Arch Linux

vdraceil

Member

Registered: 2019-02-18

Posts: 9

[SOLVED] GUI Application Dialog boxes - Where do they come from?

I use Arch with i3wm. I've installed just a Window Manager; no Desktop Environments.
For file manager I use ranger, but mostly I just stick with bash commands.

When using GUI applications like Firefox, Chrome, Sublime, etc., they have these Dialog boxes to Open, Save, etc.
Its all good, but where does this Dialog box come from? I haven't installed anything besides ranger - nothing like Nautilus, Thunar or anything.
How do I find where that Dialog box is coming from? Is it shipped by default from the application?

Screenshot - https://ibb.co/GxDNzcC

Its not that I want to use ranger for Dialog boxes, but I would like to install a better looking one to take the current one's place.

Last edited by vdraceil (2019-02-25 19:36:02)

Slithery

Administrator

From: Norfolk, UK

Registered: 2013-12-01

Posts: 5,776

Re: [SOLVED] GUI Application Dialog boxes - Where do they come from?

It depends on the specific GUI toolkit that the application uses.

GTK applications use the GTK file-chooser, QT applications use the QT file-chooser, etc. AFAIK you can't change this behaviour, it's hard-coded (meaning you can't have a consistent interface across applications that use different toolkits).

These can be themed by following the wiki page for the respective toolkit.

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No, it didn't "fix" anything. It just shifted the brokeness one space to the right. - jasonwryan
Closing -- for deletion; Banning -- for muppetry. - jasonwryan

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vdraceil

Member

Registered: 2019-02-18

Posts: 9

Re: [SOLVED] GUI Application Dialog boxes - Where do they come from?

Ah, I see.

Lets say, I'm on XFCE and I have Thunar installed, now irrespective of whether an application is GTK based or QT based, it will show Thunar's file chooser dialogs to the user, correct? My Desktop Env's File Manager - consistent across applications, adhering to the environment's setting.
On similar lines, would it not be possible for an end user to install for ex. Thunar and expect all applications to respect that choice? only thing is I do not have a full DE but just a WM (i3).

just asking. I do not have a clear idea about how these work.

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 25,427

Re: [SOLVED] GUI Application Dialog boxes - Where do they come from?

No, your file manager is a completely different program from the filechooser dialog, which is dependent on your toolkit (GTK or Qt or VCL or ....). It does not matter, and has no relation to, which file manager you are using.  see this earlier response on the same question which hopefully makes this distinction a bit clearer.

vdraceil

Member

Registered: 2019-02-18

Posts: 9

Re: [SOLVED] GUI Application Dialog boxes - Where do they come from?

Great! Enlightened!
Thank you @Slithery and @V1del