<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /> <!-- basictypes.qdoc --> <title>variant QML Basic Type | Qt QML 5.12.6</title> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="style/offline-simple.css" /> <script type="text/javascript"> document.getElementsByTagName("link").item(0).setAttribute("href", "style/offline.css"); // loading style sheet breaks anchors that were jumped to before // so force jumping to anchor again setTimeout(function() { var anchor = location.hash; // need to jump to different anchor first (e.g. none) location.hash = "#"; setTimeout(function() { location.hash = anchor; }, 0); }, 0); </script> </head> <body> <div class="header" id="qtdocheader"> <div class="main"> <div class="main-rounded"> <div class="navigationbar"> <table><tr> <td >Qt 5.12</td><td ><a href="qtqml-index.html">Qt QML</a></td><td ><a href="qtqml-qmlmodule.html">QML Types</a></td><td >variant QML Basic Type</td></tr></table><table class="buildversion"><tr> <td id="buildversion" width="100%" align="right"><a href="qtqml-index.html">Qt 5.12.6 Reference Documentation</a></td> </tr></table> </div> </div> <div class="content"> <div class="line"> <div class="content mainContent"> <div class="sidebar"> <div class="toc"> <h3><a name="toc">Contents</a></h3> <ul> <li class="level1"><a href="#using-scarce-resources-with-the-variant-type">Using Scarce Resources with the variant Type</a></li> <li class="level1"><a href="#storing-arrays-and-objects">Storing Arrays and Objects</a></li> </ul> </div> <div class="sidebar-content" id="sidebar-content"></div></div> <h1 class="title">variant QML Basic Type</h1> <span class="subtitle"></span> <!-- $$$variant-description --> <div class="descr"> <a name="details"></a> <p>a generic property type.</p> <p>The <code>variant</code> type is a generic property type. It is obsolete and exists only to support old applications; new applications should use <a href="qml-var.html">var</a> type properties instead.</p> <p>A variant type property can hold any of the <a href="qtqml-typesystem-basictypes.html">basic type</a> values:</p> <pre class="qml"> </pre> <p>When integrating with C++, note that any QVariant value <a href="qtqml-cppintegration-data.html">passed into QML from C++</a> is automatically converted into a <code>variant</code> value, and vice-versa.</p> <a name="using-scarce-resources-with-the-variant-type"></a> <h2 id="using-scarce-resources-with-the-variant-type">Using Scarce Resources with the variant Type</h2> <p>A <code>variant</code> type property can also hold an image or pixmap. A <code>variant</code> which contains a QPixmap or QImage is known as a "scarce resource" and the declarative engine will attempt to automatically release such resources after evaluation of any JavaScript expression which requires one to be copied has completed.</p> <p>Clients may explicitly release such a scarce resource by calling the "destroy" method on the <code>variant</code> property from within JavaScript. They may also explicitly preserve the scarce resource by calling the "preserve" method on the <code>variant</code> property from within JavaScript.</p> <a name="storing-arrays-and-objects"></a> <h2 id="storing-arrays-and-objects">Storing Arrays and Objects</h2> <p>The <code>variant</code> type can also hold:</p> <ul> <li>An array of <a href="qtqml-typesystem-basictypes.html">basic type</a> values</li> <li>A map of key-value pairs with <a href="qtqml-typesystem-basictypes.html">basic-type</a> values</li> </ul> <p>For example, below is an <code>items</code> array and an <code>attributes</code> map. Their contents can be examined using JavaScript <code>for</code> loops. Individual array values are accessible by index, and individual map values are accessible by key:</p> <pre class="qml"> </pre> <p>While this is a convenient way to store array and map-type values, you must be aware that the <code>items</code> and <code>attributes</code> properties above are <i>not</i> QML objects (and certainly not JavaScript object either) and the key-value pairs in <code>attributes</code> are <i>not</i> QML properties. Rather, the <code>items</code> property holds an array of values, and <code>attributes</code> holds a set of key-value pairs. Since they are stored as a set of values, instead of as an object, their contents <i>cannot</i> be modified individually:</p> <pre class="qml"> </pre> <p>Since it is not possible to individually add or remove items from a list or object stored in a <code>variant</code>, the only way to modify its contents is to reassign a new value. However, this is not efficient, as it causes the value to be serialized and deserialized.</p> <p>Additionally, since <code>items</code> and <code>attributes</code> are not QML objects, changing their individual values do not trigger property change notifications. If the above example had <code>onNumberChanged</code> or <code>onAnimalChanged</code> signal handlers, they would not have been called. If, however, the <code>items</code> or <code>attributes</code> properties themselves were reassigned to different values, then such handlers would be called.</p> <p>JavaScript programmers should also note that when a JavaScript object is copied to an array or map property, the <i>contents</i> of the object (that is, its key-value properties) are copied, rather than the object itself. The property does not hold a reference to the original JavaScript object, and extra data such as the object's JavaScript prototype chain is also lost in the process.</p> <p>This basic type is provided by the QML language.</p> </div> <p><b>See also </b><a href="qtqml-typesystem-basictypes.html">QML Basic Types</a>.</p> <!-- @@@variant --> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="footer"> <p> <acronym title="Copyright">©</acronym> 2019 The Qt Company Ltd. Documentation contributions included herein are the copyrights of their respective owners.<br/> The documentation provided herein is licensed under the terms of the <a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/fdl.html">GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3</a> as published by the Free Software Foundation.<br/> Qt and respective logos are trademarks of The Qt Company Ltd. in Finland and/or other countries worldwide. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners. </p> </div> </body> </html>