interface/stdpaths.h

   1 /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
   2 // Name:        stdpaths.h
   3 // Purpose:     interface of wxStandardPaths
   4 // Author:      wxWidgets team
   5 // RCS-ID:      $Id$
   6 // Licence:     wxWindows license
   7 /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
   8
   9 /**
  10     @class wxStandardPaths
  11     @wxheader{stdpaths.h}
  12
  13     wxStandardPaths returns the standard locations in the file system and should be
  14     used by applications to find their data files in a portable way.
  15
  16     In the description of the methods below, the example return values are given
  17     for the Unix, Windows and Mac OS X systems, however please note that these are
  18     just the examples and the actual values may differ. For example, under Windows:
  19     the system administrator may change the standard directories locations, i.e.
  20     the Windows directory may be named @c W:\Win2003 instead of
  21     the default @c C:\Windows.
  22
  23     The strings @c @e appname and @c @e username should be
  24     replaced with the value returned by wxApp::GetAppName
  25     and the name of the currently logged in user, respectively. The string
  26     @c @e prefix is only used under Unix and is @c /usr/local by
  27     default but may be changed using wxStandardPaths::SetInstallPrefix.
  28
  29     The directories returned by the methods of this class may or may not exist. If
  30     they don't exist, it's up to the caller to create them, wxStandardPaths doesn't
  31     do it.
  32
  33     Finally note that these functions only work with standardly packaged
  34     applications. I.e. under Unix you should follow the standard installation
  35     conventions and under Mac you should create your application bundle according
  36     to the Apple guidelines. Again, this class doesn't help you to do it.
  37
  38     This class is MT-safe: its methods may be called concurrently from different
  39     threads without additional locking.
  40
  41     @library{wxbase}
  42     @category{file}
  43
  44     @see wxFileConfig
  45         */
  46 class wxStandardPaths
  47 {
  48 public:
  49     /**
  50         Returns reference to the unique global standard paths object.
  51     */
  52     static wxStandardPathsBase Get();
  53
  54     /**
  55         Return the directory containing the system config files.
  56         Example return values:
  57              @li Unix: @c /etc
  58              @li Windows: @c C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data
  59              @li Mac: @c /Library/Preferences
  60
  61         @see wxFileConfig
  62     */
  63     wxString GetConfigDir() const;
  64
  65     /**
  66         Return the location of the applications global, i.e. not user-specific,
  67         data files.
  68         Example return values:
  69              @li Unix: @c @e prefix/share/@e appname
  70              @li Windows: the directory where the executable file is located
  71              @li Mac: @c @e appname.app/Contents/SharedSupport bundle subdirectory
  72
  73         @see GetLocalDataDir()
  74     */
  75     wxString GetDataDir() const;
  76
  77     /**
  78         Return the directory containing the current user's documents.
  79         Example return values:
  80              @li Unix: @c ~ (the home directory)
  81              @li Windows: @c C:\Documents and Settings\@e username\Documents
  82              @li Mac: @c ~/Documents
  83
  84         @wxsince{2.7.0}
  85     */
  86     wxString GetDocumentsDir() const;
  87
  88     /**
  89         Return the directory and the filename for the current executable.
  90         Example return values:
  91              @li Unix: @c /usr/local/bin/@e exename
  92              @li Windows: @c C:\Programs\AppFolder\@e exename.exe
  93              @li Mac: @c /Programs/@e exename
  94     */
  95     wxString GetExecutablePath() const;
  96
  97     /**
  98         @note This function is only available under Unix.
  99         Return the program installation prefix, e.g. @c /usr, @c /opt or
 100         @c /home/zeitlin.
 101         If the prefix had been previously by SetInstallPrefix(), returns that
 102         value, otherwise tries to determine it automatically (Linux only right
 103         now) and finally returns the default @c /usr/local value if it failed.
 104     */
 105     wxString GetInstallPrefix() const;
 106
 107     /**
 108         Return the location for application data files which are host-specific and
 109         can't, or shouldn't, be shared with the other machines.
 110         This is the same as GetDataDir() except
 111         under Unix where it returns @c /etc/@e appname.
 112     */
 113     wxString GetLocalDataDir() const;
 114
 115     /**
 116         Return the localized resources directory containing the resource files of the
 117         specified category for the given language.
 118         In general this is just the same as @a lang subdirectory of
 119         GetResourcesDir() (or @e lang.lproj under Mac OS X) but is something quite
 120         different for message catalog category under Unix where it returns the standard
 121         @c @e prefix/share/locale/@e lang/LC_MESSAGES directory.
 122
 123         @wxsince{2.7.0}
 124     */
 125     wxString GetLocalizedResourcesDir(const wxString& lang,
 126                                       ResourceCat category = ResourceCat_None) const;
 127
 128     /**
 129         Return the directory where the loadable modules (plugins) live.
 130         Example return values:
 131              @li Unix: @c @e prefix/lib/@e appname
 132              @li Windows: the directory of the executable file
 133              @li Mac: @c @e appname.app/Contents/PlugIns bundle subdirectory
 134
 135         @see wxDynamicLibrary
 136     */
 137     wxString GetPluginsDir() const;
 138
 139     /**
 140         Return the directory where the application resource files are located. The
 141         resources are the auxiliary data files needed for the application to run and
 142         include, for example, image and sound files it might use.
 143         This function is the same as GetDataDir() for
 144         all platforms except Mac OS X.
 145         Example return values:
 146              @li Unix: @c @e prefix/share/@e appname
 147              @li Windows: the directory where the executable file is located
 148              @li Mac: @c @e appname.app/Contents/Resources bundle subdirectory
 149
 150         @wxsince{2.7.0}
 151
 152         @see GetLocalizedResourcesDir()
 153     */
 154     wxString GetResourcesDir() const;
 155
 156     /**
 157         Return the directory for storing temporary files. To create unique temporary
 158         files,
 159         it is best to use wxFileName::CreateTempFileName for correct behaviour when
 160         multiple processes are attempting to create temporary files.
 161
 162         @wxsince{2.7.2}
 163     */
 164     wxString GetTempDir() const;
 165
 166     /**
 167         Return the directory for the user config files:
 168              @li Unix: @c ~ (the home directory)
 169              @li Windows: @c C:\Documents and Settings\@e username\Application Data
 170              @li Mac: @c ~/Library/Preferences
 171         Only use this method if you have a single configuration file to put in this
 172         directory, otherwise GetUserDataDir() is
 173         more appropriate.
 174     */
 175     wxString GetUserConfigDir() const;
 176
 177     /**
 178         Return the directory for the user-dependent application data files:
 179              @li Unix: @c ~/.@e appname
 180              @li Windows: @c C:\Documents and Settings\@e username\Application Data\
 181                  @e appname
 182              @li Mac: @c ~/Library/Application Support/@e appname
 183     */
 184     wxString GetUserDataDir() const;
 185
 186     /**
 187         Return the directory for user data files which shouldn't be shared with
 188         the other machines.
 189         This is the same as GetUserDataDir() for
 190         all platforms except Windows where it returns
 191         @c C:\Documents and Settings\@e username\Local Settings\Application Data\@e
 192         appname
 193     */
 194     wxString GetUserLocalDataDir() const;
 195
 196     /**
 197         @note This function is only available under Unix.
 198         Lets wxStandardPaths know about the real program installation prefix on a Unix
 199         system. By default, the value returned by
 200         GetInstallPrefix() is used.
 201         Although under Linux systems the program prefix may usually be determined
 202         automatically, portable programs should call this function. Usually the prefix
 203         is set during program configuration if using GNU autotools and so it is enough
 204         to pass its value defined in @c config.h to this function.
 205     */
 206     void SetInstallPrefix(const wxString& prefix);
 207
 208     /**
 209         Controls what application information is used when constructing paths that
 210         should be unique to this program, such as the application data directory, the
 211         plugins directory on Unix, etc.
 212         Valid values for @a info are @c AppInfo_None and either one or
 213         combination of @c AppInfo_AppName and @c AppInfo_VendorName. The
 214         first one tells this class to not use neither application nor vendor name in
 215         the paths.
 216         By default, only the application name is used under Unix systems but both
 217         application and vendor names are used under Windows and Mac.
 218     */
 219     void UseAppInfo(int info);
 220 };
 221