How to integrate C++ and Qml? Registering Enums
Something about enums
Introduction
We continue our integrating C++ and Qml. Last time we covered registering C++ types as singletons in Qml. Today we will proceed with another frequently used technique in Qt software development ― utilizing C++ enums in Qml code. In this article we continue using the most recent method of integrating C++ code and Qml ― CMake command qt_add_qml_module().
enum vs. enum class in C++
We assume the majority of developers are familiar with the idea of enum in most programming languages, that is why we will not stop on it for too long. Although, if you are not sure what enum is, please, get acquainted with this topic first and then proceed reading the article. Fortunately, it is a simple concept that can be understood in a few minutes.
However, not all developers know that C++ has not only usual enums, but also something called enum class. What are those and what do we need them for?
An idea of enum class comes from constraints of regular enum and them being quite unsafe to use. For example, using regular C++ enum you may easily have a following code:
code:
#include <iostream>
enum Color { RED, BLUE, GREEN }; enum Position { TOP, BOTTOM, LEFT, RIGHT };
int main() { auto color = RED; auto position = TOP; if (color == position) { std::cout << "equals" << std::endl; } }
Although, most probably compiler would produce a warning about comparing different types, you will see a desired „equals” in the output, meaning that comparison resulted in true:
code:
main.cpp: In function 'int main()': main.cpp:11:18: warning: comparison between 'enum Color' and 'enum Position' [-Wenum-compare] if (color == position) { ^~~~~~~~ equals
In order to solve this problem, you may use enum class because there is no implicit conversion from enum classes to integers while there is one with regular enums. Actually, this is one more advantage of class enum which provides more type safety. However, if you really want to convert class enum to integer, you may do it explicitly:
code:
static_cast<int>(Color::RED);
Another situation when enum class is useful is when you would like to have the same values in different enums. A code with the following definition of regular enums would not compile:
code:
enum CarColor { RED, BLUE, GREEN }; enum LightColor { RED, BLUE, GREEN };
Compiler would produce an error:
code:
main.cpp:5:19: error: redeclaration of 'RED' enum LightColor { RED, BLUE, GREEN }; ^~~ main.cpp:3:17: note: previous declaration 'CarColor RED' enum CarColor { RED, BLUE, GREEN }; ^~~ main.cpp:5:24: error: redeclaration of 'BLUE' enum LightColor { RED, BLUE, GREEN }; ^~~~ main.cpp:3:22: note: previous declaration 'CarColor BLUE' enum CarColor { RED, BLUE, GREEN }; ^~~~ main.cpp:5:30: error: redeclaration of 'GREEN' enum LightColor { RED, BLUE, GREEN }; ^~~~~ main.cpp:3:28: note: previous declaration 'CarColor GREEN' enum CarColor { RED, BLUE, GREEN }; ^~~~~
Usually, such issues were solved by using different names of enum values. I.e. C_RED and L_RED. However, if you use enum class you may have the same names for values and everything will compile successfully:
code:
enum class CarColor { RED, BLUE, GREEN }; enum class LightColor { RED, BLUE, GREEN };
Exposing enums to Qml
Although Qml allows declaring enums directly inside .qml files, today we will discuss another approach. It is possible to declare an enum in C++ part of the application and use it both in C++ and Qml. We will use qt_add_qml_module command so the process would look similar to what we have done in our previous blog posts of this series.
First, we have to declare an enum inside a .cpp file. Let us use our well known ImportantClass. We would use a pretty classic example of enums ― day of the week.
code:
#include <QObject> #include <QtQml/qqml.h> class ImportantClass : public QObject { Q_OBJECT QML_ELEMENT public: explicit ImportantClass(QObject *parent = nullptr); enum Day { MONDAY, TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY, FRIDAY, SATURDAY, SUNDAY, }; Q_ENUM(Day) public slots: void myFun(ImportantClass::Day day) const { qDebug() << day; // ... very smart code } };
As you may see, we add QML_ELEMENT macro in order to expose the whole class to the Qml. In addition, we have to use Q_ENUM macro with the name of the enum that we have introduced:
code:
enum Day { MONDAY, TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY, FRIDAY, SATURDAY, SUNDAY, }; Q_ENUM(Day)
The following steps are similar to ones we had in our previous articles. We need to use qt_add_qml_module in CMakeLists.txt file.
code:
qt_add_qml_module(appEnumExample URI EnumExample VERSION 1.0 QML_FILES main.qml SOURCES ImportantClass.h ImportantClass.cpp )
Do not forget to specify a correct URI in order imports to work correctly. The last step you have to do is to import this class using the provided URI.
As usual, we have created a simple example in order to show how all the mentioned things work in practice. Here is an example of a program with buttons changing text of a label:
code:
import QtQuick import QtQuick.Controls import EnumExample Window { id: root signal newDaySelected(var day) // day - enum Day. width: 640 height: 480 visible: true title: qsTr("Hello World") Text { id: selectedDay anchors { bottom: row.top horizontalCenter: row.horizontalCenter bottomMargin: 30 } text: "Select day" font.pixelSize: 20 } ListView { id: row height: 30 width: contentWidth anchors.centerIn: parent model: ["Mon", "Tue", "Wed", "Thu", "Fri", "Sat", "Sun"] delegate: Button { id: rowDelegate height: 30 width: 80 text: modelData onClicked: { root.newDaySelected(index) //<-- Remember that enum can be converted to int. importantObject.myFun(index) } } orientation: ListView.Horizontal } ImportantClass { id: importantObject } onNewDaySelected: function(day) { switch (day) { case (ImportantClass.MONDAY): selectedDay.text = "Selected day: Monday" break case (ImportantClass.TUESDAY): selectedDay.text = "Selected day: Tuesday" break case (ImportantClass.WEDNESDAY): selectedDay.text = "Selected day: Wednesday" break case (ImportantClass.THURSDAY): selectedDay.text = "Selected day: Thursday" break case (ImportantClass.FRIDAY): selectedDay.text = "Selected day: Friday" break case (ImportantClass.SATURDAY): selectedDay.text = "Selected day: Saturday" break case (ImportantClass.SUNDAY): selectedDay.text = "Selected day: Sunday" break } } }
Let us take a closer look at the specific parts of the program.
Firstly, we have to import our class using the provided URI:
and then create an instance of ImportantClass to use:
code:
ImportantClass { id: importantObject }
Going pretty good, now we may use our importantObject. There is a row of buttons that change the text above depending on the button you click on.
Here is the implementation of each button click. You may see that it emits a signal with an index of a button. Though the signal accepts enum as parameter, enums can be converted to integers. It also calls a method of importantObject which simply prints the value of the provided enum.
code:
onClicked: { root.newDaySelected(index) //<-- Remember that enum can be converted to int. importantObject.myFun(index) }
Output:
That is actually it. This is a very primitive example of utilizing enums, however you may design a complicated logic and it would perfectly work in Qt.
