GtkShortcutController is an event controller that manages shortcuts.

Most common shortcuts are using this controller implicitly, e.g. by adding a mnemonic underline to a GtkLabel, or by installing a key binding using gtk_widget_class_add_binding(), or by adding accelerators to global actions using gtk_application_set_accels_for_action().

But it is possible to create your own shortcut controller, and add shortcuts to it.

GtkShortcutController implements GListModel for querying the shortcuts that have been added to it.

GtkShortcutController as a GtkBuildable

GtkShortcutControllers can be creates in ui files to set up shortcuts in the same place as the widgets.

An example of a UI definition fragment with GtkShortcutController:

  <object class='GtkButton'>
    <child>
      <object class='GtkShortcutController'>
        <property name='scope'>managed</property>
        <child>
          <object class='GtkShortcut'>
            <property name='trigger'>&amp;lt;Control&amp;gt;k</property>
            <property name='action'>activate</property>
          </object>
        </child>
      </object>
    </child>
  </object>

This example creates a GtkActivateAction for triggering the activate signal of the GtkButton. See gtk_shortcut_action_parse_string() for the syntax for other kinds of GtkShortcutAction. See gtk_shortcut_trigger_parse_string() to learn more about the syntax for triggers.