11. File Selections

The file selection widget is a quick and simple way to display a File dialog box. It comes complete with Ok, Cancel, and Help buttons, a great way to cut down on programming time.

To create a new file selection box use:

GtkWidget* gtk_file_selection_new (gchar *title);

To set the filename, for example to bring up a specific directory, or give a default filename, use this function:

void gtk_file_selection_set_filename (GtkFileSelection *filesel, gchar *filename);

To grab the text that the user has entered or clicked on, use this function:

gchar* gtk_file_selection_get_filename (GtkFileSelection *filesel);

There are also pointers to the widgets contained within the file selection widget. These are:

• dir_list
• file_list
• selection_entry
• selection_text
• main_vbox
• ok_button
• cancel_button
• help_button

Most likely you will want to use the ok_button, cancel_button, and help_button pointers in signaling their use.

Included here is an example stolen from testgtk.c, modified to run on it's own. As you will see, there is nothing much to creating a file selection widget. While, in this example, the Help button appears on the screen, it does nothing as there is not a signal attached to it.

#include <gtk/gtk.h>

/* Get the selected filename and print it to the console */
void file_ok_sel (GtkWidget *w, GtkFileSelection *fs)
{
    g_print ("%s\n", gtk_file_selection_get_filename (GTK_FILE_SELECTION (fs)));
}

void destroy (GtkWidget *widget, gpointer *data)
{
    gtk_main_quit ();
}

int main (int argc, char *argv[])
{
    GtkWidget *filew;
    
    gtk_init (&argc, &argv);
    
    /* Create a new file selection widget */
    filew = gtk_file_selection_new ("File selection");
    
    gtk_signal_connect (GTK_OBJECT (filew), "destroy",
                        (GtkSignalFunc) destroy, &filew);
    /* Connect the ok_button to file_ok_sel function */
    gtk_signal_connect (GTK_OBJECT (GTK_FILE_SELECTION (filew)->ok_button),
                        "clicked", (GtkSignalFunc) file_ok_sel, filew );
    
    /* Connect the cancel_button to destroy the widget */
    gtk_signal_connect_object (GTK_OBJECT (GTK_FILE_SELECTION (filew)->cancel_button),
                               "clicked", (GtkSignalFunc) gtk_widget_destroy,
                               GTK_OBJECT (filew));
    
    /* Lets set the filename, as if this were a save dialog, and we are giving
     a default filename */
    gtk_file_selection_set_filename (GTK_FILE_SELECTION(filew), 
                                     "penguin.png");
    
    gtk_widget_show(filew);
    gtk_main ();
    return 0;
}