GObject.Object

Compare to other types, GObject.Object has the best integration between the GObject and Python type system.

1. It is possible to subclass a GObject.Object. Subclassing creates a new GObject.GType which is connected to the new Python type. This means you can use it with API which takes GObject.GType.

2. The Python wrapper instance for a GObject.Object is always the same. For the same C instance you will always get the same Python instance.

In addition GObject.Object has support for signals and properties

Note

Due to how PyGObject deals with GObject internally, it’s not possible to use slots (__slots__).

Examples

Subclassing:

>>> from gi.repository import GObject
>>> class A(GObject.Object):
...     pass
...
>>> A()
<__main__.A object at 0x7f9113fc3280 (__main__+A at 0x559d9861acc0)>
>>> A.__gtype__
<GType __main__+A (94135355573712)>
>>> A.__gtype__.name
'__main__+A'
>>>

In case you want to specify the GType name we have to provide a __gtype_name__:

>>> from gi.repository import GObject
>>> class B(GObject.Object):
...     __gtype_name__ = "MyName"
...
>>> B.__gtype__
<GType MyName (94830143629776)>
>>>

GObject.Object only supports single inheritance, this means you can only subclass one GObject.Object, but multiple Python classes:

>>> from gi.repository import GObject
>>> class MixinA(object):
...     pass
...
>>> class MixinB(object):
...     pass
...
>>> class MyClass(GObject.Object, MixinA, MixinB):
...     pass
...
>>> instance = MyClass()

Here we can see how we create a Gio.ListStore for our new subclass and that we get back the same Python instance we put into it:

>>> from gi.repository import GObject, Gio
>>> class A(GObject.Object):
...     pass
...
>>> store = Gio.ListStore.new(A)
>>> instance = A()
>>> store.append(instance)
>>> store.get_item(0) is instance
True
>>>