Application

GtkApplication is a class that handles many important aspects of a GTK+ application in a convenient fashion, without enforcing a one-size-fits-all application 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 GtkWindows, it is recommended to use it together with GtkApplicationWindow.

When GDK threads are enabled, GtkApplication will acquire the GDK lock when invoking actions that arrive from other processes. The GDK lock is not touched for local action invocations. In order to have actions invoked in a predictable context it is therefore recommended that the GDK lock be held while invoking actions locally with g_action_group_activate_action(). The same applies to actions associated with GtkApplicationWindow and to the 'activate' and 'open' GApplication methods.

To set an application menu for a GtkApplication, use gtk_application_set_app_menu(). The GMenuModel that this function expects is usually constructed using GtkBuilder, as seen in the following example. To specify a menubar that will be shown by GtkApplicationWindows, use gtk_application_set_menubar(). Use the base GActionMap interface to add actions, to respond to the user selecting these menu items.

GTK+ displays these menus as expected, depending on the platform the application is running on.

Figure Menu integration in OS X.

Figure Menu integration in GNOME.

Figure Menu integration in Xfce.

GtkApplication optionally registers with a session manager of the users session (if you set the "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 gtk_application_inhibit() 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.

Constructors

this
this(GtkApplication* gtkApplication)

Sets our main struct and passes it to the parent class

this
this(string applicationId, GApplicationFlags flags)

Creates a new GtkApplication instance. When using GtkApplication, it is not necessary to call gtk_init() manually. It is called as soon as the application gets registered as the primary instance. Concretely, gtk_init() is called in the default handler for the "startup" signal. Therefore, GtkApplication subclasses should chain up in their "startup" handler before using any GTK+ API. Note that commandline arguments are not passed to gtk_init(). All GTK+ functionality that is available via commandline arguments can also be achieved by setting suitable environment variables such as G_DEBUG, so this should not be a big problem. If you absolutely must support GTK+ commandline arguments, you can explicitly call gtk_init() before creating the application instance. If non-NULL, the application ID must be valid. See g_application_id_is_valid(). If no application ID is given then some features (most notably application uniqueness) will be disabled. A null application ID is only allowed with GTK+ 3.6 or later.

Members

Functions

addAccelerator
void addAccelerator(string accelerator, string actionName, Variant parameter)

Installs an accelerator that will cause the named action to be activated when the key combination specificed by accelerator is pressed. accelerator must be a string that can be parsed by gtk_accelerator_parse(), e.g. "<Primary>q" or "<Control><Alt>p". action_name must be the name of an action as it would be used in the app menu, i.e. actions that have been added to the application are referred to with an "app." prefix, and window-specific actions with a "win." prefix. GtkApplication also extracts accelerators out of 'accel' attributes in the GMenuModels passed to gtk_application_set_app_menu() and gtk_application_set_menubar(), which is usually more convenient than calling this function for each accelerator.

addOnWindowAdded
void addOnWindowAdded(void delegate(Window, Application) dlg, ConnectFlags connectFlags)

Emitted when a GtkWindow is added to application through gtk_application_add_window(). Since 3.2

addOnWindowRemoved
void addOnWindowRemoved(void delegate(Window, Application) dlg, ConnectFlags connectFlags)

Emitted when a GtkWindow is removed from application, either as a side-effect of being destroyed or explicitly through gtk_application_remove_window(). Since 3.2

addWindow
void addWindow(Window window)

Adds a window to application. This call is equivalent to setting the "application" property of window to application. Normally, the connection between the application and the window will remain until the window is destroyed, but you can explicitly remove it with gtk_application_remove_window(). GTK+ will keep the application running as long as it has any windows.

getActiveWindow
Window getActiveWindow()

Gets the "active" window for the application. The active window is the one that was most recently focused (within the application). This window may not have the focus at the moment if another application has it -- this is just the most recently-focused window within this application.

getAppMenu
MenuModel getAppMenu()

Returns the menu model that has been set with gtk_application_set_app_menu().

getGtkApplicationStruct
GtkApplication* getGtkApplicationStruct()
Undocumented in source. Be warned that the author may not have intended to support it.
getMenubar
MenuModel getMenubar()

Returns the menu model that has been set with gtk_application_set_menubar().

getStruct
void* getStruct()

the main Gtk struct as a void*

getWindowById
Window getWindowById(uint id)

Returns the GtkApplicationWindow with the given ID.

getWindows
ListG getWindows()

Gets a list of the GtkWindows associated with application. The list is sorted by most recently focused window, such that the first element is the currently focused window. (Useful for choosing a parent for a transient window.) The list that is returned should not be modified in any way. It will only remain valid until the next focus change or window creation or deletion.

inhibit
uint inhibit(Window window, GtkApplicationInhibitFlags flags, string reason)

Inform the session manager that certain types of actions should be inhibited. This is not guaranteed to work on all platforms and for all types of actions. Applications should invoke this method when they begin an operation that should not be interrupted, such as creating a CD or DVD. The types of actions that may be blocked are specified by the flags parameter. When the application completes the operation it should call gtk_application_uninhibit() to remove the inhibitor. Note that an application can have multiple inhibitors, and all of the must be individually removed. Inhibitors are also cleared when the application exits. Applications should not expect that they will always be able to block the action. In most cases, users will be given the option to force the action to take place. Reasons should be short and to the point. If window is given, the session manager may point the user to this window to find out more about why the action is inhibited.

isInhibited
int isInhibited(GtkApplicationInhibitFlags flags)

Determines if any of the actions specified in flags are currently inhibited (possibly by another application).

removeAccelerator
void removeAccelerator(string actionName, Variant parameter)

Removes an accelerator that has been previously added with gtk_application_add_accelerator().

removeWindow
void removeWindow(Window window)

Remove a window from application. If window belongs to application then this call is equivalent to setting the "application" property of window to NULL. The application may stop running as a result of a call to this function.

setAppMenu
void setAppMenu(MenuModel appMenu)

Sets or unsets the application menu for application. This can only be done in the primary instance of the application, after it has been registered. "startup" is a good place to call this. The application menu is a single menu containing items that typically impact the application as a whole, rather than acting on a specific window or document. For example, you would expect to see "Preferences" or "Quit" in an application menu, but not "Save" or "Print". If supported, the application menu will be rendered by the desktop environment. Use the base GActionMap interface to add actions, to respond to the user selecting these menu items.

setMenubar
void setMenubar(MenuModel menubar)

Sets or unsets the menubar for windows of application. This is a menubar in the traditional sense. This can only be done in the primary instance of the application, after it has been registered. "startup" is a good place to call this. Depending on the desktop environment, this may appear at the top of each window, or at the top of the screen. In some environments, if both the application menu and the menubar are set, the application menu will be presented as if it were the first item of the menubar. Other environments treat the two as completely separate -- for example, the application menu may be rendered by the desktop shell while the menubar (if set) remains in each individual window. Use the base GActionMap interface to add actions, to respond to the user selecting these menu items.

setStruct
void setStruct(GObject* obj)
Undocumented in source. Be warned that the author may not have intended to support it.
uninhibit
void uninhibit(uint cookie)

Removes an inhibitor that has been established with gtk_application_inhibit(). Inhibitors are also cleared when the application exits.

Static functions

callBackWindowAdded
void callBackWindowAdded(GtkApplication* applicationStruct, GtkWindow* window, Application _application)
Undocumented in source. Be warned that the author may not have intended to support it.
callBackWindowRemoved
void callBackWindowRemoved(GtkApplication* applicationStruct, GtkWindow* window, Application _application)
Undocumented in source. Be warned that the author may not have intended to support it.

Variables

connectedSignals
int[string] connectedSignals;
gtkApplication
GtkApplication* gtkApplication;

the main Gtk struct

onWindowAddedListeners
void delegate(Window, Application)[] onWindowAddedListeners;
Undocumented in source.
onWindowRemovedListeners
void delegate(Window, Application)[] onWindowRemovedListeners;
Undocumented in source.

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