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Graphics.UI.Gtk.ActionMenuToolbar.UIManager

Portability | portable (depends on GHC)
Stability | provisional
Maintainer | gtk2hs-users@lists.sourceforge.net

Contents

Detail
  UI Definitions
  A UI definition
  UI Merging
  Accelerators
  Smart Separators
  Empty Menus
Class Hierarchy
Types
Constructors
Methods
Attributes
Signals
Deprecated

Description

Constructing menus and toolbars from an XML description

- Module available since Gtk+ version 2.4

Synopsis

data UIManager
class GObjectClass o => UIManagerClass o
castToUIManager :: GObjectClass obj => obj -> UIManager
toUIManager :: UIManagerClass o => o -> UIManager

data UIManagerItemType

= UiManagerAuto
| UiManagerMenubar
| UiManagerMenu
| UiManagerToolbar
| UiManagerPlaceholder
| UiManagerPopup
| UiManagerMenuitem
| UiManagerToolitem
| UiManagerSeparator
| UiManagerAccelerator
| UiManagerPopupWithAccels

data MergeId
uiManagerNew :: IO UIManager
uiManagerSetAddTearoffs :: UIManager -> Bool -> IO ()
uiManagerGetAddTearoffs :: UIManager -> IO Bool
uiManagerInsertActionGroup :: UIManager -> ActionGroup -> Int -> IO ()
uiManagerRemoveActionGroup :: UIManager -> ActionGroup -> IO ()
uiManagerGetActionGroups :: UIManager -> IO [ActionGroup]
uiManagerGetAccelGroup :: UIManager -> IO AccelGroup
uiManagerGetWidget :: UIManager -> String -> IO (Maybe Widget)
uiManagerGetToplevels :: UIManager -> [UIManagerItemType] -> IO [Widget]
uiManagerGetAction :: UIManager -> String -> IO (Maybe Action)
uiManagerAddUiFromString :: UIManager -> String -> IO MergeId
uiManagerAddUiFromFile :: UIManager -> String -> IO MergeId
uiManagerNewMergeId :: UIManager -> IO MergeId
uiManagerAddUi :: UIManager -> MergeId -> String -> String -> Maybe String -> [UIManagerItemType] -> Bool -> IO ()
uiManagerRemoveUi :: UIManager -> MergeId -> IO ()
uiManagerGetUi :: UIManager -> IO String
uiManagerEnsureUpdate :: UIManager -> IO ()
uiManagerAddTearoffs :: Attr UIManager Bool
uiManagerUi :: ReadAttr UIManager String
addWidget :: UIManagerClass self => Signal self (Widget -> IO ())
actionsChanged :: UIManagerClass self => Signal self (IO ())
onAddWidget :: UIManagerClass self => self -> (Widget -> IO ()) -> IO (ConnectId self)
afterAddWidget :: UIManagerClass self => self -> (Widget -> IO ()) -> IO (ConnectId self)
onActionsChanged :: UIManagerClass self => self -> IO () -> IO (ConnectId self)
afterActionsChanged :: UIManagerClass self => self -> IO () -> IO (ConnectId self)
onConnectProxy :: UIManagerClass self => self -> (Action -> Widget -> IO ()) -> IO (ConnectId self)
afterConnectProxy :: UIManagerClass self => self -> (Action -> Widget -> IO ()) -> IO (ConnectId self)
onDisconnectProxy :: UIManagerClass self => self -> (Action -> Widget -> IO ()) -> IO (ConnectId self)
afterDisconnectProxy :: UIManagerClass self => self -> (Action -> Widget -> IO ()) -> IO (ConnectId self)
onPreActivate :: UIManagerClass self => self -> (Action -> IO ()) -> IO (ConnectId self)
afterPreActivate :: UIManagerClass self => self -> (Action -> IO ()) -> IO (ConnectId self)
onPostActivate :: UIManagerClass self => self -> (Action -> IO ()) -> IO (ConnectId self)
afterPostActivate :: UIManagerClass self => self -> (Action -> IO ()) -> IO (ConnectId self)

Detail
A `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
                            action                #IMPLIED >
     <!ATTLIST toolbar      name                  #IMPLIED
                            action                #IMPLIED >
     <!ATTLIST popup        name                  #IMPLIED
                            action                #IMPLIED >
     <!ATTLIST placeholder  name                  #IMPLIED
                            action                #IMPLIED
                            expand   (true|false) #IMPLIED >
     <!ATTLIST separator    name                  #IMPLIED
                            action                #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 anchestry and every menuitem must have a menubar or popup in its anchestry. 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. The name and action attributes must not contain '/' characters after parsing (since that would mess up path lookup) and must be usable as XML attributes when enclosed in doublequotes, thus they must not '"' characters or references to the &quot; entity.

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>

UI Merging

The most remarkable feature of `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 names of the XML elements. Each element is identified by a path which consists of the names of its anchestors, 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 `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.

For separators in toolbars, you can set `expand="true"` to turn them from a small, visible separator to an expanding, invisible one. Toolitems following an expanding separator are effectively right-aligned.

Empty Menus

Submenus pose similar problems to separators inconnection with merging. It is impossible to know in advance whether they will end up empty after merging. `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 behaviour is chosen based on the "hide_if_empty" property of the action to which the submenu is associated.

Class Hierarchy

     |  GObject
     |   +----UIManager

Types
data UIManager

Instances

GObjectClass UIManager
UIManagerClass UIManager

class GObjectClass o => UIManagerClass o

Instances

UIManagerClass UIManager

castToUIManager :: GObjectClass obj => obj -> UIManager
toUIManager :: UIManagerClass o => o -> UIManager
data UIManagerItemType

These enumeration values are used by `uiManagerAddUi` to determine what UI element to create.
Constructors

UiManagerAuto |
UiManagerMenubar |
UiManagerMenu |
UiManagerToolbar |
UiManagerPlaceholder |
UiManagerPopup |
UiManagerMenuitem |
UiManagerToolitem |
UiManagerSeparator |
UiManagerAccelerator |
UiManagerPopupWithAccels |

Instances

Bounded UIManagerItemType
Enum UIManagerItemType
Flags UIManagerItemType

data MergeId
Constructors
uiManagerNew :: IO UIManager
Creates a new ui manager object.
Methods
uiManagerSetAddTearoffs

:: UIManager |
-> Bool | `addTearoffs` - whether tearoff menu items are added
-> IO () |
Sets the "add_tearoffs" property, which controls whether menus generated by this `UIManager` will have tearoff menu items. Note that this only affects regular menus. Generated popup menus never have tearoff menu items.

uiManagerGetAddTearoffs

:: UIManager |
-> IO Bool | returns whether tearoff menu items are added
Returns whether menus generated by this `UIManager` will have tearoff menu items.

uiManagerInsertActionGroup

:: UIManager |
-> ActionGroup | `actionGroup` - the action group to be inserted
-> Int | `pos` - the position at which the group will be inserted.
-> IO () |
Inserts an action group into the list of action groups associated with `self`. Actions in earlier groups hide actions with the same name in later groups.

uiManagerRemoveActionGroup

:: UIManager |
-> ActionGroup | `actionGroup` - the action group to be removed
-> IO () |
Removes an action group from the list of action groups associated with `self`.

uiManagerGetActionGroups :: UIManager -> IO [ActionGroup]
Returns the list of action groups associated with the UI manager.
uiManagerGetAccelGroup

:: UIManager |
-> IO AccelGroup | returns the `AccelGroup`.
Returns the `AccelGroup` associated with `self`.

uiManagerGetWidget

:: UIManager |
-> String | `path` - a path
-> IO (Maybe Widget) | returns the widget found by following the path, or `Nothing` if no widget was found.

Looks up a widget by following a path. The path consists of the names specified in the XML description of the UI. separated by '/'. Elements which 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.

Note that the widget found by following a path that ends in a <menu> element is the menuitem to which the menu is attached, not the menu itself.

uiManagerGetToplevels

:: UIManager |
-> [UIManagerItemType] | `types` - specifies the types of toplevel widgets to include. Allowed types are `UiManagerMenubar`, `UiManagerToolbar` and `UiManagerPopup`.
-> IO [Widget] | returns a list of all toplevel widgets of the requested types.
Obtains a list of all toplevel widgets of the requested types.

uiManagerGetAction

:: UIManager |
-> String | `path` - a path
-> IO (Maybe Action) | returns the action whose proxy widget is found by following the path, or `Nothing` if no widget was found.
Looks up an action by following a path. See `uiManagerGetWidget` for more information about paths.

uiManagerAddUiFromString

:: UIManager |
-> String | `buffer` - the string to parse
-> IO MergeId | returns The merge id for the merged UI. The merge id can be used to unmerge the UI with `uiManagerRemoveUi`.
Parses a string containing a UI definition and merges it with the current contents of `self`. An enclosing <ui> element is added if it is missing. If a parse error occurres, an exception is thrown.

uiManagerAddUiFromFile

:: UIManager |
-> String | `filename` - the name of the file to parse
-> IO MergeId | returns The merge id for the merged UI. The merge id can be used to unmerge the UI with `uiManagerRemoveUi`.
Parses a file containing a UI definition and merges it with the current contents of `self`. If a parse or IO error occurres, an exception is thrown.

uiManagerNewMergeId :: UIManager -> IO MergeId
Returns an unused merge id, suitable for use with `uiManagerAddUi`.
uiManagerAddUi

:: UIManager |
-> MergeId | `mergeId` - the merge id for the merged UI, see `uiManagerNewMergeId`
-> String | `path` - a path
-> String | `name` - the name for the added UI element
-> Maybe String | `action` - the name of the action to be proxied, or `Nothing` to add a separator
-> [UIManagerItemType] | `type` - the type of UI element to add.
-> Bool | `top` - if `True`, the UI element is added before its siblings, otherwise it is added after its siblings.
-> IO () |

Adds a UI element to the current contents of `self`.

If `type` is `UiManagerAuto`, Gtk+ inserts a menuitem, toolitem or separator if such an element can be inserted at the place determined by `path`. Otherwise `type` must indicate an element that can be inserted at the place determined by `path`.

If `path` points to a menuitem or toolitem, the new element will be inserted before or after this item, depending on `top`.

uiManagerRemoveUi

:: UIManager |
-> MergeId | `mergeId` - a merge id as returned by `uiManagerAddUiFromString`
-> IO () |
Unmerges the part of the UI manager's content identified by `mergeId`.

uiManagerGetUi

:: UIManager |
-> IO String | returns string containing an XML representation of the merged UI.
Creates a UI definition of the merged UI.

uiManagerEnsureUpdate :: UIManager -> IO ()

Makes sure that all pending updates to the UI have been completed.

This may occasionally be necessary, since `UIManager` updates the UI in an idle function. A typical example where this function is useful is to enforce that the menubar and toolbar have been added to the main window before showing it:

     do
       containerAdd window vbox
       onAddWidget merge (addWidget vbox)
       uiManagerAddUiFromFile merge "my-menus"
       uiManagerAddUiFromFile merge "my-toolbars"
       uiManagerEnsureUpdate merge
       widgetShow window

Attributes
uiManagerAddTearoffs :: Attr UIManager Bool
The "add-tearoffs" property controls whether generated menus have tearoff menu items. Note that this only affects regular menus. Generated popup menus never have tearoff menu items. Default value: `False`
uiManagerUi :: ReadAttr UIManager String
An XML string describing the merged UI. Default value: `"<ui>\n</ui>\n"`
Signals
addWidget :: UIManagerClass self => Signal self (Widget -> IO ())
The add_widget signal is emitted for each generated menubar and toolbar. It is not emitted for generated popup menus, which can be obtained by `uiManagerGetWidget`.
actionsChanged :: UIManagerClass self => Signal self (IO ())
The "actions-changed" signal is emitted whenever the set of actions changes.
Deprecated
onAddWidget :: UIManagerClass self => self -> (Widget -> IO ()) -> IO (ConnectId self)
afterAddWidget :: UIManagerClass self => self -> (Widget -> IO ()) -> IO (ConnectId self)
The add_widget signal is emitted for each generated menubar and toolbar. It is not emitted for generated popup menus, which can be obtained by `uiManagerGetWidget`.
onActionsChanged :: UIManagerClass self => self -> IO () -> IO (ConnectId self)
afterActionsChanged :: UIManagerClass self => self -> IO () -> IO (ConnectId self)
The "actions-changed" signal is emitted whenever the set of actions changes.
onConnectProxy :: UIManagerClass self => self -> (Action -> Widget -> IO ()) -> IO (ConnectId self)
afterConnectProxy :: UIManagerClass self => self -> (Action -> Widget -> IO ()) -> IO (ConnectId self)
The connect_proxy signal is emitted after connecting a proxy to an 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.
onDisconnectProxy :: UIManagerClass self => self -> (Action -> Widget -> IO ()) -> IO (ConnectId self)
afterDisconnectProxy :: UIManagerClass self => self -> (Action -> Widget -> IO ()) -> IO (ConnectId self)
The disconnect_proxy signal is emitted after disconnecting a proxy from an action in the group.
onPreActivate :: UIManagerClass self => self -> (Action -> IO ()) -> IO (ConnectId self)
afterPreActivate :: UIManagerClass self => self -> (Action -> IO ()) -> IO (ConnectId self)
The pre_activate signal is emitted just before the `action` is activated. This is intended for applications to get notification just before any action is activated.
onPostActivate :: UIManagerClass self => self -> (Action -> IO ()) -> IO (ConnectId self)
afterPostActivate :: UIManagerClass self => self -> (Action -> IO ()) -> IO (ConnectId self)
The post_activate signal is emitted just after the `action` is activated. This is intended for applications to get notification just after any action is activated.
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