I have problem concerning translations in qt. All translations in my porject work fine, but one, which is in a static variable of a class. Corresponding part of code looks as follows
The header file is similar to this:
typedef struct {
int type;
QString problematicString;
} info;
MyClass::QObject_Descendant
{
Q_OBJECT;
//some functions like constructor, destructor... etc.
....
static info myClassInfo;//class that makes problems
}
and in implementation file I initialize the variable as follows:
info MyClass::myClassInfo={
1,
tr("something to be translated")
};
And whatever I do (trying with QT_TR_NOOP, then tr() and others) I cannot get myClassInfo.problematicString translated. The weirdest thing is that the text "something to be translated"
appears in *.ts file.
If someone has any hints, please share them with me. Thanks in advance.
Chris.
Static variables are instantiated (and thus, constructor code run) before your int main function is run. The translation code is set up in the QApplication constructor (I believe), which isn't run until your int main function has been entered. Thus, you are trying to get the translation of a string before the code to support it has been initialized.
To avoid this, you could either accept that the given string isn't translated and explicitly translate it every time it is used, or use the Construct on First Use idiom instead of a static member variable.
Related
I am currently working on a Qt project where dynamic plugin loading is central. I am loading DLLs by using Qt's QPluginLoader. The different plugins are accessed through CameraPluginStructs, defined as follows:
struct CameraPluginStruct
{
QString name;
QString filePath;
CameraPluginInterface* plugin;
QPluginLoader* pluginLoader;
CameraPluginStruct(QString filePath=nullptr, QString name=nullptr):
filePath(filepath), name(name), plugin(nullptr), pluginLoader(nullptr){}
};
To load a plugin, the following function is called:
void loadPlugin(CameraPluginStruct& p)
{
p.pluginLoader = new QPluginLoader(p.filePath);
p.pluginLoader->load();
QObject* possiblePlugin = p.pluginLoader->instance(); //QPluginLoader.instance();
if(possiblePlugin)
{
// cast from QObject to correct type:
p.plugin = qobjectcast<CameraPluginInterface>(possiblePlugin);
}
}
And to unload a plugin, I use this function:
void unloadPlugin(CameraPluginStruct& p)
{
p.pluginLoader->unload(); // QPluginLoader.unload();
p.pluginLoader->~QPluginLoader();
p.pluginLoader = nullptr;
p.plugin = nullptr;
}
I have made a few, simple test plugins that write messages to the console when the constructor is called. For simplicity, let's say that I have two test plugins, DLL A and DLL B. When I load A by using the loadPlugin() function, the constructor in the plugin is called, and the corresponding message is written in the console. I can do the same thing with B, and everything seems to work – B's constructor message is written to the console, and the other functions seem to work as well.
Now, the problem occurs when I try to create another CameraPluginStruct connected to either A or B. No message is written to the console, which leads me to think that the constructor is not called. Even though, I am able to call the other test functions in the plugin with success (DoSomething(), see below). If I unload all CameraPlugins connected to A or B, and then load the DLL again, the constructor is called again on the first load.
The QPluginLoader.instance() call is described as follows in the documentation:
"Returns the root component object of the plugin. (...) The component object is a QObject. Use qobject_cast() to access interfaces you are
interested in." http://doc.qt.io/qt-5/qpluginloader.html#instance
Wouldn't it then be natural that the constructor in the DLL would be called each time, and not only the first time?
As I've understood, a DLL is only loaded once for any program. Therefore I have also tried to use only one QPluginLoader per DLL file, with the same result. Qt also says that:
"Multiple instances of QPluginLoader can be used to access the same physical plugin." http://doc.qt.io/qt-5/qpluginloader.html#details
Therefore I can't see how this can be a source to the problem anyway.
I would really appreciate if anyone could clarify how the QPluginLoader.instance() really works. Why is the constructor – at least how it seems – only called the first time I use the instance() call?
Thank you!
Here is the code found in the DLLs (the output texts differ in A and B):
TestDLL::TestDLL()
{
std::cout << "This is written from the constructor in A \n";
}
QString TestDLL::Name() const
{
return "Hello, writing from Name() \n";
}
void TestDLL::DoSomething() const
{
qDebug() << "Hello, this text comes from DoSomething()"\n;
}
When your plugin is loaded (i.e. the first time QPluginLoader::instance() is called), then a single instance of it is created - this is your root instance. The root instance is the only instance QPluginLoader will ever create for you.
If you want more, then you create a createInstance() or clone() method for your plugin class, so that new instances can be created from the root instance. Or more conventionally, make your plugin class a factory for the class type you wish to expose.
So what I am trying to do is use Qt signals and slots to pass around an image through a smart_ptr so that it will delete itself when everything that needs to use the data is done accessing it.
Here is the code I have:
Class A, inherits QObject:
signals:
void newImageSent(boost::shared_ptr<namespace::ImageData> &image);
Class B, inherits QObject:
public slots:
void newImageRecieved(boost::shared_ptr<namespace::ImageData> &image)
{
// Manipulate Image
}
Connection Code:
QObject::connect(classAPtr.get(),
SIGNAL(newImageSent(boost::shared_ptr<namespace::ImageData>)),
classBPtr.get(),
SLOT(newImageRecieved(boost::shared_ptr<namespace::ImageData>)),
Qt::QueuedConnection);
When I try to do the connection is always returns false though, so is there something I am missing?
In a queued connection the signal is queued in the event loop and its parameters are copied.
Therefore the slot is not directly executed.
To make copying possible you have to register the type via qRegisterMetaType, see also here.
Since you are using shared pointers easiest solution would be to transmit them by value, then you would not have to bother with the references as Frank Osterfeld pointed out.
The way you create the connection is string based and as result is easy to get wrong, especially when namespaces are involved.
Using typedef would ease the pain a little and make it easier to spot errors.
For example you could do
typedef boost::shared_ptr<namespace::ImageData> ImageDataPtr;
and use ImageDataPtr from then on.
Especially on registering the type as meta type which you have to do since you are using a queued connection.
If you are using Qt5 then you can rely on the new connection syntax which ensures correctness during compilation as it does not rely on string comparisons:
QObject::connect(classAPtr.get(), &A::newImageSent,
classBPtr.get(), &B::newImageRecieved,
Qt::QueuedConnection);
In Qt, it is common to see something similar to the following:
QSettings obj3(QSettings::SystemScope, "MySoft", "Star Runner");
The important bit is the QSettings::SystemScope, which is an enum.
I want to have a settings provider (pay no attention to the previous example here, it has nothing to do with the following), with a get/set property.
Settings.set(Settings::refreshRate)
The refreshRate has to link to a key (string), and a default value (variant).
Should I make an enum and two dicts for the key and default values, or make a struct and a whole bunch of variables that encapsulate the settings I need? Should I try something else?
Thanks!
Edit!
This is what I did.
// Interface
class Settings {
public:
static QVariant get(Setting setting);
static void set(Setting setting, QVariant value);
const static Setting serverRefreshRate;
const static Setting serverReportTimeout;
};
// Implementation
const Setting Settings::serverRefreshRate = { "server/refreshRate", 10000 };
const Setting Settings::serverReportTimeout = { "server/reportTimeout", 1000 };
Well I guess since you're using enum which most likely will be easily castable to numbers from to 0 to N-1 I guess just storing variants and strings in two vectors or one vector of pairs would work just fine.
There's also another question though -- how to initialize all of that and how you will be adding new settings to it. I can suggest two methods - first one writing a bunch of function calls with arguments: enum, string, variant. Thus way though if programmer adds another value to enum he can forget to call initializing function. The other way is to create function (or maybe two) which will do switch on all enum values (without default case) and will return pair of string and variant. You can turn on the compiler warning about all enum values being processed in switch and thus way control if you forget to implement some of them in that function. And then initialize your structures using loop on all of enum values. These initializing functions should be called somewhere near the beginning of your program (before reading settings initially).
Well, that's my thoughts on it, you are free to try some different ways though.
I've been fighting with this all day long and I've tried passing a QString, a std::string, and a char* in many many different fashions, but if I pass it so that I can modify the parameter's value inside the library function then it SEGFAULTs. If I copy the library function, line for line, into the main app, I can pass references all day long as params and change their values inside the functions.
Here is the stripped down version of my function inside the library.
I have literally removed all code except for this line.
MySQLLib::ExecuteQuery(const QString& query, QString& results)
{
results = "Changed the value of this parameter.";
}
Here is the calling code from the main application.
bmdbTest is an instance of the above MySQLLib class...
All the other code in my library and application works. It just won't let me pass references to ANYTHING to my library.
MySQLProj::pbExecuteQuery_Click()
{
QString x = "Hello.";
bmdbTest->ExecuteQuery("SELECT ttid from test_table", x);
ui_MySQLProj1.textEdit->setText(x);
}
It SEGFAULTs on the bmdbTest->ExecuteQuery call.
I've even tried a simple int& as a parameter with no success.
I can however pass params as const QString& without issue. I just can't modify the param's value that way.
EDIT: I just figured it out. Thank you to "paxdiablo" for suggesting I check my variables for null or invalid pointers. I was really tired last night and I can't believe I missed this.
I just found the problem and I feel like a complete idiot. You mentioned about bmdbTest being null or invalid. The value of bmdbTest was fine as all my other functions worked fine, but when I was calling ExecuteQuery() I was passing the query string from the value in a QLineEdit from my GUI window like this.
bmdbTest->ExecuteQuery(leQuery->text(), resultString);
The leQuery->Text() was actually the problem as I must access leQuery like this.
bmdbTest->ExecuteQuery(ui_MySQLProj1.leQuery->text(), resultString);
You may want to check the value of bmdbTest itself. It may be null or an invalid pointer.
That seems to be indicated by the fact it's faulting on that line. If there were something suspect about the parameters, I would expect it to fault within the ExecuteQuery function.
You should be able to find out exactly where the crash is by putting suitable debug statements (with flushing) on either side of the results = ... and bmdbTest->ExecuteQuery(...) lines (or use a debugger if you have one).
I noticed that the Qt documentation is not very verbose on some of the aspects of the translations. I was fooling around with it trying to figure out their behaviour using trial & error. The ultimate goal is to get the translation changed on runtime but I am very confused as to what extent the QTranslator object can be re-used.
Consider this (where 'a' is the main instance of the application):
QTranslator translator;
translator.load("mytranslation_cz");
a.installTranslation(&translator);
(...)
a.removeTranslation(&translator)
Now the translator was removed from the application but what happened to the translator object?
In my tests when above code was followed by this again
translator.load("mytranslation_fr");
a.installTranslation(&translator);
it did not do anything in main() and it crashed the application when called from one of the widgets (using pointer to main app).
Therefore I am suspecting that I would need to create one QTranslator object per translation I want to load in the application and that I cannot reuse the QTranslator object. Am I right in this assumption?
And as a side question. Assuming the QTranslator object is untouched by the removeTranslation(), is it possible to simply install it later again like this?
QTranslator translator;
QTranslator translator1;
translator.load("mytranslation_cz");
translator1.load("mytranslation_fr");
a.installTranslation(&translator);
(...)
a.removeTranslation(&translator);
a.installTranslation(&translator1);
(...)
a.removeTranslation(&translator1);
a.installTranslation(&trasnlator); //Will this work?
Thanks for any clarification as I am somewhat confused as to what happens to the QTranslation objects when installing and removing translations from the application and especially if the QTranslation object can be reused for multiple translations somehow on runtime?
QTranslator::load basically in simple sense can be considered as a function that opens a given .qm file, reads in all the translated values and loads it in for a specific language.
Now in general operation you would not want to reuse this for many languages as by "reusing" (even if its allowed) your adding the overhead of parsing this given .qm file for every language every time you switch your UI language, which is just basically an overhead you don't need.
Your assumption of creating a QTranslator for each language is correct. As for your side question, Yes you can also re-use it. Thats the benefit of having individual QTranslator objects per translation. Just call qApp->removeTranslator() with the current translation and then qApp->installTranslator() with the new one. This way you are reusing the loaded translations as and when you please.
The way we structure this is by sub-classing QApplication and adding 2 functions
void Application::CreateTranslators() {
// translators_ is a QMap<QString, QTranslator*>
if (!translators_.isEmpty())
return;
QStringList languages;
languages << "en" << "ar" << "zh";
foreach(QString language, languages) {
QTranslator* translator = new QTranslator(instance());
translator->load(language);
translators_.insert(language, translator);
}
}
Now this function is called at the very start of the application.
2nd function is as following
void Application::SwitchLanguage(QString language) {
// current_translator_ is a QTranslator*
if (current_translator_)
removeTranslator(current_translator_);
current_translator_ = translators_.value(language, nullptr);
if (current_translator_)
installTranslator(current_translator_);
}
That's it. Using the second function you can switch your language at run-time as you please.
Couple things you'll also need to be aware of is changing QTranslator at run-time will update all translations from your .ui file strings marked as translatable automatically, however those set from code will not be. To get that you will have to override QWidget::changeEvent() and then check if the event is of type QEvent::LanguageChange and then set the required strings for that QWidget accordingly (Don't forget the tr() while doing so)