Re: Gnome::Glade::Xml::create_from_buffer question

[Bob Caryl <bob fis-cal com>]

Ed Leaver wrote:

> I use Glade with the same intent of not having to load UI Xml files at 
> startup. I'm currently using glade-2.6.8 and glademm-2.6.0. Glade has 
> a mode to do this directly, i.e., it writes C++ header files and 
> parent class files containing the parent constructor and destructor. 
> This apparently (from what I can see) has nothing to do with the 
> /Gnome::Glade::Xml /namespace, nor (again from what I can see) does it 
> even use libglademm. No patch scripts are needed. Is there some reason 
> you wish to have it both ways? I admit to never having used the 
> /Gnome::Glade::Xml /namespace, and thus am totally ignorant of its 
> advantages and features - ymmv.

Hey Ed,

I am using *only* the XML file generated by Glade hence, I use none of 
the Glade generated C/C++ source code.  I have written an application 
that converts this output to an includable C/C++ .h file containing the 
XML as a const char buffer.    Gnome::Glade::Xml::create_from_buffer 
takes that XML and instantiates all the widgets I placed on my window in 
the Glade designer.

Prior to using Glade, I derived my classes from Gtk::Window or 
Gtk::Dialog, but now, I just create a non-derived class and insert into 
it all the widget pointers (including one to Gtk::Window) I will need in 
order to connect necessary signals and get data from control widgets.  
In the class constructor I make the call to 
Gnome::Glade::Xml::create_from_buffer, and then I use 
Gnome::Glade::Xml::get_widget to make my defined pointers in my class 
point to the widgets that were instantiated by the create call.  It 
makes life very simple from a UI design standpoint for me, since I had 
been hand coding all the widgets prior to this.

Here is a snippet of the XML buffer (with the middle excised out, since 
its include file is somewhere in the neighborhood of 14K in size):

const char *fiscryptxml = "<?xml version='1.0' standalone='no'?> <!--*- 
mode: xml -*--><!DOCTYPE glade-interface SYSTEM 
'http://glade.gnome.org/glade-2.0.dtd'><glade-interface>
. . .snip. . .
</glade-interface>";

Here is the class definition for Fiscrypt:

class Fiscrypt
{
public:
   Fiscrypt(void);
   ~Fiscrypt(void){};   // note that nothing is done in the destructor
                                   // since Gnome::Glade::Xml takes
                                   // care of all the memory management
                                   // for me.
   Gtk::Window *window;
protected:
   Glib::RefPtr<Gnome::Glade::Xml> xml;
   Gtk::RadioButton *rbs[2];
   Gtk::Entry *keys[2];
   Gtk::Entry *filename;
   Gtk::Button *default_button;
   Gtk::Button *browse;
   Glib::ustring file_name;
   void doit(void);
   void on_button_clicked(int i);
   void setup_commandline(void);
   void setup_ops_group(void);
   void setup_key_group(void);
   void setup_file_selection(void);
   void get_file(void);
};

and here is a snippet from the constructor of the class Fiscrypt:

Fiscrypt::Fiscrypt(void)
{
   xml = 
Gnome::Glade::Xml::create_from_buffer(fiscryptxml,strlen(fiscryptxml));
   xml->get_widget("main window",window);
   setup_commandline();                                // initialize 
the commandline buttons and container
   setup_ops_group();
   setup_key_group();
   setup_file_selection();   
}

here is code getting widget pointers in Fiscryp::setup_ops_group:

void Fiscrypt::setup_ops_group(void)
{
   xml->get_widget("encrypt",rbs[0]);
   xml->get_widget("decrypt",rbs[1]);
   rbs[0]->set_active(TRUE);
}

Lastly, my main function:

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
  
   Gtk::Main kit(argc, argv);
  
   //    Fiscrypt window;
   Fiscrypt fc;
  
   Gtk::Main::run(*fc.window);   
  
   return 0;
}


Before using Glade, the setup_ops_group function was over 50 lines and 
involved hand coding all the containers for the radio buttons and so 
forth.  Now, as can be seen, it's three lines.

I may still be doing this in a kludged sort of way, but it sure works 
well for me.

Bob

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