Gtk.Application – gtk4 Reference Manual

Application

Object Hierarchy:

Description:

[ CCode ( type_id = "gtk_application_get_type ()" ) ]
public class Application : Application, ActionGroup, ActionMap

`GtkApplication` is a high-level API for writing applications.

It supports many aspects of writing a GTK application in a convenient fashion, without enforcing a one-size-fits-all model.

Currently, `GtkApplication` handles GTK initialization, application uniqueness, session management, provides some basic scriptability and desktop shell integration by exporting actions and menus and manages a list of toplevel windows whose life-cycle is automatically tied to the life-cycle of your application.

While `GtkApplication` works fine with plain [[email protected]]s, it is recommended to use it together with [[email protected]] .

Automatic resources

`GtkApplication` will automatically load menus from the `GtkBuilder` resource located at "gtk/menus.ui", relative to the application's resource base path (see [[email protected]_resource_base_path]). The menu with the ID "menubar" is taken as the application's menubar. Additional menus (most interesting submenus) can be named and accessed via [[email protected]_menu_by_id] which allows for dynamic population of a part of the menu structure.

It is also possible to provide the menubar manually using [[email protected]_menubar].

`GtkApplication` will also automatically setup an icon search path for the default icon theme by appending "icons" to the resource base path. This allows your application to easily store its icons as resources. See [[email protected]_resource_path] for more information.

If there is a resource located at `gtk/help-overlay.ui` which defines a [[email protected]] with ID `help_overlay` then `GtkApplication` associates an instance of this shortcuts window with each [[email protected]] and sets up the keyboard accelerator <kbd>Control</kbd>+<kbd>?</kbd> to open it. To create a menu item that displays the shortcuts window, associate the item with the action `win.show-help-overlay`.

A simple application

A simple example is available in the GTK source code repository

`GtkApplication` optionally registers with a session manager of the users session (if you set the [ [email protected]:register-session] property) and offers various functionality related to the session life-cycle.

An application can block various ways to end the session with the [[email protected]] function. Typical use cases for this kind of inhibiting are long-running, uninterruptible operations, such as burning a CD or performing a disk backup. The session manager may not honor the inhibitor, but it can be expected to inform the user about the negative consequences of ending the session while inhibitors are present.

Content:

Properties:

public Window active_window { get; }
The currently focused window of the application.
public MenuModel menubar { get; set; }
The `GMenuModel` to be used for the application's menu bar.
public bool register_session { get; set; }
Set this property to `TRUE` to register with the session manager.
public bool screensaver_active { get; }
This property is `TRUE` if GTK believes that the screensaver is currently active.

Creation methods:

public Application (string? application_id, ApplicationFlags flags)
Creates a new `GtkApplication` instance.

Methods:

public void add_window (Window window)
Adds a window to `application`.
public string[] get_accels_for_action (string detailed_action_name)
Gets the accelerators that are currently associated with the given action.
public string[] get_actions_for_accel (string accel)
Returns the list of actions (possibly empty) that `accel` maps to.
public unowned Window? get_active_window ()
Gets the “active” window for the application.
public unowned Menu? get_menu_by_id (string id)
Gets a menu from automatically loaded resources.
public unowned MenuModel? get_menubar ()
Returns the menu model that has been set with [method@Gtk.
public unowned Window? get_window_by_id (uint id)
Returns the [class@Gtk.
public unowned List<Window> get_windows ()
Gets a list of the [class@Gtk.
public uint inhibit (Window? window, ApplicationInhibitFlags flags, string? reason)
Inform the session manager that certain types of actions should be inhibited.
public string[] list_action_descriptions ()
Lists the detailed action names which have associated accelerators.
public void remove_window (Window window)
Remove a window from `application`.
public void set_accels_for_action (string detailed_action_name, string[] accels)
Sets zero or more keyboard accelerators that will trigger the given action.
public void set_menubar (MenuModel? menubar)
Sets or unsets the menubar for windows of `application`.
public void uninhibit (uint cookie)
Removes an inhibitor that has been previously established.

Signals:

public signal void query_end ()
Emitted when the session manager is about to end the session.
public virtual signal void window_added (Window window)
Emitted when a [class@Gtk.
public virtual signal void window_removed (Window window)
Emitted when a [class@Gtk.

Inherited Members:

All known members inherited from class GLib.Application

action_group
activate
add_main_option
add_main_option_entries
add_option_group
add_platform_data
after_emit
application_id
before_emit
bind_busy_property
command_line
dbus_register
dbus_unregister
flags
get_application_id
get_dbus_connection
get_dbus_object_path
get_default
get_flags

get_inactivity_timeout
get_is_busy
get_is_registered
get_is_remote
get_resource_base_path
handle_local_options
hold
id_is_valid
inactivity_timeout
is_busy
is_registered
is_remote
local_command_line
mark_busy
name_lost
open
quit
quit_mainloop
register

release
resource_base_path
run
run_mainloop
send_notification
set_action_group
set_application_id
set_default
set_flags
set_inactivity_timeout
set_option_context_description
set_option_context_parameter_string
set_option_context_summary
set_resource_base_path
shutdown
startup
unbind_busy_property
unmark_busy
withdraw_notification

All known members inherited from class GLib.Object

@get
@new
@ref
@set
add_toggle_ref
add_weak_pointer
bind_property
connect
constructed
disconnect
dispose
dup_data
dup_qdata
force_floating
freeze_notify
get_class
get_data

get_property
get_qdata
get_type
getv
interface_find_property
interface_install_property
interface_list_properties
is_floating
new_valist
new_with_properties
newv
notify
notify_property
ref_count
ref_sink
remove_toggle_ref
remove_weak_pointer

replace_data
replace_qdata
set_data
set_data_full
set_property
set_qdata
set_qdata_full
set_valist
setv
steal_data
steal_qdata
thaw_notify
unref
watch_closure
weak_ref
weak_unref

All known members inherited from interface GLib.ActionGroup

action_added
action_enabled_changed
action_removed
action_state_changed
activate_action

change_action_state
get_action_enabled
get_action_parameter_type
get_action_state
get_action_state_hint

get_action_state_type
has_action
list_actions
query_action

All known members inherited from interface GLib.ActionMap

add_action
add_action_entries

lookup_action

remove_action

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