GtkToggleButton and inconsistent state

["Padraig O'Briain" <Padraig Obriain Sun COM>]

Normally a toggle button may be in a "checked" or "active" state. I am assuming  
the terms "checked" and "active" mean the same thing. In addition, a 
GtkToggleButton can also be in an "inconsistent" or "in-between" state.

The text below is from the description of the function  
gtk_toggle_button_set_inconsistent().

 * If the user has selected a range of elements (such as some text or
 * spreadsheet cells) that are affected by a toggle button, and the
 * current values in that range are inconsistent, you may want to
 * display the toggle in an "in between" state. This function turns on
 * "in between" display.  Normally you would turn off the inconsistent
 * state again if the user toggles the toggle button. This has to be
 * done manually, gtk_toggle_button_set_inconsistent() only affects
 * visual appearance, it doesn't affect the semantics of the button.

If a toggle button is in an inconsistent state putting it into a "checked"
or "active" state does not cause its state to be be displayed as 
GTK_STATE_ACTIVE; there is no visible change in how the button is 
displayed although internally the button's state is active and a "toggled"
signal is generated. There are three visual states for the button: active, 
inactive and inconsistent.

I think that we need an ATK_STATE to report that a toggle button is 
inconsistent. Can we use an existing state, e.g. ATK_STATE_INVALID or do we need 
a new one, e.g. ATK_STATE_INCONSISTENT?

If the toggle button is inconsistent, I do not think that attempting to toggle 
the button should report a change of state as there is no visible effect.


Padraig