RCS/faq16.008.htp,v  -->  standard output
revision 1.2
Title: 16.8. How do I populate a ComboBox or ComboBoxEntry with strings?
Last-Changed-Date: Mon Nov 29 21:46:17 2004
Last-Changed-Author: Christian Robottom Reis
Last-Changed-Email: kiko@async.com.br
Last-Changed-Remote-Host: manonegra.async.com.br
Last-Changed-Remote-Address: 192.168.99.6

For glade users, you can create a simple model for your ComboBox* using

  store = gtk.ListStore(gobject.TYPE_STRING)
  store.append (["testing1"])
  store.append (["testing2"])
  store.append (["testing3"])
  store.append (["testing4"])

For a ComboBoxEntry, it's then a matter of assigning the model to the combo and specifying the text column:

  combo = tree.get_widget("comboboxentry1")
  combo.set_model(store)
  combo.set_text_column(0)

For a ComboBox, pack a renderer into it, specifying the text cell:

  combo = tree.get_widget("combobox1")
  combo.set_model(store)
  cell = gtk.CellRendererText()
  combo.pack_start(cell, True)
  combo.add_attribute(cell, 'text',0)

Thomas Hinkle offers a convenience function that does all this for you:

  def set_model_from_list (cb, items):
    """Setup a ComboBox or ComboBoxEntry based on a list of strings."""           
    model = gtk.ListStore(str)
    for i in items:
        model.append([i])
    cb.set_model(model)
    if type(cb) == gtk.ComboBoxEntry:
        cb.set_text_column(0)
    elif type(cb) == gtk.ComboBox:
        cell = gtk.CellRendererText()
        cb.pack_start(cell, True)
        cb.add_attribute(cell, 'text', 0)

If you are not using glade, it's easier to use the gtk.combo_box_new_text() function with the append_text(),  prepend_text(), insert_text() and remove_text() methods as explained here:

http://www.pygtk.org/pygtk2tutorial/ch-NewInPyGTK2.4.html#sec-ComboBox
http://www.pygtk.org/pygtk2reference/class-gtkcombobox.html#function-gtk--combo-box-new-text

(John Finlay, Thomas Hinkle)