Advanced gtk_file_selection widget

[Lokesh Setia <lsetia78 yahoo com>]

Hi,

I am a unix/linux developer and a user since 5 years. I have always
wondered while why the file selection widget in GTK is so primitive.
People trying to migrate from windows have often complained about this
very thing.  There is no option to set a filter (like *.txt).  And
there are no icons either, only plain text.  However, there is one
good feature, which is tab completion, but many new users don't know
or care about it.

There are advanced file selecition widgets available elsewhere on the
net, but unless they are part of GTK core distribution, it will only
lead to inconsistent interfaces.  I recently installed a beta gtk-1.4,
and was sad to see the same file selection widget in that too.

I know it might have been asked before, but I was not able to find
anything related to this.  Can anyone tell me the rationale behind
making this widget the way it is?

Regards,
Lokesh.