Gtk.ListStore¶

class — extends GObject.Object, Buildable, TreeDragDest, TreeDragSource, TreeModel, TreeSortable

:::warning Deprecated since 4.10 This API is deprecated. :::

A list-like data structure that can be used with the TreeView.

The GtkListStore object is a list model for use with a GtkTreeView widget. It implements the GtkTreeModel interface, and consequentialy, can use all of the methods available there. It also implements the GtkTreeSortable interface so it can be sorted by the view. Finally, it also implements the tree drag and drop interfaces.

The GtkListStore can accept most GTypes as a column type, though it can’t accept all custom types. Internally, it will keep a copy of data passed in (such as a string or a boxed pointer). Columns that accept GObjects are handled a little differently. The GtkListStore will keep a reference to the object instead of copying the value. As a result, if the object is modified, it is up to the application writer to call TreeModel.row_changed to emit the TreeModel.row_changed signal. This most commonly affects lists with Gdk.Textures stored.

An example for creating a simple list store:

enum {
  COLUMN_STRING,
  COLUMN_INT,
  COLUMN_BOOLEAN,
  N_COLUMNS
};

{
  GtkListStore *list_store;
  GtkTreePath *path;
  GtkTreeIter iter;
  int i;

  list_store = gtk_list_store_new (N_COLUMNS,
                                   G_TYPE_STRING,
                                   G_TYPE_INT,
                                   G_TYPE_BOOLEAN);

  for (i = 0; i < 10; i++)
    {
      char *some_data;

      some_data = get_some_data (i);

      // Add a new row to the model
      gtk_list_store_append (list_store, &iter);
      gtk_list_store_set (list_store, &iter,
                          COLUMN_STRING, some_data,
                          COLUMN_INT, i,
                          COLUMN_BOOLEAN,  FALSE,
                          -1);

      // As the store will keep a copy of the string internally,
      // we free some_data.
      g_free (some_data);
    }

  // Modify a particular row
  path = gtk_tree_path_new_from_string ("4");
  gtk_tree_model_get_iter (GTK_TREE_MODEL (list_store),
                           &iter,
                           path);
  gtk_tree_path_free (path);
  gtk_list_store_set (list_store, &iter,
                      COLUMN_BOOLEAN, TRUE,
                      -1);
}

GtkListStore is deprecated since GTK 4.10, and should not be used in newly written code. You should use Gio.ListStore instead, and the various list models provided by GTK.

Performance Considerations¶

Internally, the GtkListStore was originally implemented with a linked list with a tail pointer. As a result, it was fast at data insertion and deletion, and not fast at random data access. The GtkListStore sets the GTK_TREE_MODEL_ITERS_PERSIST flag, which means that GtkTreeIters can be cached while the row exists. Thus, if access to a particular row is needed often and your code is expected to run on older versions of GTK, it is worth keeping the iter around.

Atomic Operations¶

It is important to note that only the methods gtk_list_store_insert_with_values() and ListStore.insert_with_valuesv are atomic, in the sense that the row is being appended to the store and the values filled in in a single operation with regard to GtkTreeModel signaling. In contrast, using e.g. ListStore.append and then gtk_list_store_set() will first create a row, which triggers the GtkTreeModel::row-inserted signal on GtkListStore. The row, however, is still empty, and any signal handler connecting to GtkTreeModel::row-inserted on this particular store should be prepared for the situation that the row might be empty. This is especially important if you are wrapping the GtkListStore inside a GtkTreeModelFilter and are using a GtkTreeModelFilterVisibleFunc. Using any of the non-atomic operations to append rows to the GtkListStore will cause the GtkTreeModelFilterVisibleFunc to be visited with an empty row first; the function must be prepared for that.

GtkListStore as GtkBuildable¶

The GtkListStore implementation of the Buildable interface allows to specify the model columns with a <columns> element that may contain multiple <column> elements, each specifying one model column. The “type” attribute specifies the data type for the column.

Additionally, it is possible to specify content for the list store in the UI definition, with the <data> element. It can contain multiple <row> elements, each specifying to content for one row of the list model. Inside a <row>, the <col> elements specify the content for individual cells.

Note that it is probably more common to define your models in the code, and one might consider it a layering violation to specify the content of a list store in a UI definition, data, not presentation, and common wisdom is to separate the two, as far as possible.

An example of a UI Definition fragment for a list store:

<object class="GtkListStore">
  <columns>
    <column type="gchararray"/>
    <column type="gchararray"/>
    <column type="gint"/>
  </columns>
  <data>
    <row>
      <col id="0">John</col>
      <col id="1">Doe</col>
      <col id="2">25</col>
    </row>
    <row>
      <col id="0">Johan</col>
      <col id="1">Dahlin</col>
      <col id="2">50</col>
    </row>
  </data>
</object>

Constructors¶

newv¶

@classmethod
def newv(cls, types: list[type | GObject.Type]) -> ListStore

:::warning Deprecated since 4.10 This API is deprecated. :::

Creates a new GtkListStore.

This function is meant to be used by language bindings.

Parameters:

types — an array of GType types for the columns, from first to last

Methods¶

append¶

def append(self) -> TreeIter

:::warning Deprecated since 4.10 This API is deprecated. :::

Appends a new row to list_store. iter will be changed to point to this new row. The row will be empty after this function is called. To fill in values, you need to call gtk_list_store_set() or ListStore.set_value.

clear¶

def clear(self) -> None

:::warning Deprecated since 4.10 This API is deprecated. :::

Removes all rows from the list store.

insert¶

def insert(self, position: int) -> TreeIter

:::warning Deprecated since 4.10 This API is deprecated. :::

Creates a new row at position. iter will be changed to point to this new row. If position is -1 or is larger than the number of rows on the list, then the new row will be appended to the list. The row will be empty after this function is called. To fill in values, you need to call gtk_list_store_set() or ListStore.set_value.

Parameters:

position — position to insert the new row, or -1 for last

insert_after¶

def insert_after(self, sibling: TreeIter | None = ...) -> TreeIter

:::warning Deprecated since 4.10 This API is deprecated. :::

Inserts a new row after sibling. If sibling is None, then the row will be prepended to the beginning of the list. iter will be changed to point to this new row. The row will be empty after this function is called. To fill in values, you need to call gtk_list_store_set() or ListStore.set_value.

Parameters:

sibling — A valid GtkTreeIter

insert_before¶

def insert_before(self, sibling: TreeIter | None = ...) -> TreeIter

:::warning Deprecated since 4.10 This API is deprecated. :::

Inserts a new row before sibling. If sibling is None, then the row will be appended to the end of the list. iter will be changed to point to this new row. The row will be empty after this function is called. To fill in values, you need to call gtk_list_store_set() or ListStore.set_value.

Parameters:

sibling — A valid GtkTreeIter

insert_with_values¶

def insert_with_values(self, position: int, columns: list[int], values: list[GObject.Value]) -> TreeIter

:::warning Deprecated since 4.10 This API is deprecated. :::

A variant of gtk_list_store_insert_with_values() which takes the columns and values as two arrays, instead of varargs.

This function is mainly intended for language-bindings.

Parameters:

position — position to insert the new row, or -1 for last
columns — an array of column numbers
values — an array of GValues

iter_is_valid¶

def iter_is_valid(self, iter: TreeIter) -> bool

:::warning Deprecated since 4.10 This API is deprecated. :::

Checks if the given iter is a valid iter for this GtkListStore.

This function is slow. Only use it for debugging and/or testing purposes.

Parameters:

iter — the iterator to check

move_after¶

def move_after(self, iter: TreeIter, position: TreeIter | None = ...) -> None

:::warning Deprecated since 4.10 This API is deprecated. :::

Moves iter in store to the position after position. Note that this function only works with unsorted stores. If position is None, iter will be moved to the start of the list.

Parameters:

iter — A GtkTreeIter
position — A GtkTreeIter

move_before¶

def move_before(self, iter: TreeIter, position: TreeIter | None = ...) -> None

:::warning Deprecated since 4.10 This API is deprecated. :::

Moves iter in store to the position before position. Note that this function only works with unsorted stores. If position is None, iter will be moved to the end of the list.

Parameters:

iter — A GtkTreeIter
position — A GtkTreeIter

prepend¶

def prepend(self) -> TreeIter

:::warning Deprecated since 4.10 This API is deprecated. :::

Prepends a new row to list_store. iter will be changed to point to this new row. The row will be empty after this function is called. To fill in values, you need to call gtk_list_store_set() or ListStore.set_value.

remove¶

def remove(self, iter: TreeIter) -> bool

:::warning Deprecated since 4.10 This API is deprecated. :::

Removes the given row from the list store. After being removed, iter is set to be the next valid row, or invalidated if it pointed to the last row in list_store.

Parameters:

iter — A valid GtkTreeIter

reorder¶

def reorder(self, new_order: list[int]) -> None

:::warning Deprecated since 4.10 This API is deprecated. :::

Reorders store to follow the order indicated by new_order. Note that this function only works with unsorted stores.

Parameters:

new_order — an array of integers mapping the new position of each child to its old position before the re-ordering, i.e. new_order``[newpos] = oldpos. It must have exactly as many items as the list store’s length.

set_column_types¶

def set_column_types(self, types: list[type | GObject.Type]) -> None

:::warning Deprecated since 4.10 This API is deprecated. :::

Sets the types of the columns of a list store.

This function is meant primarily for objects that inherit from GtkListStore, and should only be used when constructing a new instance.

This function cannot be called after a row has been added, or a method on the GtkTreeModel interface is called.

Parameters:

types — An array length n of GTypes

set_value¶

def set_value(self, iter: TreeIter, column: int, value: GObject.Value) -> None

:::warning Deprecated since 4.10 This API is deprecated. :::

Sets the data in the cell specified by iter and column. The type of value must be convertible to the type of the column.

Parameters:

iter — A valid GtkTreeIter for the row being modified
column — column number to modify
value — new value for the cell

set¶

def set(self, iter: TreeIter, columns: list[int], values: list[GObject.Value]) -> None

:::warning Deprecated since 4.10 This API is deprecated. :::

A variant of gtk_list_store_set_valist() which takes the columns and values as two arrays, instead of varargs. This function is mainly intended for language-bindings and in case the number of columns to change is not known until run-time.

Parameters:

iter — A valid GtkTreeIter for the row being modified
columns — an array of column numbers
values — an array of GValues

swap¶

def swap(self, a: TreeIter, b: TreeIter) -> None

:::warning Deprecated since 4.10 This API is deprecated. :::

Swaps a and b in store. Note that this function only works with unsorted stores.

Parameters:

a — A GtkTreeIter
b — Another GtkTreeIter