Application

gtk.application.Application is a high-level API for writing applications.

It supports many aspects of writing a GTK application in a convenient fashion, without enforcing a one-size-fits-all model.

Currently, gtk.application.Application 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 gtk.application.Application works fine with plain gtk.window.Windows, it is recommended to use it together with gtk.application_window.ApplicationWindow.

Automatic resources

gtk.application.Application will automatically load menus from the gtk.builder.Builder resource located at "gtk/menus.ui", relative to the application's resource base path (see gio.application.Application.setResourceBasePath). The menu with the ID "menubar" is taken as the application's menubar. Additional menus (most interesting submenus) can be named and accessed via gtk.application.Application.getMenuById which allows for dynamic population of a part of the menu structure.

Note that automatic resource loading uses the resource base path that is set at construction time and will not work if the resource base path is changed at a later time.

It is also possible to provide the menubar manually using gtk.application.Application.setMenubar.

gtk.application.Application will also automatically setup an icon search path for the default icon theme by appending "icons" to the resource base path. This allows your application to easily store its icons as resources. See gtk.icon_theme.IconTheme.addResourcePath for more information.

If there is a resource located at gtk/help-overlay.ui which defines a gtk.shortcuts_window.ShortcutsWindow with ID help_overlay then gtk.application.Application associates an instance of this shortcuts window with each gtk.application_window.ApplicationWindow and sets up the keyboard accelerator <kbd>Control</kbd>+<kbd>?</kbd> to open it. To create a menu item that displays the shortcuts window, associate the item with the action win.show-help-overlay.

A simple application

A simple example

is available in the GTK source code repository

gtk.application.Application optionally registers with a session manager of the users session (if you set the property@Gtk.Application: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.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(string applicationId, gio.types.ApplicationFlags flags): Creates a new gtk.application.Application instance.

Members

Functions

addWindow void addWindow(gtk.window.Window window): Adds a window to application.
connectQueryEnd ulong connectQueryEnd(T callback, Flag!"After" after): Connect to QueryEnd signal.
connectWindowAdded ulong connectWindowAdded(T callback, Flag!"After" after): Connect to WindowAdded signal.
connectWindowRemoved ulong connectWindowRemoved(T callback, Flag!"After" after): Connect to WindowRemoved signal.
getAccelsForAction string[] getAccelsForAction(string detailedActionName): Gets the accelerators that are currently associated with the given action.
getActionsForAccel string[] getActionsForAccel(string accel): Returns the list of actions (possibly empty) that accel maps to.
getActiveWindow gtk.window.Window getActiveWindow(): Gets the “active” window for the application.
getMenuById gio.menu.Menu getMenuById(string id): Gets a menu from automatically loaded resources.
getMenubar gio.menu_model.MenuModel getMenubar(): Returns the menu model that has been set with gtk.application.Application.setMenubar.
getWindowById gtk.window.Window getWindowById(uint id): Returns the gtk.application_window.ApplicationWindow with the given ID.
getWindows gtk.window.Window[] getWindows(): Gets a list of the gtk.window.Window instances associated with application.
inhibit uint inhibit(gtk.window.Window window, gtk.types.ApplicationInhibitFlags flags, string reason): Inform the session manager that certain types of actions should be inhibited.
listActionDescriptions string[] listActionDescriptions(): Lists the detailed action names which have associated accelerators.
removeWindow void removeWindow(gtk.window.Window window): Remove a window from application.
setAccelsForAction void setAccelsForAction(string detailedActionName, string[] accels): Sets zero or more keyboard accelerators that will trigger the given action.
setMenubar void setMenubar(gio.menu_model.MenuModel menubar): Sets or unsets the menubar for windows of application.
uninhibit void uninhibit(uint cookie): Removes an inhibitor that has been previously established.

Inherited Members

From Application

getDefault gio.application.Application getDefault(): Returns the default #GApplication instance for this process.
idIsValid bool idIsValid(string applicationId): Checks if application_id is a valid application identifier.
activate void activate(): Activates the application.
addMainOption void addMainOption(string longName, char shortName, glib.types.OptionFlags flags, glib.types.OptionArg arg, string description, string argDescription): Add an option to be handled by application.
addMainOptionEntries void addMainOptionEntries(glib.types.OptionEntry[] entries): Adds main option entries to be handled by application.
addOptionGroup void addOptionGroup(glib.option_group.OptionGroup group): Adds a #GOptionGroup to the commandline handling of application.
bindBusyProperty void bindBusyProperty(gobject.object.ObjectG object, string property): Marks application as busy (see gio.application.Application.markBusy) while property on object is true.
getApplicationId string getApplicationId(): Gets the unique identifier for application.
getDbusConnection gio.dbus_connection.DBusConnection getDbusConnection(): Gets the #GDBusConnection being used by the application, or null.
getDbusObjectPath string getDbusObjectPath(): Gets the D-Bus object path being used by the application, or null.
getFlags gio.types.ApplicationFlags getFlags(): Gets the flags for application.
getInactivityTimeout uint getInactivityTimeout(): Gets the current inactivity timeout for the application.
getIsBusy bool getIsBusy(): Gets the application's current busy state, as set through gio.application.Application.markBusy or gio.application.Application.bindBusyProperty.
getIsRegistered bool getIsRegistered(): Checks if application is registered.
getIsRemote bool getIsRemote(): Checks if application is remote.
getResourceBasePath string getResourceBasePath(): Gets the resource base path of application.
getVersion string getVersion(): Gets the version of application.
hold void hold(): Increases the use count of application.
markBusy void markBusy(): Increases the busy count of application.
open void open(gio.file.File[] files, string hint): Opens the given files.
quit void quit(): Immediately quits the application.
register bool register(gio.cancellable.Cancellable cancellable): Attempts registration of the application.
release void release(): Decrease the use count of application.
run int run(string[] argv): Runs the application.
sendNotification void sendNotification(string id, gio.notification.Notification notification): Sends a notification on behalf of application to the desktop shell. There is no guarantee that the notification is displayed immediately, or even at all.
setActionGroup void setActionGroup(gio.action_group.ActionGroup actionGroup): This used to be how actions were associated with a #GApplication. Now there is #GActionMap for that.
setApplicationId void setApplicationId(string applicationId): Sets the unique identifier for application.
setDefault void setDefault(): Sets or unsets the default application for the process, as returned by gio.application.Application.getDefault.
setFlags void setFlags(gio.types.ApplicationFlags flags): Sets the flags for application.
setInactivityTimeout void setInactivityTimeout(uint inactivityTimeout): Sets the current inactivity timeout for the application.
setOptionContextDescription void setOptionContextDescription(string description): Adds a description to the application option context.
setOptionContextParameterString void setOptionContextParameterString(string parameterString): Sets the parameter string to be used by the commandline handling of application.
setOptionContextSummary void setOptionContextSummary(string summary): Adds a summary to the application option context.
setResourceBasePath void setResourceBasePath(string resourcePath): Sets (or unsets) the base resource path of application.
setVersion void setVersion(string version_): Sets the version number of application. This will be used to implement a --version command line argument
unbindBusyProperty void unbindBusyProperty(gobject.object.ObjectG object, string property): Destroys a binding between property and the busy state of application that was previously created with gio.application.Application.bindBusyProperty.
unmarkBusy void unmarkBusy(): Decreases the busy count of application.
withdrawNotification void withdrawNotification(string id): Withdraws a notification that was sent with gio.application.Application.sendNotification.
connectActivate ulong connectActivate(T callback, Flag!"After" after): Connect to Activate signal.
connectCommandLine ulong connectCommandLine(T callback, Flag!"After" after): Connect to CommandLine signal.
connectHandleLocalOptions ulong connectHandleLocalOptions(T callback, Flag!"After" after): Connect to HandleLocalOptions signal.
connectNameLost ulong connectNameLost(T callback, Flag!"After" after): Connect to NameLost signal.
connectOpen ulong connectOpen(T callback, Flag!"After" after): Connect to Open signal.
connectShutdown ulong connectShutdown(T callback, Flag!"After" after): Connect to Shutdown signal.
connectStartup ulong connectStartup(T callback, Flag!"After" after): Connect to Startup signal.

gtk application classes

Application