Introduction
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## Introduction

This document describes most of the `PyGTK` version 2.0 through 2.24 classes and their methods and associated functions. Deprecated classes, functions and methods have been specifically left out of this reference though classes that have become deprecated since PyGTK 2.0 have been left in but annotated with a deprecation warning. This document attempts to document as much of the `PyGTK` `API` as possible but there are undoubtedly errors and omissions. If you discover any of these please file a bug report at bugzilla.gnome.org for the `pygtk` project. Specific areas that have not been documented include:

- The Cairo classes

This reference describes the API for `PyGTK` as of version 2.24. The differences in the API between version 2.24 and previous versions are denoted in this reference with a Note that describes the availability of the object, constructor, method or function. Any of these that do not have a notation can be assumed to be available in all versions of PyGTK from 2.0 and up. In the case of properties and signals the availability is dependent on the version of the underlying GTK+, GDK or Pango libraries. These will be annotated appropriately in a similar fashion. The source code must be consulted if this reference and your version of `PyGTK` seem to differ. You are encouraged to use the latest version of `PyGTK` that is available. See the `PyGTK` homepage for more information and more resources on how to use PyGTK as well as help in its development.

The Reference contains a chapter for each `PyGTK` module (that corresponds to the underlying `GTK+` library) containing the class descriptions. The second chapter illustrates the `PyGTK` class hierarchy covering the gobject, gtk, gtk.gdk and pango modules.

The class descriptions are arranged alphabetically within the chapters. Currently there are five module chapters:

The `atk` module | The classes that are included in the `atk` module of `PyGTK` and are accessed similar to: atk.Object. These classes are the base object classes that provide accessibility support for the `gtk` module classes.
The `gtk` module | The classes that are included in the `gtk` module of `PyGTK` and are accessed similar to: gtk.Widget. These classes are the "higher" level widget classes that provide most of the user interface widgets used for application development.
The `gtk.gdk` module | The classes that are included in the `gtk.gdk` module of `PyGTK`. These classes are "lower" level classes that provide more fundamental capabilities that the `gtk` module widgets are built upon. These classes provide an abstract interface to the underlying window system (either X Window System or Microsoft Windows).
The `gtk.glade` module | The classes that are included in the `gtk.glade` module of `PyGTK`. These classes provide access to the libglade functions that allow the dynamic loading of user interfaces from XML descriptions.
The `pango` module | The classes that are included in the `pango` module of `PyGTK`. These classes provide access to the Pango text layout and rendering engines. PyGTK supports a subset of the full Pango capability: mainly the high level layout capabilities exposed by the pango.Layout objects. The low level rendering capabilities have not been exposed mostly because there isn't a full GObject interface to the underlying Pango data structures. It's also likely that the rendering capabilities require more performance that Python can provide.

The `gobject` module is documented in the PyGObject Reference Manual.

## Reference Page Format

Each `PyGTK` class is described in a reference page that has a number of sections in a fixed format. Each reference page will have a subset of the following sections:

Name | The name and a one-line description of the class.
Synopsis | A synopsis of the class and its methods and optionally a list of associated functions.
Ancestry | The list of the parent classes of the class. This section may not be present in all class descriptions.
Properties | A list of the properties (internal state) supported by the class. This section may not be present in all classes. The property descriptions include the name, the access operations (e.g. Read, Write), and a brief description. Properties are accessed using the `gobject.set_property`() and `gobject.get_property`() methods that are available to every `PyGTK` object. This section may not be present in all class descriptions.
Style Properties | A list of style properties supported by the class. Similar to the properties (described above) the style properties hold information about the style of a widgets e.g. border style, shadow type, etc. Most widgets do not support style properties so this section is not present in most class descriptions. Only PyGTK 2.4 has the ability to access style properties.
Child Properties | A list of child properties supported by the class. Similar to the properties (described above) the child properties hold information about the properties of a widget's child widget. Only container widgets support child properties so this section is not present in most class descriptions.
Attributes | A set of internal object state data accessible as Python attributes (e.g. object.attr). The attribute descriptions include a name by which the attribute data is accessed, the access mode (e.g. Read, Write), and a brief description of the attribute. Most `PyGTK` classes do not support attributes so this section is not present in most class descriptions.
Signal Prototypes | A list of the signals supported by the class including the signal name and a synopsis of the signal handler function prototype. This section may not be present in all class descriptions; most `gtk.gdk` classes do not support signals.
Description | A description of the class and possibly some of the methods supported by the class.
Constructor | The description of the class object constructor including the synopsis with brief parameter descriptions and a description of th use of the constructor. There may be more than one constructor description if the constructor supports different parameter lists. This section may not be present in all class descriptions.
Methods | A list of methods supported by the class. Each method description includes: a synopsis of the method and its parameters as well as a brief description of each parameter and return value (if any); and, a description of the use of the method.
Functions | A list of related functions. Each function description includes a synopsis of the function and its parameters and return value (if any), and a description of the use of the function.
Signals | A list of signals including a synopsis of the signal handler prototype function with its parameters and return value (if any). The signal emission conditions are briefly described. This section is not present in all class descriptions; specifically, the `gtk.gdk` classes do not usually support signals.

The function and method synopsis parameters are displayed in bold to denote Python keyword parameters. Also if the parameter is optional its default value will be displayed. For example the gtk.Button() constructor synopsis is:

        gtk.Button(label=None, stock=None)

The parameters `label` and `stock` are keyword parameters that can be specified in a call either by position or keyword (in which case position is not important). The following calls have the same result:

      b = gtk.Button("Cancel")
      b = gtk.Button(label="Cancel")
      b = gtk.Button("Cancel", None)
      b = gtk.Button("Cancel", stock=None)
      b = gtk.Button(stock=None, label="Cancel")

Parameters that are not keyword parameters are displayed in italic and must be specified positionally but may also be optional.

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