Re: Widget for a buddy list

[Gus Koppel <gtk spamkiller bytechase cx>]

Nick Nolan wrote:

> I am working on a new jabber client and am looking for a widget(s) to
> hold the buddy list, can someone point me to it? I'm probably just not
> looking correctly.

The most common way would likely be to use a GtkTreeView (see
http://developer.gnome.org/doc/API/2.0/gtk/TreeWidget.html).

However, they're not that simple to start with so you might also have a
look at http://developer.gnome.org/doc/API/2.0/gtk/GtkCList.html for
GtkCList, which is a bit simpler to program (but deprecated).

GtkCombos (http://developer.gnome.org/doc/API/2.0/gtk/GtkCombo.html) or
GtkOptionMenus
(http://developer.gnome.org/doc/API/2.0/gtk/GtkOptionMenu.html) could be
used if you're low on layout space and want the user to select one buddy
to display details on the selected one somewhere else.

Of course you could simply offer a dynamically created "Buddies" submenu
in the main menu bar (if your application offers one). Many people like
popup menus as well.

Weirder and less efficient options would include using
- a GtkNotebook, one page per buddy, if you want to show detailed info
- a dynamically built GtkToolbar with one button per buddy
- a custom built list of buddy-buttons to put somewhere into your window.

The last three options are suitable only for a small number of buddies,
probably <= 10. Actually you better don't consider them at all, I just
wanted to mention what's possible.