NAME¶
Gtk2::GladeXML - Create user interfaces directly from Glade XML files.
SYNOPSIS¶
# for a pure gtk+ glade project
use Gtk2 -init;
use Gtk2::GladeXML;
$gladexml = Gtk2::GladeXML->new('example.glade');
$gladexml->signal_autoconnect_from_package('main');
$quitbtn = $gladexml->get_widget('Quit');
Gtk2->main;
# for glade files using gnome widgets, you must initialize Gnome2
# before loading the glade file.
use Gnome2;
use Gtk2::GladeXML;
# this call also initializes gtk+ for us
Gnome2::Program->init ($appname, $version);
$gladexml = Gtk2::GladeXML->new('gnomeapp.glade');
Gtk2->main;
ABSTRACT¶
Gtk2::GladeXML allows Perl programmers to use libglade, a C library which
generates graphical user interfaces directly from the XML output of the Glade
user interface designer.
DESCRIPTION¶
Glade is a free user interface builder for GTK+ and GNOME. After designing a
user interface with glade-2 the layout and configuration are saved in an XML
file. libglade is a library which knows how to build and hook up the user
interface described in the Glade XML file at application run time.
This extension module binds libglade to Perl so you can create and manipulate
user interfaces in Perl code in conjunction with Gtk2 and even Gnome2. Better
yet you can load a file's contents into a PERL scalar do a few magical regular
expressions to customize things and the load up the app. It doesn't get any
easier.
FUNCTIONS¶
- $gladexml = Gtk2::GladeXML->new(GLADE_FILE, [ROOT, DOMAIN])
- Create a new GladeXML object by loading the data in GLADE_FILE. ROOT is an
optional parameter that specifies a point (widget node) from which to
start building. DOMAIN is an optional parameter that specifies the
translation domain for the xml file.
- $gladexml = Gtk2::GladeXML->new_from_buffer(BUFFER, [ROOT,
DOMAIN])
- Create a new GladeXML object from the scalar string contained in BUFFER.
ROOT is an optional parameter that specifies a point (widget node) from
which to start building. DOMAIN is an optional parameter that specifies
the translation domain for the xml file.
- $widget = $gladexml->get_widget(NAME)
- Return the widget created by the XML file with NAME or undef if no such
name exists.
- $gladexml->signal_autoconnect($callback[, $userdata])
- Iterates over all signals and calls the given callback:
sub example_cb {
my ($name, $widget, $signal, $signal_data, $connect, $after, $userdata) = @_;
}
The following two convenience methods use this to provide a more convenient
interface.
- $gladexml->signal_autoconnect_from_package([PACKAGE or OBJECT])
- Sets up the signal handling callbacks as specified in the glade XML data.
The argument to this method can be a Perl package name or an object. If a
package name is used, each handler named in the Glade XML data will be
called as a subroutine in the named package. If an object is supplied each
handler will be called as a method of the object. If no argument is
supplied, the name of the calling package will be used. A user data
argument cannot be supplied however this is seldom necessary when an
object is used.
The names of the subroutines or methods must exactly match the handler name
in the XML data. It is worth noting that callbacks you get for free in c
such as gtk_main_quit will not exist in perl and must always be defined,
for example:
sub gtk_main_quit
{
Gtk2->main_quit;
}
Otherwise behavior should be exactly as expected with the use of libglade
from a C application.
- $gladexml->signal_autoconnect_all (name => handler, ...)
- Iterates over all named signals and tries to connect them to the handlers
specified as arguments (handlers not given as argument are being ignored).
This is very handy when implementing your own widgets, where you can't use
global callbacks.
- $widget = Gtk2::Glade->set_custom_handler ($callback[, $userdata])
- This method tells Gtk2::GladeXML how to create handlers for custom
widgets.
You can specify a "custom" widget in a glade file, which allows
you to include in your interface widgets that Glade itself doesn't know
how to create. To tell libglade how to instantiate such widgets, you
specify a "custom widget handler", a function which returns a
Gtk2:Widget object for that custom widget. This handler needs to be
installed sometime before the instantiation of your Gtk2::GladeXML object,
by calling "set_custom_handler".
my $widget = Gtk2::Glade->set_custom_handler( \&my_handler );
my $gladexml = Gtk2::GladeXML->new( 'MyApp.glade' );
The prototype for the custom handler is:
sub my_handler {
my ($xml, # The Gtk2::GladeXML object
# the remaining arguments are as specified in the glade file:
$func_name, # The function name
$name, # the name of the widget to be created
$str1, # the string1 property
$str2, # the string2 property
$int1, # the int1 property
$int2, # the int2 property
$userdata # the data passed to set_custom_handler
) = @_;
...
return $widget; # a new Gtk2::Widget; you must call ->show on it.
}
FAQ¶
- Where is the option to generate Perl source in Glade?
- Glade itself only creates the XML description, and relies on extra
converter programs to write source code; only a few converters are widely
popular.
In general, however, you don't want to generate source code for a variety of
reasons, mostly to do with maintainability. This message on the
glade-devel list explains it best:
http://lists.ximian.com/archives/public/glade-devel/2003-February/000015.html
- Why does my program crash on startup?
- Does your glade file use Gnome widgets? If so, you must initialize Gnome
manually; libglade can knows how to create gnome widgets, but can't know
how you want to initialize the app. This is usually sufficient:
use Gnome2;
Gnome2::Program->init ($app_name, $version_string);
Libglade's API reference mentions this:
http://developer.gnome.org/doc/API/2.0/libglade/libglade-modules.html
SEE ALSO¶
perl(1), Glib(3pm), Gtk2(3pm)
The Libglade Reference Manual at
<
http://developer.gnome.org/doc/API/2.0/libglade/>
An introductory article that originally appeared in The Perl Review:
<
http://live.gnome.org/GTK2-Perl/GladeXML/Tutorial>
AUTHOR¶
Ross McFarland <rwmcfa1 at neces dot com>, Marc Lehmann
<pcg@goof.com>, muppet <scott at asofyet dot org>. Bruce Alderson
provided several examples. Grant McClean <grant at mclean dot net dot
nz> and Marco Antonio Manzo <amnesiac at perl dot org dot mx>
contributed documentation.
COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE¶
Copyright 2003-2006 by the gtk2-perl team.
This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
the terms of the GNU Library General Public License as published by the Free
Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any
later version.
This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY
WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR
A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU Library General Public License for more
details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU Library General Public License along
with this library; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59
Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA.