Version: 3.2.5
wxStandardPaths Class Reference

#include <wx/stdpaths.h>

Detailed Description

wxStandardPaths returns the standard locations in the file system and should be used by applications to find their data files in a portable way.

Note that you must not create objects of class wxStandardPaths directly, but use the global standard paths object returned by wxStandardPaths::Get() (which can be of a type derived from wxStandardPaths and not of exactly this type) and call the methods you need on it. The object returned by Get() may be customized by overriding wxAppTraits::GetStandardPaths() methods.

In the description of the methods below, the example return values are given for the Unix, Windows and macOS systems, however please note that these are just the examples and the actual values may differ. For example, under Windows: the system administrator may change the standard directories locations, e.g. the Windows directory may be named "W:\Win2003" instead of the default "C:\Windows".

Notice that in the examples below the string appinfo may be either just the application name (as returned by wxApp::GetAppName()) or a combination of the vendor name (wxApp::GetVendorName()) and the application name, with a path separator between them. By default, only the application name is used, use UseAppInfo() to change this.

The other placeholders should be self-explanatory: the string username should be replaced with the value the name of the currently logged in user. and prefix is only used under Unix and is /usr/local by default but may be changed using wxStandardPaths::SetInstallPrefix().

The directories returned by the methods of this class may or may not exist. If they don't exist, it's up to the caller to create them, wxStandardPaths doesn't do it.

Finally note that these functions only work with standardly packaged applications. I.e. under Unix you should follow the standard installation conventions and under Mac you should create your application bundle according to the Apple guidelines. Again, this class doesn't help you to do it.

This class is MT-safe: its methods may be called concurrently from different threads without additional locking.

Library:  wxBase
Category:  File Handling
See also
wxFileConfig

Public Types

enum  ResourceCat {
  ResourceCat_None ,
  ResourceCat_Messages
}
 Possible values for category parameter of GetLocalizedResourcesDir(). More...
 
enum  Dir {
  Dir_Cache ,
  Dir_Documents ,
  Dir_Desktop ,
  Dir_Downloads ,
  Dir_Music ,
  Dir_Pictures ,
  Dir_Videos
}
 Possible values for userDir parameter of GetUserDir(). More...
 
enum  FileLayout {
  FileLayout_Classic ,
  FileLayout_XDG
}
 Possible values for SetFileLayout() argument. More...
 
enum  ConfigFileConv {
  ConfigFileConv_Dot ,
  ConfigFileConv_Ext
}
 Possible values for MakeConfigFileName() naming convention argument. More...
 

Public Member Functions

void DontIgnoreAppSubDir ()
 MSW-specific function undoing the effect of IgnoreAppSubDir() calls. More...
 
virtual wxString GetAppDocumentsDir () const
 Return the directory for the document files used by this application. More...
 
virtual wxString GetConfigDir () const
 Return the directory containing the system config files. More...
 
virtual wxString GetDataDir () const
 Return the location of the applications global, i.e. not user-specific, data files. More...
 
virtual wxString GetDocumentsDir () const
 Same as calling GetUserDir() with Dir_Documents parameter. More...
 
virtual wxString GetExecutablePath () const
 Return the directory and the filename for the current executable. More...
 
wxString GetInstallPrefix () const
 Return the program installation prefix, e.g. /usr, /opt or /home/zeitlin. More...
 
virtual wxString GetLocalDataDir () const
 Return the location for application data files which are host-specific and can't, or shouldn't, be shared with the other machines. More...
 
virtual wxString GetLocalizedResourcesDir (const wxString &lang, ResourceCat category=ResourceCat_None) const
 Return the localized resources directory containing the resource files of the specified category for the given language. More...
 
virtual wxString GetPluginsDir () const
 Return the directory where the loadable modules (plugins) live. More...
 
virtual wxString GetResourcesDir () const
 Return the directory where the application resource files are located. More...
 
virtual wxString GetTempDir () const
 Return the directory for storing temporary files, for the current user. More...
 
virtual wxString GetUserConfigDir () const
 Return the directory for the user config files. More...
 
virtual wxString GetUserDataDir () const
 Return the directory for the user-dependent application data files: More...
 
virtual wxString GetUserDir (Dir userDir) const
 Return the path of the specified user data directory. More...
 
virtual wxString GetUserLocalDataDir () const
 Return the directory for user data files which shouldn't be shared with the other machines. More...
 
void IgnoreAppSubDir (const wxString &subdirPattern)
 MSW-specific function to customize application directory detection. More...
 
void IgnoreAppBuildSubDirs ()
 MSW-specific function to ignore all common build directories. More...
 
void SetInstallPrefix (const wxString &prefix)
 Lets wxStandardPaths know about the real program installation prefix on a Unix system. More...
 
void UseAppInfo (int info)
 Controls what application information is used when constructing paths that should be unique to this program, such as the application data directory, the plugins directory on Unix, etc. More...
 
void SetFileLayout (FileLayout layout)
 Sets the current file layout. More...
 
FileLayout GetFileLayout () const
 Returns the current file layout. More...
 
virtual wxString MakeConfigFileName (const wxString &basename, ConfigFileConv conv=ConfigFileConv_Ext) const
 Return the file name which would be used by wxFileConfig if it were constructed with basename. More...
 

Static Public Member Functions

static wxStandardPathsGet ()
 Returns reference to the unique global standard paths object. More...
 
static wxString MSWGetShellDir (int csidl)
 Returns location of Windows shell special folder. More...
 

Protected Member Functions

 wxStandardPaths ()
 Protected default constructor. More...
 

Member Enumeration Documentation

◆ ConfigFileConv

Possible values for MakeConfigFileName() naming convention argument.

The values in this enum are only used under Unix and only when using the classic Unix convention for file layout, in XDG mode, XDG naming convention is used unconditionally.

Since
3.1.1
Enumerator
ConfigFileConv_Dot 

Use the class Unix dot-file convention.

Prepend the dot to the file base name.

This value is ignored when in XDG mode, where MakeConfigFileName() always behaves as if ConfigFileConv_Ext was specified.

ConfigFileConv_Ext 

Use .conf extension for the file names.

This convention is always used in XDG mode.

◆ Dir

Possible values for userDir parameter of GetUserDir().

Enumerator
Dir_Cache 

Directory for caching files.

Example return values:

  • Unix: ~/.cache
  • Windows: "C:\Users\username\AppData\Local"
  • Mac: ~/Library/Caches
Dir_Documents 

Directory containing user documents.

Example return values:

  • Unix/Mac: ~/Documents
  • Windows: "C:\Users\username\Documents"
Dir_Desktop 

Directory containing files on the users desktop.

Example return values:

  • Unix/Mac: ~/Desktop
  • Windows: "C:\Users\username\Desktop"
Dir_Downloads 

Directory for downloaded files.

Example return values:

  • Unix/Mac: ~/Downloads
  • Windows: "C:\Users\username\Downloads" (Only available on Vista and newer)
Dir_Music 

Directory containing music files.

Example return values:

  • Unix/Mac: ~/Music
  • Windows: "C:\Users\username\Music"
Dir_Pictures 

Directory containing picture files.

Example return values:

  • Unix/Mac: ~/Pictures
  • Windows: "C:\Users\username\Pictures"
Dir_Videos 

Directory containing video files.

Example return values:

  • Unix: ~/Videos
  • Windows: "C:\Users\username\Videos"
  • Mac: ~/Movies

◆ FileLayout

Possible values for SetFileLayout() argument.

The elements of this enum correspond to the different file layout standards under Unix systems.

Since
3.1.1
Enumerator
FileLayout_Classic 

Use the classic file layout.

User configuration and data files are located directly in the home directory.

This is the default behaviour for compatibility reasons.

FileLayout_XDG 

Use a XDG styled file layout.

File layout follows the XDG Base Directory Specification (see https://standards.freedesktop.org/basedir-spec/basedir-spec-latest.html).

This is the recommended layout for new applications.

◆ ResourceCat

Possible values for category parameter of GetLocalizedResourcesDir().

Enumerator
ResourceCat_None 

No special category, this is the default.

ResourceCat_Messages 

Message catalog resources category.

Constructor & Destructor Documentation

◆ wxStandardPaths()

wxStandardPaths::wxStandardPaths ( )
protected

Protected default constructor.

This constructor is protected in order to prevent creation of objects of this class as Get() should be used instead to access the unique global wxStandardPaths object of the correct type.

Member Function Documentation

◆ DontIgnoreAppSubDir()

void wxStandardPaths::DontIgnoreAppSubDir ( )

MSW-specific function undoing the effect of IgnoreAppSubDir() calls.

After a call to this function the program directory will be exactly the directory containing the main application binary, i.e. it undoes the effect of any previous IgnoreAppSubDir() calls including the ones done indirectly by IgnoreAppBuildSubDirs() called from the class constructor.

Since
2.9.1

◆ Get()

static wxStandardPaths& wxStandardPaths::Get ( )
static

Returns reference to the unique global standard paths object.

◆ GetAppDocumentsDir()

virtual wxString wxStandardPaths::GetAppDocumentsDir ( ) const
virtual

Return the directory for the document files used by this application.

If the application-specific directory doesn't exist, this function returns GetDocumentsDir().

Example return values:

  • Unix: ~/appinfo
  • Windows: "C:\Users\username\Documents\appinfo" or "C:\Documents and Settings\username\My Documents\appinfo"
  • Mac: ~/Documents/appinfo
Since
2.9.0

◆ GetConfigDir()

virtual wxString wxStandardPaths::GetConfigDir ( ) const
virtual

Return the directory containing the system config files.

Example return values:

  • Unix: /etc
  • Windows: "C:\ProgramData\appinfo" or "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\appinfo"
  • Mac: /Library/Preferences
Note
Under Windows this includes appinfo which makes it inconsistent with other ports.
See also
wxFileConfig

◆ GetDataDir()

virtual wxString wxStandardPaths::GetDataDir ( ) const
virtual

Return the location of the applications global, i.e. not user-specific, data files.

Example return values:

  • Unix: prefix/share/appinfo
  • Windows: the directory where the executable file is located
  • Mac: appinfo.app/Contents/SharedSupport bundle subdirectory

Under Unix (only) it is possible to override the default value returned from this function by setting the value of WX_APPNAME_DATA_DIR environment variable to the directory to use (where APPNAME is the upper-cased value of wxApp::GetAppName()). This is useful in order to be able to run applications using this function without installing them as you can simply set this environment variable to the source directory location to allow the application to find its files there.

See also
GetLocalDataDir()

◆ GetDocumentsDir()

virtual wxString wxStandardPaths::GetDocumentsDir ( ) const
virtual

Same as calling GetUserDir() with Dir_Documents parameter.

Since
2.7.0
See also
GetAppDocumentsDir(), GetUserDir()

◆ GetExecutablePath()

virtual wxString wxStandardPaths::GetExecutablePath ( ) const
virtual

Return the directory and the filename for the current executable.

Example return values:

  • Unix: /usr/local/bin/exename
  • Windows: "C:\Programs\AppFolder\exename.exe"
  • Mac: /Applications/exename.app/Contents/MacOS/exename

◆ GetFileLayout()

FileLayout wxStandardPaths::GetFileLayout ( ) const

Returns the current file layout.

See also
SetFileLayout()
Since
3.1.1

◆ GetInstallPrefix()

wxString wxStandardPaths::GetInstallPrefix ( ) const

Return the program installation prefix, e.g. /usr, /opt or /home/zeitlin.

If the prefix had been previously by SetInstallPrefix(), returns that value, otherwise tries to determine it automatically (Linux only right now) and finally returns the default /usr/local value if it failed.

Note
This function is only available under Unix platforms (but not limited to wxGTK mentioned below).
Availability:  only available for the wxGTK port.

◆ GetLocalDataDir()

virtual wxString wxStandardPaths::GetLocalDataDir ( ) const
virtual

Return the location for application data files which are host-specific and can't, or shouldn't, be shared with the other machines.

This is the same as GetDataDir() except under Unix where it returns /etc/appinfo.

◆ GetLocalizedResourcesDir()

virtual wxString wxStandardPaths::GetLocalizedResourcesDir ( const wxString lang,
ResourceCat  category = ResourceCat_None 
) const
virtual

Return the localized resources directory containing the resource files of the specified category for the given language.

In general this is just the same as lang subdirectory of GetResourcesDir() (or lang.lproj under macOS) but is something quite different for message catalog category under Unix where it returns the standard prefix/share/locale/lang/LC_MESSAGES directory.

Since
2.7.0

◆ GetPluginsDir()

virtual wxString wxStandardPaths::GetPluginsDir ( ) const
virtual

Return the directory where the loadable modules (plugins) live.

Example return values:

  • Unix: prefix/lib/appinfo
  • Windows: the directory of the executable file
  • Mac: appinfo.app/Contents/PlugIns bundle subdirectory
See also
wxDynamicLibrary

◆ GetResourcesDir()

virtual wxString wxStandardPaths::GetResourcesDir ( ) const
virtual

Return the directory where the application resource files are located.

The resources are the auxiliary data files needed for the application to run and include, for example, image and sound files it might use.

This function is the same as GetDataDir() for all platforms except macOS. Example return values:

  • Unix: prefix/share/appinfo
  • Windows: the directory where the executable file is located
  • Mac: appinfo.app/Contents/Resources bundle subdirectory
Since
2.7.0
See also
GetLocalizedResourcesDir()

◆ GetTempDir()

virtual wxString wxStandardPaths::GetTempDir ( ) const
virtual

Return the directory for storing temporary files, for the current user.

Same as wxFileName::GetTempDir(). To create unique temporary files, it is best to use wxFileName::CreateTempFileName() for correct behaviour when multiple processes are attempting to create temporary files.

Since
2.7.2

◆ GetUserConfigDir()

virtual wxString wxStandardPaths::GetUserConfigDir ( ) const
virtual

Return the directory for the user config files.

This directory is:

  • Unix: ~ (the home directory) or XDG_CONFIG_HOME depending on GetFileLayout() return value
  • Windows: "C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming" or "C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data"
  • Mac: ~/Library/Preferences

Only use this method if you have a single configuration file to put in this directory, otherwise GetUserDataDir() is more appropriate as the latter adds appinfo to the path, unlike this function.

◆ GetUserDataDir()

virtual wxString wxStandardPaths::GetUserDataDir ( ) const
virtual

Return the directory for the user-dependent application data files:

  • Unix: ~/.appinfo
  • Windows: "C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\appinfo" or "C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\appinfo"
  • Mac: "~/Library/Application Support/appinfo"

◆ GetUserDir()

virtual wxString wxStandardPaths::GetUserDir ( Dir  userDir) const
virtual

Return the path of the specified user data directory.

If the value could not be determined the users home directory is returned.

Note
On Unix this (newer) method always respects the XDG base directory specification, even if SetFileLayout() with FileLayout_XDG hadn't been called.
Since
3.1.0

◆ GetUserLocalDataDir()

virtual wxString wxStandardPaths::GetUserLocalDataDir ( ) const
virtual

Return the directory for user data files which shouldn't be shared with the other machines.

This is the same as GetUserDataDir() for all platforms except Windows where it returns "C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\appinfo" or "C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data\appinfo"

◆ IgnoreAppBuildSubDirs()

void wxStandardPaths::IgnoreAppBuildSubDirs ( )

MSW-specific function to ignore all common build directories.

This function calls IgnoreAppSubDir() with all common values for build directory, e.g. "debug" and "release".

It is called by the class constructor and so the build directories are always ignored by default. You may use DontIgnoreAppSubDir() to avoid ignoring them if this is inappropriate for your application.

Since
2.9.1

◆ IgnoreAppSubDir()

void wxStandardPaths::IgnoreAppSubDir ( const wxString subdirPattern)

MSW-specific function to customize application directory detection.

This class supposes that data, plugins &c files are located under the program directory which is the directory containing the application binary itself. But sometimes this binary may be in a subdirectory of the main program directory, e.g. this happens in at least the following common cases:

  • The program is in "bin" subdirectory of the installation directory.
  • The program is in "debug" subdirectory of the directory containing sources and data files during development

By calling this function you instruct the class to remove the last component of the path if it matches its argument. Notice that it may be called more than once, e.g. you can call both IgnoreAppSubDir("bin") and IgnoreAppSubDir("debug") to take care of both production and development cases above but that each call will only remove the last path component. Finally note that the argument can contain wild cards so you can also call IgnoreAppSubDir("vc*msw*") to ignore all build directories at once when using wxWidgets-inspired output directories names.

Since
2.9.1
See also
IgnoreAppBuildSubDirs()
Parameters
subdirPatternThe subdirectory containing the application binary which should be ignored when determining the top application directory. The pattern is case-insensitive and may contain wild card characters '?' and '*'.

◆ MakeConfigFileName()

virtual wxString wxStandardPaths::MakeConfigFileName ( const wxString basename,
ConfigFileConv  conv = ConfigFileConv_Ext 
) const
virtual

Return the file name which would be used by wxFileConfig if it were constructed with basename.

conv is used to construct the name of the file under Unix and only matters when using the class file layout, i.e. if SetFileLayout() had not been called with FileLayout_XDG argument. In this case, this argument is used to determine whether to use an extension or a leading dot. When following XDG specification, the function always appends the extension, regardless of conv value. Finally, this argument is not used at all under non-Unix platforms.

Since
3.1.1

◆ MSWGetShellDir()

static wxString wxStandardPaths::MSWGetShellDir ( int  csidl)
static

Returns location of Windows shell special folder.

This function is, by definition, MSW-specific. It can be used to access pre-defined shell directories not covered by the existing methods of this class, e.g.:

#ifdef __WXMSW__
// get the location of files waiting to be burned on a CD
wxString cdburnArea =
wxStandardPaths::MSWGetShellDir(CSIDL_CDBURN_AREA);
#endif // __WXMSW__
static wxString MSWGetShellDir(int csidl)
Returns location of Windows shell special folder.
String class for passing textual data to or receiving it from wxWidgets.
Definition: string.h:315
Parameters
csidl
Since
2.9.1

◆ SetFileLayout()

void wxStandardPaths::SetFileLayout ( FileLayout  layout)

Sets the current file layout.

The default layout is FileLayout_Classic for compatibility, however newer applications are encouraged to set it to FileLayout_XDG on program startup.

Since
3.1.1

◆ SetInstallPrefix()

void wxStandardPaths::SetInstallPrefix ( const wxString prefix)

Lets wxStandardPaths know about the real program installation prefix on a Unix system.

By default, the value returned by GetInstallPrefix() is used.

Although under Linux systems the program prefix may usually be determined automatically, portable programs should call this function. Usually the prefix is set during program configuration if using GNU autotools and so it is enough to pass its value defined in config.h to this function.

Note
This function is only available under Unix platforms (but not limited to wxGTK mentioned below).
Availability:  only available for the wxGTK port.

◆ UseAppInfo()

void wxStandardPaths::UseAppInfo ( int  info)

Controls what application information is used when constructing paths that should be unique to this program, such as the application data directory, the plugins directory on Unix, etc.

Valid values for info are:

  • AppInfo_None: use neither application nor vendor name in the paths.
  • AppInfo_AppName: use the application name in the paths.
  • AppInfo_VendorName: use the vendor name in the paths, usually used combined with AppInfo_AppName, i.e. as AppInfo_AppName | AppInfo_VendorName.

By default, only the application name is used.

Since
2.9.0