Each PyGTK class is described in a reference page that has a number of sections in a fixed format. Each reference page will have a subset of the following sections:
| Name | The name and a one-line description of the class. |
| Synopsis | A synopsis of the class and its methods and optionally a list of associated functions. |
| Ancestry | The list of the parent classes of the class. This section may not be present in all class descriptions. |
| Properties | A list of the properties (internal state) supported by the class. This section may not be present in all classes. The property descriptions include the name, the access operations (e.g. Read, Write), and a brief description. Properties are accessed using the gobject.set_property() and gobject.get_property() methods that are available to every PyGTK object. This section may not be present in all class descriptions. |
| Style Properties | A list of style properties supported by the class. Similar to the properties (described above) the style properties hold information about the style of a widgets e.g. border style, shadow type, etc. Most widgets do not support style properties so this section is not present in most class descriptions. Only PyGTK 2.4 has the ability to access style properties. |
| Child Properties | A list of child properties supported by the class. Similar to the properties (described above) the child properties hold information about the properties of a widget's child widget. Only container widgets support child properties so this section is not present in most class descriptions. |
| Attributes | A set of internal object state data accessible as Python attributes (e.g. object.attr). The attribute descriptions include a name by which the attribute data is accessed, the access mode (e.g. Read, Write), and a brief description of the attribute. Most PyGTK classes do not support attributes so this section is not present in most class descriptions. |
| Signal Prototypes | A list of the signals supported by the class including the signal name and a synopsis of the signal handler function prototype. This section may not be present in all class descriptions; most gtk.gdk classes do not support signals. |
| Description | A description of the class and possibly some of the methods supported by the class. |
| Constructor | The description of the class object constructor including the synopsis with brief parameter descriptions and a description of th use of the constructor. There may be more than one constructor description if the constructor supports different parameter lists. This section may not be present in all class descriptions. |
| Methods | A list of methods supported by the class. Each method description includes: a synopsis of the method and its parameters as well as a brief description of each parameter and return value (if any); and, a description of the use of the method. |
| Functions | A list of related functions. Each function description includes a synopsis of the function and its parameters and return value (if any), and a description of the use of the function. |
| Signals | A list of signals including a synopsis of the signal handler prototype function with its parameters and return value (if any). The signal emission conditions are briefly described. This section is not present in all class descriptions; specifically, the gtk.gdk classes do not usually support signals. |
The function and method synopsis parameters are displayed in bold to denote Python keyword parameters. Also if the parameter is optional its default value will be displayed. For example the gtk.Button() constructor synopsis is:
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The parameters label and stock are keyword parameters that can be specified in a call either by position or keyword (in which case position is not important). The following calls have the same result:
b = gtk.Button("Cancel")
b = gtk.Button(label="Cancel")
b = gtk.Button("Cancel", None)
b = gtk.Button("Cancel", stock=None)
b = gtk.Button(stock=None, label="Cancel")
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Parameters that are not keyword parameters are displayed in italic and must be specified positionally but may also be optional.