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<td ><a href="index.html">Qt 5.9</a></td><td >Qt Quick Text Editor Guide - Logic</td></tr></table><table class="buildversion"><tr>
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<h3><a name="toc">Contents</a></h3>
<ul>
<li class="level1"><a href="#implementing-the-logic-and-c-backend">Implementing the Logic and C++ Backend</a></li>
<li class="level1"><a href="#creating-the-document-handler">Creating the Document Handler</a></li>
<li class="level1"><a href="#registering-the-documenthandler-class">Registering the DocumentHandler Class</a></li>
<li class="level1"><a href="#using-the-documenthandler-qml-type">Using the DocumentHandler QML type</a></li>
<li class="level1"><a href="#example-files">Example Files</a></li>
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<h1 class="title">Qt Quick Text Editor Guide - Logic</h1>
<span class="subtitle"></span>
<!-- $$$qtquickcontrols-texteditor-logic.html-description -->
<div class="descr"> <a name="details"></a>
<p>This part of the guide is about adding logic and backend to the text editor example. At this stage, the user interface is set up from the <a href="qtquickcontrols-texteditor-logic.html">previous</a> stage.</p>
<a name="implementing-the-logic-and-c-backend"></a>
<h2 id="implementing-the-logic-and-c-backend">Implementing the Logic and C++ Backend</h2>
<p><i>Text Editor</i> has a QML user interface and a C++ backend to implement the document handling. To connect QML and C++, we need to create <i>actions</i> associated to the tool buttons, which will call the document handling logic in C++.</p>
<a name="creating-the-document-handler"></a>
<h2 id="creating-the-document-handler">Creating the Document Handler</h2>
<p>The document handler implements the file loading and file saving logic with Qt's C++ APIs. First, we need to create the header file and the implementation file in Qt Creator's <b>Edit</b> mode.</p>
<ul>
<li>Right-click a folder, and select <b>Add New</b>.</li>
<li>Follow the wizard and create a new <b>C++ Class</b>.</li>
<li>Create a class called <b>DocumentHandler</b> and select <b>Inherits QObject</b> in the <b>Type information</b>.</li>
<li>You can use default values for the rest and finish the wizard.</li>
</ul>
<p>The wizard creates a <b>DocumentHandler</b> class in two files, <i>documenthandler.h</i> and <i>documenthandler.cpp</i>.</p>
<p>There are two functionalities we can expose to QML, the file loading and saving. We can do this by creating <i>properties</i> and binding them to C++ functions through the Qt Property System.</p>
<p>In the <i>documenthandler.h</i> header file, add the following functions with their respective access modifier:</p>
<pre class="cpp">
Q_PROPERTY(<span class="type">QUrl</span> fileUrl READ fileUrl WRITE setFileUrl NOTIFY fileUrlChanged)
Q_PROPERTY(<span class="type">QString</span> text READ text WRITE setText NOTIFY textChanged)
Q_PROPERTY(<span class="type">QString</span> documentTitle READ documentTitle WRITE setDocumentTitle NOTIFY documentTitleChanged)
<span class="keyword">public</span>:
<span class="type">QUrl</span> fileUrl() <span class="keyword">const</span>;
<span class="type">QString</span> text() <span class="keyword">const</span>;
<span class="type">QString</span> documentTitle() <span class="keyword">const</span>;
<span class="keyword">public</span> <span class="keyword">slots</span>:
<span class="type">void</span> setFileUrl(<span class="keyword">const</span> <span class="type">QUrl</span> <span class="operator">&</span>arg);
<span class="type">void</span> setText(<span class="keyword">const</span> <span class="type">QString</span> <span class="operator">&</span>arg);
<span class="type">void</span> setDocumentTitle(<span class="type">QString</span> arg);
<span class="keyword">signals</span>:
<span class="type">void</span> fileUrlChanged();
<span class="type">void</span> textChanged();
<span class="type">void</span> documentTitleChanged();
</pre>
<p>The lines with <code>Q_PROPERTY()</code> macro declares the <i>property</i> and its <i>write</i> and <i>read</i> methods as well as its <i>notify</i> signal. For example, setting the <code>fileUrl</code> property calls <code>setFileUrl()</code> and reading the property calls the <code>fileUrl()</code> function. Similarly, when the value of fileUrl changes the <code>fileUrlChanged()</code> function is called.</p>
<p>Internally, the properties are represented by private member variables. For our needs, here are the three variables in <i>documenthandler.h</i> which correspond to the properties:</p>
<pre class="cpp">
<span class="keyword">private</span>:
<span class="type">QUrl</span> m_fileUrl;
<span class="type">QString</span> m_text;
<span class="type">QString</span> m_documentTitle;
</pre>
<p>Implementing the read functions is straightforward. They simply return the private member variables. For example, the implementation of <code>documentTitle()</code> in <i>documenthandler.cpp</i> is:</p>
<pre class="cpp">
<span class="type">QString</span> DocumentHandler<span class="operator">::</span>documentTitle() <span class="keyword">const</span>
{
<span class="keyword">return</span> m_documentTitle;
}
</pre>
<p>Implementing the write (<code>setText()</code>, for example) functions is also straightforward as they simply assign a value to a private member variable. They also handle basic error handling and they emit their respective notify signals. For example, the <code>setDocumentTitle()</code> function is implemented in <i>documenthandler.cpp</i> as:</p>
<pre class="cpp">
<span class="type">void</span> DocumentHandler<span class="operator">::</span>setDocumentTitle(<span class="type">QString</span> arg)
{
<span class="keyword">if</span> (m_documentTitle <span class="operator">!</span><span class="operator">=</span> arg) {
m_documentTitle <span class="operator">=</span> arg;
<span class="keyword">emit</span> documentTitleChanged();
}
}
</pre>
<p>The opening of the file is done in the <code>setFileUrl()</code> function:</p>
<pre class="cpp">
<span class="type">void</span> DocumentHandler<span class="operator">::</span>setFileUrl(<span class="keyword">const</span> <span class="type">QUrl</span> <span class="operator">&</span>arg)
{
<span class="keyword">if</span> (m_fileUrl <span class="operator">!</span><span class="operator">=</span> arg) {
m_fileUrl <span class="operator">=</span> arg;
<span class="type">QString</span> fileName <span class="operator">=</span> arg<span class="operator">.</span>fileName();
<span class="type">QFile</span> file(arg<span class="operator">.</span>toLocalFile());
<span class="keyword">if</span> (file<span class="operator">.</span>open(<span class="type">QFile</span><span class="operator">::</span>ReadOnly)) {
setText(<span class="type">QString</span>(file<span class="operator">.</span>readAll()));
<span class="keyword">if</span> (fileName<span class="operator">.</span>isEmpty())
m_documentTitle <span class="operator">=</span> <span class="type">QStringLiteral</span>(<span class="string">"untitled"</span>);
<span class="keyword">else</span>
m_documentTitle <span class="operator">=</span> fileName;
<span class="keyword">emit</span> textChanged();
<span class="keyword">emit</span> documentTitleChanged();
}
<span class="keyword">emit</span> fileUrlChanged();
}
}
</pre>
<p>Note how the function emits the notify signals with the <code>emit</code> keyword.</p>
<p>Similarly, we use QFile and text streams to save files. The function signature in <i>documenthandler.h</i> is placed under <code>public slots</code> because that is one way to expose functions to the QML engine. <code>saveFile()</code> is called from the QML file during saving.</p>
<pre class="cpp">
<span class="keyword">public</span> <span class="keyword">slots</span>:
Q_INVOKABLE <span class="type">void</span> saveFile(<span class="keyword">const</span> <span class="type">QUrl</span> <span class="operator">&</span>arg) <span class="keyword">const</span>;
</pre>
<p>The implementation of <code>saveFile()</code> is in documenthandler.cpp:</p>
<pre class="cpp">
<span class="type">void</span> DocumentHandler<span class="operator">::</span>saveFile(<span class="keyword">const</span> <span class="type">QUrl</span> <span class="operator">&</span>arg) <span class="keyword">const</span>
{
<span class="type">QFile</span> file(arg<span class="operator">.</span>toLocalFile());
<span class="keyword">if</span> (file<span class="operator">.</span>open(<span class="type">QFile</span><span class="operator">::</span>WriteOnly <span class="operator">|</span> <span class="type">QFile</span><span class="operator">::</span>Truncate)) {
<span class="type">QTextStream</span> out(<span class="operator">&</span>file);
out <span class="operator"><</span><span class="operator"><</span> text();
}
}
</pre>
<p>For information about reading files and data storage, visit the QFile and the <a href="topics-data-storage.html">Data Storage</a> documentation.</p>
<a name="registering-the-documenthandler-class"></a>
<h2 id="registering-the-documenthandler-class">Registering the DocumentHandler Class</h2>
<p>We now need to let the QML engine know about the <code>DocumentHandler</code> and its type. The <code>qmlRegisterType()</code> function is called in the application's <code>main()</code> function in <i>main.cpp</i>:</p>
<pre class="cpp">
qmlRegisterType<span class="operator"><</span>DocumentHandler<span class="operator">></span>(<span class="string">"org.qtproject.example"</span><span class="operator">,</span> <span class="number">1</span><span class="operator">,</span> <span class="number">0</span><span class="operator">,</span> <span class="string">"DocumentHandler"</span>);
</pre>
<p>The <code>org.qtproject.example</code> is the library with the version <code>1.0</code> and the QML type registered is <code>DocumentHandler</code>. The import statement for the DocumentHandler QML type is then</p>
<pre class="cpp">
import org<span class="operator">.</span>qtproject<span class="operator">.</span>example <span class="number">1.0</span>
</pre>
<p><b>Note: </b>The <code>qmlRegisterType()</code> function should be called before the engine loads the QML file.</p><a name="using-the-documenthandler-qml-type"></a>
<h2 id="using-the-documenthandler-qml-type">Using the DocumentHandler QML type</h2>
<p>With the basic loading implemented, we can use the functionalities in the QML file by creating an instance of the DocumentHandler class and by accessing its properties.</p>
<p>The <a href="qtquickcontrols-texteditor-action.html">next page</a> is about using these C++ functions in QML files.</p>
<a name="example-files"></a>
<h2 id="example-files">Example Files</h2>
<p>The accompanying examples files are found in the following page:</p>
<ul>
<li>Qt Quick Controls - Text Editor Example</li>
</ul>
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