asynchronous (kind of) animation in qml - qt

let's say i have the following QML Components:
Foo.qml
import Qt 4.7
Rectangle {
Repeater {
model: myModel
delegate: Bar {
barProp: elemProp
}
}
}
Bar.qml
import Qt 4.7
Rectangle {
property string barProp: ""
Text {
text: barProp
NumberAnimation on x {
from: 0; to: 100
duration: 1000
loops: Animation.Infinite
}
}
}
I maintain myModel from C++, it has the following Q_PROPERTY declaration:
Q_PROPERTY (QDeclarativeListProperty <Bar> myModel READ myModel
NOTIFY myModelChanged)
Now, my problem is that every time I add a new element to the underlying QList, the animation specified in Bar resets, so in practice, the elements always completely overlap. What I want is that the element animations are not synchronous, and each can continue seamlessly regardless of the rest. Is this possible to do?
Cheers

You should use a QAbstractItemModel (QStandardItemModel may be easiest) rather than a QList. QAbstractItemModel notifies the view when new items are inserted/removed/moved and the view reacts appropriately by modifying its content. In contrast, the view knows nothing about the changes made to a QList; only that something has changed. This means that the list has no choice but to destroy and recreate all delegates.

Related

How qml MediaPlayer VideoOutput run in separate thread?

Suppose there is a code like this (sorry for the contrived code)
Window {
id: window
visible: true
width: 700
height: 700
MediaPlayer {
id: mediaplayer
source: "test.avi"
autoPlay: true
}
VideoOutput {
anchors.fill: parent
source: mediaplayer
}
Repeater {
id: repeater
property int n: 1
model: 1
Label {
function getRandomInt(max) {
return Math.floor(Math.random() * Math.floor(max))
}
id: label
y: getRandomInt(window.width)
x: getRandomInt(window.height)
text: "label"
}
}
Timer {
interval: 10
running: true
repeat: true
onTriggered: {
repeater.n += 1
if (!(repeater.n % 100)) {
repeater.model = repeater.n
}
}
}
}
When the number of labels increases, the video starts to break. How to start a video in a separate thread so that manipulations with any widgets do not interrupt it (video).
You should not overload main thread (with it's event loop). Otherwise, whole the software will lag, not only VideoOutput.
Don't move to another thread well-optimized and efficient controls. Move to another thread huge things, hard & long computations.
So
avoid using timers with low interval or if you use them, don't attach to them hard things
if you should create many or hard controls in QML, then use Loader or QQmlIncubator, they allow to create QML controls in a separate threads. Also Loader allows dynamically load and unload needed/unneeded controls. So, QML engine will not render too many controls, most of which even are not visible.
Note about Loader/QQmlIncubator: they create control in a separate thread, not run it there.
avoid writing custom properties and functions inside QML controls, place them in some single QtObject: QtObject { id: internals; ...all your custom data... }
Use ListView instead of Repeater. It's more efficient because it instantiates only visible items (and several out of visible area) - probably the most important for your sample
More advice and samples you can find here:
Performance Considerations And Suggestions: https://doc.qt.io/qt-5/qtquick-performance.html
QML performance tips and tricks: https://katastrophos.net/harmattan-dev/html/guide/html/Developer_Library_Best_practices_for_application_development_QML_performance_tips_and_tricks.html
QtObject: https://doc.qt.io/qt-5/qml-qtqml-qtobject.html

How to inject data into QT item shown with loader

In my application I have a global system that handles navigation between "screens". In QML I can simply call something like:
appNavigation.show("MyScreen.qml", NavigationType.FADE)
this calls a C++ part of the code which handles the current stack of screens and uses signals to report back to QML to do the actual animation. At the end in QML some Loader will load the input qml ("MyScreen.qml" in this case) and show it as defined.
My issue here is how to inject data into newly loaded screen. Essentially I would like to do something like the following:
function showMyScreen() {
MyScreen screen = appNavigation.show("MyScreen.qml", NavigationType.FADE)
screen.someData = "some data here"
}
but is this possible? Could I somehow return the screen that is loaded by the loader?
I am guessing not so I would satisfy with sending the data with the navigation itself like:
function showMyScreen() {
MyScreen screen = appNavigation.show("MyScreen.qml", NavigationType.FADE, "some data here")
}
I could forward the data to the point where I set source to the loader but still what then? How or where would that specific screen that is going to be loaded get the data. To reduce is this is what I get:
function setNewItemWithData(newItem, data) {
loader.source = newItem
loader.concreteScreen.data = data // Not really doable
}
again I assume this is not doable and I need to forward the data down to loader and use onLoaded event. So what I would do is something like:
onLoaded: {
myLoadedScreen.data = data
}
I assume something like this is possible but how? What am I missing here, how do I get myLoadedScreen and how to access its properties?
What I am currently doing now is dumping the data in C++ part and then collecting it in the loaded QML. So like the following:
appNavigation.injectedData = "some data here"
and then in the newly loaded item:
property data = appNavigation.injectedData
It works but this seems like extremely poor coding. Any of the alternatives would be helpful.
Thank you for your patience.
Since the request for MCVE was made:
This is a general problem and I expect it to have multiple solutions. I would be looking forward to any of them. However the minimal example to produce this is creating a new project and adding a loader with another qml to which some property should be changed:
main:
import QtQuick 2.9
import QtQuick.Window 2.2
Window {
visible: true
width: 640
height: 480
title: qsTr("Hello World")
Loader {
anchors.fill: parent; anchors.margins: 20
source: "MyScreen.qml"
// TODO: make screen green (loadedScreen.color = "green")
}
}
MyScreen:
import QtQuick 2.0
Rectangle {
color: "red"
}
Current result is seeing a red rectangle and desired result is to see a green one. The point being that the main screen needs to tell what color the loaded screen needs to use.
You have to use the item property of the Loader to get the object loaded:
Loader {
id: loader
anchors.fill: parent; anchors.margins: 20
source: "MyScreen.qml"
onLoaded: loader.item.color = "green"
}
To do that, you might as well use Component (If you use it when reacting to an event)
Component {
id: myScreenComponent
MyScreen {
anchors.fill: parent
}
}
function showMyScreen() {
myScreenComponent.createObject(this, {"color: "green"});
}
Alternatively, given your first code, I would recommend you to use StackView.
The push method seems to be similar to your appNavigation.show one.
You can give it an url, some properties, and a transition type (that you can customize).

Repater: Using C++ property as model

I have a C++ property
Q_PROPERTY(QList<qreal> XTickPos MEMBER _xTickPos);
which I want to use in a Repeater. In the same QML file, the c++ class has been given the id
id: pw
The repeater looks like this
Item {
anchors.fill: parent
visible: true
Repeater {
model: pw.XTickPos.length
Rectangle{
height: 50
width: 2
x: pw.XTickPos[index]
y:10
visible: true
color: "black"
border.width: 2
}
}
}
However, nothing is drawn on the screen. If instead I make property in the QML file:
var xTickPos = []
and set it via a Q_Invokable function in c++
Q_INVOKABLE QList<qreal> getXTickPositions();
and in QML
root.xTickPos=pw.getXTickPositions();
and use the QML property xTickPos as model in the above repeater it is working. I checked that pw.XTickPos is correctly filled via a console.log
What am I missing here?
This one is kinda tricky.
The documentation states that you can use a JS array as a model, and it does state that QList<qreal> is automatically converted to a JS array when returned to QML.
But it seems that you can't use a QList<qreal> that is automatically converted to a JS array as a model. Go figure...
Naturally, it is preferable to have a proper model with its proper notifications for top efficiency. But in case you really want to go for the list property, it appears you will have to do the conversion manually in a getter:
QVariantList model() {
QVariantList vl;
for (auto const & v : yourList) vl.append(v);
return vl;
}
Amazingly, although Qt supposedly makes that conversion automatically, it doesn't seem to be able to make a QVariantList from a QList<qreal>.
That's Qt for you...

How to display correctly Treeview with QML Qt 5.5

I'm trying to create a correct Treeview with Qml Qt 5.5.
I succeed to have a Treeview with a global root.
But impossible to find how to add child for row item.
For the moment I got something like that :
TreeView {
id:listTree
anchors.fill: parent
anchors.leftMargin: 1
headerVisible: false
backgroundVisible: false
selection: ItemSelectionModel {
model: myModel
}
TableViewColumn {
role: "name"
}
itemDelegate: Item {
Text {
anchors.verticalCenter: parent.verticalCenter
color: styleData.textColor
elide: styleData.elideMode
text: styleData.value
}
}
Component.onCompleted: {
model.append({"name":"Never"})
model.append({"name":"gonna"})
model.append({"name":"give"})
model.append({"name":"you"})
model.append({"name":"up"})
model.append({"name":"Never"})
model.append({"name":"gonna"})
model.append({"name":"let"})
model.append({"name":"you"})
model.append({"name":"dow"})
}
}
And I would like something like that :
How can I do it ?
You can also create a TreeModel class that extends QStandardItemModel and overrides roleNames(), like done here. To add children to nodes in your tree, just use appendRow().
TreeModel::TreeModel(QObject *parent) : QStandardItemModel(parent)
{
QStandardItem *root = new QStandardItem("root");
QStandardItem *child = new QStandardItem("child");
this->appendRow(root);
root->appendRow(child);
}
Your model doesn't have any parent child relationships which is why its displayed like a list.
You'll want your "TreeModel" to be a collection of TreeItems. Each TreeItem will have knowledge of their own children and their parent item.
You can follow a fully implemented Qt example found here http://doc.qt.io/qt-5/qtwidgets-itemviews-simpletreemodel-example.html. You'll want to (in C++) make a class for TreeItem, and a separate class for your TreeModel.
That example is working code, you can just copy and paste it and get a working model for your TreeView.
The part you'll be particularly interested in is the implementation of the method setupModelData(). That's where you'll want to parse through your wonderful dataset of 80's lyrics and assign each of them a TreeItem.
Each TreeItem (one for every row of data) should be given knowledge of its parent upon creation (in its constructor). Then as soon as its children are created, call parentTreeItem.appendChild(childTreeItem)
When your model is completed, you can assign it to your qml view in a few ways, registering it with qmlRegisterType is what I prefer (http://doc.qt.io/qt-5/qqmlengine.html#qmlRegisterType)
Once registered, it can be created in qml as though it were a ListView or any other qml object.
NOTE: You'll have this rootItem. This is something that isn't usable by the view, but all your "first indentation" parents are children of the rootItem.
Good luck!
Can you provide a code snippet of what line is causing your about failing to make a shortcut for QAbstractItemModel?

Qt 5 QML app with lots of Windows or complex UIs

In QtQuick 2 using the QtQuick Controls you can create complex desktop apps. However it seems to me that the entire UI must be declared and create all at once at the start of the app. Any parts that you don't want to use yet (for example the File->Open dialog) must still be created but they are hidden, like this:
ApplicationWindow {
FileDialog {
id: fileOpenDialog
visible: false
// ...
}
FileDialog {
id: fileSaveDialog
visible: false
// ...
}
// And so on for every window in your app and every piece of UI.
Now, this may be fine for simple apps, but for complex ones or apps with many dialogs surely this is a crazy thing to do? In the traditional QtWidgets model you would dynamically create your dialog when needed.
I know there are some workarounds for this, e.g. you can use a Loader or even create QML objects dynamically directly in javascript, but they are very ugly and you lose all the benefits of the nice QML syntax. Also you can't really "unload" the components. Well Loader claims you can but I tried it and my app crashed.
Is there an elegant solution to this problem? Or do I simply have to bite the bullet and create all the potential UI for my app at once and then hide most of it?
Note: this page has information about using Loaders to get around this, but as you can see it is not a very nice solution.
Edit 1 - Why is Loader suboptimal?
Ok, to show you why Loader is not really that pleasant, consider this example which starts some complex task and waits for a result. Suppose that - unlike all the trivial examples people usually give - the task has many inputs and several outputs.
This is the Loader solution:
Window {
Loader {
id: task
source: "ComplexTask.qml"
active: false
}
TextField {
id: input1
}
TextField {
id: output1
}
Button {
text: "Begin complex task"
onClicked: {
// Show the task.
if (task.active === false)
{
task.active = true;
// Connect completed signal if it hasn't been already.
task.item.taskCompleted.connect(onTaskCompleted)
}
view.item.input1 = input1.text;
// And several more lines of that...
}
}
}
function onTaskCompleted()
{
output1.text = view.item.output1
// And several more lines...
// This actually causes a crash in my code:
// view.active = false;
}
}
If I was doing it without Loader, I could have something like this:
Window {
ComplexTask {
id: task
taskInput1: input1.text
componentLoaded: false
onCompleted: componentLoaded = false
}
TextField {
id: input1
}
TextField {
id: output1
text: task.taskOutput1
}
Button {
text: "Begin complex task"
onClicked: task.componentLoaded = true
}
}
That is obviously way simpler. What I clearly want is some way for the ComplexTask to be loaded and have all its declarative relationships activated when componentLoaded is set to true, and then have the relationships disconnected and unload the component when componentLoaded is set to false. I'm pretty sure there is no way to make something like this in Qt currently.
Creating QML components from JS dynamically is just as ugly as creating widgets from C++ dynamically (if not less so, as it is actually more flexible). There is nothing ugly about it, you can implement your QML components in separate files, use every assistance Creator provides in their creation, and instantiate those components wherever you need them as much as you need them. It is far uglier to have everything hidden from the get go, it is also a lot heavier and it could not possibly anticipate everything that might happen as well dynamic component instantiation can.
Here is a minimalistic self-contained example, it doesn't even use a loader, since the dialog is locally available QML file.
Dialog.qml
Rectangle {
id: dialog
anchors.fill: parent
color: "lightblue"
property var target : null
Column {
TextField {
id: name
text: "new name"
}
Button {
text: "OK"
onClicked: {
if (target) target.text = name.text
dialog.destroy()
}
}
Button {
text: "Cancel"
onClicked: dialog.destroy()
}
}
}
main.qml
ApplicationWindow {
visible: true
width: 200
height: 200
Button {
id: button
text: "rename me"
width: 200
onClicked: {
var component = Qt.createComponent("Dialog.qml")
var obj = component.createObject(overlay)
obj.target = button
}
}
Item {
id: overlay
anchors.fill: parent
}
}
Also, the above example is very barebone and just for the sake of illustration, consider using a stack view, either your own implementation or the available since 5.1 stock StackView.
Here's a slight alternative to ddriver's answer that doesn't call Qt.createComponent() every time you create an instance of that component (which will be quite slow):
// Message dialog box component.
Component {
id: messageBoxFactory
MessageDialog {
}
}
// Create and show a new message box.
function showMessage(text, title, modal)
{
if (typeof modal === 'undefined')
modal = true;
// mainWindow is the parent. We can also specify initial property values.
var messageDialog = messageBoxFactory.createObject(mainWindow, {
text: text,
title: title,
visible: true,
modality: modal ? Qt.ApplicationModal : Qt.NonModal
} );
messageDialog.accepted.connect(messageDialog.destroy);
messageDialog.rejected.connect(messageDialog.destroy);
}
I think loading and unloading elements is not actual any more because every user have more than 2GB RAM.
And do you think your app can take more than even 512 MB ram? I doubt it.
You should load qml elements and don't unload them, no crashes will happens, just store all pointers and manipulate qml frames.
If you just keep all your QML elements in RAM and store their states, it will works faster and looks better.
Example is my project that developed in that way: https://youtube.com/watch?v=UTMOd2s9Vkk
I have made base frame that inherited by all windows. This frame does have methods hide/show and resetState. Base window does contains all child frames, so via signal/slots other frames show/hide next required frame.

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