Re: Gtk 2.0 GtkEntry and GtkLabel Pango Info



Owen:

> > However the GtkEntry widget doesn't seem to provide such support.  It
> > has a static gtk_entry_get_layout and a gtk_entry_create_layout function
> > but they are both static and clearly internal.  Are there plans to make
> > these functions public?
> 
> There's no public API for setting attributes on text in an entry;
> attributes are only used to display the selection. i.e. you won't have
> colored text or anything like that.
> 
> What do you need the attributes for here?

The Accessability API allows people with disabilities to understand the
data that is inside each widget.  An example is a reader that allows a
blind person to "feel" the letters in the widget as raised text.  In
this situation it would be necessary to get the font type, size, etc.
property information from the widget.  Another example, a blind person
might use a screen reader which would allow the user to cycle over the
various widgets and have the information read to them.  The user may
wish to have bolded text read in an emphasised voice.  

The possibilities of how the property values could be used are highly
dependant on the specific assistive technology that is being developed. 
Obviously the needs of the blind and the needs of persons with mobility
disorders, etc. are very different so the API needs to be very flexible.
In other words, we should be careful not to assume that certain
properties are useless.  The safe bet is to make them all available
and let the Assistive Technology hardware vendors decide which ones
they need to use.

However, you state that the GtkEntry widgets only use attributes to
display the selection and not to have "colored text or anything like
that".  I'm not sure I understand what you mean here.  If the GtkEntry
does not support any properties that could possibly be useful to people
with disabilities, then there is an argument that GtkEntry does not
need to provide access to such a function.  In this situation the ATK
API for GtkEntry could just always return an empty list.

So, is it the case that GtkEntry doesn't support any properties that
would be useful to export in the ATK API?  It would help if you would
share more specific information about which attributes the GtkEntry 
does use?

In addition to a function for getting the properties, the ATK API
supports setting the properties if the text is editable.  So, if the
user has the ability to change the property values in the entry field,
then it is also necessary to provide access functions to allow the
ATK API to change them as well.  Is the GtkEntry widget a unique
beast in the sense that it has attributes, but doesn't allow them to
ever be changed?  If so, then this may require us to tweak the ATK
API to best handle this sort of situation.

Thanks again!

Brian





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