Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory(User Contributed Perl DocumentatGtk2::Ex::FormFactory(3)NAMEGtk2::Ex::FormFactory - Makes building complex GUI's easy
SYNOPSIS
#-- Refer to http://www.exit1.org/ for
#-- a comprehensive online documentation.
#-- Read Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory::Intro
use Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory;
my $context = Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory::Context->new;
$context->add_object (
name => "worksheet",
object => My::Worksheet->new,
);
# derived from Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory::Layout
my $layouter = My::Layout->new;
# derived from Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory::Rules
my $rule_checker = My::Rules->new;
my $ff = Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory->new (
context => $context,
layouter => $layouter,
rule_checker => $rule_checker,
content => [
Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory::Window->new (
title => "Worksheet Editor",
content => [
Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory::Form->new (
title => "Main data",
content => [
Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory::Entry->new (
label => "Worksheet title",
attr => "worksheet.title",
tip => "Title of this worksheet",
),
#-- More widgets...
],
),
Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory->DialogButtons->new,
],
),
],
);
$ff->open;
$ff->update;
Gtk2->main;
ABSTRACT
With Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory you can build a GUI which consistently
represents the data of your application.
DESCRIPTION
This is a framework which tries to make building complex GUI's easy, by
offering these two main features:
* Consistent looking GUI without the need to code resp. tune
each widget by hand. Instead you declare the structure of your
GUI, connect it to the data of your program (which should be
a well defined set of objects) and control how this structure
is transformed into a specific layout in a very generic way.
* Automatically keep widget and object states in sync (in both
directions), even with complex data structures with a lot of
internal dependencies, object nesting etc.
This manpage describes the facilities of Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory objects
which are only a small part of the whole framework. To get a full
introduction and overview of how this framework works refer to
Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory::Intro.
OBJECT HIERARCHY
Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory::Widget
+--- Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory::Container
+--- Gtk2::Ex::FormFactoryATTRIBUTES
Attributes are handled through the common get_ATTR(), set_ATTR() style
accessors, but they are mostly passed once to the object constructor
and must not be altered after the associated FormFactory was built.
context = Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory::Context [optional]
This is the Context of this FormFactory. The Context connects your
application objects and their attributes with the GUI build through
the FormFactory. Refer to Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory::Context for
details.
If you omit this option in the new() object constructor an empty
Context is created which can be accessed with get_context.
layouter = Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory::Layout [optional]
This is the Layout module of this FormFactory. The Layout module
actually builds the GUI and thus controls all details of
appearance. Refer to Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory::Layout for details, if
you're interested in writing your own Layout module.
If you omit this option in the new() object constructor a default
Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory::Layout object is created which can be
accessed with get_layouter.
rule_checker = Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory::Rules [optional]
This is the rule checker module of this FormFactory. It's
responsible to check user input against a set of rules which may be
associated with a widget.
Refer to Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory::Rules for details, if you're
interested in writing your own rule checker module.
If you omit this option in the new() object constructor a default
Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory::Rules object is created which can be
accessed with get_rule_checker.
sync = BOOL [optional]
By default all changes on the GUI trigger corresopndent updates on
your application objects immediately. If you want to build dialogs
with local changes on the GUI only, e.g. to be able to implement a
Cancel button in a simple fashion (refer to
Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory::DialogButtons), you may switch this
synchronisation off by setting sync to FALSE.
But note that asynchronous dialogs are static. Dependencies between
objects and attributes, which are defined in the associated
Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory::Context, don't work on widget/GUI level.
That's why automatic dependency resolution / widget updating only
works for FormFactory's with sync set to TRUE.
parent_ff = Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory object [optional]
You may specify a parent Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory object. The Gtk
Window of this FormFactory will be set transient to the Gtk Window
of the parent FormFactory.
METHODS
$form_factory->open ( [ hide => BOOL ])
This actually builds and displays the GUI, if you set the hide
parameter to a true value. Until this method is called you can add
new or modify existent Widgets of this FormFactory.
If you set hide you need to call $form_factory->show later,
otherwise all widgets will keep invisible.
No object data will be transfered to the GUI, so it will be more or
less empty. Call update to put data into the GUI.
$form_factory->update ()
After building the GUI you should call update to transfer your
application data to the GUI.
$form_factory->ok ()
This method applies all changes of a asynchronous FormFactory and
closes it afterwards.
$form_factory->apply ()
All changes to Widgets inside this FormFactory are applied to the
associated application object attributes.
Useful only in a FormFactory with sync=FALSE.
$form_factory->close ()
When you exit the program you must call close on all FormFactories
which are actually open. Otherwise you will get error messages like
this from Perl's garbage collector:
Attempt to free unreferenced scalar: SV 0x85d7374
during global destruction.
That's because circular references are necessary between Gtk2 and
Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory widgets. These references need first to be
deleted until Perl can exit the program cleanly.
$form_factory->cancel
Currently this simply calls $form_factory->close.
$form_factory->open_confirm_window ( parameters )
This is a convenience method to open a confirmation window which is
set modal and transient to the window of this FormFactory. The
following parameters are known:
message The message resp. question, HTML markup allowed
position Position of the dialog. Defaults to 'center-on-parent'.
Other known values are: 'none', 'center', 'mouse'
and 'center-always'
yes_callback Code reference to be called if the user
answered your question with "Yes"
no_callback Code reference to be called if the user
answered your question with "No"
yes_label (Stock-)Label for the yes button. Default 'gtk-yes'
no_label (Stock-)Label for the no button. Default 'gtk-no'
$form_factory->open_message_window ( parameters )
This is a convenience method to open a message window which is set
modal and transient to the window of this FormFactory. The
following parameters are known:
type Type of the dialog. Defaults to 'info'.
Other known values are: 'warning', 'question' and 'error'
message The message, HTML markup allowed
position Position of the dialog. Defaults to 'center-on-parent'.
Other known values are: 'none', 'center', 'mouse'
and 'center-always'
$filename = $form_factory->get_image_path
This is a convenience method to find a filename inside Perl's @INC
path. You will need this if you ship images or icons inside your
module namespace and want to retreive the actual filenames of them.
$form_factory->change_mouse_cursor ( $type [, $gtk_widget] )
This convenience method changes the mouse cursor of the window of
this FormFactory, or of an arbitrary widget passed as $gtk_widget.
$type is the cursor type, e.g. "watch" for a typical busy /
sandglass cursor. Refer to the Gtk documentation for a complete
list of possible mouse cursors.
AUTHORS
JA~Xrn Reder <joern at zyn dot de>
COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
Copyright 2004-2006 by JA~Xrn Reder.
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 2.1 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., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307
USA.
POD ERRORS
Hey! The above document had some coding errors, which are explained
below:
Around line 188:
=cut found outside a pod block. Skipping to next block.
Around line 201:
=cut found outside a pod block. Skipping to next block.
perl v5.14.1 2006-07-02 Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory(3)
