GtkosxApplication

GtkosxApplication — Base class for OSX integration

Synopsis

#include <gtkosxapplication.h>

#define             GTKOSX_TYPE_APPLICATION_ATTENTION_TYPE
struct              GtkosxApplication;
enum                GtkosxApplicationAttentionType;
struct              GtkosxApplicationClass;
struct              GtkosxApplicationMenuGroup;
gint                gtkosx_application_attention_request
                                                        (GtkosxApplication *self,
                                                         GtkosxApplicationAttentionType type);
void                gtkosx_application_cancel_attention_request
                                                        (GtkosxApplication *self,
                                                         gint id);
GtkosxApplication * gtkosx_application_get              (void);
gchar *             gtkosx_application_get_bundle_id    (void);
gchar *             gtkosx_application_get_bundle_info  (const gchar *key);
gchar *             gtkosx_application_get_bundle_path  (void);
gchar *             gtkosx_application_get_executable_path
                                                        (void);
gchar *             gtkosx_application_get_resource_path
                                                        (void);
void                gtkosx_application_insert_app_menu_item
                                                        (GtkosxApplication *self,
                                                         GtkWidget *menu_item,
                                                         gint index);
void                gtkosx_application_ready            (GtkosxApplication *self);
void                gtkosx_application_set_dock_icon_pixbuf
                                                        (GtkosxApplication *self,
                                                         GdkPixbuf *pixbuf);
void                gtkosx_application_set_dock_icon_resource
                                                        (GtkosxApplication *self,
                                                         const gchar *name,
                                                         const gchar *type,
                                                         const gchar *subdir);
void                gtkosx_application_set_dock_menu    (GtkosxApplication *self,
                                                         GtkMenuShell *menu_shell);
void                gtkosx_application_set_help_menu    (GtkosxApplication *self,
                                                         GtkMenuItem *menu_item);
void                gtkosx_application_set_menu_bar     (GtkosxApplication *self,
                                                         GtkMenuShell *menu_shell);
void                gtkosx_application_set_use_quartz_accelerators
                                                        (GtkosxApplication *self,
                                                         gboolean use_quartz_accelerators);
void                gtkosx_application_set_window_menu  (GtkosxApplication *self,
                                                         GtkMenuItem *menu_item);
void                gtkosx_application_sync_menubar     (GtkosxApplication *self);
gboolean            gtkosx_application_use_quartz_accelerators
                                                        (GtkosxApplication *self);

Object Hierarchy

  GObject
   +----GtkosxApplication

Signals

  "NSApplicationBlockTermination"                  : Action
  "NSApplicationDidBecomeActive"                   : Action
  "NSApplicationOpenFile"                          : Action
  "NSApplicationWillResignActive"                  : Action
  "NSApplicationWillTerminate"                     : Action

Description

Exposes to the Gtk+ program important functions of OSX's NSApplication class for use by Gtk+ applications running with the quartz Gdk backend and provides addtional functions for integrating a Gtk+ program into the OSX user environment.

Using GtkosxApplication is pretty simple. First, create an instance at startup:

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GtkosxApplication *theApp = g_object_new(GTKOSX_TYPE_APPLICATION, NULL);

Do this early in your program, shortly after you run

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gtk_init()

. Don't forget to guard it, and all other calls into the library, with

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#ifdef MAC_INTEGRATION

. You don't want your Linux users' builds failing because of this. The application object is a singleton, so you can call g_object_new as often as you like. You'll always get the same pointer back. There's no need to pass it around as an argument. Do note that all of the GtkosxApplication functions take theApp as an argument, even if they don't use it. This seems silly in C, and perhaps it is, but it's needed to make the Python binding logic recognize that they're class methods.

Just having the application object created will get you some benefits, like having the Quit menu item in the dock menu work. But you'll obviously want more. So the next place to visit is your main window code. If you have a simple application, you might be constructing the menu by hand, but you're more likely to be using GtkBuilder. In either case, you need to get a pointer to the menubar. If you're building by hand, you've already got it lying around because you needed it to add the menus to. With GtkBuilder, you need to ask the GtkUIManager for a pointer. Once everything is more-or-less set up on the Gtk+ side, you need only hide the menu and call gtkosx_application_set_main_menu(). Here's an example with GtkBuilder:

Example 1. Setting the MenuBar

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GtkUIManager *mgr = gtk_ui_manager_new();
  GtkosxApplication *theApp = g_object_new(GTKOSX_TYPE_APPLICATION, NULL);
  ...
  mergeid = gtk_ui_manager_add_ui_from_file(mgr, "src/testui.xml", &err);
  ...
  menubar = gtk_ui_manager_get_widget(mgr, "/menubar");
  gtk_widget_hide (menubar);
  gtkosx_application_set_menu_bar(theApp, GTK_MENU_SHELL(menubar));


There are a couple of wrinkles, though, if you use accelerators. First off, there are two event paths for accelerators: Quartz, where the keystroke is processed by OSX and the menu item action event is placed on the event queue by OSX, or Gtk, where the accelerator key event is passed through to Gtk to recognize. This is controlled by gtkosx_application_set_use_quartz_accelerators() (you can test the value with gtkosx_application_use_quartz_accelerators()), and the default is to use Quartz handling. This has two advantages:

  • It works without any extra steps

  • It changes stock accelerators (like Ctrl-O for open file) to the stock OSX keyEquivalent (Cmd-O in that case).

If you need to use Gtk+ keyboard accelerator handling and you're using GtkMenuItems instead of GtkActions, you'll need to connect a special handler as shown in the following example:

Example 2. Enabling Accelerators on Hidden Menus

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static gboolean
can_activate_cb(GtkWidget* widget, guint signal_id, gpointer data)
{
  return gtk_widget_is_sensitive(widget);
}
...
  g_signal_connect(menubar, "can-activate-accel",
                   G_CALLBACK(can_activate_cb), NULL);


The next task to make your application appear more normal for Mac users is to move some menu items from their normal Gtk locations to the so-called "App" menu. That's the menu all the way at the left of the menubar that has the currently-running application's name. There are 3 menu items that normally go there:

  • Help|About

  • Edit|Preferences

  • File|Quit

File|Quit is a special case, because OSX handles it itself and automatically includes it, so the only thing you need do is hide it on the File menu so that it doesn't show up twice:

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gtk_widget_hide(GTK_WIDGET(file_quit_menu_item));

The other two must be moved in code, and there are two functions for doing that. The first one creates "goups", which is just an easy way to manage separators, and the second adds the actual menu items to the groups. Here's an example:

Example 3. 

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GtkosxApplicationMenuGroup *group;
 GtkMenuItem *about_item, *preferences_item;
 about_item = gtk_ui_manager_get_widget(mgr, "/menubar/Help/About");
 preferences_item = gtk_ui_manager_get_widget(mgr, "/menubar/Edit/Preferences");

 group = gtkosx_application_add_app_menu_group (theApp);
 gtkosx_application_add_app_menu_item  (theApp, group,
                                        GTK_MENU_ITEM (about_item));

 group = gtkosx_application_add_app_menu_group (theApp);
 gtkosx_application_add_app_menu_item  (theApp, group,
                                        GTK_MENU_ITEM (preferences_item));


Once we have everything set up for as many windows as we're going to open before we call gtk_main_loop(), we need to tell OSX that we're ready:

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gtkosx_application_ready(theApp);

If you add other windows later, you must do everything above for each one's menubar. Most of the time the internal notifictations will ensure that the GtkosxApplication is able to keep everything in sync. However, if you at any time disconnect or block signals and change the menu (perhaps because of a context change within a window, as with changing pages in a GtkNotebook) you need to call

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gtkosx_application_sync_menubar(theApp)

* The dock is that bar of icons that normally lives at the bottom of the display on a Mac (though it can be moved to one of the other sides; this author likes his on the left, which is where it was originally on a NeXT). Each running application has a "dock tile", an icon on the dock. Users can, if they like, add application (or document) icons to the dock, and those can be used to launch the application. Apple allows limited customization of the dock tile, and GtkosxApplication has an interface for adding to the dock's menu and for changing the icon that is displayed for the the application. GtkosxApplication also provides an interface to AttentionRequest, which bounces the dock tile if the application doesn't have focus. You might want to do that at the end of a long task so that the user will know that it's finished if she's switched to another application while she waits for yours. They're all pretty simple, so you can just read the details below.

* The last feature to which GtkosxApplication provides an interface is the bundle. Normally in OSX, graphical applications are packaged along with their non-standard dependencies and their resources (graphical elements, translations, and such) in special directory structures called "bundles". To easily package your Gtk+ application, have a look at gtk-mac-bundler, also available from the Gtk-OSX project.

OSX provides a variety of functions pertaining to bundles, most of which are not likely to interest someone porting a Gtk+ application. GtkosxApplication has wrapped a few that might be:

The first three just get a UTF8-encoded path. An interesting note is that they'll return the path to the executable or the folder it's in regardless of whether it's actually in a bundle. To find out if one is actually dealing with a bundle, gtkosx_application_get_bundle_id() will return "" if it can't find the key CFBundleIdentifier from the bundle's Info.plist -- which it won't if the application isn't in a bundle or wasn't launched by opening the bundle. (In other words, even if you have your application installed in Foo.app, if you launch it from the command line as

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$ Foo.app/Contents/MacOS/Foo

the Info.plist won't have been opened and gtkosx_application_get_bundle_id() will return "". Of course, it will also return "" if you didn't set CFBundleIdentifier in the Info.plist, so make sure that you do!

The last function, gtkosx_application_get_bundle_info(), will return the value associated with an arbitrary key from Info.plist as long as that value is a string. If it isn't, then the function returns a null string ("").

Finally, notice the signals. These are emitted in response to the indicated OSX notifications. Except for "NSApplicationBlockTermination", most programs won't need to do anything with them. "NSApplicationBlockTermination" is telling you that OSX is planning to shut down your program. If you have any cleanup to do (like saving open files), or if you want to ask the user if it's OK, you should connect to the signal and do your cleanup. Your handler can return TRUE to prevent the application from quitting.

Details

GTKOSX_TYPE_APPLICATION_ATTENTION_TYPE

#define GTKOSX_TYPE_APPLICATION_ATTENTION_TYPE (gtkosx_type_application_attention_type_get_type())

struct GtkosxApplication

struct GtkosxApplication;

enum GtkosxApplicationAttentionType

typedef enum {
  CRITICAL_REQUEST = 0,
  INFO_REQUEST = 10
} GtkosxApplicationAttentionType;

struct GtkosxApplicationClass

struct GtkosxApplicationClass {
  GObjectClass parent_class;
};

struct GtkosxApplicationMenuGroup

struct GtkosxApplicationMenuGroup {
  GList *items;
};

gtkosx_application_attention_request ()

gint                gtkosx_application_attention_request
                                                        (GtkosxApplication *self,
                                                         GtkosxApplicationAttentionType type);

Create an attention request. If type is CRITICAL_REQUEST, the dock icon will bounce until cancelled the application receives focus; otherwise it will bounce for 1 second -- but the attention request will remain asserted until cancelled or the application receives focus. This function has no effect if the application has focus.

self : The GtkosxApplication pointer
type : CRITICAL_REQUEST or INFO_REQUEST
Returns : A the attention request ID. Pass this id to gtkosx_application_cancel_attention_request.

gtkosx_application_cancel_attention_request ()

void                gtkosx_application_cancel_attention_request
                                                        (GtkosxApplication *self,
                                                         gint id);

Cancel an attention request created with gtkosx_application_attention_request.

self : The application
id : The integer attention request id returned from gtkosx_application_attention_request.

gtkosx_application_get ()

GtkosxApplication * gtkosx_application_get              (void);
Returns : (transfer none) the singleton application object.

gtkosx_application_get_bundle_id ()

gchar *             gtkosx_application_get_bundle_id    (void);

Return the value of the CFBundleIdentifier key from the bundle's Info.plist

This will return NULL if it's not really a bundle, there's no Info.plist, or if Info.plist doesn't have a CFBundleIdentifier key (So if you need to detect being in a bundle, make sure that your bundle has that key!)

Returns : The string value of CFBundleIdentifier, or NULL if there is none. g_free() it when done.

gtkosx_application_get_bundle_info ()

gchar *             gtkosx_application_get_bundle_info  (const gchar *key);

Queries the bundle's Info.plist with key. If the returned object is a string, returns that; otherwise returns NULL.

key : The key, as a normal UTF8 string.
Returns : A UTF8-encoded string. g_free() it when done.

gtkosx_application_get_bundle_path ()

gchar *             gtkosx_application_get_bundle_path  (void);

Return the root path of the bundle or the directory containing the executable if it isn't actually a bundle.

Returns : path The bundle's absolute path or NULL on error. g_free() it when done.

gtkosx_application_get_executable_path ()

gchar *             gtkosx_application_get_executable_path
                                                        (void);

Return the executable path, including file name

Returns : The path to the primary executable, or NULL if it can't find one. g_free() it when done

gtkosx_application_get_resource_path ()

gchar *             gtkosx_application_get_resource_path
                                                        (void);

Return the Resource path for the bundle or the directory containing the executable if it isn't actually a bundle. Use gtkosx_application_get_bundle_id() to check (it will return NULL if it's not a bundle).

Returns : path The absolute resource path. or NULL on error. g_free() it when done.

gtkosx_application_insert_app_menu_item ()

void                gtkosx_application_insert_app_menu_item
                                                        (GtkosxApplication *self,
                                                         GtkWidget *menu_item,
                                                         gint index);

Certain menu items (About, Check for updates, and Preferences in particular) are normally found in the so-called Application menu (the first one on the menubar, named after the application) in OSX applications. This function will create a menu entry for such a menu item, removing it from its original menu in the Gtk application.

To group your menu items, insert GtkSeparatorMenuItem*s where you want them.

Don't use it for Quit! A Quit menu item is created automatically along with the Application menu. Just hide your Gtk Quit menu item.

self : The GtkosxApplication object
menu_item : The GtkMenuItem to add to the group.
index : The place in the app menu that you want the item inserted. The first item is 0.

gtkosx_application_ready ()

void                gtkosx_application_ready            (GtkosxApplication *self);

Inform Cocoa that application initialization is complete.

self : The GtkosxApplication object

gtkosx_application_set_dock_icon_pixbuf ()

void                gtkosx_application_set_dock_icon_pixbuf
                                                        (GtkosxApplication *self,
                                                         GdkPixbuf *pixbuf);

Set the dock icon from a GdkPixbuf

self : The GtkosxApplication
pixbuf : The pixbuf. Pass NULL to reset the icon to its default.

gtkosx_application_set_dock_icon_resource ()

void                gtkosx_application_set_dock_icon_resource
                                                        (GtkosxApplication *self,
                                                         const gchar *name,
                                                         const gchar *type,
                                                         const gchar *subdir);

Set the dock icon from an image file in the bundle/

self : The GtkosxApplication
name : The ame of the image file
type : The extension (e.g., jpg) of the filename
subdir : The subdirectory of $Bundle/Contents/Resources in which to look for the file.

gtkosx_application_set_dock_menu ()

void                gtkosx_application_set_dock_menu    (GtkosxApplication *self,
                                                         GtkMenuShell *menu_shell);

Set a GtkMenu as the dock menu.

This menu does not have a "sync" function, so changes made while signals are disconnected will not update the menu which appears in the dock, and may produce strange results or crashes if a GtkMenuItem or GtkAction associated with a dock menu item is deallocated.

self : The GtkosxApplication object
menu_shell : A GtkMenu (cast it with GTK_MENU_SHELL() when you pass it in

gtkosx_application_set_help_menu ()

void                gtkosx_application_set_help_menu    (GtkosxApplication *self,
                                                         GtkMenuItem *menu_item);

Sets a designated menu item already on the menu bar as the Help menu. Call this after gtk_osx_application_set_menu_bar(), but before gtk_osx_application_window_menu(), especially if you're letting GtkosxApplication create a Window menu for you (it helps position the Window menu correctly). It operates on the currently active menubar. If nenu_item is NULL, it will create a new menu for you, which will not be gettext translatable.

self : The application object
menu_item : The menu item which will be set as the Window menu

gtkosx_application_set_menu_bar ()

void                gtkosx_application_set_menu_bar     (GtkosxApplication *self,
                                                         GtkMenuShell *menu_shell);

Set a window's menubar as the application menu bar. Call this once for each window as you create them. It works best if the menubar is reasonably fully populated before you call it. Once set, it will stay syncronized through signals as long as you don't disconnect or block them.

self : The GtkosxApplication object
menu_shell : The GtkMenuBar that you want to set.

gtkosx_application_set_use_quartz_accelerators ()

void                gtkosx_application_set_use_quartz_accelerators
                                                        (GtkosxApplication *self,
                                                         gboolean use_quartz_accelerators);

Set quartz accelerator handling; TRUE (default) uses quartz; FALSE uses Gtk+. Quartz accelerator handling is required for normal OSX accelerators (e.g., command-q to quit) to work.

self : The GtkosxApplication pointer.
use_quartz_accelerators : Gboolean

gtkosx_application_set_window_menu ()

void                gtkosx_application_set_window_menu  (GtkosxApplication *self,
                                                         GtkMenuItem *menu_item);

Sets a designated menu item already on the menu bar as the Window menu. This is the menu which contains a list of open windows for the application; by default it also provides menu items to minimize and zoom the current window and to bring all windows to the front. Call this after gtk_osx_application_set_menu_bar(). It operates on the currently active menubar. If nenu_item is NULL, it will create a new menu for you, which will not be gettext translatable.

self : The application object
menu_item : The menu item which will be set as the Window menu

gtkosx_application_sync_menubar ()

void                gtkosx_application_sync_menubar     (GtkosxApplication *self);

Syncronize the active window's GtkMenuBar with the OSX menu bar. You should only need this if you have programmatically changed the menus with signals blocked or disconnected.

self : The GtkosxApplication object

gtkosx_application_use_quartz_accelerators ()

gboolean            gtkosx_application_use_quartz_accelerators
                                                        (GtkosxApplication *self);

Are we using Quartz or Gtk+ accelerator handling?

self : The GtkosxApplication pointer.
Returns : a gboolean

Signal Details

The "NSApplicationBlockTermination" signal

gboolean            user_function                      (GtkosxApplication *app,
                                                        gpointer           user_data)      : Action

Emitted by the Application Delegate when the application reeeives an NSApplicationShouldTerminate notification. Perform any cleanup you need to do (e.g., saving files) before exiting. Returning FALSE will allow further handlers to run and if none return TRUE, the application to shut down. Returning TRUE will veto shutdown and stop emission, so later handlers will not run.

app : The application object
user_data : Data appended at connection
user_data : user data set when the signal handler was connected.
Returns : Boolean indicating that further emission and application termination should be blocked.

The "NSApplicationDidBecomeActive" signal

void                user_function                      (GtkosxApplication *app,
                                                        gpointer           user_data)      : Action

Emitted by the Application Delegate when the application receives an NSApplicationDidBecomeActive notification. Connect a handler if there is anything you need to do when the application is activated.

app : The application object user_data: Data appended at connection
user_data : user data set when the signal handler was connected.

The "NSApplicationOpenFile" signal

gboolean            user_function                      (GtkosxApplication *app,
                                                        gchar             *path,
                                                        gpointer           user_data)      : Action

Emitted when a OpenFile, OpenFiles, or OpenEmptyFile event is received from the operating system. This signal does not implement drops, but it does implement "open with" events from Finder. An OpenEmptyFile is received at launch in Python applications.

app : The application object
path : A UTF8-encoded file path to open.
user_data : Data attached at connection
user_data : user data set when the signal handler was connected.
Returns : Boolean indicating success at opening the file.

The "NSApplicationWillResignActive" signal

void                user_function                      (GtkosxApplication *app,
                                                        gpointer           user_data)      : Action

This signal is emitted by the Application Delegate when the application receives an NSApplicationWillResignActive notification. Connect a handler to it if there's anything your application needs to do to prepare for inactivity.

app : The application object
user_data : Data appended at connection
user_data : user data set when the signal handler was connected.

The "NSApplicationWillTerminate" signal

void                user_function                      (GtkosxApplication *app,
                                                        gpointer           user_data)      : Action

Emitted by the Application Delegate when the application reeeives an NSApplicationSWillTerminate notification. Connect your final shutdown routine (the one that calls gtk_main_quit() here.

app : The application object
user_data : Data appended at connection
user_data : user data set when the signal handler was connected.