Window doesn't show in python interpreter in GTK3 without Gtk.main()

Question

In GTK2, I enjoyed building a gui in the interpreter (ipython or plain python) "on the fly" and seeing the changes in real time like this:

>>> import gtk
>>> win = gtk.Window()
>>> win.connect('delete-event', gtk.main_quit)
10L
>>> win.show_all()

Which will result in showing a window to which I could add objects.

I'm changing to Gtk3 in part because it is the future and in part because I sometimes use Glade which now is only Gtk3. In doing the same with GTK3 DOESN'T show the window:

>>> from gi.repository import Gtk
>>> win = Gtk.Window()
>>> win.connect('delete-event', Gtk.main_quit)
13L
>>> win.show_all()

Alas, no window after that last line. It won't show until:

>>> Gtk.main()

I even tried:

>>> win.show_now()

Which did nothing.

Any ideas how to build in real time in GTK3?

Thanks,

Narnie

Answer 1

I tried to process pending events with the following one-liner:

>>> while Gtk.events_pending(): Gtk.main_iteration()

and it looks to have the same behaviour. It's not so convenient, but you can still do some work in the interpreter.

Alternatively, if you're developing a Gtk application, pdb.set_trace will still work and let you debug callbacks if that's what you're looking for.