PyGObject.IconView-Search.py

from gi.repository import Gtk, GObject
from gi.repository.GdkPixbuf import Pixbuf

icons = ["gtk-cut", "gtk-paste", "gtk-copy"]

class IconViewWindow(Gtk.Window):
    
    def __init__(self):
        Gtk.Window.__init__(self)
        self.set_default_size(200, 200)
        
        liststore = Gtk.ListStore(Pixbuf, str)
        iconview = Gtk.IconView.new()
        iconview.set_model(liststore)
        iconview.set_pixbuf_column(0)
        iconview.set_text_column(1)
        iconview.connect("key-press-event", self.on_button_press)
        
        for icon in icons:
            pixbuf = Gtk.IconTheme.get_default().load_icon(icon, 32, 0)
            liststore.append([pixbuf, icon.replace("gtk-", "")])
            
        self.connect("delete-event", Gtk.main_quit)
        self.add(iconview)
        self.show_all()
        
        self._reset_timeout()
        
    def on_button_press(self, widget, event):
        if event.string.isalpha(): # You need some more validation on inputs
            self._reset_timeout()  # Reset time out preventing search_str to be resetted
            self.search_str += event.string # Update search_str with the new char pressed
            
            model = widget.get_model() # Retrieve liststore
            
            for item in model: # Iterating Rows
                label = list(item)[1] # getting label str
                if label.startswith( self.search_str ):  #check if label starts with search_str 
                    widget.select_path(item.path) # let's iconview select 
                    # some other stuff methods like iconview.scroll_to_path() etc...
                
    def _check_timeout(self):
        self.search_str = ''
        return False # To kill GObject.add_timeout, callback must return false
    
    search_str = ''
    timer_id = False
        
    def _reset_timeout(self):
        if self.timer_id:
            GObject.source_remove(self.timer_id)
            
        self.timer_id = GObject.timeout_add(2000, self._check_timeout)
        
        
IconViewWindow()
Gtk.main()