will be aborted.

Since: 3.10

newFromString

builderNewFromString

Arguments

:: (HasCallStack, MonadIO m)

=> Text

string: a user interface (XML) description

-> Int64

length: the length of string, or -1

-> m Builder

Returns: a Builder containing the interface described by string

Builds the user interface described by string (in the [GtkBuilder UI definition][BUILDER-UI] format).

If string is Nothing-terminated, then length should be -1. If length is not -1, then it is the length of string.

If there is an error parsing string then the program will be aborted. You should not attempt to parse user interface description from untrusted sources.

Since: 3.10

setApplication

builderSetApplication

Arguments

:: (HasCallStack, MonadIO m, IsBuilder a, IsApplication b)

=> a

builder: a Builder

-> b

application: a Application

-> m ()

Sets the application associated with builder.

You only need this function if there is more than one Application in your process. application cannot be Nothing.

Since: 3.10

setTranslationDomain

builderSetTranslationDomain

Arguments

:: (HasCallStack, MonadIO m, IsBuilder a)

=> a

builder: a Builder

-> Maybe Text

domain: the translation domain or Nothing

-> m ()

Sets the translation domain of builder. See Builder:translationDomain.

Since: 2.12

valueFromString

builderValueFromString

Arguments

:: (HasCallStack, MonadIO m, IsBuilder a)

=> a

builder: a Builder

-> GParamSpec

pspec: the ParamSpec for the property

-> Text

string: the string representation of the value

-> m GValue

(Can throw GError)

This function demarshals a value from a string. This function calls valueInit 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, Color, RGBA and Adjustment type values. Support for Widget type values is still to come.

Upon errors False will be returned and error will be assigned a GError from the GTK_BUILDER_ERROR domain.

Since: 2.12

valueFromStringType

builderValueFromStringType

Arguments

:: (HasCallStack, MonadIO m, IsBuilder a)

=> a

builder: a Builder

-> GType

type: the GType of the value

-> Text

string: the string representation of the value

-> m GValue

(Can throw GError)

Like builderValueFromString, this function demarshals a value from a string, but takes a GType instead of ParamSpec. This function calls valueInit on the value argument, so it need not be initialised beforehand.

Upon errors False will be returned and error will be assigned a GError from the GTK_BUILDER_ERROR domain.

Since: 2.12

Properties

translationDomain

The translation domain used when translating property values that have been marked as translatable in interface descriptions. If the translation domain is Nothing, Builder uses gettext(), otherwise dgettext.

Since: 2.12

clearBuilderTranslationDomain :: (MonadIO m, IsBuilder o) => o -> m ()

Set the value of the “translation-domain” property to Nothing. When overloading is enabled, this is equivalent to

clear #translationDomain

constructBuilderTranslationDomain :: (IsBuilder o, MonadIO m) => Text -> m (GValueConstruct o)

Construct a GValueConstruct with valid value for the “translation-domain” property. This is rarely needed directly, but it is used by new.

getBuilderTranslationDomain :: (MonadIO m, IsBuilder o) => o -> m Text

Get the value of the “translation-domain” property. When overloading is enabled, this is equivalent to

get builder #translationDomain

setBuilderTranslationDomain :: (MonadIO m, IsBuilder o) => o -> Text -> m ()

Set the value of the “translation-domain” property. When overloading is enabled, this is equivalent to

set builder [ #translationDomain := value ]