gtk.UIManager

gtk.UIManager — construct menus and toolbars from an XML description (new in PyGTK 2.4)

Synopsis

class gtk.UIManager(gobject.GObject):
    gtk.UIManager()
def set_add_tearoffs(add_tearoffs)
def get_add_tearoffs()
def insert_action_group(action_group, pos)
def remove_action_group(action_group)
def get_action_groups()
def get_accel_group()
def get_widget(path)
def get_toplevels(types)
def get_action(path)
def add_ui_from_string(buffer)
def add_ui_from_file(filename)
def add_ui(merge_id, path, name, action, type, top)
def remove_ui(merge_id)
def get_ui()
def ensure_update()
def new_merge_id()

Ancestry

+-- gobject.GObject
  +-- gtk.UIManager

gtk.UIManager Properties

"add-tearoffs"Read-WriteIf TRUE, regular menus have tearoff menu items. Note that this only affects regular menus. Generated popup menus never have tearoff menu items. Available in GTK+ 2.4 and above.
"ui"Read-WriteAn XML string describing the merged UI.

gtk.UIManager Signal Prototypes

gobject.GObject Signal Prototypes

"actions-changed" def callback(uimanager, user_param1, ...)
"add-widget" def callback(uimanager, widget, user_param1, ...)
"connect-proxy" def callback(uimanager, action, widget, user_param1, ...)
"disconnect-proxy" def callback(uimanager, action, widget, user_param1, ...)
"post-activate" def callback(uimanager, action, user_param1, ...)
"pre-activate" def callback(uimanager, action, user_param1, ...)

Description

Note

This object is available in PyGTK 2.4 and above.

A gtk.UIManager constructs a user interface (menus and toolbars) from one or more UI definitions, which reference actions from one or more action groups.

UI Definitions

The UI definitions are specified in an XML format which can be roughly described by the following DTD.

<!ELEMENT ui          (menubar|toolbar|popup|accelerator)* >
<!ELEMENT menubar     (menuitem|separator|placeholder|menu)* >
<!ELEMENT menu        (menuitem|separator|placeholder|menu)* >
<!ELEMENT popup       (menuitem|separator|placeholder|menu)* >
<!ELEMENT toolbar     (toolitem|separator|placeholder)* >
<!ELEMENT placeholder (menuitem|toolitem|separator|placeholder|menu)* >
<!ELEMENT menuitem     EMPTY >
<!ELEMENT toolitem     EMPTY >
<!ELEMENT separator    EMPTY >
<!ELEMENT accelerator  EMPTY >
<!ATTLIST menubar      name               #IMPLIED >
<!ATTLIST toolbar      name               #IMPLIED >
<!ATTLIST popup        name               #IMPLIED >
<!ATTLIST placeholder  name               #IMPLIED >
<!ATTLIST menu         name               #IMPLIED
                       action             #REQUIRED
                       position (top|bot) #IMPLIED >
<!ATTLIST menuitem     name               #IMPLIED
                       action             #REQUIRED
                       position (top|bot) #IMPLIED >
<!ATTLIST toolitem     name               #IMPLIED
                       action             #REQUIRED
                       position (top|bot) #IMPLIED >
<!ATTLIST accelerator  name               #IMPLIED
                       action             #REQUIRED >

There are some additional restrictions beyond those specified in the DTD, e.g. every toolitem must have a toolbar in its ancestry and every menuitem must have a menubar or popup in its ancestry. Since a GMarkup parser is used to parse the UI description, it must not only be valid XML, but valid GMarkup. If a name is not specified, it defaults to the action. If an action is not specified either, the element name is used.

Example 5. A UI definition

<ui>
  <menubar>
    <menu name="FileMenu" action="FileMenuAction">
      <menuitem name="New" action="New2Action" />
      <placeholder name="FileMenuAdditions" />
    </menu>
    <menu name="JustifyMenu" action="JustifyMenuAction">
      <menuitem name="Left" action="justify-left"/>
      <menuitem name="Centre" action="justify-center"/>
      <menuitem name="Right" action="justify-right"/>
      <menuitem name="Fill" action="justify-fill"/>
    </menu>
  </menubar>
  <toolbar action="toolbar1">
    <placeholder name="JustifyToolItems">
      <separator/>
      <toolitem name="Left" action="justify-left"/>
      <toolitem name="Centre" action="justify-center"/>
      <toolitem name="Right" action="justify-right"/>
      <toolitem name="Fill" action="justify-fill"/>
      <separator/>
    </placeholder>
  </toolbar>
</ui>

The constructed widget hierarchy is very similar to the element tree of the XML, with the exception that placeholders are merged into their parents. The correspondence of XML elements to widgets should be almost obvious:

menubara gtk.MenuBar
toolbara gtk.Toolbar
popupa toplevel gtk.Menu
menua gtk.Menu attached to a menuitem
menuitema gtk.MenuItem subclass, the exact type depends on the action
toolitema gtk.ToolItem subclass, the exact type depends on the action
separatora gtk.SeparatorMenuItem or gtk.SeparatorToolItem
acceleratora keyboard accelerator

The "position" attribute determines where a constructed widget is positioned with respect to its siblings in the partially constructed tree. If it is "top", the widget is prepended, otherwise it is appended.

UI Merging

The most remarkable feature of gtk.UIManager is that it can overlay a set of menuitems and toolitems over another one, and demerge them later.

Merging is done based on the name of the XML elements. Each element is identified by a path which consists of the names of its ancestors, separated by slashes. For example, the menuitem named "Left" in the example above has the path /ui/menubar/JustifyMenu/Left and the toolitem with the same name has path /ui/toolbar1/JustifyToolItems/Left.

Accelerators

Every action has an accelerator path. Accelerators are installed together with menuitem proxies, but they can also be explicitly added with <accelerator> elements in the UI definition. This makes it possible to have accelerators for actions even if they have no visible proxies.

Smart Separators

The separators created by gtk.UIManager are "smart", i.e. they do not show up in the UI unless they end up between two visible menu or tool items. Separators which are located at the very beginning or end of the menu or toolbar containing them, or multiple separators next to each other, are hidden. This is a useful feature, since the merging of UI elements from multiple sources can make it hard or impossible to determine in advance whether a separator will end up in such an unfortunate position.

Empty Menus

Submenus pose similar problems to separators in connection with merging. It is impossible to know in advance whether they will end up empty after merging. gtk.UIManager offers two ways to treat empty submenus:

  • make them disappear by hiding the menu item they're attached to
  • add an insensitive "Empty" item

The behavior is chosen based on the "is_important" property of the action to which the submenu is associated.

Constructor

    gtk.UIManager()
Returns :a new ui manager object.

Note

This constructor is available in PyGTK 2.4 and above.

Creates a new gtk.UIManager object.

Methods

gtk.UIManager.set_add_tearoffs

    def set_add_tearoffs(add_tearoffs)
add_tearoffs :TRUE if tearoff menu items are added to regular menus

Note

This method is available in PyGTK 2.4 and above.

The add_tearoffs() method sets the "add_tearoffs" property to the value of add_tearoffs. If add_tearoffs is TRUE regular menus generated by this gtk.UIManager will have tearoff menu items.

Note that this only affects regular menus. Generated popup menus never have tearoff menu items.

gtk.UIManager.get_add_tearoffs

    def get_add_tearoffs()
Returns :TRUE if tearoff menu items are added

Note

This method is available in PyGTK 2.4 and above.

The get_add_tearoffs() method returns the value of the "add-tearoffs" property. If "add-tearoffs" is TRUE regular menus generated will have tearoff menu items.

gtk.UIManager.insert_action_group

    def insert_action_group(action_group, pos)
action_group :the action group to be inserted
pos :the position at which the group will be inserted. If pos is negative action_group is inserted at the end of the list.

Note

This method is available in PyGTK 2.4 and above.

The insert_action_group() method inserts the gtk.ActionGroup specified by action_group into the list of associated action groups at the position specified by pos. Actions in earlier groups hide actions with the same name in later groups.

gtk.UIManager.remove_action_group

    def remove_action_group(action_group)
action_group :the action group to be removed

Note

This method is available in PyGTK 2.4 and above.

The remove_action_group() method removes the gtk.ActionGroup specified by action_group from the list of associated action groups.

gtk.UIManager.get_action_groups

    def get_action_groups()
Returns :a list of associated action groups.

Note

This method is available in PyGTK 2.4 and above.

The get_action_groups() method returns the list of associated gtk.ActionGroup objects.

gtk.UIManager.get_accel_group

    def get_accel_group()
Returns :the gtk.AccelGroup.

Note

This method is available in PyGTK 2.4 and above.

The get_accel_group() method returns the associated gtk.AccelGroup.

gtk.UIManager.get_widget

    def get_widget(path)
path :a path
Returns :the widget found by following the path, or None if no widget was found.

Note

This method is available in PyGTK 2.4 and above.

The get_widget() method looks up a widget by following the path specified by path. The path consists of the names specified in the XML description of the UI. separated by '/'. Elements that don't have a name or action attribute in the XML (e.g. <popup>) can be addressed by their XML element name (e.g. "popup"). The root element ("/ui") can be omitted in the path.

gtk.UIManager.get_toplevels

    def get_toplevels(types)
types :specifies the types of toplevel widgets to include. Allowed types are gtk.UI_MANAGER_MENUBAR, gtk.UI_MANAGER_TOOLBAR and gtk.UI_MANAGER_POPUP.
Returns :a list of all toplevel widgets of the requested types.

Note

This method is available in PyGTK 2.4 and above.

The get_toplevels() method returns a list of all toplevel widgets of the types specified by types.

gtk.UIManager.get_action

    def get_action(path)
path :a path
Returns :the action whose proxy widget is found by following the path, or None if no widget was found.

Note

This method is available in PyGTK 2.4 and above.

The get_action() method looks up a gtk.Action by following a path. See the get_widget() method for more information about paths.

gtk.UIManager.add_ui_from_string

    def add_ui_from_string(buffer)
buffer :the string to parse
Returns :The merge id for the merged UI. The merge id can be used to unmerge the UI with the remove_ui() method.

Note

This method is available in PyGTK 2.4 and above.

The add_ui_from_string() method parses the string specified by buffer that contains a UI definition and merges it with the current contents of the ui manager. An enclosing <ui> element is added if it is missing.

This method raise the GError exception if an error occurs during the parsing of the string.

gtk.UIManager.add_ui_from_file

    def add_ui_from_file(filename)
filename :the name of the file to parse
Returns :The merge id for the merged UI. The merge id can be used to unmerge the UI with the gtk.UIManager.remove_ui() method.

Note

This method is available in PyGTK 2.4 and above.

The add_ui_from_file() method parses the file specified by filename that contains a UI definition and merges it with the current contents of the ui manager.

This method raise the GError exception if an error occurs during the parsing of the file.

gtk.UIManager.add_ui

    def add_ui(merge_id, path, name, action, type, top)
merge_id :the merge id for the merged UI, see new_merge_id()
path :a path where the element should be added
name :the name for the added UI element
action :the name of the action to be proxied, or None to add a separator
type :the type of UI element to add.
top :if TRUE, the UI element is added before its siblings, otherwise it is added after its siblings.

Note

This method is available in PyGTK 2.4 and above.

The add_ui() method adds a UI element of the type specified by type to the current contents of the ui manager at the location specified by path. Note that path must not start with "/ui" though "ui" is acceptable. For example "/menubar" or "ui/menubar" is acceptable but "/ui/menubar" is not. type must be one of:

gtk.UI_MANAGER_AUTOThe type of the UI element (menuitem, toolitem or separator) is set according to the context.
gtk.UI_MANAGER_MENUBARA menubar.
gtk.UI_MANAGER_MENUA menu.
gtk.UI_MANAGER_TOOLBARA toolbar.
gtk.UI_MANAGER_PLACEHOLDERA placeholder.
gtk.UI_MANAGER_POPUPA popup menu.
gtk.UI_MANAGER_MENUITEMA menuitem.
gtk.UI_MANAGER_TOOLITEMA toolitem.
gtk.UI_MANAGER_SEPARATORA separator.
gtk.UI_MANAGER_ACCELERATORAn accelerator.

gtk.UIManager.remove_ui

    def remove_ui(merge_id)
merge_id :a merge id

Note

This method is available in PyGTK 2.4 and above.

The remove_ui() method unmerges the part of the ui manager content identified by merge_id.

gtk.UIManager.get_ui

    def get_ui()
Returns :A string containing an XML representation of the merged UI.

Note

This method is available in PyGTK 2.4 and above.

The get_ui() method creates a UI definition of the merged UI.

gtk.UIManager.ensure_update

    def ensure_update()

Note

This method is available in PyGTK 2.4 and above.

The ensure_update() method makes sure that all pending updates to the UI have been completed. This may occasionally be necessary, since gtk.UIManager updates the UI in an idle function. A typical example where this method is useful is to enforce that the menubar and toolbar have been added to the main window before showing it:

  window.add(vbox) 
  merge.connect("add_widget", add_widget, vbox)
  merge.add_ui_from_file("my-menus")
  merge.add_ui_from_file("my-toolbars")
  merge.ensure_update()  
  window.show()

gtk.UIManager.new_merge_id

    def new_merge_id()
Returns :an unused merge id.

Note

This method is available in PyGTK 2.4 and above.

The new_merge_id() method returns an unused merge id, suitable for use with the add_ui() method. The returned merge ids are monotonically increasing integer values.

Signals

The "actions-changed" gtk.UIManager Signal

    def callback(uimanager, user_param1, ...)
uimanager :the uimanager that received the signal
user_param1 :the first user parameter (if any) specified with the connect() method
... :additional user parameters (if any)

Note

This signal is available in GTK+ 2.4 and above.

The "actions-changed" signal is emitted when the set of actions changes.

The "add-widget" gtk.UIManager Signal

    def callback(uimanager, widget, user_param1, ...)
uimanager :the uimanager that received the signal
widget :the added widget
user_param1 :the first user parameter (if any) specified with the connect() method
... :additional user parameters (if any)

Note

This signal is available in GTK+ 2.4 and above.

The "add-widget" signal is emitted for each generated menubar and toolbar. The added widget is specified by widget. It is not emitted for generated popup menus, which can be retrieved by the get_widget() method.

The "connect-proxy" gtk.UIManager Signal

    def callback(uimanager, action, widget, user_param1, ...)
uimanager :the uimanager that received the signal
action :the action
widget :the proxy widget
user_param1 :the first user parameter (if any) specified with the connect() method
... :additional user parameters (if any)

Note

This signal is available in GTK+ 2.4 and above.

The "connect-proxy" signal is emitted after connecting the proxy widget specified by widget to the gtk.Action specified by action in the group. This is intended for simple customizations for which a custom action class would be too clumsy, e.g. showing tooltips for menuitems in the statusbar.

The "disconnect-proxy" gtk.UIManager Signal

    def callback(uimanager, action, widget, user_param1, ...)
uimanager :the uimanager that received the signal
action :the action
widget :the proxy widget
user_param1 :the first user parameter (if any) specified with the connect() method
... :additional user parameters (if any)

Note

This signal is available in GTK+ 2.4 and above.

The "disconnect-proxy" signal is emitted when widget is disconnected from action.

The "post-activate" gtk.UIManager Signal

    def callback(uimanager, action, user_param1, ...)
uimanager :the uimanager that received the signal
action :the action
user_param1 :the first user parameter (if any) specified with the connect() method
... :additional user parameters (if any)

Note

This signal is available in GTK+ 2.4 and above.

The "post-activate" signal is emitted after action is activated. This signal is intended for applications to get notification after any action is activated.

The "pre-activate" gtk.UIManager Signal

    def callback(uimanager, action, user_param1, ...)
uimanager :the uimanager that received the signal
action :the action
user_param1 :the first user parameter (if any) specified with the connect() method
... :additional user parameters (if any)

Note

This signal is available in GTK+ 2.4 and above.

The "pre-activate" signal is emitted before action is activated. This signal is intended for applications to get notification before any action is activated.