# Question about Gtk::Builder and connect\_signals **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby-Gnome 2\ **Created:** [October 27, 2011, 3:40pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/question-about-gtk-builder-and-connect-signals/213241 "2011-10-27T15:40:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![luislavena](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/0ea827/32.png) [@luislavena](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/luislavena)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 3:40pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/question-about-gtk-builder-and-connect-signals/213241/1 "2011-10-27T15:40:27Z")
Looking at the source code of Gtk::Builder# **connect\_signals** , I see the following code: ``` def __connect_signals__ (connector, object, signal_name, handler_name, connect_object, flags) handler_name = canonical_handler_name(handler_name) if connect_object handler = connect_object.method(handler_name) else handler = connector.call(handler_name) end ... ``` This suggests that its possible to connect a ruby object “connect\_object” to a Gtk object defined in a glade file. How does one do this? I was going to subclass Gtk::Builder and implement my own **connect\_signals** so I can do this, but maybe there is already a better way? ---
**Author:** ![jonraphaelson](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/53a042/32.png) [@jonraphaelson](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jonraphaelson)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 12:21pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/question-about-gtk-builder-and-connect-signals/213241/2 "2011-10-28T12:21:52Z")
Jon R. wrote in post #1028799: > Looking at the source code of Gtk::Builder# **connect\_signals** , I see > the following code: > > ``` > def __connect_signals__ (connector, object, signal_name, > handler_name, connect_object, flags) > handler_name = canonical_handler_name(handler_name) > if connect_object > handler = connect_object.method(handler_name) > else > handler = connector.call(handler_name) > end > ... > > ``` > > This suggests that its possible to connect a ruby object > “connect\_object” to a Gtk object defined in a glade file. How does one > do this? > > I was going to subclass Gtk::Builder and implement my own > **connect\_signals** so I can do this, but maybe there is already a > better way? I’m not sure what you expect, but maybe you can look at this discussion I had with Michal : [http://www.ruby-forum.com/topic/2488975](http://www.ruby-forum.com/topic/2488975) We disagree, but afaik, nothing has changed, and it’s somewhat what you are trying to do. regards Simon ---
**Author:** ![jonraphaelson](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/53a042/32.png) [@jonraphaelson](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jonraphaelson)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 3:32pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/question-about-gtk-builder-and-connect-signals/213241/3 "2011-10-28T15:32:20Z")
Simon A. wrote in post #1028945: > I’m not sure what you expect, but maybe you can look at this discussion > I had with Michal : > [GTK signals in Ruby - Ruby-Gnome 2 - Ruby-Forum](http://www.ruby-forum.com/topic/2488975) > > We disagree, but afaik, nothing has changed, and it’s somewhat what you > are trying to do. Thanks Simon. I did see that discussion, but I think I’m too new to Gtk programming to understand the discussion completely. For what its worth, the way I solved my problem was to add a small layer to my Gtk::Builder subclass that does two things.. first I add the ability to attach a Ruby object to a named Gtk object from the glade file. Then, in the **connect\_signals** code, I look to see if an attached object exists for the Gtk object, if so, I automatically connect a method with the same name as the handler if it exists. If it doesn’t exist or if there is no attached object, it calls the block as before, but instead of only passing in the handler name, it also passes in the Gtk object and the signal name. This gives me as much flexibility as possible and still be able to keep the code simple. I’m not sure about user data, as I’m not entirely clear what its used for, but maybe my solution gets around the need for them? I can post my code if it helps. ---
**Author:** ![jonraphaelson](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/53a042/32.png) [@jonraphaelson](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jonraphaelson)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 4:18pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/question-about-gtk-builder-and-connect-signals/213241/4 "2011-10-28T16:18:40Z")
Rather than wait, I may as well just post the code in case its something that others may find useful at some point. Feel free to add suggestions. (note that this is a work in progress… should ignore the stuff below the TODO: section at the bottom) ---
**Author:** ![jonraphaelson](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/53a042/32.png) [@jonraphaelson](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jonraphaelson)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2011, 1:39pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/question-about-gtk-builder-and-connect-signals/213241/5 "2011-11-06T13:39:42Z")
Jon R. wrote in post #1028799: > This suggests that its possible to connect a ruby object > “connect\_object” to a Gtk object defined in a glade file. How does one > do this? I was able to answer my own question.. The idea is that in the Glade designer, its possible to associate another object in the window as the recipient of the signal. The idea is that you assign an object to the signal handler and the handler name should match the name of a function provided by the object. This allows you to handle a signal without writing any code. This means that we are still left with no way in Ruby-GNOME2 to assign a signal handler based on the object and signal its associated with. This is easily accomplished by passing these as parameters to the connect\_signals block. Since adding these to the connect\_signals block doesn’t affect existing implementations, I’d like to propose that we add these to the Ruby-GNOME2 project.