GTK+ FAQ: Development with GTK+: widget specific questions

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## 6. Development with GTK+: widget specific questions

## 6.1 How do I find out about the selection of a GtkList?

Get the selection something like this:

> `

>     GList *sel;
>     sel = GTK_LIST(list)->selection;

> `

This is how GList is defined (quoting glist.h):

> `

>     typedef struct _GList GList;

>     struct _GList
>     {
>       gpointer data;
>       GList *next;
>       GList *prev;
>     };

> `

A GList structure is just a simple structure for doubly linked lists. there exist several g_list_*() functions to modify a linked list in glib.h. However the GTK_LIST(MyGtkList)->selection is maintained by the gtk_list_*() functions and should not be modified.

The selection_mode of the GtkList determines the selection facilities of a GtkList and therefore the contents of GTK_LIST(AnyGtkList)->selection:

    selection_mode          GTK_LIST()->selection contents
    ------------------------------------------------------

    GTK_SELECTION_SINGLE    selection is either NULL
                            or contains a GList* pointer
                            for a single selected item.

    GTK_SELECTION_BROWSE    selection is NULL if the list
                            contains no widgets, otherwise
                            it contains a GList* pointer
                            for one GList structure.

    GTK_SELECTION_MULTIPLE  selection is NULL if no listitems
                            are selected or a a GList* pointer
                            for the first selected item. that
                            in turn points to a GList structure
                            for the second selected item and so
                            on.

    GTK_SELECTION_EXTENDED  selection is NULL.

The data field of the GList structure GTK_LIST(MyGtkList)->selection points to the first GtkListItem that is selected. So if you would like to determine which listitems are selected you should go like this:

Upon Initialization:

> `

>     {
>             gchar           *list_items[]={
>                                     "Item0",
>                                     "Item1",
>                                     "foo",
>                                     "last Item",
>                             };
>             guint           nlist_items=sizeof(list_items)/sizeof(list_items[0]);
>             GtkWidget       *list_item;
>             guint           i;

>             list=gtk_list_new();
>             gtk_list_set_selection_mode(GTK_LIST(list), GTK_SELECTION_MULTIPLE);
>             gtk_container_add(GTK_CONTAINER(AnyGtkContainer), list);
>             gtk_widget_show (list);

>             for (i = 0; i < nlist_items; i++)
>             {
>                     list_item=gtk_list_item_new_with_label(list_items[i]);
>                     gtk_object_set_user_data(GTK_OBJECT(list_item), (gpointer)i);
>                     gtk_container_add(GTK_CONTAINER(list), list_item);
>                     gtk_widget_show(list_item);
>             }
>     }

> `

To get known about the selection:

> `

>     {
>             GList   *items;

>             items=GTK_LIST(list)->selection;

>             printf("Selected Items: ");
>             while (items) {
>                     if (GTK_IS_LIST_ITEM(items->data))
>                             printf("%d ", (guint)
>                     gtk_object_get_user_data(items->data));
>                     items=items->next;
>             }
>             printf("\n");
>     }

> `

## 6.2 How do I stop the column headings of a GtkCList disappearing when the list is scrolled?

This happens when a GtkCList is packed into a GtkScrolledWindow using the function `gtk_scroll_window_add_with_viewport()`. The prefered method of adding a CList to a scrolled window is to use the function `gtk_container_add`, as in:

> `

>         GtkWidget *scrolled, *clist;
>         char *titles[] = { "Title1" , "Title2" };

>         scrolled = gtk_scrolled_window_new(NULL, NULL);

>         clist = gtk_clist_new_with_titles(2, titles);
>         gtk_container_add(GTK_CONTAINER(scrolled), clist);

> `

## 6.3 I don't want the user of my applications to enter text into a GtkCombo. Any idea?

A GtkCombo has an associated entry which can be accessed using the following expression:

> `

>           GTK_COMBO(combo_widget)->entry

> `

If you don't want the user to be able to modify the content of this entry, you can use the gtk_entry_set_editable() function:

> `

>           void gtk_entry_set_editable(GtkEntry *entry,
>                                       gboolean editable);

> `

Set the editable parameter to FALSE to disable typing into the entry.

## 6.4 How do I catch a combo box change?

The entry which is associated to your GtkCombo send a "changed" signal when:

- some text is typed in
- the selection of the combo box is changed

To catch any combo box change, simply connect your signal handler with

> `

>           gtk_signal_connect(GTK_COMBO(cb)->entry,
>                              "changed",
>                              GTK_SIGNAL_FUNC(my_cb_change_handler),
>                              NULL);

> `

## 6.5 How can I define a separation line in a menu?

See the Tutorial for information on how to create menus. However, to create a separation line in a menu, just insert an empty menu item:

> `

>     menuitem = gtk_menu_item_new();
>     gtk_menu_append(GTK_MENU(menu), menuitem);
>     gtk_widget_show(menuitem);

> `

## 6.6 How can I right justify a menu, such as Help?

Depending on if you use the MenuFactory or not, there are two ways to proceed. With the MenuFactory, use something like the following:

> `

>     menu_path = gtk_menu_factory_find (factory,  "<MyApp>/Help");
>     gtk_menu_item_right_justify(menu_path->widget);

> `

If you do not use the MenuFactory, you should simply use:

> `

>     gtk_menu_item_right_justify(my_menu_item);

> `

## 6.7 How do I add some underlined accelerators to menu items?

Damon Chaplin, the technical force behind the Glade project, provided the following code sample (this code is an output from Glade). It creates a small `File` menu item with only one child (`New`). The F in `File` and the N in `New` are underlined, and the relevant accelerators are created.

> `

>       menubar1 = gtk_menu_bar_new ();
>       gtk_object_set_data (GTK_OBJECT (window1), "menubar1", menubar1);
>       gtk_widget_show (menubar1);
>       gtk_box_pack_start (GTK_BOX (vbox1), menubar1, FALSE, FALSE, 0);

>       file1 = gtk_menu_item_new_with_label ("");
>       tmp_key = gtk_label_parse_uline (GTK_LABEL (GTK_BIN (file1)->child),
>                                        _("_File"));
>       gtk_widget_add_accelerator (file1, "activate_item", accel_group,
>                                   tmp_key, GDK_MOD1_MASK, 0);
>       gtk_object_set_data (GTK_OBJECT (window1), "file1", file1);
>       gtk_widget_show (file1);
>       gtk_container_add (GTK_CONTAINER (menubar1), file1);

>       file1_menu = gtk_menu_new ();
>       file1_menu_accels = gtk_menu_ensure_uline_accel_group (GTK_MENU (file1_menu));
>       gtk_object_set_data (GTK_OBJECT (window1), "file1_menu", file1_menu);
>       gtk_menu_item_set_submenu (GTK_MENU_ITEM (file1), file1_menu);

>       new1 = gtk_menu_item_new_with_label ("");
>       tmp_key = gtk_label_parse_uline (GTK_LABEL (GTK_BIN (new1)->child),
>                                        _("_New"));
>       gtk_widget_add_accelerator (new1, "activate_item", file1_menu_accels,
>                                   tmp_key, 0, 0);
>       gtk_object_set_data (GTK_OBJECT (window1), "new1", new1);
>       gtk_widget_show (new1);
>       gtk_container_add (GTK_CONTAINER (file1_menu), new1);

> `

## 6.8 How can I retrieve the text from a GtkMenuItem?

You can usually retrieve the label of a specific GtkMenuItem with:

> `

>         if (GTK_BIN (menu_item)->child)
>         {
>           GtkWidget *child = GTK_BIN (menu_item)->child;

>           /* do stuff with child */
>           if (GTK_IS_LABEL (child))
>           {
>             gchar *text;

>             gtk_label_get (GTK_LABEL (child), &text);
>             g_print ("menu item text: %s\n", text);
>           }
>         }

> `

To get the active menu item from a GtkOptionMenu you can do:

> `

>     if (GTK_OPTION_MENU (option_menu)->menu_item)
>     {
>       GtkWidget *menu_item = GTK_OPTION_MENU (option_menu)->menu_item;
>     }

> `

But, there's a catch. For this specific case, you can not get the label widget from `menu_item` with the above code, because the option menu reparents the menu_item's child temporarily to display the currently active contents. So to retrive the child of the currently active menu_item of an option menu, you'll have to do:

> `

>         if (GTK_BIN (option_menu)->child)
>         {
>           GtkWidget *child = GTK_BIN (option_menu)->child;

>           /* do stuff with child */
>         }

> `

## 6.9 How do I right (or otherwise) justify a GtkLabel?

Are you sure you want to justify the labels? The label class contains the `gtk_label_set_justify()` function that is used to control the justification of a multi-line label.

What you probably want is to set the alignment of the label, ie right align it, center it or left align it. If you want to do this, you should use:

> `

>     void gtk_misc_set_alignment (GtkMisc *misc,
>                                  gfloat xalign,
>                                  gfloat yalign);

> `

where the `xalign` and `yalign` values are floats in [0.00;1.00].

> `

>     GtkWidget       *label;

>     /* horizontal : left align, vertical : top */
>     gtk_misc_set_alignment(GTK_MISK(label), 0.0f, 0.0f);

>     /* horizontal : centered, vertical : centered */
>     gtk_misc_set_alignment(GTK_MISK(label), 0.5f, 0.5f);

>     /* horizontal : right align, vertical : bottom */
>     gtk_misc_set_alignment(GTK_MISK(label), 1.0f, 1.0f);

> `

## 6.10 How do I set the background color of a GtkLabel widget?

The Gtklabel widget is one of a few GTK+ widgets that don't create their own window to render themselves into. Instead, they draw themselves directly onto their parents window.

This means that in order to set the background color for a GtkLabel widget, you need to change the background color of its parent, i.e. the object that you pack it into.

## 6.11 How do I set the color and font of a GtkLabel using a Resource File?

The widget name path constructed for a Label consists of the widget names of its object hierarchy as well, e.g.

    window (name: humphrey)
      hbox
        label (name: mylabel)

The widget path your pattern needs to match would be: `humphrey.GtkHBox.mylabel`

The resource file may look something like:

    style "title"
    {
          fg[NORMAL] = {1.0, 0.0, 0.0}
          font = "-adobe-helvetica-bold-r-normal--*-140-*-*-*-*-*-*"
    }
    widget "*mylabel" style "title"

In your program, you would also need to give a name to the Label widget, which can be done using:

      label = gtk_label_new("Some Label Text");
      gtk_widget_set_name(label, "mylabel");
      gtk_widget_show(label);

## 6.12 How do I configure Tooltips in a Resource File?

The tooltip's window is named "gtk-tooltips", GtkTooltips in itself is not a GtkWidget (though a GtkObject) and as such is not attempted to match any widget styles.

So, you resource file should look something like:

    style "postie"
    {
          bg[NORMAL] = {1.0, 1.0, 0.0}
    }
    widget "gtk-tooltips*" style "postie"

## 6.13 I can't add more than (something like) 2000 chars in a GtkEntry. What's wrong?

There is now a known problem in the GtkEntry widget. In the `gtk_entry_insert_text()` function, the following lines limit the number of chars in the entry to 2047.

> `

>       /* The algorithms here will work as long as, the text size (a
>        * multiple of 2), fits into a guint16 but we specify a shorter
>        * maximum length so that if the user pastes a very long text, there
>        * is not a long hang from the slow X_LOCALE functions.  */

>       if (entry->text_max_length == 0)
>         max_length = 2047;
>       else
>         max_length = MIN (2047, entry->text_max_length);

> `

## 6.14 How do I make a GtkEntry widget activate on pressing the Return key?

The Entry widget emits an 'activate' signal when you press return in it. Just attach to the activate signal on the entry and do whatever you want to do. Typical code would be:

> `

>       entry = gtk_entry_new();
>       gtk_signal_connect (GTK_OBJECT(entry), "activate",
>                           GTK_SIGNAL_FUNC(entry_callback),
>                           NULL);

> `

## 6.15 How do I validate/limit/filter the input to a GtkEntry?

If you want to validate the text that a user enters into a GtkEntry widget you can attach to the "insert_text" signal of the entry, and modify the text within the callback function. The example below forces all characters to uppercase, and limits the range of characters to A-Z. Note that the entry is cast to an object of type GtkEditable, from which GtkEntry is derived.

> `

>     #include <ctype.h>
>     #include <gtk/gtk.h>

>     void insert_text_handler (GtkEntry    *entry,
>                               const gchar *text,
>                               gint         length,
>                               gint        *position,
>                               gpointer     data)
>     {
>       GtkEditable *editable = GTK_EDITABLE(entry);
>       int i, count=0;
>       gchar *result = g_new (gchar, length);

>       for (i=0; i < length; i++) {
>         if (!isalpha(text[i]))
>           continue;
>         result[count++] = islower(text[i]) ? toupper(text[i]) : text[i];
>       }

>       if (count > 0) {
>         gtk_signal_handler_block_by_func (GTK_OBJECT (editable),
>                                           GTK_SIGNAL_FUNC (insert_text_handler),
>                                           data);
>         gtk_editable_insert_text (editable, result, count, position);
>         gtk_signal_handler_unblock_by_func (GTK_OBJECT (editable),
>                                             GTK_SIGNAL_FUNC (insert_text_handler),
>                                             data);
>       }
>       gtk_signal_emit_stop_by_name (GTK_OBJECT (editable), "insert_text");

>       g_free (result);
>     }

>     int main (int   argc,
>               char *argv[])
>     {
>       GtkWidget *window;
>       GtkWidget *entry;

>       gtk_init (&argc, &argv);

>       /* create a new window */
>       window = gtk_window_new(GTK_WINDOW_TOPLEVEL);
>       gtk_window_set_title(GTK_WINDOW (window), "GTK Entry");
>       gtk_signal_connect(GTK_OBJECT (window), "delete_event",
>                          (GtkSignalFunc) gtk_exit, NULL);

>       entry = gtk_entry_new();
>       gtk_signal_connect(GTK_OBJECT(entry), "insert_text",
>                          GTK_SIGNAL_FUNC(insert_text_handler),
>                          NULL);
>       gtk_container_add(GTK_CONTAINER (window), entry);
>       gtk_widget_show(entry);

>       gtk_widget_show(window);

>       gtk_main();
>       return(0);
>     }

> `

## 6.16 How do I use horizontal scrollbars with a GtkText widget?

The short answer is that you can't. The current version of the GtkText widget does not support horizontal scrolling. There is an intention to completely rewrite the GtkText widget, at which time this limitation will be removed.

## 6.17 How do I change the font of a GtkText widget?

There are a couple of ways of doing this. As GTK+ allows the appearance of applications to be changed at run time using resources you can use something like the following in the appropriate file:

> `

>     style "text"
>     {
>       font = "-adobe-helvetica-medium-r-normal--*-100-*-*-*-*-*-*"
>     }

> `

Another way to do this is to load a font within your program, and then use this in the functions for adding text to the text widget. You can load a font using, for example:

> `

>       GdkFont *font;
>       font = gdk_font_load("-adobe-helvetica-medium-r-normal--*-140-*-*-*-*-*-*");

> `

## 6.18 How do I set the cursor position in a GtkText object?

Notice that the response is valid for any object that inherits from the GtkEditable class.

Are you sure that you want to move the cursor position? Most of the time, while the cursor position is good, the insertion point does not match the cursor position. If this apply to what you really want, then you should use the `gtk_text_set_point()` function. If you want to set the insertion point at the current cursor position, use the following:

> `

>       gtk_text_set_point(GTK_TEXT(text),
>       gtk_editable_get_position(GTK_EDITABLE(text)));

> `

If you want the insertion point to follow the cursor at all time, you should probably catch the button press event, and then move the insertion point. Be careful : you'll have to catch it after the widget has changed the cursor position though. Thomas Mailund Jensen proposed the following code:

> `

>     static void
>     insert_bar (GtkWidget *text)
>     {
>       /* jump to cursor mark */
>       gtk_text_set_point (GTK_TEXT (text),
>       gtk_editable_get_position (GTK_EDITABLE  (text)));

>       gtk_text_insert (GTK_TEXT (text), NULL, NULL, NULL,
>          "bar", strlen ("bar"));
>     }

>     int
>     main (int argc, char *argv[])
>     {
>       GtkWidget *window, *text;

>       gtk_init (&argc, &argv);

>       window = gtk_window_new (GTK_WINDOW_TOPLEVEL);
>       text = gtk_text_new (NULL, NULL);
>       gtk_text_set_editable (GTK_TEXT (text), TRUE);
>       gtk_container_add (GTK_CONTAINER (window), text);

>       /* connect after everything else */
>       gtk_signal_connect_after (GTK_OBJECT(text), "button_press_event",
>         GTK_SIGNAL_FUNC (insert_bar), NULL);

>       gtk_widget_show_all(window);
>       gtk_main();

>       return 0;
>     }

> `

Now, if you really want to change the cursor position, you should use the `gtk_editable_set_position()` function.

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