SpinButton

class SpinButton(**properties: Any)

Superclasses: Widget, InitiallyUnowned, Object

Implemented Interfaces: Accessible, AccessibleRange, Buildable, CellEditable, ConstraintTarget, Editable, Orientable

A GtkSpinButton is an ideal way to allow the user to set the value of some attribute.

https://docs.gtk.org/gtk4/spinbutton.png

Rather than having to directly type a number into a GtkEntry, GtkSpinButton allows the user to click on one of two arrows to increment or decrement the displayed value. A value can still be typed in, with the bonus that it can be checked to ensure it is in a given range.

The main properties of a GtkSpinButton are through an adjustment. See the Adjustment documentation for more details about an adjustment’s properties.

Note that GtkSpinButton will by default make its entry large enough to accommodate the lower and upper bounds of the adjustment. If this is not desired, the automatic sizing can be turned off by explicitly setting width_chars to a value != -1.

Using a GtkSpinButton to get an integer

// Provides a function to retrieve an integer value from a GtkSpinButton
// and creates a spin button to model percentage values.

int
grab_int_value (GtkSpinButton *button,
                gpointer       user_data)
{
  return gtk_spin_button_get_value_as_int (button);
}

void
create_integer_spin_button (void)
{

  GtkWidget *window, *button;
  GtkAdjustment *adjustment;

  adjustment = gtk_adjustment_new (50.0, 0.0, 100.0, 1.0, 5.0, 0.0);

  window = gtk_window_new ();

  // creates the spinbutton, with no decimal places
  button = gtk_spin_button_new (adjustment, 1.0, 0);
  gtk_window_set_child (GTK_WINDOW (window), button);

  gtk_window_present (GTK_WINDOW (window));
}

Using a GtkSpinButton to get a floating point value

// Provides a function to retrieve a floating point value from a
// GtkSpinButton, and creates a high precision spin button.

float
grab_float_value (GtkSpinButton *button,
                  gpointer       user_data)
{
  return gtk_spin_button_get_value (button);
}

void
create_floating_spin_button (void)
{
  GtkWidget *window, *button;
  GtkAdjustment *adjustment;

  adjustment = gtk_adjustment_new (2.500, 0.0, 5.0, 0.001, 0.1, 0.0);

  window = gtk_window_new ();

  // creates the spinbutton, with three decimal places
  button = gtk_spin_button_new (adjustment, 0.001, 3);
  gtk_window_set_child (GTK_WINDOW (window), button);

  gtk_window_present (GTK_WINDOW (window));
}

CSS nodes

spinbutton.horizontal
├── text
│    ├── undershoot.left
│    ╰── undershoot.right
├── button.down
╰── button.up

spinbutton.vertical
├── button.up
├── text
│    ├── undershoot.left
│    ╰── undershoot.right
╰── button.down

GtkSpinButton’s main CSS node has the name spinbutton. It creates subnodes for the entry and the two buttons, with these names. The button nodes have the style classes .up and .down. The GtkText subnodes (if present) are put below the text node. The orientation of the spin button is reflected in the .vertical or .horizontal style class on the main node.

Accessibility

GtkSpinButton uses the SPIN_BUTTON role.

Constructors

class SpinButton

classmethod new(adjustment: Adjustment | None, climb_rate: float, digits: int) → Widget

Creates a new GtkSpinButton.

Parameters:

adjustment – the GtkAdjustment that this spin button should use
climb_rate – specifies by how much the rate of change in the value will accelerate if you continue to hold down an up/down button or arrow key
digits – the number of decimal places to display

classmethod new_with_range(min: float, max: float, step: float) → Widget

Creates a new GtkSpinButton with the given properties.

This is a convenience constructor that allows creation of a numeric GtkSpinButton without manually creating an adjustment. The value is initially set to the minimum value and a page increment of 10 * step is the default. The precision of the spin button is equivalent to the precision of step.

Note that the way in which the precision is derived works best if step is a power of ten. If the resulting precision is not suitable for your needs, use set_digits to correct it.

Parameters:

min – Minimum allowable value
max – Maximum allowable value
step – Increment added or subtracted by spinning the widget

Methods

class SpinButton

configure(adjustment: Adjustment | None, climb_rate: float, digits: int) → None

Changes the properties of an existing spin button.

The adjustment, climb rate, and number of decimal places are updated accordingly.

Parameters:

adjustment – a GtkAdjustment to replace the spin button’s existing adjustment, or None to leave its current adjustment unchanged
climb_rate – the new climb rate
digits – the number of decimal places to display in the spin button

get_activates_default() → bool: Retrieves the value set by set_activates_default.

Added in version 4.14.

get_adjustment() → Adjustment: Get the adjustment associated with a GtkSpinButton.

get_climb_rate() → float: Returns the acceleration rate for repeated changes.

get_digits() → int: Fetches the precision of spin_button.

get_increments() → tuple[float, float]

Gets the current step and page the increments used by spin_button.

See set_increments.

get_numeric() → bool: Returns whether non-numeric text can be typed into the spin button.

get_range() → tuple[float, float]

Gets the range allowed for spin_button.

See set_range.

get_snap_to_ticks() → bool: Returns whether the values are corrected to the nearest step.

get_update_policy() → SpinButtonUpdatePolicy

Gets the update behavior of a spin button.

See set_update_policy.

get_value() → float: Get the value in the spin_button.

get_value_as_int() → int: Get the value spin_button represented as an integer.

get_wrap() → bool: Returns whether the spin button’s value wraps around to the opposite limit when the upper or lower limit of the range is exceeded.

set_activates_default(activates_default: bool) → None

Sets whether activating the spin button will activate the default widget for the window containing the spin button.

See activate for what counts as activation.

Added in version 4.14.

Parameters:: activates_default – True to activate window’s default widget on activation

set_adjustment(adjustment: Adjustment) → None

Replaces the GtkAdjustment associated with spin_button.

Parameters:: adjustment – a GtkAdjustment to replace the existing adjustment

set_climb_rate(climb_rate: float) → None

Sets the acceleration rate for repeated changes when you hold down a button or key.

Parameters:: climb_rate – the rate of acceleration, must be >= 0

set_digits(digits: int) → None

Set the precision to be displayed by spin_button.

Up to 20 digit precision is allowed.

Parameters:: digits – the number of digits after the decimal point to be displayed for the spin button’s value

set_increments(step: float, page: float) → None

Sets the step and page increments for spin_button.

This affects how quickly the value changes when the spin button’s arrows are activated.

Parameters:

step – increment applied for a button 1 press.
page – increment applied for a button 2 press.

set_numeric(numeric: bool) → None

Sets the flag that determines if non-numeric text can be typed into the spin button.

Parameters:: numeric – flag indicating if only numeric entry is allowed

set_range(min: float, max: float) → None

Sets the minimum and maximum allowable values for spin_button.

If the current value is outside this range, it will be adjusted to fit within the range, otherwise it will remain unchanged.

Parameters:

min – minimum allowable value
max – maximum allowable value

set_snap_to_ticks(snap_to_ticks: bool) → None

Sets the policy as to whether values are corrected to the nearest step increment when a spin button is activated after providing an invalid value.

Parameters:: snap_to_ticks – a flag indicating if invalid values should be corrected

set_update_policy(policy: SpinButtonUpdatePolicy) → None

Sets the update behavior of a spin button.

This determines whether the spin button is always updated or only when a valid value is set.

Parameters:: policy – a GtkSpinButtonUpdatePolicy value

set_value(value: float) → None

Sets the value of spin_button.

Parameters:: value – the new value

set_wrap(wrap: bool) → None

Sets the flag that determines if a spin button value wraps around to the opposite limit when the upper or lower limit of the range is exceeded.

Parameters:: wrap – a flag indicating if wrapping behavior is performed

spin(direction: SpinType, increment: float) → None

Increment or decrement a spin button’s value in a specified direction by a specified amount.

Parameters:

direction – a GtkSpinType indicating the direction to spin
increment – step increment to apply in the specified direction

update() → None: Manually force an update of the spin button.

Properties

class SpinButton

props.activates_default: bool

Whether to activate the default widget when the spin button is activated.

See activate for what counts as activation.

Added in version 4.14.

props.adjustment: Adjustment: The adjustment that holds the value of the spin button.

props.climb_rate: float: The acceleration rate when you hold down a button or key.

props.digits: int: The number of decimal places to display.

props.numeric: bool: Whether non-numeric characters should be ignored.

props.snap_to_ticks: bool: Whether erroneous values are automatically changed to the spin buttons nearest step increment.

props.update_policy: SpinButtonUpdatePolicy: Whether the spin button should update always, or only when the value is acceptable.

props.value: float: The current value.

props.wrap: bool: Whether a spin button should wrap upon reaching its limits.

Signals

class SpinButton.signals

activate() → None

Emitted when the spin button is activated.

The keybindings for this signal are all forms of the Enter key.

If the Enter key results in the value being committed to the spin button, then activation does not occur until Enter is pressed again.

Added in version 4.14.

change_value(scroll: ScrollType) → None

Emitted when the user initiates a value change.

This is a keybinding signal.

Applications should not connect to it, but may emit it with signal_emit_by_name() if they need to control the cursor programmatically.

The default bindings for this signal are Up/Down and PageUp/PageDown.

Parameters:: scroll – a GtkScrollType to specify the speed and amount of change

input() → tuple[int, float]

Emitted to convert the users input into a double value.

The signal handler is expected to use get_text to retrieve the text of the spinbutton and set new_value to the new value.

The default conversion uses strtod().

output() → bool

Emitted to tweak the formatting of the value for display.

// show leading zeros
static gboolean
on_output (GtkSpinButton *spin,
           gpointer       data)
{
   char *text;
   int value;

   value = gtk_spin_button_get_value_as_int (spin);
   text = g_strdup_printf ("``%02d``", value);
   gtk_editable_set_text (GTK_EDITABLE (spin), text):
   g_free (text);

   return TRUE;
}

value_changed() → None

Emitted when the value is changed.

Also see the output signal.

wrapped() → None: Emitted right after the spinbutton wraps from its maximum to its minimum value or vice-versa.