Duplicate GtkWidget in C - c

Question

I want to duplicate a GtkWidget loaded through GtkBuilder
My problem is that telling Gtk to pack it into the same vbox it's already in causes an error, and I don't know how to duplicate it. I imagine it involves messing with pointers and references which is probably why I'm missing the point.
static GtkWidget *my_widget(){
GtkBuilder *builder;
builder = gtk_builder_new ();
gtk_builder_add_from_file (builder, "widget.glade", NULL);
return GTK_WIDGET (gtk_builder_get_object (builder, "widget"));
}
int
main (int argc, char *argv[])
{
GtkBuilder *builder;
GtkWidget *window;
GtkWidget *widget;
gtk_init (&argc, &argv);
builder = gtk_builder_new ();
gtk_builder_add_from_file (builder, "userinterface.glade", NULL);
window = GTK_WIDGET (gtk_builder_get_object (builder, "mainwindow"));
gtk_builder_connect_signals (builder, NULL);
// Load widget into box
int i;
for (i=0; i<5; i++){
gtk_box_pack_start( GTK_BOX (gtk_builder_get_object (builder, "widget_vbox")),
my_widget(),
FALSE,
TRUE,
0);
if(i!=4){ // Don't add a seperator at the last loop
widget = gtk_hseparator_new();
gtk_box_pack_start( GTK_BOX (gtk_builder_get_object (builder, "solo_mission_vbox")),
widget,
FALSE,
TRUE,
0);
gtk_widget_show(widget);
}}}
This populates the box with the widget 5 times with seperators in between. The problem lies in that the program is opening and closing the same file 5 times over just to get put it in place.
How can I take the builder output and "Copy" it into 5 completely different instances? It probably involves something with a lot of *s and &s.

Answer 1

You can't "copy" widgets, no matter how many pointers you use. The way you are doing it in your example above is correct. One improvement is that you could move the widget into its own, smaller, builder file. If the widget is small, you might consider making your own widget class and constructing it manually, instead of from a builder file.
PS. If you want to program an application in C, you'd better learn not to be afraid of pointers!