Migrating between development versions
This guide outlines the differences between Libadwaita development releases. It assumes you’ve already migrated from Libhandy 1.4 to Libadwaita, or you created a new project using a development release of Libadwaita.
If you want to migrate from Libhandy 1.4 to the latest Libadwaita release, follow this guide.
Migrating from alpha 1 to alpha 2
Adapt to view switcher API Changes
AdwViewSwitcher, AdwViewSwitcherBar and
AdwViewSwitcherTitle now use AdwViewStack instead of
GtkStack.
You should stop using GtkStack:transition-type and
GtkStack:transition-duration properties before switching to
AdwViewStack.
Adapt to Stylesheet Changes
The public colors theme_selected_bg_color and theme_selected_fg_color have
been renamed to accent_bg_color and accent_fg_color.
If you were using theme_selected_bg_color as a text color, use
accent_color instead to make sure the text is readable. You can also use the
.accent style class to apply the correct color.
Migrating from alpha 2 to alpha 3
Stop Using AdwValueObject with non-string values
AdwValueObject has been removed. The typical use for storing strings in
combination with GListStore can be replaced by using
GtkStringList, others cases can be replaced by creating your own
objects to store those values .
Adapt to AdwEnumValueObject API Changes
AdwEnumValueObject has been renamed to AdwEnumListItem.
Adapt to window API changes
The child property in AdwWindow and AdwApplicationWindow has
been renamed to content.
Adapt to AdwLeaflet API changes
The hhomogeneous-folded, vhomogeneous-folded, hhomogeneous-unfolded,
and vhomogeneous-unfolded properties have been replaced by a single
AdwLeaflet:homogeneous property, set to TRUE by default,
applied when the leaflet is folded for the opposite orientation.
When unfolded, children are never homogeneous. Use GtkSizeGroup
to make them homogeneous if needed.
The interpolate-size property has been removed with no replacement, it’s
always enabled when AdwLeaflet:homogeneous is set to FALSE.
Adapt to view switcher API changes
The auto view switcher policy has been removed. AdwViewSwitcher only
has narrow and wide policies; if you had used the auto policy, use an
AdwSqueezer with two view switchers inside.
Adapt to AdwViewSwitcher API Changes
The “narrow-ellipsize” property has been removed. Narrow view switchers always ellipsize their labels, wide switchers never do.
Adapt to AdwViewSwitcherBar API Changes
The “policy” property has been removed. If you had used it, use a plain
AdwViewSwitcher in a GtkActionBar instead.
Adapt to AdwViewSwitcherTitle API Changes
The “policy” property has been removed, the behavior is similar to the removed
auto policy. If you had used wide or narrow policies, use an
AdwSqueezer with an AdwViewSwitcher and an
AdwWindowTitle inside, with the switcher having the desired policy.
Adapt to AdwAvatar API Changes
The adw_avatar_draw_to_pixbuf() function have been removed, use the newly
added adw_avatar_draw_to_texture() instead. GdkTexture
implements GIcon, so it should just work for that case.
adw_avatar_draw_to_texture() does not have the size parameter. Instead,
it uses the avatar’s current size, with no replacement.
Use AdwStyleManager instead of GtkSettings:gtk-application-prefer-dark-theme
Using GtkSettings:gtk-application-prefer-dark-theme to control dark
appearance is not supported anymore, set AdwStyleManager:color-scheme
to ADW_COLOR_SCHEME_PREFER_DARK and make sure the application can work with
light appearance as well. If that’s not possible, set it to or
ADW_COLOR_SCHEME_FORCE_DARK instead.
If your application is using light appearance, make sure it works wit dark
appearance as well, or set the color scheme to ADW_COLOR_SCHEME_FORCE_LIGHT
otherwise.
Adapt to Stylesheet Changes
Adapt to Header Bar, Action Bar and Toolbar Style Changes
When possible, buttons in GtkHeaderBar and GtkActionBar will
use flat appearance by default.
The following rules are used when deciding when to make buttons flat or not:
The following buttons get flat appearance:
- Icon-only buttons;
- Buttons with an icon and a label (using
AdwButtonContent); - Menu buttons containing an arrow;
AdwSplitButton;- Any other button with the
.flatstyle class.
The following buttons keep default appearance:
- Text-only buttons;
- Buttons with other content;
- Buttons within widgets containing the
.linkedstyle class; - Buttons with the
.suggested-actionor.destructive-actionstyle classes. - Buttons with the
.raisedstyle class.
It’s important to avoid ambiguous layouts, for example text-only buttons with no icon, since such a button would be indistinguishable from the window title without hovering it.
In rare cases, the existing layout may need a redesign to work with the new style.
The same rules are also used for the .toolbar style class now, instead of
making every button appear flat.
Adjusting Icon+Arrow Menu Buttons
If you had menu buttons containing an icon and a dropdown arrow, switch to
GtkMenuButton:icon-name and set the
GtkMenuButton:always-show-arrow property to TRUE.
Adjusting Text-only Buttons
If you had text-only buttons, consider using AdwButtonContent. For
example, the following button:
<object class="GtkButton">
<property name="label" translatable="yes">_Open</property>
<property name="use-underline">True</property>
</object>
can be changed into:
<object class="GtkButton">
<property name="child">
<object class="AdwButtonContent">
<property name="icon-name">document-open-symbolic</property>
<property name="label" translatable="yes">_Open</property>
<property name="use-underline">True</property>
</object>
</property>
</object>
One exception are the two primary buttons in a dialog, for example, “Cancel” and “Open”. Those buttons should retain their default appearance.
Adjusting Split Buttons
If you had split buttons implemented via a GtkBox with the .linked style
class and two buttons packed inside, use AdwSplitButton as follows:
<object class="AdwSplitButton">
<property name="menu-model">some_menu</property>
<property name="icon-name">view-list-symbolic</property>
</object>
Adjusting Linked Buttons
For other linked together buttons, simply stop linking them.
If multiple linked groups were used to separate different groups of actions, insert extra spacing as follows:
<object class="GtkSeparator">
<style>
<class name="spacer"/>
</style>
</object>
Custom adjustments
The .flat and .raised style classes can always be used to override the
default appearance.
Important: the GtkButton:has-frame property will not be set to
FALSE when a button gets the flat appearance automatically. It also cannot be
set to TRUE to make a button raised, the style class should be used directly instead.