QGraphicsItem: Why no `stackAfter` method? - qt

Question

I'm having an annoying time trying to get around the 'recommended' way of doing something.
So, I have a stack of cards. I want to make it so that when I deal a card, it becomes the last-drawn object of the entire scene (typical bring_to_front functionality).
The recommended way to do this is just adding to the object's zValue until it is larger than all the rest, but I was hoping to do away with rather "lazy" integers running around all over the place with judicious use of the stackBefore method, which simulates reorganizing the order in which objects were added to the scene.
This works perfectly fine when I shuffle my cards in a limited set (get list of selected items, random.shuffle, for item do item.stackBefore(next item)), but it is certainly not working when it comes to bubbling the card to the top of the entire scene.
I considered adding a copy of the object to the scene and then removing the original, but it just seems like I should be able to do stackAfter like I would when using a Python list (or insertAt or something).
Sample code:
def deal_items(self):
if not self.selection_is_stack():
self.statusBar().showMessage("You must deal from a stack")
return
item_list = self.scene.sorted_selection()
for i,item in enumerate(item_list[::-1]):
width = item.boundingRect().width()
item.moveBy(width+i*width*0.6,0)
another_list = self.scene.items()[::-1]
idx = another_list.index(item)
for another_item in another_list[idx+1:]:
another_item.stackBefore(item)
This works. It just seems somewhat... ugly.

Answer 1

self.scene.items returns the items in the stacking order (link). So if you want to stackAfter an item, you can just query the z value of the current topmost item and then set the z value of the new topmost card to a value one larger.
item.setZValue(self.scene.items().first().zValue() + 1)
Hope that helps.
Edit added src for stackBefore and setZValue from http://gitorious.org/qt/
src/gui/graphicsview/qgraphicsitem.cpp
void QGraphicsItem::stackBefore(const QGraphicsItem *sibling)
{
if (sibling == this)
return;
if (!sibling || d_ptr->parent != sibling->parentItem()) {
qWarning("QGraphicsItem::stackUnder: cannot stack under %p, which must be a sibling", sibling);
return;
}
QList<QGraphicsItem *> *siblings = d_ptr->parent
? &d_ptr->parent->d_ptr->children
: (d_ptr->scene ? &d_ptr->scene->d_func()->topLevelItems : 0);
if (!siblings) {
qWarning("QGraphicsItem::stackUnder: cannot stack under %p, which must be a sibling", sibling);
return;
}
// First, make sure that the sibling indexes have no holes. This also
// marks the children list for sorting.
if (d_ptr->parent)
d_ptr->parent->d_ptr->ensureSequentialSiblingIndex();
else
d_ptr->scene->d_func()->ensureSequentialTopLevelSiblingIndexes();
// Only move items with the same Z value, and that need moving.
int siblingIndex = sibling->d_ptr->siblingIndex;
int myIndex = d_ptr->siblingIndex;
if (myIndex >= siblingIndex) {
siblings->move(myIndex, siblingIndex);
// Fixup the insertion ordering.
for (int i = 0; i < siblings->size(); ++i) {
int &index = siblings->at(i)->d_ptr->siblingIndex;
if (i != siblingIndex && index >= siblingIndex && index <= myIndex)
++index;
}
d_ptr->siblingIndex = siblingIndex;
for (int i = 0; i < siblings->size(); ++i) {
int &index = siblings->at(i)->d_ptr->siblingIndex;
if (i != siblingIndex && index >= siblingIndex && index <= myIndex)
siblings->at(i)->d_ptr->siblingOrderChange();
}
d_ptr->siblingOrderChange();
}
}
void QGraphicsItem::setZValue(qreal z)
{
const QVariant newZVariant(itemChange(ItemZValueChange, z));
qreal newZ = newZVariant.toReal();
if (newZ == d_ptr->z)
return;
if (d_ptr->scene && d_ptr->scene->d_func()->indexMethod != QGraphicsScene::NoIndex) {
// Z Value has changed, we have to notify the index.
d_ptr->scene->d_func()->index->itemChange(this, ItemZValueChange, &newZ);
}
d_ptr->z = newZ;
if (d_ptr->parent)
d_ptr->parent->d_ptr->needSortChildren = 1;
else if (d_ptr->scene)
d_ptr->scene->d_func()->needSortTopLevelItems = 1;
if (d_ptr->scene)
d_ptr->scene->d_func()->markDirty(this, QRectF(), /*invalidateChildren=*/true);
itemChange(ItemZValueHasChanged, newZVariant);
if (d_ptr->flags & ItemNegativeZStacksBehindParent)
setFlag(QGraphicsItem::ItemStacksBehindParent, z < qreal(0.0));
if (d_ptr->isObject)
emit static_cast<QGraphicsObject *>(this)->zChanged();
}