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Qt5 Slots Connect

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Introduction

Signals and slots are used for communication between objects. The signals and slots mechanism is a central feature of Qt. In GUI programming, when we change one widget, we often want another widget to be notified. More generally, we want objects of any kind to be able to communicate with one another. Signals are emitted by objects when they change their state in a way that may be interesting to other objects. Slots can be used for receiving signals, but they are also normal member functions.

How Qt Signals and Slots Work - Part 2 - Qt5 New Syntax. You connect a signal from the sender to a slot in a receiver object. The two other overloads are. Events are generated by users interacting with widgets in an application. These events cause signals to be emitted. Corresponding slots, or functions then run. Qt 5 Signals and Slots Demonstration. The following image shows the application built in this section using Qt Creator. It demonstrates some methods of using signals and slots.

Remarks

Official documentation on this topic can be found here.

A Small Example

Signals and slots are used for communication between objects. The signals and slots mechanism is a central feature of Qt and probably the part that differs most from the features provided by other frameworks.

The minimal example requires a class with one signal, one slot and one connection:

counter.h

The main sets a new value. We can check how the slot is called, printing the value.

Casino palmas del mar humacao. Finally, our project file:

The new Qt5 connection syntax

The conventional connect syntax that uses SIGNAL and SLOT macros works entirely at runtime, which has two drawbacks: it has some runtime overhead (resulting also in binary size overhead), and there's no compile-time correctness checking. The new syntax addresses both issues. Before checking the syntax in an example, we'd better know what happens in particular.

Let's say we are building a house and we want to connect the cables. This is exactly what connect function does. Signals and slots are the ones needing this connection. The point is if you do one connection, you need to be careful about the further overlaping connections. Whenever you connect a signal to a slot, you are trying to tell the compiler that whenever the signal was emitted, simply invoke the slot function. This is what exactly happens.

Here's a sample main.cpp:

Hint: the old syntax (SIGNAL/SLOT macros) requires that the Qt metacompiler (MOC) is run for any class that has either slots or signals. From the coding standpoint that means that such classes need to have the Q_OBJECT macro (which indicates the necessity to run MOC on this class).

The new syntax, on the other hand, still requires MOC for signals to work, but not for slots. If a class only has slots and no signals, it need not have the Q_OBJECT macro and hence may not invoke the MOC, which not only reduces the final binary size but also reduces compilation time (no MOC call and no subsequent compiler call for the generated *_moc.cpp file).

Qt5 Signal Slot Connection

Connecting overloaded signals/slots

While being better in many regards, the new connection syntax in Qt5 has one big weakness: Connecting overloaded signals and slots. In order to let the compiler resolve the overloads we need to use static_casts to member function pointers, or (starting in Qt 5.7) qOverload and friends:

Multi window signal slot connection

A simple multiwindow example using signals and slots.

There is a MainWindow class that controls the Main Window view. A second window controlled by Website class.

The two classes are connected so that when you click a button on the Website window something happens in the MainWindow (a text label is changed).

I made a simple example that is also on GitHub:

Qt5 slots connection

Qt5 Slots Connect App

mainwindow.h

mainwindow.cpp

website.h

website.cpp

Project composition:

Consider the Uis to be composed:

  • Main Window: a label called 'text' and a button called 'openButton'
  • Website Window: a button called 'changeButton'

So the keypoints are the connections between signals and slots and the management of windows pointers or references.


Quite a frequent problem when working with signals with slots in Qt5, according to my observations on the forum, is the connection of slots in the syntax on the pointers to signals having an overload of the signature. The same applies to slots that have an overload.

Let's take a test class that has overloaded signals.

Here there is a signal, with an overload of the signature. Connect this signal will also be to the slots that are declared in the Widget class, and which also have an overload of the signature.

How it was in Qt4

Within Qt4, everything was solved quite simply by specifying the signature of the signal and the slot in the SIGNAL and SLOT macros.

How it became in Qt5

But in Qt5, when writing in the new syntax of signals and slots, there are some problems. Because you need to make the static_cast of the method signature.

By the way, the new syntax also allows you to connect signals to slots with a smaller signature, as it was in Qt4. Super mario odyssey slots.

Advantages of the new syntax

And now a stumbling block. Why use the new syntax of signals and slots? I still hear this question from time to time. Especially when people see such terrible castes of signatures.

  1. Therefore, I will list potential advantages:The ability to track errors in the connection of signals and slots at the compilation stage, rather than in the runtime
  2. Reducing compilation time by excluding macros from the code
  3. The ability to connect lambda functions, it's quite an important bun
  4. We protect ourselves from errors when we try to connect from the outside to a private slot. Yes!! Yes!! The SIGNAL and SLOT macros ignore the access levels of methods, violating OOP.

In general, for me this is enough, but for you?





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