Function

Giobus_watch_name

Declaration

guint
g_bus_watch_name (
  GBusType bus_type,
  const gchar* name,
  GBusNameWatcherFlags flags,
  GBusNameAppearedCallback name_appeared_handler,
  GBusNameVanishedCallback name_vanished_handler,
  gpointer user_data,
  GDestroyNotify user_data_free_func
)

Description

Starts watching name on the bus specified by bus_type and calls name_appeared_handler and name_vanished_handler when the name is known to have an owner respectively known to lose its owner. Callbacks will be invoked in the [thread-default main context][g-main-context-push-thread-default] of the thread you are calling this function from.

You are guaranteed that one of the handlers will be invoked after calling this function. When you are done watching the name, just call g_bus_unwatch_name() with the watcher id this function returns.

If the name vanishes or appears (for example the application owning the name could restart), the handlers are also invoked. If the GDBusConnection that is used for watching the name disconnects, then name_vanished_handler is invoked since it is no longer possible to access the name.

Another guarantee is that invocations of name_appeared_handler and name_vanished_handler are guaranteed to alternate; that is, if name_appeared_handler is invoked then you are guaranteed that the next time one of the handlers is invoked, it will be name_vanished_handler. The reverse is also true.

This behavior makes it very simple to write applications that want to take action when a certain [name exists][gdbus-watching-names]. Basically, the application should create object proxies in name_appeared_handler and destroy them again (if any) in name_vanished_handler.

Available since:	2.26
This function is not directly available to language bindings
The implementation of this function is provided by `g_bus_watch_name_with_closures()` in language bindings

Parameters

`bus_type`	`GBusType`
	The type of bus to watch a name on.
`name`	`const gchar*`
	The name (well-known or unique) to watch.
	The data is owned by the caller of the function.
	The value is a NUL terminated UTF-8 string.
`flags`	`GBusNameWatcherFlags`
	Flags from the `GBusNameWatcherFlags` enumeration.
`name_appeared_handler`	`GBusNameAppearedCallback`
	Handler to invoke when `name` is known to exist or `NULL`.
	The argument can be `NULL`.
`name_vanished_handler`	`GBusNameVanishedCallback`
	Handler to invoke when `name` is known to not exist or `NULL`.
	The argument can be `NULL`.
`user_data`	`gpointer`
	User data to pass to handlers.
	The argument can be `NULL`.
	The data is owned by the caller of the function.
`user_data_free_func`	`GDestroyNotify`
	Function for freeing `user_data` or `NULL`.
	The argument can be `NULL`.

Return value

Returns:	`guint`
	An identifier (never 0) that can be used with `g_bus_unwatch_name()` to stop watching the name.