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/****************************************************************************
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**
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** Copyright (C) 2009 Nokia Corporation and/or its subsidiary(-ies).
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** All rights reserved.
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** Contact: Nokia Corporation (qt-info@nokia.com)
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**
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** This file is part of the documentation of the Qt Toolkit.
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**
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** $QT_BEGIN_LICENSE:LGPL$
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** No Commercial Usage
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** contained in the Technology Preview License Agreement accompanying
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** this package.
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**
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** GNU Lesser General Public License Usage
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** $QT_END_LICENSE$
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**
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****************************************************************************/
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/*!
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\page tutorials-addressbook.html
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\startpage {index.html}{Qt Reference Documentation}
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\contentspage Tutorials
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\nextpage {tutorials/addressbook/part1}{Chapter 1}
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\title Address Book Tutorial
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\brief An introduction to GUI programming, showing how to put together a
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simple yet fully-functioning application.
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This tutorial gives an introduction to GUI programming using the Qt
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cross-platform framework.
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\image addressbook-tutorial-screenshot.png
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\omit
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It doesn't cover everything; the emphasis is on teaching the programming
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philosophy of GUI programming, and Qt's features are introduced as needed.
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Some commonly used features are never used in this tutorial.
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\endomit
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In the process, we will learn about some basic technologies provided by Qt,
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such as
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\list
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\o Widgets and layout managers
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\o Container classes
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\o Signals and slots
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\o Input and output devices
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\endlist
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If you are completely new to Qt, please read \l{How to Learn Qt} if you
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have not already done so.
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The tutorial's source code is located in Qt's \c examples/tutorials/addressbook
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directory.
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Tutorial chapters:
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\list 1
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\o \l{tutorials/addressbook/part1}{Designing the User Interface}
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\o \l{tutorials/addressbook/part2}{Adding Addresses}
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\o \l{tutorials/addressbook/part3}{Navigating between Entries}
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\o \l{tutorials/addressbook/part4}{Editing and Removing Addresses}
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\o \l{tutorials/addressbook/part5}{Adding a Find Function}
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\o \l{tutorials/addressbook/part6}{Loading and Saving}
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\o \l{tutorials/addressbook/part7}{Additional Features}
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\endlist
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Although this little application does not look much like a fully-fledged
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modern GUI application, it uses many of the basic techniques that are used
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in more complex applications. After you have worked through it, we
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recommend checking out the \l{mainwindows/application}{Application}
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example, which presents a small GUI application, with menus, toolbars, a
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status bar, and so on.
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*/
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/*!
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\page tutorials-addressbook-part1.html
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\contentspage {Address Book Tutorial}{Contents}
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\nextpage {tutorials/addressbook/part2}{Chapter 2}
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\example tutorials/addressbook/part1
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\title Address Book 1 - Designing the User Interface
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The first part of this tutorial covers the design of the basic graphical
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user interface (GUI) we use for the Address Book application.
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The first step to creating a GUI program is to design the user interface.
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In this chapter, our goal is to set up the labels and input fields needed
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to implement a basic address book application. The figure below is a
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screenshot of our expected output.
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\image addressbook-tutorial-part1-screenshot.png
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We require two QLabel objects, \c nameLabel and \c addressLabel, as well
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as two input fields, a QLineEdit object, \c nameLine, and a QTextEdit
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object, \c addressText, to enable the user to enter a contact's name and
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address. The widgets used and their positions are shown in the figure
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below.
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\image addressbook-tutorial-part1-labeled-screenshot.png
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There are three files used to implement this address book:
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\list
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\o \c{addressbook.h} - the definition file for the \c AddressBook
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class,
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\o \c{addressbook.cpp} - the implementation file for the
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\c AddressBook class, and
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\o \c{main.cpp} - the file containing a \c main() function, with
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an instance of \c AddressBook.
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\endlist
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\section1 Qt Programming - Subclassing
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When writing Qt programs, we usually subclass Qt objects to add
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functionality. This is one of the essential concepts behind creating
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custom widgets or collections of standard widgets. Subclassing to
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extend or change the behavior of a widget has the following advantages:
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\list
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\o We can write implementations of virtual or pure virtual functions to
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obtain exactly what we need, falling back on the base class's implementation
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when necessary.
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\o It allows us to encapsulate parts of the user interface within a class,
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so that the other parts of the application don't need to know about the
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individual widgets in the user interface.
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\o The subclass can be used to create multiple custom widgets in the same
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application or library, and the code for the subclass can be reused in other
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projects.
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\endlist
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Since Qt does not provide a specific address book widget, we subclass a
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standard Qt widget class and add features to it. The \c AddressBook class
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we create in this tutorial can be reused in situations where a basic address
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book widget is needed.
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\section1 Defining the AddressBook Class
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The \l{tutorials/addressbook/part1/addressbook.h}{\c addressbook.h} file is
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used to define the \c AddressBook class.
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We start by defining \c AddressBook as a QWidget subclass and declaring
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a constructor. We also use the Q_OBJECT macro to indicate that the class
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uses internationalization and Qt's signals and slots features, even
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if we do not use all of these features at this stage.
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\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part1/addressbook.h class definition
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The class holds declarations of \c nameLine and \c addressText, the
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private instances of QLineEdit and QTextEdit mentioned earlier.
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You will see, in the coming chapters, that data stored in \c nameLine and
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\c addressText is needed for many of the address book's functions.
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We do not need to include declarations of the QLabel objects we will use
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because we will not need to reference them once they have been created.
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The way Qt tracks the ownership of objects is explained in the next section.
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The Q_OBJECT macro itself implements some of the more advanced features of Qt.
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For now, it is useful to think of the Q_OBJECT macro as a shortcut which allows
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us to use the \l{QObject::}{tr()} and \l{QObject::}{connect()} functions.
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We have now completed the \c addressbook.h file and we move on to
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implement the corresponding \c addressbook.cpp file.
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\section1 Implementing the AddressBook Class
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The constructor of \c AddressBook accepts a QWidget parameter, \a parent.
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By convention, we pass this parameter to the base class's constructor.
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This concept of ownership, where a parent can have one or more children,
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is useful for grouping widgets in Qt. For example, if you delete a parent,
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all of its children will be deleted as well.
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\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part1/addressbook.cpp constructor and input fields
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Within this constructor, we declare and instantiate two local QLabel objects,
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\c nameLabel and \c addressLabel, as well as instantiate \c nameLine and
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\c addressText. The
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\l{QObject::tr()}{tr()} function returns a translated version of the
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string, if there is one available; otherwise, it returns the string itself.
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Think of this function as an \c{<insert translation here>} marker to mark
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QString objects for translation. You will notice, in the coming chapters as
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well as in the \l{Qt Examples}, that we include it whenever we use a
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translatable string.
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When programming with Qt, it is useful to know how layouts work.
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Qt provides three main layout classes: QHBoxLayout, QVBoxLayout
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and QGridLayout to handle the positioning of widgets.
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\image addressbook-tutorial-part1-labeled-layout.png
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We use a QGridLayout to position our labels and input fields in a
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structured manner. QGridLayout divides the available space into a grid and
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places widgets in the cells we specify with row and column numbers. The
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diagram above shows the layout cells and the position of our widgets, and
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we specify this arrangement using the following code:
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\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part1/addressbook.cpp layout
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Notice that \c addressLabel is positioned using Qt::AlignTop as an
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additional argument. This is to make sure it is not vertically centered in
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cell (1,0). For a basic overview on Qt Layouts, refer to the
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\l{Layout Management} documentation.
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In order to install the layout object onto the widget, we have to invoke
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the widget's \l{QWidget::setLayout()}{setLayout()} function:
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\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part1/addressbook.cpp setting the layout
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Lastly, we set the widget's title to "Simple Address Book".
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\section1 Running the Application
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A separate file, \c main.cpp, is used for the \c main() function. Within
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this function, we instantiate a QApplication object, \c app. QApplication
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is responsible for various application-wide resources, such as the default
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font and cursor, and for running an event loop. Hence, there is always one
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QApplication object in every GUI application using Qt.
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\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part1/main.cpp main function
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We construct a new \c AddressBook widget on the stack and invoke
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its \l{QWidget::show()}{show()} function to display it.
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However, the widget will not be shown until the application's event loop
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is started. We start the event loop by calling the application's
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\l{QApplication::}{exec()} function; the result returned by this function
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is used as the return value from the \c main() function. At this point,
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it becomes apparent why we instanciated \c AddressBook on the stack: It
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will now go out of scope. Therefore, \c AddressBook and all its child widgets
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will be deleted, thus preventing memory leaks.
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*/
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/*!
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\page tutorials-addressbook-part2.html
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\previouspage Address Book 1 - Designing the User Interface
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\contentspage {Address Book Tutorial}{Contents}
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\nextpage {tutorials/addressbook/part3}{Chapter 3}
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\example tutorials/addressbook/part2
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\title Address Book 2 - Adding Addresses
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The next step to creating our basic address book application is to allow
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a little bit of user interaction.
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\image addressbook-tutorial-part2-add-contact.png
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We will provide a push button that the user can click to add a new contact.
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Also, some form of data structure is needed to store these contacts in an
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organized way.
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\section1 Defining the AddressBook Class
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Now that we have the labels and input fields set up, we add push buttons to
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complete the process of adding a contact. This means that our
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\c addressbook.h file now has three QPushButton objects declared and three
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corresponding public slots.
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\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part2/addressbook.h slots
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A slot is a function that responds to a particular signal. We will discuss
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this concept in further detail when implementing the \c AddressBook class.
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However, for an overview of Qt's signals and slots concept, you can refer
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to the \l{Signals and Slots} document.
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Three QPushButton objects: \c addButton, \c submitButton and
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\c cancelButton, are now included in our private variable declarations,
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along with \c nameLine and \c addressText from the last chapter.
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\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part2/addressbook.h pushbutton declaration
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We need a container to store our address book contacts, so that we can
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traverse and display them. A QMap object, \c contacts, is used for this
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purpose as it holds a key-value pair: the contact's name as the \e key,
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and the contact's address as the \e{value}.
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\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part2/addressbook.h remaining private variables
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We also declare two private QString objects, \c oldName and \c oldAddress.
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These objects are needed to hold the name and address of the contact that
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was last displayed, before the user clicked \gui Add. So, when the user clicks
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\gui Cancel, we can revert to displaying the details of the last contact.
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\section1 Implementing the AddressBook Class
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Within the constructor of \c AddressBook, we set the \c nameLine and
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\c addressText to read-only, so that we can only display but not edit
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existing contact details.
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\dots
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\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part2/addressbook.cpp setting readonly 1
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\dots
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\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part2/addressbook.cpp setting readonly 2
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Then, we instantiate our push buttons: \c addButton, \c submitButton, and
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\c cancelButton.
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\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part2/addressbook.cpp pushbutton declaration
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The \c addButton is displayed by invoking the \l{QPushButton::show()}
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{show()} function, while the \c submitButton and \c cancelButton are
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hidden by invoking \l{QPushButton::hide()}{hide()}. These two push
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buttons will only be displayed when the user clicks \gui Add and this is
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handled by the \c addContact() function discussed below.
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\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part2/addressbook.cpp connecting signals and slots
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We connect the push buttons' \l{QPushButton::clicked()}{clicked()} signal
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to their respective slots. The figure below illustrates this.
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\image addressbook-tutorial-part2-signals-and-slots.png
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Next, we arrange our push buttons neatly to the right of our address book
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widget, using a QVBoxLayout to line them up vertically.
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\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part2/addressbook.cpp vertical layout
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The \l{QBoxLayout::addStretch()}{addStretch()} function is used to ensure
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the push buttons are not evenly spaced, but arranged closer to the top of
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the widget. The figure below shows the difference between using
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\l{QBoxLayout::addStretch()}{addStretch()} and not using it.
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\image addressbook-tutorial-part2-stretch-effects.png
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We then add \c buttonLayout1 to \c mainLayout, using
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\l{QGridLayout::addLayout()}{addLayout()}. This gives us nested layouts
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as \c buttonLayout1 is now a child of \c mainLayout.
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\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part2/addressbook.cpp grid layout
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Our layout coordinates now look like this:
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\image addressbook-tutorial-part2-labeled-layout.png
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In the \c addContact() function, we store the last displayed contact
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details in \c oldName and \c oldAddress. Then we clear these input
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fields and turn off the read-only mode. The focus is set on \c nameLine
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and we display \c submitButton and \c cancelButton.
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\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part2/addressbook.cpp addContact
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The \c submitContact() function can be divided into three parts:
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\list 1
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\o We extract the contact's details from \c nameLine and \c addressText
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and store them in QString objects. We also validate to make sure that the
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user did not click \gui Submit with empty input fields; otherwise, a
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QMessageBox is displayed to remind the user for a name and address.
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\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part2/addressbook.cpp submitContact part1
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\o We then proceed to check if the contact already exists. If it does not
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exist, we add the contact to \c contacts and we display a QMessageBox to
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inform the user that the contact has been added.
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\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part2/addressbook.cpp submitContact part2
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If the contact already exists, again, we display a QMessageBox to inform
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the user about this, preventing the user from adding duplicate contacts.
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Our \c contacts object is based on key-value pairs of name and address,
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hence, we want to ensure that \e key is unique.
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\o Once we have handled both cases mentioned above, we restore the push
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buttons to their normal state with the following code:
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|
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\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part2/addressbook.cpp submitContact part3
|
|
387 |
|
|
388 |
\endlist
|
|
389 |
|
|
390 |
The screenshot below shows the QMessageBox object we use to display
|
|
391 |
information messages to the user.
|
|
392 |
|
|
393 |
\image addressbook-tutorial-part2-add-successful.png
|
|
394 |
|
|
395 |
The \c cancel() function restores the last displayed contact details and
|
|
396 |
enables \c addButton, as well as hides \c submitButton and
|
|
397 |
\c cancelButton.
|
|
398 |
|
|
399 |
\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part2/addressbook.cpp cancel
|
|
400 |
|
|
401 |
The general idea behind adding a contact is to give the user the
|
|
402 |
flexibility to click \gui Submit or \gui Cancel at any time. The flowchart below
|
|
403 |
further explains this concept:
|
|
404 |
|
|
405 |
\image addressbook-tutorial-part2-add-flowchart.png
|
|
406 |
*/
|
|
407 |
|
|
408 |
/*!
|
|
409 |
\page tutorials-addressbook-part3.html
|
|
410 |
\previouspage Address Book 2 - Adding Addresses
|
|
411 |
\contentspage {Address Book Tutorial}{Contents}
|
|
412 |
\nextpage {tutorials/addressbook/part4}{Chapter 4}
|
|
413 |
\example tutorials/addressbook/part3
|
|
414 |
\title Address Book 3 - Navigating between Entries
|
|
415 |
|
|
416 |
The address book application is now half complete. We need to add some
|
|
417 |
functions to navigate between contacts. But first, we have to decide
|
|
418 |
what sort of a data structure we would like to use to hold these contacts.
|
|
419 |
|
|
420 |
In Chapter 2, we used a QMap of key-value pairs with the contact's name
|
|
421 |
as the \e key, and the contact's address as the \e value. This works well
|
|
422 |
for our case. However, in order to navigate and display each entry, a
|
|
423 |
little bit of enhancement is needed.
|
|
424 |
|
|
425 |
We enhance the QMap by making it replicate a data structure similar to a
|
|
426 |
circularly-linked list, where all elements are connected, including the
|
|
427 |
first element and the last element. The figure below illustrates this data
|
|
428 |
structure.
|
|
429 |
|
|
430 |
\image addressbook-tutorial-part3-linkedlist.png
|
|
431 |
|
|
432 |
\section1 Defining the AddressBook Class
|
|
433 |
|
|
434 |
In order to add navigation functions to the address book application, we
|
|
435 |
need to add two more slots to our \c AddressBook class: \c next() and
|
|
436 |
\c previous(). These are added to our \c addressbook.h file:
|
|
437 |
|
|
438 |
\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part3/addressbook.h navigation functions
|
|
439 |
|
|
440 |
We also require another two QPushButton objects, so we declare \c nextButton
|
|
441 |
and \c previousButton as private variables:
|
|
442 |
|
|
443 |
\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part3/addressbook.h navigation pushbuttons
|
|
444 |
|
|
445 |
\section1 Implementing the AddressBook Class
|
|
446 |
|
|
447 |
In the \c AddressBook constructor in \c addressbook.cpp, we instantiate
|
|
448 |
\c nextButton and \c previousButton and disable them by default. This is
|
|
449 |
because navigation is only enabled when there is more than one contact
|
|
450 |
in the address book.
|
|
451 |
|
|
452 |
\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part3/addressbook.cpp navigation pushbuttons
|
|
453 |
|
|
454 |
We then connect these push buttons to their respective slots:
|
|
455 |
|
|
456 |
\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part3/addressbook.cpp connecting navigation signals
|
|
457 |
|
|
458 |
The image below is our expected graphical user interface. Notice that it
|
|
459 |
is getting closer to our final application.
|
|
460 |
|
|
461 |
\image addressbook-tutorial-part3-screenshot.png
|
|
462 |
|
|
463 |
We follow basic conventions for \c next() and \c previous() functions by
|
|
464 |
placing the \c nextButton on the right and the \c previousButton on the
|
|
465 |
left. In order to achieve this intuitive layout, we use QHBoxLayout to
|
|
466 |
place the widgets side-by-side:
|
|
467 |
|
|
468 |
\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part3/addressbook.cpp navigation layout
|
|
469 |
|
|
470 |
The QHBoxLayout object, \c buttonLayout2, is then added to \c mainLayout.
|
|
471 |
|
|
472 |
\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part3/addressbook.cpp adding navigation layout
|
|
473 |
|
|
474 |
The figure below shows the coordinates of the widgets in \c mainLayout.
|
|
475 |
\image addressbook-tutorial-part3-labeled-layout.png
|
|
476 |
|
|
477 |
Within our \c addContact() function, we have to disable these buttons so
|
|
478 |
that the user does not attempt to navigate while adding a contact.
|
|
479 |
|
|
480 |
\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part3/addressbook.cpp disabling navigation
|
|
481 |
|
|
482 |
Also, in our \c submitContact() function, we enable the navigation
|
|
483 |
buttons, \c nextButton and \c previousButton, depending on the size
|
|
484 |
of \c contacts. As mentioned earlier, navigation is only enabled when
|
|
485 |
there is more than one contact in the address book. The following lines
|
|
486 |
of code demonstrates how to do this:
|
|
487 |
|
|
488 |
\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part3/addressbook.cpp enabling navigation
|
|
489 |
|
|
490 |
We also include these lines of code in the \c cancel() function.
|
|
491 |
|
|
492 |
Recall that we intend to emulate a circularly-linked list with our QMap
|
|
493 |
object, \c contacts. So, in the \c next() function, we obtain an iterator
|
|
494 |
for \c contacts and then:
|
|
495 |
|
|
496 |
\list
|
|
497 |
\o If the iterator is not at the end of \c contacts, we increment it
|
|
498 |
by one.
|
|
499 |
\o If the iterator is at the end of \c contacts, we move it to the
|
|
500 |
beginning of \c contacts. This gives us the illusion that our QMap is
|
|
501 |
working like a circularly-linked list.
|
|
502 |
\endlist
|
|
503 |
|
|
504 |
\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part3/addressbook.cpp next() function
|
|
505 |
|
|
506 |
Once we have iterated to the correct object in \c contacts, we display
|
|
507 |
its contents on \c nameLine and \c addressText.
|
|
508 |
|
|
509 |
Similarly, for the \c previous() function, we obtain an iterator for
|
|
510 |
\c contacts and then:
|
|
511 |
|
|
512 |
\list
|
|
513 |
\o If the iterator is at the end of \c contacts, we clear the
|
|
514 |
display and return.
|
|
515 |
\o If the iterator is at the beginning of \c contacts, we move it to
|
|
516 |
the end.
|
|
517 |
\o We then decrement the iterator by one.
|
|
518 |
\endlist
|
|
519 |
|
|
520 |
\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part3/addressbook.cpp previous() function
|
|
521 |
|
|
522 |
Again, we display the contents of the current object in \c contacts.
|
|
523 |
|
|
524 |
*/
|
|
525 |
|
|
526 |
/*!
|
|
527 |
\page tutorials-addressbook-part4.html
|
|
528 |
\previouspage Address Book 3 - Navigating between Entries
|
|
529 |
\contentspage {Address Book Tutorial}{Contents}
|
|
530 |
\nextpage {tutorials/addressbook/part5}{Chapter 5}
|
|
531 |
\example tutorials/addressbook/part4
|
|
532 |
\title Address Book 4 - Editing and Removing Addresses
|
|
533 |
|
|
534 |
In this chapter, we look at ways to modify the contents of contacts stored
|
|
535 |
in the address book application.
|
|
536 |
|
|
537 |
\image addressbook-tutorial-screenshot.png
|
|
538 |
|
|
539 |
We now have an address book that not only holds contacts in an organized
|
|
540 |
manner, but also allows navigation. It would be convenient to include
|
|
541 |
edit and remove functions so that a contact's details can be changed
|
|
542 |
when needed. However, this requires a little improvement, in the form of
|
|
543 |
enums. In our previous chapters, we had two modes: \c{AddingMode} and
|
|
544 |
\c{NavigationMode} - but they were not defined as enums. Instead, we
|
|
545 |
enabled and disabled the corresponding buttons manually, resulting in
|
|
546 |
multiple lines of repeated code.
|
|
547 |
|
|
548 |
In this chapter, we define the \c Mode enum with three different values:
|
|
549 |
|
|
550 |
\list
|
|
551 |
\o \c{NavigationMode},
|
|
552 |
\o \c{AddingMode}, and
|
|
553 |
\o \c{EditingMode}.
|
|
554 |
\endlist
|
|
555 |
|
|
556 |
\section1 Defining the AddressBook Class
|
|
557 |
|
|
558 |
The \c addressbook.h file is updated to contain the \c Mode enum:
|
|
559 |
|
|
560 |
\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part4/addressbook.h Mode enum
|
|
561 |
|
|
562 |
We also add two new slots, \c editContact() and \c removeContact(), to
|
|
563 |
our current list of public slots.
|
|
564 |
|
|
565 |
\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part4/addressbook.h edit and remove slots
|
|
566 |
|
|
567 |
In order to switch between modes, we introduce the \c updateInterface() function
|
|
568 |
to control the enabling and disabling of all QPushButton objects. We also
|
|
569 |
add two new push buttons, \c editButton and \c removeButton, for the edit
|
|
570 |
and remove functions mentioned earlier.
|
|
571 |
|
|
572 |
\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part4/addressbook.h updateInterface() declaration
|
|
573 |
\dots
|
|
574 |
\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part4/addressbook.h buttons declaration
|
|
575 |
\dots
|
|
576 |
\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part4/addressbook.h mode declaration
|
|
577 |
|
|
578 |
Lastly, we declare \c currentMode to keep track of the enum's current mode.
|
|
579 |
|
|
580 |
\section1 Implementing the AddressBook Class
|
|
581 |
|
|
582 |
We now have to implement the mode-changing features of the address book
|
|
583 |
application. The \c editButton and \c removeButton are instantiated and
|
|
584 |
disabled by default, as the address book starts up with zero contacts in
|
|
585 |
memory.
|
|
586 |
|
|
587 |
\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part4/addressbook.cpp edit and remove buttons
|
|
588 |
|
|
589 |
These buttons are then connected to their respective slots, \c editContact()
|
|
590 |
and \c removeContact(), and we add them to \c buttonLayout1.
|
|
591 |
|
|
592 |
\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part4/addressbook.cpp connecting edit and remove
|
|
593 |
\dots
|
|
594 |
\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part4/addressbook.cpp adding edit and remove to the layout
|
|
595 |
|
|
596 |
The \c editContact() function stores the contact's old details in
|
|
597 |
\c oldName and \c oldAddress, before switching the mode to \c EditingMode.
|
|
598 |
In this mode, the \c submitButton and \c cancelButton are both enabled,
|
|
599 |
hence, the user can change the contact's details and click either button.
|
|
600 |
|
|
601 |
\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part4/addressbook.cpp editContact() function
|
|
602 |
|
|
603 |
The \c submitContact() function has been divided in two with an \c{if-else}
|
|
604 |
statement. We check \c currentMode to see if it's in \c AddingMode. If it is,
|
|
605 |
we proceed with our adding process.
|
|
606 |
|
|
607 |
\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part4/addressbook.cpp submitContact() function beginning
|
|
608 |
\dots
|
|
609 |
\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part4/addressbook.cpp submitContact() function part1
|
|
610 |
|
|
611 |
Otherwise, we check to see if \c currentMode is in \c EditingMode. If it
|
|
612 |
is, we compare \c oldName with \c name. If the name has changed, we remove
|
|
613 |
the old contact from \c contacts and insert the newly updated contact.
|
|
614 |
|
|
615 |
\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part4/addressbook.cpp submitContact() function part2
|
|
616 |
|
|
617 |
If only the address has changed (i.e., \c oldAddress is not the same as \c address),
|
|
618 |
we update the contact's address. Lastly, we set \c currentMode to
|
|
619 |
\c NavigationMode. This is an important step as it re-enables all the
|
|
620 |
disabled push buttons.
|
|
621 |
|
|
622 |
To remove a contact from the address book, we implement the
|
|
623 |
\c removeContact() function. This function checks to see if the contact
|
|
624 |
exists in \c contacts.
|
|
625 |
|
|
626 |
\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part4/addressbook.cpp removeContact() function
|
|
627 |
|
|
628 |
If it does, we display a QMessageBox, to confirm the removal with the
|
|
629 |
user. Once the user has confirmed, we call \c previous() to ensure that the
|
|
630 |
user interface shows another contact, and we remove the contact using \l{QMap}'s
|
|
631 |
\l{QMap::remove()}{remove()} function. As a courtesy, we display a QMessageBox
|
|
632 |
to inform the user. Both the message boxes used in this function are shown below:
|
|
633 |
|
|
634 |
\image addressbook-tutorial-part4-remove.png
|
|
635 |
|
|
636 |
\section2 Updating the User Interface
|
|
637 |
|
|
638 |
We mentioned the \c updateInterface() function earlier as a means to
|
|
639 |
enable and disable the push buttons depending on the current mode.
|
|
640 |
The function updates the current mode according to the \c mode argument
|
|
641 |
passed to it, assigning it to \c currentMode before checking its value.
|
|
642 |
|
|
643 |
Each of the push buttons is then enabled or disabled, depending on the
|
|
644 |
current mode. The code for \c AddingMode and \c EditingMode is shown below:
|
|
645 |
|
|
646 |
\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part4/addressbook.cpp update interface() part 1
|
|
647 |
|
|
648 |
For \c NavigationMode, however, we include conditions within the parameters
|
|
649 |
of the QPushButton::setEnabled() function. This is to ensure that
|
|
650 |
\c editButton and \c removeButton are enabled when there is at least one
|
|
651 |
contact in the address book; \c nextButton and \c previousButton are only
|
|
652 |
enabled when there is more than one contact in the address book.
|
|
653 |
|
|
654 |
\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part4/addressbook.cpp update interface() part 2
|
|
655 |
|
|
656 |
By performing the task of setting the mode and updating the user interface in
|
|
657 |
the same function, we avoid the possibility of the user interface getting "out
|
|
658 |
of sync" with the internal state of the application.
|
|
659 |
*/
|
|
660 |
|
|
661 |
/*!
|
|
662 |
\page tutorials-addressbook-part5.html
|
|
663 |
\previouspage Address Book 4 - Editing and Removing Addresses
|
|
664 |
\contentspage {Address Book Tutorial}{Contents}
|
|
665 |
\nextpage {tutorials/addressbook/part6}{Chapter 6}
|
|
666 |
\example tutorials/addressbook/part5
|
|
667 |
\title Address Book 5 - Adding a Find Function
|
|
668 |
|
|
669 |
In this chapter, we look at ways to locate contacts and addresses in
|
|
670 |
the address book application.
|
|
671 |
|
|
672 |
\image addressbook-tutorial-part5-screenshot.png
|
|
673 |
|
|
674 |
As we keep adding contacts to our address book application, it becomes
|
|
675 |
tedious to navigate them with the \e Next and \e Previous buttons. In this
|
|
676 |
case, a \e Find function would be more efficient in looking up contacts.
|
|
677 |
The screenshot above shows the \e Find button and its position on the panel
|
|
678 |
of buttons.
|
|
679 |
|
|
680 |
When the user clicks on the \e Find button, it is useful to display a
|
|
681 |
dialog that can prompt the user for a contact's name. Qt provides QDialog,
|
|
682 |
which we subclass in this chapter, to implement a \c FindDialog class.
|
|
683 |
|
|
684 |
\section1 Defining the FindDialog Class
|
|
685 |
|
|
686 |
\image addressbook-tutorial-part5-finddialog.png
|
|
687 |
|
|
688 |
In order to subclass QDialog, we first include the header for QDialog in
|
|
689 |
the \c finddialog.h file. Also, we use forward declaration to declare
|
|
690 |
QLineEdit and QPushButton since we will be using those widgets in our
|
|
691 |
dialog class.
|
|
692 |
|
|
693 |
As in our \c AddressBook class, the \c FindDialog class includes
|
|
694 |
the Q_OBJECT macro and its constructor is defined to accept a parent
|
|
695 |
QWidget, even though the dialog will be opened as a separate window.
|
|
696 |
|
|
697 |
\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part5/finddialog.h FindDialog header
|
|
698 |
|
|
699 |
We define a public function, \c getFindText(), to be used by classes that
|
|
700 |
instantiate \c FindDialog. This function allows these classes to obtain the
|
|
701 |
search string entered by the user. A public slot, \c findClicked(), is also
|
|
702 |
defined to handle the search string when the user clicks the \gui Find
|
|
703 |
button.
|
|
704 |
|
|
705 |
Lastly, we define the private variables, \c findButton, \c lineEdit
|
|
706 |
and \c findText, corresponding to the \gui Find button, the line edit
|
|
707 |
into which the user types the search string, and an internal string
|
|
708 |
used to store the search string for later use.
|
|
709 |
|
|
710 |
\section1 Implementing the FindDialog Class
|
|
711 |
|
|
712 |
Within the constructor of \c FindDialog, we set up the private variables,
|
|
713 |
\c lineEdit, \c findButton and \c findText. We use a QHBoxLayout to
|
|
714 |
position the widgets.
|
|
715 |
|
|
716 |
\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part5/finddialog.cpp constructor
|
|
717 |
|
|
718 |
We set the layout and window title, as well as connect the signals to their
|
|
719 |
respective slots. Notice that \c{findButton}'s \l{QPushButton::clicked()}
|
|
720 |
{clicked()} signal is connected to to \c findClicked() and
|
|
721 |
\l{QDialog::accept()}{accept()}. The \l{QDialog::accept()}{accept()} slot
|
|
722 |
provided by QDialog hides the dialog and sets the result code to
|
|
723 |
\l{QDialog::}{Accepted}. We use this function to help \c{AddressBook}'s
|
|
724 |
\c findContact() function know when the \c FindDialog object has been
|
|
725 |
closed. We will explain this logic in further detail when discussing the
|
|
726 |
\c findContact() function.
|
|
727 |
|
|
728 |
\image addressbook-tutorial-part5-signals-and-slots.png
|
|
729 |
|
|
730 |
In \c findClicked(), we validate \c lineEdit to ensure that the user
|
|
731 |
did not click the \gui Find button without entering a contact's name. Then, we set
|
|
732 |
\c findText to the search string, extracted from \c lineEdit. After that,
|
|
733 |
we clear the contents of \c lineEdit and hide the dialog.
|
|
734 |
|
|
735 |
\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part5/finddialog.cpp findClicked() function
|
|
736 |
|
|
737 |
The \c findText variable has a public getter function, \c getFindText(),
|
|
738 |
associated with it. Since we only ever set \c findText directly in both the
|
|
739 |
constructor and in the \c findClicked() function, we do not create a
|
|
740 |
setter function to accompany \c getFindText().
|
|
741 |
Because \c getFindText() is public, classes instantiating and using
|
|
742 |
\c FindDialog can always access the search string that the user has
|
|
743 |
entered and accepted.
|
|
744 |
|
|
745 |
\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part5/finddialog.cpp getFindText() function
|
|
746 |
|
|
747 |
\section1 Defining the AddressBook Class
|
|
748 |
|
|
749 |
To ensure we can use \c FindDialog from within our \c AddressBook class, we
|
|
750 |
include \c finddialog.h in the \c addressbook.h file.
|
|
751 |
|
|
752 |
\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part5/addressbook.h include finddialog's header
|
|
753 |
|
|
754 |
So far, all our address book features have a QPushButton and a
|
|
755 |
corresponding slot. Similarly, for the \gui Find feature we have
|
|
756 |
\c findButton and \c findContact().
|
|
757 |
|
|
758 |
The \c findButton is declared as a private variable and the
|
|
759 |
\c findContact() function is declared as a public slot.
|
|
760 |
|
|
761 |
\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part5/addressbook.h findContact() declaration
|
|
762 |
\dots
|
|
763 |
\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part5/addressbook.h findButton declaration
|
|
764 |
|
|
765 |
Lastly, we declare the private variable, \c dialog, which we will use to
|
|
766 |
refer to an instance of \c FindDialog.
|
|
767 |
|
|
768 |
\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part5/addressbook.h FindDialog declaration
|
|
769 |
|
|
770 |
Once we have instantiated a dialog, we will want to use it more than once;
|
|
771 |
using a private variable allows us to refer to it from more than one place
|
|
772 |
in the class.
|
|
773 |
|
|
774 |
\section1 Implementing the AddressBook Class
|
|
775 |
|
|
776 |
Within the \c AddressBook class's constructor, we instantiate our private
|
|
777 |
objects, \c findButton and \c findDialog:
|
|
778 |
|
|
779 |
\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part5/addressbook.cpp instantiating findButton
|
|
780 |
\dots
|
|
781 |
\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part5/addressbook.cpp instantiating FindDialog
|
|
782 |
|
|
783 |
Next, we connect the \c{findButton}'s
|
|
784 |
\l{QPushButton::clicked()}{clicked()} signal to \c findContact().
|
|
785 |
|
|
786 |
\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part5/addressbook.cpp signals and slots for find
|
|
787 |
|
|
788 |
Now all that is left is the code for our \c findContact() function:
|
|
789 |
|
|
790 |
\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part5/addressbook.cpp findContact() function
|
|
791 |
|
|
792 |
We start out by displaying the \c FindDialog instance, \c dialog. This is
|
|
793 |
when the user enters a contact name to look up. Once the user clicks
|
|
794 |
the dialog's \c findButton, the dialog is hidden and the result code is
|
|
795 |
set to QDialog::Accepted. This ensures that
|
|
796 |
our \c if statement is always true.
|
|
797 |
|
|
798 |
We then proceed to extract the search string, which in this case is
|
|
799 |
\c contactName, using \c{FindDialog}'s \c getFindText() function. If the
|
|
800 |
contact exists in our address book, we display it immediately. Otherwise,
|
|
801 |
we display the QMessageBox shown below to indicate that their search
|
|
802 |
failed.
|
|
803 |
|
|
804 |
\image addressbook-tutorial-part5-notfound.png
|
|
805 |
*/
|
|
806 |
|
|
807 |
/*!
|
|
808 |
\page tutorials-addressbook-part6.html
|
|
809 |
\previouspage Address Book 5 - Adding a Find Function
|
|
810 |
\contentspage {Address Book Tutorial}{Contents}
|
|
811 |
\nextpage {tutorials/addressbook/part7}{Chapter 7}
|
|
812 |
\example tutorials/addressbook/part6
|
|
813 |
\title Address Book 6 - Loading and Saving
|
|
814 |
|
|
815 |
This chapter covers the file handling features of Qt that we use to write
|
|
816 |
loading and saving routines for the address book application.
|
|
817 |
|
|
818 |
\image addressbook-tutorial-part6-screenshot.png
|
|
819 |
|
|
820 |
Although browsing and searching for contacts are useful features, our
|
|
821 |
address book is not ready for use until we can save existing contacts and
|
|
822 |
load them again at a later time.
|
|
823 |
|
|
824 |
Qt provides a number of classes for \l{Input/Output and Networking}
|
|
825 |
{input and output}, but we have chosen to use two which are simple to use
|
|
826 |
in combination: QFile and QDataStream.
|
|
827 |
|
|
828 |
A QFile object represents a file on disk that can be read from and written
|
|
829 |
to. QFile is a subclass of the more general QIODevice class which
|
|
830 |
represents many different kinds of devices.
|
|
831 |
|
|
832 |
A QDataStream object is used to serialize binary data so that it can be
|
|
833 |
stored in a QIODevice and retrieved again later. Reading from a QIODevice
|
|
834 |
and writing to it is as simple as opening the stream - with the respective
|
|
835 |
device as a parameter - and reading from or writing to it.
|
|
836 |
|
|
837 |
|
|
838 |
\section1 Defining the AddressBook Class
|
|
839 |
|
|
840 |
We declare two public slots, \c saveToFile() and \c loadFromFile(), as well
|
|
841 |
as two QPushButton objects, \c loadButton and \c saveButton.
|
|
842 |
|
|
843 |
\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part6/addressbook.h save and load functions declaration
|
|
844 |
\dots
|
|
845 |
\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part6/addressbook.h save and load buttons declaration
|
|
846 |
|
|
847 |
\section1 Implementing the AddressBook Class
|
|
848 |
|
|
849 |
In our constructor, we instantiate \c loadButton and \c saveButton.
|
|
850 |
Ideally, it would be more user-friendly to set the push buttons' labels
|
|
851 |
to "Load contacts from a file" and "Save contacts to a file". However, due
|
|
852 |
to the size of our other push buttons, we set the labels to \gui{Load...}
|
|
853 |
and \gui{Save...}. Fortunately, Qt provides a simple way to set tooltips with
|
|
854 |
\l{QWidget::setToolTip()}{setToolTip()} and we use it in the following way
|
|
855 |
for our push buttons:
|
|
856 |
|
|
857 |
\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part6/addressbook.cpp tooltip 1
|
|
858 |
\dots
|
|
859 |
\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part6/addressbook.cpp tooltip 2
|
|
860 |
|
|
861 |
Although it is not shown here, just like the other features we implemented,
|
|
862 |
we add the push buttons to the layout panel on the right, \c button1Layout,
|
|
863 |
and we connect the push buttons' \l{QPushButton::clicked()}{clicked()}
|
|
864 |
signals to their respective slots.
|
|
865 |
|
|
866 |
For the saving feature, we first obtain \c fileName using
|
|
867 |
QFileDialog::getSaveFileName(). This is a convenience function provided
|
|
868 |
by QFileDialog, which pops up a modal file dialog and allows the user to
|
|
869 |
enter a file name or select any existing \c{.abk} file. The \c{.abk} file
|
|
870 |
is our Address Book extension that we create when we save contacts.
|
|
871 |
|
|
872 |
\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part6/addressbook.cpp saveToFile() function part1
|
|
873 |
|
|
874 |
The file dialog that pops up is displayed in the screenshot below:
|
|
875 |
|
|
876 |
\image addressbook-tutorial-part6-save.png
|
|
877 |
|
|
878 |
If \c fileName is not empty, we create a QFile object, \c file, with
|
|
879 |
\c fileName. QFile works with QDataStream as QFile is a QIODevice.
|
|
880 |
|
|
881 |
Next, we attempt to open the file in \l{QIODevice::}{WriteOnly} mode.
|
|
882 |
If this is unsuccessful, we display a QMessageBox to inform the user.
|
|
883 |
|
|
884 |
\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part6/addressbook.cpp saveToFile() function part2
|
|
885 |
|
|
886 |
Otherwise, we instantiate a QDataStream object, \c out, to write the open
|
|
887 |
file. QDataStream requires that the same version of the stream is used
|
|
888 |
for reading and writing. We ensure that this is the case by setting the
|
|
889 |
version used to the \l{QDataStream::Qt_4_5}{version introduced with Qt 4.5}
|
|
890 |
before serializing the data to \c file.
|
|
891 |
|
|
892 |
\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part6/addressbook.cpp saveToFile() function part3
|
|
893 |
|
|
894 |
For the loading feature, we also obtain \c fileName using
|
|
895 |
QFileDialog::getOpenFileName(). This function, the counterpart to
|
|
896 |
QFileDialog::getSaveFileName(), also pops up the modal file dialog and
|
|
897 |
allows the user to enter a file name or select any existing \c{.abk} file
|
|
898 |
to load it into the address book.
|
|
899 |
|
|
900 |
\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part6/addressbook.cpp loadFromFile() function part1
|
|
901 |
|
|
902 |
On Windows, for example, this function pops up a native file dialog, as
|
|
903 |
shown in the following screenshot.
|
|
904 |
|
|
905 |
\image addressbook-tutorial-part6-load.png
|
|
906 |
|
|
907 |
If \c fileName is not empty, again, we use a QFile object, \c file, and
|
|
908 |
attempt to open it in \l{QIODevice::}{ReadOnly} mode. Similar to our
|
|
909 |
implementation of \c saveToFile(), if this attempt is unsuccessful, we
|
|
910 |
display a QMessageBox to inform the user.
|
|
911 |
|
|
912 |
\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part6/addressbook.cpp loadFromFile() function part2
|
|
913 |
|
|
914 |
Otherwise, we instantiate a QDataStream object, \c in, set its version as
|
|
915 |
above and read the serialized data into the \c contacts data structure.
|
|
916 |
The \c contacts object is emptied before data is read into it to simplify
|
|
917 |
the file reading process. A more advanced method would be to read the
|
|
918 |
contacts into a temporary QMap object, and copy over non-duplicate contacts
|
|
919 |
into \c contacts.
|
|
920 |
|
|
921 |
\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part6/addressbook.cpp loadFromFile() function part3
|
|
922 |
|
|
923 |
To display the contacts that have been read from the file, we must first
|
|
924 |
validate the data obtained to ensure that the file we read from actually
|
|
925 |
contains address book contacts. If it does, we display the first contact;
|
|
926 |
otherwise, we display a QMessageBox to inform the user about the problem.
|
|
927 |
Lastly, we update the interface to enable and disable the push buttons
|
|
928 |
accordingly.
|
|
929 |
*/
|
|
930 |
|
|
931 |
/*!
|
|
932 |
\page tutorials-addressbook-part7.html
|
|
933 |
\previouspage Address Book 6 - Loading and Saving
|
|
934 |
\contentspage {Address Book Tutorial}{Contents}
|
|
935 |
\example tutorials/addressbook/part7
|
|
936 |
\title Address Book 7 - Additional Features
|
|
937 |
|
|
938 |
This chapter covers some additional features that make the address book
|
|
939 |
application more convenient for everyday use.
|
|
940 |
|
|
941 |
\image addressbook-tutorial-part7-screenshot.png
|
|
942 |
|
|
943 |
Although our address book application is useful in its own right, it would
|
|
944 |
be useful if we could exchange contact data with other applications.
|
|
945 |
The vCard format is a popular file format that can be used for this purpose.
|
|
946 |
In this chapter, we extend our address book client to allow contacts to
|
|
947 |
be exported to vCard \c{.vcf} files.
|
|
948 |
|
|
949 |
\section1 Defining the AddressBook Class
|
|
950 |
|
|
951 |
We add a QPushButton object, \c exportButton, and a corresponding public
|
|
952 |
slot, \c exportAsVCard() to our \c AddressBook class in the
|
|
953 |
\c addressbook.h file.
|
|
954 |
|
|
955 |
\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part7/addressbook.h exportAsVCard() declaration
|
|
956 |
\dots
|
|
957 |
\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part7/addressbook.h exportButton declaration
|
|
958 |
|
|
959 |
\section1 Implementing the AddressBook Class
|
|
960 |
|
|
961 |
Within the \c AddressBook constructor, we connect \c{exportButton}'s
|
|
962 |
\l{QPushButton::clicked()}{clicked()} signal to \c exportAsVCard().
|
|
963 |
We also add this button to our \c buttonLayout1, the layout responsible
|
|
964 |
for our panel of buttons on the right.
|
|
965 |
|
|
966 |
In our \c exportAsVCard() function, we start by extracting the contact's
|
|
967 |
name into \c name. We declare \c firstName, \c lastName and \c nameList.
|
|
968 |
Next, we look for the index of the first white space in \c name. If there
|
|
969 |
is a white space, we split the contact's name into \c firstName and
|
|
970 |
\c lastName. Then, we replace the space with an underscore ("_").
|
|
971 |
Alternately, if there is no white space, we assume that the contact only
|
|
972 |
has a first name.
|
|
973 |
|
|
974 |
\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part7/addressbook.cpp export function part1
|
|
975 |
|
|
976 |
As with the \c saveToFile() function, we open a file dialog to let the user
|
|
977 |
choose a location for the file. Using the file name chosen, we create an
|
|
978 |
instance of QFile to write to.
|
|
979 |
|
|
980 |
We attempt to open the file in \l{QIODevice::}{WriteOnly} mode. If this
|
|
981 |
process fails, we display a QMessageBox to inform the user about the
|
|
982 |
problem and return. Otherwise, we pass the file as a parameter to a
|
|
983 |
QTextStream object, \c out. Like QDataStream, the QTextStream class
|
|
984 |
provides functionality to read and write plain text to files. As a result,
|
|
985 |
the \c{.vcf} file generated can be opened for editing in a text editor.
|
|
986 |
|
|
987 |
\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part7/addressbook.cpp export function part2
|
|
988 |
|
|
989 |
We then write out a vCard file with the \c{BEGIN:VCARD} tag, followed by
|
|
990 |
the \c{VERSION:2.1} tag. The contact's name is written with the \c{N:}
|
|
991 |
tag. For the \c{FN:} tag, which fills in the "File as" property of a vCard,
|
|
992 |
we have to check whether the contact has a last name or not. If the contact
|
|
993 |
does, we use the details in \c nameList to fill it. Otherwise, we write
|
|
994 |
\c firstName only.
|
|
995 |
|
|
996 |
\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part7/addressbook.cpp export function part3
|
|
997 |
|
|
998 |
We proceed to write the contact's address. The semicolons in the address
|
|
999 |
are escaped with "\\", the newlines are replaced with semicolons, and the
|
|
1000 |
commas are replaced with spaces. Lastly, we write the \c{ADR;HOME:;}
|
|
1001 |
tag, followed by \c address and then the \c{END:VCARD} tag.
|
|
1002 |
|
|
1003 |
\snippet tutorials/addressbook/part7/addressbook.cpp export function part4
|
|
1004 |
|
|
1005 |
In the end, a QMessageBox is displayed to inform the user that the vCard
|
|
1006 |
has been successfully exported.
|
|
1007 |
|
|
1008 |
\e{vCard is a trademark of the \l{http://www.imc.org}
|
|
1009 |
{Internet Mail Consortium}}.
|
|
1010 |
*/
|