gtktext ... how to *force* it into a parent window ?

[Paul Barton-Davis <pbd Op Net>]

i am getting really tired of my gtktext widgets not being placed
inside their parent containers. i have tried many different
approaches, and none of them seem reliable. it appears that any
attempt to insert text into a gtktext widget cause it to realize
itself; if this happens before its parent is realized, it gets its own
window. This is bad, but likely my fault.

any hints on how to keep this widget under control ? basically, i want
to gtk_container_add() it to a parent window, and then use
gtk_widget_show() and gtk_widget_hide() on the parent to control its
presence or absence from the display. and i want this to work *all*
the time ...

--p