Resource Files

Default files

An application can cause GTK+ to parse a specific RC file by calling gtk_rc_parse(). In addition to this, certain files will be read at the end of gtk_init(). Unless modified, the files looked for will be .gtkrc in the users home directory, and $localstatedir/gtk/gtkrc ($localstatedir defaults to /usr/local/etc).

The set of these default files can be retrieved with gtk_rc_get_default_files() and modified with gtk_rc_add_default_file() and gtk_rc_set_default_files().

For each default file, in addition to the file itself, GTK+ will look for a locale-specific file that will be parsed in addition to the main file. For instance, if LANG is set to ja_JP.ujis, when loading the default file ~/.gtkrc then GTK+ looks for ~/.gtkrc.ja_JP.ujis, ~/.gtkrc.ja_JP, and ~/.gtkrc.ja, and parses the first one it finds.

Pathnames and patterns

A resource file defines a number of styles and key bindings and attaches them to particular widgets. The attachment is done by the widget, widget_class, and class declarations. As an example of such a statement:

widget "mywindow.*.GtkEntry" style "my-entry-class"

attaches the style "my-entry-class" to all widgets whose widget class matches the pattern "mywindow.*.GtkEntry".

The patterns here are given in the standard shell glob syntax. The "?" wildcard matches any character, while "*" matches zero or more of any character. The three types of matching are against the widget path, the class path and the class heirarchy. Both the widget and the class paths consists of a "." separated list of all the parents of the widget and the widget itself from outermost to innermost. The difference is that in the widget path, the name assigned by gtk_widget_set_name() is used if present, otherwise the class name of the widget, while for the widget path, the class name is always used.

So, if you have a GtkEntry named "myentry", inside of a of a window named "mywindow", then the widget path is:

"mwindow.GtkHBox.myentry"

while the class path is:

"GtkWindow.GtkHBox.GtkEntry"

Matching against class is a little different. The pattern match is done against all class names in the widgets class heirarchy (not the layout heirarchy) in sequence, so the pattern:

class "GtkButton" style "my-style"

will match not just GtkButton widgets, but also GtkToggleButton and GtkCheckButton widgets, since those classes derive from GtkButton.

Toplevel declarations

An RC file is a text file which is composed of a sequence of declarations. '#' characters delimit comments and the portion of a line after a '#' is ignored when parsing an RC file.

The possible toplevel declarations are:

Styles

A RC style is specified by a style declaration in a RC file, and then bound to widgets with a widget, widget_class, or class declaration. All styles applying to a particular widget are composited together with widget declarations overriding widget_class declarations which, in turn, override widget declarations. Within each type of declaration, later declarations override earlier ones.

Within a style declaration, the possible elements are:

The colors and background pixmaps are specified as a function of the state of the widget. The states are:

Colors can be specified as a string "#rrrrggggbbbb", "#rrrgggbbb", "#rrggbb", or "#rgb", where r g, and b are hex digits, or they can be specified as a triplet of floats { r, g, b}.

Key bindings

Key bindings allow the user to specify actions to be taken on particular key presses. The form of a binding set declaration is:

binding name {
  bind key { 
    signalname (param, ...)
    ...
  }
  ...
}

key is a string consisting of a series of modifiers followed by the name of a key. The modifiers can be:

The action that is bound to the key is a sequence of signal names (strings) followed by parameters for each signal. The signals must be action signals. (See gtk_signal_new()). Each parameter can be a float, integer, string, or unquoted string representing an enumeration value. The types of the parameters specified must match the types of the parameters of the signal.

Binding sets are connected to widgets in the same manner as styles, with one addition. A priority can be specified for each pattern, and within each type of pattern, binding sets override other binding sets first by priority, and only then by order of specification. (Later overrides earlier). The priorities that can be specified are (highest to lowest):

struct GtkRcStyle

struct GtkRcStyle
{
  gchar *name;
  gchar *font_name;
  gchar *fontset_name;
  gchar *bg_pixmap_name[5];

  GtkRcFlags color_flags[5];
  GdkColor   fg[5];
  GdkColor   bg[5];
  GdkColor   text[5];
  GdkColor   base[5];

  GtkThemeEngine *engine;
  gpointer        engine_data;

  /* Private */
  guint ref_count;
};

The GtkRcStyle structure is used to represent a set of information about the appearance of a widget. This can later be composited together with other GtkRcStyle structures to form a GtkStyle.

enum GtkRcFlags

typedef enum {
  GTK_RC_FG   = 1 << 0,
  GTK_RC_BG   = 1 << 1,
  GTK_RC_TEXT = 1 << 2,
  GTK_RC_BASE = 1 << 3
} GtkRcFlags;

The GtkRcFlags enumeration is used as a bitmask to specify which fields of a GtkRcStyle have been set for each state.

GtkImageLoader ()

GdkPixmap*  (*GtkImageLoader)               (GdkWindow *window,
                                             GdkColormap *colormap,
                                             GdkBitmap **mask,
                                             GdkColor *transparent_color,
                                             const gchar *filename);

A GtkImageLoader is used to load a filename found in a RC file.

enum GtkRcTokenType

typedef enum {
  GTK_RC_TOKEN_INVALID = G_TOKEN_LAST,
  GTK_RC_TOKEN_INCLUDE,
  GTK_RC_TOKEN_NORMAL,
  GTK_RC_TOKEN_ACTIVE,
  GTK_RC_TOKEN_PRELIGHT,
  GTK_RC_TOKEN_SELECTED,
  GTK_RC_TOKEN_INSENSITIVE,
  GTK_RC_TOKEN_FG,
  GTK_RC_TOKEN_BG,
  GTK_RC_TOKEN_BASE,
  GTK_RC_TOKEN_TEXT,
  GTK_RC_TOKEN_FONT,
  GTK_RC_TOKEN_FONTSET,
  GTK_RC_TOKEN_BG_PIXMAP,
  GTK_RC_TOKEN_PIXMAP_PATH,
  GTK_RC_TOKEN_STYLE,
  GTK_RC_TOKEN_BINDING,
  GTK_RC_TOKEN_BIND,
  GTK_RC_TOKEN_WIDGET,
  GTK_RC_TOKEN_WIDGET_CLASS,
  GTK_RC_TOKEN_CLASS,
  GTK_RC_TOKEN_LOWEST,
  GTK_RC_TOKEN_GTK,
  GTK_RC_TOKEN_APPLICATION,
  GTK_RC_TOKEN_RC,
  GTK_RC_TOKEN_HIGHEST,
  GTK_RC_TOKEN_ENGINE,
  GTK_RC_TOKEN_MODULE_PATH,
  GTK_RC_TOKEN_LAST
} GtkRcTokenType;

The GtkRcTokenType enumeration represents the tokens in the RC file. It is exposed so that theme engines can reuse these tokens when parsing the theme-engine specific portions of a RC file.

gtk_rc_get_style ()

GtkStyle*   gtk_rc_get_style                (GtkWidget *widget);

Finds all matching RC styles for a given widget, composites them together, and then creates a GtkStyle representing the composite appearance. (GTK+ actually keeps a cache of previously created styles, so a new style may not be created.)

gtk_rc_add_widget_name_style ()

void        gtk_rc_add_widget_name_style    (GtkRcStyle *rc_style,
                                             const gchar *pattern);

Add a RcStyle that will be looked up by a match against the widget's pathname. This is equivalent to a:

widget PATTERN style STYLE

statement in a RC file.

gtk_rc_add_widget_class_style ()

void        gtk_rc_add_widget_class_style   (GtkRcStyle *rc_style,
                                             const gchar *pattern);

Add a RcStyle that will be looked up by a match against the widget's class pathname. This is equivalent to a:

widget_class PATTERN style STYLE

statement in a RC file.

gtk_rc_add_class_style ()

void        gtk_rc_add_class_style          (GtkRcStyle *rc_style,
                                             const gchar *pattern);

Add a RcStyle that will be looked up by a matching against the class heirarchy of the widget. This is equivalent to a:

class PATTERN style STYLE

statement in a RC file.

gtk_rc_parse ()

void        gtk_rc_parse                    (const gchar *filename);

Parse a given resource file.

gtk_rc_parse_string ()

void        gtk_rc_parse_string             (const gchar *rc_string);

Parse resource information directly from a string.

gtk_rc_reparse_all ()

gboolean    gtk_rc_reparse_all              (void);

If the modification time on any previously read file has changed, discard all style information and then reread all previously read RC files.

gtk_rc_add_default_file ()

void        gtk_rc_add_default_file         (const gchar *filename);

Adds a file to the list of files to be parsed at the end of gtk_init().

gtk_rc_get_default_files ()

gchar**     gtk_rc_get_default_files        (void);

Retrieves the current list of RC files that will be parsed at the end of gtk_init()

gtk_rc_set_default_files ()

void        gtk_rc_set_default_files        (gchar **filenames);

Sets the list of files that GTK+ will read at the end of gtk_init()

gtk_rc_parse_color ()

guint       gtk_rc_parse_color              (GScanner *scanner,
                                             GdkColor *color);

Parses a color in the format expected in a RC file.

gtk_rc_parse_state ()

guint       gtk_rc_parse_state              (GScanner *scanner,
                                             GtkStateType *state);

Parses a GtkStateType variable from the format expected in a RC file.

gtk_rc_parse_priority ()

guint       gtk_rc_parse_priority           (GScanner *scanner,
                                             GtkPathPriorityType *priority);

Parses a GtkPathPriorityType variable from the format expected in a RC file.

gtk_rc_find_module_in_path ()

gchar*      gtk_rc_find_module_in_path      (const gchar *module_file);

Looks up a file in the current module path.

gtk_rc_find_pixmap_in_path ()

gchar*      gtk_rc_find_pixmap_in_path      (GScanner *scanner,
                                             const gchar *pixmap_file);

Looks up a file in the current pixmap path. If the file is not found, it outputs a warning message using g_warning() and returns NULL.

gtk_rc_get_module_dir ()

gchar*      gtk_rc_get_module_dir           (void);

Returns the directory in which GTK+ will look for theme engines.

gtk_rc_get_theme_dir ()

gchar*      gtk_rc_get_theme_dir            (void);

Returns the standard directory in which themes should be installed. (GTK+ does not actually use this directory itself.)

gtk_rc_set_image_loader ()

void        gtk_rc_set_image_loader         (GtkImageLoader loader);

Sets the function that GTK+ will use to load images

gtk_rc_load_image ()

GdkPixmap*  gtk_rc_load_image               (GdkColormap *colormap,
                                             GdkColor *transparent_color,
                                             const gchar *filename);

Internal function. Loads an image using the current image loader.

gtk_rc_style_new ()

GtkRcStyle* gtk_rc_style_new                (void);

Create a new GtkRcStyle with no fields set and a reference count of 1.

gtk_rc_style_ref ()

void        gtk_rc_style_ref                (GtkRcStyle *rc_style);

Increment the reference count of a GtkRcStyle.

gtk_rc_style_unref ()

void        gtk_rc_style_unref              (GtkRcStyle *rc_style);

Decrement the reference count of a GtkRcStyle and free if the result is 0.

gtk_rc_init ()

void        gtk_rc_init                     (void);

Internal function.