QT

Team Emertxe
Fundamentals of Qt Module
Fundamentals of Qt

• The Story of Qt
• Developing a Hello World Application
• Hello World using Qt Creator
• Practical Tips for Developers
Objectives

• About the history of Qt

• About Qt's ecosystem
• A high-level overview of Qt
• How to create first hello world program
• Build and run a program cross platform
• To use Qt Creator IDE
• Some practical tips for developing with Qt
Fundamentals of Qt

• The Story of Qt
Some history

• Qt Development Frameworks founded in 1994

• Trolltech acquired by Nokia in 2008
• Qt Commercial business acquired by Digia in 2011
• Qt business acquired by Digia from Nokia in 2012
• Trusted by over 6,500 companies worldwide
• Qt: a cross-platform application and UI framework
• For desktop, mobile and embedded development
• Used by more than 350,000 commercial and open source
developers
• Backed by Qt consulting, support and training
Qt is everywhere
Qt virtuous cycle
Why Qt

• Write code once to target multiple platforms

• Produce compact, high-performance applications
• Focus on innovation, not infrastructure coding
• Choose the license that fits you
• Commercial, LGPL or GPL
• Count on professional services, support and training
• Take part in an active Qt ecosystem
Qt Commercial

• Improved development tools for increased productivity

and tangible cost savings
• Qt Commercial SDK
• All Qt Commercial libraries and tools
• Additional tools and components
• Qt Creator Embedded Target
• Deploy directly to embedded Linux target
• RTOS toolchain integration
• Visual Studio Add-On
Qt5

• Awesome graphics capabilities

• OpenGL as a standard feature of user interfaces
• Shader-based graphics effects in QtQuick 2
• New modular structure
• Qt Essential modules available on all platforms
• Add-on modules provide additional or platform-specific
functionality
• Developer productivity and flexibility
• More web-like development with QtQuick 2, V8 JvaScript
engine, and Qt JSON DB
• Cross-platform portability
• Qt Platform Abstraction (QPA) replaces QWS and
platform ports
Qt5 Modules
Qt Demo

• Let's have a look at the QtDemo Application

• Comes with every Qt installation
Technology Demo
Painting Demonstrations/Path Stroking
Widgets Demonstrations/Books
Widgets Demonstrations/TextEdit
Graphics View Demonstrations/40.000 Chips
OpenGL Demonstrations/Boxes
WebKit Demonstrations/Browser
Fundamentals of Qt

• Developing a Hello World Application

“Hello world” in Qt

// main.cpp
#include <QtWidgets>

int main(int argc, char *argv[])

{
QApplication app(argc, argv);
QPushButton button("Hello world");
button.show();
return app.exec();
}
• Program consists of
• main.cpp- application code
• helloworld.pro- project file
• Hello world demo
Project File
helloworld.pro

• helloworld.pro file
• lists source and header files
• provides project configuration
# File: helloworld.pro
SOURCES = main.cpp

HEADERS += # No headers used

QT = core gui widgets

• Assignment to variables
• Possible operators =, +=, -=
• Qmake-tutorial
Using qmake

• qmake tool
• Creates cross-platform makefiles
• Build project using qmake
cd helloworld
qmake helloworld.pro # creates Makefile
Make # compiles and links application
./helloworld # executes application
• Tip: qmake -project
• Creates default project file based on directory content
• Qmake manual
Qt Creator does it all for you
Fundamentals of Qt

• Hello World using Qt Creator

QtCreator IDE

• Advanced C++ code editor

• Integrated GUI layout and forms designer
• Project and build management tools
• Integrated, context-sensitive help system
• Visual debugger
• Rapid code navigation tools
• Supports multiple platforms
Qt Creator
Components
Debugging
Qt Creator Demo
"Hello World"
• Creation of an empty Qt Widget project
• Adding the main.cpp source file
• Writing of the Qt Hello World Code
• Running the application
• Debugging the application
Fundamentals of Qt

• Practical Tips for Developers

C++ knowledge

• Objects and classes

• Declaring a class, inheritance, calling member
functions etc.
• Polymorphism
• That is virtual methods

• Operator overloading
 Qt Documentation

• Reference Documentation
• All classes documented
• Contains tons of examples

• Collection of Howto's and Overviews

• A set of Tutorials for Learners
 Modules and
Include files

• Qt Modules
• QtCore, QtGui, QtWidgets, QtXml, QtSql, QtNetwork,
QtTest .. See documentation
• Enable Qt Module in qmake .profile:
• QT += network
• Default: qmake projects use QtCore and QtGui
• Any Qt class has a header file.
#include <QLabel>
#include <QtWidgets/QLabel>
• Any Qt Module has a header file.
#include <QtGui>
 Includes and
Compilation Time

Module includes
#include <QtGui>
• Precompiled header and the compiler
• If not supported may add extra compile time
• If supported may speed up compilation
• Supported on: Windows, Mac OS X, Unix
Class includes
#include <QLabel>
• Reduce compilation time
• Use class includes (#include <QLabel>)
• Forward declarations (classQLabel;)
Place module includes before other includes.
 Summary

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Core classes
Core classes

• Qt's Object Model

• QObject
• Qwidget
• Variants
• Properties
• String Handling
• Container Classes
Objectives

• What the Qt object model is

• The basics of the widget system in C++
• Which utility classes exists to help you in C++
Core classes

• Qt's Object Model

• QObject
• QWidget
• Variants
• Properties
QObject

• QObject is the heart of Qt's object model

• Include these features:
• Memory management
• Object properties
• Signals and slots
• Event handling
• QObject has no visual representation
Object tree

• QObjects organize themselves in object trees

• Based on parent-child relationship
• QObject(QObject *parent = 0) Parent Children

• Parent adds object to list of children

• Parent owns children QObject

• Widget Centric
QObject
• Used intensively with QtWidget
• Less so when using Qt/C++ from QML QObject

Note: Parent-child relationship is NOT inheritance

Creating Objects

• On Heap - QObject with parent:

QTimer* timer = new QTimer(this);
• Parent takes ownership.
• Copy is disabled
• On Stack - value types
• QString, QStringList, Qcolor
• On Stack - QObject without parent:Exceptions
• QFile, Qapplication (Usually allocated on the stack)
• Top level QWidgets: QMainWindow
• Stack or Heap - QDialog - depending on lifetime
QWidget

• Derived from QObject

• Adds visual representation
• Receives events
QObject
• e.g. mouse, keyboard events
• Paints itself on screen
• Using styles QWidget QFile
• Base of UI objects

QLabel QPushButton QTextEdit

QWidget

• new QWidget(0)
• Widget with no parent="window"
• QWidget's children
• Positioned in parent's coordinate system
• Clipped by parent's boundaries
• QWidget parent
• Propagates state changes
• hides/shows children when it is hidden/shown itself
• enables/disables children when it is
enabled/disabled itself
Widgets contain
other widgets
• Container Widget
• Aggregates other child-widgets
• Use layouts for aggregation
• In this example: QHBoxLayout and QVBoxLayout
• Note: Layouts are not widgets
• Layout Process
• Add widgets to layout
• Layouts may be nested
• Set layout on container widget
Container Widget
// container (window) widget creation
QWidget* container = new QWidget;
QLabel* label = new QLabel("Note:", container);
QTextEdit* edit = new QTextEdit(container);
QPushButton* clear = new QPushButton("Clear", container);
QPushButton* save = new QPushButton("Save", container);
// widget layout
QVBoxLayout* outer = new QVBoxLayout();
outer->addWidget(label);
outer->addWidget(edit);
QHBoxLayout* inner = new QHBoxLayout();
inner->addWidget(clear);
inner->addWidget(save);
container->setLayout(outer);
outer->addLayout(inner); // nesting layouts
Demo
QVariant

• QVariant
• Union for common Qt "value types" (copyable, assignable)
• Supports implicit sharing (fast copying)
• Supports user types
• Use cases:
QVariant property(const char* name) const;
void setProperty(const char* name, const
QVariant &value);
class QAbstractItemModel {
virtual QVariant data( const QModelIndex&
index, int role );
}
• Qvariant Documentation
QVariant

• For QtCore types

QVariant variant(42);
int value = variant.toInt(); // read
back
qDebug() << variant.typeName(); // int
• For non-core and custom types:
QVariant variant =
QVariant::fromValue(QColor(Qt::red));
QColor color = variant.value<QColor>();
// read back
qDebug() << variant.typeName();
// "QColor"
Properties

• Direct access (Broken, due to private

headers)
QQuickRectangle* rectangle=
root->findChild<QQuickRectangle*>("myRect");
int height = rectangle->height();
• Generic property access:
QObject* rectangle = root-
>findChild<QObject*>("myRect");
int height = rectangle-
>property("height").value<int>();
Properties

• Q_Property is a macro:
Q_PROPERTY( type name READ getFunction [WRITE setFunction]
[RESET resetFunction] [NOTIFY notifySignal] [DESIGNABLE bool]
[SCRIPTABLE bool] [STORED bool] )
• Property access methods:
QVariant property(const char* name) const;
void setProperty(const char* name, const QVariant &value);
• If name is not declared as a Q_PROPERTY
• -> dynamic property
• Not accessible from Qt Quick.
Note:
• Q_OBJECT macro required for properties to work
• QMetaObject knows nothing about dynamic properties
Properties

• QMetaObject support property introspection

const QMetaObject *metaObject = object->metaObject();
const QString className = metaObject->className();
const int propertyCount = metaObject->propertyCount();
for ( int i=0; i<propertyCount; ++i ) {
const QMetaProperty metaProperty = metaObject-
>property(i);
const QString typeName = metaProperty.typeName()
const QString propertyName = metaProperty.name();
const QVariant value = object-
>property(metaProperty.name());
}
Demo
Core classes

• String Handling
QString
Strings can be created in a number of ways:
• Conversion constructor and assignment operators:
QString str(“abc”);
str = “def”;
• From a number using a static function:
QString n = QString::number(1234);
• From a char pointer using the static functions:
QString text = QString::fromLatin1(“Hello Qt”);
QString text = QString::fromUtf8(inputText);
QString text = QString::fromLocal8Bit(cmdLineInput);
QString text = QStringLiteral(“Literal String”);
(Assumed to be UTF-8)
• From char pointer with translations:
QString text = tr(“Hello Qt”);
QString

• operator+ and operator+=

QString str = str1 + str2;
fileName += ".txt";
• simplified() // removes duplicate whitespace
• left(), mid(), right() // part of a string
• leftJustified(), rightJustified() // padded version
QString s = "apple";
QString t = s.leftJustified(8, '.');
// t == "apple..."
QString

Data can be extracted from strings.

• Numbers:
QString text = ...;
int value = text.toInt();
float value = text.toFloat();
• Strings:
QString text = ...;
QByteArray bytes = text.toLatin1();
QByteArray bytes = text.toUtf8();
QByteArray bytes = text.toLocal8Bit();
QString::arg()

int i = ...;
int total = ...;
QString fileName = ...;
QString status = tr("Processing file %1 of %2:
%3")
.arg(i).arg(total).arg(fileName);
double d = 12.34;
QString str = QString::fromLatin1("delta:
%1").arg(d,0,'E',3);
// str == "delta: 1.234E+01"
• Safer: arg(QString,...,QString) (``multi-arg()'').
• But: only works with QString arguments.
QString

• Obtaining raw character data from a QByteArray:

char *str = bytes.data();
const char *str = bytes.constData();
WARNING:
• Character data is only valid for the lifetime of the byte array.
• Calling a non-const member of bytes also invalidates ptr.
• Either copy the character data or keep a copy of the byte
array.
QString

• length()
• endsWith() and startsWith()
• contains(), count()
• indexOf() and lastIndexOf()
Expression can be characters, strings, or regular
expressions
QString

• QString::split(), QStringList::join()
• QStringList::replaceInStrings()
• QStringList::filter()
QString

• QRegExp supports
• Regular expression matching
• Wildcard matching
• QString cap(int)
QStringList capturedTexts()
QRegExp rx(“^\\d\\d?$”); // match integers 0 to 99
rx.indexIn(“123”); // returns -1 (no match)
rx.indexIn(“-6”); // returns -1 (no match)
rx.indexIn(“6”); // returns 0 (matched as position 0)
• Regular expression documentation
Core classes

• Container Classes
Container Classes

General purpose template-based container classes

• QList<QString> - Sequence Container
• Other: QLinkedList, QStack , QQueue ...
• QMap<int, QString> - Associative Container
• Other: QHash, QSet, QMultiMap, QMultiHash
Qt's Container Classes compared to STL
• Lighter, safer, and easier to use than STL
containers
• If you prefer STL, feel free to continue using it.
• Methods exist that convert between Qt and STL
• e.g. you need to pass std::list to a Qt method
Container Classes

Using QList
QList<QString> list;
list << “one” << “two” << “three”;
QString item1 = list[1]; // “two”
for(int i=0; i<list.count(); i++) {
const QString &item2 = list.at(i);
}
int index = list.indexOf("two"); // returns 1
Using QMap
QMap<QString, int> map;
map[“Norway”] = 5; map[“Italy”] = 48;
int value = map[“France”]; // inserts key if not exists
if(map.contains(“Norway”)) {
int value2 = map.value(“Norway”); // recommended lookup
}
Complexity

How fast is a function when number of items grow

Sequential Container
Lookup Insert Append Prepend

QList O(1) O(n) O(1) O(1)

QVector O(1) O(n) O(1) O(n)

QLinkedList O(n) O(1) O(1) O(1)

Complexity

Associative Container

Lookup Insert

Qmap O(log(n)) O(log(n))

QHash O(1) O(1)

all complexities are amortized

Classes
in Container
• Class must be an assignable data type
• Class is assignable, if:
class Contact {
public:
Contact() {} // default constructor
Contact(const Contact &other); // copy
constructor
// assignment operator
Contact &operator=(const Contact &other);
};
• If copy constructor or assignment operator is not provided
• C++ will provide one (uses member copying)
• If no constructors provided
• Empty default constructor provided by C++
Container Keys

• Type K as key for QMap:

• bool K::operator<( const K& ) or
bool operator<( const K&, const K& )
bool Contact::operator<(const Contact& c);
bool operator<(const Contact& c1, const Contact&
c2);
• QMap Documentation
• Type K as key for QHash or QSet:
• bool K::operator==( const K& ) or bool operator==( const K&,
const K& )
• uint qHash( const K& )
• QHash Documentation
Iterators

• Allow reading a container's content

sequentially
• Java-style iterators: simple and easy to use
• QListIterator<...>for read
• QMutableListIterator<...>for read-write
• STL-style iterators slightly more efficient
• QList::const_iterator for read
• QList::iterator() for read-write
• Same works for QSet, QMap, QHash, ...
Iterators
Java style
• Example QList iterator
QList<QString> list;
list << "A" << "B" << "C" << "D“;
QListIterator<QString> it(list);
• Forward iteration
while(it.hasNext()) {
qDebug() << it.next(); // A B C D
}
• Backward iteration
it.toBack(); // position after the last item
while(it.hasPrevious()) {
qDebug() << it.previous(); // D C B A
}
• QListIterator Documentation
Modifying
During Iteration
• Use mutable versions of the iterators
• e.g. QMutableListIterator.
QList<int> list;
list << 1 << 2 << 3 << 4;
QMutableListIterator<int> i(list);
while (i.hasNext()) {
if (i.next() % 2 != 0)
i.remove();
}
// list now 2, 4
• remove() and setValue()
• Operate on items just jumped over using next()/previous()
• insert()
• Inserts item at current position in sequence
• previous() reveals just inserted item
QMap and QHash
• next() and previous()
• Return Item class with key() and value()
• Alternatively use key() and value() from iterator
QMap<QString, QString> map;
map[“Paris”] = “France”;
map[“Guatemala City”] = “Guatemala”;
map[“Mexico City”] = “Mexico”;
map[“Moscow”] = “Russia”;
QMutableMapIterator<QString, QString> i(map);
while (i.hasNext()) {
if (i.next().key().endsWith(“City”))
i.remove();
}
// map now "Paris", "Moscow“
• Demo
Iterators
STL-style
• Example QList iterator
QList<QString> list;
list << "A" << "B" << "C" << "D";
QList<QString>::iterator i;
• Forward mutable iteration
for (i = list.begin(); i != list.end(); ++i) {
*i = (*i).toLower();
}
• Backward mutable iteration
i = list.end();
while (i != list.begin()) {
--i;
*i = (*i).toLower();
}
• QList<QString>::const_iterator for read-only
foreach
• It is a macro, feels like a keyword
foreach ( variable, container ) statement
foreach (const QString& str, list) {
if (str.isEmpty())
break;
qDebug() << str;
}
• Break and continue as normal
• Modifying the container while iterating
• results in container being copied
• iteration continues in unmodified version
• Not possible to modify item
• iterator variable is a const reference.
Qt algorithms

• qSort(begin, end) sort items in range

• qFind(begin, end, value) find value
• qEqual(begin1, end1, begin2) checks two ranges
• qCopy(begin1, end1, begin2) from one range to
another
• qCount(begin, end, value, n) occurrences of value in
range
• For parallel (ie. multi-threaded) algorithms
• QtConcurrent()
• QtAlgorithms Documentation
Examples

• Counting 1's in list

QList<int> list;
list << 1 << 2 << 3 << 1;
int count = 0;
qCount(list, 1, count); // count the 1's
qDebug() << count; // 2 (means 2 times 1)
• Copy list to vector
QList<QString> list;
list << "one" << "two" << "three";
QVector<QString> vector(3);
qCopy(list.begin(), list.end(),
vector.begin());
// vector: [ "one", "two", "three" ]
Examples

• Case insensitive sort

bool lessThan(const QString& s1, const QString&
s2) {
return s1.toLower() < s2.toLower();
}
// ...
QList<QString> list;
list << "AlPha" << "beTA" << "gamma" << "DELTA";
qSort(list.begin(), list.end(), lessThan);
// list: [ "AlPha", "beTA", "DELTA", "gamma" ]
Implicit Sharing

If an object is copied, then its data is copied only when

the data of one of the objects is changed

• Shared class has a pointer to shared data block

• Shared data block = reference counter and actual data
• Assignment is a shallow copy
• Changing results into deep copy (detach)
QList<int> l1, l2; l1 << 1 << 2;
l2 = l1; // shallow-copy: l2 shares date with l1
l2 << 3; // deep-copy: change triggers detach from l1

Important to remember when inserting items into a

container, or when returning a container.
Summary
Widgets
Widgets

• Common Widgets
• Layout Management
• Custom Widgets
Widgets

• Common Widgets
• Text widgets
• Value based widgets
• Organizer widgets
• Item based widgtes
• Layout Management
• Geometry management
• Advantages of layout managers
• Qt's layout managers
• Size policies
• Custom Widgets
• Rules for creating own widgets
Widgets

• Common Widgets
Text Widgets

• QLabel
label = new QLabel("Text", parent);
• setPixmap( pixmap ) - as content
• QLineEdit
line = new QLineEdit(parent);
line->setText("Edit me");
line->setEchoMode(QLineEdit::Password);
connect(line, SIGNAL(textChanged(QString)) ...
connect(line, SIGNAL(editingFinished()) ...
• QTextEdit
edit = new QTextEdit(parent);
edit->setPlainText("Plain Text");
edit->append("<h1>Html Text</h1>");
connect(edit,SIGNAL(textChanged(QString)) …
Button widgets

• QAbstractButton
Abstract base class of buttons
• QPushButton
button = new QPushButton("Push Me", parent);
button->setIcon(QIcon("images/icon.png"));
connect(button, SIGNAL(clicked()) ...
setCheckable(bool) - toggle button
• QRadioButton
radio = new QRadioButton("Option 1", parent);
• QCheckBox
check = new QCheckBox("Choice 1", parent);
Value Widgets
• QSlider
slider = new QSlider(Qt::Horizontal, parent);
slider->setRange(0, 99);
slider->setValue(42);
connect(slider, SIGNAL(valueChanged(int)) ...
• QProgressBar
progress = new QProgressBar(parent);
progress->setRange(0, 99);
progress->setValue(42);
// format: %v for value; %p for percentage
progress->setFormat("%v (%p%)");
• QSpinBox
spin = new QSpinBox(parent);
spin->setRange(0, 99);
spin->setValue(42);
spin->setSuffix(" USD");
connect(spin,SIGNAL(valueChanged(int)) ...
Organizer Widgets

• QGroupBox
box = new QGroupBox("Your Options", parent);
// ... set layout and add widgets
setCheckable( bool ) - checkbox in title
• QTabWidget
tab = new QTabWidget(parent);
tab->addWidget(widget, icon, "Tab 1");
connect(tab, SIGNAL(currentChanged(int)) ...
• setCurrentWidget( widget )
• Displays page assoziated by widget
• setTabPosition( position )
• Defines where tabs are drawn
• setTabsClosable( bool )
• Adds close buttons
Item Widgets
• QComboBox
combo = new QComboBox(parent);
combo->addItem("Option 1", data);
connect(combo, SIGNAL(activated(int)) ...
QVariant data = combo->itemData(index);
• setCurrentIndex( index )
• QListWidget
list = new QListWidget(parent);
list->addItem("Item 1");
// ownership of items with list
item = new QListWidgetItem("Item 2", list);
item->setCheckState(Qt::Checked);
connect(list, SIGNAL(itemActivated(QListWidgetItem*)) .
• Other Item Widgets: QTableWidget, QTreeWidget
Other Widgets
• QToolBox
Column of tabbed widget items
• QDateEdit, QTimeEdit, QDateTimeEdit
Widget for editing date and times
• QCalendarWidget
Monthly calendar widget
• QToolButton
Quick-access button to commands
• QSplitter
Implements a splitter widget
• QStackedWidget
Stack of widgets
Only one widget visible at a time
• Widget Documentation
Widgets

• Layout Management
Layout widgets
Definition
Layout: Specifying the relations of elements to each
other instead of the absolute positions and sizes.

• Advantages:
• Works with different languages.
• Works with different dialog sizes.
• Works with different font sizes.
• Better to maintain.
• Disadvantage
• Need to design your layout first.
Layout widgets

• Place and resize widgets (Without layouts)

• move()
• resize()
• setGeometry()
• Example:
QWidget *parent = new QWidget(...);
parent->resize(400,400);
QCheckBox *cb = new QCheckBox(parent);
cb->move(10, 10);
Layout widgets
• On layout managed widgets never call
setGeometry(), resize(), or move()
• Preferred
• Override
• sizeHint()
• minimumSizeHint()
• Or call
• setFixedSize()
• setMinimumSize()
• setMaximumSize()
Layout classes

• QHBoxLayout
• Lines up widgets horizontally
• QVBoxLayout
• Lines up widgets vertically
• QGridLayout
• Arranges the widgets in a grid
• QFormLayout
• Lines up a (label, widget) pairs in two columns.
• QStackedLayout
• Arranges widgets in a stack
• only topmost is visible
QHBoxLayout &
QVBoxLayout
• Lines up widgets horizontally or vertically
• Divides space into boxes
• Each managed widgets fills in one box

QWidget* window = new QWidget;

QPushButton* one = new QPushButton("One");
...
QHBoxLayout* layout = new QHBoxLayout;
layout->addWidget(one);
...
window->setLayout(layout);
QGridLayout
QWidget* window = new QWidget;
QPushButton* one = new QPushButton("One");
QGridLayout* layout = new QGridLayout;
layout->addWidget(one, 0, 0); // row:0, col:0
layout->addWidget(two, 0, 1); // row:0, col:1
// row:1, col:0, rowSpan:1, colSpan:2
layout->addWidget(three, 1, 0, 1, 2);
window->setLayout(layout)
Demo
• Additional
• setColumnMinimumWidth() (minimum width of column)
• setRowMinimumHeight() (minimum height of row)

No need to specify rows and columns before adding children.

QFormLayout

• A two-column layout
• Column 1 a label (as annotation)
• Column 2 a widget (as field)
• Respects style guide of individual platforms.
QWidget* window = new QWidget();
QPushButton* one = new QPushButton("One");
...
QFormLayout* layout = new QFormLayout();
layout->addRow("One", one);
...
window->setLayout(layout)
• Form layout with clean looks and mac style
Hands-on

Lab 4 Contact form

• Objectives
• Template code
Layout Terms

• Stretch
• Relative resize factor
• QBoxLayout::addWidget(widget, stretch)
• QBoxLayout::addStretch(stretch)
• QGridLayout::setRowStretch(row, stretch)
• QGridLayout::setColumnStretch(col, stretch)
• Contents Margins
• Space reserved around the managed widgets.
• QLayout::setContentsMargins(l,t,r,b)
• Spacing
• Space reserved between widgets
• QBoxLayout::addSpacing(size)
Layout Terms

• Strut
• Limits perpendicular box dimension
• e.g. height for QHBoxLayout
• Only for box layouts
• Min, max and fixed sizes
• QWidget::setMinimumSize( QSize )
• QWidget::setMaximumSize( QSize )
• QWidget::setFixedSize( QSize )
• Individual width and height constraints also available
• Nested Layouts
• Allows flexible layouts
• QLayout::addLayout(...)
Widgets
Size Policies

• QSizePolicy describes interest of widget in resizing

QSizePolicy policy = widget->sizePolicy();
policy.setHorizontalPolicy(QSizePolicy::Fixed);
widget->setSizePolicy(policy);
• One policy per direction (horizontal and vertical)
• Button-like widgets set size policy to the following:
• may stretch horizontally
• are fixed vertically
• Similar to QLineEdit, QProgressBar, ...
• Widgets which provide scroll bars (e.g. QTextEdit)
• Can use additional space
• Work with less than sizeHint()
• sizeHint(): recommended size for widget
Widgets
Size Policies
Policy sizeHint() Widget
Fixed authoritative can not grow or shrink

Minimum minimal, sufficient can expand, no advantage of

being larger
Maximum is maximum can shrink

Preferred is best can shrink, no advantage of

being larger
Minimum is minimum can use extra space
Expanding
Expanding sensible size can grow and shrink
Hands-on

• Lab 4: Layout buttons

• Objective
• Template code
Summary
Widgets

• Custom Widgets
Custom Widget
Creation
• It's as easy as deriving from QWidget
class CustomWidget : public QWidget
{
public:
explicit CustomWidget(QWidget* parent=0);
}
• If you need custom Signal Slots
• add Q_OBJECT
• Use layouts to arrange widgets inside, or paint the
widget yourself.
Custom Widget
Base class and Event Handlers

• Do not reinvent the wheel

• Decide on a base class
• Often QWidget or QFrame
• Overload needed event handlers
• Often:
• QWidget::mousePressEvent(),
• QWidget::mouseReleaseEvent()
• If widget accepts keyboard input
• QWidget::keyPressEvent()
• If widget changes appearance on focus
• QWidget::focusInEvent(),
• QWidget::focusOutEvent()
Custom Widget
Drawing a Widget

• Decide on composite or draw approach?

• If composite: Use layouts to arrange other widgets
• If draw: implement paint event
• Reimplement QWidget::paintEvent() for drawing
• To draw widget's visual appearance
• Drawing often depends on internal states
• Decide which signals to emit
• Usually from within event handlers
• Especially mousePressEvent() or mouseDoubleClickEvent()
• Decide carefully on types of signal parameters
• General types increase reusability
• Candidates are bool, int and const QString&
Custom Widget
Internal States and Subclassing

• Decide on publishing internal states

• Which internal states should be made publically
accessible?
• Implement accessor methods
• Decide which setter methods should be slots
• Candidates are methods with integral or common
parameters
• Decide on allowing subclassing
• If yes
• Decide which methods to make protected instead of
private
• Which methods to make virtual
Custom Widget
Widget Constructor

• Decide on parameters at construction time

• Enrich the constructor as necessary
• Or implement more than one constructor
• If a parameter is needed for widget to work
correctly
• User should be forced to pass it in the
constructor
• Keep the Qt convention with:
explicit Constructor(..., QWidget
*parent = 0)
Hands-on

• Lab 5: File chooser

• Objective
• Template code
• Lab 6: Compass widget
• Objective
• Template code
Object communication
Object
communication

• Signals & Slots

• Event Handling
Objectives

• How objects communication

• Details of signals & slots
• Which variations for signal/slot connections exist
• How to create custom signals & slots
• What the role of the Qt event loop is
• How Qt handles events
Object
communication

• Between objects
Signals & Slots
• Between Qt and the application
Events
• Between Objects on threads
Signal & Slots + Events
• Between Applications
DBus, QSharedMemory
Callbacks

General Problem
How do you get from "the user clicks a button" to your logic?

• Possible solutions
• Callbacks
• Based on function pointers
• Not type-safe
• Observer Pattern (Listener)
• Based on interface classes
• Needs listener registration
• Many interface classes
• Qt uses
• Signals and slots for high-level (semantic) callbacks
• Virtual methods for low-level (syntactic) events.
Object
communication

• Signals & Slots

Connecting
signals and slots

void void QProgressBar::setValue(int

Qslider::mousePressEvent(…) value)
{ {
emit valueChanged(value) mvalue = value
} }

Signal emitted Signal/slot connection slot implemented

Demo QObject::connect(slider,SIGNAL(
valueChanged),progressbar,
SLOT(setValue))
Connection
variants

• Qt 4 style:
connect(slider,SIGNAL(valueChanged(int)),
progressBar, SLOT(setValue(int)));
• Using function pointers (Qt5):
connect( slider, &QSlider::valueChanged,
progressBar, &QSpinBox::setValue );
Demo
• Using non-member function:
static void printValue(int value) {...}
connect( slider, &QSignal::valueChanged,
&printValue );
Demo
Custom slots

• File: myclass.h
class MyClass : public QObject
{
Q_OBJECT // marker for moc
// ...
public slots:
void setValue(int value); // a custom slot
};
• File: myclass.cpp
void MyClass::setValue(int value) {
// slot implementation
}
Demo
Custom signals

• File: myclass.h
class MyClass : public QObject
{
Q_OBJECT // marker for moc
// ...
signals:
void valueChanged(int value); // a custom signal
};
• File: myclass.cpp
// No implementation for a signal
• Sending a signal
emit valueChanged(value);
• Demo
Q_OBJECT - flag

• Q_OBJECT
• Enhances QObject with meta-object information
• Required for signals
• Required for slots when using the Qt4 way
• moc creates meta-object information
• moc -o moc_myclass.cpp myclass.h
• c++ -c myclass.cpp; c++ -c moc_myclass.cpp
• c++ -o myapp moc_myclass.o myclass.o
• qmake takes care of mocing files for you
Variations of
Signal/Slot
Signal(s) Connect to Slot(s)
One  Many
Many  One
One  Another
signal

• Signal to Signal connection

connect(bt, SIGNAL(clicked()), this,
SIGNAL(okSignal()));
• Not allowed to name parameters
connect( m_slider, SIGNAL( valueChanged(
int value ) )
this, SLOT( setValue( int newValue ) ) )
Rules for
Signal/Slot

Can ignore arguments, but not create values from nothing. Eg:

Signal Slot
 setRange(int,int)
rangeChanged(int,int)  setValue(int)
 Update()

 setValue(int)
valueChanged(int)  Update()
X setRange(int,int)
textChanged(QSting) X setValue(int)
Hands-on

• Lab 1: Select colour

• Objective
• Template code
• Lab 2: Slider
• Objective
• Template code
Object
communication

• Event Handling
Event Processing

Qt is an event-driven UI toolkit
Qapplication::exec() runs the event loop

1. Generate Events
• by input devices: keyboard, mouse, etc.
• by Qt itself (e.g. timers)
2. Queue Events
• by event loop
3. Dispatch Events
• by QApplication to receiver: QObject
• Key events sent to widget with focus
• Mouse events sent to widget under cursor
4. Handle Events
• by QObject event handler methods
Event Processing
QQuickMouseArea

Press me
QQuickView

QPA Event loop QcoreApplication

QQuickMouseArea QQuickView
Event Processing

sendSpontaneousEvent
(QObject *, QEvent *)

QPA Event loop QcoreApplication

 Event Processing

QCoreApplication
1 event (QEvent *)
3 mousePressEvent (...) QWindow
2 event (...)
QQuickCanvas

MouseEvent QQuickView
 Event Processing

mousePressEvent (QMouseEvent *)

QWindow

QQuickItem QQuickCanvas

QQuickMouseArea QQuickView
Event Handling

• QObject::event(QEvent *event)
• Handles all events for this object
• Specialized event handlers for QWidget and
QQuickItem:
• mousePressEvent() for mouse clicks
• touchEvent() for key presses
• Accepting an Event
• event->accept() / event->ignore()
• Accepts or ignores the event
• Accepted is the default.
• Event propagation
• Happens if event is ignored
• Might be propagated to parent widget
Demo
Event Handling

• QCloseEvent delivered to top level widgets (windows)

• Accepting event allows window to close
• Ignoring event keeps window open
void MyWidget::closeEvent(QCloseEvent *event) {
if (maybeSave()) {
writeSettings();
event->accept(); // close window
} else {
event->ignore(); // keep window
}
}
Demo
Summary
Qt Multithreading
Multithreading

• Most GUI applications have a single thread

of execution in which the event loop is
running
• However, if the user invokes a time
consuming operation the interface freezes.
We can work around this in different ways:
• Using the QApplication::processEvent()
during long tasks to make sure events (key,
window, etc.) are delivered and the UI stays
responsive.
• Using threads to perform the long running tasks.
Qt has a number of options for this.
Multithreading
Technologies

• QThread: Low-Level API with Optional

Event Loops
• QThreadPool and QRunnable: Reusing
Threads
• QtConcurrent: Using a High-level API
• WorkerScript: Threading in QML
QThread

• QThread is the central class in Qt to run

code in a different thread
• It's a QObject subclass
• Not copiable/moveable
• Has signals to notify when the thread
starts/finishes
• It is meant to manage a thread
QThread
usage
• To create a new thread executing some code, subclass QThread and
reimplement run()
• Then create an instance of the subclass and call start()
• Threads have priorities that you can specify as an optional parameter to
start(), or change with setPriority()
• The thread will stop running when (some time after) returning from run()
• QThread::isRunning() and QThread::isFinished() provide
information about the execution of the thread
• You can also connect to the QThread::started() and
QThread::finished() signals
• A thread can stop its execution temporarily by calling one of the
QThread::sleep() functions
• Generally a bad idea, being event driven (or polling) is much much Better
• You can wait for a QThread to finish by calling wait() on it
• Optionally passing a maximum number of milliseconds to wait
QThread caveats

From a non-main thread you cannot:

• Perform any GUI operation
• Including, but not limited to: using any QWidget / Qt
Quick / Qpixmap APIs
• Using QImage, QPainter, etc. (i.e. "client side") is OK
• Using OpenGL may be OK: check at runtime
QOpenGLContext::supportsThreadedOpenGL()
• Call Q(Core|Gui)Application::exec()
• Be sure to always destroy all the QObjects living in
secondary threads before destroying the
corresponding QThread object
• Do not ever block the GUI thread
QThread usage

• There are two basic strategies of running

code in a separate thread with QThread:
• Without an event loop
• With an event loop
QThread usage
without an event loop

• Subclass QThread and override

QThread::run()
• Create an instance and start the new
thread via QThread::start()
• Demo
QThread usage
with an event loop
• An event loop is necessary when dealing with timers,
networking, queued connections, and so on.
• Qt supports per-thread event loops:

Thread 1 Main Thread Thread 2

Obj 1 Obj 2 Obj 1 Obj 2 Obj 1 Obj 2

QThread::exec() QApplication::exec() QThread::exec()

Obj 3 Obj 3 Obj 4 Obj 3

• Each thread-local event loop delivers events for the

QObjects living in that thread.
QThread usage
with an event loop
• We can start a thread-local event loop by calling QThread::exec() from
within run():
1 class MyThread : public QThread {
2 private:
3 void run() override {
4 auto socket = new QTcpSocket;
5 socket->connectToHost(...);
67 exec(); // run the event loop
89 // cleanup
10 }
11}; Demo
• QThread::quit() or QThread::exit() will quit the event loop
• We can also use QEventLoop
• Or manual calls to QCoreApplication::processEvents()
• The default implementation of QThread::run() actually calls
QThread::exec()
• This allows us to run code in other threads without sub classing QThread:
QtConcurrent

• QtConcurrent is a namespace that provides

higher-level classes and algorithms for
writing concurrent software.
• Using QtConcurrent's functional
map/filter/reduce algorithms, which apply
functions in parallel to each item in a
container.
• You can write a program that automatically
takes advantage of the system's multiple
cores by distributing the processing across
the threads managed by the thread pool.
QtConcurrent

• Qt Concurrent supports several STL-

compatible container and iterator types,
but works best with Qt containers that
have random-access iterators, such as
QList or Qvector
• Demo
QThreadPool and
QRunnable
• Creating and destroying threads frequently can
be expensive.
• To avoid the cost of thread creation, a thread
pool can be used.
• A thread pool is a place where threads can be
parked and fetched.
• We derive a class from QRunnable. The code
we want to run in another thread needs to be
placed in the reimplemented QRunnable::run()
method.
• Demo
Synchronization
Synchronization

• Any concurrent access to shared

resources must not result in a data race
• Two conditions for this to happen:
1. At least one of the accesses is a write
2. The accesses are not atomic and no
access happens before the other
Synchronization

Qt has a complete set of cross-platform, low-

level APIs for dealing with synchronization:
• QMutex is a mutex class (recursive and non-
recursive)
• QSemaphore is a semaphore
• QWaitCondition is a condition variable
• QReadWriteLock is a shared mutex
• QAtomicInt is an atomic int
• QAtomicPointer<T> is an atomic pointer to T
• Demo’
Thread safety in
Qt
A function is:
• Thread safe: if it's safe for it to be invoked at the
same time, from multiple threads, on the same data,
without synchronization
• Reentrant: if it's safe for it to be invoked at the same
time, from multiple threads, on different data;
otherwise it requires external synchronization
• Non-reentrant (thread unsafe): if it cannot be
invoked from more than one thread at all
For classes, the above definitions apply to non-static
member functions when invoked on the same instance.
Examples
• Thread safe:
• QMutex
• QObject::connect()
• QCoreApplication::postEvent()
• Reentrant:
• QString
• QVector
• QImage
• value classes in general
• Non-reentrant:
• QWidget (including all of its subclasses)
• QQuickItem
• QPixmap
• in general, GUI classes are usable only from the main thread
QtMultimedia
QtMultimedia

• Qt Multimedia is an essential module

that provides a rich set of QML types and
C++ classes to handle multimedia
content.
• It also provides necessary APIs to access
the camera and radio functionality.
Features
• Access raw audio devices for input and output
• Play low latency sound effects
• Play media files in playlists (such as compressed audio or
video files)
• Record audio and compress it
• Tune and listen to radio stations
• Use a camera, including viewfinder, image capture, and
movie recording
• Play 3D positional audio with Qt Audio Engine
• Decode audio media files into memory for processing
• Accessing video frames or audio buffers as they are played
or recorded
Audio
• Qt Multimedia offers a range of audio classes, covering both
low and high level approaches to audio input, output and
processing.
• For playing media or audio files that are not simple,
uncompressed audio, you can use the QMediaPlayer C++
class.
• The QMediaPlayer class and associated QML types are also
capable of playing video, if required.
• The compressed audio formats supported does depend on
the operating system environment, and also what media
plugins the user may have installed.
• For recording audio to a file, the QAudioRecorder class
allows you to compress audio data from an input device and
record it.
• Demo
Video

• We can use the QMediaPlayer class to

decode a video file, and display it
using QVideoWidget, QGraphicsVideoIte
m, or a custom class.
• Demo
Painting & styling
Objectives

• Painting on Widgets
• Color Handling
• Painting Operations
• Style Sheets
Objectives

• Painting
• You paint with a painter on a paint device during a
paint event
• Qt widgets know how to paint themselves
• Often widgets look like we want
• Painting allows device independent 2D visualization
• Allows to draw pie charts, line charts and many
more
• StyleSheets
• Fine grained control over the look and feel
• Easily applied using style sheets in CSS format
Module
Objectives
Covers techniques for general 2D graphics and styling applications.

• Painting
• Painting infrastructure
• Painting on widget
• Color Handling
• Define and use colors
• Pens, Brushes, Palettes
• Shapes
• Drawing shapes
• Transformation
• 2D transformations of a coordinate system
• Style Sheets
• How to make small customizations
• How to apply a theme to a widget or application
Painting &
Styling
• Painting on Widgets
QPainter

• Paints on paint devices (QPaintDevice)

• QPaintDevice implemented by
• On-Screen: QWidget
• Off-Screen: QImage, QPixmap
• And others ...
• Provides drawing functions
• Lines, shapes, text or pixmaps
• Controls
• Rendering quality
• Clipping
• Composition modes
Painting
on Widgets
• Override paintEvent(QPaintEvent*)
void CustomWidget::paintEvent(QPaintEvent *)
{
QPainter painter(this);
painter.drawRect(0,0,100,200); // x,y,w,h
}
• Schedule painting
• update(): schedules paint event
• repaint(): repaints directly
• Qt handles double-buffering
• To enable filling background:
• QWidget::setAutoFillBackground(true)
Coordinate System

• Controlled by QPainter
• Origin: Top-Left
• Rendering
• Logical - mathematical
• Aliased - right and below
• Anti-aliased – smoothing

• Rendering quality switch

• QPainter::setRenderHint()
Geometry Classes

• QSize(w,h)
• scale, transpose
• QPoint(x,y)
• QLine(point1, point2)
• translate, dx, dy
• QRect(point, size)
• adjust, move
• translate, scale, center
QSize size(100,100);
QPoint point(0,0);
QRect rect(point, size);
rect.adjust(10,10,-10,-10);
QPoint center = rect.center();
Painting &
Styling

• Color Handling
Color Values
• Using different color models:
• QColor(255,0,0) // RGB
• QColor::fromHsv(h,s,v) // HSV
• QColor::fromCmyk(c,m,y,k) // CMYK
• Defining colors:
QColor(255,0,0); // red in RGB
QColor(255,0,0, 63); // red 25% opaque (75%
transparent)
QColor("#FF0000"); // red in web-notation
QColor("red"); // by svg-name
Qt::red; // predefined Qt global colors
• Many powerful helpers for manipulating colors
QColor("black").lighter(150); // a shade of gray
• QColor always refers to device color space
QPen

• A pen (QPen) consists of:

• a color or brush
• a width
• a style (e.g. NoPen or SolidLine)
• a cap style (i.e. line endings)
• a join style (connection of lines)
• Activate with QPainter::setPen().
QPainter painter(this);
QPen pen = painter.pen();
pen.setBrush(Qt::red);
pen.setWidth(3);
painter.setPen(pen);
// draw a rectangle with 3 pixel width red outline
painter.drawRect(0,0,100,100);
The Outline

Rule
The outline equals the size plus half the pen
width on each side.
• For a pen of width 1:
QPen pen(Qt::red, 1); // width = 1
float hpw = pen.widthF()/2; // half-pen width
QRectF rect(x,y,width,height);
QRectF outline = rect.adjusted(-hpw, -hpw, hpw, hpw);
• Due to integer rounding on a non-antialiased
grid, the outline is shifted by 0.5 pixel
towards the bottom right.
• Demo
QBrush

• QBrush defines fill pattern of shapes

• Brush configuration
• setColor(color)
• setStyle(Qt::BrushStyle)
• NoBrush, SolidPattern, ...
• QBrush(gradient) // QGradient's
• setTexture(pixmap)
• Brush with solid red fill
painter.setPen(Qt::red);
painter.setBrush(QBrush(Qt::yellow,
Qt::SolidPattern));
painter.drawRect(rect);
Gradient fills

• Gradients used with QBrush

• Gradient types
• QLinearGradient
• QConicalGradient
• QRadialGradient
• Gradient from P1(0,0) to P2(100,100)
QLinearGradient gradient(0, 0, 100, 100);
// position, color: position from 0..1
gradient.setColorAt(0, Qt::red);
gradient.setColorAt(0.5, Qt::green);
gradient.setColorAt(1, Qt::blue);
painter.setBrush(gradient);
// draws rectangle, filled with brush
painter.drawRect(0, 0, 100, 100 );
• Demo
Brush on QPen

• Possible to set a brush on a pen

• Strokes generated will be filled with the brush

• Demo
Color Themes
and Palettes
• To support widgets color theming
• setColor(blue) not recommended
• Colors needs to be managed
• QPalette manages colors
• Consist of color groups
• enum QPalette::ColorGroup
• Resemble widget states
• QPalette::Active
• Used for window with keyboard focus
• QPalette::Inactive
• Used for other windows
• QPalette::Disabled
• Used for disabled widgets
Painting &
Styling

• Painting Operations
Drawing Figures

• Painter configuration
• pen width: 2
• pen color: red
• font size: 10
• brush color: yellow
• brush style: solid
• Demo
Drawing Text

• QPainter::drawText(rect, flags, text)

QPainter painter(this);
painter.drawText(rect, Qt::AlignCenter,
tr("Qt"));
painter.drawRect(rect);

• QFontMetrics
• calculate size of strings
QFont font("times", 24);
QFontMetrics fm(font);
int pixelsWide = fm.width("Width of this text?");
int pixelsHeight = fm.height();
Transformation

• Manipulating the coordinate system

• translate(x,y)
• scale(sx,sy)
• rotate(a)
• shear(sh,
• Demo
Transform
and Center
• scale(sx, sy)
• scales around QPoint(0,0)
• Same applies to all transform operations
• Scale around center?
painter.drawRect(r);
painter.translate(r.center());
painter.scale(sx,sy);
painter.translate(-r.center());
// draw center-scaled rect
painter.drawRect(r);
QPainterPath

• Container for painting operations

• Enables reuse of shapes
QPainterPath path;
path.addRect(20, 20, 60, 60);
path.moveTo(0, 0);
path.cubicTo(99, 0, 50, 50, 99, 99);
path.cubicTo(0, 99, 50, 50, 0, 0);
painter.drawPath(path);
• Path information
controlPointRect() - rect containing all points
contains() - test if given shape is inside path
intersects() - test given shape intersects path
• Demo
Hands-on

• Lab 7: Pie chart

• Objectives
• Template code
Painting &
Styling

• Style Sheets
Qt Style Sheets

• Mechanism to customize appearance of

widgets
• Additional to subclassing QStyle
• Inspired by HTML CSS
• Textual specifications of styles
• Applying Style Sheets
• QApplication::setStyleSheet(sheet)
• On whole application
• QWidget::setStyleSheet(sheet)
• On a specific widget (incl. child widgets)
• Demo
CSS Rules
CSS Rule
selector { property : value; property : value }

• Selector: specifies the widgets

• Property/value pairs: specify properties to change.
QPushButton {color:red; background-color:white}
• Examples of stylable elements
• Colors, fonts, pen style, alignment.
• Background images.
• Position and size of sub controls.
• Border and padding of the widget itself.
• Reference of stylable elements
• stylesheet-reference
The Box Model

• Every widget treated as box

• Four concentric rectangles
• Margin, Border, Padding, Content
• Customizing QPushButton
QPushButton {
border-width: 2px;
border-radius: 10px;
padding: 6px;
// ...
}
• By default, margin, border-width, and padding are
0
Selector Types
• *{ } // Universal selector
• All widgets
• QPushButton { } // Type Selector
• All instances of class
• QPushButton { } // Class Selector
• All instances of class, but not subclasses
• QPushButton#objectName // ID Selector
• All Instances of class with objectName
• QDialog QPushButton { } // Descendant Selector
• All instances of QPushButton which are child of QDialog
• QDialog > QPushButton { } // Direct Child Selector
• All instances of QPushButton which are direct child of QDialog
• QPushButton[enabled="true"] // Property Selector
• All instances of class which match property
Selector Details

• Property Selector
• If property changes it is required to re-set style sheet
• Combining Selectors
• QLineEdit, QComboBox, QPushButton { color: red }
• Pseudo-States
• Restrict selector based on widget's state
• Example: QPushButton:hover {color:red}
• Demo
• Selecting Subcontrols
• Access subcontrols of complex widgets
• as QComboBox, QSpinBox, ...
• QComboBox::drop-down { image: url(dropdown.png) }
• Subcontrols positioned relative to other elements
• Change using subcontrol-origin and subcontrol-position
Cascading

Effective style sheet obtained by merging

1. Widgets's ancestor (parent, grandparent, etc.)
2. Application stylesheet
• On conflict: widget own style sheet preferred
qApp->setStyleSheet("QPushButton { color:
white }");
button->setStyleSheet("* { color: blue }");
• Style on button forces button to have blue text
• In spite of more specific application rule
• Demo
Selector Specifity

• Conflict: When rules on same level specify same property

• Specificity of selectors apply
QPushButton:hover { color: white }
QPushButton { color: red }
• Selectors with pseudo-states are more specific
• Calculating selector's specificity
• a Count number of ID attributes in selector
• b Count number of property specifications
• c Count number of class names
• Concatenate numbers a-b-c. Highest score wins.
• If rules scores equal, use last declared rule
QPushButton {} /* a=0 b=0 c=1 -> specificity = 1 */
QPushButton#ok {} /* a=1 b=0 c=1 -> specificity = 101
*/
• Demo
Hands-on

• Try this demo code and

• Investigate style sheet
• Modify style sheet
• Remove style sheetand implement your own
Application creation
Objectives

• Main Windows
• Settings
• Resources
• Deploying Qt Applications
Objectives

We will create an application to show

fundamental concepts

• Main Window: How a typical main window is structured

• Settings: Store/Restore application settings
• Resources: Adding icons and other files to your application
• Deployment: Distributing your application
Application
creation
• Main Windows
Application
Ingredients
• Main window with
• Menu bar
• Tool bar, Status bar
• Central widget
• Often a dock window
• Settings (saving state)
• Resources (e.g icons)
• Translation
• Load/Save documents

Not a complete list

Main Window

• QMainWindow: main application window

• Has own layout
• Central Widget
• QMenuBar
• QToolBar
• QDockWidget
• QStatusBar
• Central Widget
• QMainWindow::setCentralWidget( widget )
• Just any widget object
QAction

Action is an abstract user interface command

• Emits signal triggered on execution
• Connected slot performs action
• Added to menus, toolbar, key shortcuts
• Each performs same way
• Regardless of user interface used
void MainWindow::setupActions() {
QAction* action = new QAction(tr("Open ..."), this);
action->setIcon(QIcon(":/images/open.png"));
action->setShortcut(QKeySequence::Open);
action->setStatusTip(tr("Open file"));
connect(action, SIGNAL(triggered()), this, SLOT(onOpen()));
menu->addAction(action);
toolbar->addAction(action);
• Qaction Documentation
QAction
capabilities
• setEnabled(bool)
• Enables disables actions
• In menu and toolbars, etc...
• setCheckable(bool)
• Switches checkable state (on/off)
• setChecked(bool) toggles checked state
• setData(QVariant)
• Stores data with the action
• Documentation
• QAction
Menu Bar

• QMenuBar: a horizontal menu bar

• QMenu: represents a menu
• indicates action state
• QAction: menu items added to QMenu
void MainWindow::setupMenuBar() {
QMenuBar* bar = menuBar();
QMenu* menu = bar->addMenu(tr("&File"));
menu->addAction(action);
menu->addSeparator();
QMenu* subMenu = menu->addMenu(tr("Sub Menu"));
...
QToolBar
• Movable panel ...
• Contains set of controls
• Can be horizontal or vertical
• QMainWindow::addToolbar( toolbar )
• Adds toolbar to main window
• QMainWindow::addToolBarBreak()
• Adds section splitter
• QToolBar::addAction( action )
• Adds action to toolbar
• QToolBar::addWidget(widget)
• Adds widget to toolbar
void MainWindow::setupToolBar() {
QToolBar* bar = addToolBar(tr("File"));
bar->addAction(action);
bar->addSeparator();
bar->addWidget(new QLineEdit(tr("Find ...")));
...
QToolButton
• Quick-access button to commands or options
• Used when adding action to QToolBar
• Can be used instead QPushButton
• Different visual appearance!
• Advantage: allows to attach action
QToolButton* button = new QToolButton(this);
button->setDefaultAction(action);
// Can have a menu
button->setMenu(menu);
// Shows menu indicator on button
button->setPopupMode(QToolButton::MenuButtonPopup);
// Control over text + icon placements
button-
>setToolButtonStyle(Qt::ToolButtonTextUnderIcon);
QStatusBar
Horizontal bar
Suitable for presenting status information

• showMessage( message, timeout )

• Displays temporary message for specified milli-seconds
• clearMessage()
• Removes any temporary message
• addWidget() or addPermanentWidget()
• Normal, permanent messages displayed by widget
void MainWindow::createStatusBar() {
QStatusBar* bar = statusBar();
bar->showMessage(tr("Ready"));
bar->addWidget(new QLabel(tr("Label on
StatusBar")));
QDockWidget
• Window docked into main window
• Qt::DockWidgetArea enum
• Left, Right, Top, Bottom dock areas
• QMainWindow::setCorner(corner,area)
• Sets area to occupy specified corner
• QMainWindow::setDockOptions(options)
• Specifies docking behavior (animated, nested, tabbed, ...)
void MainWindow::createDockWidget() {
QDockWidget *dock = new QDockWidget(tr("Title"),
this);
dock->setAllowedAreas(Qt::LeftDockWidgetArea);
QListWidget *widget = new QListWidget(dock);
dock->setWidget(widget);
addDockWidget(Qt::LeftDockWidgetArea, dock);
QMenu
and Context Menus

• Launch via event handler

void MyWidget::contextMenuEvent(event) {
m_contextMenu->exec(event->globalPos());
• or signal customContextMenuRequested()
• Connect to signal to show context menu
• Or via QWidget::actions() list
• QWidget::addAction(action)
• setContextMenuPolicy(Qt::ActionsContextMenu)
• Displays QWidget::actions() as context menu
Hands-on

• Lab 8: Text editor

• Objectives
• Template code
Application
creation

• Settings
QSettings

• Configure QSettings
QCoreApplication::setOrganizationName("MyCompany");
QCoreApplication::setOrganizationDomain( "mycompany.com" );
QCoreApplication::setApplicationName("My Application");
• Typical usage
QSettings settings;
settings.setValue("group/value", 68);
int value = settings.value("group/value").toInt();
• Values are stored as QVariant
• Keys form hierarchies using '/'
• or use beginGroup(prefix) / endGroup()
• value() excepts default value
• settings.value("group/value", 68).toInt()
• If value not found and default not specified
Invalid QVariant() returned
Restoring State
• Store geometry of application
void MainWindow::writeSettings() {
QSettings settings;
settings.setValue("MainWindow/size", size());
settings.setValue("MainWindow/pos", pos());
}
• Restore geometry of application
void MainWindow::readSettings() {
QSettings settings;
settings.beginGroup("MainWindow");
resize(settings.value("size", QSize(400,
400)).toSize());
move(settings.value("pos", QPoint(200,
200)).toPoint());
settings.endGroup();
}
Application
creation

• Resources
Resource System

• Platform-independent mechanism for storing binary files

• Not limited to images
• Resource files stored in application's executable
• Useful if application requires files
• E.g. icons, translation files, sounds
• Don't risk of losing files, easier deployment
• Docs
Using Resources

• Resources specified in .qrc file

<!DOCTYPE RCC><RCC version="1.0">
<qresource>
<file>images/copy.png</file>
<file>images/cut.png</file>
</qresource>
</RCC>
• Can be created using QtCreator
• Resources are accessible with ':' prefix
• Example: ":/images/cut.png"
• Simply use resource path instead of file name
• QIcon(":/images/cut.png")
• To compile resource, edit .pro file
• RESOURCES += application.qrc
• qmake produces make rules to generate binary file
Hands-On

• Use your previous text editor, to use Qt resource

system for icons
• Tip: You can use Qt Creator to create QRC files
Application
creation

• Deploying Qt Applications
Ways of Deploying

• Static Linking
• Results in stand-alone executable
• +Only few files to deploy
• -Executables are large
• -No flexibility
• -You cannot deploy plugins
• Shared Libraries
• +Can deploy plugins
• +Qt libs shared between applications
• +Smaller, more flexible executables
• -More files to deploy
• Qt is by default compiled as shared library
• If Qt is pre-installed on system
• Use shared libraries approach
• Reference Documentation
Deployment

• Shared Library Version

• If Qt is not a system library
• Need to redistribute Qt libs with application
• Minimal deployment
• Libraries used by application
• Plugins used by Qt
• Ensure Qt libraries use correct path to find Qt plugins
• Static Linkage Version
• Build Qt statically
• $QTDIR/configure -static <your other options>
• Specify required options (e.g. sql drivers)
• Link application against Qt
• Check that application runs stand-alone
• Copy application to machine without Qt and run it
Dialogs module
Dialogs
and Designer
• Dialogs
• Common Dialogs
• Qt Designer
Dialogs
and Designer
• Custom Dialogs
• Modality
• Inheriting QDialog
• Dialog buttons
• Predefined Dialogs
• File, color, input and font dialogs
• Message boxes
• Progress dialogs
• Wizard dialogs
• Qt Designer
• Design UI Forms
• Using forms in your code
• Dynamic form loading
Dialogs
and Designer
• Dialogs
QDialog
• Base class of dialog window widgets
• General Dialogs can have 2 modes
• Modal dialog
• Remains in foreground, until closed
• Blocks input to remaining application
• Example: Configuration dialog
• Modeless dialog
• Operates independently in application
• Example: Find/Search dialog
• Modal dialog example
MyDialog dialog(this);
dialog.setMyInput(text);
if(dialog.exec() == Dialog::Accepted) {
// exec blocks until user closes dialog
Modeless Dialog
• Use show()
• Displays dialog
• Returns control to caller
void EditorWindow::find() {
if (!m_findDialog) {
m_findDialog = new FindDialog(this);
connect(m_findDialog, SIGNAL(findNext()),
this, SLOT(onFindNext()));
}
m_findDialog->show(); // returns immediately
m_findDialog->raise(); // on top of other windows
m_findDialog->activateWindow(); // keyboard focus
}
Custom Dialogs
• Inherit from QDialog
• Create and layout widgets
• Use QDialogButtonBox for dialog buttons
• Connect buttons to accept()/reject()
• Override accept()/reject()
MyDialog::MyDialog(QWidget *parent) : QDialog(parent) {
m_label = new QLabel(tr("Input Text"), this);
m_edit = new QLineEdit(this);
m_box = new QDialogButtonBox( QDialogButtonBox::Ok|
QDialogButtonBox::Cancel, this);
connect(m_box, SIGNAL(accepted()), this, SLOT(accept()));
connect(m_box, SIGNAL(rejected()), this, SLOT(reject()));
... // layout widgets
}
void MyDialog::accept() { // customize close behaviour
if(isDataValid()) { QDialog::accept() }
}
Deletion and
Extension
• Deletion of dialogs
• No need to keep dialogs around forever
• Call QObject::deleteLater()
• Or setAttribute(Qt::WA_DeleteOnClose)
• Or override closeEvent()
• Dialogs with extensions:
• QWidget::show()/hide() used on extension
m_more = new QPushButton(tr("&More"));
m_more->setCheckable(true);
m_extension = new QWidget(this);
// add your widgets to extension
m_extension->hide();
connect(m_more, SIGNAL(toggled(bool)),
m_extension, SLOT(setVisible(bool)));
• Example
Dialogs
and Designer

• Common Dialogs
QFileDialog
• Allow users to select files or directories
• Asking for a file name
QString fileName =
QFileDialog::getOpenFileName(this, tr("Open File"));
if(!fileName.isNull()) {
// do something useful
}
• QFileDialog::getOpenFileNames()
• Returns one or more selected existing files
• QFileDialog::getSaveFileName()
• Returns a file name. File does not have to exist.
• QFileDialog::getExistingDirectory()
• Returns an existing directory.
• setFilter("Image Files (*.png *.jpg *.bmp)")
• Displays files matching the patterns
QMessageBox

• Provides a modal dialog for ...

• informing the user
• asking a question and receiving an answer
• Typical usage, questioning a user
QMessageBox::StandardButton ret =
QMessageBox::question(parent, title, text);
if(ret == QMessageBox::Ok) {
// do something useful
}
• Very flexible in appearance
• Reference documentation
• Other convenience methods
• QMessageBox::information(...)
• QMessageBox::warning(...)
• QMessageBox::critical(...)
• QMessageBox::about(...)
QProgressDialog

• Provides feedback on the progress of a slow operation

QProgressDialog dialog("Copy", "Abort", 0, count, this);
dialog.setWindowModality(Qt::WindowModal);
for (int i = 0; i < count; i++) {
dialog.setValue(i);
if (dialog.wasCanceled()) { break; }
//... copy one file
}
dialog.setValue(count); // ensure set to maximum
• Initialize with setValue(0)
• Otherwise estimation of duration will not work
• When operation progresses, check for cancel
• QProgressDialog::wasCanceled()
• Or connect to QProgressDialog::canceled()
• To stay reactive call QApplication::processEvents()
• See Documentation
QErrorMessage

• Similar to QMessageBox with checkbox

• Asks if message shall be displayed again
m_error = new QErrorMessage(this);
m_error->showMessage(message, type);
• Messages will be queued
• QErrorMessage::qtHandler()
• installs an error handler for debugging
• Shows qDebug(), qWarning() and qFatal() messages in
QErrorMessage box
Other Common
Dialogs
• Asking for Input - QInputDialog
• QInputDialog::getText(...)
• QInputDialog::getInt(...)
• QInputDialog::getDouble(...)
• QInputDialog::getItem(...)
• Selecting Color - QColorDialog
• QColorDialog::getColor(...)
• Selecting Font - QFontDialog
• QFontDialog::getFont(...)
• Example
Qwizard
Guiding the user
• Input dialog
• Consisting of sequence of pages
• Purpose: Guide user through process
• Page by page
• Supports
• Linear and non-linear wizards
• Registering and using fields
• Access to pages by ID
• Page initialization and cleanup
• Title, sub-title
• Logo, banner, watermark, background
• Documentation
• Each page is a QWizardPage
• QWizard::addPage()
• Adds page to wizard
• example
Hands-on

• Lab 9: Dialog
• Objectives
• Template code
Summary
Dialogs
and Designer

• Qt Designer
Qt Designer

• Design UI forms visually

• Visual Editor for
• Signal/slot connections
• Actions
• Tab handling
• Buddy widgets
• Widget properties
• Integration of custom widgets
• Resource files
 Designer Views
Object Inspector
Displays hierarchy of objects on form

Widget Box Property Editor

Provides selection of widgets, layouts Displays properties of selected object
Editing Modes

• Widget Editing
• Change appearance of form
• Add layouts
• Edit properties of widgets
• Signal and Slots Editing
• Connect widgets together with signals & slots
• Buddy Editing
• Assign buddy widgets to label
• Buddy widgets help keyboard focus handling correctly
• Tab Order Editing
• Set order for widgets to receive the keyboard focus
UI Form Files
• Form stored in .ui file
• format is XML
• uic tool generates code
• From myform.ui
• to ui_myform.h
// ui_mainwindow.h
class Ui_MainWindow {
public:
QLineEdit *fileName;
... // simplified code
void setupUi(QWidget *) { /* setup widgets */ }
};
• Form ui file in project (.pro)
FORMS += mainwindow.ui
From .ui to C++
Form Wizards

• Add New... "Designer Form"

• or "Designer Form Class" (for C++ integration)
Naming Widgets

1. Place widgets on form

2. Edit objectName property

• objectName defines member name in generated code

Form layout

QFormLayout: Suitable for most input forms

Top-Level Layout

• First layout child widgets

• Finally select empty space and set top-level layout
Preview Mode

Check that widget is nicely resizable

Code Integration

// orderform.h
class Ui_OrderForm;
class OrderForm : public QDialog {
private:
Ui_OrderForm *ui; // pointer to UI object
};
• "Your Widget" derives from appropriate base class
• *ui member encapsulate UI class
• Makes header independent of designer generated code
Code Integration

// orderform.cpp
#include "ui_orderform.h"
OrderForm::OrderForm(QWidget *parent)
: QDialog(parent), ui(new Ui_OrderForm) {
ui->setupUi(this);
}
OrderForm::~OrderForm() {
delete ui; ui=0;
}
• Default behavior in Qt Creator
Signals and Slots

• Widgets are available as public members

• ui->fileName->setText("image.png")
• Name based on widgets object name
• You can set up signals & slots traditionally...
• connect(ui->okButton, SIGNAL(clicked()), ...
• Auto-connection facility for custom slots
• Automatically connect signals to slots in your code
• Based on object name and signal
• void on_objectName_signal(parameters);
• Example: on_okButton_clicked() slot
• Automatic connections
• Qt Creator: right-click on widget and "Go To Slot"
• Generates a slot using auto-connected name
Loading .ui files
• Forms can be processed at runtime
• Produces dynamically generated user interfaces
• Disadvantages
• Slower, harder to maintain
• Risk: .ui file not available at runtime
• Loading .ui file
QUiLoader loader;
QFile file("forms/textfinder.ui");
file.open(QFile::ReadOnly);
QWidget *formWidget = loader.load(&file, this);
• Locate objects in form
ui_okButton = qFindChild<QPushButton*>(this,
"okButton");
Hands-on

• Lab 10: Order form

• Objectives
• Template code
Model/View modules
Objectives

• Model/View Concept
• Custom Models
• Delegates
• Editing item data
• Data Widget Mapper
• Drag and Drop
• Custom Tree Model
Objectives

Using Model/View
• Introducing to the concepts of model-view
• Showing Data using standard item models
Custom Models
• Writing a simple read-only custom model.
• Editable Models
• Custom Delegates
• Using Data Widget Mapper
• Custom Proxy Models
• Drag and Drop
Model/View
• Model/View Concept
Why Model/View?

• Isolated domain-logic
• From input and presentation
• Makes Components Independent
• For Development
• For Testing
• For Maintenance
• Foster Component Reuse
• Reuse of Presentation Logic
• Reuse of Domain Model
Model/View
Components
Delegate
View Rendering

Rendering
Editing
Model

Data Demo
Model Structures
View Classes

• QtQuick ItemView
• Abstract base class for scrollable views
• QtQuick ListView
• Items of data in a list
• QtQuick GridView
• Items of data in a grid
• QtQuick PathView
• Items of data along a specified path
Model Classes
QAbstractItemModel
• QAbstractItemModel QAbstractListModel
• Abstract interface of models
QStringListModel
• Abstract Item Models
• Implement to use QAbstractTableModel
• Ready-Made Models
QAbstractProxyModel
• Convenient to use
• Proxy Models QSortFilterProxy
Model
• Reorder/filter/sort your items
• Model class documentation QFileSystemModel

QStandardItemModel
Data-Model-View
Relationships

• Standard Item Model Model

View
• Data+Model combined Data
• View is separated
• Model is your data
• Custom Item Models
• Model is adapter to data Data Model View
• View is separated
QModelIndex
• Refers to item in model
• Contains all information to specify location
• Located in given row and column
• May have a parent index
• QModelIndex API
• row() - row index refers to
• column() - column index refers to
• parent() - parent of index
• or QModelIndex() if no parent
• isValid()
• Valid index belongs to a model
• Valid index has non-negative row and column numbers
• model() - the model index refers to
• data( role ) - data for given role
Table/Tree

• Rows and columns

• Item location in table model
• Item has no parent (parent.isValid() == false)
indexA = model->index(0, 0, QModelIndex());
indexB = model->index(1, 1, QModelIndex());
indexC = model->index(2, 1, QModelIndex());
• Parents, rows, and columns
• Item location in tree model
indexA = model->index(0, 0, QModelIndex());
indexC = model->index(2, 1, QModelIndex());
// asking for index with given row, column
and parent
indexB = model->index(1, 0, indexA);
Item and
Item Roles
• Item performs various roles
• for other components (delegate, view, ...)
• Supplies different data
• for different situations
• Example:
• Qt::DisplayRole used displayed string in view
• Asking for data
QVariant value = model->data(index, role);
// Asking for display text
QString text = model->data(index,
Qt::DisplayRole).toString()
• Standard roles
• Defined by Qt::ItemDataRole
Showing simple
Data
QStandardItemModel - Convenient Model
• QStandardItemModel
• Classic item-based approach
• Only practical for small sets of data
model = new QStandardItemModel(parent);
item = new QStandardItem("A (0,0)");
model->appendRow(item);
model->setItem(0, 1, new QStandardItem("B
(0,1)"));
item->appendRow(new QStandardItem("C (0,0)"));
Demo
• "B (0,1)" and "C (0,0)" - Not visible. (list view is only 1-
dimensional)
Proxy Model

• QSortFilterProxyModel
• Transforms structure of source model
• Maps indexes to new indexes
view = new QQuickView(parent);
// insert proxy model between model and
view
proxy = new
QSortFilterProxyModel(parent);
proxy->setSourceModel(model);
view->engine()->rootContext()-
>setContextProperty("_proxy", proxy);
Note: Need to load all data to sort or filter
Sorting/Filtering

• Filter with Proxy Model

// filter column 1 by "India"
proxy->setFilterWildcard("India");
proxy->setFilterKeyColumn(1);
• Sorting with Proxy Model
// sort column 0 ascending
proxy->sort(0, Qt::AscendingOrder);
• Filter via TextInputs signal
TextInput {
onTextChanged: _proxy.setFilterWildcard(text)
}
• Demo
Summary
• Model Structures • Models
• List, Table and Tree • QAbstractItemModel
• Components • Other Abstract Models
• Model - Adapter to Data • Ready-Made Models
• View - Displays Structure • Proxy Models
• Delegate - Paints Item • Index
• Index - Location in Model • row(),column(),parent()
• Views • data( role )
• model()
• ListView
• GridView • Item Role
• PathView • Qt::DisplayRole
• Standard Roles in
Qt::ItemDataRoles
Model/View

• Custom Models
Implementing
a Model
• Variety of classes to choose from
• QAbstractListModel
• One dimensional list
• QAbstractTableModel
• Two-dimensional tables
• QAbstractItemModel
• Generic model class
• QStringListModel
• One-dimensional model
• Works on string list
• QStandardItemModel
• Model that stores the data
• Notice: Need to subclass abstract models
Step 1:
Read Only List Model
class MyModel: public QAbstractListModel {
public:
// return row count for given parent
int rowCount( const QModelIndex &parent)
const;
// return data, based on current index and
requested role
QVariant data( const QModelIndex &index,
int role = Qt::DisplayRole) const;
};
Demo
Step 2:
Header Information
QVariant MyModel::headerData(int section,
Qt::Orientation orientation,
int role) const
{
// return column or row header based on
orientation
}
Demo
Step 3:
Enabling Editing
// should contain Qt::ItemIsEditable
Qt::ItemFlags MyModel::flags(const QModelIndex &index) const
{
return QAbstractListModel::flags() | Qt::ItemIsEditable;
}
// set role data for item at index to value
bool MyModel::setData( const QModelIndex & index,
const QVariant & value,
int role = Qt::EditRole)
{
... = value; // set data to your backend
emit dataChanged(topLeft, bottomRight); // if successful
}
Demo
Step 4:
Row Manipulation
// insert count rows into model before row
bool MyModel::insertRows(int row, int count, parent)
{
beginInsertRows(parent, first, last);
// insert data into your backend
endInsertRows();
}
// removes count rows from parent starting with row
bool MyModel::removeRows(int row, int count, parent)
{
beginRemoveRows(parent, first, last);
// remove data from your backend
endRemoveRows();
}
Demo
Hands-on

• Lab 11: City list model

• Objectives
• Template code
Model/View

• Delegates
Item Delegates

• QAbstractItemDelegate subclasses
• Control appearance of items in views
• Provide edit and display mechanisms
• QItemDelegate, QStyledItemDelegate
• Default delegates
• Suitable in most cases
• Model needs to provide appropriate data
• When to go for Custom Delegates?
• More control over appearance of items
Item Appearance

Data table
shown has no custom delegate

• No need for custom delegate!

• Use Qt::ItemRole to customize appearance
QAbstractItemDelegate

class BarGraphDelegate : public

QAbstractItemDelegate {
public:
void paint(QPainter *painter,
const QStyleOptionViewItem &option,
const QModelIndex &index) const;
QSize sizeHint(const QStyleOptionViewItem
&option,
const QModelIndex &index) const;
};
Demo
Documentation
Model/View

• Editing item data

Editor Delegate

• Provides QComboBox
• for editing a series of values

class CountryDelegate : public QItemDelegate

{
public:
// returns editor for editing data
QWidget *createEditor( parent, option, index ) const;
// sets data from model to editor
void setEditorData( editor, index ) const;
// sets data from editor to model
void setModelData( editor, model, index ) const;
// updates geometry of editor for index
void updateEditorGeometry( editor, option, index ) const;
};
Creating Editor

• Create editor by index

QWidget *CountryDelegate::createEditor( ... ) const {
QComboBox *editor = new QComboBox(parent);
editor->addItems( m_countries );
return editor;
}
• Set data to editor
void CountryDelegate::setEditorData( ... ) const {
QComboBox* combo = static_cast<QComboBox*>( editor );
QString country = index.data().toString();
int idx = m_countries.indexOf( country );
combo->setCurrentIndex( idx );
}
Data to the model

• When user finished editing

• view asks delegate to store data into model
void CountryDelegate::setModelData(editor, model,
index) const {
QComboBox* combo = static_cast<QComboBox*>(
editor );
model->setData( index, combo->currentText() );
}
• If editor has finished editing
// copy edtitors data to model
emit commitData( editor );
// close/destroy editor
emit closeEditor( editor, hint );
// hint: indicates action performed next to
editing
Editor's geometry

• Delegate manages editor's geometry

• View provides geometry information
• QStyleOptionViewItem
void CountryDelegate::updateEditorGeometry( ... ) const
{
// don't allow to get smaller than editors sizeHint()
QSize size = option.rect.size().expandedTo(editor->
sizeHint());
QRect rect(QPoint(0,0), size);
rect.moveCenter(option.rect.center());
editor->setGeometry( rect );
}
• Demo
• Case of multi-index editor
• Position editor in relation to indexes
Setting Delegates

• view->setItemDelegate( ... )
• view->setItemDelegateForColumn( ... )
• view->setItemDelegateForRow(... )
Type Based
Delegates

Demo
Model/View

• Data Widget Mapper

QDataWidgetMapper

• Maps model sections to widgets

• Widgets updated, when current
index changes
• Orientation
• Horizontal => Data Columns
• Vertical => Data Rows Mapping
QDataWidgetMapper

• Mapping Setup
mapper = new QDataWidgetMapper(this);
mapper->setOrientation(Qt::Horizontal);
mapper->setModel(model);
// mapper->addMapping( widget, model-section)
mapper->addMapping(nameEdit, 0);
mapper->addMapping(addressEdit, 1);
mapper->addMapping(ageSpinBox, 2);
// populate widgets with 1st row
mapper->toFirst();
• Track Navigation
connect(nextButton, SIGNAL(clicked()),
mapper, SLOT(toNext()));
connect(previousButton, SIGNAL(clicked()),
mapper, SLOT(toPrevious()));
Demo
Mapped Property

class QLineEdit : public QWidget

{
Q_PROPERTY(QString text
READ text WRITE setText NOTIFY textChanged
USER true) // USER property
};
• USER indicates property is user-editable property
• Only one USER property per class
• Used to transfer data between the model and the widget
addMapping(lineEdit, 0); // uses "text" user property
addMapping(lineEdit, 0, "inputMask"); // uses named property
Demo
Model/View

• Drag and Drop

Drag and Drop
for Views
• Enable the View
// enable item dragging
view->setDragEnabled(true);
// allow to drop internal or external items
view->setAcceptDrops(true);
// show where dragged item will be dropped
view->setDropIndicatorShown(true);
• Model has to provide support for drag and drop operations
Qt::DropActions MyModel::supportedDropActions() const
{
return Qt::CopyAction | Qt::MoveAction;
}
• Model needs to support actions
• For example Qt::MoveAction
• implement MyModel::removeRows( ... )
QStandardItemModel

• Setup of Model
• Model is ready by default
• model->mimeTypes()
• "application/x-qabstractitemmodeldatalist“
• "application/x-qstandarditemmodeldatalist"
• model->supportedDragActions()
• QDropEvent::Copy | QDropEvent::Move
• model->supportedDropActions()
• QDropEvent::Copy | QDropEvent::Move
• Setup of Item
item = new QStandardItem("Drag and Droppable Item");
// drag by default copies item
item->setDragEnabled(true);
// drop mean adding dragged item as child
item->setDropEnabled(true);
Demo
QAbstractItemModel

class MyModel : public QAbstractItemModel {

public:
// actions supported by the data in this model
Qt::DropActions supportedDropActions() const;
// for supported index return Qt::ItemIs(Drag|Drop)Enabled
Qt::ItemFlags flags(const QModelIndex &index) const;
// returns list of MIME types that are supported
QStringList QAbstractItemModel::mimeTypes() const;
// returns object with serialized data in mime formats
QMimeData *mimeData(const QModelIndexList &indexes) const;
// true if data and action can be handled, otherwise false
bool dropMimeData(const QMimeData *data, Qt::DropAction
action,
int row, int column, const QModelIndex &parent);
};
Demo
Model/View

• Custom Tree Model

A Custom Tree Model
in 5 Steps

1. Read-OnlyModel
2. EditableModel
3. Insert-RemoveModel
4. LazyModel
5. Drag and DropModel
A Node Structure

class Node {
public:
Node(const QString& aText="No Data", Node
*aParent=0);
~Node();
QVariant data() const;
public:
QString text;
Node *parent;
QList<Node*> children;
};
Demo (node.h)
Read-Only Model
class ReadOnlyModel : public QAbstractItemModel {
public:
...
QModelIndex index( row, column, parent ) const;
QModelIndex parent child ) const;
int rowCount( parent ) const;
int columnCount( parent ) const;
QVariant data( index, role) const;
protected: // important helper methods
QModelIndex indexForNode(Node *node) const;
Node* nodeForIndex(const QModelIndex &index)
const;
int rowForNode(Node *node) const;
};
Editable Model

class EditableModel : public ReadOnlyModel {

public:
...
bool setData( index, value, role );
Qt::ItemFlags flags( index ) const;
};
Insert/Remove
Model
class InsertRemoveModel : public
EditableModel {
public:
...
void insertNode(Node *parentNode, int
pos, Node *node);
void removeNode(Node *node);
void removeAllNodes();
};
Lazy Model

class LazyModel : public ReadOnlyModel {

public:
...
bool hasChildren( parent ) const;
bool canFetchMore( parent ) const;
void fetchMore( parent );
};
DnD Model
class DndModel : public InsertRemoveModel {
public:
...
Qt::ItemFlags flags( index ) const;
Qt::DropActions supportedDragActions() const;
Qt::DropActions supportedDropActions() const;
QStringList mimeTypes() const;
QMimeData *mimeData( indexes ) const;
bool dropMimeData(data, dropAction, row, column,
parent);
bool removeRows(row, count, parent);
bool insertRows(row, count, parent);
};
Graphics View
Objectives

• Using GraphicsView Classes

• Coordinate Systems and Transformations
• Widgets in a Scene
• Drag and Drop
• Effects
• Performance Tuning
Objectives

• Using QGraphicsView-related classes

• Coordinate Schemes, Transformations
• Extending items
• Event handling
• Painting
• Boundaries
Graphics View

• Using GraphicsView Classes

GraphicsView
Framework
• Provides:
• A surface for managing interactive 2D graphical items
• A view widget for visualizing the items
• Uses MVC paradigm
• Resolution Independent
• Animation Support
• Fast item discovery, hit tests, collision detection
• Using Binary Space Paritioning (BSP) tree indexes
• Can manage large numbers of items (tens of
thousands)
• Supports zooming, printing and rendering
Hello World
#include <QtWidgets>
int main(int argc, char **argv) {
QApplication app(argc, argv);
QGraphicsView view;
QGraphicsScene *scene = new QGraphicsScene(&view);
view.setScene(scene);
QGraphicsRectItem *rect =
new QGraphicsRectItem(-10, -10, 120, 50);
scene->addItem(rect);
QGraphicsTextItem *text = scene->addText( "Hello
World!");
view.show();
return app.exec();
}
Demo
UML relationship

• QGraphicsScene is:
• a "model" for QGraphicsView
• a "container" for QGraphicsItems
QGraphicsScene

• Container for Graphic Items

• Items can exist in only one scene at a time
• Propagates events to items
• Manages Collision Detection
• Supports fast item indexing
• Manages item selection and focus
• Renders scene onto view
• z-order determines which items show up in front of others
QGraphicsScene
• addItem()
• Add an item to the scene
• (remove from previous scene if necessary)
• Also addEllipse(), addPolygon(), addText(), etc
QGraphicsEllipseItem *ellipse =
scene->addEllipse(-10, -10, 120, 50);
QGraphicsTextItem *text =
scene->addText("Hello World!");
• items()
• returns items intersecting a particular point or region
• selectedItems()
• returns list of selected items
• sceneRect()
• bounding rectangle for the entire scene
QGraphicsView

• Scrollable widget viewport onto the scene

• Zooming, rotation, and other transformations
• Translates input events (from the View) into
QGraphicsSceneEvents
• Maps coordinates between scene and viewport
• Provides "level of detail" information to items
• Supports OpenGL
QGraphicsView

• setScene()
• sets the QGraphicsScene to use
• setRenderHints()
• antialiasing, smooth pixmap transformations, etc
• centerOn()
• takes a QPoint or a QGraphicsItem as argument
• ensures point/item is centered in View
• mapFromScene(), mapToScene()
• map to/from scene coordinates
• scale(), rotate(), translate(), matrix()
• transformations
QGraphicsItem

• Abstract base class: basic canvas element

• Supports parent/child hierarchy
• Easy to extend or customize concrete items:
• QGraphicsRectItem,
QGraphicsPolygonItem,
QGraphicsPixmapItem, QGraphicsTextItem,
etc.
• SVG Drawings, other widgets
• Items can be transformed:
• move, scale, rotate
• using local coordinate systems
• Supports Drag and Drop similar to QWidget
QGraphicsItem
Types

Demo
QGraphicsItem
methods
• pos()
• get the item's position in scene
• moveBy()
• Moves an item relative to its own position.
• zValue()
• get a Z order for item in scene
• show(), hide() - set visibility
• setEnabled(bool) - disabled items can not take focus
or receive events
• setFocus(Qt::FocusReason) - sets input focus.
• setSelected(bool)
• select/deselect an item
• typically called from
QGraphicsScene::setSelectionArea()
Select, Focus, Move

• QGraphicsItem::setFlags()
• Determines which operations are supported on an
item
• QGraphicsItemFlags
• QGraphicsItem::ItemIsMovable
• QGraphicsItem::ItemIsSelectable
• QGraphicsItem::ItemIsFocusable
item->setFlags(
QGraphicsItem::ItemIsMovable|QGraphicsIt
em::ItemIsSelectable);
Groups of Items

• Any QGraphicsItem can have children

• QGraphicsItemGroup is an invisible item for grouping
child items
• To group child items in a box with an outline (for
example), use a QGraphicsRectItem
Parents and
Children

• Parent propagates values to child items:

• setEnabled()
• setFlags()
• setPos()
• setOpacity()
• etc...
• Enables composition of items.
Graphics View

• Coordinate Systems and Transformations

Coordinate Systems

Each View and Item has its own local coordinate system
Coordinates

• Coordinates are local to an item

• Logical coordinates, not pixels
• Floating point, not integer
• Without transformations, 1 logical coordinate = 1 pixel.
• Items inherit position and transform from parent
• zValue is relative to parent
• Item transformation does not affect its local
coordinate system
• Items are painted recursively
• From parent to children
• in increasing zValue order
QTransform

Coordinate systems can be transformed using QTransform

QTransform is a 3x3 matrix describing a linear transformation
from (x,y) to (xt, yt)
m11 m12 m13 xt = m11*x + m21*y + m31
yt = m22*y + m12*x + m32
m21 m22 m23 if projected:
wt = m13*x + m23*y + m33
xt /= wt
m31 m32 m33 yt /= wt

• m13 and m23

• Control perspective transformations
• Documentation
Common
Transformations
• Commonly-used convenience functions:
• scale()
• rotate()
• shear()
• translate()
• Saves you the trouble of defining transformation
matrices
• rotate() takes optional 2nd argument: axis of rotation.
• Z axis is "simple 2D rotation"
• Non-Z axis rotations are "perspective" projections.
View transformations

t = QTransform(); // identity matrix

t.rotate(45, Qt::ZAxis); // simple rotate
t.scale(1.5, 1.5) // scale by 150%
view->setTransform(t); // apply transform to
entire view
• setTransformationAnchor()
• An anchor is a point that remains fixed before/after the
transform.
• AnchorViewCenter: (Default) The center point remains
the same
• AnchorUnderMouse: The point under the mouse remains
the same
• NoAnchor: Scrollbars remain unchanged.
Item Transformations

• QGraphicsItem supports same transform operations:

• setTransform(), transform()
• rotate(), scale(), shear(), translate()
.
An item's effective transformation:
The product of its own and all its ancestors' transformations

TIP: When managing the transformation of items,

store the desired rotation, scaling etc. in member
variables and build a QTransform from the identity
transformation when they change. Don't try to
deduce values from the current transformation
and/or try to use it as the base for further changes.
Zooming

• Zooming is done with view->scale()

void MyView::zoom(double factor)
{
double width =
matrix().mapRect(QRectF(0, 0, 1,
1)).width();
width *= factor;
if ((width < 0.05) || (width > 10))
return;
scale(factor, factor);
}
Ignoring
Transformations
• Sometimes we don't want particular items to be
transformed before display.
• View transformation can be disabled for individual
items.
• Used for text labels in a graph that should not change
size when the graph is zoomed.
item->setFlag(
QGraphicsItem::ItemIgnoresTransformations);
Demo
Graphics View

• Widgets in a Scene
Widgets in a Scene

Demo
Items
not widgets
• QGraphicsItem:
• Lightweight compared to QWidget
• No signals/slots/properties
• Scenes can easily contain thousands of Items
• Uses different QEvent sub-hierarchy (derived from
• QGraphicsSceneEvent)
• Supports transformations directly
• QWidget:
• Derived from QObject (less light-weight)
• supports signals, slots, properties, etc
• can be embedded in a QGraphicsScene with a
QGraphicsProxyWidget
QGraphicsWidget

• Advanced functionality graphics item

• Provides signals/slots, layouts, geometry, palette, etc.
• Not a QWidget!
• Base class for QGraphicsProxyWidget
QGraphicsProxyWidget

• QGraphicsItem that can embed a QWidget in a

QGraphicsScene
• Handles complex widgets like QFileDialog
• Takes ownership of related widget
• Synchronizes states/properties:
• visible, enabled, geometry, style, palette, font, cursor,
sizeHint,windowTitle, etc
• Proxies events between Widget and GraphicsView
• If either (widget or proxy) is deleted, the other is
also!
• Widget must not already have a parent
• Only top-level widgets can be added to a scene
Embedded Widget

#include <QtWidgets>
int main(int argc, char **argv) {
QApplication app(argc, argv);
QCalendarWidget *calendar = new
QCalendarWidget;
QGraphicsScene scene;
QGraphicsProxyWidget *proxy =
scene.addWidget(calendar);
QGraphicsView view(&scene);
view.show();
return app.exec();
}
QGraphicsLayout

• For layout of QGraphicsLayoutItem (+derived) classes

in QGraphicsView
• Concrete classes:
• QGraphicsLinearLayout: equivalent to QBoxLayout, arranges
items horizontally or vertically
• QGraphicsGridLayout: equivalent to QGridLayout, arranges
items in a grid
• QGraphicsWidget::setLayout() - set layout for child
items of this QGraphicsWidget
Graphics View

• Drag and Drop

Drag and Drop

• Items can be:

• Dragged
• Dropped onto other items
• Dropped onto scenes
• for handling empty drop areas
Start Drag

Starting an item drag is similar to dragging from a QWidget.

• Override event handlers:
• mousePressEvent()
• mouseMoveEvent()
• In mouseMoveEvent(), decide if drag started? if so:
• Create a QDrag instance
• Attach a QMimeData to it
• Call QDrag::exec()
• Function returns when user drops
• Does not block event loop
• Demo
Drop on a scene

• Override QGraphicsScene::dropEvent()
• To accept drop:
• acceptProposedAction()
• setDropAction(Qt::DropAction); accept();
• Override QGraphicsScene::dragMoveEvent()
• Optional overrides:
• dragEnterEvent(), dragLeaveEvent()
Hands-on
Graphics View

• Effects
Graphics Effects

Effects can be applied to graphics items:

• Base class for effects is QGraphicsEffect.
• Standard effects include blur, colorize, opacity and
drop shadow.
• Effects are set on items.
• QGraphicsItem::setGraphicsEffect()
• Effects cannot be shared or layered.
• Custom effects can be written.
Graphics Effects

• Applying a blur effect to a pixmap.

QPixmap pixmap(":/images/qt-banner.png");
QGraphicsItem *blurItem = scene->
addPixmap(pixmap);
QGraphicsBlurEffect *blurEffect = new
QGraphicsBlurEffect();
blurItem->setGraphicsEffect(blurEffect);
blurEffect->setBlurRadius(5);
• An effect is owned by the item that uses it.
• Updating an effect causes the item to be updated.
Graphics View

• Performance Tuning
Level of Detail

• Don't draw what you can't see!

• QStyleOptionGraphicsItem passed to paint()
• Contains palette, state, matrix members
• qreal levelOfDetailFromTransform(QTransform T)
method
• "levelOfDetail" is max width/height of the unity
rectangle needed to draw this shape onto a QPainter
with a QTransform of T.
• use worldTransform() of painter for current
transform.
• Zoomed out: levelOfDetail < 1.0
• Zoomed in: levelOfDetail > 1.0
Examples

Demo
Caching tips
• Cache item painting into a pixmap
• So paint() runs faster
• Cache boundingRect() and shape()
• Avoid recomputing expensive operations that stay the same
• Be sure to invalidate manually cached items after zooming
and other transforms
QRectF MyItem::boundingRect() const {
if (m_rect.isNull()) calculateBoundingRect();
return m_rect;
}
QPainterPath MyItem::shape() const {
if (m_shape.isEmpty()) calculateShape();
return m_shape;
}
setCacheMode()

• Property of QGraphicsView and

QGraphicsItem
• Allows caching of pre-rendered content in a
QPixmap
• Drawn on the viewport
• Especially useful for gradient shape backgrounds
• Invalidated whenever view is transformed.
QGraphicsView view;
view.setBackgroundBrush(QImage(":/images
/backgroundtile.png"));
view.setCacheMode(QGraphicsView::CacheBa
ckground);
Tweaking

The following methods allow you to tweak performance

of view/scene/items:
• QGraphicsView::setViewportUpdateMode()
• QGraphicsView::setOptimizationFlags()
• QGraphicsScene::setItemIndexMethod()
• QGraphicsScene::setBspTreeDepth()
• QGraphicsItem::setFlags()
• ItemDoesntPropagateOpacityToChildren and
ItemIgnoresParentOpacity especially recommended if
your items are opaque!
Tips for
better performance
• boundingRect() and shape() are called frequently so
they should run fast!
• boundingRect() should be as small as possible
• shape() should return simplest reasonable path
• Try to avoid drawing gradients on the painter. Consider
using pre-rendered backgrounds from images instead.
• It is costly to dynamically insert/remove items from the
scene. Consider hiding and reusing items instead.
• Embedded widgets in a scene is costly.
• Try using a different paint engine (OpenGL, Direct3D, etc)
• setViewport (new QGLWidget);
• Avoid curved and dashed lines
• Alpha blending and antialiasing are expensive
Hand-on
Intriduction to QML
What is QML

Declarative language for User Interface

elements:
• Describes the user interface
• What elements look like
• How elements behave
• UI specified as tree of elements with
properties
Elements
• Elements are structures in the markup language
• Represent visual and non-visual parts
• Item is the base type of visual elements
• Not visible itself
• Has a position, dimensions
• Usually used to group visual elements
• Rectangle, Text, TextInput,...
• Non-visual elements:
• States, transitions,...
• Models, paths,…
• Gradients, timers, etc.
• Elements contain properties
• Can also be extended with custom properties
• QML Elements
Tree of elements
Properties

Elements are described by properties:

• Simple name-value definitions
• width, height, color,…
• With default values
• Each has a well-defined type
• Separated by semicolons or line breaks
• Used for
• Identifying elements (id property)
• Customizing their appearance
• Changing their behavior
• Demo
THANK YOU