path: root/examples/qml/doc/src/qml-extending.qdoc

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/*!
\example referenceexamples/adding
\title Extending QML - Adding Types Example
\brief Exporting C++ Classes
\ingroup qmlextendingexamples

The Adding Types Example shows how to add a new object type, \c Person, to QML.
The \c Person type can be used from QML like this:

\snippet referenceexamples/adding/example.qml 0

\section1 Declare the Person class

All QML types map to C++ types.  Here we declare a basic C++ Person class
with the two properties we want accessible on the QML type - name and shoeSize.
Although in this example we use the same name for the C++ class as the QML
type, the C++ class can be named differently, or appear in a namespace.

\snippet referenceexamples/adding/person.h 0

\section1 Define the Person class

\snippet referenceexamples/adding/person.cpp 0

The Person class implementation is quite basic.  The property accessors simply
return members of the object instance.

The \c main.cpp file also calls the \c qmlRegisterType() function to
register the \c Person type with QML as a type in the People library version 1.0,
and defines the mapping between the C++ and QML class names.

\section1 Running the example

The main.cpp file in the example includes a simple shell application that
loads and runs the QML snippet shown at the beginning of this page.
*/

/*!
\example referenceexamples/properties
\title Extending QML - Object and List Property Types Example
\brief Exporting C++ Properties
\ingroup qmlextendingexamples

This example builds on:
\list
\li \l {Extending QML - Adding Types Example}
\endlist

The Object and List Property Types example shows how to add object and list
properties in QML.  This example adds a BirthdayParty type that specifies
a birthday party, consisting of a celebrant and a list of guests.  People are
specified using the People QML type built in the previous example.

\snippet referenceexamples/properties/example.qml 0

\section1 Declare the BirthdayParty

The BirthdayParty class is declared like this:

\snippet referenceexamples/properties/birthdayparty.h 0
\snippet referenceexamples/properties/birthdayparty.h 1
\snippet referenceexamples/properties/birthdayparty.h 2
\snippet referenceexamples/properties/birthdayparty.h 3

The class contains a member to store the celebrant object, and also a
QList<Person *> member.

In QML, the type of a list properties - and the guests property is a list of
people - are all of type QQmlListProperty<T>.  QQmlListProperty is simple value
type that contains a set of function pointers.  QML calls these function
pointers whenever it needs to read from, write to or otherwise interact with
the list.  In addition to concrete lists like the people list used in this
example, the use of QQmlListProperty allows for "virtual lists" and other advanced
scenarios.

\section2 Define the BirthdayParty

The implementation of BirthdayParty property accessors is straight forward.

\snippet referenceexamples/properties/birthdayparty.cpp 0

\section1 Running the example

The main.cpp file in the example includes a simple shell application that
loads and runs the QML snippet shown at the beginning of this page.
*/

/*!
\example referenceexamples/coercion
\title Extending QML - Inheritance and Coercion Example
\brief C++ Inheritance and Coercion
\ingroup qmlextendingexamples

This example builds on:
\list
\li \l {Extending QML - Object and List Property Types Example}
\li \l {Extending QML - Adding Types Example}
\endlist

The Inheritance and Coercion Example shows how to use base classes to assign
types of more than one type to a property.  It specializes the Person type
developed in the previous examples into two types - a \c Boy and a \c Girl.

\snippet referenceexamples/coercion/example.qml 0

\section1 Declare Boy and Girl

\snippet referenceexamples/coercion/person.h 0

The Person class remains unaltered in this example and the Boy and Girl C++
classes are trivial extensions of it.  As an example, the inheritance used here
is a little contrived, but in real applications it is likely that the two
extensions would add additional properties or modify the Person classes
behavior.

\section2 Define People as a base class

The implementation of the People class itself has not changed since the
previous example.  However, as we have repurposed the People class as a common
base for Boy and Girl, we want to prevent it from being instantiated from QML
directly - an explicit Boy or Girl should be instantiated instead.

\snippet referenceexamples/coercion/main.cpp 0

While we want to disallow instantiating Person from within QML, it still needs
to be registered with the QML engine, so that it can be used as a property type
and other types can be coerced to it.

\section2 Define Boy and Girl

The implementation of Boy and Girl are trivial.

\snippet referenceexamples/coercion/person.cpp 1

All that is necessary is to implement the constructor, and to register the types
and their QML name with the QML engine.

\section1 Running the example

The BirthdayParty type has not changed since the previous example.  The
celebrant and guests property still use the People type.

\snippet referenceexamples/coercion/birthdayparty.h 0

However, as all three types, Person, Boy and Girl, have been registered with the
QML system, on assignment QML automatically (and type-safely) converts the Boy
and Girl objects into a Person.

The main.cpp file in the example includes a simple shell application that
loads and runs the QML snippet shown at the beginning of this page.
*/

/*!
\example referenceexamples/default
\title Extending QML - Default Property Example
\brief Default Property
\ingroup qmlextendingexamples

This example builds on:
\list
\li \l {Extending QML - Inheritance and Coercion Example}
\li \l {Extending QML - Object and List Property Types Example}
\li \l {Extending QML - Adding Types Example}
\endlist

The Default Property Example is a minor modification of the
\l {Extending QML - Inheritance and Coercion Example} that simplifies the
specification of a BirthdayParty through the use of a default property.

\snippet referenceexamples/default/example.qml 0

\section1 Declaring the BirthdayParty class

The only difference between this example and the last, is the addition of the
\c DefaultProperty class info annotation.

\snippet referenceexamples/default/birthdayparty.h 0

The default property specifies the property to assign to whenever an explicit
property is not specified, in the case of the BirthdayParty type the guest
property.  It is purely a syntactic simplification, the behavior is identical
to specifying the property by name, but it can add a more natural feel in many
situations.  The default property must be either an object or list property.

\section1 Running the example

The main.cpp file in the example includes a simple shell application that
loads and runs the QML snippet shown at the beginning of this page.
*/

/*!
\example referenceexamples/grouped
\title Extending QML - Grouped Properties Example
\brief Grouped Properties
\ingroup qmlextendingexamples

This example builds on:
\list
\li \l {Extending QML - Default Property Example}
\li \l {Extending QML - Inheritance and Coercion Example}
\li \l {Extending QML - Object and List Property Types Example}
\li \l {Extending QML - Adding Types Example}
\endlist

*/

/*!
\example referenceexamples/attached
\title Extending QML - Attached Properties Example
\brief Attached Properties
\ingroup qmlextendingexamples

This example builds on:
\list
\li \l {Extending QML - Grouped Properties Example}
\li \l {Extending QML - Default Property Example}
\li \l {Extending QML - Inheritance and Coercion Example}
\li \l {Extending QML - Object and List Property Types Example}
\li \l {Extending QML - Adding Types Example}
\endlist

*/

/*!
\example referenceexamples/signal
\title Extending QML - Signal Support Example
\brief Signal Support
\ingroup qmlextendingexamples

This example builds on:
\list
\li \l {Extending QML - Attached Properties Example}
\li \l {Extending QML - Grouped Properties Example}
\li \l {Extending QML - Default Property Example}
\li \l {Extending QML - Inheritance and Coercion Example}
\li \l {Extending QML - Object and List Property Types Example}
\li \l {Extending QML - Adding Types Example}
\endlist

*/

/*!
\example referenceexamples/methods
\title Extending QML - Methods Example
\brief Methods Support
\ingroup qmlextendingexamples

This example builds on:
\list
\li \l {Extending QML - Default Property Example}
\li \l {Extending QML - Inheritance and Coercion Example}
\li \l {Extending QML - Object and List Property Types Example}
\li \l {Extending QML - Adding Types Example}
\endlist

*/

/*!
\example referenceexamples/valuesource
\title Extending QML - Property Value Source Example
\brief Property Value Source
\ingroup qmlextendingexamples

This example builds on:
\list
\li \l {Extending QML - Signal Support Example}
\li \l {Extending QML - Attached Properties Example}
\li \l {Extending QML - Grouped Properties Example}
\li \l {Extending QML - Default Property Example}
\li \l {Extending QML - Inheritance and Coercion Example}
\li \l {Extending QML - Object and List Property Types Example}
\li \l {Extending QML - Adding Types Example}
\endlist

*/

/*!
\example referenceexamples/binding
\title Extending QML - Binding Example
\brief Binding
\ingroup qmlextendingexamples

This example builds on:
\list
\li \l {Extending QML - Property Value Source Example}
\li \l {Extending QML - Signal Support Example}
\li \l {Extending QML - Attached Properties Example}
\li \l {Extending QML - Grouped Properties Example}
\li \l {Extending QML - Default Property Example}
\li \l {Extending QML - Inheritance and Coercion Example}
\li \l {Extending QML - Object and List Property Types Example}
\li \l {Extending QML - Adding Types Example}
\endlist

*/