glibmm: Gio::Resource Class Reference

Resource framework. More...

#include <giomm/resource.h>

Public Types

Public Member Functions

void reference () const
 Increment the reference count for this object. More...

 
void unreference () const
 Decrement the reference count for this object. More...

 
GResource* gobj ()
 Provides access to the underlying C instance. More...

 
const GResource* gobj () const
 Provides access to the underlying C instance. More...

 
GResource* gobj_copy () const
 Provides access to the underlying C instance. The caller is responsible for unrefing it. Use when directly setting fields in structs. More...

 
 Resource ()=delete
 
 Resource (const Resource&)=delete
 
Resourceoperator= (const Resource&)=delete
 
Glib::RefPtr< InputStreamopen_stream (const std::string& path, LookupFlags lookup_flags=LookupFlags::NONE) const
 Looks for a file at the specified path in the resource and returns a InputStream that lets you read the data. More...

 
Glib::RefPtr< const Glib::Byteslookup_data (const std::string& path, LookupFlags lookup_flags=LookupFlags::NONE) const
 Looks for a file at the specified path in the resource and returns a Bytes that lets you directly access the data in memory. More...

 
std::vector< std::stringenumerate_children (const std::string& path, LookupFlags lookup_flags=LookupFlags::NONE) const
 Returns all the names of children at the specified path in the resource. More...

 
void get_info (const std::string& path, gsize&size, Flags& flags, LookupFlags lookup_flags=LookupFlags::NONE) const
 Looks for a file at the specified path in the resource and if found returns information about it. More...

 
void get_file_exists (const std::string& path, LookupFlags lookup_flags=LookupFlags::NONE) const
 Looks for a file at the specified path in the resource. More...

 
bool get_file_exists_nothrow (const std::string& path, LookupFlags lookup_flags=LookupFlags::NONE) const
 Looks for a file at the specified path in the resource. More...

 
void register_global ()
 Registers the resource with the process-global set of resources. More...

 
void unregister_global ()
 Unregisters the resource from the process-global set of resources. More...

 

Static Public Member Functions

static Glib::RefPtr< Resourcecreate_from_data (const Glib::RefPtr< const Glib::Bytes >& data)
 Creates a GResource from a reference to the binary resource bundle. More...

 
static Glib::RefPtr< Resourcecreate_from_file (const std::string& filename)
 Loads a binary resource bundle and creates a Resource representation of it, allowing you to query it for data. More...

 
static Glib::RefPtr< InputStreamopen_stream_global (const std::string& path, LookupFlags lookup_flags=LookupFlags::NONE)
 Looks for a file at the specified path in the set of globally registered resources and returns a InputStream that lets you read the data. More...

 
static Glib::RefPtr< const Glib::Byteslookup_data_global (const std::string& path, LookupFlags lookup_flags=LookupFlags::NONE)
 Looks for a file at the specified path in the set of globally registered resources and returns a Bytes that lets you directly access the data in memory. More...

 
static std::vector< std::stringenumerate_children_global (const std::string& path, LookupFlags lookup_flags=LookupFlags::NONE)
 Returns all the names of children at the specified path in the set of globally registered resources. More...

 
static void get_info_global (const std::string& path, gsize&size, Flags& flags, LookupFlags lookup_flags=LookupFlags::NONE)
 Looks for a file at the specified path in the set of globally registered resources and if found returns information about it. More...

 
static void get_file_exists_global (const std::string& path, LookupFlags lookup_flags=LookupFlags::NONE)
 Looks for a file at the specified path in the set of globally registered resources. More...

 
static bool get_file_exists_global_nothrow (const std::string& path, LookupFlags lookup_flags=LookupFlags::NONE)
 Looks for a file at the specified path in the set of globally registered resources. More...

 

Protected Member Functions

void operator delete (void*, std::size_t)
 

Related Functions

(Note that these are not member functions.)

Glib::RefPtr< Gio::Resourcewrap (GResource* object, bool take_copy=false)
 A Glib::wrap() method for this object. More...

 

Detailed Description

Resource framework.

Applications and libraries often contain binary or textual data that is really part of the application, rather than user data. For instance Gtk::Builder .ui files, splashscreen images, Gio::Menu markup xml, CSS files, icons, etc. These are often shipped as files in $datadir/appname, or manually included as literal strings in the code.

The Gio::Resource API and the glib-compile-resources program provide a convenient and efficient alternative to this which has some nice properties. You maintain the files as normal files, so it's easy to edit them, but during the build the files are combined into a binary bundle that is linked into the executable. This means that loading the resource files is efficient (as they are already in memory, shared with other instances) and simple (no need to check for things like I/O errors or locate the files in the filesystem). It also makes it easier to create relocatable applications.

Resource files can also be marked as compressed. Such files will be included in the resource bundle in a compressed form, but will be automatically uncompressed when the resource is used. This is very useful e.g. for larger text files that are parsed once (or rarely) and then thrown away.

Resource files can also be marked to be preprocessed, by setting the value of the preprocess attribute to a comma-separated list of preprocessing options. The only options currently supported are:

xml-stripblanks

which will use the xmllint command to strip ignorable whitespace from the xml file. For this to work, the XMLLINT environment variable must be set to the full path to the xmllint executable, or xmllint must be in the PATH; otherwise the preprocessing step is skipped.

to-pixdata
which will use the gdk-pixbuf-pixdata command to convert images to the GdkPixdata format, which allows you to create pixbufs directly using the data inside the resource file, rather than an (uncompressed) copy of it. For this, the gdk-pixbuf-pixdata program must be in the PATH, or the GDK_PIXBUF_PIXDATA environment variable must be set to the full path to the gdk-pixbuf-pixdata executable; otherwise the resource compiler will abort.

Resource bundles are created by the glib-compile-resources program which takes an xml file that describes the bundle, and a set of files that the xml references. These are combined into a binary resource bundle.

An example resource description:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<gresources>
<gresource prefix="/org/gtk/Example">
<file>data/splashscreen.png</file>
<file compressed="true">dialog.ui</file>
<file preprocess="xml-stripblanks">menumarkup.xml</file>
</gresource>
</gresources>

This will create a resource bundle with the following files:

/org/gtk/Example/data/splashscreen.png
/org/gtk/Example/dialog.ui
/org/gtk/Example/menumarkup.xml

Note that all resources in the process share the same namespace, so use java-style path prefixes (like in the above example) to avoid conflicts.

You can then use glib-compile-resources to compile the xml to a binary bundle that you can load with Gio::Resource::create_from_file(). However, it's more common to use the –generate-source and –generate-header arguments to create a source file and header to link directly into your application.

Once a Gio::Resource has been created and registered all the data in it can be accessed globally in the process by using API calls like Gio::Resource::open_stream_from_global_resources() to stream the data or Gio::Resource::lookup_data_in_global_resources() to get a direct pointer to the data. You can also use uris like "resource:///org/gtk/Example/data/splashscreen.png" with Gio::File to access the resource data.

There are two forms of the generated source, the default version uses the compiler support for constructor and destructor functions (where available) to automatically create and register the Gio::Resource on startup or library load time. If you pass –manual-register, two functions to register/unregister the resource is instead created. This requires an explicit initialization call in your application/library, but it works on all platforms, even on the minor ones where this is not available. (Constructor support is available for at least Win32, MacOS and Linux.)

Note that resource data can point directly into the data segment of e.g. a library, so if you are unloading libraries during runtime you need to be very careful with keeping around pointers to data from a resource, as this goes away when the library is unloaded. However, in practice this is not generally a problem, since most resource accesses is for your own resources, and resource data is often used once, during parsing, and then released.

Since glibmm 2.44:

Constructor & Destructor Documentation

Gio::Resource::Resource ( )
delete
Gio::Resource::Resource ( const Resource )
delete

Member Function Documentation

static Glib::RefPtr<Resource> Gio::Resource::create_from_data ( const Glib::RefPtr< const Glib::Bytes >&  data)
static

Creates a GResource from a reference to the binary resource bundle.

This will keep a reference to data while the resource lives, so the data should not be modified or freed.

If you want to use this resource in the global resource namespace you need to register it with g_resources_register().

Note
data must be backed by memory that is at least pointer aligned. Otherwise this function will internally create a copy of the memory since GLib 2.56, or in older versions fail and exit the process.

If data is empty or corrupt, Gio::ResourceError::INTERNAL will be returned.

Since glibmm 2.44:
Parameters
dataA Bytes.
Returns
A new Resource, or nullptr on error.
Exceptions
Glib::FileError
static Glib::RefPtr<Resource> Gio::Resource::create_from_file ( const std::string filename)
static

Loads a binary resource bundle and creates a Resource representation of it, allowing you to query it for data.

If you want to use this resource in the global resource namespace you need to register it with g_resources_register().

If filename is empty or the data in it is corrupt, Gio::ResourceError::INTERNAL will be returned. If filename doesn’t exist, or there is an error in reading it, an error from Glib::mapped_file_new() will be returned.

Since glibmm 2.44:
Parameters
filenameThe path of a filename to load, in the GLib filename encoding.
Returns
A new Resource, or nullptr on error.
Exceptions
Glib::FileError
std::vector<std::string> Gio::Resource::enumerate_children ( const std::string path,
LookupFlags  lookup_flags = LookupFlags::NONE 
) const

Returns all the names of children at the specified path in the resource.

If path is invalid or does not exist in the Resource, Gio::ResourceError::NOT_FOUND will be returned.

lookup_flags controls the behaviour of the lookup.

Since glibmm 2.44:
Parameters
pathA pathname inside the resource.
lookup_flagsA Gio::Resource::LookupFlags.
Returns
An array of constant strings.
Exceptions
Gio::ResourceError
static std::vector<std::string> Gio::Resource::enumerate_children_global ( const std::string path,
LookupFlags  lookup_flags = LookupFlags::NONE 
)
static

Returns all the names of children at the specified path in the set of globally registered resources.

lookup_flags controls the behaviour of the lookup.

Since glibmm 2.44:
Parameters
pathA pathname inside the resource.
lookup_flagsA Gio::Resource::LookupFlags.
Returns
An array of constant strings.
Exceptions
Gio::ResourceError
void Gio::Resource::get_file_exists ( const std::string path,
LookupFlags  lookup_flags = LookupFlags::NONE 
) const

Looks for a file at the specified path in the resource.

lookup_flags controls the behaviour of the lookup.

Since glibmm 2.44:
Parameters
pathA pathname inside the resource.
lookup_flagsA LookupFlags.
Exceptions
Gio::ResourceErrorif the file was not found.
static void Gio::Resource::get_file_exists_global ( const std::string path,
LookupFlags  lookup_flags = LookupFlags::NONE 
)
static

Looks for a file at the specified path in the set of globally registered resources.

lookup_flags controls the behaviour of the lookup.

Since glibmm 2.44:
Parameters
pathA pathname inside the resource.
lookup_flagsA LookupFlags.
Exceptions
Gio::ResourceErrorif the file was not found.
static bool Gio::Resource::get_file_exists_global_nothrow ( const std::string path,
LookupFlags  lookup_flags = LookupFlags::NONE 
)
static

Looks for a file at the specified path in the set of globally registered resources.

lookup_flags controls the behaviour of the lookup. This method returns a bool instead of throwing in exception in case of errors.

Since glibmm 2.44:
Parameters
pathA pathname inside the resource.
lookup_flagsA LookupFlags.
Returns
true if the file was found, false if there were errors.
bool Gio::Resource::get_file_exists_nothrow ( const std::string path,
LookupFlags  lookup_flags = LookupFlags::NONE 
) const

Looks for a file at the specified path in the resource.

lookup_flags controls the behaviour of the lookup. This method returns a bool instead of throwing in exception in case of errors.

Since glibmm 2.44:
Parameters
pathA pathname inside the resource.
lookup_flagsA LookupFlags.
Returns
true if the file was found, false if there were errors.
void Gio::Resource::get_info ( const std::string path,
gsize &  size,
Flags flags,
LookupFlags  lookup_flags = LookupFlags::NONE 
) const

Looks for a file at the specified path in the resource and if found returns information about it.

lookup_flags controls the behaviour of the lookup.

Since glibmm 2.44:
Parameters
pathA pathname inside the resource.
[out]sizeA location to place the length of the contents of the file.
[out]flagsA location to place the flags about the file.
lookup_flagsA LookupFlags.
Exceptions
Gio::ResourceErrorif the file was not found.
static void Gio::Resource::get_info_global ( const std::string path,
gsize &  size,
Flags flags,
LookupFlags  lookup_flags = LookupFlags::NONE 
)
static

Looks for a file at the specified path in the set of globally registered resources and if found returns information about it.

lookup_flags controls the behaviour of the lookup.

Since glibmm 2.44:
Parameters
pathA pathname inside the resource.
[out]sizeA location to place the length of the contents of the file.
[out]flagsA location to place the flags about the file.
lookup_flagsA LookupFlags.
Exceptions
Gio::ResourceErrorif the file was not found.
GResource* Gio::Resource::gobj ( )

Provides access to the underlying C instance.

const GResource* Gio::Resource::gobj ( ) const

Provides access to the underlying C instance.

GResource* Gio::Resource::gobj_copy ( ) const

Provides access to the underlying C instance. The caller is responsible for unrefing it. Use when directly setting fields in structs.

Glib::RefPtr<const Glib::Bytes> Gio::Resource::lookup_data ( const std::string path,
LookupFlags  lookup_flags = LookupFlags::NONE 
) const

Looks for a file at the specified path in the resource and returns a Bytes that lets you directly access the data in memory.

The data is always followed by a zero byte, so you can safely use the data as a C string. However, that byte is not included in the size of the GBytes.

For uncompressed resource files this is a pointer directly into the resource bundle, which is typically in some readonly data section in the program binary. For compressed files we allocate memory on the heap and automatically uncompress the data.

lookup_flags controls the behaviour of the lookup.

Since glibmm 2.44:
Parameters
pathA pathname inside the resource.
lookup_flagsA Gio::Resource::LookupFlags.
Returns
Bytes or nullptr on error. Free the returned object with Glib::bytes_unref().
Exceptions
Gio::ResourceError
static Glib::RefPtr<const Glib::Bytes> Gio::Resource::lookup_data_global ( const std::string path,
LookupFlags  lookup_flags = LookupFlags::NONE 
)
static

Looks for a file at the specified path in the set of globally registered resources and returns a Bytes that lets you directly access the data in memory.

The data is always followed by a zero byte, so you can safely use the data as a C string. However, that byte is not included in the size of the GBytes.

For uncompressed resource files this is a pointer directly into the resource bundle, which is typically in some readonly data section in the program binary. For compressed files we allocate memory on the heap and automatically uncompress the data.

lookup_flags controls the behaviour of the lookup.

Since glibmm 2.44:
Parameters
pathA pathname inside the resource.
lookup_flagsA Gio::Resource::LookupFlags.
Returns
Bytes or nullptr on error. Free the returned object with Glib::bytes_unref().
Exceptions
Gio::ResourceError
Glib::RefPtr<InputStream> Gio::Resource::open_stream ( const std::string path,
LookupFlags  lookup_flags = LookupFlags::NONE 
) const

Looks for a file at the specified path in the resource and returns a InputStream that lets you read the data.

lookup_flags controls the behaviour of the lookup.

Since glibmm 2.44:
Parameters
pathA pathname inside the resource.
lookup_flagsA Gio::Resource::LookupFlags.
Returns
InputStream or nullptr on error. Free the returned object with Glib::object_unref().
Exceptions
Gio::ResourceError
static Glib::RefPtr<InputStream> Gio::Resource::open_stream_global ( const std::string path,
LookupFlags  lookup_flags = LookupFlags::NONE 
)
static

Looks for a file at the specified path in the set of globally registered resources and returns a InputStream that lets you read the data.

lookup_flags controls the behaviour of the lookup.

Since glibmm 2.44:
Parameters
pathA pathname inside the resource.
lookup_flagsA Gio::Resource::LookupFlags.
Returns
InputStream or nullptr on error. Free the returned object with Glib::object_unref().
Exceptions
Gio::ResourceError
void Gio::Resource::operator delete ( void *  ,
std::size_t   
)
protected
Resource& Gio::Resource::operator= ( const Resource )
delete
void Gio::Resource::reference ( ) const

Increment the reference count for this object.

You should never need to do this manually - use the object via a RefPtr instead.

void Gio::Resource::register_global ( )

Registers the resource with the process-global set of resources.

Once a resource is registered the files in it can be accessed with the global resource lookup functions like g_resources_lookup_data().

Since glibmm 2.44:
void Gio::Resource::unreference ( ) const

Decrement the reference count for this object.

You should never need to do this manually - use the object via a RefPtr instead.

void Gio::Resource::unregister_global ( )

Unregisters the resource from the process-global set of resources.

Since glibmm 2.44:

Friends And Related Function Documentation

Glib::RefPtr< Gio::Resource > wrap ( GResource *  object,
bool  take_copy = false 
)
related

A Glib::wrap() method for this object.

Parameters
objectThe C instance.
take_copyFalse if the result should take ownership of the C instance. True if it should take a new copy or ref.
Returns
A C++ instance that wraps this C instance.