gtk.gdk.Atom — an object representing an interned string
gtk.gdk.Atom is a
PyGTK class that wraps the GTK+
GdkAtom - an unsigned integer representing an interned
string. An interned string is a string that has an internal
GTK+ mapping between an atom and a string. gtk.gdk.Atom has no
methods. A copy of the interned string can be retrieved by using the Python
str() function. gtk.gdk.atom_intern() will
return a gtk.gdk.Atom
referencing an existing interned string but will intern a string if it isn't
already interned.
gtk.gdk.Atom objects
are used to provide the targets for gtk.SelectionData
objects that are used by gtk.Clipboard and
gtk.TreeView,
objects and for drag and drop (see gtk.gdk.DragContext,
gtk.gdk.Window
and gtk.TreeDragSource
and gtk.Widget
for more information). The advantage of the interned string is that it is
easy to pass between processes and even systems since only an integer value
is passed.
PyGTK 2.4 has a number of pre-defined atoms
that map to builtin GTK+ interned string atoms. The
interned strings and the PyGTK 2.4 gtk.gdk.Atom objects
are:
"PRIMARY" | gtk.gdk.SELECTION_PRIMARY |
"SECONDARY" | gtk.gdk.SELECTION_SECONDARY |
"CLIPBOARD" | gtk.gdk.SELECTION_CLIPBOARD |
"ATOM" | gtk.gdk.SELECTION_TYPE_ATOM |
"BITMAP" | gtk.gdk.TARGET_BITMAP or
gtk.gdk.SELECTION_TYPE_BITMAP |
"COLORMAP" | gtk.gdk.TARGET_COLORMAP or
gtk.gdk.SELECTION_TYPE_COLORMAP |
"DRAWABLE" | gtk.gdk.TARGET_DRAWABLE or
gtk.gdk.SELECTION_TYPE_DRAWABLE |
"PIXMAP" | gtk.gdk.TARGET_PIXMAP or
gtk.gdk.SELECTION_TYPE_PIXMAP |
"STRING" | gtk.gdk.TARGET_STRING or
gtk.gdk.SELECTION_TYPE_STRING |
"WINDOW" | gtk.gdk.SELECTION_TYPE_WINDOW |
Also in PyGTK 2.4, comparison between a string
and a gtk.gdk.Atom is
supported.
gtk.gdk.atom_intern(name, only_if_exists=False)
| the string to be interned or retrieved |
| this value is ignored |
Returns : | a new gtk.gdk.Atom
or None |
Creates a gtk.gdk.Atom
referencing the interned string specified by name. An
interned string is a string that has a GTK+ mapping to an
unsigned integer value. This constructor will intern the string and create a
gtk.gdk.Atom if
it does not already exist. only_if_exists is
ignored and essentially is always False.