gtklean

What is gtklean?

gtklean is a C header file that is generated directly from the GTK+ header files. The standard GTK+ C API contains much visual clutter and is too error prone. gtklean.h provides a cleaner, safer C API for GTK+.

gtklean is freely available under the GNU General Public License.

Features

• Eliminates the need for ``gtk_'' in front of every function name.

• Automatically inserts type checking and casting macros such as GTK_WIDGET() and GTK_SIGNAL_FUNC() where needed so you can't forget them and you never have to see them.

• Replaces string literals for signal names with C identifiers to replace run time errors with compile time errors.

• Automatically generated from the GTK+ header files using a perl script, make_gtklean, so gtklean.h can be recreated for each new version of GTK+ that you install.

In short, gtklean lets you write code like this:

    #include "gtklean.h"
    
    void destroy_handler(GtkWidget *widget, gpointer data)
    {
        gtk_main_quit();
    }
    
    int delete_handler(GtkWidget *widget, GdkEvent *event, gpointer data)
    {
        return 0;
    }
    
    int main(int ac, char **av)
    {
        GtkWidget *top_widget, *box, *label, *separator_item;
        GtkWidget *menu_bar, *file_item, *file_menu, *exit_item;
    
        gtk_init(&ac, &av);
    
        top_widget = window_new(GTK_WINDOW_TOPLEVEL);
        box = vbox_new(0, 0);
        menu_bar = menu_bar_new();
        file_item = menu_item_new_with_label("File");
        file_menu = menu_new();
        separator_item = menu_item_new();
        exit_item = menu_item_new_with_label("Exit");
        label = label_new("GTK+ is fun");
        widget_set_usize(label, 400, 350);
    
        window_set_title(top_widget, "new_gtkfun");
        container_set_border_width(top_widget, 0);
        widget_set_name(top_widget, "new_gtkfun");
    
        signal_connect(exit_item, activate, destroy_handler, NULL);
        signal_connect(top_widget, delete_event, delete_handler, NULL);
        signal_connect(top_widget, destroy, destroy_handler, NULL);
    
        container_add(top_widget, box);
        box_pack_start_defaults(box, menu_bar);
        box_pack_start_defaults(box, label);
    
        menu_bar_append(menu_bar, file_item);
        menu_item_set_submenu(file_item, file_menu);
        menu_append(file_menu, separator_item);
        menu_append(file_menu, exit_item);
    
        widget_show_all(top_widget);
    
        gtk_main();
    
        return 0;
    }

Instead of code like this:

    #include <gtk/gtk.h>
    
    void destroy_handler(GtkWidget *widget, gpointer data)
    {
        gtk_main_quit();
    }
    
    int delete_handler(GtkWidget *widget, GdkEvent *event, gpointer data)
    {
        return 0;
    }
    
    int main(int ac, char **av)
    {
        GtkWidget *top_widget, *box, *label, *separator_item;
        GtkWidget *menu_bar, *file_item, *file_menu, *exit_item;
    
        gtk_init(&ac, &av);
    
        top_widget = gtk_window_new(GTK_WINDOW_TOPLEVEL);
        box = gtk_vbox_new(0, 0);
        menu_bar = gtk_menu_bar_new();
        file_item = gtk_menu_item_new_with_label("File");
        file_menu = gtk_menu_new();
        separator_item = gtk_menu_item_new();
        exit_item = gtk_menu_item_new_with_label("Exit");
        label = gtk_label_new("GTK+ is fun");
        gtk_widget_set_usize(GTK_WIDGET(label), 400, 350);
    
        gtk_window_set_title(GTK_WINDOW(top_widget), "new_gtkfun");
        gtk_container_set_border_width(GTK_CONTAINER(top_widget), 0);
        gtk_widget_set_name(GTK_WIDGET(top_widget), "new_gtkfun");
    
        gtk_signal_connect(GTK_OBJECT(exit_item), "activate", GTK_SIGNAL_FUNC(destroy_handler), NULL);
        gtk_signal_connect(GTK_OBJECT(top_widget), "delete_event", GTK_SIGNAL_FUNC(delete_handler), NULL);
        gtk_signal_connect(GTK_OBJECT(top_widget), "destroy", GTK_SIGNAL_FUNC(destroy_handler), NULL);
    
        gtk_container_add(GTK_CONTAINER(top_widget), GTK_WIDGET(box));
        gtk_box_pack_start_defaults(GTK_BOX(box), GTK_WIDGET(menu_bar));
        gtk_box_pack_start_defaults(GTK_BOX(box), GTK_WIDGET(label));
    
        gtk_menu_bar_append(GTK_MENU_BAR(menu_bar), GTK_WIDGET(file_item));
        gtk_menu_item_set_submenu(GTK_MENU_ITEM(file_item), GTK_WIDGET(file_menu));
        gtk_menu_append(GTK_MENU(file_menu), GTK_WIDGET(separator_item));
        gtk_menu_append(GTK_MENU(file_menu), GTK_WIDGET(exit_item));
    
        gtk_widget_show_all(GTK_WIDGET(top_widget));
    
        gtk_main();
    
        return 0;
    }

For more information read the Documentation section.

Supported Versions

Currently, gtklean is only known to work with GTK+ 1.2.8 and 1.2.10 but it probably works with 2.x as well (although there will probably be missing signal names).

Documentation

There is a README file and the manpage for make_gtklean.

Download

Mailing Lists

If you'd like to be kept up to date with gtklean releases or have questions or suggestions, you can join one or more of the following mailing lists.

To subscribe to any of these mailing lists, send a mail message to listname-request@raf.org with subscribe as the message body.

E.g.

    $ echo subscribe | mail gtklean-announce-request@raf.org
    $ echo subscribe | mail gtklean-users-request@raf.org
    $ echo subscribe | mail gtklean-dev-request@raf.org

Or you can send a mail message to majordomo@raf.org with subscribe listname in the message body. This way, you can include multiple subscribe commands to subscribe to multiple lists at the same time.

E.g.

    $ mail majordomo@raf.org
    subscribe gtklean-announce
    subscribe gtklean-users
    subscribe gtklean-dev
    .

A digest version of each mailing list is also available. Subscribe to digests as above but append -digest to the listname.

E.g.

    $ echo subscribe | mail gtklean-announce-digest-request@raf.org
    $ echo subscribe | mail gtklean-users-digest-request@raf.org
    $ echo subscribe | mail gtklean-dev-digest-request@raf.org

Or

    $ mail majordomo@raf.org
    subscribe gtklean-announce-digest
    subscribe gtklean-users-digest
    subscribe gtklean-dev-digest
    .