source: trunk/doc/src/examples/taskmenuextension.qdoc

/****************************************************************************
**
** Copyright (C) 2011 Nokia Corporation and/or its subsidiary(-ies).
** All rights reserved.
** Contact: Nokia Corporation (qt-info@nokia.com)
**
** This file is part of the documentation of the Qt Toolkit.
**
** $QT_BEGIN_LICENSE:FDL$
** Commercial Usage
** Licensees holding valid Qt Commercial licenses may use this file in
** accordance with the Qt Commercial License Agreement provided with the
** Software or, alternatively, in accordance with the terms contained in a
** written agreement between you and Nokia.
**
** GNU Free Documentation License
** Alternatively, this file may be used under the terms of the GNU Free
** Documentation License version 1.3 as published by the Free Software
** Foundation and appearing in the file included in the packaging of this
** file.
**
** If you have questions regarding the use of this file, please contact
** Nokia at qt-info@nokia.com.
** $QT_END_LICENSE$
**
****************************************************************************/

/*!
    \example designer/taskmenuextension
    \title Task Menu Extension Example

    The Task Menu Extension example shows how to create a custom
    widget plugin for \l {Qt Designer Manual}{\QD}, and how to to use
    the QDesignerTaskMenuExtension class to provide custom task menu
    entries associated with the plugin.

    \image taskmenuextension-example-faded.png

    To provide a custom widget that can be used with \QD, we need to
    supply a self-contained implementation. In this example we use a
    custom widget designed to show the task menu extension feature:
    The TicTacToe widget.

    An extension is an object which modifies the behavior of \QD. The
    QDesignerTaskMenuExtension can provide custom task menu entries
    when a widget with this extension is selected.

    There are four available types of extensions in \QD:

    \list
        \o QDesignerContainerExtension provides an extension that allows
           you to add (and delete) pages to a multi-page container plugin
           in \QD.
        \o QDesignerMemberSheetExtension provides an extension that allows
           you to manipulate a widget's member functions which is displayed
           when configuring connections using Qt Designer's mode for editing
           signals and slots.
        \o QDesignerPropertySheetExtension provides an extension that
           allows you to manipulate a widget's properties which is displayed
           in Qt Designer's property editor.
        \o QDesignerTaskMenuExtension provides an extension that allows
           you to add custom menu entries to \QD's task menu.
    \endlist

    You can use all the extensions following the same pattern as in
    this example, only replacing the respective extension base
    class. For more information, see the \l {QtDesigner Module}.

    The Task Menu Extension example consists of five classes:

    \list
    \o \c TicTacToe is a custom widget that lets the user play
       the Tic-Tac-Toe game.
    \o \c TicTacToePlugin exposes the \c TicTacToe class to \QD.
    \o \c TicTacToeTaskMenuFactory creates a \c TicTacToeTaskMenu object.
    \o \c TicTacToeTaskMenu provides the task menu extension, i.e the
       plugin's associated task menu entries.
    \o \c TicTacToeDialog lets the user modify the state of a
       Tic-Tac-Toe plugin loaded into \QD.
    \endlist

    The project file for custom widget plugins needs some additional
    information to ensure that they will work within \QD. For example,
    custom widget plugins rely on components supplied with \QD, and
    this must be specified in the project file that we use. We will
    first take a look at the plugin's project file.

    Then we will continue by reviewing the \c TicTacToePlugin class,
    and take a look at the \c TicTacToeTaskMenuFactory and \c
    TicTacToeTaskMenu classes. Finally, we will review the \c
    TicTacToeDialog class before we take a quick look at the \c
    TicTacToe widget's class definition.

    \section1 The Project File: taskmenuextension.pro

    The project file must contain some additional information to
    ensure that the plugin will work as expected:

    \snippet examples/designer/taskmenuextension/taskmenuextension.pro 0
    \snippet examples/designer/taskmenuextension/taskmenuextension.pro 1

    The \c TEMPLATE variable's value makes \c qmake create the custom
    widget as a library. Later, we will ensure that the widget will be
    recognized as a plugin by Qt by using the Q_EXPORT_PLUGIN2() macro to
    export the relevant widget information.

    The \c CONFIG variable contains two values, \c designer and \c
    plugin:

    \list
        \o \c designer: Since custom widgets plugins rely on components
           supplied with \QD, this value ensures that our plugin links against
           \QD's library (\c libQtDesigner.so).

        \o \c plugin: We also need to ensure that \c qmake considers the
           custom widget a \e plugin library.
    \endlist

    When Qt is configured to build in both debug and release modes,
    \QD will be built in release mode.  When this occurs, it is
    necessary to ensure that plugins are also built in release
    mode. For that reason we add the \c debug_and_release value to
    the \c CONFIG variable. Otherwise, if a plugin is built in a mode
    that is incompatible with \QD, it won't be loaded and
    installed.

    The header and source files for the widget are declared in the
    usual way:

    \snippet examples/designer/taskmenuextension/taskmenuextension.pro 2

    We provide an implementation of the plugin interface so that \QD
    can use the custom widget.  In this particular example we also
    provide implementations of the task menu extension and the
    extension factory as well as a dialog implementation.

    It is important to ensure that the plugin is installed in a
    location that is searched by \QD. We do this by specifying a
    target path for the project and adding it to the list of items to
    install:

    \snippet doc/src/snippets/code/doc_src_examples_taskmenuextension.qdoc 0

    The task menu extension is created as a library, and will be
    installed alongside the other \QD plugins when the project is
    installed (using \c{make install} or an equivalent installation
    procedure).

    Note that if you want the plugins to appear in a Visual Studio
    integration, the plugins must be built in release mode and their
    libraries must be copied into the plugin directory in the install
    path of the integration (for an example, see \c {C:/program
    files/trolltech as/visual studio integration/plugins}).

    For more information about plugins, see the \l {How to Create Qt
    Plugins} documentation.

    \section1 TicTacToePlugin Class Definition

    The \c TicTacToePlugin class exposes \c the TicTacToe class to
    \QD. Its definition is equivalent to the \l
    {designer/customwidgetplugin}{Custom Widget Plugin} example's
    plugin class which is explained in detail. The only part of the
    class definition that is specific to this particular custom widget
    is the class name:

    \snippet examples/designer/taskmenuextension/tictactoeplugin.h 0

    The plugin class provides \QD with basic information about our
    plugin, such as its class name and its include file. Furthermore
    it knows how to create instances of the \c TicTacToe widget.
    TicTacToePlugin also defines the \l
    {QDesignerCustomWidgetInterface::initialize()}{initialize()}
    function which is called after the plugin is loaded into \QD. The
    function's QDesignerFormEditorInterface parameter provides the
    plugin with a gateway to all of \QD's API's.

    The \c TicTacToePlugin class inherits from both QObject and
    QDesignerCustomWidgetInterface. It is important to remember, when
    using multiple inheritance, to ensure that all the interfaces
    (i.e. the classes that doesn't inherit Q_OBJECT) are made known to
    the meta object system using the Q_INTERFACES() macro. This
    enables \QD to use \l qobject_cast() to query for supported
    interfaces using nothing but a QObject pointer.

    \section1 TicTacToePlugin Class Implementation

    The TicTacToePlugin class implementation is in most parts
    equivalent to the \l {designer/customwidgetplugin}{Custom Widget
    Plugin} example's plugin class:

    \snippet examples/designer/taskmenuextension/tictactoeplugin.cpp 0

    The only function that differs significantly is the initialize()
    function:

    \snippet examples/designer/taskmenuextension/tictactoeplugin.cpp 1

    The \c initialize() function takes a QDesignerFormEditorInterface
    object as argument.  The QDesignerFormEditorInterface class
    provides access to Qt Designer's components.

    In \QD you can create two kinds of plugins: custom widget plugins
    and tool plugins. QDesignerFormEditorInterface provides access to
    all the \QD components that you normally need to create a tool
    plugin: the extension manager, the object inspector, the property
    editor and the widget box. Custom widget plugins have access to
    the same components.

    \snippet examples/designer/taskmenuextension/tictactoeplugin.cpp 2

    When creating extensions associated with custom widget plugins, we
    need to access \QD's current extension manager which we retrieve
    from the QDesignerFormEditorInterface parameter.

    \QD's QDesignerFormEditorInterface holds information about all Qt
    Designer's components: The action editor, the object inspector,
    the property editor, the widget box, and the extension and form
    window managers.

    The QExtensionManager class provides extension management
    facilities for \QD. Using \QD's current extension manager you can
    retrieve the extension for a given object. You can also register
    and unregister an extension for a given object. Remember that an
    extension is an object which modifies the behavior of \QD.

    When registrering an extension, it is actually the associated
    extension factory that is registered. In \QD, extension factories
    are used to look up and create named extensions as they are
    required. So, in this example, the task menu extension itself is
    not created until a task menu is requested by the user.

    \snippet examples/designer/taskmenuextension/tictactoeplugin.cpp 3

    We create a \c TicTacToeTaskMenuFactory object that we register
    using \QD's current \l {QExtensionManager}{extension manager}
    retrieved from the QDesignerFormEditorInterface parameter. The
    first argument is the newly created factory and the second
    argument is an extension identifier which is a string. The \c
    Q_TYPEID() macro simply converts the string into a QLatin1String.

    The \c TicTacToeTaskMenuFactory class is a subclass of
    QExtensionFactory. When the user request a task menu by clicking
    the right mouse button over a widget with the specified task menu
    extension, \QD's extension manager will run through all its
    registered factories invoking the first one that is able to create
    a task menu extension for the selected widget. This factory will
    in turn create a \c TicTacToeTaskMenu object (the extension).

    We omit to reimplement the
    QDesignerCustomWidgetInterface::domXml() function (which include
    default settings for the widget in the standard XML format used by
    Qt Designer), since no default values are necessary.

    \snippet examples/designer/taskmenuextension/tictactoeplugin.cpp 4

    Finally, we use the Q_EXPORT_PLUGIN2() macro to export the
    TicTacToePlugin class for use with Qt's plugin handling classes:
    This macro ensures that \QD can access and construct the custom
    widget. Without this macro, there is no way for \QD to use the
    widget.

    \section1 TicTacToeTaskMenuFactory Class Definition

    The \c TicTacToeTaskMenuFactory class inherits QExtensionFactory
    which provides a standard extension factory for \QD.

    \snippet examples/designer/taskmenuextension/tictactoetaskmenu.h 1

    The subclass's purpose is to reimplement the
    QExtensionFactory::createExtension() function, making it able to
    create a \c TicTacToe task menu extension.

    \section1 TicTacToeTaskMenuFactory Class Implementation

    The class constructor simply calls the QExtensionFactory base
    class constructor:

    \snippet examples/designer/taskmenuextension/tictactoetaskmenu.cpp 4

    As described above, the factory is invoked when the user request a
    task menu by clicking the right mouse button over a widget with
    the specified task menu extension in \QD.

    \QD's behavior is the same whether the requested extension is
    associated with a container, a member sheet, a property sheet or a
    task menu: Its extension manager runs through all its registered
    extension factories calling \c createExtension() for each until
    one responds by creating the requested extension.

    \snippet examples/designer/taskmenuextension/tictactoetaskmenu.cpp 5

    So the first thing we do in \c
    TicTacToeTaskMenuFactory::createExtension() is to check if the
    requested extension is a task menu extension. If it is, and the
    widget requesting it is a \c TicTacToe widget, we create and
    return a \c TicTacToeTaskMenu object. Otherwise, we simply return
    a null pointer, allowing \QD's extension manager to continue its
    search through the registered factories.


    \section1 TicTacToeTaskMenu Class Definition

    \image taskmenuextension-menu.png

    The \c TicTacToeTaskMenu class inherits QDesignerTaskMenuExtension
    which allows you to add custom entries (in the form of QActions)
    to the task menu in \QD.

    \snippet examples/designer/taskmenuextension/tictactoetaskmenu.h 0

    We reimplement the \c preferredEditAction() and \c taskActions()
    functions. Note that we implement a constructor that takes \e two
    arguments: the parent widget, and the \c TicTacToe widget for
    which the task menu is requested.

    In addition we declare the private \c editState() slot, our custom
    \c editStateAction and a private pointer to the \c TicTacToe
    widget which state we want to modify.

    \section1 TicTacToeTaskMenu Class Implementation

    \snippet examples/designer/taskmenuextension/tictactoetaskmenu.cpp 0

    In the constructor we first save the reference to the \c TicTacToe
    widget sent as parameter, i.e the widget which state we want to
    modify. We will need this later when our custom action is
    invoked. We also create our custom \c editStateAction and connect
    it to the \c editState() slot.

    \snippet examples/designer/taskmenuextension/tictactoetaskmenu.cpp 1

    The \c editState() slot is called whenever the user chooses the
    \gui {Edit State...} option in a \c TicTacToe widget's task menu. The
    slot creates a \c TicTacToeDialog presenting the current state of
    the widget, and allowing the user to edit its state by playing the
    game.

    \snippet examples/designer/taskmenuextension/tictactoetaskmenu.cpp 2

    We reimplement the \c preferredEditAction() function to return our
    custom \c editStateAction as the action that should be invoked
    when selecting a \c TicTacToe widget and pressing \key F2 .

    \snippet examples/designer/taskmenuextension/tictactoetaskmenu.cpp 3

    We reimplement the \c taskActions() function to return a list of
    our custom actions making these appear on top of the default menu
    entries in a \c TicTacToe widget's task menu.

    \section1 TicTacToeDialog Class Definition

    \image taskmenuextension-dialog.png

    The \c TicTacToeDialog class inherits QDialog. The dialog lets the
    user modify the state of the currently selected Tic-Tac-Toe
    plugin.

    \snippet examples/designer/taskmenuextension/tictactoedialog.h 0

    We reimplement the \c sizeHint() function. We also declare two
    private slots: \c resetState() and \c saveState(). In addition to
    the dialog's buttons and layouts we declare two \c TicTacToe
    pointers, one to the widget the user can interact with and the
    other to the original custom widget plugin which state the user
    wants to edit.

    \section1 TicTacToeDialog Class Implementation

    \snippet examples/designer/taskmenuextension/tictactoedialog.cpp 0

    In the constructor we first save the reference to the TicTacToe
    widget sent as parameter, i.e the widget which state the user want
    to modify. Then we create a new \c TicTacToe widget, and set its
    state to be equivalent to the parameter widget's state.

    Finally, we create the dialog's buttons and layout.

    \snippet examples/designer/taskmenuextension/tictactoedialog.cpp 1

    We reimplement the \c sizeHint() function to ensure that the
    dialog is given a reasonable size.

    \snippet examples/designer/taskmenuextension/tictactoedialog.cpp 2

    The \c resetState() slot is called whenever the user press the
    \gui Reset button. The only thing we do is to call the \c
    clearBoard() function for the editor widget, i.e. the \c TicTacToe
    widget we created in the dialog's constructor.

    \snippet examples/designer/taskmenuextension/tictactoedialog.cpp 3

    The \c saveState() slot is called whenever the user press the \gui
    OK button, and transfers the state of the editor widget to the
    widget which state we want to modify. In order to make the change
    of state visible to \QD we need to set the latter widget's state
    property using the QDesignerFormWindowInterface class.

    QDesignerFormWindowInterface provides you with information about
    the associated form window as well as allowing you to alter its
    properties. The interface is not intended to be instantiated
    directly, but to provide access to Qt Designer's current form
    windows controlled by Qt Designer's form window manager.

    If you are looking for the form window containing a specific
    widget, you can use the static
    QDesignerFormWindowInterface::findFormWindow() function:

    \snippet examples/designer/taskmenuextension/tictactoedialog.cpp 4

    After retrieving the form window of the widget (which state we
    want to modify), we use the QDesignerFormWindowInterface::cursor()
    function to retrieve the form window's cursor.

    The QDesignerFormWindowCursorInterface class provides an interface
    to the form window's text cursor. Once we have cursor, we can
    finally set the state property using the
    QDesignerFormWindowCursorInterface::setProperty() function.

    \snippet examples/designer/taskmenuextension/tictactoedialog.cpp 5

    In the end we call the QEvent::accept() function which sets the
    accept flag of the event object. Setting the \c accept parameter
    indicates that the event receiver wants the event. Unwanted events
    might be propagated to the parent widget.

    \section1 TicTacToe Class Definition

    The \c TicTacToe class is a custom widget that lets the user play
    the Tic-Tac-Toe game.

    \snippet examples/designer/taskmenuextension/tictactoe.h 0

    The main details to observe in the \c TicTacToe class defintion is
    the declaration of the \c state property and its \c state() and \c
    setState() functions.

    We need to declare the \c TicTacToe widget's state as a property
    to make it visible to \QD; allowing \QD to manage it in the same
    way it manages the properties the \c TicTacToe widget inherits
    from QWidget and QObject, for example featuring the property
    editor.
*/