NAME

Gtk2::GladeXML - Create user interfaces directly from Glade XML files.

SYNOPSIS

  use Gtk2 -init;
  use Gtk2::GladeXML;
  
  $gladexml = Gtk2::GladeXML->new('example.glade');
  $gladexml->signal_autoconnect_from_package('main');
  $quitbtn = $gladexml->get_widget('Quit'); 
  Gtk2->main;

ABSTRACT

Gtk2::GladeXML allows Perl programmers to use libglade, a C library which generates graphical user interfaces directly from the XML output of the Glade user interface designer.

DESCRIPTION

Glade is a free user interface builder for GTK+ and GNOME. After designing a user interface with glade-2 the layout and configuration are saved in an XML file. libglade is a library which knows how to build and hook up the user interface described in the Glade XML file at application run time.

This extension module binds libglade to Perl so you can create and manipulate user interfaces in Perl code in conjunction with Gtk2 and even Gnome2. Better yet you can load a file's contents into a PERL scalar do a few magical regular expressions to customize things and the load up the app. It doesn't get any easier.

FUNCTIONS

$gladexml = Gtk2::GladeXML->new(GLADE_FILE, [ROOT, DOMAIN])

Create a new GladeXML object by loading the data in GLADE_FILE. ROOT is an optional parameter that specifies a point (widget node) from which to start building. DOMAIN is an optional parameter that specifies the translation domain for the xml file.

$gladexml = Gtk2::GladeXML->new_from_buffer(BUFFER, [ROOT, DOMAIN])

Create a new GladeXML object from the scalar string contained in BUFFER. ROOT is an optional parameter that specifies a point (widget node) from which to start building. DOMAIN is an optional parameter that specifies the translation domain for the xml file.

$widget = $gladexml->get_widget(NAME)

Return the widget created by the XML file with NAME or undef if no such name exists.

$gladexml->signal_autoconnect($callback[, $userdata])

Iterates over all signals and calls the given callback:

   sub example_cb {
      my ($name, $widget, $signal, $signal_data, $connect, $after, $userdata) = @_;
   }

The following two convenience methods use this to provide a more convenient interface.

$gladexml->signal_autoconnect_from_package([PACKAGE])

Sets up the signal handling callbacks as specified in the glade XML data. Callbacks will need to have the exact name as specified in the XML data and be located in the provided package (or the caller's package if none is provided). It is worth noting that callbacks you get for free in c such as gtk_main_quit will not exist in perl and must always be defined, for example:

  sub gtk_main_quit
  {
        Gtk2->main_quit;
  }

Otherwise behavior should be exactly as expected with the use of libglade from a C application.

$gladexml->signal_autoconnect_all (name => handler, ...)

Iterates over all named signals and tries to connect them to the handlers specified as arguments (handlers not given as argument are being ignored). This is very handy when implementing your own widgets, where you can't use global callbacks.

FAQ

Where is the option to generate Perl source in Glade?

Glade itself only creates the XML description, and relies on extra converter programs to write source code; only a few converters are widely popular.

In general, however, you don't want to generate source code for a variety of reasons, mostly to do with maintainability. This message on the glade-devel list explains it best:

http://lists.ximian.com/archives/public/glade-devel/2003-February/000015.html

SEE ALSO

perl(1), Glib(3pm), Gtk2(3pm)

The Libglade Reference Manual at http://developer.gnome.org/doc/API/2.0/libglade/

AUTHOR

Ross McFarland <rwmcfa1 at neces dot com>, Marc Lehmann <pcg@goof.com>, muppet <scott at asofyet dot org>. Bruce Alderson provided several examples.

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

Copyright 2003-2004 by the gtk2-perl team.

This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU Library General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU Library General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU Library General Public License along with this library; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA.