g_app_info_create_from_commandline ()

GAppInfo *
g_app_info_create_from_commandline (const char *commandline,
                                    const char *application_name,
                                    GAppInfoCreateFlags flags,
                                    GError **error);

Creates a new GAppInfo from the given information.

Note that for commandline , the quoting rules of the Exec key of the freedesktop.org Desktop Entry Specification are applied. For example, if the commandline contains percent-encoded URIs, the percent-character must be doubled in order to prevent it from being swallowed by Exec key unquoting. See the specification for exact quoting rules.

g_app_info_dup ()

GAppInfo *
g_app_info_dup (GAppInfo *appinfo);

Creates a duplicate of a GAppInfo.

g_app_info_equal ()

gboolean
g_app_info_equal (GAppInfo *appinfo1,
                  GAppInfo *appinfo2);

Checks if two GAppInfos are equal.

g_app_info_get_id ()

const char *
g_app_info_get_id (GAppInfo *appinfo);

Gets the ID of an application. An id is a string that identifies the application. The exact format of the id is platform dependent. For instance, on Unix this is the desktop file id from the xdg menu specification.

Note that the returned ID may be NULL, depending on how the appinfo has been constructed.

g_app_info_get_name ()

const char *
g_app_info_get_name (GAppInfo *appinfo);

Gets the installed name of the application.

g_app_info_get_display_name ()

const char *
g_app_info_get_display_name (GAppInfo *appinfo);

Gets the display name of the application. The display name is often more descriptive to the user than the name itself.

Since 2.24

g_app_info_get_description ()

const char *
g_app_info_get_description (GAppInfo *appinfo);

Gets a human-readable description of an installed application.

g_app_info_get_executable ()

const char *
g_app_info_get_executable (GAppInfo *appinfo);

Gets the executable's name for the installed application.

g_app_info_get_commandline ()

const char *
g_app_info_get_commandline (GAppInfo *appinfo);

Gets the commandline with which the application will be started.

Since 2.20

g_app_info_get_icon ()

GIcon *
g_app_info_get_icon (GAppInfo *appinfo);

Gets the icon for the application.

g_app_info_launch ()

gboolean
g_app_info_launch (GAppInfo *appinfo,
                   GList *files,
                   GAppLaunchContext *launch_context,
                   GError **error);

Launches the application. Passes files to the launched application as arguments, using the optional launch_context to get information about the details of the launcher (like what screen it is on). On error, error will be set accordingly.

To launch the application without arguments pass a NULL files list.

Note that even if the launch is successful the application launched can fail to start if it runs into problems during startup. There is no way to detect this.

Some URIs can be changed when passed through a GFile (for instance unsupported URIs with strange formats like mailto:), so if you have a textual URI you want to pass in as argument, consider using g_app_info_launch_uris() instead.

The launched application inherits the environment of the launching process, but it can be modified with g_app_launch_context_setenv() and g_app_launch_context_unsetenv().

On UNIX, this function sets the GIO_LAUNCHED_DESKTOP_FILE environment variable with the path of the launched desktop file and GIO_LAUNCHED_DESKTOP_FILE_PID to the process id of the launched process. This can be used to ignore GIO_LAUNCHED_DESKTOP_FILE, should it be inherited by further processes. The DISPLAY and DESKTOP_STARTUP_ID environment variables are also set, based on information provided in launch_context .

g_app_info_supports_files ()

gboolean
g_app_info_supports_files (GAppInfo *appinfo);

Checks if the application accepts files as arguments.

g_app_info_supports_uris ()

gboolean
g_app_info_supports_uris (GAppInfo *appinfo);

Checks if the application supports reading files and directories from URIs.

g_app_info_launch_uris ()

gboolean
g_app_info_launch_uris (GAppInfo *appinfo,
                        GList *uris,
                        GAppLaunchContext *launch_context,
                        GError **error);

Launches the application. This passes the uris to the launched application as arguments, using the optional launch_context to get information about the details of the launcher (like what screen it is on). On error, error will be set accordingly.

To launch the application without arguments pass a NULL uris list.

Note that even if the launch is successful the application launched can fail to start if it runs into problems during startup. There is no way to detect this.

g_app_info_should_show ()

gboolean
g_app_info_should_show (GAppInfo *appinfo);

Checks if the application info should be shown in menus that list available applications.

g_app_info_can_delete ()

gboolean
g_app_info_can_delete (GAppInfo *appinfo);

Obtains the information whether the GAppInfo can be deleted. See g_app_info_delete().

Since 2.20

g_app_info_delete ()

gboolean
g_app_info_delete (GAppInfo *appinfo);

Tries to delete a GAppInfo.

On some platforms, there may be a difference between user-defined GAppInfos which can be deleted, and system-wide ones which cannot. See g_app_info_can_delete().

Virtual: do_delete

Since 2.20

g_app_info_reset_type_associations ()

void
g_app_info_reset_type_associations (const char *content_type);

Removes all changes to the type associations done by g_app_info_set_as_default_for_type(), g_app_info_set_as_default_for_extension(), g_app_info_add_supports_type() or g_app_info_remove_supports_type().

Since 2.20

g_app_info_set_as_default_for_type ()

gboolean
g_app_info_set_as_default_for_type (GAppInfo *appinfo,
                                    const char *content_type,
                                    GError **error);

Sets the application as the default handler for a given type.

g_app_info_set_as_default_for_extension ()

gboolean
g_app_info_set_as_default_for_extension
                               (GAppInfo *appinfo,
                                const char *extension,
                                GError **error);

Sets the application as the default handler for the given file extension.

g_app_info_set_as_last_used_for_type ()

gboolean
g_app_info_set_as_last_used_for_type (GAppInfo *appinfo,
                                      const char *content_type,
                                      GError **error);

Sets the application as the last used application for a given type. This will make the application appear as first in the list returned by g_app_info_get_recommended_for_type(), regardless of the default application for that content type.

g_app_info_add_supports_type ()

gboolean
g_app_info_add_supports_type (GAppInfo *appinfo,
                              const char *content_type,
                              GError **error);

Adds a content type to the application information to indicate the application is capable of opening files with the given content type.

g_app_info_can_remove_supports_type ()

gboolean
g_app_info_can_remove_supports_type (GAppInfo *appinfo);

Checks if a supported content type can be removed from an application.

g_app_info_remove_supports_type ()

gboolean
g_app_info_remove_supports_type (GAppInfo *appinfo,
                                 const char *content_type,
                                 GError **error);

Removes a supported type from an application, if possible.

g_app_info_get_supported_types ()

const char **
g_app_info_get_supported_types (GAppInfo *appinfo);

Retrieves the list of content types that app_info claims to support. If this information is not provided by the environment, this function will return NULL. This function does not take in consideration associations added with g_app_info_add_supports_type(), but only those exported directly by the application.

Since 2.34

g_app_info_get_all ()

GList *
g_app_info_get_all (void);

Gets a list of all of the applications currently registered on this system.

For desktop files, this includes applications that have NoDisplay=true set or are excluded from display by means of OnlyShowIn or NotShowIn. See g_app_info_should_show(). The returned list does not include applications which have the Hidden key set.

g_app_info_get_all_for_type ()

GList *
g_app_info_get_all_for_type (const char *content_type);

Gets a list of all GAppInfos for a given content type, including the recommended and fallback GAppInfos. See g_app_info_get_recommended_for_type() and g_app_info_get_fallback_for_type().

g_app_info_get_default_for_type ()

GAppInfo *
g_app_info_get_default_for_type (const char *content_type,
                                 gboolean must_support_uris);

Gets the default GAppInfo for a given content type.

g_app_info_get_default_for_uri_scheme ()

GAppInfo *
g_app_info_get_default_for_uri_scheme (const char *uri_scheme);

Gets the default application for handling URIs with the given URI scheme. A URI scheme is the initial part of the URI, up to but not including the ':', e.g. "http", "ftp" or "sip".

g_app_info_get_fallback_for_type ()

GList *
g_app_info_get_fallback_for_type (const gchar *content_type);

Gets a list of fallback GAppInfos for a given content type, i.e. those applications which claim to support the given content type by MIME type subclassing and not directly.

Since 2.28

g_app_info_get_recommended_for_type ()

GList *
g_app_info_get_recommended_for_type (const gchar *content_type);

Gets a list of recommended GAppInfos for a given content type, i.e. those applications which claim to support the given content type exactly, and not by MIME type subclassing. Note that the first application of the list is the last used one, i.e. the last one for which g_app_info_set_as_last_used_for_type() has been called.

Since 2.28

g_app_info_launch_default_for_uri ()

gboolean
g_app_info_launch_default_for_uri (const char *uri,
                                   GAppLaunchContext *launch_context,
                                   GError **error);

Utility function that launches the default application registered to handle the specified uri. Synchronous I/O is done on the uri to detect the type of the file if required.

g_app_launch_context_setenv ()

void
g_app_launch_context_setenv (GAppLaunchContext *context,
                             const char *variable,
                             const char *value);

Arranges for variable to be set to value in the child's environment when context is used to launch an application.

Since 2.32

g_app_launch_context_unsetenv ()

void
g_app_launch_context_unsetenv (GAppLaunchContext *context,
                               const char *variable);

Arranges for variable to be unset in the child's environment when context is used to launch an application.

Since 2.32

g_app_launch_context_get_environment ()

char **
g_app_launch_context_get_environment (GAppLaunchContext *context);

Gets the complete environment variable list to be passed to the child process when context is used to launch an application. This is a NULL-terminated array of strings, where each string has the form KEY=VALUE.

Since 2.32

g_app_launch_context_get_display ()

char *
g_app_launch_context_get_display (GAppLaunchContext *context,
                                  GAppInfo *info,
                                  GList *files);

Gets the display string for the context . This is used to ensure new applications are started on the same display as the launching application, by setting the DISPLAY environment variable.

g_app_launch_context_get_startup_notify_id ()

char *
g_app_launch_context_get_startup_notify_id
                               (GAppLaunchContext *context,
                                GAppInfo *info,
                                GList *files);

Initiates startup notification for the application and returns the DESKTOP_STARTUP_ID for the launched operation, if supported.

Startup notification IDs are defined in the [FreeDesktop.Org Startup Notifications standard](http://standards.freedesktop.org/startup-notification-spec/startup-notification-latest.txt").

g_app_launch_context_launch_failed ()

void
g_app_launch_context_launch_failed (GAppLaunchContext *context,
                                    const char *startup_notify_id);

Called when an application has failed to launch, so that it can cancel the application startup notification started in g_app_launch_context_get_startup_notify_id().

g_app_launch_context_new ()

GAppLaunchContext *
g_app_launch_context_new (void);

Creates a new application launch context. This is not normally used, instead you instantiate a subclass of this, such as GdkAppLaunchContext.

enum GAppInfoCreateFlags

Flags used when creating a GAppInfo.

GAppInfo

typedef struct _GAppInfo GAppInfo;

Information about an installed application and methods to launch it (with file arguments).

struct GAppInfoIface

struct GAppInfoIface {
  GTypeInterface g_iface;

  /* Virtual Table */

  GAppInfo *   (* dup)                          (GAppInfo           *appinfo);
  gboolean     (* equal)                        (GAppInfo           *appinfo1,
                                                 GAppInfo           *appinfo2);
  const char * (* get_id)                       (GAppInfo           *appinfo);
  const char * (* get_name)                     (GAppInfo           *appinfo);
  const char * (* get_description)              (GAppInfo           *appinfo);
  const char * (* get_executable)               (GAppInfo           *appinfo);
  GIcon *      (* get_icon)                     (GAppInfo           *appinfo);
  gboolean     (* launch)                       (GAppInfo           *appinfo,
                                                 GList              *files,
                                                 GAppLaunchContext  *launch_context,
                                                 GError            **error);
  gboolean     (* supports_uris)                (GAppInfo           *appinfo);
  gboolean     (* supports_files)               (GAppInfo           *appinfo);
  gboolean     (* launch_uris)                  (GAppInfo           *appinfo,
                                                 GList              *uris,
                                                 GAppLaunchContext  *launch_context,
                                                 GError            **error);
  gboolean     (* should_show)                  (GAppInfo           *appinfo);

  /* For changing associations */
  gboolean     (* set_as_default_for_type)      (GAppInfo           *appinfo,
                                                 const char         *content_type,
                                                 GError            **error);
  gboolean     (* set_as_default_for_extension) (GAppInfo           *appinfo,
                                                 const char         *extension,
                                                 GError            **error);
  gboolean     (* add_supports_type)            (GAppInfo           *appinfo,
                                                 const char         *content_type,
                                                 GError            **error);
  gboolean     (* can_remove_supports_type)     (GAppInfo           *appinfo);
  gboolean     (* remove_supports_type)         (GAppInfo           *appinfo,
                                                 const char         *content_type,
                                                 GError            **error);
  gboolean     (* can_delete)                   (GAppInfo           *appinfo);
  gboolean     (* do_delete)                    (GAppInfo           *appinfo);
  const char * (* get_commandline)              (GAppInfo           *appinfo);
  const char * (* get_display_name)             (GAppInfo           *appinfo);
  gboolean     (* set_as_last_used_for_type)    (GAppInfo           *appinfo,
                                                 const char         *content_type,
                                                 GError            **error);
  const char ** (* get_supported_types)         (GAppInfo           *appinfo);
};

Application Information interface, for operating system portability.

GAppLaunchContext

typedef struct _GAppLaunchContext GAppLaunchContext;

Integrating the launch with the launching application. This is used to handle for instance startup notification and launching the new application on the same screen as the launching window.

The “launch-failed” signal

void
user_function (GAppLaunchContext *context,
               gchar             *startup_notify_id,
               gpointer           user_data)

The ::launch-failed signal is emitted when a GAppInfo launch fails. The startup notification id is provided, so that the launcher can cancel the startup notification.

Flags: Run Last

Since 2.36

The “launched” signal

void
user_function (GAppLaunchContext *context,
               GAppInfo          *info,
               GVariant          *platform_data,
               gpointer           user_data)

The ::launched signal is emitted when a GAppInfo is successfully launched. The platform_data is an GVariant dictionary mapping strings to variants (ie a{sv}), which contains additional, platform-specific data about this launch. On UNIX, at least the "pid" and "startup-notification-id" keys will be present.

Flags: Run Last

Since 2.36