wx.StandardPaths¶

wx.StandardPaths 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 wx.StandardPaths directly, but use the global standard paths object returned by wx.StandardPaths.Get (which can be of a type derived from wx.StandardPaths and not of exactly this type) and call the methods you need on it. The object returned by Get may be customized by overriding wx.AppTraits.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 wx.App.GetAppName ) or a combination of the vendor name ( wx.App.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 wx.StandardPaths.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, wx.StandardPaths 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.

See also

wx.FileConfig

Class Hierarchy¶

Inheritance diagram for class StandardPaths:

Methods Summary¶

`Get`	Returns reference to the unique global standard paths object.
`GetAppDocumentsDir`	Return the directory for the document files used by this application.
`GetConfigDir`	Return the directory containing the system config files.
`GetDataDir`	Return the location of the applications global, i.e. not user-specific, data files.
`GetDocumentsDir`	Same as calling `GetUserDir` with Dir_Documents parameter.
`GetExecutablePath`	Return the directory and the filename for the current executable.
`GetFileLayout`	Returns the current file layout.
`GetInstallPrefix`	Return the program installation prefix, e.g. `/usr` , `/opt` or `/home/zeitlin` .
`GetLocalDataDir`	Return the location for application data files which are host-specific and can’t, or shouldn’t, be shared with the other machines.
`GetLocalizedResourcesDir`	Return the localized resources directory containing the resource files of the specified category for the given language.
`GetPluginsDir`	Return the directory where the loadable modules (plugins) live.
`GetResourcesDir`	Return the directory where the application resource files are located.
`GetTempDir`	Return the directory for storing temporary files, for the current user.
`GetUserConfigDir`	Return the directory for the user config files.
`GetUserDataDir`	Return the directory for the user-dependent application data files
`GetUserDir`	Return the path of the specified user data directory.
`GetUserLocalDataDir`	Return the directory for user data files which shouldn’t be shared with the other machines.
`MSWGetShellDir`	Returns location of Windows shell special folder.
`MakeConfigFileName`	Return the file name which would be used by wx.FileConfig if it were constructed with basename.
`SetFileLayout`	Sets the current file layout.
`SetInstallPrefix`	Lets wx.StandardPaths know about the real program installation prefix on a Unix system.
`UseAppInfo`	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.
`__init__`	Protected default constructor.

Properties Summary¶

`AppDocumentsDir`	See `GetAppDocumentsDir`
`ConfigDir`	See `GetConfigDir`
`DataDir`	See `GetDataDir`
`DocumentsDir`	See `GetDocumentsDir`
`ExecutablePath`	See `GetExecutablePath`
`InstallPrefix`	See `GetInstallPrefix` and `SetInstallPrefix`
`LocalDataDir`	See `GetLocalDataDir`
`PluginsDir`	See `GetPluginsDir`
`ResourcesDir`	See `GetResourcesDir`
`TempDir`	See `GetTempDir`
`UserConfigDir`	See `GetUserConfigDir`
`UserDataDir`	See `GetUserDataDir`
`UserLocalDataDir`	See `GetUserLocalDataDir`

Class API¶

class wx.StandardPaths(object)¶

Possible constructors:

StandardPaths() -> None

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

Methods¶

static Get()¶

Returns reference to the unique global standard paths object.

Return type:: wx.StandardPaths

GetAppDocumentsDir(self)¶

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

Return type:: str

Added in version 2.9.0.

GetConfigDir(self)¶

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

Return type:: str

Note

Under Windows this includes appinfo which makes it inconsistent with other ports.

See also

wx.FileConfig

GetDataDir(self)¶

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 wx.App.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.

Return type:: str

See also

GetLocalDataDir

GetDocumentsDir(self)¶

Same as calling GetUserDir with Dir_Documents parameter.

Return type:: str

Added in version 2.7.0.

See also

GetAppDocumentsDir , GetUserDir

GetExecutablePath(self)¶

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

Return type:: str

GetFileLayout(self)¶

Returns the current file layout.

Return type:: wx.StandardPaths.FileLayout

Added in version 4.1/wxWidgets-3.1.1.

See also

SetFileLayout

GetInstallPrefix(self)¶

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.

Return type:: str

Availability

Only available for GTK.

Note

This function is only available under Unix platforms (but not limited to wxGTK mentioned below).

GetLocalDataDir(self)¶

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 .

Return type:: str

GetLocalizedResourcesDir(self, lang, category=ResourceCat_None)¶

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.

Parameters:

lang (string)
category (ResourceCat)

Return type:

str

Added in version 2.7.0.

GetPluginsDir(self)¶

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

Return type:: str

See also

DynamicLibrary

GetResourcesDir(self)¶

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

Return type:: str

Added in version 2.7.0.

See also

GetLocalizedResourcesDir

GetTempDir(self)¶

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

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

Return type:: str

Added in version 2.7.2.

GetUserConfigDir(self)¶

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.

Return type:: str

GetUserDataDir(self)¶

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"

Return type:: str

GetUserDir(self, userDir)¶

Return the path of the specified user data directory.

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

Parameters:: userDir (Dir)
Return type:: str

Added in version 4.1/wxWidgets-3.1.0.

Note

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

GetUserLocalDataDir(self)¶

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"

Return type:: str

static MSWGetShellDir(csidl)¶

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.:

if wx.Platform == '__WXMSW__':
    # get the location of files waiting to be burned on a CD
    cdburnArea = wx.StandardPaths.MSWGetShellDir(CSIDL_CDBURN_AREA)

# endif __WXMSW__

Parameters:: csidl (int)
Return type:: str

Added in version 2.9.1.

MakeConfigFileName(self, basename, conv=ConfigFileConv_Ext)¶

Return the file name which would be used by wx.FileConfig 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.

Parameters:

basename (string)
conv (ConfigFileConv)

Return type:

str

Added in version 4.1/wxWidgets-3.1.1.

SetFileLayout(self, 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.

Parameters:: layout (FileLayout)
Return type:: None

Added in version 4.1/wxWidgets-3.1.1.

SetInstallPrefix(self, prefix)¶

Lets wx.StandardPaths 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.

Parameters:: prefix (string)
Return type:: None

Availability

Only available for GTK.

Note

This function is only available under Unix platforms (but not limited to wxGTK mentioned below).

UseAppInfo(self, 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.

Parameters:: info (int)
Return type:: None

Added in version 2.9.0.

__init__(self)¶

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 wx.StandardPaths object of the correct type.