Problems with gtk.Builder and connect_signals (Python)

Benny · **Joined:** Fri Jul 11, 2008 4:34 pm **Posts:** 3

Hello,
(First of all, I want to apologize for any bad English.)

I am developing a GTK+ app with Glade 3 and Python. I read Micah Carrick's blog entries (which helped a lot) and decided to use Gtk Builder instead of libglade.
The code consists of 4 classes:
- The App class, in which the builder object is created. It also connects the signals and shows the main window.
- The BaseWindowWrapper class, which is a base class for initializing a window.
- The MainWindowWrapper class, which is derived from BaseWindowWrapper. This is the startup window.
- The PreferencesWindowWrapper class, which is also derived from BaseWindowWrapper. This window is shown when the user clicks the Edit-Preferences menu item.

Code:

import pygtk
pygtk.require('2.0')
import gtk

class BaseWindowWrapper:
    def __init__(self, builder, name):        
        self.builder = builder
        self.window = self.builder.get_object(name)      

class PreferencesWindowWrapper(BaseWindowWrapper):
    def __init__(self, builder, name):
        BaseWindowWrapper.__init__(self, builder, name)
        self.window.connect("delete-event", self.delete_event, self)

    def delete_event(self, dialog, event, app):
        self.window.hide()
        return True

    def on_buttonClose_clicked(self, widget, data=None):    
        self.window.hide()

class MainWindowWrapper(BaseWindowWrapper):
    def __init__(self, builder, name):
        BaseWindowWrapper.__init__(self, builder, name)
             
        self.preferencesWindow = PreferencesWindowWrapper(builder, "PreferencesWindow")        
       
    def on_menuEditPreferences_activate(self, widget, data=None):
        self.preferencesWindow.window.show()              
        
    def on_MainWindow_destroy(self, widget, data=None):        
        gtk.main_quit()
 
class App:
    def __init__(self):
        self.builder = gtk.Builder()
        self.builder.add_from_file("ui.ui")
    
        self.mainWindow = MainWindowWrapper(self.builder, "MainWindow")

        signals = { "on_menuEditPreferences_activate": self.mainWindow.on_menuEditPreferences_activate, 
                    "on_MainWindow_destroy" : self.mainWindow.on_MainWindow_destroy, 
                    "on_buttonClose_clicked": self.mainWindow.preferencesWindow.on_buttonClose_clicked }                
        self.builder.connect_signals(signals)
             
    # Run main application window
    def main(self):        
        self.mainWindow.window.show()
        gtk.main()
    
if __name__ == "__main__":
    app = App()
    app.main()

The code works, but I think it is rather complicated. The thing that disturbs me most is the connect_signals line. I would like to put it into the two window classes like this (lines 5 and 18):

Code:

class PreferencesWindowWrapper(BaseWindowWrapper):
    def __init__(self, builder, name):
        BaseWindowWrapper.__init__(self, builder, name)
        self.builder.connect_signals(self) # This should connect the on_buttonClose_clicked method
        self.window.connect("delete-event", self.delete_event, self)

    def delete_event(self, dialog, event, app):
        self.window.hide()
        return True

    def on_buttonClose_clicked(self, widget, data=None):    
        self.window.hide()

class MainWindowWrapper(BaseWindowWrapper):
    def __init__(self, builder, name):
        BaseWindowWrapper.__init__(self, builder, name)
        self.builder.connect_signals(self) # This should connect the on_menuEditPreferences_activate method and all other methods, which connect_signals finds in this class
        self.preferencesWindow = PreferencesWindowWrapper(builder, "PreferencesWindow")  

Doing it this way, only the signals of the MainWindow class are connected. The on_buttonClose_clicked method of the PreferencesWindow class is never executed, although I specified self.builder.connect_signals(self) (line 5). If I put the on_buttonClose_clicked method into the MainWindow class everything works fine, but then I do not have to create an extra class...
So it seems that the connecting is only done once. Or am I'm doing something completely wrong? Should I rather use libglade?

Thanks in advance for looking through this and best regards,
benny

The glade file:

Code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?>
<!DOCTYPE glade-interface SYSTEM "glade-2.0.dtd">
<!--Generated with glade3 3.4.5 on Mon Jul 14 15:30:38 2008 -->
<glade-interface>
  <widget class="GtkWindow" id="MainWindow">
    <signal name="destroy" handler="on_MainWindow_destroy"/>
    <child>
      <widget class="GtkVBox" id="vbox2">
        <property name="visible">True</property>
        <child>
          <widget class="GtkMenuBar" id="menubar1">
            <property name="visible">True</property>
            <child>
              <widget class="GtkMenuItem" id="menuitem1">
                <property name="visible">True</property>
                <property name="label" translatable="yes">_Datei</property>
                <property name="use_underline">True</property>
                <child>
                  <widget class="GtkMenu" id="menu1">
                    <property name="visible">True</property>
                    <child>
                      <widget class="GtkImageMenuItem" id="imagemenuitem1">
                        <property name="visible">True</property>
                        <property name="label" translatable="yes">gtk-new</property>
                        <property name="use_underline">True</property>
                        <property name="use_stock">True</property>
                      </widget>
                    </child>
                    <child>
                      <widget class="GtkImageMenuItem" id="imagemenuitem2">
                        <property name="visible">True</property>
                        <property name="label" translatable="yes">gtk-open</property>
                        <property name="use_underline">True</property>
                        <property name="use_stock">True</property>
                      </widget>
                    </child>
                    <child>
                      <widget class="GtkImageMenuItem" id="imagemenuitem3">
                        <property name="visible">True</property>
                        <property name="label" translatable="yes">gtk-save</property>
                        <property name="use_underline">True</property>
                        <property name="use_stock">True</property>
                      </widget>
                    </child>
                    <child>
                      <widget class="GtkImageMenuItem" id="imagemenuitem4">
                        <property name="visible">True</property>
                        <property name="label" translatable="yes">gtk-save-as</property>
                        <property name="use_underline">True</property>
                        <property name="use_stock">True</property>
                      </widget>
                    </child>
                    <child>
                      <widget class="GtkSeparatorMenuItem" id="separatormenuitem1">
                        <property name="visible">True</property>
                      </widget>
                    </child>
                    <child>
                      <widget class="GtkImageMenuItem" id="imagemenuitem5">
                        <property name="visible">True</property>
                        <property name="label" translatable="yes">gtk-quit</property>
                        <property name="use_underline">True</property>
                        <property name="use_stock">True</property>
                      </widget>
                    </child>
                  </widget>
                </child>
              </widget>
            </child>
            <child>
              <widget class="GtkMenuItem" id="menuitem2">
                <property name="visible">True</property>
                <property name="label" translatable="yes">_Bearbeiten</property>
                <property name="use_underline">True</property>
                <child>
                  <widget class="GtkMenu" id="menu2">
                    <property name="visible">True</property>
                    <child>
                      <widget class="GtkImageMenuItem" id="imagemenuitem6">
                        <property name="visible">True</property>
                        <property name="label" translatable="yes">gtk-cut</property>
                        <property name="use_underline">True</property>
                        <property name="use_stock">True</property>
                      </widget>
                    </child>
                    <child>
                      <widget class="GtkImageMenuItem" id="imagemenuitem7">
                        <property name="visible">True</property>
                        <property name="label" translatable="yes">gtk-copy</property>
                        <property name="use_underline">True</property>
                        <property name="use_stock">True</property>
                      </widget>
                    </child>
                    <child>
                      <widget class="GtkImageMenuItem" id="imagemenuitem8">
                        <property name="visible">True</property>
                        <property name="label" translatable="yes">gtk-paste</property>
                        <property name="use_underline">True</property>
                        <property name="use_stock">True</property>
                      </widget>
                    </child>
                    <child>
                      <widget class="GtkImageMenuItem" id="imagemenuitem9">
                        <property name="visible">True</property>
                        <property name="label" translatable="yes">gtk-delete</property>
                        <property name="use_underline">True</property>
                        <property name="use_stock">True</property>
                      </widget>
                    </child>
                    <child>
                      <widget class="GtkImageMenuItem" id="">
                        <property name="visible">True</property>
                        <property name="label" translatable="yes">gtk-preferences</property>
                        <property name="use_underline">True</property>
                        <property name="use_stock">True</property>
                        <signal name="activate" handler="on_menuEditPreferences_activate"/>
                      </widget>
                    </child>
                  </widget>
                </child>
              </widget>
            </child>
            <child>
              <widget class="GtkMenuItem" id="menuitem3">
                <property name="visible">True</property>
                <property name="label" translatable="yes">_Ansicht</property>
                <property name="use_underline">True</property>
              </widget>
            </child>
            <child>
              <widget class="GtkMenuItem" id="menuitem4">
                <property name="visible">True</property>
                <property name="label" translatable="yes">_Hilfe</property>
                <property name="use_underline">True</property>
                <child>
                  <widget class="GtkMenu" id="menu3">
                    <property name="visible">True</property>
                    <child>
                      <widget class="GtkImageMenuItem" id="imagemenuitem10">
                        <property name="visible">True</property>
                        <property name="label" translatable="yes">gtk-about</property>
                        <property name="use_underline">True</property>
                        <property name="use_stock">True</property>
                      </widget>
                    </child>
                  </widget>
                </child>
              </widget>
            </child>
          </widget>
          <packing>
            <property name="expand">False</property>
          </packing>
        </child>
        <child>
          <placeholder/>
        </child>
      </widget>
    </child>
  </widget>
  <widget class="GtkWindow" id="PreferencesWindow">
    <child>
      <widget class="GtkVBox" id="vbox1">
        <property name="visible">True</property>
        <child>
          <placeholder/>
        </child>
        <child>
          <widget class="GtkButton" id="button1">
            <property name="visible">True</property>
            <property name="can_focus">True</property>
            <property name="receives_default">True</property>
            <property name="border_width">10</property>
            <property name="label" translatable="yes">gtk-close</property>
            <property name="use_stock">True</property>
            <property name="response_id">0</property>
            <signal name="clicked" handler="on_buttonClose_clicked"/>
          </widget>
          <packing>
            <property name="fill">False</property>
            <property name="position">1</property>
          </packing>
        </child>
      </widget>
    </child>
  </widget>
</glade-interface>

Benny · **Joined:** Fri Jul 11, 2008 4:34 pm **Posts:** 3

I experimented a bit further and tried this:

Code:

        signals = { "on_MainWindow_destroy" : self.mainWindow.on_MainWindow_destroy, 
                    "on_menuEditPreferences_activate": self.mainWindow.on_menuEditPreferences_activate }                
        self.builder.connect_signals(signals)
        
        signals2 = { "on_buttonClose_clicked": self.mainWindow.preferencesWindow.on_buttonClose_clicked }
        self.builder.connect_signals(signals2)

Again, the second call of connect_signals doesn't effect the behaviour off the application:
the signals on_MainWindow_destroy and on_menuEditPreferences_activate work, but on_buttonClose_clicked does not.

Regards,
benny

GTK+ Forums

Problems with gtk.Builder and connect_signals (Python)

Who is online