21. Drag and Drop

Note

Versions of PyGObject < 3.0.3 contain a bug which does not allow drag and drop to function correctly. Therefore a version of PyGObject >= 3.0.3 is required for the following examples to work.

Setting up drag and drop between widgets consists of selecting a drag source (the widget which the user starts the drag from) with the Gtk.Widget.drag_source_set() method, selecting a drag destination (the widget which the user drops onto) with the Gtk.Widget.drag_dest_set() method and then handling the relevant signals on both widgets.

Instead of using Gtk.Widget.drag_source_set() and Gtk.Widget.drag_dest_set() some specialised widgets require the use of specific functions (such as Gtk.TreeView and Gtk.IconView).

A basic drag and drop only requires the source to connect to the “drag-data-get” signal and the destination to connect to the “drag-data-received” signal. More complex things such as specific drop areas and custom drag icons will require you to connect to additional signals and interact with the Gdk.DragContext object it supplies.

In order to transfer data between the source and destination, you must interact with the Gtk.SelectionData variable supplied in the “drag-data-get” and “drag-data-received” signals using the Gtk.SelectionData get and set methods.

21.1. Target Entries

To allow the drag source and destination to know what data they are receiving and sending, a common list of Gtk.TargetEntry's are required. A Gtk.TargetEntry describes a piece of data that will be sent by the drag source and received by the drag destination.

There are two ways of adding Gtk.TargetEntry's to a source and destination. If the drag and drop is simple and each target entry is of a different type, you can use the group of methods mentioned here.

If you require more than one type of data or wish to do more complex things with the data, you will need to create the Gtk.TargetEntry's using the Gtk.TargetEntry.new() method.

21.2. Drag Source Signals

Name	When it is emitted	Common Purpose
drag-begin	User starts a drag	Set-up drag icon
drag-data-get	When drag data is requested by the destination	Transfer drag data from source to destination
drag-data-delete	When a drag with the action Gdk.DragAction.MOVE is completed	Delete data from the source to complete the ‘move’
drag-end	When the drag is complete	Undo anything done in drag-begin

21.3. Drag Destination Signals

Name	When it is emitted	Common Purpose
drag-motion	Drag icon moves over a drop area	Allow only certain areas to be dropped onto
drag-drop	Icon is dropped onto a drag area	Allow only certain areas to be dropped onto
drag-data-received	When drag data is received by the destination	Transfer drag data from source to destination

21.4. Example

import gi

gi.require_version("Gtk", "3.0")
from gi.repository import Gtk, Gdk, GdkPixbuf

(TARGET_ENTRY_TEXT, TARGET_ENTRY_PIXBUF) = range(2)
(COLUMN_TEXT, COLUMN_PIXBUF) = range(2)

DRAG_ACTION = Gdk.DragAction.COPY


class DragDropWindow(Gtk.Window):
    def __init__(self):
        super().__init__(title="Drag and Drop Demo")

        vbox = Gtk.Box(orientation=Gtk.Orientation.VERTICAL, spacing=6)
        self.add(vbox)

        hbox = Gtk.Box(spacing=12)
        vbox.pack_start(hbox, True, True, 0)

        self.iconview = DragSourceIconView()
        self.drop_area = DropArea()

        hbox.pack_start(self.iconview, True, True, 0)
        hbox.pack_start(self.drop_area, True, True, 0)

        button_box = Gtk.Box(spacing=6)
        vbox.pack_start(button_box, True, False, 0)

        image_button = Gtk.RadioButton.new_with_label_from_widget(None, "Images")
        image_button.connect("toggled", self.add_image_targets)
        button_box.pack_start(image_button, True, False, 0)

        text_button = Gtk.RadioButton.new_with_label_from_widget(image_button, "Text")
        text_button.connect("toggled", self.add_text_targets)
        button_box.pack_start(text_button, True, False, 0)

        self.add_image_targets()

    def add_image_targets(self, button=None):
        targets = Gtk.TargetList.new([])
        targets.add_image_targets(TARGET_ENTRY_PIXBUF, True)

        self.drop_area.drag_dest_set_target_list(targets)
        self.iconview.drag_source_set_target_list(targets)

    def add_text_targets(self, button=None):
        self.drop_area.drag_dest_set_target_list(None)
        self.iconview.drag_source_set_target_list(None)

        self.drop_area.drag_dest_add_text_targets()
        self.iconview.drag_source_add_text_targets()


class DragSourceIconView(Gtk.IconView):
    def __init__(self):
        Gtk.IconView.__init__(self)
        self.set_text_column(COLUMN_TEXT)
        self.set_pixbuf_column(COLUMN_PIXBUF)

        model = Gtk.ListStore(str, GdkPixbuf.Pixbuf)
        self.set_model(model)
        self.add_item("Item 1", "image-missing")
        self.add_item("Item 2", "help-about")
        self.add_item("Item 3", "edit-copy")

        self.enable_model_drag_source(Gdk.ModifierType.BUTTON1_MASK, [], DRAG_ACTION)
        self.connect("drag-data-get", self.on_drag_data_get)

    def on_drag_data_get(self, widget, drag_context, data, info, time):
        selected_path = self.get_selected_items()[0]
        selected_iter = self.get_model().get_iter(selected_path)

        if info == TARGET_ENTRY_TEXT:
            text = self.get_model().get_value(selected_iter, COLUMN_TEXT)
            data.set_text(text, -1)
        elif info == TARGET_ENTRY_PIXBUF:
            pixbuf = self.get_model().get_value(selected_iter, COLUMN_PIXBUF)
            data.set_pixbuf(pixbuf)

    def add_item(self, text, icon_name):
        pixbuf = Gtk.IconTheme.get_default().load_icon(icon_name, 16, 0)
        self.get_model().append([text, pixbuf])


class DropArea(Gtk.Label):
    def __init__(self):
        Gtk.Label.__init__(self)
        self.set_label("Drop something on me!")
        self.drag_dest_set(Gtk.DestDefaults.ALL, [], DRAG_ACTION)

        self.connect("drag-data-received", self.on_drag_data_received)

    def on_drag_data_received(self, widget, drag_context, x, y, data, info, time):
        if info == TARGET_ENTRY_TEXT:
            text = data.get_text()
            print("Received text: %s" % text)

        elif info == TARGET_ENTRY_PIXBUF:
            pixbuf = data.get_pixbuf()
            width = pixbuf.get_width()
            height = pixbuf.get_height()

            print("Received pixbuf with width %spx and height %spx" % (width, height))


win = DragDropWindow()
win.connect("destroy", Gtk.main_quit)
win.show_all()
Gtk.main()