how to implement OOP using QT - c++

Question

this is a simple OOP QT question.
my app consists of main window (QMainWindow) and a table (QTableWidget).
in the main window i have arguments and variables which i would like to pass to the table class, and to access methods in main widnow class from the table class, how should i do it ?
mainwindow.h
class MainWindow : public QMainWindow {
Q_OBJECT
private:
int a;
int b;
Spreadsheet *spreadsheet;
public:
void set_a(int);
void set_b(int);
spreadsheet.h
class Spreadsheet : public QTableWidget {
Q_OBJECT
public:
Spreadsheet(QWidget *parent = 0);
atm i define Spreadsheet like this:
spreadsheet = new Spreadsheet(this);
and i'd like to access set_a() from spreadsheet.cpp...

Answer 1

You should consider a different design, you are tightly coupling your code.
Maybe something like the following...
class Spreadsheet : public QTableWidget
{
Q_OBJECT
signals:
void aValueChanged(int value);
void bValueChanged(int value);
public:
void doSomething()
{
emit aValueChanged(100);
}
};
class MainWindow : public QMainWindow
{
public:
MainWindow() :
a(0),
b(0)
{
connect(&spreadsheet, SIGNAL(aValueChanged(int)), this, SLOT(setA(int)));
connect(&spreadsheet, SIGNAL(bValueChanged(int)), this, SLOT(setB(int)));
spreadsheet.doSomething();
}
slots:
void setA(int value) { a = value; }
void setB(int value) { b = value; }
private:
Spreadsheet spreadsheet;
int a;
int b;
};
This is completely untested but gives you an idea.

Answer 2

You can use the parent() method in the Spreadsheet object to get a pointer to your MainWindow.
For example,
// spreadsheet.cpp
MainWindow* mainWindow = (MainWindow*) this->parent();
mainWindow->set_a(123);
Of course, the parent object passed to Spreadsheet's constructor should be your MainWindow instance for this to work.
However, you should seriously consider oscode's suggestion, since it also points you towards creating a more Qt-like API.