Signals

Each object is encapsulated in Gtk programming. And it is not recommended to use global variables because they are prone to make the program complicated. So, we need something to communicate between objects. There are two ways to do so.

Instance methods: Instance methods are functions on instances. For example, tb = gtk_text_view_get_buffer (tv) is an instance method on the instance tv. The caller requests tv to give tb, which is a GtkTextBuffer instance connected to tv.
Signals: For example, activate signal on GApplication object. When the application is activated, the signal is emitted. Then the handler, which has been connected to the signal, is invoked.

The caller of methods or signals are usually out of the object. One of the difference between these two is that the object is active or passive. In methods, objects passively respond to the caller. In signals, objects actively send signals to handlers.

GObject signals are registered, connected and emitted.

Signals are registered in the class. The registration is done usually when the class is initialized. Signals can have a default handler, which is sometimes called “object method handler”. It is not a user handler connected by g_signal_connect family functions. A default handler is always called on any instance of the class.
Signals are connected to handlers by the macro g_signal_connect or its family functions. The connection is usually done out of the object. One important thing is that signals are connected on a certain instance. Suppose there exist two GtkButton instances A, B and a function C. Even if you connected the “clicked” signal on A to C, B and C are not connected.
When Signals are emitted, the connected handlers are invoked. Signals are emitted on the instance of the class.

Signal registration

In TfeTextView, two signals are registered.

“change-file” signal. This signal is emitted when tv->file is changed.
“open-response” signal. The function tfe_text_view_open doesn’t return the status because it can’t get the status from the file chooser dialog. (Instead, the call back function gets the status.) This signal is emitted instead of the return value of the function.

A static variable or array is used to store signal ID.

enum {
  CHANGE_FILE,
  OPEN_RESPONSE,
  NUMBER_OF_SIGNALS
};

static guint tfe_text_view_signals[NUMBER_OF_SIGNALS];

Signals are registered in the class initialization function.

static void
tfe_text_view_class_init (TfeTextViewClass *class) {
  GObjectClass *object_class = G_OBJECT_CLASS (class);

  object_class->dispose = tfe_text_view_dispose;
  tfe_text_view_signals[CHANGE_FILE] = g_signal_new ("change-file",
                                 G_TYPE_FROM_CLASS (class),
                                 G_SIGNAL_RUN_LAST | G_SIGNAL_NO_RECURSE | G_SIGNAL_NO_HOOKS,
                                 0 /* class offset */,
                                 NULL /* accumulator */,
                                 NULL /* accumulator data */,
                                 NULL /* C marshaller */,
                                 G_TYPE_NONE /* return_type */,
                                 0     /* n_params */
                                 );
  tfe_text_view_signals[OPEN_RESPONSE] = g_signal_new ("open-response",
                                 G_TYPE_FROM_CLASS (class),
                                 G_SIGNAL_RUN_LAST | G_SIGNAL_NO_RECURSE | G_SIGNAL_NO_HOOKS,
                                 0 /* class offset */,
                                 NULL /* accumulator */,
                                 NULL /* accumulator data */,
                                 NULL /* C marshaller */,
                                 G_TYPE_NONE /* return_type */,
                                 1     /* n_params */,
                                 G_TYPE_INT
                                 );
}

6-15: Registers “change-file” signal. g_signal_new function is used. The signal “change-file” has no default handler (object method handler) so the offset (the line 9) is set to zero. You usually don’t need a default handler. If you need it, use g_signal_new_class_handler function instead of g_signal_new. See GObject API Reference for further information.
The return value of g_signal_new is the signal id. The type of signal id is guint, which is the same as unsigned int. It is used in the function g_signal_emit.
16-26: Registers “open-response” signal. This signal has a parameter.
24: Number of the parameters. “open-response” signal has one parameter.
25: The type of the parameter. G_TYPE_INT is a type of integer. Such fundamental types are described in GObject reference manual.

The handlers are declared as follows.

/* "change-file" signal handler */
void
user_function (TfeTextView *tv,
               gpointer user_data)

/* "open-response" signal handler */
void
user_function (TfeTextView *tv,
               TfeTextViewOpenResponseType response-id,
               gpointer user_data)

The signal “change-file” doesn’t have parameter, so the handler’s arguments are a TfeTextView instance and a user data.
The signal “open-response” signal has one parameter and its arguments are a TfeTextView instance, the signal’s parameter and user data.
The variable tv points the instance on which the signal is emitted.
The last argument user_data comes from the fourth argument of g_signal_connect.
The parameter (response-id) comes from the fourth argument of g_signal_emit.

The values of the type TfeTextViewOpenResponseType are defined in tfetextview.h.

/* "open-response" signal response */
enum TfeTextViewOpenResponseType
{
  TFE_OPEN_RESPONSE_SUCCESS,
  TFE_OPEN_RESPONSE_CANCEL,
  TFE_OPEN_RESPONSE_ERROR
};

The parameter is set to TFE_OPEN_RESPONSE_SUCCESS when tfe_text_view_open has successfully opened a file and read it.
The parameter is set to TFE_OPEN_RESPONSE_CANCEL when the user has canceled.
The parameter is set to TFE_OPEN_RESPONSE_ERROR when an error has occurred.

Signal connection

A signal and a handler are connected by the function macro g_signal_connect. There are some similar function macros like g_signal_connect_after, g_signal_connect_swapped and so on. However, g_signal_connect is used most often. The signals “change-file” and “open-response” are connected to their callback functions out of the TfeTextView object. Those callback functions are defined by users.

For example, callback functions are defined in src/tfe6/tfewindow.c and their names are file_changed_cb and open_response_cb. They will be explained later.

g_signal_connect (GTK_TEXT_VIEW (tv), "change-file", G_CALLBACK (file_changed_cb), nb);

g_signal_connect (TFE_TEXT_VIEW (tv), "open-response", G_CALLBACK (open_response_cb), nb);

Signal emission

A signal is emitted on the instance. A function g_signal_emit is used to emit the signal. The following lines are extracted from src/tfetextview/tfetextview.c. Each line comes from a different line.

g_signal_emit (tv, tfe_text_view_signals[CHANGE_FILE], 0);
g_signal_emit (tv, tfe_text_view_signals[OPEN_RESPONSE], 0, TFE_OPEN_RESPONSE_SUCCESS);
g_signal_emit (tv, tfe_text_view_signals[OPEN_RESPONSE], 0, TFE_OPEN_RESPONSE_CANCEL);
g_signal_emit (tv, tfe_text_view_signals[OPEN_RESPONSE], 0, TFE_OPEN_RESPONSE_ERROR);

The first argument is the instance on which the signal is emitted.
The second argument is the signal id.
The third argument is the detail of the signal. The signals “change-file” and “open-response” don’t have details and the arguments are zero.
The signal “change-file” doesn’t have parameters, so there’s no fourth argument.
The signal “open-response” has one parameter. The fourth argument is the parameter.