Gtkon.md

Introduction

Gtkon is a JSON-like alternative syntax to the standard XML that Gtkaml provides.

Gtkon Syntax

Just like the XML syntax, each node corresponds to a widget which is added to the parent container.

Although colon-separated prefixes are still present as aliases to imported namespaces, the more lax syntax allows for the following shortcuts:

• nodes just end on closing brace, no need to repeat the opening node name
• values without whitespace may be left unquoted
• attribute values can be quoted with ' or "
• attributes may not have a value, in which case they are treated as ="true". A leading "!" means "false"
• public members may be introduced directly with a leading $ on the attribute ($id instead of gtkaml:public="id"). Private members start with $. ($.priv_var) Referencing an existing member is done with &
• code islands are between -{ and }-

The root node has to have the gtkon:version=0.4 attribute and the regular gtkaml:name of the class.

The default prefix is introduced with using=Gtk, meaning that unprefixed nodes are from the Gtk namespace.

Aliases may be defined like this using:p=Pango, so from now on p: is for Pango nodes.

Example

gtk-hello.gtkon

Dialog gtkon:version=0.4 using=Gtk name="SearchDialog" title="Find" !has-separator destroy=Gtk.main_quit {
	/*Dialog already has a VBox named vbox (existing) and is already added to the Dialog (standalone) */
	VBox spacing=10 &vbox gtkaml:standalone {
		HBox !homogeneous spacing=20 !expand {
			Label with-mnemonic label="_Search for:" mnemonic-widget={search_entry} !expand;
			Entry $search_entry;
		}
		CheckButton $match_case with-mnemonic label="_Match case" !expand;
		CheckButton $find_backwards with-mnemonic label="Find _backwards" !expand;
	}
	-{
		/* Vala code */
	}-
}