Do I miss any Qt functionality if I substitute QApplication::exec() with standard Windows message loop implementation? This should clarify what I mean:
The ususal “Qt” way to run event processing:
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
QApplication a(argc, argv);
Window w;
w.show();
return a.exec();
}
“Windows” way to run event processing:
#include <Windows.h>
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
QApplication a(argc, argv);
Window w;
w.show();
MSG msg;
while(GetMessage(&msg, 0, 0, 0)){
TranslateMessage(&msg);
DispatchMessage(&msg);
}
return msg.wParam;
}
The above demonstrates having external message loop with respect to QApplication instance, while QApplication instance itself doesn’t even have its own event loop at all.
In other words, if I have main.exe program (knowing nothing about Qt) with message loop and a .dll with Qt GUI and QApplication instance inside, will it be ok to let the external message loop from main.exe to handle events for Qt GUI?
Thanks in advance!
EDIT 1:
I’ll just answer myself in case it’s usefull for somebody:
We have a main .exe module written in C# under .NET that runs event loop processing, and we have a couple of .dlls written in Qt/C++ that have a GUI “inside” (and a QApplication instance that is shared). QApplication::exec() is never called but all the events are successfully dispatched by the main .exe (.NET) module’s event loop and all the Qt functionallity is present( signals/slots, threads, etc.)
EDIT 2:
That worked for Qt 4.8.2 but for Qt 5.1.0 things are a little bit different. Now you have to call QApplication::processEvents() once because it performs some initial initialization on its first call( installs WindowsHook on GetMessage or PeekMessage ). And after that whoever calls GetMessage in your application Qt events get processes and you are golden :)
The first thing which comes to my mind is that calling slots across threads won't work because the Qt event loop is executing those calls.
But the more important question is probably: Why do you want to do it like this especially since in qeventdispatcher_win.cpp is doing essentially the same thing?
Related
For different reasons I have to create a QApplication that does not live in the main thread of my program. This works well except for the cleanup part. Once main() finishes I get the following notification:
QObject::~QObject: Timers cannot be stopped from another thread
This happens quite some time after all Qt widgets and windows as well as the QApplication have been disposed of.
I narrowed the problem down to this minimal example:
#include <thread>
#include <QApplication>
#include <QLineEdit>
int main(int argc, char * argv[])
{
std::thread t {
[&] {
QApplication app{argc, argv};
QLineEdit w{"Test"};
w.showNormal();
app.exec();
}
};
std::this_thread::sleep_for(std::chrono::seconds{3});
QApplication::instance()->quit();
t.join();
return 0;
}
A QSpinBox instead of a QLineEdit leads to the same behavior. When I use a QLabel however, no warning is issued. So I suspect that the culprit is a timer responsible for cursor flashing but I might be wrong here.
Is there any way to stop this (invisible) timer correctly when quitting the QApplication?
I would also be happy with manually posting something like a QuitEvent
in the application's event loop instead of calling quit()directly.
Here you go:
QMetaObject::invokeMethod(QApplication::instance(), "quit", Qt::QueuedConnection);
You are not allowed to access widgets and other related elements from anywhere but the main thread. This is common with nearly all GUI systems (e.g. MFC, BGI, ...).
For Qt there is a hint on this in the documentation. Surprisingly enough not even a QPixmap is allowed in worker threads.
I am currently coding a program in C++/ Qt 5.9 to control a 3D Printer.
I have divided the project into several libraries :
The GUI Lib: The view
The Device Lib: Control each device (movement, printing tool, sensors)
The Controller Lib: Links the View with the Device lib
etc...
My problem is that I do not know how to initialize and terminate properly the execution of the program. More specifically, the Device library has a class named DeviceManager with two functions :
initialize() : which connect to each device and initialize them. This actions can take several seconds (10s for example)
finalize() : which closes all the connexions, can also take several seconds
What I would like to do is initialize the Device Lib in the right place without blocking the GUI and then finalize it in the right and not block the GUI
This is my main code :
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
QApplication a(argc, argv);
MainWindow w;
w.show();
return a.exec();
}
My solution now is to call DeviceManager::initialize() in the MainWindow constructor and DeviceManager::finalize() in the MainWindow::closeEvent().
The problem: even if I use concurrency to initialize and finalize in a different thread, the application displays its window several seconds after it was launched and the display freezes when the application is closed because it has to wait for the finalize function to be done.
How should I properly handle this initialization and finalization problem, please ? Do I need to reimplement the QApplication class? Do I try and do it in the main? Do you know any great example of an open source application doing that kind of initialize and finalize work?
The problem: even if I use concurrency to initialize and finalize in a different thread, the application displays its window several seconds after it was launched and the display freezes when the application is closed because it has to wait for the finalize function to be done.
You could start the initialize() function as own detached thread before starting the MainWindow. This could cause problems if the initializing thread doesn't terminate before the first initialized "thing" is needed. Something like:
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
QApplication a(argc, argv);
std::thread{initialize}.detach();
MainWindow w;
w.show();
finialize();
return a.exec();
}
To prevent the problem, and maybe lock some function in the GUI, then you probably need to have a state variable that it sets under a mutex on its way out, and which you examine under a mutex to see if it has been set.
How can I totally remove the QApplication instance, so it can be possible to recreate it again in a sheared library.
If I have such a following code:
int main(int argc, char ** argv) {
QApplication *app = new QApplication(argc, argv);
MyWindow dialog;
dialog.show();
app->exec();
return 0
}
I want to be able to delete the instance after quiting the app (closing the application after app.exec())
I have tried to do the following:
app->setQuitOnLastWindowClosed(false);
app->quit();
delete app;
But non of them could be worked. I want to remove the QApplication instance like I did not create before.
The QApplication in my shared library always works if I did not define the QApplication in the main.
The library (lib) and the main application (app) are using different copy of Qt.
I am developing the app, the lib is imported to my app.
After closing the first dialog, I am using an event to trigger the thread in the library which it is waiting for this event.
You don't need to do that, because QApplication can only ever be created in the main thread. If the library and the main executable share the same Qt library, presumably the main application already created the QApplication object and will run the event loop for you. So the only thing you need to do in the library is to create some objects and the event loop will process their events.
If the main executable doesn't use Qt, then you should create the application in the main thread, prime its event loop, and let the native event loop dispatch events for you.
Alas, to directly answer your question: presumably you want to do some stuff after app.exec() returns. Your code could simply be, then:
int main(int argc, char ** argv) {
{
QApplication app{argc, argv};
MyWindow dialog;
dialog.show();
app.exec();
}
doSomething();
}
If I close the first dialog, the event loop will be left. Is it possible to keep the event loop?
Yes. You could clear the Qt::WA_QuitOnClose attribute of the first dialog. Or, preferably, set it on your dialog - the application won't quit as long as there are any dialogs with QT::WA_QuitOnClose still open.
Thus, for the second dialog, call:
secondDialog->setAttribute(Qt::WA_QuitOnClose);
Alternatively, if you don't have a pointer to the dialog, you can iterate all top-level widgets and clear (or set) the attribute on all of them:
for (auto widget : qApp->topLevelWidgets())
widget->setAttribute(Qt::QA_QuitOnClose, false);
I'm beggining with Qt and I'm currently adapting a command-line program to use it with a GUI.
I'm building my GUI like this :
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
QApplication a(argc, argv);
MainWindow w;
w.show();
return a.exec();
}
I want to process some events permanently. In command line, I used a while loop, it work perfectly. Using Qt, I don't know how I can process these events properly.
So I tried to use a std::thread, but my Qt app crashes when I try to modify the GUI from the thread. Same problem using QThread.
I don't need threading, so it would be great if I can just put my code in the Qt's main thread.
Anyone can help me please ?
You could use a QTimer connected to a slot in your MainWindow class to run a function periodically like this :
MainWindow::MainWindow()
{
myTimer = new QTimer();
myTimer->setSingleShot(false);
myTimer->start(intervalInMilliseconds);
connect(myTimer, &QTimer::timeout, this, &MainWindow::handleMyEvents);
}
void MainWindow::handleMyEvents()
{
// Your code here
}
You could also use threads, but note that you must not call any GUI code from any thread that isn't the QApplication thread, this is probably why your attempt crashed.
I've got some Asynchronous cleanup activity I need to do as my Qt application is shutting down.
My current approach is to trap the aboutToQuit signal. I launch my Asynchronous behavior, and then the application shuts down. Is there any way to block Qt from shutting down until my asynchronous behavior is complete?
This works on windows by trapping the main window's closeEvent and calling ignore() on the event. But on Mac, when a user quits, my ignore() isn't honored, and the Application shuts down before my asynchronous activity is complete.
Thanks.
Why do you launch your cleanup code asynchronously if you have to wait anyway until your code is done?
If you don't connect your slot as QueuedConnection to aboutToQuit it should block until your cleanup code is done.
But if you really want launch it asynchronously you have to synchronize it by hand:
QSemaphore wait4CleanupDone;
class MyQuitHandler { ... public slots: void handleQuit(); ... } myQuitHandler;
void MyQuitHandler::handleQuit() { ... ; wait4CleanupDone.release(); }
int main(int argc, char** argv) {
QApplication app(argc, argv);
QObject::connect(&app, SIGNAL(aboutToQuit()), &myQuitHandler, SLOT(handleQuit()));
...
int result = app.exec();
wait4CleanupDone.acquire();
return result;
}
But note, that your asynchronous code might be ignored in some cases anyway:
"We recommend that you connect clean-up code to the aboutToQuit() signal, instead of putting it in your application's main() function. This is because, on some platforms the QApplication::exec() call may not return. For example, on the Windows platform, when the user logs off, the system terminates the process after Qt closes all top-level windows. Hence, there is no guarantee that the application will have time to exit its event loop and execute code at the end of the main() function, after the QApplication::exec() call."
From: http://doc.trolltech.com/4.6/qapplication.html#exec
Crashes here regrettably when i try this.
problem is the connect call where it alraedy crashes line 3 of main.
int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
QApplication app(argc, argv);
QObject::connect((QObject *)&app, SIGNAL(aboutToQuit()), (QObject *)&myQuitHandler,
SLOT(QuitApp()), Qt::QueuedConnection );
QGraphicsScene scene(QRectf(0, 0, 640, 480));
..
}
After i started using qgraphicsscene not a single signal works anymore as i get it not connected in a manner that any signal works.
So far could solve everything, how to solve this without 'connect' ?
Crash i get here is instant:
Invalid parameter passed to C runtime function.
exited with code -1073741819