Global shortcut in QML - qt

I am trying to make an application in QML (Qt 5.5) that is always running and shows up when the user presses alt+space.
I have tried using the Action class in QML, but it only works when the window has the focus, not when the window is not visible.
I've also tried QShortcut (which is not ideal, since my application is not based on QWidget) but I had no results.
Also using eventFilter on QApplication doesn't seem to work when the window is not visible.
Is there a way of doing it?

I've never implemented an app in QML but I think what you are looking for is the Global Shortcut Module (http://libqxt.bitbucket.org/doc/tip/qxtglobalshortcut.html).
It is a "A global shortcut triggers even if the application is not active."

If a system wide global shortcut is what you need, I don't recall Qt having anything to offer out of the box, much less QML.
You will have to resort to the platform specific APIs to get this thing done. Like for example on windows that would be the BOOL WINAPI RegisterHotKey() function.

I have resorted to use XGrab and create a subclass of QThread (because of the separate event loop) to integrate it with the Qt signals.
shortcutactivator.h
#ifndef SHORTCUTACTIVATOR_H
#define SHORTCUTACTIVATOR_H
#include <QThread>
class ShortcutActivator : public QThread
{
Q_OBJECT
public:
void run();
signals:
void activated();
public slots:
void end();
private:
bool terminate = false;
};
#endif // SHORTCUTACTIVATOR_H
shortcutactivator.cpp
#include "shortcutactivator.h"
#include <X11/Xlib.h>
#include <X11/Xutil.h>
void ShortcutActivator::end() {
this->terminate = true;
}
void ShortcutActivator::run() {
Display* dpy = XOpenDisplay(0);
Window root = DefaultRootWindow(dpy);
XEvent ev;
unsigned int modifiers = Mod1Mask; // AnyModifier; // ControlMask | ShiftMask | AnyModifier;
int keycode = XKeysymToKeycode(dpy,XK_space);
Window grab_window = root;
Bool owner_events = False;
int pointer_mode = GrabModeAsync;
int keyboard_mode = GrabModeAsync;
XGrabKey(dpy, keycode, modifiers, grab_window, owner_events, pointer_mode, keyboard_mode);
XGrabKey(dpy, keycode, modifiers | Mod2Mask , grab_window, owner_events, pointer_mode, keyboard_mode);
XGrabKey(dpy, keycode, modifiers | LockMask, grab_window, owner_events, pointer_mode, keyboard_mode);
XGrabKey(dpy, keycode, modifiers | LockMask | Mod2Mask, grab_window, owner_events, pointer_mode, keyboard_mode);
XSelectInput(dpy, root, KeyPressMask );
while(true)
{
XNextEvent(dpy, &ev);
switch(ev.type)
{
case KeyPress:
printf("Key pressed\n");
emit this->activated();
default:
break;
}
if(this->terminate)
break;
}
XCloseDisplay(dpy);
XUngrabKey(dpy,keycode,modifiers,grab_window);
XUngrabKey(dpy,keycode,modifiers | Mod2Mask,grab_window);
XUngrabKey(dpy,keycode,modifiers| LockMask,grab_window);
XUngrabKey(dpy,keycode,modifiers | LockMask | Mod2Mask,grab_window);
}

Related

How to render programmatically a vtk item in qml?

So far, I understand that we have two threads in QML, our main application thread, and our "scene graph" thread : http://doc.qt.io/qt-5/qtquick-visualcanvas-scenegraph.html
I've implemented my own vtkQmlItem with the help of this link : http://doc.qt.io/qt-5/qtquick-scenegraph-openglunderqml-example.html
and I've noticed that my vtkscene is only rendered when the afterrendering signal is emitted by the qml flow.
So far, everything is ok and works perfectly, I can see my vtk scene and can even interract with it.
But I would like to also programmatically render my vtk scene as well, since I want to do an animation by moving the camera around a vtk object.
Calling renderer->render() directly shows a lot of vtk error, and does not seem to be the good way to do this.
Calling this->window()->update() seems to put the event in the eventLoop, when I want it to be handled instantly. The only way I've managed to make it work instantly is by using QApplication::processEvents(), which is a hack I don't like and would love another solution.
So the pseudocode of the working solution that I don't like is the following :
for (int i = 0; i < 50; i++)
{
ChangeCameraPosition(i); // Change the position and orientation of the vtk camera
this->window()->update();
QApplication::processEvents(); // The hack I don't like
QThread::msleep(500);
}
For people looking for a solution for this using Qt QuickControls 2 and VTK 8, you can find a working example in this repository https://github.com/nicanor-romero/QtVtk with building instructions in the README.
the problem is actually a bit complicated and if nothing changed in the past few months, there is still no support for QtQuick in VTK, which means no simple few lines solution. You can find support classes for QtWidgets in VTK/GUISupport/QtOpenGL/ and use them as a template to derive support for qml. But mainly I recommend checking this thread for a discussion about this topic.
The key point is that QtQuick holds the openGL context for the qml window you are trying to render into in a dedicated thread and it won't let anything else get that context. So in order to render into it from VTK, you have to do it within that thread. This means:
1) Create your own vtkRenderWindow that overrides the Render() method such that it is ensured it happens in the qml's render thread.
2) Make that render window render into a framebuffer object provided by the qtquick (instance of QQuickFramebufferObject).
3) Interconnect vtk's rendering signals with the qt's rendering methods -> e.g. when the vtk render window calls makeCurrent, the qt's rendering thread "wakes up".
Here is my implementation based on Taylor Braun-Jones' template linked above. It might not be perfect, but it works for me (I have removed some parts specific to my app so it might not compile straight away, but it should put you on a path to some working solution):
qmlVtk.h:
#include <vtkEventQtSlotConnect.h>
#include <vtkGenericOpenGLRenderWindow.h>
#include <vtkRenderer.h>
#include <QtQuick/QQuickFramebufferObject>
// Use the OpenGL API abstraction from Qt instead of from VTK because vtkgl.h
// and other Qt OpenGL-related headers do not play nice when included in the
// same compilation unit
#include <QOpenGLFunctions>
#include <qqmlapplicationengine.h>
class QVTKFramebufferObjectRenderer;
class QVTKInteractorAdapter;
class vtkInternalOpenGLRenderWindow;
class QVTKFramebufferObjectRenderer;
class QVTKFrameBufferObjectItem : public QQuickFramebufferObject
{
Q_OBJECT
public:
QVTKFrameBufferObjectItem(QQuickItem *parent = 0);
~QVTKFrameBufferObjectItem();
Renderer *createRenderer() const;
vtkSmartPointer<vtkInternalOpenGLRenderWindow> GetRenderWindow() const;
protected:
// Called once before the FBO is created for the first time. This method is
// called from render thread while the GUI thread is blocked.
virtual void init();
vtkSmartPointer<vtkInternalOpenGLRenderWindow> m_win;
QVTKInteractorAdapter* m_irenAdapter;
vtkSmartPointer<vtkEventQtSlotConnect> mConnect;
friend class QVTKFramebufferObjectRenderer;
// Convert the position of the event from openGL coordinate to native coordinate
QMouseEvent openGLToNative(QMouseEvent const& event);
virtual void mouseMoveEvent(QMouseEvent * event);
virtual void mousePressEvent(QMouseEvent * event);
virtual void mouseReleaseEvent(QMouseEvent * event);
virtual void mouseDoubleClickEvent(QMouseEvent * event);
virtual void wheelEvent(QWheelEvent *event);
virtual void keyPressEvent(QKeyEvent* event);
virtual void keyReleaseEvent(QKeyEvent* event);
virtual void focusInEvent(QFocusEvent * event);
virtual void focusOutEvent(QFocusEvent * event);
protected Q_SLOTS:
// slot to make this vtk render window current
virtual void MakeCurrent();
// slot called when vtk wants to know if the context is current
virtual void IsCurrent(vtkObject* caller, unsigned long vtk_event, void* client_data, void* call_data);
// slot called when vtk wants to start the render
virtual void Start();
// slot called when vtk wants to end the render
virtual void End();
// slot called when vtk wants to know if a window is direct
virtual void IsDirect(vtkObject* caller, unsigned long vtk_event, void* client_data, void* call_data);
// slot called when vtk wants to know if a window supports OpenGL
virtual void SupportsOpenGL(vtkObject* caller, unsigned long vtk_event, void* client_data, void* call_data);
};
/// <summary>
/// An extension of vktGenericOpenGLRenderWindow to work with Qt.
/// Serves to write VTK-generated render calls to a framebuffer provided and maintained by Qt. It is meant to be used within Qt render loop, i.e. using Qt's render thread.
/// </summary>
/// <seealso cref="vtkGenericOpenGLRenderWindow" />
/// <seealso cref="QOpenGLFunctions" />
class vtkInternalOpenGLRenderWindow : public vtkGenericOpenGLRenderWindow, protected QOpenGLFunctions
{
public:
static vtkInternalOpenGLRenderWindow* New();
vtkTypeMacro(vtkInternalOpenGLRenderWindow, vtkGenericOpenGLRenderWindow)
virtual void OpenGLInitState();
// Override to use deferred rendering - Tell the QSG that we need to
// be rendered which will then, at the appropriate time, call
// InternalRender to do the actual OpenGL rendering.
virtual void Render();
// Do the actual OpenGL rendering
void InternalRender();
// Provides a convenient way to set the protected FBO ivars from an existing
// FBO that was created and owned by Qt's FBO abstraction class
// QOpenGLFramebufferObject
void SetFramebufferObject(QOpenGLFramebufferObject *fbo);
QVTKFramebufferObjectRenderer *QtParentRenderer;
protected:
vtkInternalOpenGLRenderWindow();
~vtkInternalOpenGLRenderWindow()
{
// Prevent superclass destructors from destroying the framebuffer object.
// QOpenGLFramebufferObject owns the FBO and manages it's lifecyle.
this->OffScreenRendering = 0;
}
};
qmlVtk.cpp:
#include "QVTKFramebufferObjectItem.h"
#include <QQuickFramebufferObject>
#include <QQuickWindow>
#include <QOpenGLFramebufferObject>
#include <QVTKInteractorAdapter.h>
#include <vtkRenderWindowInteractor.h>
#include <vtkObjectFactory.h>
#include <vtkSmartPointer.h>
#include <vtkCamera.h>
#include <vtkProperty.h>
#include <qglfunctions.h>
class QVTKFramebufferObjectRenderer : public QQuickFramebufferObject::Renderer
{
friend class vtkInternalOpenGLRenderWindow;
public:
QVTKFramebufferObjectRenderer(vtkSmartPointer<vtkInternalOpenGLRenderWindow> rw) :
m_framebufferObject(0)
{
m_vtkRenderWindow = rw;
m_vtkRenderWindow->QtParentRenderer = this;
}
~QVTKFramebufferObjectRenderer()
{
m_vtkRenderWindow->QtParentRenderer = 0;
glFrontFace(GL_CCW); // restore default settings
}
virtual void synchronize(QQuickFramebufferObject * item)
{
// the first synchronize call - right before the the framebufferObject
// is created for the first time
if (!m_framebufferObject)
{
QVTKFrameBufferObjectItem *vtkItem = static_cast<QVTKFrameBufferObjectItem*>(item);
vtkItem->init();
}
}
virtual void render()
{
m_vtkRenderWindow->InternalRender(); // vtkXOpenGLRenderWindow renders the scene to the FBO
}
QOpenGLFramebufferObject *createFramebufferObject(const QSize &size)
{
QOpenGLFramebufferObjectFormat format;
format.setAttachment(QOpenGLFramebufferObject::Depth);
m_framebufferObject = new QOpenGLFramebufferObject(size, format);
m_vtkRenderWindow->SetFramebufferObject(m_framebufferObject);
return m_framebufferObject;
}
vtkSmartPointer<vtkInternalOpenGLRenderWindow> m_vtkRenderWindow;
QOpenGLFramebufferObject *m_framebufferObject;
};
vtkStandardNewMacro(vtkInternalOpenGLRenderWindow);
vtkInternalOpenGLRenderWindow::vtkInternalOpenGLRenderWindow() :
QtParentRenderer(0)
{
vtkOpenGLRenderWindow::OpenGLInitContext();
}
void vtkInternalOpenGLRenderWindow::OpenGLInitState()
{
this->MakeCurrent();
vtkOpenGLRenderWindow::OpenGLInitState();
// Before any of the gl* functions in QOpenGLFunctions are called for a
// given OpenGL context, an initialization must be run within that context
initializeOpenGLFunctions();
glFrontFace(GL_CW); // to compensate for the switched Y axis
}
void vtkInternalOpenGLRenderWindow::InternalRender()
{
vtkOpenGLRenderWindow::Render();
}
//
// vtkInternalOpenGLRenderWindow Definitions
//
void vtkInternalOpenGLRenderWindow::Render()
{
this->QtParentRenderer->update();
}
void vtkInternalOpenGLRenderWindow::SetFramebufferObject(QOpenGLFramebufferObject *fbo)
{
// QOpenGLFramebufferObject documentation states that "The color render
// buffer or texture will have the specified internal format, and will
// be bound to the GL_COLOR_ATTACHMENT0 attachment in the framebuffer
// object"
this->BackLeftBuffer = this->FrontLeftBuffer = this->BackBuffer = this->FrontBuffer =
static_cast<unsigned int>(GL_COLOR_ATTACHMENT0);
// Save GL objects by static casting to standard C types. GL* types
// are not allowed in VTK header files.
QSize fboSize = fbo->size();
this->Size[0] = fboSize.width();
this->Size[1] = fboSize.height();
this->NumberOfFrameBuffers = 1;
this->FrameBufferObject = static_cast<unsigned int>(fbo->handle());
this->DepthRenderBufferObject = 0; // static_cast<unsigned int>(depthRenderBufferObject);
this->TextureObjects[0] = static_cast<unsigned int>(fbo->texture());
this->OffScreenRendering = 1;
this->OffScreenUseFrameBuffer = 1;
this->Modified();
}
void QVTKFrameBufferObjectItem::Start()
{
m_win->OpenGLInitState();
}
void QVTKFrameBufferObjectItem::End()
{
}
void QVTKFrameBufferObjectItem::MakeCurrent()
{
this->window()->openglContext()->makeCurrent(this->window());
}
void QVTKFrameBufferObjectItem::IsCurrent(vtkObject*, unsigned long, void*, void* call_data)
{
bool* ptr = reinterpret_cast<bool*>(call_data);
*ptr = this->window()->openglContext();
}
void QVTKFrameBufferObjectItem::IsDirect(vtkObject*, unsigned long, void*, void* call_data)
{
int* ptr = reinterpret_cast<int*>(call_data);
*ptr = QGLFormat::fromSurfaceFormat(this->window()->openglContext()->format()).directRendering();
}
void QVTKFrameBufferObjectItem::SupportsOpenGL(vtkObject*, unsigned long, void*, void* call_data)
{
int* ptr = reinterpret_cast<int*>(call_data);
*ptr = QGLFormat::hasOpenGL();
}
QVTKFrameBufferObjectItem::QVTKFrameBufferObjectItem(QQuickItem *parent) : QQuickFramebufferObject(parent)
{
setAcceptedMouseButtons(Qt::AllButtons);
m_irenAdapter = new QVTKInteractorAdapter(this);
m_win = vtkSmartPointer<vtkInternalOpenGLRenderWindow>::New();
// make a connection between the vtk signals and qt slots so that an initialized and madeCurrent opengl context is given to the vtk
// we probably need only the Start(), MakeCurrent() and End() one, but just to be sure...
mConnect = vtkSmartPointer<vtkEventQtSlotConnect>::New();
mConnect->Connect(m_win, vtkCommand::WindowMakeCurrentEvent, this, SLOT(MakeCurrent()));
mConnect->Connect(m_win, vtkCommand::WindowIsCurrentEvent, this, SLOT(IsCurrent(vtkObject*, unsigned long, void*, void*)));
mConnect->Connect(m_win, vtkCommand::StartEvent, this, SLOT(Start()));
mConnect->Connect(m_win, vtkCommand::EndEvent, this, SLOT(End()));
mConnect->Connect(m_win, vtkCommand::WindowIsDirectEvent, this, SLOT(IsDirect(vtkObject*, unsigned long, void*, void*)));
mConnect->Connect(m_win, vtkCommand::WindowSupportsOpenGLEvent, this, SLOT(SupportsOpenGL(vtkObject*, unsigned long, void*, void*)));
}
QVTKFrameBufferObjectItem::~QVTKFrameBufferObjectItem()
{
mConnect->Disconnect(); // disconnect all slots
if (m_irenAdapter)
delete m_irenAdapter;
}
QQuickFramebufferObject::Renderer *QVTKFrameBufferObjectItem::createRenderer() const
{
return new QVTKFramebufferObjectRenderer(m_win);
}
vtkSmartPointer<vtkInternalOpenGLRenderWindow> QVTKFrameBufferObjectItem::GetRenderWindow() const
{
return m_win;
}
void QVTKFrameBufferObjectItem::init()
{
}
// theoretically not needed now - the Y is being flipped in render and devicePixelRatio will almost always be = 1 on a PC anyway...but lets keep it to be sure
QMouseEvent QVTKFrameBufferObjectItem::openGLToNative(QMouseEvent const& event)
{
QPointF localPos(event.localPos());
localPos.setX(localPos.x() * window()->devicePixelRatio());
localPos.setY(localPos.y() * window()->devicePixelRatio());
QMouseEvent nativeEvent(event.type(), localPos, event.button(), event.buttons(), event.modifiers());
return nativeEvent;
}
void QVTKFrameBufferObjectItem::mouseMoveEvent(QMouseEvent * event)
{
m_win->GetInteractor()->SetSize(this->width(), this->height());
QMouseEvent nativeEvent = openGLToNative(*event);
m_irenAdapter->ProcessEvent(&nativeEvent, this->m_win->GetInteractor());
}
void QVTKFrameBufferObjectItem::mousePressEvent(QMouseEvent * event)
{
m_win->GetInteractor()->SetSize(this->width(), this->height());
QMouseEvent nativeEvent = openGLToNative(*event);
m_irenAdapter->ProcessEvent(&nativeEvent, this->m_win->GetInteractor());
}
void QVTKFrameBufferObjectItem::mouseReleaseEvent(QMouseEvent * event)
{
m_win->GetInteractor()->SetSize(this->width(), this->height());
QMouseEvent nativeEvent = openGLToNative(*event);
m_irenAdapter->ProcessEvent(&nativeEvent, this->m_win->GetInteractor());
}
void QVTKFrameBufferObjectItem::wheelEvent(QWheelEvent *event)
{
m_irenAdapter->ProcessEvent(event, this->m_win->GetInteractor());
}
void QVTKFrameBufferObjectItem::keyPressEvent(QKeyEvent* event)
{
m_irenAdapter->ProcessEvent(event, this->m_win->GetInteractor());
}
void QVTKFrameBufferObjectItem::keyReleaseEvent(QKeyEvent* event)
{
m_irenAdapter->ProcessEvent(event, this->m_win->GetInteractor());
}
void QVTKFrameBufferObjectItem::focusInEvent(QFocusEvent * event)
{
m_irenAdapter->ProcessEvent(event, this->m_win->GetInteractor());
}
void QVTKFrameBufferObjectItem::focusOutEvent(QFocusEvent * event)
{
m_irenAdapter->ProcessEvent(event, this->m_win->GetInteractor());
}
To use it, define an instance of the framebuffer in your qml form and stretch it across the window you want to render into, e.g. like this (assuming you registered the QVTKFrameBufferObjectItem as a QVTKFrameBuffer in qml e.g. like this qmlRegisterType<QVTKFrameBufferObjectItem>("VtkQuick", 1, 0, "QVTKFrameBuffer");):
import VtkQuick 1.0
QVTKFrameBuffer
{
id: renderBuffer
anchors.fill : parent
Component.onCompleted :
{
myCppDisplay.framebuffer = renderBuffer // tell the c++ side of your app that this is the framebuffer into which it should render
}
}
You then use the vtkRenderWindow you get by myCppDisplay.framebuffer.GetRenderWindow() the same way you would use any other vtkRenderWindow if you were rendering into a vtk-managed window, i.e. you can assign vtkRenderer to it, assign actors to that renderer, call theWindow.Render() as you wish and it will all be rendered into the qml component to which you assigned the framebuffer.
Two notes: 1) the vtk and qt use different coordinate system, you need to flip the y-coordinate...I am doing it by assigning a scale transformation to the camera, but there is plenty of other ways to do it:
vtkSmartPointer<vtkTransform> scale = vtkSmartPointer<vtkTransform>::New();
scale->Scale(1, -1, 1);
renderer->GetActiveCamera()->SetUserTransform(scale);
2) things get quite tricky once you start using multiple threads - you have to make sure that you are not trying to render in two different threads, because they would compete for that one QtQuick's rendering thread. This does not mean only not calling renderWindow.Render() in parallel - that is easy to avoid - but you have to realize that that qt thread is used also for rendering the GUI, so you might get into trouble this way (updating GUI while doing VTK rendering).
I tried implementing this example and have successfully compiled and ran it as well but I am facing some challenges with respect to the code.
I am not able to figure out where these lines are defined as they are giving me runtime errors and are not getting recognized as well.
(Defined in qmlVtk.cpp -> SetFramebufferObject() function)
this->NumberOfFrameBuffers = 1;
this->FrameBufferObject = static_cast<unsigned int>(fbo->handle());
this->DepthRenderBufferObject = 0;
this->TextureObjects[0] = static_cast<unsigned int>(fbo->texture());
this->OffScreenRendering = 1;
this->OffScreenUseFrameBuffer = 1;
Also, can anyone guide me as how to integrate QML with OpenGLWidget.

QLabel click event using Qt?

I'm new in Qt and have a question.
I have QLabel and QLineEdit objects, and when QLabel text is clicked on, I want to set this text in QLineEdit.
Also I have read that QLabel has not clicked signal.
Can you explain how can I do this and write code for me ?!
Either style another type of QWidget such as a specific QPushButton to look like a QLabel and use its clicked() signal or inherit QLabel yourself and emit your own clicked() signal.
See this example:
https://wiki.qt.io/Clickable_QLabel
If you choose the latter option you can pass the text in the signal. Then connect the necessary signals/slots up between the QLabel and the QLineEdit like so:
QObject::connect(&label, SIGNAL(clicked(const QString& text)),
&lineEdit, SLOT(setText(const QString& text)));
A simple way to accomplish that, without a need for any subclassing, is a signal source that monitors the events on some object and emits relevant signals:
// main.cpp - this is a single-file example
#include <QtWidgets>
class MouseButtonSignaler : public QObject {
Q_OBJECT
bool eventFilter(QObject * obj, QEvent * ev) Q_DECL_OVERRIDE {
if ((ev->type() == QEvent::MouseButtonPress
|| ev->type() == QEvent::MouseButtonRelease
|| ev->type() == QEvent::MouseButtonDblClick)
&& obj->isWidgetType())
emit mouseButtonEvent(static_cast<QWidget*>(obj),
static_cast<QMouseEvent*>(ev));
return false;
}
public:
Q_SIGNAL void mouseButtonEvent(QWidget *, QMouseEvent *);
MouseButtonSignaler(QObject * parent = 0) : QObject(parent) {}
void installOn(QWidget * widget) {
widget->installEventFilter(this);
}
};
The emit keyword is an empty macro, Qt defines it as follows:
#define emit
It is for use by humans as a documentation aid prefix only, the compiler and moc ignore it. As a documentation aid, it means: the following method call is a signal emission. The signals are simply methods whose implementation is generated for you by moc - that's why we have to #include "main.moc" below to include all the implementations that moc has generated for the object class(es) in this file. There's otherwise nothing special or magical to a signal. In this example, you could look in the build folder for a file called main.moc and see the implementation (definition) of void MouseButtonSignaler::mouseButtonEvent( .. ).
You can then install such a signaler on any number of widgets, such as a QLabel:
int main(int argc, char ** argv) {
QApplication app(argc, argv);
MouseButtonSignaler signaler;
QWidget w;
QVBoxLayout layout(&w);
QLabel label("text");
QLineEdit edit;
layout.addWidget(&label);
layout.addWidget(&edit);
signaler.installOn(&label);
QObject::connect(&signaler, &MouseButtonSignaler::mouseButtonEvent,
[&label, &edit](QWidget*, QMouseEvent * event) {
if (event->type() == QEvent::MouseButtonPress)
edit.setText(label.text());
});
w.show();
return app.exec();
}
#include "main.moc"
You need to create one Custom Label class, which will inherit QLabel. Then you can use MouseButtonRelease event to check clicking of Label and emit your custom signal and catch in one SLOT.
Your .h file will be as below:
class YourLabelClass : public QLabel{
signals:
void myLabelClicked(); // Signal to emit
public slots:
void slotLabelClicked(); // Slot which will consume signal
protected:
bool event(QEvent *myEvent); // This method will give all kind of events on Label Widget
};
In your .cpp file, your constructor will connect signal & slot as below :
YourLabelClass :: YourLabelClass(QWidget* parent) : QLabel(parent) {
connect(this, SIGNAL(myLabelClicked()), this, SLOT(slotLabelClicked()));
}
Remaining event method and SLOT method will be implemented as below:
bool YourLabelClass :: event(QEvent *myEvent)
{
switch(myEvent->type())
{
case(QEvent :: MouseButtonRelease): // Identify Mouse press Event
{
qDebug() << "Got Mouse Event";
emit myLabelClicked();
break;
}
}
return QWidget::event(myEvent);
}
void YourLabelClass :: slotLabelClicked() // Implementation of Slot which will consume signal
{
qDebug() << "Clicked Label";
}
For Changing a Text on QLineEdit, you need to create a Custom Class and share object pointer with custom QLabel Class. Please check test code at this link
In the above example the header needs Q_OBJECT:
class YourLabelClass : public QLabel{
Q_OBJECT
signals:

How to monitor changes to an arbitrary widget?

I am starting a QT5 application with a rather complex design based on Qt Widgets. It runs on Beagleboard with a touchscreen. I will have a rather weird local invention instead of the LCD display. It's a laser painting on acrylic plate. It has no driver yet. To actually update a screen I must create a screenshot of the window as bitmap, turn it to grayscale and feed to a proprietary library, which will handle the laser. It should look cute, when ready. Unfortunately, the laser blinks on update, so I cannot just make screenshots on timer, or it will be jerky like hell.
I need to run a function every time a meaningful update of GUI happens, while preferably ignore things like button being pressed and released. Is there some way to create a hook without subclassing every single Qt Widget I will use? The only way to do this I know is to override paintEvent of everything. I want a simpler solution.
Possible assumptions are: the application will be running under X server with dummy display, will be the only GUI app running. Some updates happen without user input.
The code below does it. It doesn't dig too deeply into the internals of Qt, it merely leverages the fact that backing store devices are usually QImages. It could be modified to accommodate OpenGL-based backing stores as well.
The WidgetMonitor class is used to monitor the widgets for content changes. An entire top-level window is monitored no matter which particular widget is passed to the monitor(QWidget*) method. You only need to call the monitor method for one widget in the window you intend to monitor - any widget will do. The changes are sent out as a QImage of window contents.
The implementation installs itself as an event filter in the target window widget and all of its children, and monitors the repaint events. It attempts to coalesce the repaint notifications by using the zero-length timer. The additions and removals of children are tracked automagically.
When you run the example, it creates two windows: a source window, and a destination window. They may be overlapped so you need to separate them. As you resize the source window, the size of the destination's rendition of it will also change appropriately. Any changes to the source children (time label, button state) propagate automatically to the destination.
In your application, the destination could be an object that takes the QImage contents, converts them to grayscale, resizes appropriately, and passes them to your device.
I do not quite understand how your laser device works if it can't gracefully handle updates. I presume that it is a raster-scanning laser that runs continuously in a loop that looks roughly like this:
while (1) {
for (line = 0; line < nLines; ++line) {
drawLine();
}
}
You need to modify this loop so that it works as follows:
newImage = true;
QImage localImage;
while (1) {
if (newImage) localImage = newImage;
for (line = 0; line < localImage.height(); ++line) {
drawLine(line, localImage);
}
}
You'd be flipping the newImage flag from the notification slot connected to the WidgetMonitor. You may well find out that leveraging QImage, and Qt's functionality in general, in your device driver code, will make it much easier to develop. Qt provides portable timers, threads, collections, etc. I presume that your "driver" is completely userspace, and communicates via a serial port or ethernet to the micro controller that actually controls the laser device.
If you will be writing a kernel driver for the laser device, then the interface would be probably very similar, except that you end up writing the image bitmap to an open device handle.
// https://github.com/KubaO/stackoverflown/tree/master/questions/surface-20737882
#include <QtWidgets>
#include <array>
const char kFiltered[] = "WidgetMonitor_filtered";
class WidgetMonitor : public QObject {
Q_OBJECT
QVector<QPointer<QWidget>> m_awake;
QBasicTimer m_timer;
int m_counter = 0;
void queue(QWidget *window) {
Q_ASSERT(window && window->isWindow());
if (!m_awake.contains(window)) m_awake << window;
if (!m_timer.isActive()) m_timer.start(0, this);
}
void filter(QObject *obj) {
if (obj->isWidgetType() && !obj->property(kFiltered).toBool()) {
obj->installEventFilter(this);
obj->setProperty(kFiltered, true);
}
}
void unfilter(QObject *obj) {
if (obj->isWidgetType() && obj->property(kFiltered).toBool()) {
obj->removeEventFilter(this);
obj->setProperty(kFiltered, false);
}
}
bool eventFilter(QObject *obj, QEvent *ev) override {
switch (ev->type()) {
case QEvent::Paint: {
if (!obj->isWidgetType()) break;
if (auto *window = static_cast<QWidget *>(obj)->window()) queue(window);
break;
}
case QEvent::ChildAdded: {
auto *cev = static_cast<QChildEvent *>(ev);
if (auto *child = qobject_cast<QWidget *>(cev->child())) monitor(child);
break;
}
default:
break;
}
return false;
}
void timerEvent(QTimerEvent *ev) override {
if (ev->timerId() != m_timer.timerId()) return;
qDebug() << "painting: " << m_counter++ << m_awake;
for (auto w : m_awake)
if (auto *img = dynamic_cast<QImage *>(w->backingStore()->paintDevice()))
emit newContents(*img, w);
m_awake.clear();
m_timer.stop();
}
public:
explicit WidgetMonitor(QObject *parent = nullptr) : QObject{parent} {}
explicit WidgetMonitor(QWidget *w, QObject *parent = nullptr) : QObject{parent} {
monitor(w);
}
Q_SLOT void monitor(QWidget *w) {
w = w->window();
if (!w) return;
filter(w);
for (auto *obj : w->findChildren<QWidget *>()) filter(obj);
queue(w);
}
Q_SLOT void unMonitor(QWidget *w) {
w = w->window();
if (!w) return;
unfilter(w);
for (auto *obj : w->findChildren<QWidget *>()) unfilter(obj);
m_awake.removeAll(w);
}
Q_SIGNAL void newContents(const QImage &, QWidget *w);
};
class TestWidget : public QWidget {
QVBoxLayout m_layout{this};
QLabel m_time;
QBasicTimer m_timer;
void timerEvent(QTimerEvent *ev) override {
if (ev->timerId() != m_timer.timerId()) return;
m_time.setText(QTime::currentTime().toString());
}
public:
explicit TestWidget(QWidget *parent = nullptr) : QWidget{parent} {
m_layout.addWidget(&m_time);
m_layout.addWidget(new QLabel{"Static Label"});
m_layout.addWidget(new QPushButton{"A Button"});
m_timer.start(1000, this);
}
};
int main(int argc, char **argv) {
QApplication app{argc, argv};
TestWidget src;
QLabel dst;
dst.setFrameShape(QFrame::Box);
for (auto *w : std::array<QWidget *, 2>{&dst, &src}) {
w->show();
w->raise();
}
QMetaObject::invokeMethod(&dst, [&] { dst.move(src.frameGeometry().topRight()); },
Qt::QueuedConnection);
WidgetMonitor mon(&src);
src.setWindowTitle("Source");
dst.setWindowTitle("Destination");
QObject::connect(&mon, &WidgetMonitor::newContents, [&](const QImage &img) {
dst.resize(img.size());
dst.setPixmap(QPixmap::fromImage(img));
});
return app.exec();
}
#include "main.moc"

Make a floating QDockWidget unfocusable

I'm creating a simple virtual keyboard in a QDockWidget...
When the widget is docked into the QMainWindow, the selected widget (for example a qdoublespinbox) is highlighted and if I click on the virtual keyboard clearFocus() works...
When the QDockWidget is floating above the window and I click a button, clearFocus doesn't work and I can't see the focused widget in QMainWindow...
How can I force the QDockWidget to not have any focus at all?
Thanks :-)
This is the code:
// class MyVirtualKeyboard : public QDockWidget
void MyVirtualKeyboard::sendKey(Qt::Key key, Qt::KeyboardModifier mod)
{
this->clearFocus();
QMainWindow *w = dynamic_cast<QMainWindow *>(this->parent());
if(w == NULL) return;
QWidget *widget = w->focusWidget();
QString repr = QKeySequence(key).toString();
QKeyEvent *pressEvent = new QKeyEvent(QEvent::KeyPress, key, mod, repr);
QKeyEvent *releaseEvent = new QKeyEvent(QEvent::KeyRelease, key, mod, repr);
qDebug("%s", pressEvent->text().toAscii().data());
MyApplication *app = MyApplication::myInstance();
app->postEvent(widget, pressEvent);
app->postEvent(widget, releaseEvent);
}
void MyVirtualKeyboard::on_BTN_1_clicked()
{
sendKey(Qt::Key_1);
}
...
The clearFocus() call should be unnecessary. Your dock widget and all of its widgets must have the Qt::NoFocus policy.
The code below shows how you might do it.
// https://github.com/KubaO/stackoverflown/tree/master/questions/vkb-focus-18558664
#include <QtGui>
#if QT_VERSION >= QT_VERSION_CHECK(5,0,0)
#include <QtWidgets>
#endif
class Keyboard : public QDockWidget {
Q_OBJECT
QWidget m_widget;
QGridLayout m_layout{&m_widget};
QToolButton m_buttons[10];
void sendKey(Qt::Key key, Qt::KeyboardModifier mod)
{
if (! parentWidget()) return;
auto target = parentWidget()->focusWidget();
if (! target) return;
auto repr = QKeySequence(key).toString();
auto pressEvent = new QKeyEvent(QEvent::KeyPress, key, mod, repr);
auto releaseEvent = new QKeyEvent(QEvent::KeyRelease, key, mod, repr);
qApp->postEvent(target, pressEvent);
qApp->postEvent(target, releaseEvent);
qDebug() << repr;
}
Q_SLOT void clicked() {
auto key = sender()->property("key");
if (key.isValid()) sendKey((Qt::Key)key.toInt(), Qt::NoModifier);
}
public:
explicit Keyboard(const QString & title, QWidget *parent = nullptr) : Keyboard(parent) {
setWindowTitle(title);
}
explicit Keyboard(QWidget *parent = nullptr) : QDockWidget(parent) {
int i{};
for (auto & btn : m_buttons) {
btn.setText(QString::number(i));
btn.setProperty("key", Qt::Key_0 + i);
m_layout.addWidget(&btn, 0, i, 1, 1);
connect(&btn, SIGNAL(clicked()), SLOT(clicked()));
btn.setFocusPolicy(Qt::NoFocus);
++i;
}
setWidget(&m_widget);
setFeatures(QDockWidget::DockWidgetFloatable | QDockWidget::DockWidgetMovable);
}
};
int main(int argc, char ** argv)
{
QApplication a(argc, argv);
QMainWindow w;
w.setCentralWidget(new QLineEdit);
w.addDockWidget(Qt::TopDockWidgetArea, new Keyboard("Keyboard", &w));
w.show();
return a.exec();
}
#include "main.moc"
You can prevent a widget from taking focus by setting QWidget::focusPolicy = Qt::NoFocus.
However, there are two concepts here that you're mixing - the focused control (per window), and the active window (per desktop). I think in the scenario you're describing (a torn-off popup window), the OS window manager is likely to still change the active top-level window even if Qt doesn't set a focused control. That will result in nobody having keyboard focus (which is a valid state!).
So I think a full answer to your question will involve some non-portable bits. I don't know what GUI environment you're working in, but I know some of the answer for Win32, so I'll keep going and hope that's useful:
Win32
There's a pretty good discussion of the state tracking for Win32 on MSDN in the article Win32 Activation and Focus. I'm not aware that Qt does anything to wrap this level, so you'd have to use QWidget::nativeEvent or QCoreApplication::installNativeEventFilter to get at the low-level event. If you can subclass the window, I'd prefer the former, since it's more self-contained.
bool FooWidget::nativeEvent(const QByteArray & eventType, void * message, long * result)
{
#ifdef Q_OS_WIN
if(eventType == "windows_generic_MSG") {
const MSG *msg = reinterpret_cast<MSG *>(message);
if(msg->message == WM_MOUSEACTIVATE) {
*result = MA_NOACTIVATE;
return true;
}
}
#else
#error Need platform-specific code to suppress click-activation
#endif
return false;
}
This should block the click from activating the window (MA_NOACTIVATE), and block Qt from processing it further (return true), while leaving other all events (including the the click, since we didn't use MA_NOACTIVATEANDEAT to block it too) to be processed into QEvents and Qt signals normally (return false at the end).
If you need further low-level access (though I don't think you will), see also QWidget::effectiveWinId() and QWidget::windowHandle
Thanks a lot to Martin Gräßlin for the answer!
My recommendation: check out the virtual keyboard code in KDE Plasma: http://quickgit.kde.org/?p=kdeplasma-addons.git&a=blob&h=5628d6325afe57f85917dad865a07d4116335726&hb=a658d1e257cfca2a43c12714d026ec26f1fdb755&f=applets%2Fplasmaboard%2Fwidget.cpp
Looks like the key is setWindowFlags(Qt::X11BypassWindowManagerHint) and setFocusPolicy(Qt::NoFocus)
MyVirtualKeyboard::MyVirtualKeyboard(QWidget *parent) :
QDockWidget(parent),
ui(new Ui::MyVirtualKeyboard)
{
ui->setupUi(this);
this->connect(this, SIGNAL(topLevelChanged(bool)), this, SLOT(topLevelChanged()));
}
void MyVirtualKeyboard::topLevelChanged()
{
if(this->isWindow())
{
this->setWindowFlags(Qt::Popup | Qt::WindowStaysOnTopHint | Qt::X11BypassWindowManagerHint);
this->setFocusPolicy(Qt::NoFocus);
this->show();
}
}
I think I've found a better way to do it!
Just use this->setAttribute(Qt::WA_X11DoNotAcceptFocus); and voila!
Example:
MyVirtualKeyboard::MyVirtualKeyboard(QWidget *parent) :
QDockWidget(parent),
ui(new Ui::MyVirtualKeyboard)
{
ui->setupUi(this);
this->setAttribute(Qt::WA_X11DoNotAcceptFocus);
}

How to change a parent widget's background when a child widget has focus?

I would like to highlight a QFrame, if one of it's child widgets has focus (so the users know where to look for the cursor ;-)
using something along
ui->frame->setFocusPolicy(Qt::StrongFocus);
ui->frame->setStyleSheet("QFrame:focus {background-color: #FFFFCC;}");
highlights the QFrame when I click on it, but it loses its focus once one of its child widgets is selected.
Possible approaches:
I could connect() QApplication::focusChanged(old,now) and check each new object if it is a child of my QFrame, but this gets messy.
I could also subclass each child widget and reimplement focusInEvent()/focusOutEvent() and react on that, but with a lot of different widgets, this is also a lot of work.
Is there a more elegant solution?
Well, you can extend QFrame to make it listen on focus change of its children widgets.
Or you can also install an event filter on children widgets to catch QFocusEvent.
Here is an example:
MyFrame.h
#ifndef MYFRAME_H
#define MYFRAME_H
#include <QFrame>
class MyFrame : public QFrame
{
Q_OBJECT
public:
explicit MyFrame(QWidget* parent = 0, Qt::WindowFlags f = 0);
void hookChildrenWidgetsFocus();
protected:
bool eventFilter(QObject *object, QEvent *event);
private:
QString m_originalStyleSheet;
};
#endif // MYFRAME_H
MyFrame.cpp
#include <QEvent>
#include "MyFrame.h"
MyFrame::MyFrame(QWidget *parent, Qt::WindowFlags f)
: QFrame(parent, f)
{
m_originalStyleSheet = styleSheet();
}
void MyFrame::hookChildrenWidgetsFocus()
{
foreach (QObject *child, children()) {
if (child->isWidgetType()) {
child->installEventFilter(this);
}
}
}
bool MyFrame::eventFilter(QObject *object, QEvent *event)
{
if (event->type() == QEvent::FocusIn) {
setStyleSheet("background-color: #FFFFCC;");
} else if (event->type() == QEvent::FocusOut) {
setStyleSheet(m_originalStyleSheet);
}
return QObject::eventFilter(object, event);
}
MainWindow.cpp
#include <QHBoxLayout>
#include <QVBoxLayout>
#include <QLineEdit>
#include "MyFrame.h"
#include "mainwindow.h"
MainWindow::MainWindow(QWidget *parent) :
QMainWindow(parent)
{
setWindowTitle(tr("Test"));
MyFrame *frame1 = new MyFrame(this);
frame1->setLayout(new QVBoxLayout());
frame1->layout()->addWidget(new QLineEdit());
frame1->layout()->addWidget(new QLineEdit());
frame1->layout()->addWidget(new QLineEdit());
frame1->hookChildrenWidgetsFocus();
MyFrame *frame2 = new MyFrame(this);
frame2->setLayout(new QVBoxLayout());
frame2->layout()->addWidget(new QLineEdit());
frame2->layout()->addWidget(new QLineEdit());
frame2->layout()->addWidget(new QLineEdit());
frame2->hookChildrenWidgetsFocus();
QHBoxLayout *centralLayout = new QHBoxLayout();
centralLayout->addWidget(frame1);
centralLayout->addWidget(frame2);
QWidget *centralWidget = new QWidget();
centralWidget->setLayout(centralLayout);
setCentralWidget(centralWidget);
}
I believe the both answers you were given are wrong. They work for simple cases but are extremely fragile and clumsy. I believe that the best solution is what you actually suggested in your question. I would go for connecting to QApplication::focusChanged(from, to). You simply connect your main frame object to this signal and in the slot you check if the to object (the one which received focus) is a child of your frame object.
Frame::Frame(...)
{
// ...
connect(qApp, &QApplication::focusChanged, this, &Frame::onFocusChanged);
// ...
}
// a private method of your Frame object
void Frame::onFocusChanged(QWidget *from, QWidget *to)
{
auto w = to;
while (w != nullptr && w != this)
w = w->parentWidget();
if (w == this) // a child (or self) is focused
setStylesheet(highlightedStylesheet);
else // something else is focused
setStylesheet(normalStylesheet);
}
The advantage is obvious. This code is short and clean. You connect only one signal-slot, you do not need to catch and handle events. It responds well to any layout changes done after the object is created. And if you want to optimize away unnecessary redrawing, you should cache the information whether any child is focused and change the stylesheet only and only if this cached value gets changed. Then the solution would be prefect.
First, create a simple subclass of QFrame which reimplements the eventFilter(QObject*, QEvent*) virtual function:
class MyFrame : public QFrame {
Q_OBJECT
public:
MyFrame(QWidget *parent = 0, Qt::WindowFlags f = 0);
~MyFrame();
virtual bool eventFilter(QObject *watched, QEvent *event);
};
Use MyFrame instead of QFrame to contain your widgets. Then, somewhere in your code where you create the widgets contained in MyFrame, install an event filter on those widgets:
// ...
m_myFrame = new MyFrame(parentWidget);
QVBoxLayout *layout = new QVBoxLayout(myFrame);
m_button = new QPushButton("Widget 1", myFrame);
layout->addWidget(m_button);
m_button->installEventFilter(myFrame);
//...
At that point, MyFrame::eventFilter() will be called before any event is delivered to the widget, letting you act on it before the widget is aware of it. Within MyFrame::eventFilter(), return true if you want to filter the event out (i.e. you don't want the widget to process the event), or return false otherwise.
bool MyFrame::eventFilter(QObject *watched, QEvent *event)
{
if (watched == m_button) { // An event occured on m_button
switch (event -> type()) {
case QEvent::FocusIn:
// Change the stylesheet of the frame
break;
case QEvent::FocusOut:
// Change the stylesheet back
break;
default:
break;
}
}
return false; // We always want the event to propagate, so always return false
}

Resources