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<li class="level1"><a href="#defining-the-finddialog-class">Defining the FindDialog Class</a></li>
<li class="level1"><a href="#implementing-the-finddialog-class">Implementing the FindDialog Class</a></li>
<li class="level1"><a href="#defining-the-addressbook-class">Defining the AddressBook Class</a></li>
<li class="level1"><a href="#implementing-the-addressbook-class">Implementing the AddressBook Class</a></li>
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<h1 class="title">Part 5 - Adding a Find Function</h1>
<span class="subtitle"></span>
<!-- $$$tutorials/addressbook/part5-description -->
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<p>Files:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="tutorials-addressbook-part5-addressbook-cpp.html">tutorials/addressbook/part5/addressbook.cpp</a></li>
<li><a href="tutorials-addressbook-part5-addressbook-h.html">tutorials/addressbook/part5/addressbook.h</a></li>
<li><a href="tutorials-addressbook-part5-finddialog-cpp.html">tutorials/addressbook/part5/finddialog.cpp</a></li>
<li><a href="tutorials-addressbook-part5-finddialog-h.html">tutorials/addressbook/part5/finddialog.h</a></li>
<li><a href="tutorials-addressbook-part5-main-cpp.html">tutorials/addressbook/part5/main.cpp</a></li>
<li><a href="tutorials-addressbook-part5-part5-pro.html">tutorials/addressbook/part5/part5.pro</a></li>
</ul>
<p>Here we look at ways to locate contacts and addresses in the address book.</p>
<p class="centerAlign"><img src="images/addressbook-tutorial-part5-screenshot.png" alt="" /></p><p>As we add contacts to our address book, it becomes tedious to navigate the list with the <i>Next</i> and <i>Previous</i> buttons. A <i>Find</i> function would be more efficient. The screenshot above shows the <i>Find</i> button and its position on the panel of buttons.</p>
<p>When the user clicks on the <i>Find</i> button, it is useful to display a dialog that prompts for a contact's name. Qt provides <a href="qdialog.html">QDialog</a>, which we subclass here to implement a <tt>FindDialog</tt> class.</p>
<a name="defining-the-finddialog-class"></a>
<h2>Defining the FindDialog Class</h2>
<p class="centerAlign"><img src="images/addressbook-tutorial-part5-finddialog.png" alt="" /></p><p>In order to subclass <a href="qdialog.html">QDialog</a>, we first include the header for <a href="qdialog.html">QDialog</a> in the <tt>finddialog.h</tt> file. Also, we use forward declaration to declare <a href="qlineedit.html">QLineEdit</a> and <a href="qpushbutton.html">QPushButton</a> since we will be using those widgets in our dialog class.</p>
<p>As in our <tt>AddressBook</tt> class, the <tt>FindDialog</tt> class includes the <a href="qobject.html#Q_OBJECT">Q_OBJECT</a> macro and its constructor is defined to accept a parent <a href="qwidget.html">QWidget</a>, even though the dialog will be opened as a separate window.</p>
<pre class="cpp"> <span class="preprocessor">#include <QDialog></span>
<span class="keyword">class</span> <span class="type"><a href="qlineedit.html">QLineEdit</a></span>;
<span class="keyword">class</span> <span class="type"><a href="qpushbutton.html">QPushButton</a></span>;
<span class="keyword">class</span> FindDialog : <span class="keyword">public</span> <span class="type"><a href="qdialog.html">QDialog</a></span>
{
Q_OBJECT
<span class="keyword">public</span>:
FindDialog(<span class="type"><a href="qwidget.html">QWidget</a></span> <span class="operator">*</span>parent <span class="operator">=</span> <span class="number">0</span>);
<span class="type"><a href="qstring.html">QString</a></span> getFindText();
<span class="keyword">public</span> <span class="keyword">slots</span>:
<span class="type">void</span> findClicked();
<span class="keyword">private</span>:
<span class="type"><a href="qpushbutton.html">QPushButton</a></span> <span class="operator">*</span>findButton;
<span class="type"><a href="qlineedit.html">QLineEdit</a></span> <span class="operator">*</span>lineEdit;
<span class="type"><a href="qstring.html">QString</a></span> findText;
};</pre>
<p>We define a public function, <tt>getFindText()</tt>, to be used by classes that instantiate <tt>FindDialog</tt>. This function allows these classes to obtain the search string entered by the user. A public slot, <tt>findClicked()</tt>, is also defined to handle the search string when the user clicks the <b>Find</b> button.</p>
<p>Lastly, we define the private variables, <tt>findButton</tt>, <tt>lineEdit</tt> and <tt>findText</tt>, corresponding to the <b>Find</b> button, the line edit into which the user types the search string, and an internal string used to store the search string for later use.</p>
<a name="implementing-the-finddialog-class"></a>
<h2>Implementing the FindDialog Class</h2>
<p>Within the constructor of <tt>FindDialog</tt>, we set up the private variables, <tt>lineEdit</tt>, <tt>findButton</tt> and <tt>findText</tt>. We use a <a href="qhboxlayout.html">QHBoxLayout</a> to position the widgets.</p>
<pre class="cpp"> FindDialog<span class="operator">::</span>FindDialog(<span class="type"><a href="qwidget.html">QWidget</a></span> <span class="operator">*</span>parent)
: <span class="type"><a href="qdialog.html">QDialog</a></span>(parent)
{
<span class="type"><a href="qlabel.html">QLabel</a></span> <span class="operator">*</span>findLabel <span class="operator">=</span> <span class="keyword">new</span> <span class="type"><a href="qlabel.html">QLabel</a></span>(tr(<span class="string">"Enter the name of a contact:"</span>));
lineEdit <span class="operator">=</span> <span class="keyword">new</span> <span class="type"><a href="qlineedit.html">QLineEdit</a></span>;
findButton <span class="operator">=</span> <span class="keyword">new</span> <span class="type"><a href="qpushbutton.html">QPushButton</a></span>(tr(<span class="string">"&Find"</span>));
findText <span class="operator">=</span> <span class="string">""</span>;
<span class="type"><a href="qhboxlayout.html">QHBoxLayout</a></span> <span class="operator">*</span>layout <span class="operator">=</span> <span class="keyword">new</span> <span class="type"><a href="qhboxlayout.html">QHBoxLayout</a></span>;
layout<span class="operator">-</span><span class="operator">></span>addWidget(findLabel);
layout<span class="operator">-</span><span class="operator">></span>addWidget(lineEdit);
layout<span class="operator">-</span><span class="operator">></span>addWidget(findButton);
setLayout(layout);
setWindowTitle(tr(<span class="string">"Find a Contact"</span>));
connect(findButton<span class="operator">,</span> SIGNAL(clicked())<span class="operator">,</span> <span class="keyword">this</span><span class="operator">,</span> SLOT(findClicked()));
connect(findButton<span class="operator">,</span> SIGNAL(clicked())<span class="operator">,</span> <span class="keyword">this</span><span class="operator">,</span> SLOT(accept()));
}</pre>
<p>We set the layout and window title, as well as connect the signals to their respective slots. Notice that <tt>findButton</tt>'s <a href="qabstractbutton.html#clicked">clicked()</a> signal is connected to to <tt>findClicked()</tt> and <a href="qdialog.html#accept">accept()</a>. The <a href="qdialog.html#accept">accept()</a> slot provided by <a href="qdialog.html">QDialog</a> hides the dialog and sets the result code to <a href="qdialog.html#DialogCode-enum">Accepted</a>. We use this function to help <tt>AddressBook</tt>'s <tt>findContact()</tt> function know when the <tt>FindDialog</tt> object has been closed. We will explain this logic in further detail when discussing the <tt>findContact()</tt> function.</p>
<p class="centerAlign"><img src="images/addressbook-tutorial-part5-signals-and-slots.png" alt="" /></p><p>In <tt>findClicked()</tt>, we validate <tt>lineEdit</tt> to ensure that the user did not click the <b>Find</b> button without entering a contact's name. Then, we set <tt>findText</tt> to the search string, extracted from <tt>lineEdit</tt>. After that, we clear the contents of <tt>lineEdit</tt> and hide the dialog.</p>
<pre class="cpp"> <span class="type">void</span> FindDialog<span class="operator">::</span>findClicked()
{
<span class="type"><a href="qstring.html">QString</a></span> text <span class="operator">=</span> lineEdit<span class="operator">-</span><span class="operator">></span>text();
<span class="keyword">if</span> (text<span class="operator">.</span>isEmpty()) {
<span class="type"><a href="qmessagebox.html">QMessageBox</a></span><span class="operator">::</span>information(<span class="keyword">this</span><span class="operator">,</span> tr(<span class="string">"Empty Field"</span>)<span class="operator">,</span>
tr(<span class="string">"Please enter a name."</span>));
<span class="keyword">return</span>;
} <span class="keyword">else</span> {
findText <span class="operator">=</span> text;
lineEdit<span class="operator">-</span><span class="operator">></span>clear();
hide();
}
}</pre>
<p>The <tt>findText</tt> variable has a public getter function, <tt>getFindText()</tt>, associated with it. Since we only ever set <tt>findText</tt> directly in both the constructor and in the <tt>findClicked()</tt> function, we do not create a setter function to accompany <tt>getFindText()</tt>. Because <tt>getFindText()</tt> is public, classes instantiating and using <tt>FindDialog</tt> can always access the search string that the user has entered and accepted.</p>
<pre class="cpp"> <span class="type"><a href="qstring.html">QString</a></span> FindDialog<span class="operator">::</span>getFindText()
{
<span class="keyword">return</span> findText;
}</pre>
<a name="defining-the-addressbook-class"></a>
<h2>Defining the AddressBook Class</h2>
<p>To ensure we can use <tt>FindDialog</tt> from within our <tt>AddressBook</tt> class, we include <tt>finddialog.h</tt> in the <tt>addressbook.h</tt> file.</p>
<pre class="cpp"> <span class="preprocessor">#include "finddialog.h"</span></pre>
<p>So far, all our address book features have a <a href="qpushbutton.html">QPushButton</a> and a corresponding slot. Similarly, for the <b>Find</b> feature we have <tt>findButton</tt> and <tt>findContact()</tt>.</p>
<p>The <tt>findButton</tt> is declared as a private variable and the <tt>findContact()</tt> function is declared as a public slot.</p>
<pre class="cpp"> <span class="type">void</span> findContact();
...
<span class="type"><a href="qpushbutton.html">QPushButton</a></span> <span class="operator">*</span>findButton;</pre>
<p>Lastly, we declare the private variable, <tt>dialog</tt>, which we will use to refer to an instance of <tt>FindDialog</tt>.</p>
<pre class="cpp"> FindDialog <span class="operator">*</span>dialog;</pre>
<p>Once we have instantiated a dialog, we will want to use it more than once; using a private variable allows us to refer to it from more than one place in the class.</p>
<a name="implementing-the-addressbook-class"></a>
<h2>Implementing the AddressBook Class</h2>
<p>Within the <tt>AddressBook</tt> class's constructor, we instantiate our private objects, <tt>findButton</tt> and <tt>findDialog</tt>:</p>
<pre class="cpp"> findButton <span class="operator">=</span> <span class="keyword">new</span> <span class="type"><a href="qpushbutton.html">QPushButton</a></span>(tr(<span class="string">"&Find"</span>));
findButton<span class="operator">-</span><span class="operator">></span>setEnabled(<span class="keyword">false</span>);
...
dialog <span class="operator">=</span> <span class="keyword">new</span> FindDialog;</pre>
<p>Next, we connect the <tt>findButton</tt>'s <a href="qabstractbutton.html#clicked">clicked()</a> signal to <tt>findContact()</tt>.</p>
<pre class="cpp"> connect(findButton<span class="operator">,</span> SIGNAL(clicked())<span class="operator">,</span> <span class="keyword">this</span><span class="operator">,</span> SLOT(findContact()));</pre>
<p>Now all that is left is the code for our <tt>findContact()</tt> function:</p>
<pre class="cpp"> <span class="type">void</span> AddressBook<span class="operator">::</span>findContact()
{
dialog<span class="operator">-</span><span class="operator">></span>show();
<span class="keyword">if</span> (dialog<span class="operator">-</span><span class="operator">></span>exec() <span class="operator">=</span><span class="operator">=</span> <span class="type"><a href="qdialog.html">QDialog</a></span><span class="operator">::</span>Accepted) {
<span class="type"><a href="qstring.html">QString</a></span> contactName <span class="operator">=</span> dialog<span class="operator">-</span><span class="operator">></span>getFindText();
<span class="keyword">if</span> (contacts<span class="operator">.</span>contains(contactName)) {
nameLine<span class="operator">-</span><span class="operator">></span>setText(contactName);
addressText<span class="operator">-</span><span class="operator">></span>setText(contacts<span class="operator">.</span>value(contactName));
} <span class="keyword">else</span> {
<span class="type"><a href="qmessagebox.html">QMessageBox</a></span><span class="operator">::</span>information(<span class="keyword">this</span><span class="operator">,</span> tr(<span class="string">"Contact Not Found"</span>)<span class="operator">,</span>
tr(<span class="string">"Sorry, \"%1\" is not in your address book."</span>)<span class="operator">.</span>arg(contactName));
<span class="keyword">return</span>;
}
}
updateInterface(NavigationMode);
}</pre>
<p>We start out by displaying the <tt>FindDialog</tt> instance, <tt>dialog</tt>. This is when the user enters a contact name to look up. Once the user clicks the dialog's <tt>findButton</tt>, the dialog is hidden and the result code is set to <a href="qdialog.html#DialogCode-enum">QDialog::Accepted</a>. This ensures that our <tt>if</tt> statement is always true.</p>
<p>We then proceed to extract the search string, which in this case is <tt>contactName</tt>, using <tt>FindDialog</tt>'s <tt>getFindText()</tt> function. If the contact exists in our address book, we display it immediately. Otherwise, we display the <a href="qmessagebox.html">QMessageBox</a> shown below to indicate that their search failed.</p>
<p class="centerAlign"><img src="images/addressbook-tutorial-part5-notfound.png" alt="" /></p></div>
<!-- @@@tutorials/addressbook/part5 -->
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