Description GdkPixbufLoader provides a way for applications to drive the process of loading an image, by letting them send the image data directly to the loader instead of having the loader read the data from a file. Applications can use this functionality instead of gdk_pixbuf_new_from_file() or gdk_pixbuf_animation_new_from_file() when they need to parse image data in small chunks. For example, it should be used when reading an image from a (potentially) slow network connection, or when loading an extremely large file. To use GdkPixbufLoader to load an image, just create a new one, and call gdk_pixbuf_loader_write() to send the data to it. When done, gdk_pixbuf_loader_close() should be called to end the stream and finalize everything. The loader will emit three important signals throughout the process. The first, "size_prepared", will be called as soon as the image has enough information to determine the size of the image to be used. If you want to scale the image while loading it, you can call gdk_pixbuf_loader_set_size() in response to this signal. The second signal, "area_prepared", will be called as soon as the pixbuf of the desired has been allocated. You can obtain it by calling gdk_pixbuf_loader_get_pixbuf(). If you want to use it, simply ref it. In addition, no actual information will be passed in yet, so the pixbuf can be safely filled with any temporary graphics (or an initial color) as needed. You can also call gdk_pixbuf_loader_get_pixbuf() later and get the same pixbuf. The last signal, "area_updated" gets called every time a region is updated. This way you can update a partially completed image. Note that you do not know anything about the completeness of an image from the area updated. For example, in an interlaced image, you need to make several passes before the image is done loading. Loading an animation Loading an animation is almost as easy as loading an image. Once the first "area_prepared" signal has been emitted, you can call gdk_pixbuf_loader_get_animation() to get the GdkPixbufAnimation struct and gdk_pixbuf_animation_get_iter() to get an GdkPixbufAnimationIter for displaying it.