GTK+ Forums

Hi, I'm new to GTK and new to this forum, so I'm sorry if I'm a bit slow on the uptake.

I'm a complete GTK beginner, and I'm currently learning basic layout. I've set myself a challenge involving a window with ten buttons - clicking each button changes the text on one of the other buttons. Naturally, this means I need to be able to refer to a button after I've run the gtk_widget_show function, but tutorials so far have generated multiple buttons by reassigning as single GtkWidget* pointer to a new button after gtk_widget_show-ing each one, so I lose the reference to the previous button each time I create a new one.

I've created a simple application which uses an array of GtkWidget* pointers as opposed to just one, but would this fill up more memory than necessary? Perhaps there is another way to get around this (for example, I notice that gtk_widget_show returns void, but if there is a function similar to g_signal_connect which returns a gulong ID for that button which I can use to retrieve it)?

There's a number of ways you can do this. If you have a fixed definite number of buttons there's the crude method of calling them butt1, butt2, etc. and referring to them explicitly; or you could use a data type like an array (there's also singly and doubly linked lists etc. available -- have a browse in glibs functionality to see) as you mention.
You don't have to worry about the space; you're programming a GUI and the memory required for storing an array is negligible compared to the amount involved in the graphical interface.

OK, thanks for your reply.
On a separate point, how can I set up a window so that the number of buttons in a toolbar changes according to the size of the window? Would this require completely redrawing the window every time it is resized?

To the latter question, I believe so, but I think you'll find that this happens anyway. You can get the window width with gtk_window_get_size. I imagine then you'll want fixed size buttons and could do with room for a little arrow button to access the unseen toolbar button functionality. Subtract off space for this (if that is there will be more button than there is space for without it) as well as other needed padding and then divide by the button width and then only gtk_widget_show up to this button number (in which case it is better to have them in an array or list than the crude approach mentioned before). The situation can be more complicated if you want the button size to initially be set larger than needed and then shrink to a limit as room gets more cramped, before knocking out buttons

Thanks very much!