Glib::VariantType Class Reference
Variant Data Types

VariantType - The VariantBase type system. More...

`#include <glibmm/varianttype.h>`

## Public Member Functions

| VariantType ()
| Constructs an invalid object. More...
| VariantType (GVariantType* castitem, bool make_a_copy=false)
| VariantType (const VariantType& src)
VariantType& | operator= (const VariantType& src)
| VariantType (VariantType&& other) noexcept
VariantType& | operator= (VariantType&& other) noexcept
| ~VariantType () noexcept
void | swap (VariantType& other) noexcept
GVariantType* | gobj ()
const GVariantType* | gobj () const
GVariantType* | gobj_copy () const
| Provides access to the underlying C instance. The caller is responsible for freeing it. Use when directly setting fields in structs. More...
| VariantType (const GVariantType* castitem)
| Copy the C item into a new VariantType instance. More...
| VariantType (const std::string& type_string)
| Creates a new VariantType corresponding to the type string given by type_string. More...
VariantType& | operator= (const GVariantType* castitem)
std::string | get_string () const
| Returns the type string corresponding to the given type. More...
bool | is_definite () const
| Determines if the given type is definite (ie: not indefinite). More...
bool | is_container () const
| Determines if the given type is a container type. More...
bool | is_basic () const
| Determines if the given type is a basic type. More...
bool | is_maybe () const
| Determines if the given type is a maybe type. More...
bool | is_array () const
| Determines if the given type is an array type. More...
bool | is_tuple () const
| Determines if the given type is a tuple type. More...
bool | is_dict_entry () const
| Determines if the given type is a dictionary entry type. More...
bool | is_variant () const
| Determines if the given type is the variant type. More...
guint | hash () const
| Hashes type. More...
bool | equal (const VariantType& other) const
| Compares *this and other for equality. More...
bool | is_subtype_of (const VariantType& supertype) const
| Checks if type is a subtype of supertype. More...
VariantType | element () const
| Determines the element type of an array or maybe type. More...
VariantType | first () const
| Determines the first item type of a tuple or dictionary entry type. More...
VariantType | next () const
| Determines the next item type of a tuple or dictionary entry type. More...
gsize | n_items () const
| Determines the number of items contained in a tuple or dictionary entry type. More...
VariantType | key () const
| Determines the key type of a dictionary entry type. More...
VariantType | value () const
| Determines the value type of a dictionary entry type. More...
std::vector< VariantType > | get_item_types () const
| Determines the item types of a tuple or dictionary entry type. More...

## Static Public Member Functions

static VariantType | create_array (const VariantType&element)
| Constructs the type corresponding to an array of elements of the type type. More...
static VariantType | create_maybe (const VariantType&element)
| Constructs the type corresponding to a maybe instance containing type type or Nothing. More...
static VariantType | create_tuple (const std::vector< VariantType >& items)
| Constructs a new tuple type, from items. More...
static VariantType | create_dict_entry (const VariantType&key, const VariantType&value)
| Constructs the type corresponding to a dictionary entry with a key of type key and a value of type value. More...

## Protected Attributes

GVariantType* | gobject_

## Related Functions

(Note that these are not member functions.)
void | swap (VariantType& lhs, VariantType& rhs) noexcept
Glib::VariantType | wrap (GVariantType* object, bool take_copy=false)
| A Glib::wrap() method for this object. More...

## Detailed Description

VariantType - The VariantBase type system.

The VariantBase type system is based, in large part, on the D-Bus type system, with two major changes and some minor lifting of restrictions. The D-Bus specification, therefore, provides a significant amount of information that is useful when working with VariantBase.

The first major change with respect to the D-Bus type system is the introduction of maybe (or "nullable") types. Any type in VariantBase can be converted to a maybe type, in which case, "nothing" (or "null") becomes a valid value. Maybe types have been added by introducing the character "m" to type strings.

The second major change is that the VariantBase type system supports the concept of "indefinite types" – types that are less specific than the normal types found in D-Bus. For example, it is possible to speak of "an array of any type" in VariantBase, where the D-Bus type system would require you to speak of "an array of integers" or "an array of strings". Indefinite types have been added by introducing the characters "*", "?" and "r" to type strings.

Finally, all arbitrary restrictions relating to the complexity of types are lifted along with the restriction that dictionary entries may only appear nested inside of arrays.

Just as in D-Bus, VariantBase types are described with strings ("type strings"). Subject to the differences mentioned above, these strings are of the same form as those found in D-Bus. Note, however: D-Bus always works in terms of messages and therefore individual type strings appear nowhere in its interface. Instead, "signatures" are a concatenation of the strings of the type of each argument in a message. VariantBase deals with single values directly so VariantBase type strings always describe the type of exactly one value. This means that a D-Bus signature string is generally not a valid VariantBase type string – except in the case that it is the signature of a message containing exactly one argument.

An indefinite type is similar in spirit to what may be called an abstract type in other type systems. No value can exist that has an indefinite type as its type, but values can exist that have types that are subtypes of indefinite types. That is to say, VariantBase::get_type() will never return an indefinite type, but calling VariantBase::is_of_type() with an indefinite type may return `true`. For example, you cannot have a value that represents "an array of no particular type", but you can have an "array of integers" which certainly matches the type of "an array of no particular type", since "array of integers" is a subtype of "array of no particular type".

This is similar to how instances of abstract classes may not directly exist in other type systems, but instances of their non-abstract subtypes may. For example, in gtkmm, no object that has the type of Gtk::Bin can exist (since Gtk::Bin is an abstract class), but a Gtk::Window can certainly be instantiated, and you would say that the Gtk::Window is a Gtk::Bin (since Gtk::Window is a subclass of Gtk::Bin).

See the underlying GVariantType documentation for detailed description of the VariantBase type strings.

Since glibmm 2.28:

## Constructor & Destructor Documentation

## VariantType() [1/6]

Glib::VariantType::VariantType | ( |  | ) |

Constructs an invalid object.

E.g. for output arguments to methods. There is not much you can do with the object before it has been assigned a valid value.

## VariantType() [2/6]

Glib::VariantType::VariantType | ( | GVariantType * | castitem,
|  | bool | make_a_copy = `false`
| ) |  |

explicit

## VariantType() [3/6]

Glib::VariantType::VariantType | ( | const VariantType& | src | ) |

## VariantType() [4/6]

Glib::VariantType::VariantType | ( | VariantType&& | other | ) |

noexcept

## ~VariantType()

Glib::VariantType::~VariantType | ( |  | ) |

noexcept

## VariantType() [5/6]

Glib::VariantType::VariantType | ( | const GVariantType * | castitem | ) |

explicit

Copy the C item into a new VariantType instance.

## VariantType() [6/6]

Glib::VariantType::VariantType | ( | const std::string & | type_string | ) |

explicit

Creates a new VariantType corresponding to the type string given by type_string.

It is a programmer error to call this function with an invalid type string. Use string_is_valid() if you are unsure.

## Member Function Documentation

## create_array()

static VariantType Glib::VariantType::create_array | ( | const VariantType& | element | ) |

static

Constructs the type corresponding to an array of elements of the type type.

It is appropriate to call g_variant_type_free() on the return value.

Since glibmm 2.24:

Parameters

  element | A VariantType.

Returns
  A new array VariantType.

## create_dict_entry()

static VariantType Glib::VariantType::create_dict_entry | ( | const VariantType& | key,
|  | const VariantType& | value
| ) |  |

static

Constructs the type corresponding to a dictionary entry with a key of type key and a value of type value.

It is appropriate to call g_variant_type_free() on the return value.

Since glibmm 2.24:

Parameters

  key | A basic VariantType.
  value | A VariantType.

Returns
  A new dictionary entry VariantType.

## create_maybe()

static VariantType Glib::VariantType::create_maybe | ( | const VariantType& | element | ) |

static

Constructs the type corresponding to a maybe instance containing type type or Nothing.

It is appropriate to call g_variant_type_free() on the return value.

Since glibmm 2.24:

Parameters

  element | A VariantType.

Returns
  A new maybe VariantType.

## create_tuple()

static VariantType Glib::VariantType::create_tuple | ( | const std::vector< VariantType >& | items | ) |

static

Constructs a new tuple type, from items.

Parameters

  items | A vector of VariantTypes, one for each item.

Returns
  A new tuple VariantType.

Since glibmm 2.36:

## element()

VariantType Glib::VariantType::element | ( |  | ) | const

Determines the element type of an array or maybe type.

This function may only be used with array or maybe types.

Since glibmm 2.24:

Returns
  The element type of type.

## equal()

bool Glib::VariantType::equal | ( | const VariantType& | other | ) | const

Compares *this and other for equality.

Only returns `true` if the types are exactly equal. Even if one type is an indefinite type and the other is a subtype of it, `false` will be returned if they are not exactly equal. If you want to check for subtypes, use is_subtype_of().

Parameters

  other | The VariantType to compare with.

Returns
  `true` if *this and other are exactly equal.

Since glibmm 2.24:

## first()

VariantType Glib::VariantType::first | ( |  | ) | const

Determines the first item type of a tuple or dictionary entry type.

This function may only be used with tuple or dictionary entry types, but must not be used with the generic tuple type G_VARIANT_TYPE_TUPLE.

In the case of a dictionary entry type, this returns the type of the key.

`nullptr` is returned in case of type being G_VARIANT_TYPE_UNIT.

This call, together with g_variant_type_next() provides an iterator interface over tuple and dictionary entry types.

Since glibmm 2.24:

Deprecated:
  Use get_item_types() instead.

Returns
  The first item type of type, or `nullptr`.

## get_item_types()

std::vector<VariantType> Glib::VariantType::get_item_types | ( |  | ) | const

Determines the item types of a tuple or dictionary entry type.

This function may only be used with tuple or dictionary entry types, but must not be used with the generic tuple type VARIANT_TYPE_TUPLE.

In the case of a dictionary entry type, returns a vector with 2 elements, the type of the key followed by the value type.

An empty vector is returned in case of this VariantType being VARIANT_TYPE_UNIT.

Since glibmm 2.52:

Returns
  The item types of this VariantType, or an empty vector.

## get_string()

std::string Glib::VariantType::get_string | ( |  | ) | const

Returns the type string corresponding to the given type.

The result is not nul-terminated; in order to determine its length you must call g_variant_type_get_string_length().

To get a nul-terminated string, see g_variant_type_dup_string().

Since glibmm 2.24:

Returns
  The corresponding type string (not nul-terminated).

## gobj() [1/2]

GVariantType* Glib::VariantType::gobj | ( |  | ) |

inline

## gobj() [2/2]

const GVariantType* Glib::VariantType::gobj | ( |  | ) | const

inline

## gobj_copy()

GVariantType* Glib::VariantType::gobj_copy | ( |  | ) | const

Provides access to the underlying C instance. The caller is responsible for freeing it. Use when directly setting fields in structs.

## hash()

guint Glib::VariantType::hash | ( |  | ) | const

Hashes type.

The argument type of type is only #gconstpointer to allow use with HashTable without function pointer casting. A valid VariantType must be provided.

Since glibmm 2.24:

Returns
  The hash value.

## is_array()

bool Glib::VariantType::is_array | ( |  | ) | const

Determines if the given type is an array type.

This is true if the type string for type starts with an 'a'.

This function returns `true` for any indefinite type for which every definite subtype is an array type – G_VARIANT_TYPE_ARRAY, for example.

Since glibmm 2.24:

Returns
  `true` if type is an array type.

## is_basic()

bool Glib::VariantType::is_basic | ( |  | ) | const

Determines if the given type is a basic type.

Basic types are booleans, bytes, integers, doubles, strings, object paths and signatures.

Only a basic type may be used as the key of a dictionary entry.

This function returns `false` for all indefinite types except G_VARIANT_TYPE_BASIC.

Since glibmm 2.24:

Returns
  `true` if type is a basic type.

## is_container()

bool Glib::VariantType::is_container | ( |  | ) | const

Determines if the given type is a container type.

Container types are any array, maybe, tuple, or dictionary entry types plus the variant type.

This function returns `true` for any indefinite type for which every definite subtype is a container – G_VARIANT_TYPE_ARRAY, for example.

Since glibmm 2.24:

Returns
  `true` if type is a container type.

## is_definite()

bool Glib::VariantType::is_definite | ( |  | ) | const

Determines if the given type is definite (ie: not indefinite).

A type is definite if its type string does not contain any indefinite type characters ('*', '?', or 'r').

A Variant instance may not have an indefinite type, so calling this function on the result of g_variant_get_type() will always result in `true` being returned. Calling this function on an indefinite type like G_VARIANT_TYPE_ARRAY, however, will result in `false` being returned.

Since glibmm 2.24:

Returns
  `true` if type is definite.

## is_dict_entry()

bool Glib::VariantType::is_dict_entry | ( |  | ) | const

Determines if the given type is a dictionary entry type.

This is true if the type string for type starts with a '{'.

This function returns `true` for any indefinite type for which every definite subtype is a dictionary entry type – G_VARIANT_TYPE_DICT_ENTRY, for example.

Since glibmm 2.24:

Returns
  `true` if type is a dictionary entry type.

## is_maybe()

bool Glib::VariantType::is_maybe | ( |  | ) | const

Determines if the given type is a maybe type.

This is true if the type string for type starts with an 'm'.

This function returns `true` for any indefinite type for which every definite subtype is a maybe type – G_VARIANT_TYPE_MAYBE, for example.

Since glibmm 2.24:

Returns
  `true` if type is a maybe type.

## is_subtype_of()

bool Glib::VariantType::is_subtype_of | ( | const VariantType& | supertype | ) | const

Checks if type is a subtype of supertype.

This function returns `true` if type is a subtype of supertype. All types are considered to be subtypes of themselves. Aside from that, only indefinite types can have subtypes.

Since glibmm 2.24:

Parameters

  supertype | A VariantType.

Returns
  `true` if type is a subtype of supertype.

## is_tuple()

bool Glib::VariantType::is_tuple | ( |  | ) | const

Determines if the given type is a tuple type.

This is true if the type string for type starts with a '(' or if type is G_VARIANT_TYPE_TUPLE.

This function returns `true` for any indefinite type for which every definite subtype is a tuple type – G_VARIANT_TYPE_TUPLE, for example.

Since glibmm 2.24:

Returns
  `true` if type is a tuple type.

## is_variant()

bool Glib::VariantType::is_variant | ( |  | ) | const

Determines if the given type is the variant type.

Since glibmm 2.24:

Returns
  `true` if type is the variant type.

## key()

VariantType Glib::VariantType::key | ( |  | ) | const

Determines the key type of a dictionary entry type.

This function may only be used with a dictionary entry type. Other than the additional restriction, this call is equivalent to g_variant_type_first().

Since glibmm 2.24:

Returns
  The key type of the dictionary entry.

## n_items()

gsize Glib::VariantType::n_items | ( |  | ) | const

Determines the number of items contained in a tuple or dictionary entry type.

This function may only be used with tuple or dictionary entry types, but must not be used with the generic tuple type G_VARIANT_TYPE_TUPLE.

In the case of a dictionary entry type, this function will always return 2.

Since glibmm 2.24:

Returns
  The number of items in type.

## next()

VariantType Glib::VariantType::next | ( |  | ) | const

Determines the next item type of a tuple or dictionary entry type.

type must be the result of a previous call to g_variant_type_first() or g_variant_type_next().

If called on the key type of a dictionary entry then this call returns the value type. If called on the value type of a dictionary entry then this call returns `nullptr`.

For tuples, `nullptr` is returned when type is the last item in a tuple.

Since glibmm 2.24:

Deprecated:
  Use get_item_types() instead.

Returns
  The next VariantType after type, or `nullptr`.

## operator=() [1/3]

VariantType& Glib::VariantType::operator= | ( | const VariantType& | src | ) |

## operator=() [2/3]

VariantType& Glib::VariantType::operator= | ( | VariantType&& | other | ) |

noexcept

## operator=() [3/3]

VariantType& Glib::VariantType::operator= | ( | const GVariantType * | castitem | ) |

## swap()

void Glib::VariantType::swap | ( | VariantType& | other | ) |

noexcept

## value()

VariantType Glib::VariantType::value | ( |  | ) | const

Determines the value type of a dictionary entry type.

This function may only be used with a dictionary entry type.

Since glibmm 2.24:

Returns
  The value type of the dictionary entry.

## Friends And Related Function Documentation

## swap()

void swap | ( | VariantType& | lhs,
|  | VariantType& | rhs
| ) |  |

related

Parameters

  lhs | The left-hand side
  rhs | The right-hand side

## wrap()

Glib::VariantType wrap | ( | GVariantType * | object,
|  | bool | take_copy = `false`
| ) |  |

related

A Glib::wrap() method for this object.

Parameters

  object | The C instance.
  take_copy | False if the result should take ownership of the C instance. True if it should take a new copy or ref.

Returns
  A C++ instance that wraps this C instance.

## Member Data Documentation

## gobject_

GVariantType* Glib::VariantType::gobject_

protected