IMContext

Object Hierarchy:

Description:

[ CCode ( type_id = "gtk_im_context_get_type ()" ) ]
public abstract class IMContext : Object

IMContext defines the interface for GTK+ input methods.

An input method is used by GTK+ text input widgets like Entry to map from key events to Unicode character strings.

The default input method can be set programmatically via the gtk_im_module GtkSettings property. Alternatively, you may set the GTK_IM_MODULE environment variable as documented in Running GTK+ Applications.

The Entry im_module and TextView im_module properties may also be used to set input methods for specific widget instances. For instance, a certain entry widget might be expected to contain certain characters which would be easier to input with a certain input method.

An input method may consume multiple key events in sequence and finally output the composed result. This is called preediting, and an input method may provide feedback about this process by displaying the intermediate composition states as preedit text. For instance, the default GTK+ input method implements the input of arbitrary Unicode code points by holding down the Control and Shift keys and then typing “U” followed by the hexadecimal digits of the code point. When releasing the Control and Shift keys, preediting ends and the character is inserted as text. Ctrl+Shift+u20AC for example results in the € sign.

Additional input methods can be made available for use by GTK+ widgets as loadable modules. An input method module is a small shared library which implements a subclass of IMContext or IMContextSimple and exports these four functions:

void im_module_init(GTypeModule *module);

This function should register the Type of the IMContext subclass which implements the input method by means of register_type. Note that g_type_register_static cannot be used as the type needs to be registered dynamically.

void im_module_exit(void);

Here goes any cleanup code your input method might require on module unload.

void im_module_list(const GtkIMContextInfo ***contexts, int *n_contexts)
{
  *contexts = info_list;
  *n_contexts = G_N_ELEMENTS (info_list);
}

This function returns the list of input methods provided by the module. The example implementation above shows a common solution and simply returns a pointer to statically defined array of IMContextInfo items for each provided input method.

GtkIMContext * im_module_create(const gchar *context_id);

This function should return a pointer to a newly created instance of the IMContext subclass identified by context_id. The context ID is the same as specified in the IMContextInfo array returned by im_module_list.

After a new loadable input method module has been installed on the system, the configuration file `gtk.immodules` needs to be regenerated by gtk-query-immodules-3.0, in order for the new input method to become available to GTK+ applications.

All known sub-classes:

IMContextSimple

IMMulticontext

Namespace: Gtk

Package: gtk+-3.0

Content:

Properties:

public InputHints input_hints { get; set; }
public InputPurpose input_purpose { get; set; }

Creation methods:

protected IMContext ()

Methods:

public virtual bool filter_keypress (EventKey event)
Allow an input method to internally handle key press and release events.
public virtual void focus_in ()
Notify the input method that the widget to which this input context corresponds has gained focus.
public virtual void focus_out ()
Notify the input method that the widget to which this input context corresponds has lost focus.
public virtual void get_preedit_string (out string str, out AttrList attrs, out int cursor_pos)
Retrieve the current preedit string for the input context, and a list of attributes to apply to the string.
public virtual bool get_surrounding (out string text, out int cursor_index)
Retrieves context around the insertion point.
public virtual void reset ()
Notify the input method that a change such as a change in cursor position has been made.
public virtual void set_client_window (Window? window)
Set the client window for the input context; this is the Window in which the input appears.
public virtual void set_cursor_location (Rectangle area)
Notify the input method that a change in cursor position has been made.
public virtual void set_surrounding (string text, int len, int cursor_index)
Sets surrounding context around the insertion point and preedit string.
public virtual void set_use_preedit (bool use_preedit)
Sets whether the IM context should use the preedit string to display feedback.

Signals:

public virtual signal void commit (string str)
The commit signal is emitted when a complete input sequence has been entered by the user.
public virtual signal bool delete_surrounding (int offset, int n_chars)
The delete_surrounding signal is emitted when the input method needs to delete all or part of the context surrounding the cursor.
public virtual signal void preedit_changed ()
The preedit_changed signal is emitted whenever the preedit sequence currently being entered has changed.
public virtual signal void preedit_end ()
The preedit_end signal is emitted when a preediting sequence has been completed or canceled.
public virtual signal void preedit_start ()
The preedit_start signal is emitted when a new preediting sequence starts.
public virtual signal bool retrieve_surrounding ()
The retrieve_surrounding signal is emitted when the input method requires the context surrounding the cursor.

Inherited Members:

All known members inherited from class GLib.Object