Together with Gtk.Gtk.Plug.T, T provides the ability to embed widgets from one process into another process in a fashion that is transparent to the user. One process creates a T widget and passes that widget's window ID to the other process, which then creates a Gtk.Gtk.Plug.T with that window ID. Any widgets contained in the Gtk.Gtk.Plug.T then will appear inside the first application's window.

The socket's window ID is obtained by using GetId. Before using this function, the socket must have been realized, and for hence, have been added to its parent.

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GtkWidget *socket = gtk_socket_new ();
gtk_widget_show (socket);
gtk_container_add (GTK_CONTAINER (parent), socket);

/* The following call is only necessary if one of
 * the ancestors of the socket is not yet visible.
 */
gtk_widget_realize (socket);
g_print ("The ID of the sockets window is %<GTKDOCLINK HREF="x">x</GTKDOCLINK>\n",
         gtk_socket_get_id (socket));

Note that if you pass the window ID of the socket to another process that will create a plug in the socket, you must make sure that the socket widget is not destroyed until that plug is created. Violating this rule will cause unpredictable consequences, the most likely consequence being that the plug will appear as a separate toplevel window. You can check if the plug has been created by using GetPlugWindow. If it returns a non-NULL value, then the plug has been successfully created inside of the socket.

When GTK+ is notified that the embedded window has been destroyed, then it will destroy the socket as well. You should always, therefore, be prepared for your sockets to be destroyed at any time when the main event loop is running. To prevent this from happening, you can connect to the "plug-removed" signal.

The communication between a T and a Gtk.Gtk.Plug.T follows the XEmbed protocol. This protocol has also been implemented in other toolkits, e.g. Qt, allowing the same level of integration when embedding a Qt widget in GTK or vice versa.

A socket can also be used to swallow arbitrary pre-existing top-level windows using Steal, though the integration when this is done will not be as close as between a Gtk.Gtk.Plug.T and a T.

Create a new empty T.

Adds an XEMBED client, such as a Gtk.Gtk.Plug.T, to the T. The client may be in the same process or in a different process.

To embed a Gtk.Gtk.Plug.T in a T, you can either create the Gtk.Gtk.Plug.T with gtk_plug_new (0), call Gtk.Gtk.Plug.GetId to get the window ID of the plug, and then pass that to the AddId, or you can call GetId to get the window ID for the socket, and call gtk_plug_new() passing in that ID.

The T must have already be added into a toplevel window before you can make this call.

Gets the window ID of a T widget, which can then be used to create a client embedded inside the socket, for instance with gtk_plug_new().

The T must have already be added into a toplevel window before you can make this call.

Retrieves the window of the plug. Use this to check if the plug has been created inside of the socket.