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<div class="chapter">
<div class="titlepage"><div>
<div><h2 class="title">
<a name="gtk-migrating-GtkAction"></a>Migrating from old menu and toolbar systems to GtkAction</h2></div>
<div><div class="author">
<h3 class="author">
<span class="firstname">Federico</span> <span class="surname">Mena-Quintero</span>
</h3>
<div class="affiliation"><div class="address"><p><br>
<code class="email"><<a class="email" href="mailto:federicoximian.com">federico<em class="parameter"><code>ximian.com</code></em></a>></code><br>
</p></div></div>
</div></div>
</div></div>
<div class="toc"><dl class="toc">
<dt><span class="section"><a href="gtk-migrating-GtkAction.html#actions-and-action-groups">Actions and Action Groups</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="ui-manager.html">User Interface Manager Object</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="migrating-gnomeuiinfo.html">Migrating from GnomeUIInfo</a></span></dt>
</dl></div>
<p>
Prior to GTK+ 2.4, there were several APIs in use to create menus
and toolbars. GTK+ itself included <a class="link" href="GtkItemFactory.html" title="GtkItemFactory"><span class="type">GtkItemFactory</span></a>, which was
historically used in the GIMP; libgnomeui provided the gnome-ui
set of macros; libbonoboui provided a complex mechanism to do menu
merging across embedded components. GTK+ 2.4 includes a system
for creating menus and toolbars, with merging of items, based
around the <a class="link" href="GtkAction.html" title="GtkAction"><span class="type">GtkAction</span></a> mechanism.
</p>
<div class="section">
<div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both">
<a name="actions-and-action-groups"></a>Actions and Action Groups</h2></div></div></div>
<p>
A <a class="link" href="GtkAction.html" title="GtkAction"><span class="type">GtkAction</span></a> represents an operation that the user can perform from
the menus and toolbars of an application. It is similar to "verbs"
in other menu systems. A <a class="link" href="GtkAction.html" title="GtkAction"><span class="type">GtkAction</span></a> has a name, which is its identifier,
and it can have several widgets that represent it in the user interface.
For example, an action for <span class="symbol">EditCopy</span> can have a menu item
as well as a toolbar button associated to it. If there is nothing selected
in the document, the application can simply de-sensitize the
<span class="symbol">EditCopy</span> action; this will cause both the menu
item and the toolbar button to be de-sensitized automatically.
Similarly, whenever the user selects the menu item or the
toolbar button associated to the <span class="symbol">EditCopy</span>
action, the corresponding <a class="link" href="GtkAction.html" title="GtkAction"><span class="type">GtkAction</span></a> object will emit an
"activate" signal.
</p>
<p>
<a class="link" href="GtkActionGroup.html" title="GtkActionGroup"><span class="type">GtkActionGroup</span></a> is simply a group of <a class="link" href="GtkAction.html" title="GtkAction"><span class="type">GtkAction</span></a> objects. An
application may want to have several groups: one for global
actions such as "new document", "about", and "exit"; then one
group for each open document with actions specific to the
document, such as "cut", "copy", "paste", and "print".
</p>
<p>
Normal actions are simply commands, such as
<span class="symbol">FileSave</span> or <span class="symbol">EditCopy</span>.
Toggle actions can be active or inactive, such as
<span class="symbol">FormatBold</span> or <span class="symbol">ViewShowRulers</span>.
Radio actions define a set of items for which one and only one
can be active at a time, for example, {
<span class="symbol">ViewHighQuality</span>,
<span class="symbol">ViewNormalQuality</span>,
<span class="symbol">ViewLowQuality</span> }.
</p>
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