GladeXML(3) User Contributed Perl Documentation GladeXML(3)NAMEGtk2::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;
ABSTRACTGtk2::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 ALSOperl(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
<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.
perl v5.14.1 2008-09-07 GladeXML(3)