GAppInfo

GAppInfo — Application information and launch contexts

Synopsis

#include <gio/gio.h>

enum                GAppInfoCreateFlags;
                    GAppInfo;
struct              GAppInfoIface;
                    GAppLaunchContext;
GAppInfo *          g_app_info_create_from_commandline  (const char *commandline,
                                                         const char *application_name,
                                                         GAppInfoCreateFlags flags,
                                                         GError **error);
GAppInfo *          g_app_info_dup                      (GAppInfo *appinfo);
gboolean            g_app_info_equal                    (GAppInfo *appinfo1,
                                                         GAppInfo *appinfo2);
const char *        g_app_info_get_id                   (GAppInfo *appinfo);
const char *        g_app_info_get_name                 (GAppInfo *appinfo);
const char *        g_app_info_get_description          (GAppInfo *appinfo);
const char *        g_app_info_get_executable           (GAppInfo *appinfo);
const char *        g_app_info_get_commandline          (GAppInfo *appinfo);
GIcon *             g_app_info_get_icon                 (GAppInfo *appinfo);
gboolean            g_app_info_launch                   (GAppInfo *appinfo,
                                                         GList *files,
                                                         GAppLaunchContext *launch_context,
                                                         GError **error);
gboolean            g_app_info_supports_files           (GAppInfo *appinfo);
gboolean            g_app_info_supports_uris            (GAppInfo *appinfo);
gboolean            g_app_info_launch_uris              (GAppInfo *appinfo,
                                                         GList *uris,
                                                         GAppLaunchContext *launch_context,
                                                         GError **error);
gboolean            g_app_info_should_show              (GAppInfo *appinfo);
gboolean            g_app_info_can_delete               (GAppInfo *appinfo);
gboolean            g_app_info_delete                   (GAppInfo *appinfo);
void                g_app_info_reset_type_associations  (const char *content_type);
gboolean            g_app_info_set_as_default_for_type  (GAppInfo *appinfo,
                                                         const char *content_type,
                                                         GError **error);
gboolean            g_app_info_set_as_default_for_extension
                                                        (GAppInfo *appinfo,
                                                         const char *extension,
                                                         GError **error);
gboolean            g_app_info_add_supports_type        (GAppInfo *appinfo,
                                                         const char *content_type,
                                                         GError **error);
gboolean            g_app_info_can_remove_supports_type (GAppInfo *appinfo);
gboolean            g_app_info_remove_supports_type     (GAppInfo *appinfo,
                                                         const char *content_type,
                                                         GError **error);
GList *             g_app_info_get_all                  (void);
GList *             g_app_info_get_all_for_type         (const char *content_type);
GAppInfo *          g_app_info_get_default_for_type     (const char *content_type,
                                                         gboolean must_support_uris);
GAppInfo *          g_app_info_get_default_for_uri_scheme
                                                        (const char *uri_scheme);
gboolean            g_app_info_launch_default_for_uri   (const char *uri,
                                                         GAppLaunchContext *launch_context,
                                                         GError **error);
char *              g_app_launch_context_get_display    (GAppLaunchContext *context,
                                                         GAppInfo *info,
                                                         GList *files);
char *              g_app_launch_context_get_startup_notify_id
                                                        (GAppLaunchContext *context,
                                                         GAppInfo *info,
                                                         GList *files);
void                g_app_launch_context_launch_failed  (GAppLaunchContext *context,
                                                         const char *startup_notify_id);
GAppLaunchContext * g_app_launch_context_new            (void);

Object Hierarchy

  GFlags
   +----GAppInfoCreateFlags

  GInterface
   +----GAppInfo

  GObject
   +----GAppLaunchContext

Prerequisites

GAppInfo requires GObject.

Known Implementations

GAppInfo is implemented by GDesktopAppInfo.

Description

GAppInfo and GAppLaunchContext are used for describing and launching applications installed on the system.

As of GLib 2.20, URIs will always be converted to POSIX paths (using g_file_get_path()) when using g_app_info_launch() even if the application requested an URI and not a POSIX path. For example for an desktop-file based application with Exec key totem %U and a single URI, sftp://foo/file.avi, then /home/user/.gvfs/sftp on foo/file.avi will be passed. This will only work if a set of suitable GIO extensions (such as gvfs 2.26 compiled with FUSE support), is available and operational; if this is not the case, the URI will be passed unmodified to the application. Some URIs, such as mailto:, of course cannot be mapped to a POSIX path (in gvfs there's no FUSE mount for it); such URIs will be passed unmodified to the application.

Specifically for gvfs 2.26 and later, the POSIX URI will be mapped back to the GIO URI in the GFile constructors (since gvfs implements the GVfs extension point). As such, if the application needs to examine the URI, it needs to use g_file_get_uri() or similar on GFile. In other words, an application cannot assume that the URI passed to e.g. g_file_new_for_commandline_arg() is equal to the result of g_file_get_uri(). The following snippet illustrates this: 

GFile *f;
char *uri;

file = g_file_new_for_commandline_arg (uri_from_commandline);

uri = g_file_get_uri (file);
strcmp (uri, uri_from_commandline) == 0; // FALSE
g_free (uri);

if (g_file_has_uri_scheme (file, "cdda"))
  {
    // do something special with uri
  }
g_object_unref (file);

This code will work when both cdda://sr0/Track 1.wav and /home/user/.gvfs/cdda on sr0/Track 1.wav is passed to the application. It should be noted that it's generally not safe for applications to rely on the format of a particular URIs. Different launcher applications (e.g. file managers) may have different ideas of what a given URI means.

Details

enum GAppInfoCreateFlags

typedef enum {
  G_APP_INFO_CREATE_NONE           = 0,         /*< nick=none >*/
  G_APP_INFO_CREATE_NEEDS_TERMINAL = (1 << 0),  /*< nick=needs-terminal >*/
  G_APP_INFO_CREATE_SUPPORTS_URIS  = (1 << 1)   /*< nick=supports-uris >*/
} GAppInfoCreateFlags;

Flags used when creating a GAppInfo.

G_APP_INFO_CREATE_NONE

 No flags.

G_APP_INFO_CREATE_NEEDS_TERMINAL

 Application opens in a terminal window.

G_APP_INFO_CREATE_SUPPORTS_URIS

 Application supports URI arguments.

GAppInfo

typedef struct _GAppInfo GAppInfo;

Information about an installed application and methods to launch it (with file arguments).

struct GAppInfoIface

struct GAppInfoIface {
  GTypeInterface g_iface;

  /* Virtual Table */

  GAppInfo *   (* dup)                          (GAppInfo           *appinfo);
  gboolean     (* equal)                        (GAppInfo           *appinfo1,
                                                 GAppInfo           *appinfo2);
  const char * (* get_id)                       (GAppInfo           *appinfo);
  const char * (* get_name)                     (GAppInfo           *appinfo);
  const char * (* get_description)              (GAppInfo           *appinfo);
  const char * (* get_executable)               (GAppInfo           *appinfo);
  GIcon *      (* get_icon)                     (GAppInfo           *appinfo);
  gboolean     (* launch)                       (GAppInfo           *appinfo,
                                                 GList              *filenames,
                                                 GAppLaunchContext  *launch_context,
                                                 GError            **error);
  gboolean     (* supports_uris)                (GAppInfo           *appinfo);
  gboolean     (* supports_files)               (GAppInfo           *appinfo);
  gboolean     (* launch_uris)                  (GAppInfo           *appinfo,
                                                 GList              *uris,
                                                 GAppLaunchContext  *launch_context,
                                                 GError            **error);
  gboolean     (* should_show)                  (GAppInfo           *appinfo);

  /* For changing associations */
  gboolean     (* set_as_default_for_type)      (GAppInfo           *appinfo,
                                                 const char         *content_type,
                                                 GError            **error);
  gboolean     (* set_as_default_for_extension) (GAppInfo           *appinfo,
                                                 const char         *extension,
                                                 GError            **error);
  gboolean     (* add_supports_type)            (GAppInfo           *appinfo,
                                                 const char         *content_type,
                                                 GError            **error);
  gboolean     (* can_remove_supports_type)     (GAppInfo           *appinfo);
  gboolean     (* remove_supports_type)         (GAppInfo           *appinfo,
                                                 const char         *content_type,
                                                 GError            **error);
  gboolean     (* can_delete)                   (GAppInfo           *appinfo);
  gboolean     (* do_delete)                    (GAppInfo           *appinfo);
  const char * (* get_commandline)              (GAppInfo           *appinfo);
};

Application Information interface, for operating system portability.

GTypeInterface g_iface;

 The parent interface.

dup ()

 Copies a GAppInfo.

equal ()

 Checks two GAppInfos for equality.

get_id ()

 Gets a string identifier for a GAppInfo.

get_name ()

 Gets the name of the application for a GAppInfo.

get_description ()

 Gets a short description for the application described by the GAppInfo.

get_executable ()

 Gets the execuable name for the GAppInfo.

get_icon ()

 Gets the GIcon for the GAppInfo.

launch ()

 Launches an application specified by the GAppInfo.

supports_uris ()

 Indicates whether the application specified supports launching URIs.

supports_files ()

 Indicates whether the application specified accepts filename arguments.

launch_uris ()

 Launches an application with a list of URIs.

should_show ()

 Returns whether an application should be shown (e.g. when getting a list of installed applications). FreeDesktop.Org Startup Notification Specification.

set_as_default_for_type ()

 Sets an application as default for a given content type.

set_as_default_for_extension ()

 Sets an application as default for a given file extention.

add_supports_type ()

 Adds to the GAppInfo information about supported file types.

can_remove_supports_type ()

 Checks for support for removing supported file types from a GAppInfo.

remove_supports_type ()

 Removes a supported application type from a GAppInfo.

can_delete ()

 Checks if a GAppInfo can be deleted. Since 2.20

do_delete ()

 Deletes a GAppInfo. Since 2.20

get_commandline ()

 Gets the commandline for the GAppInfo. Since 2.20

GAppLaunchContext

typedef struct _GAppLaunchContext GAppLaunchContext;

Integrating the launch with the launching application. This is used to handle for instance startup notification and launching the new application on the same screen as the launching window.

g_app_info_create_from_commandline ()

GAppInfo *          g_app_info_create_from_commandline  (const char *commandline,
                                                         const char *application_name,
                                                         GAppInfoCreateFlags flags,
                                                         GError **error);

Creates a new GAppInfo from the given information.

commandline :

 the commandline to use

application_name :

 the application name, or NULL to use commandline

flags :

 flags that can specify details of the created GAppInfo

error :

 a GError location to store the error occuring, NULL to ignore.

Returns :

 new GAppInfo for given command.

g_app_info_dup ()

GAppInfo *          g_app_info_dup                      (GAppInfo *appinfo);

Creates a duplicate of a GAppInfo.

appinfo :

 a GAppInfo.

Returns :

 a duplicate of appinfo.

g_app_info_equal ()

gboolean            g_app_info_equal                    (GAppInfo *appinfo1,
                                                         GAppInfo *appinfo2);

Checks if two GAppInfos are equal.

appinfo1 :

 the first GAppInfo.

appinfo2 :

 the second GAppInfo.

Returns :

 TRUE if appinfo1 is equal to appinfo2. FALSE otherwise.

g_app_info_get_id ()

const char *        g_app_info_get_id                   (GAppInfo *appinfo);

Gets the ID of an application. An id is a string that identifies the application. The exact format of the id is platform dependent. For instance, on Unix this is the desktop file id from the xdg menu specification.

Note that the returned ID may be NULL, depending on how the appinfo has been constructed.

appinfo :

 a GAppInfo.

Returns :

 a string containing the application's ID.

g_app_info_get_name ()

const char *        g_app_info_get_name                 (GAppInfo *appinfo);

Gets the installed name of the application.

appinfo :

 a GAppInfo.

Returns :

 the name of the application for appinfo.

g_app_info_get_description ()

const char *        g_app_info_get_description          (GAppInfo *appinfo);

Gets a human-readable description of an installed application.

appinfo :

 a GAppInfo.

Returns :

 a string containing a description of the application appinfo, or NULL if none.

g_app_info_get_executable ()

const char *        g_app_info_get_executable           (GAppInfo *appinfo);

Gets the executable's name for the installed application.

appinfo :

 a GAppInfo

Returns :

 a string containing the appinfo's application binary's name

g_app_info_get_commandline ()

const char *        g_app_info_get_commandline          (GAppInfo *appinfo);

Gets the commandline with which the application will be started.

appinfo :

 a GAppInfo

Returns :

 a string containing the appinfo's commandline, or NULL if this information is not available

Since 2.20

g_app_info_get_icon ()

GIcon *             g_app_info_get_icon                 (GAppInfo *appinfo);

Gets the icon for the application.

appinfo :

 a GAppInfo.

Returns :

 the default GIcon for appinfo.

g_app_info_launch ()

gboolean            g_app_info_launch                   (GAppInfo *appinfo,
                                                         GList *files,
                                                         GAppLaunchContext *launch_context,
                                                         GError **error);

Launches the application. Passes files to the launched application as arguments, using the optional launch_context to get information about the details of the launcher (like what screen it is on). On error, error will be set accordingly.

To lauch the application without arguments pass a NULL files list.

Note that even if the launch is successful the application launched can fail to start if it runs into problems during startup. There is no way to detect this.

Some URIs can be changed when passed through a GFile (for instance unsupported uris with strange formats like mailto:), so if you have a textual uri you want to pass in as argument, consider using g_app_info_launch_uris() instead.

appinfo :

 a GAppInfo

files :

 a GList of GFile objects

launch_context :

 a GAppLaunchContext or NULL

error :

 a GError

Returns :

 TRUE on successful launch, FALSE otherwise.

g_app_info_supports_files ()

gboolean            g_app_info_supports_files           (GAppInfo *appinfo);

Checks if the application accepts files as arguments.

appinfo :

 a GAppInfo.

Returns :

 TRUE if the appinfo supports files.

g_app_info_supports_uris ()

gboolean            g_app_info_supports_uris            (GAppInfo *appinfo);

Checks if the application supports reading files and directories from URIs.

appinfo :

 a GAppInfo.

Returns :

 TRUE if the appinfo supports URIs.

g_app_info_launch_uris ()

gboolean            g_app_info_launch_uris              (GAppInfo *appinfo,
                                                         GList *uris,
                                                         GAppLaunchContext *launch_context,
                                                         GError **error);

Launches the application. Passes uris to the launched application as arguments, using the optional launch_context to get information about the details of the launcher (like what screen it is on). On error, error will be set accordingly.

To lauch the application without arguments pass a NULL uris list.

Note that even if the launch is successful the application launched can fail to start if it runs into problems during startup. There is no way to detect this.

appinfo :

 a GAppInfo

uris :

 a GList containing URIs to launch.

launch_context :

 a GAppLaunchContext or NULL

error :

 a GError

Returns :

 TRUE on successful launch, FALSE otherwise.

g_app_info_should_show ()

gboolean            g_app_info_should_show              (GAppInfo *appinfo);

Checks if the application info should be shown in menus that list available applications.

appinfo :

 a GAppInfo.

Returns :

 TRUE if the appinfo should be shown, FALSE otherwise.

g_app_info_can_delete ()

gboolean            g_app_info_can_delete               (GAppInfo *appinfo);

Obtains the information whether the GAppInfo can be deleted. See g_app_info_delete().

appinfo :

 a GAppInfo

Returns :

 TRUE if appinfo can be deleted

Since 2.20

g_app_info_delete ()

gboolean            g_app_info_delete                   (GAppInfo *appinfo);

Tries to delete an GAppInfo.

On some platforms, there may be a difference between user-defined GAppInfos which can be deleted, and system-wide ones which cannot. See g_app_info_can_delete().

appinfo :

 a GAppInfo

Returns :

 TRUE if appinfo has been deleted

Since 2.20

g_app_info_reset_type_associations ()

void                g_app_info_reset_type_associations  (const char *content_type);

Removes all changes to the type associations done by g_app_info_set_as_default_for_type(), g_app_info_set_as_default_for_extension(), g_app_info_add_supports_type() of g_app_info_remove_supports_type().

content_type :

 a content type

Since 2.20

g_app_info_set_as_default_for_type ()

gboolean            g_app_info_set_as_default_for_type  (GAppInfo *appinfo,
                                                         const char *content_type,
                                                         GError **error);

Sets the application as the default handler for a given type.

appinfo :

 a GAppInfo.

content_type :

 the content type.

error :

 a GError.

Returns :

 TRUE on success, FALSE on error.

g_app_info_set_as_default_for_extension ()

gboolean            g_app_info_set_as_default_for_extension
                                                        (GAppInfo *appinfo,
                                                         const char *extension,
                                                         GError **error);

Sets the application as the default handler for the given file extention.

appinfo :

 a GAppInfo.

extension :

 a string containing the file extension (without the dot).

error :

 a GError.

Returns :

 TRUE on success, FALSE on error.

g_app_info_add_supports_type ()

gboolean            g_app_info_add_supports_type        (GAppInfo *appinfo,
                                                         const char *content_type,
                                                         GError **error);

Adds a content type to the application information to indicate the application is capable of opening files with the given content type.

appinfo :

 a GAppInfo.

content_type :

 a string.

error :

 a GError.

Returns :

 TRUE on success, FALSE on error.

g_app_info_can_remove_supports_type ()

gboolean            g_app_info_can_remove_supports_type (GAppInfo *appinfo);

Checks if a supported content type can be removed from an application.

appinfo :

 a GAppInfo.

Returns :

 TRUE if it is possible to remove supported content types from a given appinfo, FALSE if not.

g_app_info_remove_supports_type ()

gboolean            g_app_info_remove_supports_type     (GAppInfo *appinfo,
                                                         const char *content_type,
                                                         GError **error);

Removes a supported type from an application, if possible.

appinfo :

 a GAppInfo.

content_type :

 a string.

error :

 a GError.

Returns :

 TRUE on success, FALSE on error.

g_app_info_get_all ()

GList *             g_app_info_get_all                  (void);

Gets a list of all of the applications currently registered on this system.

For desktop files, this includes applications that have NoDisplay=true set or are excluded from display by means of OnlyShowIn or NotShowIn. See g_app_info_should_show(). The returned list does not include applications which have the Hidden key set.

Returns :

 a newly allocated GList of references to GAppInfos.

g_app_info_get_all_for_type ()

GList *             g_app_info_get_all_for_type         (const char *content_type);

Gets a list of all GAppInfo s for a given content type.

content_type :

 the content type to find a GAppInfo for

Returns :

 GList of GAppInfo s for given content_type or NULL on error.

g_app_info_get_default_for_type ()

GAppInfo *          g_app_info_get_default_for_type     (const char *content_type,
                                                         gboolean must_support_uris);

Gets the GAppInfo that correspond to a given content type.

content_type :

 the content type to find a GAppInfo for

must_support_uris :

 if TRUE, the GAppInfo is expected to support URIs

Returns :

 GAppInfo for given content_type or NULL on error.

g_app_info_get_default_for_uri_scheme ()

GAppInfo *          g_app_info_get_default_for_uri_scheme
                                                        (const char *uri_scheme);

Gets the default application for launching applications using this URI scheme. A URI scheme is the initial part of the URI, up to but not including the ':', e.g. "http", "ftp" or "sip".

uri_scheme :

 a string containing a URI scheme.

Returns :

 GAppInfo for given uri_scheme or NULL on error.

g_app_info_launch_default_for_uri ()

gboolean            g_app_info_launch_default_for_uri   (const char *uri,
                                                         GAppLaunchContext *launch_context,
                                                         GError **error);

Utility function that launches the default application registered to handle the specified uri. Synchronous I/O is done on the uri to detect the type of the file if required.

uri :

 the uri to show

launch_context :

 an optional GAppLaunchContext.

error :

 a GError.

Returns :

 TRUE on success, FALSE on error.

g_app_launch_context_get_display ()

char *              g_app_launch_context_get_display    (GAppLaunchContext *context,
                                                         GAppInfo *info,
                                                         GList *files);

Gets the display string for the display. This is used to ensure new applications are started on the same display as the launching application.

context :

 a GAppLaunchContext

info :

 a GAppInfo

files :

 a GList of GFile objects

Returns :

 a display string for the display.

g_app_launch_context_get_startup_notify_id ()

char *              g_app_launch_context_get_startup_notify_id
                                                        (GAppLaunchContext *context,
                                                         GAppInfo *info,
                                                         GList *files);

Initiates startup notification for the application and returns the DESKTOP_STARTUP_ID for the launched operation, if supported.

Startup notification IDs are defined in the FreeDesktop.Org Startup Notifications standard.

context :

 a GAppLaunchContext

info :

 a GAppInfo

files :

 a GList of of GFile objects

Returns :

 a startup notification ID for the application, or NULL if not supported.

g_app_launch_context_launch_failed ()

void                g_app_launch_context_launch_failed  (GAppLaunchContext *context,
                                                         const char *startup_notify_id);

Called when an application has failed to launch, so that it can cancel the application startup notification started in g_app_launch_context_get_startup_notify_id().

context :

 a GAppLaunchContext.

startup_notify_id :

 the startup notification id that was returned by g_app_launch_context_get_startup_notify_id().

g_app_launch_context_new ()

GAppLaunchContext * g_app_launch_context_new            (void);

Creates a new application launch context. This is not normally used, instead you instantiate a subclass of this, such as GdkAppLaunchContext.

Returns :

 a GAppLaunchContext.
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