1.
. An Introduction to Qt and Workshop Qt in Education

2.
http://www.pelagicore.com/documents/2011-Apr-QtWorkshop.odp © 2011 Nokia Corporation and its Subsidiary(-ies). The enclosed Qt Materials are provided under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 License Agreement. The full license text is available here: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/legalcode . Nokia, Qt and the Nokia and Qt logos are the registered trademarks of Nokia Corporation in Finland and other countries worldwide.

3.
The Presenter <ul>Johan Thelin <johan.thelin@pelagicore.com> <li>Creates middleware for in-vehicle infotainment based on MeeGo

4.
Thesis work within embedded Linux, open source and design </li></ul>

5.
What is Qt? <ul><li>C++ framework – bindings for other languages </li><ul><li>Python, Ruby, C#, etc. </li></ul><li>Originally for user interfaces – now for everything </li><ul><li>Databases, XML, WebKit, multimedia, networking, OpenGL, scripting, non-GUI... </li></ul></ul>“ Qt is a cross platform development framework written in C++.”

6.
What is Qt? <ul><li>Qt is made up of modules </li><ul><li>All modules have a common scheme and are built from the same API design ideas </li></ul></ul>QtCore Phonon QtXmlPatterns QtXml QtWebKit QtSvg QtSql QtScript QtOpenVG QtOpenGL QtNetwork QtMultimedia QtGui

7.
What is Qt? <ul><li>Qt extends C++ with macros and introspection

8.
All code is still plain C++ </li></ul>foreach (int value, intList) { … } QObject *o = new QPushButton; o->metaObject()->className(); // returns ”QPushButton” connect(button, SIGNAL(clicked()), window, SLOT(close()));

9.
Desktop target platforms <ul><li>Windows

10.
Mac OS X

11.
Linux/Unix X11 </li></ul>

12.
Embedded target platforms <ul><li>Windows CE

13.
Symbian

14.
Maemo

15.
Embedded Linux </li><ul><li>Direct framebuffer access </li></ul></ul>

16.
Community target platforms <ul><li>Android – Necessitas and Ministri </li></ul>http://sourceforge.net/p/necessitas/home/ <ul><li>iOS, Kindle, QNX, wxWorks... </li></ul>

17.
Hello World

18.
Hello World #include <QApplication> #include <QLabel> int main( int argc, char **argv ) { QApplication app( argc, argv ); QLabel l( &quot;Hello World!&quot; ); l.show(); return app.exec(); }

19.
Hello World #include <QApplication> #include <QLabel> int main( int argc, char **argv ) { QApplication app( argc, argv ); QLabel l( &quot;Hello World!&quot; ); l.show(); return app.exec(); }

20.
Hello World #include <QApplication> #include <QLabel> int main( int argc, char **argv ) { QApplication app( argc, argv ); QLabel l( &quot;Hello World!&quot; ); l.show(); return app.exec(); }

21.
Hello World #include <QApplication> #include <QLabel> int main( int argc, char **argv ) { QApplication app( argc, argv ); QLabel l( &quot;Hello World!&quot; ); l.show(); return app.exec(); }

22.
Hello World #include <QApplication> #include <QLabel> int main( int argc, char **argv ) { QApplication app( argc, argv ); QLabel l( &quot;Hello World!&quot; ); l.show(); return app.exec(); }

23.
The QObject <ul><li>They can have a name ( QObject::objectName )

24.
They are placed in a hierarchy of QObject instances

25.
They can have connections to other QObject instances

26.
Example: does it make sense to copy a widget at run-time? </li></ul>“ QObject instances are individuals!”

27.
Meta data <ul><li>Qt implements introspection in C++

28.
Every QObject has a meta object

29.
The meta object knows about </li><ul><li>class name ( QObject::className )

30.
inheritance ( QObject::inherits )

31.
properties

32.
signals and slots

33.
general information ( QObject::classInfo ) </li></ul></ul>

34.
Memory Management <ul><li>QObject can have parent and children

35.
When a parent object is deleted, it deletes its children </li></ul>QObject *parent = new QObject(); QObject *child1 = new QObject(parent); QObject *child2 = new QObject(parent); QObject *child1_1 = new QObject(child1); QObject *child1_2 = new QObject(child1); delete parent;

36.
Memory Management <ul><li>This is used when implementing visual hierarchies. </li></ul>QDialog *parent = new QDialog(); QGroupBox *box = new QGroupBox(parent); QPushButton *button = new QPushButton(parent); QRadioButton *option1 = new QRadioButton(box); QRadioButton *option2 = new QRadioButton(box); delete parent;

37.
Usage Patterns <ul><li>Use the this- pointer as top level parent

38.
Allocate parent on the stack </li></ul>void Widget::showDialog() { Dialog dialog; if (dialog.exec() == QDialog::Accepted) { ... } } Dialog::Dialog(QWidget *parent) : QDialog(parent) { QGroupBox *box = QGroupBox(this); QPushButton *button = QPushButton(this); QRadioButton *option1 = QRadioButton(box); QRadioButton *option2 = QRadioButton(box); ...

39.
Heap <ul><li>When using new and delete , memory is allocated on the heap.

40.
Heap memory must be explicitly freed using delete to avoid memory leaks.

41.
Objects allocated on the heap can live for as long as they are needed. </li></ul>new delete Construction Destruction

42.
Stack <ul><li>Local variables are allocated on the stack.

43.
Stack variables are automatically destructed when they go out of scope.

44.
Objects allocated on the stack are always destructed when they go out of scope. </li></ul>int a } Construction Destruction

45.
Stack and Heap <ul><li>To get automatic memory management, only the parent needs to be allocated on the stack. </li></ul>int main(int argc, char **argv) { QApplication a(argc, argv); MyMainWindow w; w.show(); return a.exec(); } MyMainWindow::MyMainWindow(... { new QLabel(this); new ... } MyMainWindow QApplication

46.
Signals and Slots <ul><li>Dynamically and loosely tie together events and state changes with reactions

47.
What makes Qt tick </li></ul>

48.
Signals and Slots in Action emit clicked();

49.
Signals and Slots in Action private slots: void on_addButton_clicked(); void on_deleteButton_clicked(); connect(clearButton,SIGNAL(clicked()),listWidget,SLOT(clear())); connect(addButton,SIGNAL(clicked()),this,SLOT(...)); 2x clear();

50.
Signals and Slots in Action { ... emit clicked(); ... } { ... emit clicked(); ... } { ... emit clicked(); ... } { QString newText = QInputDialog::getText(this, &quot;Enter text&quot;, &quot;Text:&quot;); if( !newText.isEmpty() ) ui->listWidget->addItem(newText); } { foreach (QListWidgetItem *item, ui->listWidget->selectedItems()) { delete item; } } clear();

51.
What is a slot? <ul><li>A slot is defined in one of the slots sections

52.
A slot can return values, but not through connections

53.
Any number of signals can be connected to a slot

54.
It is implemented as an ordinary method

55.
It can be called as an ordinary method </li></ul>public slots: void aPublicSlot(); protected slots: void aProtectedSlot(); private slots: void aPrivateSlot(); connect(src, SIGNAL(sig()), dest, SLOT(slt()));

56.
What is a signal? <ul><li>A signal is defined in the signals section

57.
A signal always returns void

58.
A signal must not be implemented </li><ul><li>The moc provides an implementation </li></ul><li>A signal can be connected to any number of slots

59.
Usually results in a direct call, but can be passed as events between threads, or even over sockets (using 3 rd party classes)

60.
The slots are activated in arbitrary order

61.
A signal is emitted using the emit keyword </li></ul>signals: void aSignal(); emit aSignal();

62.
Making the connection QObject::connect( src, SIGNAL( signature ), dest, SLOT( signature ) ); <function name> ( <arg type>... ) clicked() toggled(bool) setText(QString) textChanged(QString) rangeChanged(int,int) setTitle(QString text) setValue(42) A signature consists of the function name and argument types. No variable names, nor values are allowed. Custom types reduces reusability. setItem(ItemClass)

63.
Making the connection <ul><li>Qt can ignore arguments, but not create values from nothing </li></ul>Signals rangeChanged(int,int) rangeChanged(int,int) rangeChanged(int,int) valueChanged(int) valueChanged(int) valueChanged(int) textChanged(QString) clicked() clicked() Slots setRange(int,int) setValue(int) updateDialog() setRange(int,int) setValue(int) updateDialog() setValue(int) setValue(int) updateDialog()

64.
Automatic Connections <ul><li>When using Designer it is convenient to have automatic connections between the interface and your code

65.
Triggered by calling QMetaObject::connectSlotsByName

66.
Think about reuse when naming </li><ul><li>Compare on_widget_signal to updatePageMargins </li></ul></ul>on_ object name _ signal name ( signal parameters ) on_addButton_clicked(); on_deleteButton_clicked(); on_listWidget_currentItemChanged(QListWidgetItem*,QListWidgetItem*)

67.
Much more... <ul><li>QtQuick – cool animated user interfaces </li></ul>http://qt.nokia.com/qtquick/

68.
Goal of the day <ul><li>Build and entire application </li><ul><li>Document window(s)

69.
Dialogs

70.
Menus, toolbars, statusbars

71.
Basic file management Open, Save and Save As </li></ul></ul>We will run out of time!

72.
Goal of the day

73.
Creating a project <ul><li>In QtCreator, create a Qt4 Gui Application project

74.
Use the QtCore and QtGui modules

75.
Base the skeleton project on a QMainWindow </li></ul>

76.
Creating a project <ul><li>The resulting project contains five files </li><ul><li>TextEditor.pro – the project definition file

77.
mainwindow.ui – the user interface of the main window

78.
mainwindow.h/cpp – the class declaration and implementation of the main window

79.
main.cpp – the main function, getting everything initialized and running </li></ul></ul>

80.
The plan <ul><li>This lecture will build a text editor in an iterative process

81.
Features will be added to the application, while maintaining a functioning application through-out the process

82.
This is how most software is being built in real life! </li></ul>

83.
Starting with the user interface <ul><li>Add a QTextEdit widget to the main window form </li></ul>

84.
Starting with the user interface <ul><li>Apply a layout to the central widget </li></ul>

85.
Starting with the user interface <ul><li>Set the layout margin properties to zero </li></ul>You have to deselect and reselect the central widget to see these properties after you have applied the layout

86.
Adding actions <ul><li>With the text editing central widget in place, the next step will be to let the user create new documents, close the current document and to exit the application

87.
For each of these user actions, a QAction object will be created </li></ul>

88.
Why QAction <ul><li>Many user interface elements refer to the same action

89.
Do not forget tooltips, statusbar tips, etc. </li></ul>Ctrl+S Action

90.
Why QAction <ul><li>A QAction encapsulates all settings needed for menus, tool bars and keyboard shortcuts

91.
Commonly used properties are </li><ul><li>text – the text used everywhere

92.
icon – icon to be used everywhere

93.
shortcut – shortcut

94.
checkable / checked – if the action is checkable and the current check status

95.
toolTip / statusTip – tips text for tool tips (hover and wait) and status bar tips (hover, no wait) </li></ul></ul>

96.
Why QAction QAction *action = new QAction( parent ); action->setText(&quot;text&quot;); action->setIcon(QIcon(&quot;:/icons/icon.png&quot;)); action->setShortcut(QKeySequence(&quot;Ctrl+G&quot;)); action->setData(myDataQVariant); Setting properties for text, icon and keyboard short-cut Creating a new action A QVariant can be associated with each action, to carry data associated with the given operation

97.
Why QAction <ul><li>Designer has an action editor at the bottom of the screen

98.
Tools – Form Editor – Views – Action Editor </li></ul><ul><li>Adding a new action brings up a dialog with the details (name, text, tips...)

99.
Action icons can be added either from files or resources </li></ul>

100.
Icon resources <ul><li>Putting icons in a resource file lets Qt embed them into the executable </li><ul><li>Avoid having to deploy multiple files

101.
No need to trying to determine the path for the icons for each specific install type

102.
All fits neatly into the build system

103.
...

104.
You can add anything into resources, not only icons </li></ul></ul>

105.
Creating a resource file <ul><li>Adding a resource file to a project is just as adding any source file to a project

106.
When having added the resource file, make sure to close any Designer forms and re-open them for Designer to discover the resource </li></ul>

107.
Adding resources <ul><li>Opening the resource file gives you the resource file editor

108.
Before any resources can be added to the resource file, you must first create a directory in the resource file

109.
In this case we put icons into the /icons directory </li></ul>

110.
Adding actions <ul><li>From Designer, you can now pick an icon for the actions that you plan to show in toolbars

111.
Click “...” next to the icon setting

112.
Pick “ Choose Resource...” </li></ul><ul><li>Pick the icon from the resource directory tree </li></ul>

113.
Adding actions <ul><li>When you have added your actions to the action editor, you need to add them to the form

114.
To add them to the toolbar, simply drag and drop </li></ul>

115.
Adding actions <ul><li>To add them to a menu, double click on “Type here” and enter the menu title, then drag and drop action onto the menu </li></ul>Typing “&File”, makes “F” a keyboard shortcut To enter “&” in a menu, type “&&” as the text.

116.
Adding actions <ul><li>In this first iteration, we add the most basic actions </li></ul>The name is automatically generated when entering the text for the action Close and Exit are added to the menu. To add a separator, double click “Add Separator” then drag it into place. Text Name Icon Short-cut Tool-tip New actionNew Ctrl+N Create a new document Close actionClose Ctrl+W Close current window Exit actionExit Exit application

117.
Implementing new <ul><li>By right clicking on the action in the action editor, you can go the corresponding slot

118.
Slots are generated on the fly in both header and implementation

119.
Implementing the new slot is easy – just create a new MainWindow and show it </li></ul>void MainWindow::on_actionNew_triggered() { MainWindow *w = new MainWindow(); w->show(); }

120.
Closing and Exiting MainWindow::MainWindow(QWidget *parent) : QMainWindow(parent), ui(new Ui::MainWindow) { ui->setupUi(this); setAttribute(Qt::WA_DeleteOnClose); connect(ui->actionClose, SIGNAL(triggered()), this, SLOT(close())); connect(ui->actionExit, SIGNAL(triggered()), qApp, SLOT(closeAllWindows())); } Setting the WA_DeleteOnClose attribute makes the widget delete itself when it is closed All widgets has a close slot out-of-the-box The QApplication class has a slot for closing all windows The qApp pointer refers to the current QApplication instance

121.
Status update <ul><li>Now, we have a window with a working text editing widget

122.
New windows can be created

123.
Windows can be closed

124.
The application can exit (i.e. close all windows) </li></ul>

125.
Do not close what is modified <ul><li>Now, the windows close regardless of their contents

126.
The expected behavior would be to ask the user before close a modified document

127.
To implement this, we add a modified flag which is set whenever the text of the QTextEdit is changed

128.
We also intercept close events and ask the user before closing modified events </li></ul>

129.
The modified flag <ul><li>Declaration and initialization </li></ul>class MainWindow : public QMainWindow { ... private: bool m_modified; }; MainWindow::MainWindow(QWidget *parent) : QMainWindow(parent), ui(new Ui::MainWindow), m_modified(false) { ...

130.
The modified flag <ul><li>Keeping track of the document </li></ul>MainWindow::MainWindow(QWidget *parent) ... { ... connect(ui->textEdit, SIGNAL(textChanged()), this, SLOT(documentModified())); } void MainWindow::documentModified() { m_modified = true; }

131.
Closing safely <ul><li>When a window is closed, the top-level widget can accept or ignore the close event </li><ul><li>Accept means that the window will close (and be deleted in this case)

132.
Ignore means that the window will remain open </li></ul><li>All events are handled in the QObject::event method

133.
QWidget provides virtual methods for the most common events, e.g. QWidget::closeEvent </li></ul>

134.
Closing safely <ul><li>Re-implementing the closeEvent method to ask the user before closing a window with a modified document </li></ul>void MainWindow::closeEvent(QCloseEvent *e) { if(m_modified) { if(QMessageBox::warning(this, &quot;Document Modified&quot;, &quot;The document has been modified, do you want to close it?&quot; &quot;You will lose all your changes.&quot;, QMessageBox::Yes | QMessageBox::No, QMessageBox::No) == QMessageBox::Yes) { e->accept() ; } else { e->ignore() ; } } else { e->accept(); } } Unmodified windows are always closed Depending on the user's answer, the event is accepted or ignored

135.
QMessageBox <ul><li>The QMessageBox class can be used to show

136.
question dialogs

137.
information dialogs

138.
warning dialogs

139.
critical dialogs

140.
about dialogs for both the current application and Qt itself </li></ul>Roughly the same type of dialogs with a title, a message and one or more buttons. The green words are function names for static members. To show an information dialog, use QMessageBox::information , etc.

141.
QMessageBox QMessageBox::warning(this, &quot;Document Modified&quot;, &quot;The document has been modified, do you want to close it?&quot; &quot;You will lose all your changes.&quot;, QMessageBox::Yes | QMessageBox::No, QMessageBox::No) == QMessageBox::Yes Parent window Dialog title The message of the dialog. Notice the use of ' ' The buttons to use. Pick from Ok , Open , Save , Cancel , Close , Discard , Apply , Reset , Restore defaults , Help , Save all , Yes , Yes to all , No , No to all , Abort , Retry and Ignore The default button The return value is the button used for closing the dialog

142.
When is a document modified? <ul><li>The user expects to see if a document is modified or not from the title of the window

143.
By setting a window title with the sub-string “ [*] ”, the modified indication can be activated using setWindowModified . </li></ul>void MainWindow::updateWindowTitle() { setWindowTitle(tr(&quot;%1 [*] &quot;).arg(qApp->applicationName())); setWindowModified(m_modified); } This function is called from the constructor as well as from the documentModified slot

144.
Application name <ul><li>When building the title, we used the QApplication::applicationName method

145.
The QApplication object keeps track of the application's name, version, producer, etc.

146.
This is used for window titles, etcetera </li></ul>a.setApplicationName(&quot;Text Editor&quot;); a.setApplicationVersion(&quot;0.1&quot;); a.setOrganizationName(&quot;ExampleSoft&quot;); a.setOrganizationDomain(&quot;example.com&quot;); a.setWindowIcon(QIcon(&quot;:/icons/new.png&quot;)); Application icon Producer name and domain Application name and version

147.
Status update <ul><li>Now, we have a window with a working text editing widget

148.
New windows can be created

149.
Windows can be closed

150.
The application can exit (i.e. close all windows)

151.
We can keep track of document modifications

152.
A window cannot be closed without accepting the loss of document modifications </li></ul>

153.
Selecting a font <ul><li>The standard font of the text editor is very “plain”. To remedy, we will let the user pick the font

154.
We add an action, add a View menu and put the action in the menu </li></ul>Text Name Icon Short-cut Tool-tip Select Font... actionSelectFont Select the display font New menus are always placed to the right, but they can be dragged in to place afterwards

155.
Selecting a font <ul><li>In the slot, a new QFont value is requested using the QFontDialog::getFont method </li></ul>void MainWindow::on_actionSelectFont_triggered() { bool ok; QFont font = QFontDialog::getFont(&ok, ui->textEdit->font(), this); if(ok) ui->textEdit->setFont(font); } The boolean, ok , is used to determine if the user actually picked a font. This is because QFont values always are valid.

156.
More on fonts <ul><li>Using the current implementation, each window pops up with the default font and the user has to pick a new font

157.
The user expects settings to stick, i.e. use the last value when opening new windows </li></ul>

158.
QSettings <ul><li>Settings are stored differently on all major platforms

159.
By using a QSettings object, you get a cross platform interface for handing settings

160.
Any QVariant can be stored – but think about readability for advanced users </li></ul>QSettings settings; myString = settings.value(&quot;key&quot;,&quot;default&quot;).toString(); settings.setValue(&quot;key&quot;, myString); settings.remove(&quot;key&quot;);

161.
Back to the font <ul><li>Saving the font

162.
Restoring the font </li></ul>void MainWindow::on_actionSelectFont_triggered() { bool ok; QFont font = QFontDialog::getFont(&ok, ui->textEdit->font(), this); if(ok) { QSettings settings; settings.setValue(&quot;viewFont&quot;, font); ui->textEdit->setFont(font); } } MainWindow::MainWindow(QWidget *parent) : ... { ... QSettings settings; ui->textEdit->setFont( settings.value(&quot;viewFont&quot;, QApplication::font()).value<QFont>()); ... Default value

163.
Custom fonts!

164.
Status update <ul><li>Now, we have a window with a working text editing widget

165.
New windows can be created

166.
Windows can be closed

167.
The application can exit (i.e. close all windows)

168.
We can keep track of document modifications

169.
A window cannot be closed without accepting the loss of document modifications

170.
User configurable fonts

171.
Persistent user settings </li></ul>

172.
The edit menu <ul><li>The actions cut, copy and paste are easy to add

173.
The actions are added to both the tool bar and menu </li></ul>Right click on the tool bar to add separators Text Name Icon Short-cut Tool-tip Cut actionCut Ctrl+X Cut Copy actionCopy Ctrl+C Copy Paste actionPaste Ctrl+V Paste

174.
The edit menu <ul><li>Slots for the new actions are implemented in the text editing widget

175.
To avoid trying to copy in vain, let's add connections for enabling and disabling the actions depending on the selection </li></ul>connect(ui->actionCut, SIGNAL(triggered()), ui->textEdit, SLOT(cut())); connect(ui->actionCopy, SIGNAL(triggered()), ui->textEdit, SLOT(copy())); connect(ui->actionPaste, SIGNAL(triggered()), ui->textEdit, SLOT(paste())); connect(ui->textEdit, SIGNAL(copyAvailable(bool)), ui->actionCut, SLOT(setEnabled(bool))); connect(ui->textEdit, SIGNAL(copyAvailable(bool)), ui->actionCopy, SLOT(setEnabled(bool)));

176.
Undoing <ul><li>Adding support for undo and redo is just as easy as for the clipboard operations </li></ul>Text Name Icon Short-cut Tool-tip Undo actionUndo Ctrl+Z Undo the last action Redo actionRedo Ctrl+Y Redo the last action connect(ui->actionUndo, SIGNAL(triggered()), ui->textEdit, SLOT(undo())); connect(ui->actionRedo, SIGNAL(triggered()), ui->textEdit, SLOT(redo())); connect(ui->textEdit, SIGNAL(undoAvailable(bool)), ui->actionUndo, SLOT(setEnabled(bool))); connect(ui->textEdit, SIGNAL(redoAvailable(bool)), ui->actionRedo, SLOT(setEnabled(bool)));

177.
Status update <ul><li>Now, we have a window with a working text editing widget

178.
New windows can be created

179.
Windows can be closed

180.
The application can exit (i.e. close all windows)

181.
We can keep track of document modifications

182.
A window cannot be closed without accepting the loss of document modifications

183.
User configurable fonts

184.
Persistent user settings

185.
The expected clipboard actions: cut, copy and paste

186.
Undo and redo </li></ul>

187.
Unmodifying documents <ul><li>Until now, documents can be modified, but never unmodified

188.
When is the modified flag cleared? </li><ul><li>In the constructor, i.e. new documents are not modified

189.
When a document is loaded

190.
When a document is saved </li></ul><li>This means that we must implement file operations </li></ul>

191.
Interfacing files <ul><li>Qt file handing is too large a subject to cover here!

192.
Loading

193.
Saving </li></ul>QFile file(m_fileName); if(!file.open(QIODevice::WriteOnly | QIODevice::Text)) qFatal(&quot;Error opening file for writing&quot;); QTextStream out(&file); out << textString; QFile file(m_fileName); if(!file.open(QIODevice::ReadOnly | QIODevice::Text)) qFatal(&quot;Error opening file for reading&quot;); QTextStream in(&file); in >> textString;

194.
The document file name <ul><li>If order to implement file operations, each document window must have a file name

195.
As a start, it is set in the constructor </li></ul>MainWindow::MainWindow( const QString &fileName , QWidget *parent) : QMainWindow(parent), ui(new Ui::MainWindow), m_modified(false), m_fileName(fileName) { ... if(!m_fileName.isNull()) loadFile(); updateWindowTitle(); } The name can be QString() , i.e. null, as new, unnamed documents needs this

196.
Updating the window title <ul><li>The window title must reflect the filename

197.
Results in: </li><ul><li>untitled* - Text Editor

198.
testing.txt - Text Editor </li></ul></ul>void MainWindow::updateWindowTitle() { setWindowTitle(tr(&quot;%1[*] - %2&quot;) .arg(m_fileName.isNull()?&quot;untitled&quot;:QFileInfo(m_fileName).fileName()) .arg(QApplication::applicationName())); setWindowModified(m_modified); } Extracts the file name part of a file name with a path

199.
Loading documents <ul><li>Documents are loaded from the loadFile member function

200.
It attempts to load the current file

201.
If it fails, it sets the current filename to null </li></ul>void MainWindow::loadFile() { QFile file(m_fileName); if(!file.open(QIODevice::ReadOnly | QIODevice::Text)) { QMessageBox::warning(this, QApplication::applicationName(), tr(&quot;Could not open file %1.%2&quot;) .arg(QFileInfo(m_fileName).fileName()) .arg(file.errorString())); m_fileName = QString(); } else { QTextStream in(&file); ui->textEdit->setText(in.readAll()); } m_modified = false; updateWindowTitle(); }

202.
Loading documents <ul><li>Documents are loaded from the loadFile member function

203.
It attempts to load the current file

204.
If it fails, it sets the current filename to null </li></ul>void MainWindow::loadFile() { QFile file(m_fileName); if(!file.open(QIODevice::ReadOnly | QIODevice::Text)) { QMessageBox::warning(this, QApplication::applicationName(), tr(&quot;Could not open file %1.%2&quot;) .arg(QFileInfo(m_fileName).fileName()) .arg(file.errorString())); m_fileName = QString(); } else { QTextStream in(&file); ui->textEdit->setText(in.readAll()); } m_modified = false; updateWindowTitle(); }

205.
Loading documents <ul><li>Documents are loaded from the loadFile member function

206.
It attempts to load the current file

207.
If it fails, it sets the current filename to null </li></ul>void MainWindow::loadFile() { QFile file(m_fileName); if(!file.open(QIODevice::ReadOnly | QIODevice::Text)) { QMessageBox::warning(this, QApplication::applicationName(), tr(&quot;Could not open file %1.%2&quot;) .arg(QFileInfo(m_fileName).fileName()) .arg(file.errorString())); m_fileName = QString(); } else { QTextStream in(&file); ui->textEdit->setText(in.readAll()); } m_modified = false; updateWindowTitle(); }

208.
Loading documents <ul><li>Documents are loaded from the loadFile member function

209.
It attempts to load the current file

210.
If it fails, it sets the current filename to null </li></ul>void MainWindow::loadFile() { QFile file(m_fileName); if(!file.open(QIODevice::ReadOnly | QIODevice::Text)) { QMessageBox::warning(this, QApplication::applicationName(), tr(&quot;Could not open file %1.%2&quot;) .arg(QFileInfo(m_fileName).fileName()) .arg(file.errorString())); m_fileName = QString(); } else { QTextStream in(&file); ui->textEdit->setText(in.readAll()); } m_modified = false; updateWindowTitle(); }

211.
Opening documents <ul><li>Now, we can load files on start-up </li></ul>int main(int argc, char *argv[]) { QApplication a(argc, argv); ... MainWindow *w; if(a.arguments().length()>1) w = new MainWindow(a.arguments().last()); else w = new MainWindow(); w->show(); return a.exec(); } You can specify arguments in the Run Settings, under the project tab in QtCreator

212.
Adding file actions <ul><li>Actions to let the user open and save documents

213.
The actions are added to the File menu and tool bar </li></ul>Text Name Icon Short-cut Tool-tip Open... actionOpen Ctrl+O Open a document Save actionSave Ctrl+S Save the current document Save As... actionSaveAs Ctrl+Shift+S Save current document as

214.
Opening documents <ul><li>Asking for file names, we use the QFileDialog::getOpen / SaveFileName methods </li></ul>QFileDialog::getOpenFileName(this, &quot;Open document&quot;, QDir::currentPath(), &quot;Text documents (*.txt)&quot;); Parent window Dialog title Initial directory File type filter File type filters can contain several file extensions: &quot;Document (*.txt *.rtf *.doc)&quot; But also several document types: &quot;Document (*.txt);;Images (*.png)&quot;

215.
Opening documents void MainWindow::on_actionOpen_triggered() { QString fileName = QFileDialog::getOpenFileName(this, &quot;Open document&quot;, QDir::currentPath(), &quot;Text documents (*.txt)&quot;); if(!fileName.isNull()) { MainWindow *w = new MainWindow(fileName); w->show(); } } <ul><li>Putting all together opens documents </li></ul>

216.
Opening documents <ul><li>We can avoid opening a new window if the current one is unmodified and without file name </li></ul>void MainWindow::on_actionOpen_triggered() { QString fileName = QFileDialog::getOpenFileName(...); if(!fileName.isNull()) { if(!m_modified && m_fileName.isNull()) { m_fileName = fileName; loadFile(); } else { MainWindow *w = new MainWindow(fileName); w->show(); } } }

217.
Saving documents <ul><li>Saving documents is slightly more complicated than loading </li><ul><li>Save without a name leads to Save As

218.
Save As sets a name and attempts to save

219.
Save is one of the options when a modified document is closed

220.
Save As can be canceled

221.
Saving can fail </li></ul></ul>

222.
Saving documents bool MainWindow::saveFile() { if(m_fileName.isNull()) return saveFileAs(); QFile file(m_fileName); if(!file.open(QIODevice::WriteOnly | QIODevice::Text)) { QMessageBox::warning(...); m_fileName = QString(); updateWindowTitle(); return false; } QTextStream out(&file); out << ui->textEdit->toPlainText(); m_modified = false; updateWindowTitle(); return true; } If the name is null, we need to save as Save the document If the file cannot be opened for writing, we display a warning and set the file name to null Update the modified flag and title Return true on success

223.
Saving documents bool MainWindow::saveFileAs() { QString fileName = QFileDialog::getSaveFileName(...); if(!fileName.isNull()) { m_fileName = fileName; return saveFile(); } return false; } Ask the user for a file name If a name is given, attempt to save If no name is given, the save is a failure The method saveFileAs never calls saveFile unlese !fileName.isNull() thus there is no risk for infinite recursion

224.
Saving documents <ul><li>As save and save as not are automatically connected slots, they need to be connected to the corresponding actions in the constructor </li></ul>connect(ui->actionSave, SIGNAL(triggered()), this, SLOT(saveFile())); connect(ui->actionSaveAs, SIGNAL(triggered()), this, SLOT(saveFileAs()));

225.
Saving documents <ul><li>The final piece of the puzzle is the close event </li></ul>saved? Y Do not close Close

226.
Saving documents void MainWindow::closeEvent(QCloseEvent *e) { if(m_modified) { switch(QMessageBox::warning(this, &quot;Document Modified&quot;, &quot;The document has ...&quot;, QMessageBox::Yes | QMessageBox::No | QMessageBox::Cancel, QMessageBox::Cancel)) { case QMessageBox::Yes: if(saveFile()) e->accept(); else e->ignore(); break; case QMessageBox::No: e->accept(); break; case QMessageBox::Cancel: e->ignore(); break; } } else { e->accept(); } } The user wants to save The user do not want to save Cancel the closing Close unmodified documents Depending on the save, close or ignore

227.
Status update <ul><li>Now, we have a window with a working text editing widget

228.
New windows can be created

229.
Windows can be closed

230.
The application can exit (i.e. close all windows)

231.
We can keep track of document modifications

232.
A window cannot be closed without accepting the loss of document modifications

233.
User configurable fonts

234.
Persistent user settings

235.
The expected clipboard actions: cut, copy and paste

236.
Undo and redo

237.
Can load documents

238.
Can save documents </li></ul>

239.
Thank you for your attention! [email_address]