Gtk2::GladeXML::Simple(3) A clean object-oriented interface to Gtk2::GladeXML

SYNOPSIS


package MyApp;
use base qw( Gtk2::GladeXML::Simple );
sub new {
my $class = shift;
my $self = $class->SUPER::new( $gladefile );
return $self;
}
...
# Signal handlers are methods of your class
sub on_button_clicked {
my $self = shift;
# You have access to your widgets directly
# or using $self->get_widget( widget_name )
my $button = $self->{button1};
}

DESCRIPTION

Gtk2::GladeXML::Simple is a module that provides a clean and easy interface for Gnome/Gtk2 and Glade applications using an object-oriented syntax. You just make Gtk2::GladeXML::Simple your application's base class, have your "new" call "SUPER::new", and the module will do the tedious and dirty work for you.

Gtk2::GladeXML::Simple offers:

  • Signal handler callbacks as methods of your class. 

       sub on_button1_clicked {
      my $self = shift; # $self always received as first parameter
      ...
      # do anything you want in a OO fashioned way
   }
  • Autoconnection of signal handlers.
  • Autocalling of creation functions for custom widgets.
  • Access to the widgets as instance attributes. 

       my $btn = $self->{button1}; # fetch widgets as instance attributes by their names
   my $window = $self->{main_window};
   my $custom = $self->{custom_widget};

METHODS

This class provides the following public methods:
new( $gladefile [, $root, $domain ] );
This method creates a new object of your subclass of Gtk2::GladeXML::Simple. The $gladefile parameter is the name of the file created by the Glade Visual Editor. The $root is an optional parameter that tells "libglade" the name of the widget to start building from. The optional $domain parameter that specifies the translation domain for the glade xml file ( undef by default ).
glade_object
This method returns the Gtk2::GladeXML object in play.
get_widget( $widget_name )
Returns the widget with given name. Same as calling $self->{$widget_name}.
get_widgets
Returns a list with all the widgets in the glade file.
run
Call this method in order to run your application. If you need another event loop rather than the Gtk one, override run in your class with your event loop (for example the GStreamer event loop).

EXTENDED EXAMPLE

This example shows the usage of the module by creating a small Yahoo search engine using WWW::Search::Yahoo. 

   package YahooApp;
   use strict;
   use warnings;
   use Gtk2 '-init';
   use Gtk2::Html2; #not part of the Gtk2 core widgets
   use Gtk2::GladeXML::Simple;
   use WWW::Search;
   use base qw( Gtk2::GladeXML::Simple );
   my $header =<<HEADER;
   <html>
   <meta HTTP-EQUIV="content-type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
   <header><title>Yahoo Gtk2 App</title>
   <style type="text/css">
   .title {font-family: Georgia; color: blue; font-size: 13px}
   .description {padding-left: 3px; font-family: Georgia; font-size:10px}
   .url {padding-left: 3px; font-family: Georgia; font-size:10px; color: green}
   </style>
   </head>
   <body>
   <h2 style="font-family: Georgia, Arial; font-weight: bold">
   Found:
   </h2>
   HEADER
   my $footer =<<FOOTER;
   </body>
   </html>
   FOOTER
   sub new {
       my $class = shift;
       #Calling our super class constructor
       my $self = $class->SUPER::new( 'yahoo.glade' );
       #Initialize the search engine
       $self->{_yahoo} = WWW::Search->new( 'Yahoo' );
       return $self;
   }
   sub do_search {
       my $self = shift;
       $self->{_yahoo}->native_query( shift );
       my $buf = $header;
       for( 1..10 ) {
           my $rv = $self->{_yahoo}->next_result || last;
           $buf .= qq{<p><div class="title">} . $rv->title;
           $buf .= qq{</div><br /><div class="description">} . $rv->description;
           $buf .= qq{</div><br /><div class="url">} . $rv->url . q{</div></p><br />};
       }
       $buf .= $footer;
       $self->{buf} = $buf;
   }
   ### Signal handlers, now they're methods of the class ###
   sub on_Clear_clicked {
       my $self = shift;
       my $html = $self->{custom1}; #fetch widgets by their names
       $html->{document}->clear;
       my $statusbar = $self->{statusbar1}; #another widget
       $statusbar->pop( $statusbar->get_context_id( "Yahoo" ) );
   }
   sub on_Search_clicked {
       my $self = shift;
       my $text = $self->{text_entry}->get_text;
       return unless $text ne '';
       my $statusbar = $self->{statusbar1};
       $statusbar->push( $statusbar->get_context_id( "Yahoo" ), "Searching for: $text" );
       $self->do_search( $text );
       my $html = $self->{custom1};
       $html->{document}->clear;
       $html->{document}->open_stream( "text/html" );
       $html->{document}->write_stream( $self->{buf} );
       $html->{document}->close_stream;
   }
   ### Creation function for the custom widget, method of the class as well ###
   sub create_htmlview {
       my $self = shift;
       my $view = Gtk2::Html2::View->new;
       my $document = Gtk2::Html2::Document->new;
       $view->set_document( $document );
       $view->{document} = $document;
       $view->show_all;
       return $view;
   }
   sub gtk_main_quit { Gtk2->main_quit }
   1;
   package main;
   YahooApp->new->run; #Go!
   1;

The yahoo.glade file needed for this example is in the examples directory, along with other example programs.

UTILITIES

Rapid Application Development with gpsketcher

The Gtk2::GladeXML::Simple distribution includes gpsketcher, a program that generates Perl code stubs from glade XML files. The code stubs include the basic framework for Gtk2::GladeXML::Simple interaction, method signatures, and everything that describes the application itself. Developers must fill in the code stubs to add the correct functionality to the application.

TODO

Tests.

More examples?

Add Gtk2::GladeXML::Simple::new_from_buffer()?

Support to I18N ( bindtextdomain )

AUTHOR

Marco Antonio Manzo <[email protected]>

Special thanks in no order to Scott Arrington ``muppet'' <scott at asofyet dot org> who provided lots of great ideas to improve this module. Sandino ``tigrux'' Flores <tigrux at ximian dot com> who is the author of SimpleGladeApp and the main source of this module's core idea. Sean M. Burke <sburke at cpan dot org> and Rocco Caputo <rcaputo at cpan dot org> for constantly helping me with ideas and cleaning my POD.

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

Copyright (C) 2005 by Marco Antonio Manzo

This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself, either Perl version 5.8.6 or, at your option, any later version of Perl 5 you may have available.

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