AtkAction

## AtkAction AtkAction — The ATK interface provided by UI components which the user can activate/interact with. |

## Synopsis

                        AtkAction;
    struct              AtkActionIface;
    gboolean            atk_action_do_action                (AtkAction *action,
                                                             gint i);
    gint                atk_action_get_n_actions            (AtkAction *action);
    const gchar *       atk_action_get_description          (AtkAction *action,
                                                             gint i);
    const gchar *       atk_action_get_name                 (AtkAction *action,
                                                             gint i);
    const gchar *       atk_action_get_localized_name       (AtkAction *action,
                                                             gint i);
    const gchar *       atk_action_get_keybinding           (AtkAction *action,
                                                             gint i);
    gboolean            atk_action_set_description          (AtkAction *action,
                                                             gint i,
                                                             const gchar *desc);

## Object Hierarchy

      GInterface
       +----AtkAction

## Known Implementations

AtkAction is implemented by AtkHyperlink and AtkNoOpObject.

## Description

AtkAction should be implemented by instances of AtkObject classes with which the user can interact directly, i.e. buttons, checkboxes, scrollbars, e.g. components which are not "passive" providers of UI information.

Exceptions: when the user interaction is already covered by another appropriate interface such as AtkEditableText (insert/delete text, etc.) or AtkValue (set value) then these actions should not be exposed by AtkAction as well.

Though most UI interactions on components should be invocable via keyboard as well as mouse, there will generally be a close mapping between "mouse actions" that are possible on a component and the AtkActions. Where mouse and keyboard actions are redundant in effect, AtkAction should expose only one action rather than exposing redundant actions if possible. By convention we have been using "mouse centric" terminology for AtkAction names.

## Details

### AtkAction

    typedef struct _AtkAction AtkAction;

### struct AtkActionIface

    struct AtkActionIface {
      GTypeInterface parent;

      gboolean                (*do_action)         (AtkAction         *action,
                                                    gint              i);
      gint                    (*get_n_actions)     (AtkAction         *action);
      const gchar*            (*get_description)   (AtkAction         *action,
                                                    gint              i);
      const gchar*            (*get_name)          (AtkAction         *action,
                                                    gint              i);
      const gchar*            (*get_keybinding)    (AtkAction         *action,
                                                    gint              i);
      gboolean                (*set_description)   (AtkAction         *action,
                                                    gint              i,
                                                    const gchar       *desc);
      const gchar*            (*get_localized_name)(AtkAction         *action,
    						gint              i);
    };

### atk_action_do_action ()

    gboolean            atk_action_do_action                (AtkAction *action,
                                                             gint i);

Perform the specified action on the object.

`action` : | a GObject instance that implements AtkActionIface
`i` : | the action index corresponding to the action to be performed
Returns : | `TRUE` if success, `FALSE` otherwise

### atk_action_get_n_actions ()

    gint                atk_action_get_n_actions            (AtkAction *action);

Gets the number of accessible actions available on the object. If there are more than one, the first one is considered the "default" action of the object.

`action` : | a GObject instance that implements AtkActionIface
Returns : | a the number of actions, or 0 if `action` does not implement this interface.

### atk_action_get_description ()

    const gchar *       atk_action_get_description          (AtkAction *action,
                                                             gint i);

Returns a description of the specified action of the object.

`action` : | a GObject instance that implements AtkActionIface
`i` : | the action index corresponding to the action to be performed
Returns : | a description string, or `NULL` if `action` does not implement this interface.

### atk_action_get_name ()

    const gchar *       atk_action_get_name                 (AtkAction *action,
                                                             gint i);

Returns a non-localized string naming the specified action of the object. This name is generally not descriptive of the end result of the action, but instead names the 'interaction type' which the object supports. By convention, the above strings should be used to represent the actions which correspond to the common point-and-click interaction techniques of the same name: i.e. "click", "press", "release", "drag", "drop", "popup", etc. The "popup" action should be used to pop up a context menu for the object, if one exists.

For technical reasons, some toolkits cannot guarantee that the reported action is actually 'bound' to a nontrivial user event; i.e. the result of some actions via `atk_action_do_action()` may be NIL.

`action` : | a GObject instance that implements AtkActionIface
`i` : | the action index corresponding to the action to be performed
Returns : | a name string, or `NULL` if `action` does not implement this interface.

### atk_action_get_localized_name ()

    const gchar *       atk_action_get_localized_name       (AtkAction *action,
                                                             gint i);

Returns the localized name of the specified action of the object.

`action` : | a GObject instance that implements AtkActionIface
`i` : | the action index corresponding to the action to be performed
Returns : | a name string, or `NULL` if `action` does not implement this interface.

### atk_action_get_keybinding ()

    const gchar *       atk_action_get_keybinding           (AtkAction *action,
                                                             gint i);

Gets the keybinding which can be used to activate this action, if one exists. The string returned should contain localized, human-readable, key sequences as they would appear when displayed on screen. It must be in the format "mnemonic;sequence;shortcut".

- The mnemonic key activates the object if it is presently enabled onscreen. This typically corresponds to the underlined letter within the widget. Example: "n" in a traditional "New..." menu item or the "a" in "Apply" for a button.

- The sequence is the full list of keys which invoke the action even if the relevant element is not currently shown on screen. For instance, for a menu item the sequence is the keybindings used to open the parent menus before invoking. The sequence string is colon-delimited. Example: "Alt+F:N" in a traditional "New..." menu item.

- The shortcut, if it exists, will invoke the same action without showing the component or its enclosing menus or dialogs. Example: "Ctrl+N" in a traditional "New..." menu item.

Example: For a traditional "New..." menu item, the expected return value would be: "N;Alt+F:N;Ctrl+N" for the English locale and "N;Alt+D:N;Strg+N" for the German locale. If, hypothetically, this menu item lacked a mnemonic, it would be represented by ";;Ctrl+N" and ";;Strg+N" respectively.

`action` : | a GObject instance that implements AtkActionIface
`i` : | the action index corresponding to the action to be performed
Returns : | the keybinding which can be used to activate this action, or `NULL` if there is no keybinding for this action.

### atk_action_set_description ()

    gboolean            atk_action_set_description          (AtkAction *action,
                                                             gint i,
                                                             const gchar *desc);

Sets a description of the specified action of the object.

`action` : | a GObject instance that implements AtkActionIface
`i` : | the action index corresponding to the action to be performed
`desc` : | the description to be assigned to this action
Returns : | a gboolean representing if the description was successfully set;