Settings

class Settings(*args, **kwargs)

Superclasses: Object

The GSettings class provides a convenient API for storing and retrieving application settings.

Reads and writes can be considered to be non-blocking. Reading settings with GSettings is typically extremely fast: on approximately the same order of magnitude (but slower than) a HashTable lookup. Writing settings is also extremely fast in terms of time to return to your application, but can be extremely expensive for other threads and other processes. Many settings backends (including dconf) have lazy initialisation which means in the common case of the user using their computer without modifying any settings a lot of work can be avoided. For dconf, the D-Bus service doesn’t even need to be started in this case. For this reason, you should only ever modify GSettings keys in response to explicit user action. Particular care should be paid to ensure that modifications are not made during startup — for example, when setting the initial value of preferences widgets. The built-in bind functionality is careful not to write settings in response to notify signals as a result of modifications that it makes to widgets.

When creating a GSettings instance, you have to specify a schema that describes the keys in your settings and their types and default values, as well as some other information.

Normally, a schema has a fixed path that determines where the settings are stored in the conceptual global tree of settings. However, schemas can also be ‘relocatable <``relocatable`-schemas>`_’, i.e. not equipped with a fixed path. This is useful e.g. when the schema describes an ‘account’, and you want to be able to store a arbitrary number of accounts.

Paths must start with and end with a forward slash character (/) and must not contain two sequential slash characters. Paths should be chosen based on a domain name associated with the program or library to which the settings belong. Examples of paths are /org/gtk/settings/file-chooser/ and /ca/desrt/dconf-editor/. Paths should not start with /apps/, /desktop/ or /system/ as they often did in GConf.

Unlike other configuration systems (like GConf), GSettings does not restrict keys to basic types like strings and numbers. GSettings stores values as Variant, and allows any VariantType for keys. Key names are restricted to lowercase characters, numbers and -. Furthermore, the names must begin with a lowercase character, must not end with a -, and must not contain consecutive dashes.

Similar to GConf, the default values in GSettings schemas can be localized, but the localized values are stored in gettext catalogs and looked up with the domain that is specified in the gettext-domain attribute of the <schemalist> or <schema> elements and the category that is specified in the l10n attribute of the <default> element. The string which is translated includes all text in the <default> element, including any surrounding quotation marks.

The l10n attribute must be set to messages or time, and sets the [locale category for translation](https://www.gnu.org/software/gettext/manual/html_node/Aspects.html#index-locale-categories-1). The messages category should be used by default; use time for translatable date or time formats. A translation comment can be added as an XML comment immediately above the <default> element — it is recommended to add these comments to aid translators understand the meaning and implications of the default value. An optional translation context attribute can be set on the <default> element to disambiguate multiple defaults which use the same string.

For example:

<!-- Translators: A list of words which are not allowed to be typed, in
     GVariant serialization syntax.
     See: https://developer.gnome.org/glib/stable/gvariant-text.html -->
<default l10n='messages' context='Banned words'>['bad', 'words']</default>

Translations of default values must remain syntactically valid serialized Variant’s (e.g. retaining any surrounding quotation marks) or runtime errors will occur.

GSettings uses schemas in a compact binary form that is created by the `glib-compile-schemas <glib-compile-schemas.html>`_ utility. The input is a schema description in an XML format.

A DTD for the gschema XML format can be found here: gschema.dtd

The `glib-compile-schemas <glib-compile-schemas.html>`_ tool expects schema files to have the extension .gschema.xml.

At runtime, schemas are identified by their ID (as specified in the id attribute of the <schema> element). The convention for schema IDs is to use a dotted name, similar in style to a D-Bus bus name, e.g. org.gnome.SessionManager. In particular, if the settings are for a specific service that owns a D-Bus bus name, the D-Bus bus name and schema ID should match. For schemas which deal with settings not associated with one named application, the ID should not use StudlyCaps, e.g. org.gnome.font-rendering.

In addition to Variant types, keys can have types that have enumerated types. These can be described by a <choice>, <enum> or <flags> element, as seen in the second example below. The underlying type of such a key is string, but you can use get_enum, set_enum, get_flags, set_flags access the numeric values corresponding to the string value of enum and flags keys.

An example for default value:

<schemalist>
  <schema id="org.gtk.Test" path="/org/gtk/Test/" gettext-domain="test">

    <key name="greeting" type="s">
      <default l10n="messages">"Hello, earthlings"</default>
      <summary>A greeting</summary>
      <description>
        Greeting of the invading martians
      </description>
    </key>

    <key name="box" type="(ii)">
      <default>(20,30)</default>
    </key>

    <key name="empty-string" type="s">
      <default>""</default>
      <summary>Empty strings have to be provided in GVariant form</summary>
    </key>

  </schema>
</schemalist>

An example for ranges, choices and enumerated types:

<schemalist>

  <enum id="org.gtk.Test.myenum">
    <value nick="first" value="1"/>
    <value nick="second" value="2"/>
  </enum>

  <flags id="org.gtk.Test.myflags">
    <value nick="flag1" value="1"/>
    <value nick="flag2" value="2"/>
    <value nick="flag3" value="4"/>
  </flags>

  <schema id="org.gtk.Test">

    <key name="key-with-range" type="i">
      <range min="1" max="100"/>
      <default>10</default>
    </key>

    <key name="key-with-choices" type="s">
      <choices>
        <choice value='Elisabeth'/>
        <choice value='Annabeth'/>
        <choice value='Joe'/>
      </choices>
      <aliases>
        <alias value='Anna' target='Annabeth'/>
        <alias value='Beth' target='Elisabeth'/>
      </aliases>
      <default>'Joe'</default>
    </key>

    <key name='enumerated-key' enum='org.gtk.Test.myenum'>
      <default>'first'</default>
    </key>

    <key name='flags-key' flags='org.gtk.Test.myflags'>
      <default>["flag1","flag2"]</default>
    </key>
  </schema>
</schemalist>

Vendor overrides

Default values are defined in the schemas that get installed by an application. Sometimes, it is necessary for a vendor or distributor to adjust these defaults. Since patching the XML source for the schema is inconvenient and error-prone, `glib-compile-schemas <glib-compile-schemas.html>`_ reads so-called ‘vendor override’ files. These are keyfiles in the same directory as the XML schema sources which can override default values. The schema ID serves as the group name in the key file, and the values are expected in serialized Variant form, as in the following example:

[org.gtk.Example]
key1='string'
key2=1.5

glib-compile-schemas expects schema files to have the extension .gschema.override.

Binding

A very convenient feature of GSettings lets you bind Object properties directly to settings, using bind. Once a Object property has been bound to a setting, changes on either side are automatically propagated to the other side. GSettings handles details like mapping between Object and Variant types, and preventing infinite cycles.

This makes it very easy to hook up a preferences dialog to the underlying settings. To make this even more convenient, GSettings looks for a boolean property with the name sensitivity and automatically binds it to the writability of the bound setting. If this ‘magic’ gets in the way, it can be suppressed with the G_SETTINGS_BIND_NO_SENSITIVITY flag.

Relocatable schemas

A relocatable schema is one with no path attribute specified on its <schema> element. By using new_with_path, a GSettings object can be instantiated for a relocatable schema, assigning a path to the instance. Paths passed to new_with_path will typically be constructed dynamically from a constant prefix plus some form of instance identifier; but they must still be valid GSettings paths. Paths could also be constant and used with a globally installed schema originating from a dependency library.

For example, a relocatable schema could be used to store geometry information for different windows in an application. If the schema ID was org.foo.MyApp.Window, it could be instantiated for paths /org/foo/MyApp/main/, /org/foo/MyApp/document-1/, /org/foo/MyApp/document-2/, etc. If any of the paths are well-known they can be specified as <child> elements in the parent schema, e.g.:

<schema id="org.foo.MyApp" path="/org/foo/MyApp/">
  <child name="main" schema="org.foo.MyApp.Window"/>
</schema>

Build system integration

GSettings comes with autotools integration to simplify compiling and installing schemas. To add GSettings support to an application, add the following to your configure.ac:

GLIB_GSETTINGS

In the appropriate Makefile.am, use the following snippet to compile and install the named schema:

gsettings_SCHEMAS = org.foo.MyApp.gschema.xml
EXTRA_DIST = $(gsettings_SCHEMAS)

``GSETTINGS_RULES``@

No changes are needed to the build system to mark a schema XML file for translation. Assuming it sets the gettext-domain attribute, a schema may be marked for translation by adding it to POTFILES.in, assuming gettext 0.19 is in use (the preferred method for translation):

data/org.foo.MyApp.gschema.xml

Alternatively, if intltool 0.50.1 is in use:

[type: gettext/gsettings]data/org.foo.MyApp.gschema.xml

GSettings will use gettext to look up translations for the <summary> and <description> elements, and also any <default> elements which have a l10n attribute set. Translations must not be included in the .gschema.xml file by the build system, for example by using intltool XML rules with a .gschema.xml.in template.

If an enumerated type defined in a C header file is to be used in a GSettings schema, it can either be defined manually using an <enum> element in the schema XML, or it can be extracted automatically from the C header. This approach is preferred, as it ensures the two representations are always synchronised. To do so, add the following to the relevant Makefile.am:

gsettings_ENUM_NAMESPACE = org.foo.MyApp
gsettings_ENUM_FILES = my-app-enums.h my-app-misc.h

gsettings_ENUM_NAMESPACE specifies the schema namespace for the enum files, which are specified in gsettings_ENUM_FILES. This will generate a org.foo.MyApp.enums.xml file containing the extracted enums, which will be automatically included in the schema compilation, install and uninstall rules. It should not be committed to version control or included in EXTRA_DIST.

Constructors

class Settings

classmethod new(schema_id: str) → Settings

Creates a new Settings object with the schema specified by schema_id.

It is an error for the schema to not exist: schemas are an essential part of a program, as they provide type information. If schemas need to be dynamically loaded (for example, from an optional runtime dependency), lookup() can be used to test for their existence before loading them.

Signals on the newly created Settings object will be dispatched via the thread-default MainContext in effect at the time of the call to new(). The new Settings will hold a reference on the context. See push_thread_default().

Added in version 2.26.

Parameters:: schema_id – the id of the schema

classmethod new_full(schema: SettingsSchema, backend: SettingsBackend | None = None, path: str | None = None) → Settings

Creates a new Settings object with a given schema, backend and path.

It should be extremely rare that you ever want to use this function. It is made available for advanced use-cases (such as plugin systems that want to provide access to schemas loaded from custom locations, etc).

At the most basic level, a Settings object is a pure composition of 4 things: a SettingsSchema, a SettingsBackend, a path within that backend, and a MainContext to which signals are dispatched.

This constructor therefore gives you full control over constructing Settings instances. The first 3 parameters are given directly as schema, backend and path, and the main context is taken from the thread-default (as per new()).

If backend is None then the default backend is used.

If path is None then the path from the schema is used. It is an error if path is None and the schema has no path of its own or if path is non-None and not equal to the path that the schema does have.

Added in version 2.32.

Parameters:

schema – a SettingsSchema
backend – a SettingsBackend
path – the path to use

classmethod new_with_backend(schema_id: str, backend: SettingsBackend) → Settings

Creates a new Settings object with the schema specified by schema_id and a given SettingsBackend.

Creating a Settings object with a different backend allows accessing settings from a database other than the usual one. For example, it may make sense to pass a backend corresponding to the “defaults” settings database on the system to get a settings object that modifies the system default settings instead of the settings for this user.

Added in version 2.26.

Parameters:

schema_id – the id of the schema
backend – the SettingsBackend to use

classmethod new_with_backend_and_path(schema_id: str, backend: SettingsBackend, path: str) → Settings

Creates a new Settings object with the schema specified by schema_id and a given SettingsBackend and path.

This is a mix of new_with_backend() and new_with_path().

Added in version 2.26.

Parameters:

schema_id – the id of the schema
backend – the SettingsBackend to use
path – the path to use

classmethod new_with_path(schema_id: str, path: str) → Settings

Creates a new Settings object with the relocatable schema specified by schema_id and a given path.

You only need to do this if you want to directly create a settings object with a schema that doesn’t have a specified path of its own. That’s quite rare.

It is a programmer error to call this function for a schema that has an explicitly specified path.

It is a programmer error if path is not a valid path. A valid path begins and ends with ‘/’ and does not contain two consecutive ‘/’ characters.

Added in version 2.26.

Parameters:

schema_id – the id of the schema
path – the path to use

Methods

class Settings

apply() → None: Applies any changes that have been made to the settings. This function does nothing unless settings is in ‘delay-apply’ mode; see delay(). In the normal case settings are always applied immediately.

bind(key: str, object: Object, property: str, flags: SettingsBindFlags) → None

Create a binding between the key in the settings object and the property property of object.

The binding uses the default GIO mapping functions to map between the settings and property values. These functions handle booleans, numeric types and string types in a straightforward way. Use bind_with_mapping() if you need a custom mapping, or map between types that are not supported by the default mapping functions.

Unless the flags include NO_SENSITIVITY, this function also establishes a binding between the writability of key and the “sensitive” property of object (if object has a boolean property by that name). See bind_writable() for more details about writable bindings.

Note that the lifecycle of the binding is tied to object, and that you can have only one binding per object property. If you bind the same property twice on the same object, the second binding overrides the first one.

Added in version 2.26.

Parameters:

key – the key to bind
object – a Object
property – the name of the property to bind
flags – flags for the binding

bind_writable(key: str, object: Object, property: str, inverted: bool) → None

Create a binding between the writability of key in the settings object and the property property of object. The property must be boolean; “sensitive” or “visible” properties of widgets are the most likely candidates.

Writable bindings are always uni-directional; changes of the writability of the setting will be propagated to the object property, not the other way.

When the inverted argument is True, the binding inverts the value as it passes from the setting to the object, i.e. property will be set to True if the key is not writable.

Added in version 2.26.

Parameters:

key – the key to bind
object – a Object
property – the name of a boolean property to bind
inverted – whether to ‘invert’ the value

create_action(key: str) → Action

Creates a Action corresponding to a given Settings key.

The action has the same name as the key.

The value of the key becomes the state of the action and the action is enabled when the key is writable. Changing the state of the action results in the key being written to. Changes to the value or writability of the key cause appropriate change notifications to be emitted for the action.

For boolean-valued keys, action activations take no parameter and result in the toggling of the value. For all other types, activations take the new value for the key (which must have the correct type).

Added in version 2.32.

Parameters:: key – the name of a key in settings

delay() → None: Changes the Settings object into ‘delay-apply’ mode. In this mode, changes to settings are not immediately propagated to the backend, but kept locally until apply() is called.

Added in version 2.26.

get_boolean(key: str) → bool

Gets the value that is stored at key in settings.

A convenience variant of get() for booleans.

It is a programmer error to give a key that isn’t specified as having a boolean type in the schema for settings.

Added in version 2.26.

Parameters:: key – the key to get the value for

get_child(name: str) → Settings

Creates a child settings object which has a base path of base-path/``name``, where base-path is the base path of settings.

The schema for the child settings object must have been declared in the schema of settings using a <child> element.

The created child settings object will inherit the Settings:delay-apply mode from settings.

Added in version 2.26.

Parameters:: name – the name of the child schema

get_default_value(key: str) → Variant | None

Gets the “default value” of a key.

This is the value that would be read if reset() were to be called on the key.

Note that this may be a different value than returned by get_default_value() if the system administrator has provided a default value.

Comparing the return values of get_default_value() and get_value() is not sufficient for determining if a value has been set because the user may have explicitly set the value to something that happens to be equal to the default. The difference here is that if the default changes in the future, the user’s key will still be set.

This function may be useful for adding an indication to a UI of what the default value was before the user set it.

It is a programmer error to give a key that isn’t contained in the schema for settings.

Added in version 2.40.

Parameters:: key – the key to get the default value for

get_double(key: str) → float

Gets the value that is stored at key in settings.

A convenience variant of get() for doubles.

It is a programmer error to give a key that isn’t specified as having a ‘double’ type in the schema for settings.

Added in version 2.26.

Parameters:: key – the key to get the value for

get_enum(key: str) → int

Gets the value that is stored in settings for key and converts it to the enum value that it represents.

In order to use this function the type of the value must be a string and it must be marked in the schema file as an enumerated type.

It is a programmer error to give a key that isn’t contained in the schema for settings or is not marked as an enumerated type.

If the value stored in the configuration database is not a valid value for the enumerated type then this function will return the default value.

Added in version 2.26.

Parameters:: key – the key to get the value for

get_flags(key: str) → int

Gets the value that is stored in settings for key and converts it to the flags value that it represents.

In order to use this function the type of the value must be an array of strings and it must be marked in the schema file as a flags type.

It is a programmer error to give a key that isn’t contained in the schema for settings or is not marked as a flags type.

If the value stored in the configuration database is not a valid value for the flags type then this function will return the default value.

Added in version 2.26.

Parameters:: key – the key to get the value for

get_has_unapplied() → bool: Returns whether the Settings object has any unapplied changes. This can only be the case if it is in ‘delayed-apply’ mode.

Added in version 2.26.

get_int(key: str) → int

Gets the value that is stored at key in settings.

A convenience variant of get() for 32-bit integers.

It is a programmer error to give a key that isn’t specified as having a int32 type in the schema for settings.

Added in version 2.26.

Parameters:: key – the key to get the value for

get_int64(key: str) → int

Gets the value that is stored at key in settings.

A convenience variant of get() for 64-bit integers.

It is a programmer error to give a key that isn’t specified as having a int64 type in the schema for settings.

Added in version 2.50.

Parameters:: key – the key to get the value for

get_mapped(key: str, mapping: Callable[[...], tuple[bool, None]], *user_data: Any) → None

Gets the value that is stored at key in settings, subject to application-level validation/mapping.

You should use this function when the application needs to perform some processing on the value of the key (for example, parsing). The mapping function performs that processing. If the function indicates that the processing was unsuccessful (due to a parse error, for example) then the mapping is tried again with another value.

This allows a robust ‘fall back to defaults’ behaviour to be implemented somewhat automatically.

The first value that is tried is the user’s setting for the key. If the mapping function fails to map this value, other values may be tried in an unspecified order (system or site defaults, translated schema default values, untranslated schema default values, etc).

If the mapping function fails for all possible values, one additional attempt is made: the mapping function is called with a None value. If the mapping function still indicates failure at this point then the application will be aborted.

The result parameter for the mapping function is pointed to a gpointer which is initially set to None. The same pointer is given to each invocation of mapping. The final value of that gpointer is what is returned by this function. None is valid; it is returned just as any other value would be.

Parameters:

key – the key to get the value for
mapping – the function to map the value in the settings database to the value used by the application
user_data – user data for mapping

get_range(key: str) → Variant

Queries the range of a key.

Added in version 2.28.

Deprecated since version 2.40: Use get_range() instead.

Parameters:: key – the key to query the range of

get_string(key: str) → str

Gets the value that is stored at key in settings.

A convenience variant of get() for strings.

It is a programmer error to give a key that isn’t specified as having a string type in the schema for settings.

Added in version 2.26.

Parameters:: key – the key to get the value for

get_strv(key: str) → list[str]

A convenience variant of get() for string arrays.

It is a programmer error to give a key that isn’t specified as having an array of strings type in the schema for settings.

Added in version 2.26.

Parameters:: key – the key to get the value for

get_uint(key: str) → int

Gets the value that is stored at key in settings.

A convenience variant of get() for 32-bit unsigned integers.

It is a programmer error to give a key that isn’t specified as having a uint32 type in the schema for settings.

Added in version 2.30.

Parameters:: key – the key to get the value for

get_uint64(key: str) → int

Gets the value that is stored at key in settings.

A convenience variant of get() for 64-bit unsigned integers.

It is a programmer error to give a key that isn’t specified as having a uint64 type in the schema for settings.

Added in version 2.50.

Parameters:: key – the key to get the value for

get_user_value(key: str) → Variant | None

Checks the “user value” of a key, if there is one.

The user value of a key is the last value that was set by the user.

After calling reset() this function should always return None (assuming something is not wrong with the system configuration).

It is possible that get_value() will return a different value than this function. This can happen in the case that the user set a value for a key that was subsequently locked down by the system administrator – this function will return the user’s old value.

This function may be useful for adding a “reset” option to a UI or for providing indication that a particular value has been changed.

It is a programmer error to give a key that isn’t contained in the schema for settings.

Added in version 2.40.

Parameters:: key – the key to get the user value for

get_value(key: str) → Variant

Gets the value that is stored in settings for key.

It is a programmer error to give a key that isn’t contained in the schema for settings.

Added in version 2.26.

Parameters:: key – the key to get the value for

is_writable(name: str) → bool

Finds out if a key can be written or not

Added in version 2.26.

Parameters:: name – the name of a key

keys()

list_children() → list[str]

Gets the list of children on settings.

The list is exactly the list of strings for which it is not an error to call get_child().

There is little reason to call this function from “normal” code, since you should already know what children are in your schema. This function may still be useful there for introspection reasons, however.

You should free the return value with strfreev() when you are done with it.

list_keys() → list[str]

Introspects the list of keys on settings.

You should probably not be calling this function from “normal” code (since you should already know what keys are in your schema). This function is intended for introspection reasons.

You should free the return value with strfreev() when you are done with it.

Deprecated since version 2.46: Use list_keys() instead.

list_relocatable_schemas() → list[str]: Deprecated.

Added in version 2.28.

Deprecated since version 2.40: Use list_schemas() instead

list_schemas() → list[str]: Deprecated.

Added in version 2.26.

Deprecated since version 2.40: Use list_schemas() instead. If you used list_schemas() to check for the presence of a particular schema, use lookup() instead of your whole loop.

range_check(key: str, value: Variant) → bool

Checks if the given value is of the correct type and within the permitted range for key.

Added in version 2.28.

Deprecated since version 2.40: Use range_check() instead.

Parameters:

key – the key to check
value – the value to check

reset(key: str) → None

Resets key to its default value.

This call resets the key, as much as possible, to its default value. That might be the value specified in the schema or the one set by the administrator.

Parameters:: key – the name of a key

revert() → None

Reverts all non-applied changes to the settings. This function does nothing unless settings is in ‘delay-apply’ mode; see delay(). In the normal case settings are always applied immediately.

Change notifications will be emitted for affected keys.

set_boolean(key: str, value: bool) → bool

Sets key in settings to value.

A convenience variant of set() for booleans.

It is a programmer error to give a key that isn’t specified as having a boolean type in the schema for settings.

Added in version 2.26.

Parameters:

key – the name of the key to set
value – the value to set it to

set_double(key: str, value: float) → bool

Sets key in settings to value.

A convenience variant of set() for doubles.

It is a programmer error to give a key that isn’t specified as having a ‘double’ type in the schema for settings.

Added in version 2.26.

Parameters:

key – the name of the key to set
value – the value to set it to

set_enum(key: str, value: int) → bool

Looks up the enumerated type nick for value and writes it to key, within settings.

It is a programmer error to give a key that isn’t contained in the schema for settings or is not marked as an enumerated type, or for value not to be a valid value for the named type.

After performing the write, accessing key directly with get_string() will return the ‘nick’ associated with value.

Parameters:

key – a key, within settings
value – an enumerated value

set_flags(key: str, value: int) → bool

Looks up the flags type nicks for the bits specified by value, puts them in an array of strings and writes the array to key, within settings.

It is a programmer error to give a key that isn’t contained in the schema for settings or is not marked as a flags type, or for value to contain any bits that are not value for the named type.

After performing the write, accessing key directly with get_strv() will return an array of ‘nicks’; one for each bit in value.

Parameters:

key – a key, within settings
value – a flags value

set_int(key: str, value: int) → bool

Sets key in settings to value.

A convenience variant of set() for 32-bit integers.

It is a programmer error to give a key that isn’t specified as having a int32 type in the schema for settings.

Added in version 2.26.

Parameters:

key – the name of the key to set
value – the value to set it to

set_int64(key: str, value: int) → bool

Sets key in settings to value.

A convenience variant of set() for 64-bit integers.

It is a programmer error to give a key that isn’t specified as having a int64 type in the schema for settings.

Added in version 2.50.

Parameters:

key – the name of the key to set
value – the value to set it to

set_string(key: str, value: str) → bool

Sets key in settings to value.

A convenience variant of set() for strings.

It is a programmer error to give a key that isn’t specified as having a string type in the schema for settings.

Added in version 2.26.

Parameters:

key – the name of the key to set
value – the value to set it to

set_strv(key: str, value: Sequence[str] | None = None) → bool

Sets key in settings to value.

A convenience variant of set() for string arrays. If value is None, then key is set to be the empty array.

It is a programmer error to give a key that isn’t specified as having an array of strings type in the schema for settings.

Added in version 2.26.

Parameters:

key – the name of the key to set
value – the value to set it to, or None

set_uint(key: str, value: int) → bool

Sets key in settings to value.

A convenience variant of set() for 32-bit unsigned integers.

It is a programmer error to give a key that isn’t specified as having a uint32 type in the schema for settings.

Added in version 2.30.

Parameters:

key – the name of the key to set
value – the value to set it to

set_uint64(key: str, value: int) → bool

Sets key in settings to value.

A convenience variant of set() for 64-bit unsigned integers.

It is a programmer error to give a key that isn’t specified as having a uint64 type in the schema for settings.

Added in version 2.50.

Parameters:

key – the name of the key to set
value – the value to set it to

set_value(key: str, value: Variant) → bool

Sets key in settings to value.

It is a programmer error to give a key that isn’t contained in the schema for settings or for value to have the incorrect type, per the schema.

If value is floating then this function consumes the reference.

Added in version 2.26.

Parameters:

key – the name of the key to set
value – a Variant of the correct type

sync() → None

Ensures that all pending operations are complete for the default backend.

Writes made to a Settings are handled asynchronously. For this reason, it is very unlikely that the changes have it to disk by the time set() returns.

This call will block until all of the writes have made it to the backend. Since the mainloop is not running, no change notifications will be dispatched during this call (but some may be queued by the time the call is done).

unbind(object: Object, property: str) → None

Removes an existing binding for property on object.

Note that bindings are automatically removed when the object is finalized, so it is rarely necessary to call this function.

Added in version 2.26.

Parameters:

object – the object
property – the property whose binding is removed

Properties

class Settings

props.backend: SettingsBackend: The name of the context that the settings are stored in.

props.delay_apply: bool: Whether the Settings object is in ‘delay-apply’ mode. See delay() for details.

Added in version 2.28.

props.has_unapplied: bool: If this property is True, the Settings object has outstanding changes that will be applied when apply() is called.

props.path: str: The path within the backend where the settings are stored.

props.schema: str

The name of the schema that describes the types of keys for this Settings object.

The type of this property is not SettingsSchema. SettingsSchema has only existed since version 2.32 and unfortunately this name was used in previous versions to refer to the schema ID rather than the schema itself. Take care to use the ‘settings-schema’ property if you wish to pass in a SettingsSchema.

Deprecated since version 2.32: Use the ‘schema-id’ property instead. In a future version, this property may instead refer to a SettingsSchema.

props.schema_id: str: The name of the schema that describes the types of keys for this Settings object.

props.settings_schema: SettingsSchema

The SettingsSchema describing the types of keys for this Settings object.

Ideally, this property would be called ‘schema’. SettingsSchema has only existed since version 2.32, however, and before then the ‘schema’ property was used to refer to the ID of the schema rather than the schema itself. Take care.

Signals

class Settings.signals

change_event(keys: Sequence[int] | None = None) → bool

The “change-event” signal is emitted once per change event that affects this settings object. You should connect to this signal only if you are interested in viewing groups of changes before they are split out into multiple emissions of the “changed” signal. For most use cases it is more appropriate to use the “changed” signal.

In the event that the change event applies to one or more specified keys, keys will be an array of Quark of length n_keys. In the event that the change event applies to the Settings object as a whole (ie: potentially every key has been changed) then keys will be None and n_keys will be 0.

The default handler for this signal invokes the “changed” signal for each affected key. If any other connected handler returns True then this default functionality will be suppressed.

Parameters:: keys – an array of Quark for the changed keys, or None

changed(key: str) → None

The “changed” signal is emitted when a key has potentially changed. You should call one of the get() calls to check the new value.

This signal supports detailed connections. You can connect to the detailed signal “changed::x” in order to only receive callbacks when key “x” changes.

Note that settings only emits this signal if you have read key at least once while a signal handler was already connected for key.

Parameters:: key – the name of the key that changed

writable_change_event(key: int) → bool

The “writable-change-event” signal is emitted once per writability change event that affects this settings object. You should connect to this signal if you are interested in viewing groups of changes before they are split out into multiple emissions of the “writable-changed” signal. For most use cases it is more appropriate to use the “writable-changed” signal.

In the event that the writability change applies only to a single key, key will be set to the Quark for that key. In the event that the writability change affects the entire settings object, key will be 0.

The default handler for this signal invokes the “writable-changed” and “changed” signals for each affected key. This is done because changes in writability might also imply changes in value (if for example, a new mandatory setting is introduced). If any other connected handler returns True then this default functionality will be suppressed.

Parameters:: key – the quark of the key, or 0

writable_changed(key: str) → None

The “writable-changed” signal is emitted when the writability of a key has potentially changed. You should call is_writable() in order to determine the new status.

This signal supports detailed connections. You can connect to the detailed signal “writable-changed::x” in order to only receive callbacks when the writability of “x” changes.

Parameters:: key – the key

Virtual Methods

class Settings

do_change_event(keys: int, n_keys: int) → bool

Parameters:

keys
n_keys

do_changed(key: str) → None

Parameters:: key

do_writable_change_event(key: int) → bool

Parameters:: key

do_writable_changed(key: str) → None

Parameters:: key

Fields

class Settings

parent_instance

priv