## GtkEditable GtkEditable — Interface for text-editing widgets |

## Synopsis

    #include <gtk/gtk.h>

                        GtkEditable;
    void                gtk_editable_select_region          (GtkEditable *editable,
                                                             gint start,
                                                             gint end);
    gboolean            gtk_editable_get_selection_bounds   (GtkEditable *editable,
                                                             gint *start,
                                                             gint *end);
    void                gtk_editable_insert_text            (GtkEditable *editable,
                                                             const gchar *new_text,
                                                             gint new_text_length,
                                                             gint *position);
    void                gtk_editable_delete_text            (GtkEditable *editable,
                                                             gint start_pos,
                                                             gint end_pos);
    gchar*              gtk_editable_get_chars              (GtkEditable *editable,
                                                             gint start_pos,
                                                             gint end_pos);
    void                gtk_editable_cut_clipboard          (GtkEditable *editable);
    void                gtk_editable_copy_clipboard         (GtkEditable *editable);
    void                gtk_editable_paste_clipboard        (GtkEditable *editable);
    void                gtk_editable_delete_selection       (GtkEditable *editable);
    void                gtk_editable_set_position           (GtkEditable *editable,
                                                             gint position);
    gint                gtk_editable_get_position           (GtkEditable *editable);
    void                gtk_editable_set_editable           (GtkEditable *editable,
                                                             gboolean is_editable);
    gboolean            gtk_editable_get_editable           (GtkEditable *editable);

## Object Hierarchy

      GInterface
       +----GtkEditable

## Known Implementations

GtkEditable is implemented by GtkEntry, GtkText, GtkOldEditable and GtkSpinButton.

## Signals

      "changed"                                        : Run Last
      "delete-text"                                    : Run Last
      "insert-text"                                    : Run Last

## Description

The GtkEditable interface is an interface which should be implemented by text editing widgets, such as GtkEntry and GtkText. It contains functions for generically manipulating an editable widget, a large number of action signals used for key bindings, and several signals that an application can connect to to modify the behavior of a widget.

As an example of the latter usage, by connecting the following handler to "insert_text", an application can convert all entry into a widget into uppercase.

Example 16. Forcing entry to uppercase.

    #include <ctype.h>

    void
    insert_text_handler (GtkEditable *editable,
                         const gchar *text,
                         gint         length,
                         gint        *position,
                         gpointer     data)
    {
      int i;
      gchar *result = g_utf8_strup (text, length);

      g_signal_handlers_block_by_func (editable,
    				   (gpointer) insert_text_handler, data);
      gtk_editable_insert_text (editable, result, length, position);
      g_signal_handlers_unblock_by_func (editable,
                                         (gpointer) insert_text_handler, data);

      g_signal_stop_emission_by_name (editable, "insert_text");

      g_free (result);
    }

## Details

### GtkEditable

    typedef struct _GtkEditable GtkEditable;

The GtkEditable structure contains the following fields. (These fields should be considered read-only. They should never be set by an application.)

guint selection_start; | the starting position of the selected characters in the widget.
guint selection_end; | the end position of the selected characters in the widget.
guint editable; | a flag indicating whether or not the widget is editable by the user.

### gtk_editable_select_region ()

    void                gtk_editable_select_region          (GtkEditable *editable,
                                                             gint start,
                                                             gint end);

Selects the text between `start` and `end`. Both `start` and `end` are relative to the start of the content. Note that positions are specified in characters, not bytes.

Selects a region of text. The characters that are selected are those characters at positions from `start_pos` up to, but not including `end_pos`. If `end_pos` is negative, then the the characters selected will be those characters from `start_pos` to the end of the text.

`editable` : | a GtkEditable
`start` : | start of region
`end` : | end of region

### gtk_editable_get_selection_bounds ()

    gboolean            gtk_editable_get_selection_bounds   (GtkEditable *editable,
                                                             gint *start,
                                                             gint *end);

Retrieves the selection bound of the editable. `start_pos` will be filled with the start of the selection and `end_pos` with end. If no text was selected both will be identical and `FALSE` will be returned. Note that positions are specified in characters, not bytes.

Gets the current selection bounds, if there is a selection.

`editable` : | a GtkEditable
`start` : | location to store the starting position, or `NULL`.
`end` : | location to store the end position, or `NULL`.
Returns : | `TRUE` if an area is selected, `FALSE` otherwise

### gtk_editable_insert_text ()

    void                gtk_editable_insert_text            (GtkEditable *editable,
                                                             const gchar *new_text,
                                                             gint new_text_length,
                                                             gint *position);

Appends `new_text_length` characters of `new_text` to the contents of the widget, at position `position`. Note that this position is in characters, not in bytes.

Inserts text at a given position.

`editable` : | a GtkEditable
`new_text` : | the text to append
`new_text_length` : | the text to append
`position` : | position text will be inserted at

### gtk_editable_delete_text ()

    void                gtk_editable_delete_text            (GtkEditable *editable,
                                                             gint start_pos,
                                                             gint end_pos);

Deletes the content of the editable between `start_pos` and `end_pos`. Note that positions are specified in characters, not bytes.

Deletes a sequence of characters. The characters that are deleted are those characters at positions from `start_pos` up to, but not including `end_pos`. If `end_pos` is negative, then the the characters deleted will be those characters from `start_pos` to the end of the text.

`editable` : | a GtkEditable
`start_pos` : | start position
`end_pos` : | end position

### gtk_editable_get_chars ()

    gchar*              gtk_editable_get_chars              (GtkEditable *editable,
                                                             gint start_pos,
                                                             gint end_pos);

Retreives the content of the editable between `start` and `end`. Note that positions are specified in characters, not bytes.

Retrieves a sequence of characters. The characters that are retrieved are those characters at positions from `start_pos` up to, but not including `end_pos`. If `end_pos` is negative, then the the characters retrieved will be those characters from `start_pos` to the end of the text.

`editable` : | a GtkEditable
`start_pos` : | the starting position.
`end_pos` : | the end position.
Returns : | a pointer to the contents of the widget as a string. This string is allocated by the GtkEditable implementation and should be freed by the caller.

### gtk_editable_cut_clipboard ()

    void                gtk_editable_cut_clipboard          (GtkEditable *editable);

Removes the contents of the currently selected content in the editable and puts it on the clipboard.

Causes the characters in the current selection to be copied to the clipboard and then deleted from the widget.

`editable` : | a GtkEditable

### gtk_editable_copy_clipboard ()

    void                gtk_editable_copy_clipboard         (GtkEditable *editable);

Copies the contents of the currently selected content in the editable and puts it on the clipboard.

Causes the characters in the current selection to be copied to the clipboard.

`editable` : | a GtkEditable

### gtk_editable_paste_clipboard ()

    void                gtk_editable_paste_clipboard        (GtkEditable *editable);

Pastes the content of the clipboard to the current position of the cursor in the editable.

Causes the contents of the clipboard to be pasted into the given widget at the current cursor position.

`editable` : | a GtkEditable

### gtk_editable_delete_selection ()

    void                gtk_editable_delete_selection       (GtkEditable *editable);

Deletes the currently selected text of the editable. This call will not do anything if there is no selected text.

Deletes the current contents of the widgets selection and disclaims the selection.

`editable` : | a GtkEditable

### gtk_editable_set_position ()

    void                gtk_editable_set_position           (GtkEditable *editable,
                                                             gint position);

Sets the cursor position in the editable to the given value.

Sets the cursor position.

`editable` : | a GtkEditable
`position` : | the position of the cursor. The cursor is displayed before the character with the given (base 0) index in the editable. The value must be less than or equal to the number of characters in the editable. A value of -1 indicates that the position should be set after the last character of the editable. Note that this position is in characters, not in bytes.

### gtk_editable_get_position ()

    gint                gtk_editable_get_position           (GtkEditable *editable);

Retrieves the current position of the cursor relative to the start of the content of the editable. Note that this position is in characters, not in bytes.

Retrieves the current cursor position.

`editable` : | a GtkEditable
Returns : | the cursor position

### gtk_editable_set_editable ()

    void                gtk_editable_set_editable           (GtkEditable *editable,
                                                             gboolean is_editable);

Determines if the user can edit the text in the editable widget or not.

Determines if the user can edit the text in the editable widget or not.

`editable` : | a GtkEditable
`is_editable` : | `TRUE` if the user is allowed to edit the text in the widget

### gtk_editable_get_editable ()

    gboolean            gtk_editable_get_editable           (GtkEditable *editable);

Retrieves whether `editable` is editable. See `gtk_editable_set_editable()`.

`editable` : | a GtkEditable
Returns : | `TRUE` if `editable` is editable.

## Signal Details

### The `"changed"` signal

    void                user_function                      (GtkEditable *editable,
                                                            gpointer     user_data)      : Run Last

Indicates that the user has changed the contents of the widget.

`editable` : | the object which received the signal.
`user_data` : | user data set when the signal handler was connected.

### The `"delete-text"` signal

    void                user_function                      (GtkEditable *editable,
                                                            gint         start_pos,
                                                            gint         end_pos,
                                                            gpointer     user_data)      : Run Last

This signal is emitted when text is deleted from the widget by the user. The default handler for this signal will normally be responsible for deleting the text, so by connecting to this signal and then stopping the signal with `gtk_signal_emit_stop()`, it is possible to modify the range of deleted text, or prevent it from being deleted entirely. The `start_pos` and `end_pos` parameters are interpreted as for `gtk_editable_delete_text()`

`editable` : | the object which received the signal.
`start_pos` : | the starting position.
`end_pos` : | the end position.
`user_data` : | user data set when the signal handler was connected.

### The `"insert-text"` signal

    void                user_function                      (GtkEditable *editable,
                                                            gchar       *new_text,
                                                            gint         new_text_length,
                                                            gint        *position,
                                                            gpointer     user_data)            : Run Last

This signal is emitted when text is inserted into the widget by the user. The default handler for this signal will normally be responsible for inserting the text, so by connecting to this signal and then stopping the signal with `gtk_signal_emit_stop()`, it is possible to modify the inserted text, or prevent it from being inserted entirely.

`editable` : | the object which received the signal.
`new_text` : | the new text to insert.
`new_text_length` : | the length of the new text, in bytes, or -1 if new_text is nul-terminated
`position` : | the position, in characters, at which to insert the new text. this is an in-out parameter. After the signal emission is finished, it should point after the newly inserted text.
`user_data` : | user data set when the signal handler was connected.