Ruby: File dialog wont close

Question

I am using the ruby gem gtk2 to display a simple file dialog, where the user can select a file from his computer. It works just fine, however there is one little problem.

The file dialog doesnt close after selecting the file, but it stays open until the whole script finished.

My file dialog looks like this:

def ask_for_file(question)
    dialog =  Gtk::FileChooserDialog.new(question, nil,
                         Gtk::FileChooser::ACTION_OPEN,
                         "gnome-vfs",
                         [Gtk::Stock::OPEN, Gtk::Dialog::RESPONSE_ACCEPT],
                         [Gtk::Stock::CANCEL, Gtk::Dialog::RESPONSE_CANCEL]
                         )
    if dialog.run == Gtk::Dialog::RESPONSE_ACCEPT
        file_name = dialog.filename.to_s
        return file_name
    else
        return nil
    end
end

When I call it in my script like this:

path = ask_for_file("Test?")
sleep(5)
puts "continue with #{path}"

The file dialog stays open for 5 seconds and is unresponsive in that time. How could I get it to close after a file has been selected, but before the 5 second sleep?

I tried to use dialog.destroy in ask_for_file just before returning the file_name but that didnt seem to help.

Answer 1

I solved it by creating a new window with a button to open the file dialog. Upon clicking the open button, I also send a signal to destroy the main window. This way everything closes immediatly after I selected a file.

For reference see this example

Answer 2

You need to manually call gtk_widget_destroy() on GTK+-provided dialog boxes like GtkFileChooserDialog; clicking on one of the buttons won't be enough. Note that this destroys the file chooser part of the dialog as well, so be sure to get your filename and anything else of value out before you do.