Vala Reference Manual

This is the reference for all features, syntax elements, internals and generated output of Vala.

It is not the best place to learn about Vala and especially for beginners might not be easy to understand. A good first tutorial for beginners is the Vala Tutorial. If you want to write a GUI app start here.

To contribute to this reference you can submit merge requests to the Gitlab repository.

• Overview
  • Getting started
  • Documentation conventions
  • Vala source files
  • Vala conventions
  • Vala syntax
  • GType and GObject
  • Memory management
  • Vala compilation
  • Application entry point
• Concepts
  • Variables
  • Scope and naming
  • Object oriented programming
  • References and ownership
• Types
  • Value types
  • Reference types
  • Parameterised types
  • Nullable types
  • Pointer types
  • Type conversions
• Expressions
  • Literal expressions
  • Member access
  • Element access
  • Arithmetic operations
  • Relational operations
  • Increment/decrement operations
  • Logical operations
  • Bitwise operations
  • Assignment operations
  • Invocation expressions
  • Class instantiation
  • Struct instantiation
  • Array instantiation
  • Conditional expressions
  • Coalescing expressions
  • Flag operations
  • Type operations
  • Ownership transfer expressions
  • Lambda expressions
  • Pointer expressions
• Statements
  • Simple statements
  • Variable declaration
  • Selection statements
  • Iteration statements
  • Jump Statements
  • Try Statement
  • Lock Statement
  • Unlock Statement
  • With Statement
• Namespaces
  • The global namespace
  • Namespace declaration
  • Members
  • Fields
  • Constants
  • The “using” statement
• Methods
  • Parameter directions
  • Method declaration
  • Invocation
  • Scope
  • Lambdas
  • Contract programming
• Delegates
  • Types of delegate
  • Delegate declaration
  • Using delegates
  • Examples
• Errors
  • Error throwing
  • Error catching
  • Examples
• Classes
  • Types of class
  • Types of class members
  • Class scope
  • Class member visibility
  • Class declaration
  • Controlling instantiation
  • Construction
  • Class fields
  • Class constants
  • Class methods
  • Properties
  • Signals
  • Class enums
  • Class delegates
  • Examples
• Interfaces
  • Interface declaration
  • Interface fields
  • Interface methods
  • Interface properties
  • Interface signals
  • Other interface members
  • Examples
• Generics
  • Generics declaration
  • Instantiation
  • Examples
• Structs
  • Struct declaration
  • Controlling instantiation
  • Struct fields
  • Struct constants
  • Struct methods
  • Examples
• Enumerated types (Enums)
  • Enum declaration
  • Enum members
  • Methods
  • Flag types
  • Error domains
  • Examples
• Attributes
  • Applying attributes
  • CCode attribute
  • Version attribute
  • SimpleType attribute
  • BooleanType attribute
  • IntegerType attribute
  • FloatingType attribute
  • Signal attribute
  • Description attribute
  • DBus attribute
  • Gtk attributes
  • Other attributes
  • Deprecated attributes
  • Examples
• Preprocessor
  • Directives syntax
  • Defining symbols
  • Built-in defines
  • Examples
• GIR metadata format
  • Locating metadata
  • Comments
  • Syntax
  • Valid arguments
  • Examples
• GIDL metadata format
  • Comments
  • Other Lines
  • Specifiers
  • Specifying Different Things
  • Properties Reference
  • Examples