Where can I learn advanced (Perl) Gtk2 design? [closed] - perl

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I've been working with Perl for years and recently started learning how to do GUI via Gtk2. All examples and tutorials I've found illustrate simple one-window type applications. Anything with a second window is limited to a simple text entry or yes/no type dialogue. I want to learn how to build something with that next-step more complex. I know how to build the windows, etc. (manually, or via Glade) but I don't understand how to tie the program flow together.
I'm willing to buy books, etc. but I've only seen ones for C (and not in-stock, I'd have to order them unseen) and I'm worried the differences to Perl::Gtk2 might still add too much complexity. Can anyone either provide me an example, or point me to a tutorial, etc.
Thanks much,
Adam

Answer 1

I've been doing Perl/GTK development for a couple years now and know what your talking about. Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory is a neat module but wasn't really my thing and definitely not necessary for building a complex Perl/GTK app. All widgets, including windows, in Perl/GTK support the show/hide method. Plus you can have as many toplevel windows as you want and just show and hide them as needed. Here's a simple example of switching between multiple windows:
#!/usr/bin/perl
use Glib qw/TRUE FALSE/;
use Gtk2 '-init';
$window = Gtk2::Window->new('toplevel');
$window->signal_connect(delete_event => sub { Gtk2->main_quit; });
$window->set_border_width(10);
$window->set_title("Window 1");
$window->set_position('center');
$button = Gtk2::Button->new("Switch to Window 2");
$button->signal_connect(clicked => sub {
$window->hide;
$window2->show;
});
$window->add($button);
$button->show;
$window2 = Gtk2::Window->new('toplevel');
$window2->signal_connect(delete_event => sub { Gtk2->main_quit; });
$window2->set_border_width(10);
$window2->set_title("Window 2");
$window2->set_position('center');
$button2 = Gtk2::Button->new("Switch to Window 1");
$button2->signal_connect(clicked => sub {
$window2->hide;
$window->show;
});
$window2->add($button2);
$button2->show;
$window->show;
Gtk2->main;

Answer 2

Check out Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory for writing consistent, data-driven Gtk applications, also look here for more information. Basically Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory helps you build applications rather than single screens. As the Gtk2::Ex::FormFactory widgets are simple wrappers over the Gtk2 classes, and the Perl Gtk2 classes are fairly simple wrappers over the C classes (except where the idioms are made more perlish), C-level experience in the Gtk libraries should not confuse you, in fact, the perl Gtk+2 manuals refer you back to the Gtk+2 Reference manual. See Gtk2::api for the differences.