interface/wx/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
  12     wxStandardPaths returns the standard locations in the file system and should be
  13     used by applications to find their data files in a portable way.
  14
  15     In the description of the methods below, the example return values are given
  16     for the Unix, Windows and Mac OS X systems, however please note that these are
  17     just the examples and the actual values may differ. For example, under Windows:
  18     the system administrator may change the standard directories locations, i.e.
  19     the Windows directory may be named @c "W:\Win2003" instead of
  20     the default @c "C:\Windows".
  21
  22     The strings @c appname and @c username should be replaced with the value
  23     returned by wxApp::GetAppName() and the name of the currently logged in user,
  24     respectively. The string @c prefix is only used under Unix and is @c /usr/local by
  25     default but may be changed using wxStandardPaths::SetInstallPrefix.
  26
  27     The directories returned by the methods of this class may or may not exist.
  28     If they don't exist, it's up to the caller to create them, wxStandardPaths doesn't
  29     do it.
  30
  31     Finally note that these functions only work with standardly packaged
  32     applications. I.e. under Unix you should follow the standard installation
  33     conventions and under Mac you should create your application bundle according
  34     to the Apple guidelines. Again, this class doesn't help you to do it.
  35
  36     This class is MT-safe: its methods may be called concurrently from different
  37     threads without additional locking.
  38
  39     Note that you don't allocate an instance of class wxStandardPaths, but retrieve the
  40     global standard paths object using @c wxStandardPaths::Get on which you call the
  41     desired methods.
  42
  43     @library{wxbase}
  44     @category{file}
  45
  46     @see wxFileConfig
  47 */
  48 class wxStandardPaths
  49 {
  50 public:
  51     /**
  52         Returns reference to the unique global standard paths object.
  53     */
  54     static wxStandardPathsBase& Get();
  55
  56     /**
  57         Return the directory containing the system config files.
  58         Example return values:
  59         - Unix: @c /etc
  60         - Windows: @c "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data"
  61         - Mac: @c /Library/Preferences
  62
  63         @see wxFileConfig
  64     */
  65     virtual wxString GetConfigDir() const;
  66
  67     /**
  68         Return the location of the applications global, i.e. not user-specific,
  69         data files.
  70         Example return values:
  71         - Unix: @c prefix/share/appname
  72         - Windows: the directory where the executable file is located
  73         - Mac: @c appname.app/Contents/SharedSupport bundle subdirectory
  74
  75         @see GetLocalDataDir()
  76     */
  77     virtual wxString GetDataDir() const;
  78
  79     /**
  80         Return the directory containing the current user's documents.
  81         Example return values:
  82         - Unix: @c ~ (the home directory)
  83         - Windows: @c "C:\Documents and Settings\username\My Documents"
  84         - Mac: @c ~/Documents
  85
  86         @since 2.7.0
  87     */
  88     virtual wxString GetDocumentsDir() const;
  89
  90     /**
  91         Return the directory and the filename for the current executable.
  92         Example return values:
  93         - Unix: @c /usr/local/bin/exename
  94         - Windows: @c "C:\Programs\AppFolder\exename.exe"
  95         - Mac: @c /Programs/exename
  96     */
  97     virtual wxString GetExecutablePath() const;
  98
  99     /**
 100         Return the program installation prefix, e.g. @c /usr, @c /opt or @c /home/zeitlin.
 101
 102         If the prefix had been previously by SetInstallPrefix(), returns that
 103         value, otherwise tries to determine it automatically (Linux only right now)
 104         and finally returns the default @c /usr/local value if it failed.
 105
 106         @note This function is only available under Unix.
 107     */
 108     wxString GetInstallPrefix() const;
 109
 110     /**
 111         Return the location for application data files which are host-specific and
 112         can't, or shouldn't, be shared with the other machines.
 113
 114         This is the same as GetDataDir() except under Unix where it returns @c /etc/appname.
 115     */
 116     virtual wxString GetLocalDataDir() const;
 117
 118     /**
 119         Return the localized resources directory containing the resource files of the
 120         specified category for the given language.
 121
 122         In general this is just the same as @a lang subdirectory of GetResourcesDir()
 123         (or @c lang.lproj under Mac OS X) but is something quite different for
 124         message catalog category under Unix where it returns the standard
 125         @c prefix/share/locale/lang/LC_MESSAGES directory.
 126
 127         @since 2.7.0
 128     */
 129     virtual wxString GetLocalizedResourcesDir(const wxString& lang,
 130                                               ResourceCat category) const;
 131
 132     /**
 133         Return the directory where the loadable modules (plugins) live.
 134         Example return values:
 135         - Unix: @c prefix/lib/appname
 136         - Windows: the directory of the executable file
 137         - Mac: @c appname.app/Contents/PlugIns bundle subdirectory
 138
 139         @see wxDynamicLibrary
 140     */
 141     virtual wxString GetPluginsDir() const;
 142
 143     /**
 144         Return the directory where the application resource files are located.
 145
 146         The resources are the auxiliary data files needed for the application to run
 147         and include, for example, image and sound files it might use.
 148
 149         This function is the same as GetDataDir() for all platforms except Mac OS X.
 150         Example return values:
 151         - Unix: @c prefix/share/appname
 152         - Windows: the directory where the executable file is located
 153         - Mac: @c appname.app/Contents/Resources bundle subdirectory
 154
 155         @since 2.7.0
 156
 157         @see GetLocalizedResourcesDir()
 158     */
 159     virtual wxString GetResourcesDir() const;
 160
 161     /**
 162         Return the directory for storing temporary files.
 163         To create unique temporary files, it is best to use wxFileName::CreateTempFileName
 164         for correct behaviour when multiple processes are attempting to create temporary files.
 165
 166         @since 2.7.2
 167     */
 168     virtual wxString GetTempDir() const;
 169
 170     /**
 171         Return the directory for the user config files:
 172         - Unix: @c ~ (the home directory)
 173         - Windows: @c "C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data"
 174         - Mac: @c ~/Library/Preferences
 175
 176         Only use this method if you have a single configuration file to put in this
 177         directory, otherwise GetUserDataDir() is more appropriate.
 178     */
 179     virtual wxString GetUserConfigDir() const;
 180
 181     /**
 182         Return the directory for the user-dependent application data files:
 183         - Unix: @c ~/.appname
 184         - Windows: @c "C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\appname"
 185         - Mac: @c "~/Library/Application Support/appname"
 186     */
 187     virtual wxString GetUserDataDir() const;
 188
 189     /**
 190         Return the directory for user data files which shouldn't be shared with
 191         the other machines.
 192
 193         This is the same as GetUserDataDir() for all platforms except Windows where it returns
 194         @c "C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data\appname"
 195     */
 196     virtual wxString GetUserLocalDataDir() const;
 197
 198     /**
 199         Lets wxStandardPaths know about the real program installation prefix on a Unix
 200         system. By default, the value returned by GetInstallPrefix() is used.
 201
 202         Although under Linux systems the program prefix may usually be determined
 203         automatically, portable programs should call this function. Usually the prefix
 204         is set during program configuration if using GNU autotools and so it is enough
 205         to pass its value defined in @c config.h to this function.
 206
 207         @note This function is only available under Unix.
 208     */
 209     void SetInstallPrefix(const wxString& prefix);
 210
 211     /**
 212         Controls what application information is used when constructing paths that
 213         should be unique to this program, such as the application data directory, the
 214         plugins directory on Unix, etc.
 215
 216         Valid values for @a info are @c AppInfo_None and either one or combination
 217         of @c AppInfo_AppName and @c AppInfo_VendorName. The first one tells this
 218         class to not use neither application nor vendor name in the paths.
 219
 220         By default, only the application name is used under Unix systems but both
 221         application and vendor names are used under Windows and Mac.
 222     */
 223     void UseAppInfo(int info);
 224 };
 225