gtk2/docs/reference/gtk/text_widget.sgml

<refentry id="TextWidget" revision="18 Oct 2000">
<refmeta>
<refentrytitle>Text Widget Overview</refentrytitle>
<manvolnum>3</manvolnum>
<refmiscinfo>GTK Library</refmiscinfo>
</refmeta>

<refnamediv>
<refname>Text Widget Overview</refname><refpurpose>Overview of <link linkend="GtkTextBuffer">GtkTextBuffer</link>, <link linkend="GtkTextView">GtkTextView</link>, and friends</refpurpose>
</refnamediv>

<refsect1>
<title>Conceptual Overview</title>

<para>
GTK+ has an extremely powerful framework for multiline text editing.  The
primary objects involved in the process are <link
linkend="GtkTextBuffer">GtkTextBuffer</link>, which represents the text being
edited, and <link linkend="GtkTextView">GtkTextView</link>, a widget which can
display a <link linkend="GtkTextBuffer">GtkTextBuffer</link>. Each buffer can be
displayed by any number of views.
</para>

<para>
One of the important things to remember about text in GTK+ is that it's in the
UTF-8 encoding. This means that one character can be encoded as multiple
bytes. Character counts are usually referred to as
<firstterm>offsets</firstterm>, while byte counts are called
<firstterm>indexes</firstterm>. If you confuse these two, things will work fine
with ASCII, but as soon as your buffer contains multibyte characters, bad things
will happen.
</para>

<para>
Text in a buffer can be marked with <firstterm>tags</firstterm>. A tag is an
attribute that can be applied to some range of text. For example, a tag might be
called "bold" and make the text inside the tag bold. However, the tag concept is
more general than that; tags don't have to affect appearance. They can instead
affect the behavior of mouse and key presses, "lock" a range of text so
the user can't edit it, or countless other things. A tag is represented by a
<link linkend="GtkTextTag">GtkTextTag</link> object. One <link
linkend="GtkTextTag">GtkTextTag</link> can be applied to any number of text
ranges in any number of buffers.
</para>

<para>
Each tag is stored in a <link
linkend="GtkTextTagTable">GtkTextTagTable</link>. A tag table defines a set of
tags that can be used together. Each buffer has one tag table associated with
it; only tags from that tag table can be used with the buffer. A single tag
table can be shared between multiple buffers, however.
</para>

<para>
Tags can have names, which is convenient sometimes (for example, you can name
your tag that makes things bold "bold"), but they can also be anonymous (which
is convenient if you're creating tags on-the-fly).
</para>

<para>
Most text manipulation is accomplished with <firstterm>iterators</firstterm>,
represented by a <link linkend="GtkTextIter">GtkTextIter</link>. An iterator
represents a position in the text buffer. <link
linkend="GtkTextIter">GtkTextIter</link> is a struct designed to be allocated on
the stack; it's guaranteed to be copiable by value and never contain any
heap-allocated data. Iterators are not valid indefinitely; whenever the buffer
is modified in a way that affects the number of characters in the buffer, all
outstanding iterators become invalid. (Note that deleting 5 characters and then
reinserting 5 still invalidates iterators, though you end up with the same
number of characters you pass through a state with a different number).
</para>

<para>
Because of this, iterators can't be used to preserve positions across buffer
modifications. To preserve a position, the <link
linkend="GtkTextMark">GtkTextMark</link> object is ideal. You can think of a
mark as an invisible cursor or insertion point; it floats in the buffer, saving
a position. If the text surrounding the mark is deleted, the mark remains in the
position the text once occupied; if text is inserted at the mark, the mark ends
up either to the left or to the right of the new text, depending on its
<firstterm>gravity</firstterm>. The standard text cursor in left-to-right
languages is a mark with right gravity, because it stays to the right of
inserted text.
</para>

<para>
Like tags, marks can be either named or anonymous. There are two marks built-in
to <link linkend="GtkTextBuffer">GtkTextBuffer</link>; these are named
<literal>"insert"</literal> and <literal>"selection_bound"</literal> and refer
to the insertion point and the boundary of the selection which is not the
insertion point, respectively. If no text is selected, these two marks will be
in the same position. You can manipulate what is selected and where the cursor
appears by moving these marks around.

<footnote>
<para>
If you want to place the cursor in response to a user action, be sure to use
gtk_text_buffer_place_cursor(), which moves both at once without causing a
temporary selection (moving one then the other temporarily selects the range in
between the old and new positions).
</para>
</footnote>
</para>

</refsect1>


<refsect1>
<title>Simple Example</title>

<para>
The simplest usage of <link linkend="GtkTextView">GtkTextView</link> 
might look like this:
<programlisting>
  GtkWidget *view;
  GtkTextBuffer *buffer;

  view = gtk_text_view_new ();

  buffer = gtk_text_view_get_buffer (GTK_TEXT_VIEW (view));

  gtk_text_buffer_set_text (buffer, "Hello, this is some text");

  /* Now you might put the view in a container and display it on the
   * screen; when the user edits the text, signals on the buffer
   * will be emitted, such as "changed", "insert_text", and so on.
   */
</programlisting>
In many cases it's also convenient to first create the buffer with
gtk_text_buffer_new(), then create a widget for that buffer with
gtk_text_view_new_with_buffer(). Or you can change the buffer the
widget displays after the widget is created with
gtk_text_view_set_buffer().
</para>

</refsect1>

</refentry>