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
  23     replaced with the value returned by wxApp::GetAppName
  24     and the name of the currently logged in user, respectively. The string
  25     @c prefix is only used under Unix and is @c /usr/local by
  26     default but may be changed using wxStandardPaths::SetInstallPrefix.
  27
  28     The directories returned by the methods of this class may or may not exist. If
  29     they don't exist, it's up to the caller to create them, wxStandardPaths doesn't
  30     do it.
  31
  32     Finally note that these functions only work with standardly packaged
  33     applications. I.e. under Unix you should follow the standard installation
  34     conventions and under Mac you should create your application bundle according
  35     to the Apple guidelines. Again, this class doesn't help you to do it.
  36
  37     This class is MT-safe: its methods may be called concurrently from different
  38     threads without additional locking.
  39
  40     Note that you don't allocate an instance of class wxStandardPaths, but retrieve the
  41     global standard paths object using @c wxStandardPaths::Get on which you call the
  42     desired methods.
  43
  44     @library{wxbase}
  45     @category{file}
  46
  47     @see wxFileConfig
  48         */
  49 class wxStandardPaths
  50 {
  51 public:
  52     /**
  53         Returns reference to the unique global standard paths object.
  54     */
  55     static wxStandardPathsBase Get();
  56
  57     /**
  58         Return the directory containing the system config files.
  59         Example return values:
  60              - Unix: @c /etc
  61              - Windows: @c C:\\Documents @c and @c Settings\\All @c Users\\Application Data
  62              - Mac: @c /Library/Preferences
  63
  64         @see wxFileConfig
  65     */
  66     wxString GetConfigDir() const;
  67
  68     /**
  69         Return the location of the applications global, i.e. not user-specific,
  70         data files.
  71         Example return values:
  72              - Unix: @c prefix/share/appname
  73              - Windows: the directory where the executable file is located
  74              - Mac: @c appname.app/Contents/SharedSupport bundle subdirectory
  75
  76         @see GetLocalDataDir()
  77     */
  78     wxString GetDataDir() const;
  79
  80     /**
  81         Return the directory containing the current user's documents.
  82         Example return values:
  83              - Unix: @c ~ (the home directory)
  84              - Windows: @c C:\\Documents @c and @c Settings\\username\\Documents
  85              - Mac: @c ~/Documents
  86
  87         @since 2.7.0
  88     */
  89     wxString GetDocumentsDir() const;
  90
  91     /**
  92         Return the directory and the filename for the current executable.
  93         Example return values:
  94              - Unix: @c /usr/local/bin/exename
  95              - Windows: @c C:\\Programs\\AppFolder\\exename.exe
  96              - Mac: @c /Programs/exename
  97     */
  98     wxString GetExecutablePath() const;
  99
 100     /**
 101         @note This function is only available under Unix.
 102         Return the program installation prefix, e.g. @c /usr, @c /opt or
 103         @c /home/zeitlin.
 104         If the prefix had been previously by SetInstallPrefix(), returns that
 105         value, otherwise tries to determine it automatically (Linux only right
 106         now) and finally returns the default @c /usr/local value if it failed.
 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         This is the same as GetDataDir() except
 114         under Unix where it returns @c /etc/appname.
 115     */
 116     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         In general this is just the same as @a lang subdirectory of
 122         GetResourcesDir() (or @c lang.lproj under Mac OS X) but is something quite
 123         different for message catalog category under Unix where it returns the standard
 124         @c prefix/share/locale/lang/LC_MESSAGES directory.
 125
 126         @since 2.7.0
 127     */
 128     wxString GetLocalizedResourcesDir(const wxString& lang,
 129                                       ResourceCat category = ResourceCat_None) const;
 130
 131     /**
 132         Return the directory where the loadable modules (plugins) live.
 133         Example return values:
 134              - Unix: @c prefix/lib/appname
 135              - Windows: the directory of the executable file
 136              - Mac: @c appname.app/Contents/PlugIns bundle subdirectory
 137
 138         @see wxDynamicLibrary
 139     */
 140     wxString GetPluginsDir() const;
 141
 142     /**
 143         Return the directory where the application resource files are located. The
 144         resources are the auxiliary data files needed for the application to run and
 145         include, for example, image and sound files it might use.
 146         This function is the same as GetDataDir() for
 147         all platforms except Mac OS X.
 148         Example return values:
 149              - Unix: @c prefix/share/@e appname
 150              - Windows: the directory where the executable file is located
 151              - Mac: @c appname.app/Contents/Resources bundle subdirectory
 152
 153         @since 2.7.0
 154
 155         @see GetLocalizedResourcesDir()
 156     */
 157     wxString GetResourcesDir() const;
 158
 159     /**
 160         Return the directory for storing temporary files. To create unique temporary
 161         files,
 162         it is best to use wxFileName::CreateTempFileName for correct behaviour when
 163         multiple processes are attempting to create temporary files.
 164
 165         @since 2.7.2
 166     */
 167     wxString GetTempDir() const;
 168
 169     /**
 170         Return the directory for the user config files:
 171              - Unix: @c ~ (the home directory)
 172              - Windows: @c C:\\Documents @c and @c Settings\\username\\Application Data
 173              - Mac: @c ~/Library/Preferences
 174         Only use this method if you have a single configuration file to put in this
 175         directory, otherwise GetUserDataDir() is
 176         more appropriate.
 177     */
 178     wxString GetUserConfigDir() const;
 179
 180     /**
 181         Return the directory for the user-dependent application data files:
 182              - Unix: @c ~/.appname
 183              - Windows: @c C:\\Documents @c and @c Settings\\username\Application @c Data\appname
 184              - Mac: @c ~/Library/Application @c Support/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 all platforms except Windows where it returns
 192         @c C:\\Documents @c and @c Settings\\username\\Local @c Settings\\Application @c Data\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