classes {RGtk2} | R Documentation

## Custom GObject classes

### Description

Highly experimental support for constructing new `GObject` classes entirely from with R.

### Usage

      gClass(name, parent = "GObject", ..., abstract = FALSE)
      parentHandler(method, obj = NULL, ...)
      assignProp(obj, pspec, value)
      getProp(obj, pspec)
      registerVirtuals(virtuals)

### Arguments

`name` | The name of the new class
`parent` | The name of the parent class
`abstract` | If `TRUE`, the class should not be instantiable.
`method` | The name of the method to invoke in the parent
`obj` | A `GObject`
`...` | Additional arguments. For `parentHandler()`, arguments to pass to the parent method. For `gClass()`, arguments specifying the class definition (see Details).
`pspec` | A `GParamSpec` describing the property
`value` | The value to set on the property
`virtuals` | An environment containing lists where each list contains the names of the virtual methods for the class matching the name of the list

.

### Details

The bulk of the class definition (everything except the name and the parent) is passed through additional arguments to the `gClass` function. This information includes:

Methods

  R functions that override virtuals methods in a `GObject` class. Functions overriding methods in the same class are grouped together in a list and are named according to the virtual they override. Each list is passed as a separate parameter to the `class_def` list and bears the name of the corresponding class.

Signals

  Signals that are emitted by the class, in addition to those of the superclasses. Each signal definition is a list containing the following elements: signal name, vector of type names of signal arguments, type name of signal return value, and a vector of values from the `GSignalFlags` enumeration. The list of signal definitions is passed as a parameter named `.signals` to the `gClass`.

Properties

  Properties defined by the class. This is a list of lists, each corresponding to a `GParamSpec`, as created by `gParamSpec`. The list is passed under the name `.props` to `gClass`. The property values are stored in a private environment. To override that behavior or to be notified (first) upon property changes, simply override the `set_property` and `get_property` virtuals in the `GObject` class. To override the implementation of properties defined by an ancestor class, specify their names in a separate vector passed as the `.prop_overrides` parameter. If you override the setting or getting of properties, you can use `assignProp` or `getProp` to conveniently directly assign or get the value of a property to or from the low-level data structure, respectively. These functions differ from the normal property accessor mechanism in that they bypass the property system, thus avoiding recursion. They should only be used when overriding property handling.

Initializer

  Upon instance creation, the function named `.initialize` (in the parameters passed to `gClass`) will be called with the instance as the only argument.

New members

  It is possible to define new public, protected, and private fields and methods inside an R class, by passing them to `gClass` within lists named `.public`, `.protected`, or `.private`, respectively. The encapsulation works much the same as Java. Any protected and public functions may be overriden in a class derived from the defining class. All public fields are immutable. All function bindings are locked except for private ones. This means private functions can be replaced.

The above may seem complicated, and it is. Please see the alphaSliderClass for an example. Also note that the `local` function is convenient for defining static namespaces on the fly. For calling parent virtuals, use `parentHandler`.

`assignProp` and `getProp` are low-level functions; they should not be used in place of the conventional `GObject` property mechanism, except in the case mentioned above.

`registerVirtuals` and `unregisterVirtuals` are meant for use by packages that bind C GObject classes to R using the RGtk2 system. An example of such a package is rggobi.

### Value

For `gClass`, the `GType` of the new class. For `getProp`, the value of the property.

### Note

This functionality is not for casual users. If you don't know what you're doing you will break things. Otherwise, have fun.

### Author(s)

Michael Lawrence

[Package RGtk2 version 2.20.36.3 Index]