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 for the document files used by this application.
  58
  59         If the application-specific directory doesn't exist, this function
  60         returns GetDocumentsDir().
  61
  62         Example return values:
  63         - Unix: @c ~/appname
  64         - Windows: @c "C:\Documents and Settings\username\My Documents\appname"
  65         - Mac: @c ~/Documents/appname
  66
  67         @since 2.9.0
  68
  69         @see GetAppDocumentsDir()
  70      */
  71     virtual wxString GetAppDocumentsDir() const;
  72
  73     /**
  74         Return the directory containing the system config files.
  75         Example return values:
  76         - Unix: @c /etc
  77         - Windows: @c "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data"
  78         - Mac: @c /Library/Preferences
  79
  80         @see wxFileConfig
  81     */
  82     virtual wxString GetConfigDir() const;
  83
  84     /**
  85         Return the location of the applications global, i.e. not user-specific,
  86         data files.
  87         Example return values:
  88         - Unix: @c prefix/share/appname
  89         - Windows: the directory where the executable file is located
  90         - Mac: @c appname.app/Contents/SharedSupport bundle subdirectory
  91
  92         @see GetLocalDataDir()
  93     */
  94     virtual wxString GetDataDir() const;
  95
  96     /**
  97         Return the directory containing the current user's documents.
  98
  99         Example return values:
 100         - Unix: @c ~ (the home directory)
 101         - Windows: @c "C:\Documents and Settings\username\My Documents"
 102         - Mac: @c ~/Documents
 103
 104         @since 2.7.0
 105
 106         @see GetAppDocumentsDir()
 107     */
 108     virtual wxString GetDocumentsDir() const;
 109
 110     /**
 111         Return the directory and the filename for the current executable.
 112         Example return values:
 113         - Unix: @c /usr/local/bin/exename
 114         - Windows: @c "C:\Programs\AppFolder\exename.exe"
 115         - Mac: @c /Programs/exename
 116     */
 117     virtual wxString GetExecutablePath() const;
 118
 119     /**
 120         Return the program installation prefix, e.g. @c /usr, @c /opt or @c /home/zeitlin.
 121
 122         If the prefix had been previously by SetInstallPrefix(), returns that
 123         value, otherwise tries to determine it automatically (Linux only right now)
 124         and finally returns the default @c /usr/local value if it failed.
 125
 126         @note This function is only available under Unix.
 127     */
 128     wxString GetInstallPrefix() const;
 129
 130     /**
 131         Return the location for application data files which are host-specific and
 132         can't, or shouldn't, be shared with the other machines.
 133
 134         This is the same as GetDataDir() except under Unix where it returns @c /etc/appname.
 135     */
 136     virtual wxString GetLocalDataDir() const;
 137
 138     /**
 139         Return the localized resources directory containing the resource files of the
 140         specified category for the given language.
 141
 142         In general this is just the same as @a lang subdirectory of GetResourcesDir()
 143         (or @c lang.lproj under Mac OS X) but is something quite different for
 144         message catalog category under Unix where it returns the standard
 145         @c prefix/share/locale/lang/LC_MESSAGES directory.
 146
 147         @since 2.7.0
 148     */
 149     virtual wxString GetLocalizedResourcesDir(const wxString& lang,
 150                                               ResourceCat category) const;
 151
 152     /**
 153         Return the directory where the loadable modules (plugins) live.
 154         Example return values:
 155         - Unix: @c prefix/lib/appname
 156         - Windows: the directory of the executable file
 157         - Mac: @c appname.app/Contents/PlugIns bundle subdirectory
 158
 159         @see wxDynamicLibrary
 160     */
 161     virtual wxString GetPluginsDir() const;
 162
 163     /**
 164         Return the directory where the application resource files are located.
 165
 166         The resources are the auxiliary data files needed for the application to run
 167         and include, for example, image and sound files it might use.
 168
 169         This function is the same as GetDataDir() for all platforms except Mac OS X.
 170         Example return values:
 171         - Unix: @c prefix/share/appname
 172         - Windows: the directory where the executable file is located
 173         - Mac: @c appname.app/Contents/Resources bundle subdirectory
 174
 175         @since 2.7.0
 176
 177         @see GetLocalizedResourcesDir()
 178     */
 179     virtual wxString GetResourcesDir() const;
 180
 181     /**
 182         Return the directory for storing temporary files.
 183         To create unique temporary files, it is best to use wxFileName::CreateTempFileName
 184         for correct behaviour when multiple processes are attempting to create temporary files.
 185
 186         @since 2.7.2
 187     */
 188     virtual wxString GetTempDir() const;
 189
 190     /**
 191         Return the directory for the user config files:
 192         - Unix: @c ~ (the home directory)
 193         - Windows: @c "C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data"
 194         - Mac: @c ~/Library/Preferences
 195
 196         Only use this method if you have a single configuration file to put in this
 197         directory, otherwise GetUserDataDir() is more appropriate.
 198     */
 199     virtual wxString GetUserConfigDir() const;
 200
 201     /**
 202         Return the directory for the user-dependent application data files:
 203         - Unix: @c ~/.appname
 204         - Windows: @c "C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\appname"
 205         - Mac: @c "~/Library/Application Support/appname"
 206     */
 207     virtual wxString GetUserDataDir() const;
 208
 209     /**
 210         Return the directory for user data files which shouldn't be shared with
 211         the other machines.
 212
 213         This is the same as GetUserDataDir() for all platforms except Windows where it returns
 214         @c "C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data\appname"
 215     */
 216     virtual wxString GetUserLocalDataDir() const;
 217
 218     /**
 219         Lets wxStandardPaths know about the real program installation prefix on a Unix
 220         system. By default, the value returned by GetInstallPrefix() is used.
 221
 222         Although under Linux systems the program prefix may usually be determined
 223         automatically, portable programs should call this function. Usually the prefix
 224         is set during program configuration if using GNU autotools and so it is enough
 225         to pass its value defined in @c config.h to this function.
 226
 227         @note This function is only available under Unix.
 228     */
 229     void SetInstallPrefix(const wxString& prefix);
 230
 231     /**
 232         Controls what application information is used when constructing paths that
 233         should be unique to this program, such as the application data directory, the
 234         plugins directory on Unix, etc.
 235
 236         Valid values for @a info are @c AppInfo_None and either one or combination
 237         of @c AppInfo_AppName and @c AppInfo_VendorName. The first one tells this
 238         class to not use neither application nor vendor name in the paths.
 239
 240         By default, only the application name is used under Unix systems but both
 241         application and vendor names are used under Windows and Mac.
 242     */
 243     void UseAppInfo(int info);
 244 };
 245