gtk.Notebook has no close button on tabs, this is really annoying, since if you let the user open tabs autonosmly, he should also have to the right to close them :)

this cose is based on this article, but the implementation is quite better in my opinion, since it actually subclass gtk.Notebook by using and extending its original methods. It is not require to read of the subclassing is done, just use gtk.Notebook usual methods and you'll find nice close button on your tabs.

When using the append_page method (as well as prepend, and insert) it is also possible to pass an icon parameter so that you also get the icon on the tab.

class NotebookWithCloseButtonOnTabs(gtk.Notebook):
  def __init__(self):
    gtk.Notebook.__init__(self)
 
  def append_page(self, child, tab_label, icon=None):
    full_tab_label = self.create_full_tab_label(child, tab_label, icon)
    full_tab_label.show_all()
 
    gtk.Notebook.append_page(self, child, full_tab_label)
 
  def prepend_page(self, child, tab_label, icon=None):
    full_tab_label = self.create_full_tab_label(child, tab_label, icon)
    full_tab_label.show_all()
 
    gtk.Notebook.prepend_page(self, child, full_tab_label)
 
  def insert_page(child, tab_label, position, icon=None):
    full_tab_label = self.create_full_tab_label(child, tab_label, icon)
    full_tab_label.show_all()
 
    gtk.Notebook.insert_page(self, child, full_tab_label, position)
 
  def create_full_tab_label(self, child, tab_label, icon=None):
    # returns a new widget which is the tab_label with a close button
    # and eventually an icon
    box = gtk.HBox()
 
    # the close button is made of an empty button where we set an image
    closebtn = gtk.Button()
    image = gtk.Image()
    image.set_from_stock(gtk.STOCK_CLOSE, gtk.ICON_SIZE_MENU)
    closebtn.connect("clicked", self.close_tab, child)
    closebtn.set_image(image)
    closebtn.set_relief(gtk.RELIEF_NONE)
 
    if icon is not None:
      box.pack_start(icon, False, False)
    box.pack_start(tab_label, True, True)
    box.pack_end(closebtn, False, False)
    return box
 
  def close_tab(self, widget, child):
    pagenum = self.page_num(child)
 
    if pagenum != -1:
      self.remove_page(pagenum)
      child.destroy()
      if self.get_n_pages() == 1:
        self.set_property('show-tabs', False)

#!/usr/bin/env python
 
# gtk.Notebook class with close button on tabs
#
# based on http://coding.debuntu.org/python-gtk-how-customize-size-button-notebook-tab-label
 
import gtk
 
class NotebookWithCloseButtonOnTabs(gtk.Notebook):
  def __init__(self):
    gtk.Notebook.__init__(self)
 
  def append_page(self, child, tab_label, icon=None):
    full_tab_label = self.create_full_tab_label(child, tab_label, icon)
    full_tab_label.show_all()
 
    gtk.Notebook.append_page(self, child, full_tab_label)
 
  def prepend_page(self, child, tab_label, icon=None):
    full_tab_label = self.create_full_tab_label(child, tab_label, icon)
    full_tab_label.show_all()
 
    gtk.Notebook.prepend_page(self, child, full_tab_label)
 
  def insert_page(child, tab_label, position, icon=None):
    full_tab_label = self.create_full_tab_label(child, tab_label, icon)
    full_tab_label.show_all()
 
    gtk.Notebook.insert_page(self, child, full_tab_label, position)
 
  def create_full_tab_label(self, child, tab_label, icon=None):
    # returns a new widget which is the tab_label with a close button
    # and eventually an icon
    box = gtk.HBox()
 
    # the close button is made of an empty button where we set an image
    closebtn = gtk.Button()
    image = gtk.Image()
    image.set_from_stock(gtk.STOCK_CLOSE, gtk.ICON_SIZE_MENU)
    closebtn.connect("clicked", self.close_tab, child)
    closebtn.set_image(image)
    closebtn.set_relief(gtk.RELIEF_NONE)
 
    if icon is not None:
      box.pack_start(icon, False, False)
    box.pack_start(tab_label, True, True)
    box.pack_end(closebtn, False, False)
    return box
 
  def close_tab(self, widget, child):
    pagenum = self.page_num(child)
 
    if pagenum != -1:
      self.remove_page(pagenum)
      child.destroy()
      if self.get_n_pages() == 1:
        self.set_property('show-tabs', False)    
 
class Demo():
  def __init__(self):
    window = gtk.Window()
    window.set_title("Custom Gtk.Notebook Tabs example")
    window.resize(600,400)
 
    box = gtk.VBox()
    button = gtk.Button("New Tab")
    box.pack_start(button,False)
    button.connect("clicked", self.new_tab)
 
    self.notebook = NotebookWithCloseButtonOnTabs()
    self.notebook.set_scrollable(True)
    self.notebook.set_property('homogeneous', True)    
    box.pack_start(self.notebook, False, False, 0)
 
    window.add(box)
    window.connect("destroy", gtk.main_quit)
    window.connect("delete-event", gtk.main_quit)
    window.show_all()
    gtk.main()
 
  def new_tab(self, widget):
    icons = [gtk.STOCK_ABOUT, gtk.STOCK_ADD, gtk.STOCK_APPLY, gtk.STOCK_BOLD] 
    nbpages = self.notebook.get_n_pages()
    icon = icons[nbpages%len(icons)]
 
    tab_label = gtk.Label(icon)
    tab_label.show()
    child = gtk.Label(icon)
    child.show()
    image = gtk.Image()
    image.set_from_stock(icon, gtk.ICON_SIZE_MENU)
    image.show()
 
    self.notebook.append_page(child, tab_label, image)
    self.notebook.set_current_page(nbpages)
 
if __name__ == '__main__':
  demo = Demo()