GTK v1.2 Tutorial: Writing Your Own Widgets

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Although the GTK distribution comes with many types of widgets that should cover most basic needs, there may come a time when you need to create your own new widget type. Since GTK uses widget inheritance extensively, and there is already a widget that is close to what you want, it is often possible to make a useful new widget type in just a few lines of code. But before starting work on a new widget, check around first to make sure that someone has not already written it. This will prevent duplication of effort and keep the number of GTK widgets out there to a minimum, which will help keep both the code and the interface of different applications consistent. As a flip side to this, once you finish your widget, announce it to the world so other people can benefit. The best place to do this is probably the gtk-list.

Complete sources for the example widgets are available at the place you got this tutorial, or from:

http://www.gtk.org/~otaylor/gtk/tutorial/

22.2 The Anatomy Of A Widget

In order to create a new widget, it is important to have an understanding of how GTK objects work. This section is just meant as a brief overview. See the reference documentation for the details.

GTK widgets are implemented in an object oriented fashion. However, they are implemented in standard C. This greatly improves portability and stability over using current generation C++ compilers; however, it does mean that the widget writer has to pay attention to some of the implementation details. The information common to all instances of one class of widgets (e.g., to all Button widgets) is stored in the class structure. There is only one copy of this in which is stored information about the class's signals (which act like virtual functions in C). To support inheritance, the first field in the class structure must be a copy of the parent's class structure. The declaration of the class structure of GtkButtton looks like:


struct _GtkButtonClass
{
  GtkContainerClass parent_class;

  void (* pressed)  (GtkButton *button);
  void (* released) (GtkButton *button);
  void (* clicked)  (GtkButton *button);
  void (* enter)    (GtkButton *button);
  void (* leave)    (GtkButton *button);
};

When a button is treated as a container (for instance, when it is resized), its class structure can be cast to GtkContainerClass, and the relevant fields used to handle the signals.

There is also a structure for each widget that is created on a per-instance basis. This structure has fields to store information that is different for each instance of the widget. We'll call this structure the object structure. For the Button class, it looks like:


struct _GtkButton
{
  GtkContainer container;

  GtkWidget *child;

  guint in_button : 1;
  guint button_down : 1;
};

Note that, similar to the class structure, the first field is the object structure of the parent class, so that this structure can be cast to the parent class' object structure as needed.

22.3 Creating a Composite widget

Introduction

One type of widget that you may be interested in creating is a widget that is merely an aggregate of other GTK widgets. This type of widget does nothing that couldn't be done without creating new widgets, but provides a convenient way of packaging user interface elements for reuse. The FileSelection and ColorSelection widgets in the standard distribution are examples of this type of widget.

The example widget that we'll create in this section is the Tictactoe widget, a 3x3 array of toggle buttons which triggers a signal when all three buttons in a row, column, or on one of the diagonals are depressed.

Choosing a parent class

The parent class for a composite widget is typically the container class that holds all of the elements of the composite widget. For example, the parent class of the FileSelection widget is the Dialog class. Since our buttons will be arranged in a table, it might seem natural to make our parent class the Table class. Unfortunately, this turns out not to work. The creation of a widget is divided among two functions - a WIDGETNAME_new() function that the user calls, and a WIDGETNAME_init() function which does the basic work of initializing the widget which is independent of the arguments passed to the _new() function. Descendant widgets only call the _init function of their parent widget. But this division of labor doesn't work well for tables, which when created need to know the number of rows and columns in the table. Unless we want to duplicate most of the functionality of gtk_table_new() in our Tictactoe widget, we had best avoid deriving it from Table. For that reason, we derive it from VBox instead, and stick our table inside the VBox.

The header file

Each widget class has a header file which declares the object and class structures for that widget, along with public functions. A couple of features are worth pointing out. To prevent duplicate definitions, we wrap the entire header file in:


#ifndef __TICTACTOE_H__
#define __TICTACTOE_H__
.
.
.
#endif /* __TICTACTOE_H__ */

And to keep C++ programs that include the header file happy, in:


#ifdef __cplusplus
extern "C" {
#endif /* __cplusplus */
.
.
.
#ifdef __cplusplus
}
#endif /* __cplusplus */

Along with the functions and structures, we declare three standard macros in our header file, TICTACTOE(obj), TICTACTOE_CLASS(klass), and IS_TICTACTOE(obj), which cast a pointer into a pointer to the object or class structure, and check if an object is a Tictactoe widget respectively.

Here is the complete header file:


/* tictactoe.h */

#ifndef __TICTACTOE_H__
#define __TICTACTOE_H__

#include <gdk/gdk.h>
#include <gtk/gtkvbox.h>

#ifdef __cplusplus
extern "C" {
#endif /* __cplusplus */

#define TICTACTOE(obj)          GTK_CHECK_CAST (obj, tictactoe_get_type (), Tictactoe)
#define TICTACTOE_CLASS(klass)  GTK_CHECK_CLASS_CAST (klass, tictactoe_get_type (), TictactoeClass)
#define IS_TICTACTOE(obj)       GTK_CHECK_TYPE (obj, tictactoe_get_type ())


typedef struct _Tictactoe       Tictactoe;
typedef struct _TictactoeClass  TictactoeClass;

struct _Tictactoe
{
  GtkVBox vbox;
  
  GtkWidget *buttons[3][3];
};

struct _TictactoeClass
{
  GtkVBoxClass parent_class;

  void (* tictactoe) (Tictactoe *ttt);
};

guint          tictactoe_get_type        (void);
GtkWidget*     tictactoe_new             (void);
void           tictactoe_clear           (Tictactoe *ttt);

#ifdef __cplusplus
}
#endif /* __cplusplus */

#endif /* __TICTACTOE_H__ */

The `_get_type()` function.

We now continue on to the implementation of our widget. A core function for every widget is the function WIDGETNAME_get_type(). This function, when first called, tells GTK about the widget class, and gets an ID that uniquely identifies the widget class. Upon subsequent calls, it just returns the ID.


guint
tictactoe_get_type ()
{
  static guint ttt_type = 0;

  if (!ttt_type)
    {
      GtkTypeInfo ttt_info =
      {
        "Tictactoe",
        sizeof (Tictactoe),
        sizeof (TictactoeClass),
        (GtkClassInitFunc) tictactoe_class_init,
        (GtkObjectInitFunc) tictactoe_init,
        (GtkArgSetFunc) NULL,
        (GtkArgGetFunc) NULL
      };

      ttt_type = gtk_type_unique (gtk_vbox_get_type (), &ttt_info);
    }

  return ttt_type;
}

The GtkTypeInfo structure has the following definition:


struct _GtkTypeInfo
{
  gchar *type_name;
  guint object_size;
  guint class_size;
  GtkClassInitFunc class_init_func;
  GtkObjectInitFunc object_init_func;
  GtkArgSetFunc arg_set_func;
  GtkArgGetFunc arg_get_func;
};

The fields of this structure are pretty self-explanatory. We'll ignore the arg_set_func and arg_get_func fields here: they have an important, but as yet largely unimplemented, role in allowing widget options to be conveniently set from interpreted languages. Once GTK has a correctly filled in copy of this structure, it knows how to create objects of a particular widget type.

The `_class_init()` function

The WIDGETNAME_class_init() function initializes the fields of the widget's class structure, and sets up any signals for the class. For our Tictactoe widget it looks like:



enum {
  TICTACTOE_SIGNAL,
  LAST_SIGNAL
};

static gint tictactoe_signals[LAST_SIGNAL] = { 0 };

static void
tictactoe_class_init (TictactoeClass *class)
{
  GtkObjectClass *object_class;

  object_class = (GtkObjectClass*) class;
  
  tictactoe_signals[TICTACTOE_SIGNAL] = gtk_signal_new ("tictactoe",
                                         GTK_RUN_FIRST,
                                         object_class->type,
                                         GTK_SIGNAL_OFFSET (TictactoeClass, tictactoe),
                                         gtk_signal_default_marshaller, GTK_TYPE_NONE, 0);


  gtk_object_class_add_signals (object_class, tictactoe_signals, LAST_SIGNAL);

  class->tictactoe = NULL;
}

Our widget has just one signal, the tictactoe signal that is invoked when a row, column, or diagonal is completely filled in. Not every composite widget needs signals, so if you are reading this for the first time, you may want to skip to the next section now, as things are going to get a bit complicated.

The function:


gint gtk_signal_new( const gchar         *name,
                     GtkSignalRunType     run_type,
                     GtkType              object_type,
                     gint                 function_offset,
                     GtkSignalMarshaller  marshaller,
                     GtkType              return_val,
                     guint                nparams,
                     ...);

Creates a new signal. The parameters are:

name: The name of the signal.
run_type: Whether the default handler runs before or after user handlers. Usually this will be GTK_RUN_FIRST, or GTK_RUN_LAST, although there are other possibilities.
object_type: The ID of the object that this signal applies to. (It will also apply to that objects descendants.)
function_offset: The offset within the class structure of a pointer to the default handler.
marshaller: A function that is used to invoke the signal handler. For signal handlers that have no arguments other than the object that emitted the signal and user data, we can use the pre-supplied marshaller function gtk_signal_default_marshaller.
return_val: The type of the return val.
nparams: The number of parameters of the signal handler (other than the two default ones mentioned above)
...: The types of the parameters.

When specifying types, the GtkType enumeration is used:


typedef enum
{
  GTK_TYPE_INVALID,
  GTK_TYPE_NONE,
  GTK_TYPE_CHAR,
  GTK_TYPE_BOOL,
  GTK_TYPE_INT,
  GTK_TYPE_UINT,
  GTK_TYPE_LONG,
  GTK_TYPE_ULONG,
  GTK_TYPE_FLOAT,
  GTK_TYPE_DOUBLE,
  GTK_TYPE_STRING,
  GTK_TYPE_ENUM,
  GTK_TYPE_FLAGS,
  GTK_TYPE_BOXED,
  GTK_TYPE_FOREIGN,
  GTK_TYPE_CALLBACK,
  GTK_TYPE_ARGS,

  GTK_TYPE_POINTER,

  /* it'd be great if the next two could be removed eventually */
  GTK_TYPE_SIGNAL,
  GTK_TYPE_C_CALLBACK,

  GTK_TYPE_OBJECT

} GtkFundamentalType;

gtk_signal_new() returns a unique integer identifier for the signal, that we store in the tictactoe_signals array, which we index using an enumeration. (Conventionally, the enumeration elements are the signal name, uppercased, but here there would be a conflict with the TICTACTOE() macro, so we called it TICTACTOE_SIGNAL instead.

After creating our signals, we need to tell GTK to associate our signals with the Tictactoe class. We do that by calling gtk_object_class_add_signals(). We then set the pointer which points to the default handler for the "tictactoe" signal to NULL, indicating that there is no default action.

The `_init()` function.

Each widget class also needs a function to initialize the object structure. Usually, this function has the fairly limited role of setting the fields of the structure to default values. For composite widgets, however, this function also creates the component widgets.


static void
tictactoe_init (Tictactoe *ttt)
{
  GtkWidget *table;
  gint i,j;
  
  table = gtk_table_new (3, 3, TRUE);
  gtk_container_add (GTK_CONTAINER(ttt), table);
  gtk_widget_show (table);

  for (i=0;i<3; i++)
    for (j=0;j<3; j++)
      {
        ttt->buttons[i][j] = gtk_toggle_button_new ();
        gtk_table_attach_defaults (GTK_TABLE(table), ttt->buttons[i][j], 
                                   i, i+1, j, j+1);
        gtk_signal_connect (GTK_OBJECT (ttt->buttons[i][j]), "toggled",
                            GTK_SIGNAL_FUNC (tictactoe_toggle), ttt);
        gtk_widget_set_usize (ttt->buttons[i][j], 20, 20);
        gtk_widget_show (ttt->buttons[i][j]);
      }
}

And the rest...

There is one more function that every widget (except for base widget types like Bin that cannot be instantiated) needs to have - the function that the user calls to create an object of that type. This is conventionally called WIDGETNAME_new(). In some widgets, though not for the Tictactoe widgets, this function takes arguments, and does some setup based on the arguments. The other two functions are specific to the Tictactoe widget.

tictactoe_clear() is a public function that resets all the buttons in the widget to the up position. Note the use of gtk_signal_handler_block_by_data() to keep our signal handler for button toggles from being triggered unnecessarily.

tictactoe_toggle() is the signal handler that is invoked when the user clicks on a button. It checks to see if there are any winning combinations that involve the toggled button, and if so, emits the "tictactoe" signal.


  
GtkWidget*
tictactoe_new ()
{
  return GTK_WIDGET ( gtk_type_new (tictactoe_get_type ()));
}

void           
tictactoe_clear (Tictactoe *ttt)
{
  int i,j;

  for (i=0;i<3;i++)
    for (j=0;j<3;j++)
      {
        gtk_signal_handler_block_by_data (GTK_OBJECT(ttt->buttons[i][j]), ttt);
        gtk_toggle_button_set_active (GTK_TOGGLE_BUTTON (ttt->buttons[i][j]),
                                     FALSE);
        gtk_signal_handler_unblock_by_data (GTK_OBJECT(ttt->buttons[i][j]), ttt);
      }
}

static void
tictactoe_toggle (GtkWidget *widget, Tictactoe *ttt)
{
  int i,k;

  static int rwins[8][3] = { { 0, 0, 0 }, { 1, 1, 1 }, { 2, 2, 2 },
                             { 0, 1, 2 }, { 0, 1, 2 }, { 0, 1, 2 },
                             { 0, 1, 2 }, { 0, 1, 2 } };
  static int cwins[8][3] = { { 0, 1, 2 }, { 0, 1, 2 }, { 0, 1, 2 },
                             { 0, 0, 0 }, { 1, 1, 1 }, { 2, 2, 2 },
                             { 0, 1, 2 }, { 2, 1, 0 } };

  int success, found;

  for (k=0; k<8; k++)
    {
      success = TRUE;
      found = FALSE;

      for (i=0;i<3;i++)
        {
          success = success && 
            GTK_TOGGLE_BUTTON(ttt->buttons[rwins[k][i]][cwins[k][i]])->active;
          found = found ||
            ttt->buttons[rwins[k][i]][cwins[k][i]] == widget;
        }
      
      if (success && found)
        {
          gtk_signal_emit (GTK_OBJECT (ttt), 
                           tictactoe_signals[TICTACTOE_SIGNAL]);
          break;
        }
    }
}

And finally, an example program using our Tictactoe widget:


#include <gtk/gtk.h>
#include "tictactoe.h"

/* Invoked when a row, column or diagonal is completed */
void
win (GtkWidget *widget, gpointer data)
{
  g_print ("Yay!\n");
  tictactoe_clear (TICTACTOE (widget));
}

int 
main (int argc, char *argv[])
{
  GtkWidget *window;
  GtkWidget *ttt;
  
  gtk_init (&argc, &argv);

  window = gtk_window_new (GTK_WINDOW_TOPLEVEL);
  
  gtk_window_set_title (GTK_WINDOW (window), "Aspect Frame");
  
  gtk_signal_connect (GTK_OBJECT (window), "destroy",
                      GTK_SIGNAL_FUNC (gtk_exit), NULL);
  
  gtk_container_set_border_width (GTK_CONTAINER (window), 10);

  /* Create a new Tictactoe widget */
  ttt = tictactoe_new ();
  gtk_container_add (GTK_CONTAINER (window), ttt);
  gtk_widget_show (ttt);

  /* And attach to its "tictactoe" signal */
  gtk_signal_connect (GTK_OBJECT (ttt), "tictactoe",
                      GTK_SIGNAL_FUNC (win), NULL);

  gtk_widget_show (window);
  
  gtk_main ();
  
  return 0;
}

22.4 Creating a widget from scratch.

Introduction

In this section, we'll learn more about how widgets display themselves on the screen and interact with events. As an example of this, we'll create an analog dial widget with a pointer that the user can drag to set the value.

Displaying a widget on the screen

There are several steps that are involved in displaying on the screen. After the widget is created with a call to WIDGETNAME_new(), several more functions are needed:

WIDGETNAME_realize() is responsible for creating an X window for the widget if it has one.
WIDGETNAME_map() is invoked after the user calls gtk_widget_show(). It is responsible for making sure the widget is actually drawn on the screen (mapped). For a container class, it must also make calls to map()> functions of any child widgets.
WIDGETNAME_draw() is invoked when gtk_widget_draw() is called for the widget or one of its ancestors. It makes the actual calls to the drawing functions to draw the widget on the screen. For container widgets, this function must make calls to gtk_widget_draw() for its child widgets.
WIDGETNAME_expose() is a handler for expose events for the widget. It makes the necessary calls to the drawing functions to draw the exposed portion on the screen. For container widgets, this function must generate expose events for its child widgets which don't have their own windows. (If they have their own windows, then X will generate the necessary expose events.)

You might notice that the last two functions are quite similar - each is responsible for drawing the widget on the screen. In fact many types of widgets don't really care about the difference between the two. The default draw() function in the widget class simply generates a synthetic expose event for the redrawn area. However, some types of widgets can save work by distinguishing between the two functions. For instance, if a widget has multiple X windows, then since expose events identify the exposed window, it can redraw only the affected window, which is not possible for calls to draw().

Container widgets, even if they don't care about the difference for themselves, can't simply use the default draw() function because their child widgets might care about the difference. However, it would be wasteful to duplicate the drawing code between the two functions. The convention is that such widgets have a function called WIDGETNAME_paint() that does the actual work of drawing the widget, that is then called by the draw() and expose() functions.

In our example approach, since the dial widget is not a container widget, and only has a single window, we can take the simplest approach and use the default draw() function and only implement an expose() function.

The origins of the Dial Widget

Just as all land animals are just variants on the first amphibian that crawled up out of the mud, GTK widgets tend to start off as variants of some other, previously written widget. Thus, although this section is entitled "Creating a Widget from Scratch", the Dial widget really began with the source code for the Range widget. This was picked as a starting point because it would be nice if our Dial had the same interface as the Scale widgets which are just specialized descendants of the Range widget. So, though the source code is presented below in finished form, it should not be implied that it was written, ab initio in this fashion. Also, if you aren't yet familiar with how scale widgets work from the application writer's point of view, it would be a good idea to look them over before continuing.

The Basics

Quite a bit of our widget should look pretty familiar from the Tictactoe widget. First, we have a header file:


/* GTK - The GIMP Toolkit
 * Copyright (C) 1995-1997 Peter Mattis, Spencer Kimball and Josh MacDonald
 *
 * 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., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
 */

#ifndef __GTK_DIAL_H__
#define __GTK_DIAL_H__

#include <gdk/gdk.h>
#include <gtk/gtkadjustment.h>
#include <gtk/gtkwidget.h>


#ifdef __cplusplus
extern "C" {
#endif /* __cplusplus */


#define GTK_DIAL(obj)          GTK_CHECK_CAST (obj, gtk_dial_get_type (), GtkDial)
#define GTK_DIAL_CLASS(klass)  GTK_CHECK_CLASS_CAST (klass, gtk_dial_get_type (), GtkDialClass)
#define GTK_IS_DIAL(obj)       GTK_CHECK_TYPE (obj, gtk_dial_get_type ())


typedef struct _GtkDial        GtkDial;
typedef struct _GtkDialClass   GtkDialClass;

struct _GtkDial
{
  GtkWidget widget;

  /* update policy (GTK_UPDATE_[CONTINUOUS/DELAYED/DISCONTINUOUS]) */
  guint policy : 2;

  /* Button currently pressed or 0 if none */
  guint8 button;

  /* Dimensions of dial components */
  gint radius;
  gint pointer_width;

  /* ID of update timer, or 0 if none */
  guint32 timer;

  /* Current angle */
  gfloat angle;

  /* Old values from adjustment stored so we know when something changes */
  gfloat old_value;
  gfloat old_lower;
  gfloat old_upper;

  /* The adjustment object that stores the data for this dial */
  GtkAdjustment *adjustment;
};

struct _GtkDialClass
{
  GtkWidgetClass parent_class;
};


GtkWidget*     gtk_dial_new                    (GtkAdjustment *adjustment);
guint          gtk_dial_get_type               (void);
GtkAdjustment* gtk_dial_get_adjustment         (GtkDial      *dial);
void           gtk_dial_set_update_policy      (GtkDial      *dial,
                                                GtkUpdateType  policy);

void           gtk_dial_set_adjustment         (GtkDial      *dial,
                                                GtkAdjustment *adjustment);
#ifdef __cplusplus
}
#endif /* __cplusplus */


#endif /* __GTK_DIAL_H__ */

Since there is quite a bit more going on in this widget than the last one, we have more fields in the data structure, but otherwise things are pretty similar.

Next, after including header files and declaring a few constants, we have some functions to provide information about the widget and initialize it:


#include <math.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <gtk/gtkmain.h>
#include <gtk/gtksignal.h>

#include "gtkdial.h"

#define SCROLL_DELAY_LENGTH  300
#define DIAL_DEFAULT_SIZE 100

/* Forward declarations */

[ omitted to save space ]

/* Local data */

static GtkWidgetClass *parent_class = NULL;

guint
gtk_dial_get_type ()
{
  static guint dial_type = 0;

  if (!dial_type)
    {
      GtkTypeInfo dial_info =
      {
        "GtkDial",
        sizeof (GtkDial),
        sizeof (GtkDialClass),
        (GtkClassInitFunc) gtk_dial_class_init,
        (GtkObjectInitFunc) gtk_dial_init,
        (GtkArgSetFunc) NULL,
        (GtkArgGetFunc) NULL,
      };

      dial_type = gtk_type_unique (gtk_widget_get_type (), &dial_info);
    }

  return dial_type;
}

static void
gtk_dial_class_init (GtkDialClass *class)
{
  GtkObjectClass *object_class;
  GtkWidgetClass *widget_class;

  object_class = (GtkObjectClass*) class;
  widget_class = (GtkWidgetClass*) class;

  parent_class = gtk_type_class (gtk_widget_get_type ());

  object_class->destroy = gtk_dial_destroy;

  widget_class->realize = gtk_dial_realize;
  widget_class->expose_event = gtk_dial_expose;
  widget_class->size_request = gtk_dial_size_request;
  widget_class->size_allocate = gtk_dial_size_allocate;
  widget_class->button_press_event = gtk_dial_button_press;
  widget_class->button_release_event = gtk_dial_button_release;
  widget_class->motion_notify_event = gtk_dial_motion_notify;
}

static void
gtk_dial_init (GtkDial *dial)
{
  dial->button = 0;
  dial->policy = GTK_UPDATE_CONTINUOUS;
  dial->timer = 0;
  dial->radius = 0;
  dial->pointer_width = 0;
  dial->angle = 0.0;
  dial->old_value = 0.0;
  dial->old_lower = 0.0;
  dial->old_upper = 0.0;
  dial->adjustment = NULL;
}

GtkWidget*
gtk_dial_new (GtkAdjustment *adjustment)
{
  GtkDial *dial;

  dial = gtk_type_new (gtk_dial_get_type ());

  if (!adjustment)
    adjustment = (GtkAdjustment*) gtk_adjustment_new (0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0);

  gtk_dial_set_adjustment (dial, adjustment);

  return GTK_WIDGET (dial);
}

static void
gtk_dial_destroy (GtkObject *object)
{
  GtkDial *dial;

  g_return_if_fail (object != NULL);
  g_return_if_fail (GTK_IS_DIAL (object));

  dial = GTK_DIAL (object);

  if (dial->adjustment)
    gtk_object_unref (GTK_OBJECT (dial->adjustment));

  if (GTK_OBJECT_CLASS (parent_class)->destroy)
    (* GTK_OBJECT_CLASS (parent_class)->destroy) (object);
}

Note that this init() function does less than for the Tictactoe widget, since this is not a composite widget, and the new() function does more, since it now has an argument. Also, note that when we store a pointer to the Adjustment object, we increment its reference count, (and correspondingly decrement it when we no longer use it) so that GTK can keep track of when it can be safely destroyed.

Also, there are a few function to manipulate the widget's options:


GtkAdjustment*
gtk_dial_get_adjustment (GtkDial *dial)
{
  g_return_val_if_fail (dial != NULL, NULL);
  g_return_val_if_fail (GTK_IS_DIAL (dial), NULL);

  return dial->adjustment;
}

void
gtk_dial_set_update_policy (GtkDial      *dial,
                             GtkUpdateType  policy)
{
  g_return_if_fail (dial != NULL);
  g_return_if_fail (GTK_IS_DIAL (dial));

  dial->policy = policy;
}

void
gtk_dial_set_adjustment (GtkDial      *dial,
                          GtkAdjustment *adjustment)
{
  g_return_if_fail (dial != NULL);
  g_return_if_fail (GTK_IS_DIAL (dial));

  if (dial->adjustment)
    {
      gtk_signal_disconnect_by_data (GTK_OBJECT (dial->adjustment), (gpointer) dial);
      gtk_object_unref (GTK_OBJECT (dial->adjustment));
    }

  dial->adjustment = adjustment;
  gtk_object_ref (GTK_OBJECT (dial->adjustment));

  gtk_signal_connect (GTK_OBJECT (adjustment), "changed",
                      (GtkSignalFunc) gtk_dial_adjustment_changed,
                      (gpointer) dial);
  gtk_signal_connect (GTK_OBJECT (adjustment), "value_changed",
                      (GtkSignalFunc) gtk_dial_adjustment_value_changed,
                      (gpointer) dial);

  dial->old_value = adjustment->value;
  dial->old_lower = adjustment->lower;
  dial->old_upper = adjustment->upper;

  gtk_dial_update (dial);
}

`gtk_dial_realize()`

Now we come to some new types of functions. First, we have a function that does the work of creating the X window. Notice that a mask is passed to the function gdk_window_new() which specifies which fields of the GdkWindowAttr structure actually have data in them (the remaining fields will be given default values). Also worth noting is the way the event mask of the widget is created. We call gtk_widget_get_events() to retrieve the event mask that the user has specified for this widget (with gtk_widget_set_events()), and add the events that we are interested in ourselves.

After creating the window, we set its style and background, and put a pointer to the widget in the user data field of the GdkWindow. This last step allows GTK to dispatch events for this window to the correct widget.


static void
gtk_dial_realize (GtkWidget *widget)
{
  GtkDial *dial;
  GdkWindowAttr attributes;
  gint attributes_mask;

  g_return_if_fail (widget != NULL);
  g_return_if_fail (GTK_IS_DIAL (widget));

  GTK_WIDGET_SET_FLAGS (widget, GTK_REALIZED);
  dial = GTK_DIAL (widget);

  attributes.x = widget->allocation.x;
  attributes.y = widget->allocation.y;
  attributes.width = widget->allocation.width;
  attributes.height = widget->allocation.height;
  attributes.wclass = GDK_INPUT_OUTPUT;
  attributes.window_type = GDK_WINDOW_CHILD;
  attributes.event_mask = gtk_widget_get_events (widget) | 
    GDK_EXPOSURE_MASK | GDK_BUTTON_PRESS_MASK | 
    GDK_BUTTON_RELEASE_MASK | GDK_POINTER_MOTION_MASK |
    GDK_POINTER_MOTION_HINT_MASK;
  attributes.visual = gtk_widget_get_visual (widget);
  attributes.colormap = gtk_widget_get_colormap (widget);

  attributes_mask = GDK_WA_X | GDK_WA_Y | GDK_WA_VISUAL | GDK_WA_COLORMAP;
  widget->window = gdk_window_new (widget->parent->window, &attributes, attributes_mask);

  widget->style = gtk_style_attach (widget->style, widget->window);

  gdk_window_set_user_data (widget->window, widget);

  gtk_style_set_background (widget->style, widget->window, GTK_STATE_ACTIVE);
}

Size negotiation

Before the first time that the window containing a widget is displayed, and whenever the layout of the window changes, GTK asks each child widget for its desired size. This request is handled by the function gtk_dial_size_request(). Since our widget isn't a container widget, and has no real constraints on its size, we just return a reasonable default value.


static void 
gtk_dial_size_request (GtkWidget      *widget,
                       GtkRequisition *requisition)
{
  requisition->width = DIAL_DEFAULT_SIZE;
  requisition->height = DIAL_DEFAULT_SIZE;
}

After all the widgets have requested an ideal size, the layout of the window is computed and each child widget is notified of its actual size. Usually, this will be at least as large as the requested size, but if for instance the user has resized the window, it may occasionally be smaller than the requested size. The size notification is handled by the function gtk_dial_size_allocate(). Notice that as well as computing the sizes of some component pieces for future use, this routine also does the grunt work of moving the widget's X window into the new position and size.


static void
gtk_dial_size_allocate (GtkWidget     *widget,
                        GtkAllocation *allocation)
{
  GtkDial *dial;

  g_return_if_fail (widget != NULL);
  g_return_if_fail (GTK_IS_DIAL (widget));
  g_return_if_fail (allocation != NULL);

  widget->allocation = *allocation;
  if (GTK_WIDGET_REALIZED (widget))
    {
      dial = GTK_DIAL (widget);

      gdk_window_move_resize (widget->window,
                              allocation->x, allocation->y,
                              allocation->width, allocation->height);

      dial->radius = MAX(allocation->width,allocation->height) * 0.45;
      dial->pointer_width = dial->radius / 5;
    }
}

`gtk_dial_expose()`

As mentioned above, all the drawing of this widget is done in the handler for expose events. There's not much to remark on here except the use of the function gtk_draw_polygon to draw the pointer with three dimensional shading according to the colors stored in the widget's style.


static gint
gtk_dial_expose (GtkWidget      *widget,
                 GdkEventExpose *event)
{
  GtkDial *dial;
  GdkPoint points[3];
  gdouble s,c;
  gdouble theta;
  gint xc, yc;
  gint tick_length;
  gint i;

  g_return_val_if_fail (widget != NULL, FALSE);
  g_return_val_if_fail (GTK_IS_DIAL (widget), FALSE);
  g_return_val_if_fail (event != NULL, FALSE);

  if (event->count > 0)
    return FALSE;
  
  dial = GTK_DIAL (widget);

  gdk_window_clear_area (widget->window,
                         0, 0,
                         widget->allocation.width,
                         widget->allocation.height);

  xc = widget->allocation.width/2;
  yc = widget->allocation.height/2;

  /* Draw ticks */

  for (i=0; i<25; i++)
    {
      theta = (i*M_PI/18. - M_PI/6.);
      s = sin(theta);
      c = cos(theta);

      tick_length = (i%6 == 0) ? dial->pointer_width : dial->pointer_width/2;
      
      gdk_draw_line (widget->window,
                     widget->style->fg_gc[widget->state],
                     xc + c*(dial->radius - tick_length),
                     yc - s*(dial->radius - tick_length),
                     xc + c*dial->radius,
                     yc - s*dial->radius);
    }

  /* Draw pointer */

  s = sin(dial->angle);
  c = cos(dial->angle);


  points[0].x = xc + s*dial->pointer_width/2;
  points[0].y = yc + c*dial->pointer_width/2;
  points[1].x = xc + c*dial->radius;
  points[1].y = yc - s*dial->radius;
  points[2].x = xc - s*dial->pointer_width/2;
  points[2].y = yc - c*dial->pointer_width/2;

  gtk_draw_polygon (widget->style,
                    widget->window,
                    GTK_STATE_NORMAL,
                    GTK_SHADOW_OUT,
                    points, 3,
                    TRUE);
  
  return FALSE;
}

Event handling

The rest of the widget's code handles various types of events, and isn't too different from what would be found in many GTK applications. Two types of events can occur - either the user can click on the widget with the mouse and drag to move the pointer, or the value of the Adjustment object can change due to some external circumstance.

When the user clicks on the widget, we check to see if the click was appropriately near the pointer, and if so, store the button that the user clicked with in the button field of the widget structure, and grab all mouse events with a call to gtk_grab_add(). Subsequent motion of the mouse causes the value of the control to be recomputed (by the function gtk_dial_update_mouse). Depending on the policy that has been set, "value_changed" events are either generated instantly (GTK_UPDATE_CONTINUOUS), after a delay in a timer added with gtk_timeout_add() (GTK_UPDATE_DELAYED), or only when the button is released (GTK_UPDATE_DISCONTINUOUS).


static gint
gtk_dial_button_press (GtkWidget      *widget,
                       GdkEventButton *event)
{
  GtkDial *dial;
  gint dx, dy;
  double s, c;
  double d_parallel;
  double d_perpendicular;

  g_return_val_if_fail (widget != NULL, FALSE);
  g_return_val_if_fail (GTK_IS_DIAL (widget), FALSE);
  g_return_val_if_fail (event != NULL, FALSE);

  dial = GTK_DIAL (widget);

  /* Determine if button press was within pointer region - we 
     do this by computing the parallel and perpendicular distance of
     the point where the mouse was pressed from the line passing through
     the pointer */
  
  dx = event->x - widget->allocation.width / 2;
  dy = widget->allocation.height / 2 - event->y;
  
  s = sin(dial->angle);
  c = cos(dial->angle);
  
  d_parallel = s*dy + c*dx;
  d_perpendicular = fabs(s*dx - c*dy);
  
  if (!dial->button &&
      (d_perpendicular < dial->pointer_width/2) &&
      (d_parallel > - dial->pointer_width))
    {
      gtk_grab_add (widget);

      dial->button = event->button;

      gtk_dial_update_mouse (dial, event->x, event->y);
    }

  return FALSE;
}

static gint
gtk_dial_button_release (GtkWidget      *widget,
                          GdkEventButton *event)
{
  GtkDial *dial;

  g_return_val_if_fail (widget != NULL, FALSE);
  g_return_val_if_fail (GTK_IS_DIAL (widget), FALSE);
  g_return_val_if_fail (event != NULL, FALSE);

  dial = GTK_DIAL (widget);

  if (dial->button == event->button)
    {
      gtk_grab_remove (widget);

      dial->button = 0;

      if (dial->policy == GTK_UPDATE_DELAYED)
        gtk_timeout_remove (dial->timer);
      
      if ((dial->policy != GTK_UPDATE_CONTINUOUS) &&
          (dial->old_value != dial->adjustment->value))
        gtk_signal_emit_by_name (GTK_OBJECT (dial->adjustment), "value_changed");
    }

  return FALSE;
}

static gint
gtk_dial_motion_notify (GtkWidget      *widget,
                         GdkEventMotion *event)
{
  GtkDial *dial;
  GdkModifierType mods;
  gint x, y, mask;

  g_return_val_if_fail (widget != NULL, FALSE);
  g_return_val_if_fail (GTK_IS_DIAL (widget), FALSE);
  g_return_val_if_fail (event != NULL, FALSE);

  dial = GTK_DIAL (widget);

  if (dial->button != 0)
    {
      x = event->x;
      y = event->y;

      if (event->is_hint || (event->window != widget->window))
        gdk_window_get_pointer (widget->window, &x, &y, &mods);

      switch (dial->button)
        {
        case 1:
          mask = GDK_BUTTON1_MASK;
          break;
        case 2:
          mask = GDK_BUTTON2_MASK;
          break;
        case 3:
          mask = GDK_BUTTON3_MASK;
          break;
        default:
          mask = 0;
          break;
        }

      if (mods & mask)
        gtk_dial_update_mouse (dial, x,y);
    }

  return FALSE;
}

static gint
gtk_dial_timer (GtkDial *dial)
{
  g_return_val_if_fail (dial != NULL, FALSE);
  g_return_val_if_fail (GTK_IS_DIAL (dial), FALSE);

  if (dial->policy == GTK_UPDATE_DELAYED)
    gtk_signal_emit_by_name (GTK_OBJECT (dial->adjustment), "value_changed");

  return FALSE;
}

static void
gtk_dial_update_mouse (GtkDial *dial, gint x, gint y)
{
  gint xc, yc;
  gfloat old_value;

  g_return_if_fail (dial != NULL);
  g_return_if_fail (GTK_IS_DIAL (dial));

  xc = GTK_WIDGET(dial)->allocation.width / 2;
  yc = GTK_WIDGET(dial)->allocation.height / 2;

  old_value = dial->adjustment->value;
  dial->angle = atan2(yc-y, x-xc);

  if (dial->angle < -M_PI/2.)
    dial->angle += 2*M_PI;

  if (dial->angle < -M_PI/6)
    dial->angle = -M_PI/6;

  if (dial->angle > 7.*M_PI/6.)
    dial->angle = 7.*M_PI/6.;

  dial->adjustment->value = dial->adjustment->lower + (7.*M_PI/6 - dial->angle) *
    (dial->adjustment->upper - dial->adjustment->lower) / (4.*M_PI/3.);

  if (dial->adjustment->value != old_value)
    {
      if (dial->policy == GTK_UPDATE_CONTINUOUS)
        {
          gtk_signal_emit_by_name (GTK_OBJECT (dial->adjustment), "value_changed");
        }
      else
        {
          gtk_widget_draw (GTK_WIDGET(dial), NULL);

          if (dial->policy == GTK_UPDATE_DELAYED)
            {
              if (dial->timer)
                gtk_timeout_remove (dial->timer);

              dial->timer = gtk_timeout_add (SCROLL_DELAY_LENGTH,
                                             (GtkFunction) gtk_dial_timer,
                                             (gpointer) dial);
            }
        }
    }
}

Changes to the Adjustment by external means are communicated to our widget by the "changed" and "value_changed" signals. The handlers for these functions call gtk_dial_update() to validate the arguments, compute the new pointer angle, and redraw the widget (by calling gtk_widget_draw()).


static void
gtk_dial_update (GtkDial *dial)
{
  gfloat new_value;
  
  g_return_if_fail (dial != NULL);
  g_return_if_fail (GTK_IS_DIAL (dial));

  new_value = dial->adjustment->value;
  
  if (new_value < dial->adjustment->lower)
    new_value = dial->adjustment->lower;

  if (new_value > dial->adjustment->upper)
    new_value = dial->adjustment->upper;

  if (new_value != dial->adjustment->value)
    {
      dial->adjustment->value = new_value;
      gtk_signal_emit_by_name (GTK_OBJECT (dial->adjustment), "value_changed");
    }

  dial->angle = 7.*M_PI/6. - (new_value - dial->adjustment->lower) * 4.*M_PI/3. /
    (dial->adjustment->upper - dial->adjustment->lower);

  gtk_widget_draw (GTK_WIDGET(dial), NULL);
}

static void
gtk_dial_adjustment_changed (GtkAdjustment *adjustment,
                              gpointer       data)
{
  GtkDial *dial;

  g_return_if_fail (adjustment != NULL);
  g_return_if_fail (data != NULL);

  dial = GTK_DIAL (data);

  if ((dial->old_value != adjustment->value) ||
      (dial->old_lower != adjustment->lower) ||
      (dial->old_upper != adjustment->upper))
    {
      gtk_dial_update (dial);

      dial->old_value = adjustment->value;
      dial->old_lower = adjustment->lower;
      dial->old_upper = adjustment->upper;
    }
}

static void
gtk_dial_adjustment_value_changed (GtkAdjustment *adjustment,
                                    gpointer       data)
{
  GtkDial *dial;

  g_return_if_fail (adjustment != NULL);
  g_return_if_fail (data != NULL);

  dial = GTK_DIAL (data);

  if (dial->old_value != adjustment->value)
    {
      gtk_dial_update (dial);

      dial->old_value = adjustment->value;
    }
}

Possible Enhancements

The Dial widget as we've described it so far runs about 670 lines of code. Although that might sound like a fair bit, we've really accomplished quite a bit with that much code, especially since much of that length is headers and boilerplate. However, there are quite a few more enhancements that could be made to this widget:

If you try this widget out, you'll find that there is some flashing as the pointer is dragged around. This is because the entire widget is erased every time the pointer is moved before being redrawn. Often, the best way to handle this problem is to draw to an offscreen pixmap, then copy the final results onto the screen in one step. (The ProgressBar widget draws itself in this fashion.)
The user should be able to use the up and down arrow keys to increase and decrease the value.
It would be nice if the widget had buttons to increase and decrease the value in small or large steps. Although it would be possible to use embedded Button widgets for this, we would also like the buttons to auto-repeat when held down, as the arrows on a scrollbar do. Most of the code to implement this type of behavior can be found in the Range widget.
The Dial widget could be made into a container widget with a single child widget positioned at the bottom between the buttons mentioned above. The user could then add their choice of a label or entry widget to display the current value of the dial.

22.5 Learning More

Only a small part of the many details involved in creating widgets could be described above. If you want to write your own widgets, the best source of examples is the GTK source itself. Ask yourself some questions about the widget you want to write: IS it a Container widget? Does it have its own window? Is it a modification of an existing widget? Then find a similar widget, and start making changes. Good luck!

Next Previous Contents

22. Writing Your Own Widgets

22.1 Overview

22.2 The Anatomy Of A Widget

22.3 Creating a Composite widget

Introduction

Choosing a parent class

The header file

The `_get_type()` function.

The `_class_init()` function

The `_init()` function.

And the rest...

22.4 Creating a widget from scratch.

Introduction

Displaying a widget on the screen

The origins of the Dial Widget

The Basics

`gtk_dial_realize()`

Size negotiation

`gtk_dial_expose()`

Event handling

Possible Enhancements

22.5 Learning More

22. Writing Your Own Widgets

22.1 Overview

22.2 The Anatomy Of A Widget

22.3 Creating a Composite widget

Introduction

Choosing a parent class

The header file

The _get_type() function.

The _class_init() function

The _init() function.

And the rest...

22.4 Creating a widget from scratch.

Introduction

Displaying a widget on the screen

The origins of the Dial Widget

The Basics

gtk_dial_realize()

Size negotiation

gtk_dial_expose()

Event handling

Possible Enhancements

22.5 Learning More

The `_get_type()` function.

The `_class_init()` function

The `_init()` function.

`gtk_dial_realize()`

`gtk_dial_expose()`