:right-sidebar: True ActionGroup =================================================================== .. currentmodule:: gi.repository.Gio .. class:: ActionGroup(*args, **kwargs) :no-contents-entry: Implementations: :class:`~gi.repository.Gio.Application`, :class:`~gi.repository.Gio.DBusActionGroup`, :class:`~gi.repository.Gio.SimpleActionGroup` ``GActionGroup`` represents a group of actions. Actions can be used to expose functionality in a structured way, either from one part of a program to another, or to the outside world. Action groups are often used together with a ``GMenuModel`` that provides additional representation data for displaying the actions to the user, e.g. in a menu. The main way to interact with the actions in a ``GActionGroup`` is to activate them with :obj:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup.activate_action`. Activating an action may require a ``GVariant`` parameter. The required type of the parameter can be inquired with :obj:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup.get_action_parameter_type`. Actions may be disabled, see :obj:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup.get_action_enabled`. Activating a disabled action has no effect. Actions may optionally have a state in the form of a :obj:`~gi.repository.GLib.Variant`. The current state of an action can be inquired with :obj:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup.get_action_state`. Activating a stateful action may change its state, but it is also possible to set the state by calling :obj:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup.change_action_state`. As typical example, consider a text editing application which has an option to change the current font to 'bold'. A good way to represent this would be a stateful action, with a boolean state. Activating the action would toggle the state. Each action in the group has a unique name (which is a string). All method calls, except :obj:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup.list_actions` take the name of an action as an argument. The ``GActionGroup`` API is meant to be the 'public' API to the action group. The calls here are exactly the interaction that 'external forces' (eg: UI, incoming D-Bus messages, etc.) are supposed to have with actions. 'Internal' APIs (ie: ones meant only to be accessed by the action group implementation) are found on subclasses. This is why you will find - for example - :obj:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup.get_action_enabled` but not an equivalent set() call. Signals are emitted on the action group in response to state changes on individual actions. Implementations of ``GActionGroup`` should provide implementations for the virtual functions :obj:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup.list_actions` and :obj:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup.query_action`. The other virtual functions should not be implemented - their "wrappers" are actually implemented with calls to :obj:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup.query_action`. Methods ------- .. rst-class:: interim-class .. class:: ActionGroup :no-index: .. method:: action_added(action_name: str) -> None Emits the :obj:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup`::action-added signal on ``action_group``. This function should only be called by :obj:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup` implementations. .. versionadded:: 2.28 :param action_name: the name of an action in the group .. method:: action_enabled_changed(action_name: str, enabled: bool) -> None Emits the :obj:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup`::action-enabled-changed signal on ``action_group``. This function should only be called by :obj:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup` implementations. .. versionadded:: 2.28 :param action_name: the name of an action in the group :param enabled: whether or not the action is now enabled .. method:: action_removed(action_name: str) -> None Emits the :obj:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup`::action-removed signal on ``action_group``. This function should only be called by :obj:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup` implementations. .. versionadded:: 2.28 :param action_name: the name of an action in the group .. method:: action_state_changed(action_name: str, state: ~gi.repository.GLib.Variant) -> None Emits the :obj:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup`::action-state-changed signal on ``action_group``. This function should only be called by :obj:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup` implementations. .. versionadded:: 2.28 :param action_name: the name of an action in the group :param state: the new state of the named action .. method:: activate_action(action_name: str, parameter: ~gi.repository.GLib.Variant | None = None) -> None Activate the named action within ``action_group``. If the action is expecting a parameter, then the correct type of parameter must be given as ``parameter``. If the action is expecting no parameters then ``parameter`` must be :const:`None`. See :func:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup.get_action_parameter_type`. If the :obj:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup` implementation supports asynchronous remote activation over D-Bus, this call may return before the relevant D-Bus traffic has been sent, or any replies have been received. In order to block on such asynchronous activation calls, :func:`~gi.repository.Gio.DBusConnection.flush` should be called prior to the code, which depends on the result of the action activation. Without flushing the D-Bus connection, there is no guarantee that the action would have been activated. The following code which runs in a remote app instance, shows an example of a "quit" action being activated on the primary app instance over D-Bus. Here :func:`~gi.repository.Gio.DBusConnection.flush` is called before ``exit()``. Without :func:`~gi.repository.Gio.DBusConnection.flush`, the "quit" action may fail to be activated on the primary instance. .. code-block:: C :dedent: // call "quit" action on primary instance g_action_group_activate_action (G_ACTION_GROUP (app), "quit", NULL); // make sure the action is activated now g_dbus_connection_flush (...); g_debug ("application has been terminated. exiting."); exit (0); .. versionadded:: 2.28 :param action_name: the name of the action to activate :param parameter: parameters to the activation .. method:: change_action_state(action_name: str, value: ~gi.repository.GLib.Variant) -> None Request for the state of the named action within ``action_group`` to be changed to ``value``. The action must be stateful and ``value`` must be of the correct type. See :func:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup.get_action_state_type`. This call merely requests a change. The action may refuse to change its state or may change its state to something other than ``value``. See :func:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup.get_action_state_hint`. If the ``value`` GVariant is floating, it is consumed. .. versionadded:: 2.28 :param action_name: the name of the action to request the change on :param value: the new state .. method:: get_action_enabled(action_name: str) -> bool Checks if the named action within ``action_group`` is currently enabled. An action must be enabled in order to be activated or in order to have its state changed from outside callers. .. versionadded:: 2.28 :param action_name: the name of the action to query .. method:: get_action_parameter_type(action_name: str) -> ~gi.repository.GLib.VariantType | None Queries the type of the parameter that must be given when activating the named action within ``action_group``. When activating the action using :func:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup.activate_action`, the :obj:`~gi.repository.GLib.Variant` given to that function must be of the type returned by this function. In the case that this function returns :const:`None`, you must not give any :obj:`~gi.repository.GLib.Variant`, but :const:`None` instead. The parameter type of a particular action will never change but it is possible for an action to be removed and for a new action to be added with the same name but a different parameter type. .. versionadded:: 2.28 :param action_name: the name of the action to query .. method:: get_action_state(action_name: str) -> ~gi.repository.GLib.Variant | None Queries the current state of the named action within ``action_group``. If the action is not stateful then :const:`None` will be returned. If the action is stateful then the type of the return value is the type given by :func:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup.get_action_state_type`. The return value (if non-:const:`None`) should be freed with :func:`~gi.repository.GLib.Variant.unref` when it is no longer required. .. versionadded:: 2.28 :param action_name: the name of the action to query .. method:: get_action_state_hint(action_name: str) -> ~gi.repository.GLib.Variant | None Requests a hint about the valid range of values for the state of the named action within ``action_group``. If :const:`None` is returned it either means that the action is not stateful or that there is no hint about the valid range of values for the state of the action. If a :obj:`~gi.repository.GLib.Variant` array is returned then each item in the array is a possible value for the state. If a :obj:`~gi.repository.GLib.Variant` pair (ie: two-tuple) is returned then the tuple specifies the inclusive lower and upper bound of valid values for the state. In any case, the information is merely a hint. It may be possible to have a state value outside of the hinted range and setting a value within the range may fail. The return value (if non-:const:`None`) should be freed with :func:`~gi.repository.GLib.Variant.unref` when it is no longer required. .. versionadded:: 2.28 :param action_name: the name of the action to query .. method:: get_action_state_type(action_name: str) -> ~gi.repository.GLib.VariantType | None Queries the type of the state of the named action within ``action_group``. If the action is stateful then this function returns the :obj:`~gi.repository.GLib.VariantType` of the state. All calls to :func:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup.change_action_state` must give a :obj:`~gi.repository.GLib.Variant` of this type and :func:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup.get_action_state` will return a :obj:`~gi.repository.GLib.Variant` of the same type. If the action is not stateful then this function will return :const:`None`. In that case, :func:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup.get_action_state` will return :const:`None` and you must not call :func:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup.change_action_state`. The state type of a particular action will never change but it is possible for an action to be removed and for a new action to be added with the same name but a different state type. .. versionadded:: 2.28 :param action_name: the name of the action to query .. method:: has_action(action_name: str) -> bool Checks if the named action exists within ``action_group``. .. versionadded:: 2.28 :param action_name: the name of the action to check for .. method:: list_actions() -> list[str] Lists the actions contained within ``action_group``. The caller is responsible for freeing the list with :func:`~gi.repository.GLib.strfreev` when it is no longer required. .. versionadded:: 2.28 .. method:: query_action(action_name: str) -> tuple[bool, bool, ~gi.repository.GLib.VariantType, ~gi.repository.GLib.VariantType, ~gi.repository.GLib.Variant, ~gi.repository.GLib.Variant] Queries all aspects of the named action within an ``action_group``. This function acquires the information available from :func:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup.has_action`, :func:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup.get_action_enabled`, :func:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup.get_action_parameter_type`, :func:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup.get_action_state_type`, :func:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup.get_action_state_hint` and :func:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup.get_action_state` with a single function call. This provides two main benefits. The first is the improvement in efficiency that comes with not having to perform repeated lookups of the action in order to discover different things about it. The second is that implementing :obj:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup` can now be done by only overriding this one virtual function. The interface provides a default implementation of this function that calls the individual functions, as required, to fetch the information. The interface also provides default implementations of those functions that call this function. All implementations, therefore, must override either this function or all of the others. If the action exists, :const:`True` is returned and any of the requested fields (as indicated by having a non-:const:`None` reference passed in) are filled. If the action doesn't exist, :const:`False` is returned and the fields may or may not have been modified. .. versionadded:: 2.32 :param action_name: the name of an action in the group Signals ------- .. rst-class:: interim-class .. class:: ActionGroup.signals :no-index: .. method:: action_added(action_name: str) -> None Signals that a new action was just added to the group. This signal is emitted after the action has been added and is now visible. .. versionadded:: 2.28 :param action_name: the name of the action in ``action_group`` .. method:: action_enabled_changed(action_name: str, enabled: bool) -> None Signals that the enabled status of the named action has changed. .. versionadded:: 2.28 :param action_name: the name of the action in ``action_group`` :param enabled: whether the action is enabled or not .. method:: action_removed(action_name: str) -> None Signals that an action is just about to be removed from the group. This signal is emitted before the action is removed, so the action is still visible and can be queried from the signal handler. .. versionadded:: 2.28 :param action_name: the name of the action in ``action_group`` .. method:: action_state_changed(action_name: str, value: ~gi.repository.GLib.Variant) -> None Signals that the state of the named action has changed. .. versionadded:: 2.28 :param action_name: the name of the action in ``action_group`` :param value: the new value of the state Virtual Methods --------------- .. rst-class:: interim-class .. class:: ActionGroup :no-index: .. method:: do_action_added(action_name: str) -> None Emits the :obj:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup`::action-added signal on ``action_group``. This function should only be called by :obj:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup` implementations. .. versionadded:: 2.28 :param action_name: the name of an action in the group .. method:: do_action_enabled_changed(action_name: str, enabled: bool) -> None Emits the :obj:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup`::action-enabled-changed signal on ``action_group``. This function should only be called by :obj:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup` implementations. .. versionadded:: 2.28 :param action_name: the name of an action in the group :param enabled: whether or not the action is now enabled .. method:: do_action_removed(action_name: str) -> None Emits the :obj:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup`::action-removed signal on ``action_group``. This function should only be called by :obj:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup` implementations. .. versionadded:: 2.28 :param action_name: the name of an action in the group .. method:: do_action_state_changed(action_name: str, state: ~gi.repository.GLib.Variant) -> None Emits the :obj:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup`::action-state-changed signal on ``action_group``. This function should only be called by :obj:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup` implementations. .. versionadded:: 2.28 :param action_name: the name of an action in the group :param state: the new state of the named action .. method:: do_activate_action(action_name: str, parameter: ~gi.repository.GLib.Variant | None = None) -> None Activate the named action within ``action_group``. If the action is expecting a parameter, then the correct type of parameter must be given as ``parameter``. If the action is expecting no parameters then ``parameter`` must be :const:`None`. See :func:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup.get_action_parameter_type`. If the :obj:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup` implementation supports asynchronous remote activation over D-Bus, this call may return before the relevant D-Bus traffic has been sent, or any replies have been received. In order to block on such asynchronous activation calls, :func:`~gi.repository.Gio.DBusConnection.flush` should be called prior to the code, which depends on the result of the action activation. Without flushing the D-Bus connection, there is no guarantee that the action would have been activated. The following code which runs in a remote app instance, shows an example of a "quit" action being activated on the primary app instance over D-Bus. Here :func:`~gi.repository.Gio.DBusConnection.flush` is called before ``exit()``. Without :func:`~gi.repository.Gio.DBusConnection.flush`, the "quit" action may fail to be activated on the primary instance. .. code-block:: C :dedent: // call "quit" action on primary instance g_action_group_activate_action (G_ACTION_GROUP (app), "quit", NULL); // make sure the action is activated now g_dbus_connection_flush (...); g_debug ("application has been terminated. exiting."); exit (0); .. versionadded:: 2.28 :param action_name: the name of the action to activate :param parameter: parameters to the activation .. method:: do_change_action_state(action_name: str, value: ~gi.repository.GLib.Variant) -> None Request for the state of the named action within ``action_group`` to be changed to ``value``. The action must be stateful and ``value`` must be of the correct type. See :func:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup.get_action_state_type`. This call merely requests a change. The action may refuse to change its state or may change its state to something other than ``value``. See :func:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup.get_action_state_hint`. If the ``value`` GVariant is floating, it is consumed. .. versionadded:: 2.28 :param action_name: the name of the action to request the change on :param value: the new state .. method:: do_get_action_enabled(action_name: str) -> bool Checks if the named action within ``action_group`` is currently enabled. An action must be enabled in order to be activated or in order to have its state changed from outside callers. .. versionadded:: 2.28 :param action_name: the name of the action to query .. method:: do_get_action_parameter_type(action_name: str) -> ~gi.repository.GLib.VariantType | None Queries the type of the parameter that must be given when activating the named action within ``action_group``. When activating the action using :func:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup.activate_action`, the :obj:`~gi.repository.GLib.Variant` given to that function must be of the type returned by this function. In the case that this function returns :const:`None`, you must not give any :obj:`~gi.repository.GLib.Variant`, but :const:`None` instead. The parameter type of a particular action will never change but it is possible for an action to be removed and for a new action to be added with the same name but a different parameter type. .. versionadded:: 2.28 :param action_name: the name of the action to query .. method:: do_get_action_state(action_name: str) -> ~gi.repository.GLib.Variant | None Queries the current state of the named action within ``action_group``. If the action is not stateful then :const:`None` will be returned. If the action is stateful then the type of the return value is the type given by :func:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup.get_action_state_type`. The return value (if non-:const:`None`) should be freed with :func:`~gi.repository.GLib.Variant.unref` when it is no longer required. .. versionadded:: 2.28 :param action_name: the name of the action to query .. method:: do_get_action_state_hint(action_name: str) -> ~gi.repository.GLib.Variant | None Requests a hint about the valid range of values for the state of the named action within ``action_group``. If :const:`None` is returned it either means that the action is not stateful or that there is no hint about the valid range of values for the state of the action. If a :obj:`~gi.repository.GLib.Variant` array is returned then each item in the array is a possible value for the state. If a :obj:`~gi.repository.GLib.Variant` pair (ie: two-tuple) is returned then the tuple specifies the inclusive lower and upper bound of valid values for the state. In any case, the information is merely a hint. It may be possible to have a state value outside of the hinted range and setting a value within the range may fail. The return value (if non-:const:`None`) should be freed with :func:`~gi.repository.GLib.Variant.unref` when it is no longer required. .. versionadded:: 2.28 :param action_name: the name of the action to query .. method:: do_get_action_state_type(action_name: str) -> ~gi.repository.GLib.VariantType | None Queries the type of the state of the named action within ``action_group``. If the action is stateful then this function returns the :obj:`~gi.repository.GLib.VariantType` of the state. All calls to :func:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup.change_action_state` must give a :obj:`~gi.repository.GLib.Variant` of this type and :func:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup.get_action_state` will return a :obj:`~gi.repository.GLib.Variant` of the same type. If the action is not stateful then this function will return :const:`None`. In that case, :func:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup.get_action_state` will return :const:`None` and you must not call :func:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup.change_action_state`. The state type of a particular action will never change but it is possible for an action to be removed and for a new action to be added with the same name but a different state type. .. versionadded:: 2.28 :param action_name: the name of the action to query .. method:: do_has_action(action_name: str) -> bool Checks if the named action exists within ``action_group``. .. versionadded:: 2.28 :param action_name: the name of the action to check for .. method:: do_list_actions() -> list[str] Lists the actions contained within ``action_group``. The caller is responsible for freeing the list with :func:`~gi.repository.GLib.strfreev` when it is no longer required. .. versionadded:: 2.28 .. method:: do_query_action(action_name: str) -> tuple[bool, bool, ~gi.repository.GLib.VariantType, ~gi.repository.GLib.VariantType, ~gi.repository.GLib.Variant, ~gi.repository.GLib.Variant] Queries all aspects of the named action within an ``action_group``. This function acquires the information available from :func:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup.has_action`, :func:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup.get_action_enabled`, :func:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup.get_action_parameter_type`, :func:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup.get_action_state_type`, :func:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup.get_action_state_hint` and :func:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup.get_action_state` with a single function call. This provides two main benefits. The first is the improvement in efficiency that comes with not having to perform repeated lookups of the action in order to discover different things about it. The second is that implementing :obj:`~gi.repository.Gio.ActionGroup` can now be done by only overriding this one virtual function. The interface provides a default implementation of this function that calls the individual functions, as required, to fetch the information. The interface also provides default implementations of those functions that call this function. All implementations, therefore, must override either this function or all of the others. If the action exists, :const:`True` is returned and any of the requested fields (as indicated by having a non-:const:`None` reference passed in) are filled. If the action doesn't exist, :const:`False` is returned and the fields may or may not have been modified. .. versionadded:: 2.32 :param action_name: the name of an action in the group