Provided by: libgtk2-ex-formfactory-perl_0.67-0ubuntu1_all 
NAME
Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory - Makes building complex GUI's easy
SYNOPSIS
#-- Refer to http://www.exit1.org/ for
#-- a comprehensive online documentation.
#-- Read Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory::Intro
use Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory;
my $context = Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory::Context->new;
$context->add_object (
name => "worksheet",
object => My::Worksheet->new,
);
# derived from Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory::Layout
my $layouter = My::Layout->new;
# derived from Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory::Rules
my $rule_checker = My::Rules->new;
my $ff = Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory->new (
context => $context,
layouter => $layouter,
rule_checker => $rule_checker,
content => [
Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory::Window->new (
title => "Worksheet Editor",
content => [
Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory::Form->new (
title => "Main data",
content => [
Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory::Entry->new (
label => "Worksheet title",
attr => "worksheet.title",
tip => "Title of this worksheet",
),
#-- More widgets...
],
),
Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory->DialogButtons->new,
],
),
],
);
$ff->open;
$ff->update;
Gtk2->main;
ABSTRACT
With Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory you can build a GUI which consistently represents the data of
your application.
DESCRIPTION
This is a framework which tries to make building complex GUI's easy, by offering these two
main features:
* Consistent looking GUI without the need to code resp. tune
each widget by hand. Instead you declare the structure of your
GUI, connect it to the data of your program (which should be
a well defined set of objects) and control how this structure
is transformed into a specific layout in a very generic way.
* Automatically keep widget and object states in sync (in both
directions), even with complex data structures with a lot of
internal dependencies, object nesting etc.
This manpage describes the facilities of Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory objects which are only a
small part of the whole framework. To get a full introduction and overview of how this
framework works refer to Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory::Intro.
OBJECT HIERARCHY
Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory::Widget
+--- Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory::Container
+--- Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory
ATTRIBUTES
Attributes are handled through the common get_ATTR(), set_ATTR() style accessors, but they
are mostly passed once to the object constructor and must not be altered after the
associated FormFactory was built.
context = Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory::Context [optional]
This is the Context of this FormFactory. The Context connects your application objects
and their attributes with the GUI build through the FormFactory. Refer to
Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory::Context for details.
If you omit this option in the new() object constructor an empty Context is created
which can be accessed with get_context.
layouter = Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory::Layout [optional]
This is the Layout module of this FormFactory. The Layout module actually builds the
GUI and thus controls all details of appearance. Refer to
Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory::Layout for details, if you're interested in writing your own
Layout module.
If you omit this option in the new() object constructor a default
Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory::Layout object is created which can be accessed with
get_layouter.
rule_checker = Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory::Rules [optional]
This is the rule checker module of this FormFactory. It's responsible to check user
input against a set of rules which may be associated with a widget.
Refer to Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory::Rules for details, if you're interested in writing
your own rule checker module.
If you omit this option in the new() object constructor a default
Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory::Rules object is created which can be accessed with
get_rule_checker.
sync = BOOL [optional]
By default all changes on the GUI trigger corresopndent updates on your application
objects immediately. If you want to build dialogs with local changes on the GUI only,
e.g. to be able to implement a Cancel button in a simple fashion (refer to
Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory::DialogButtons), you may switch this synchronisation off by
setting sync to FALSE.
But note that asynchronous dialogs are static. Dependencies between objects and
attributes, which are defined in the associated Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory::Context, don't
work on widget/GUI level. That's why automatic dependency resolution / widget updating
only works for FormFactory's with sync set to TRUE.
parent_ff = Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory object [optional]
You may specify a parent Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory object. The Gtk Window of this
FormFactory will be set transient to the Gtk Window of the parent FormFactory.
METHODS
$form_factory->open ( [ hide => BOOL ])
This actually builds and displays the GUI, if you set the hide parameter to a true
value. Until this method is called you can add new or modify existent Widgets of this
FormFactory.
If you set hide you need to call $form_factory->show later, otherwise all widgets will
keep invisible.
No object data will be transfered to the GUI, so it will be more or less empty. Call
update to put data into the GUI.
$form_factory->update ()
After building the GUI you should call update to transfer your application data to the
GUI.
$form_factory->ok ()
This method applies all changes of a asynchronous FormFactory and closes it
afterwards.
$form_factory->apply ()
All changes to Widgets inside this FormFactory are applied to the associated
application object attributes.
Useful only in a FormFactory with sync=FALSE.
$form_factory->close ()
When you exit the program you must call close on all FormFactories which are actually
open. Otherwise you will get error messages like this from Perl's garbage collector:
Attempt to free unreferenced scalar: SV 0x85d7374
during global destruction.
That's because circular references are necessary between Gtk2 and
Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory widgets. These references need first to be deleted until Perl
can exit the program cleanly.
$form_factory->cancel
Currently this simply calls $form_factory->close.
$form_factory->open_confirm_window ( parameters )
This is a convenience method to open a confirmation window which is set modal and
transient to the window of this FormFactory. The following parameters are known:
message The message resp. question, HTML markup allowed
position Position of the dialog. Defaults to 'center-on-parent'.
Other known values are: 'none', 'center', 'mouse'
and 'center-always'
yes_callback Code reference to be called if the user
answered your question with "Yes"
no_callback Code reference to be called if the user
answered your question with "No"
yes_label (Stock-)Label for the yes button. Default 'gtk-yes'
no_label (Stock-)Label for the no button. Default 'gtk-no'
$form_factory->open_message_window ( parameters )
This is a convenience method to open a message window which is set modal and transient
to the window of this FormFactory. The following parameters are known:
type Type of the dialog. Defaults to 'info'.
Other known values are: 'warning', 'question' and 'error'
message The message, HTML markup allowed
position Position of the dialog. Defaults to 'center-on-parent'.
Other known values are: 'none', 'center', 'mouse'
and 'center-always'
$filename = $form_factory->get_image_path
This is a convenience method to find a filename inside Perl's @INC path. You will need
this if you ship images or icons inside your module namespace and want to retreive the
actual filenames of them.
$form_factory->change_mouse_cursor ( $type [, $gtk_widget] )
This convenience method changes the mouse cursor of the window of this FormFactory, or
of an arbitrary widget passed as $gtk_widget. $type is the cursor type, e.g. "watch"
for a typical busy / sandglass cursor. Refer to the Gtk documentation for a complete
list of possible mouse cursors.
AUTHORS
Joern Reder <joern at zyn dot de>
COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
Copyright 2004-2006 by Joern Reder.
This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of
the GNU Library General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation;
either version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY;
without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
See the GNU Library General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU Library General Public License along with this
library; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330,
Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA.