---
name: "XtAppCreateShell"
section: "3"
platform: "linux"
package: "libxt"
version: "1.3.1-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/XtAppCreateShell"
---

# XtAppCreateShell(3)

create top-level widget instance

## NAME

XtAppCreateShell, XtVaAppCreateShell - create top-level widget instance

## SYNTAX

\#include \<X11/Intrinsic.h\>

Widget XtAppCreateShell(const char \**application\_name*, const char \**application\_class*, WidgetClass *widget\_class*, Display \**display*, ArgList *args*, Cardinal *num\_args*);

Widget XtVaAppCreateShell(const char \* *application\_name*, const char \* *application\_class*, WidgetClass *widget\_class*, Display \**display*, ...);

## ARGUMENTS

- *application\_name*

  Specifies the name of the application instance.

- *application\_class*

  Specifies the class name of this application, which  usually is the generic name for all instances of this application.

- *widget\_class*

  Specifies the widget class that the application top-level widget should be.

- *display*

  Specifies the display from which to get the resources.

- *args*

  Specifies the argument list from which to get the resources.

- *num\_args*

  Specifies the number of arguments in the argument list.

- *...*

  Specifies the variable argument list from which to get the resources.

## DESCRIPTION

The **XtAppCreateShell** function saves the specified application name and application class for qualifying all widget resource specifiers. The application name and application class are used as the left-most components in all widget resource names for this application. **XtAppCreateShell** should be used to create a new logical application within a program or to create a shell on another display. In the first case, it allows the specification of a new root in the resource hierarchy. In the second case, it uses the resource database associated with the other display.

Note that the widget returned by **XtAppCreateShell** has the WM\_COMMAND property set for session managers (see Chapter 4).

## SEE ALSO

[XtCreateWidget(3)](/XtCreateWidget/3.md)\
 *X Toolkit Intrinsics - C Language Interface*\
 *Xlib - C Language X Interface*