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              Unix: @c /etc
  58              Windows: @c C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data
  59              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              Unix: @c @e prefix/share/@e appname
  70              Windows: the directory where the executable file is located
  71              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              Unix: @c ~ (the home directory)
  81              Windows: @c C:\Documents and Settings\@e username\Documents
  82              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              Unix: @c /usr/local/bin/exename
  92              Windows: @c C:\Programs\AppFolder\exename.exe
  93              Mac: @c /Programs/exename
  94     */
  95     wxString GetExecutablePath() const;
  96
  97     /**
  98         @b 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
 102         SetInstallPrefix(), returns that
 103         value, otherwise tries to determine it automatically (Linux only right
 104         now) and finally returns the default @c /usr/local value if it failed.
 105     */
 106     wxString GetInstallPrefix() const;
 107
 108     /**
 109         Return the location for application data files which are host-specific and
 110         can't, or shouldn't, be shared with the other machines.
 111         This is the same as GetDataDir() except
 112         under Unix where it returns @c /etc/@e appname.
 113     */
 114     wxString GetLocalDataDir() const;
 115
 116     /**
 117         Return the localized resources directory containing the resource files of the
 118         specified category for the given language.
 119         In general this is just the same as @a lang subdirectory of
 120         GetResourcesDir() (or
 121         @c @e lang.lproj under Mac OS X) but is something quite
 122         different for message catalog category under Unix where it returns the standard
 123         @c @e prefix/share/locale/@e lang/LC_MESSAGES directory.
 124
 125         @wxsince{2.7.0}
 126     */
 127     wxString GetLocalizedResourcesDir(const wxString& lang,
 128                                       ResourceCat category = ResourceCat_None) const;
 129
 130     /**
 131         Return the directory where the loadable modules (plugins) live.
 132         Example return values:
 133              Unix: @c @e prefix/lib/@e appname
 134              Windows: the directory of the executable file
 135              Mac: @c @e appname.app/Contents/PlugIns bundle subdirectory
 136
 137         @see wxDynamicLibrary
 138     */
 139     wxString GetPluginsDir() const;
 140
 141     /**
 142         Return the directory where the application resource files are located. The
 143         resources are the auxiliary data files needed for the application to run and
 144         include, for example, image and sound files it might use.
 145         This function is the same as GetDataDir() for
 146         all platforms except Mac OS X.
 147         Example return values:
 148              Unix: @c @e prefix/share/@e appname
 149              Windows: the directory where the executable file is located
 150              Mac: @c @e appname.app/Contents/Resources bundle subdirectory
 151
 152         @wxsince{2.7.0}
 153
 154         @see GetLocalizedResourcesDir()
 155     */
 156     wxString GetResourcesDir() const;
 157
 158     /**
 159         Return the directory for storing temporary files. To create unique temporary
 160         files,
 161         it is best to use wxFileName::CreateTempFileName for correct behaviour when
 162         multiple processes are attempting to create temporary files.
 163
 164         @wxsince{2.7.2}
 165     */
 166     wxString GetTempDir() const;
 167
 168     /**
 169         Return the directory for the user config files:
 170              Unix: @c ~ (the home directory)
 171              Windows: @c C:\Documents and Settings\@e username\Application Data
 172              Mac: @c ~/Library/Preferences
 173         Only use this method if you have a single configuration file to put in this
 174         directory, otherwise GetUserDataDir() is
 175         more appropriate.
 176     */
 177     wxString GetUserConfigDir() const;
 178
 179     /**
 180         Return the directory for the user-dependent application data files:
 181              Unix: @c ~/.@e appname
 182              Windows: @c C:\Documents and Settings\@e username\Application Data\@e
 183         appname
 184              Mac: @c ~/Library/Application Support/@e appname
 185     */
 186     wxString GetUserDataDir() const;
 187
 188     /**
 189         Return the directory for user data files which shouldn't be shared with
 190         the other machines.
 191         This is the same as GetUserDataDir() for
 192         all platforms except Windows where it returns
 193         @c C:\Documents and Settings\@e username\Local Settings\Application Data\@e
 194         appname
 195     */
 196     wxString GetUserLocalDataDir() const;
 197
 198     /**
 199         @b Note: This function is only available under Unix.
 200         Lets wxStandardPaths know about the real program installation prefix on a Unix
 201         system. By default, the value returned by
 202         GetInstallPrefix() is used.
 203         Although under Linux systems the program prefix may usually be determined
 204         automatically, portable programs should call this function. Usually the prefix
 205         is set during program configuration if using GNU autotools and so it is enough
 206         to pass its value defined in @c config.h to this function.
 207     */
 208     void SetInstallPrefix(const wxString& prefix);
 209
 210     /**
 211         Controls what application information is used when constructing paths that
 212         should be unique to this program, such as the application data directory, the
 213         plugins directory on Unix, etc.
 214         Valid values for @a info are @c AppInfo_None and either one or
 215         combination of @c AppInfo_AppName and @c AppInfo_VendorName. The
 216         first one tells this class to not use neither application nor vendor name in
 217         the paths.
 218         By default, only the application name is used under Unix systems but both
 219         application and vendor names are used under Windows and Mac.
 220     */
 221     void UseAppInfo(int info);
 222 };
 223