doc/src/examples/qtscriptcustomclass.qdoc
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    41 
       
    42 /*!
       
    43     \example script/customclass
       
    44     \title Custom Script Class Example
       
    45 
       
    46     The Custom Script Class example shows how to use QScriptClass and QScriptClassPropertyIterator
       
    47     to implement a custom script class.
       
    48 
       
    49     The script class we are going to implement is called \c{ByteArray}. It provides a wrapper around
       
    50     the QByteArray class in Qt, with a simplified API. Why do we need such a class? Well, neither the
       
    51     ECMAScript \c{Array} class or \c{String} class is appropriate to use when working with arrays of
       
    52     bytes. Our \c{ByteArray} class will have the right semantics; objects will use only the amount of
       
    53     memory that is really needed (a byte is stored as a byte, not as a floating-point number or a
       
    54     Unicode character) and can be passed directly to C++ slots taking QByteArray arguments (no costly
       
    55     conversion necessary).
       
    56 
       
    57     \section1 ByteArray Class In Use
       
    58 
       
    59     When the \c{ByteArray} class has been made available to the
       
    60     scripting environment, \c{ByteArray} objects can be constructed like
       
    61     so:
       
    62 
       
    63     \snippet doc/src/snippets/code/doc_src_examples_qtscriptcustomclass.qdoc 0
       
    64 
       
    65     \c{ByteArray} objects behave similar to normal \c{Array} objects. Every \c{ByteArray} object has
       
    66     a \c{length} property, that holds the length of the array. If a new value is assigned to the \c{length}
       
    67     property, the array is resized. If the array is enlarged, the new bytes are initialized to 0.
       
    68     (This is a difference from normal \c{Array} objects; \c{ByteArray} objects are always dense arrays.)
       
    69     Use normal array operations to read or write bytes in the array. The following code sets all the
       
    70     bytes of an array to a certain value:
       
    71 
       
    72     \snippet doc/src/snippets/code/doc_src_examples_qtscriptcustomclass.qdoc 1
       
    73 
       
    74     When assigning a value to an array element, the value is truncated to eight bits:
       
    75 
       
    76     \snippet doc/src/snippets/code/doc_src_examples_qtscriptcustomclass.qdoc 2
       
    77 
       
    78     Like normal \c{Array} objects, if the array index is greater than the current length
       
    79     of the array, the array is resized accordingly:
       
    80 
       
    81     \snippet doc/src/snippets/code/doc_src_examples_qtscriptcustomclass.qdoc 3
       
    82 
       
    83     Property names that aren't valid array indexes are treated
       
    84     like normal object properties (again, the same is the case for normal \c{Array} objects);
       
    85     in other words, it's perfectly fine to do something like this:
       
    86 
       
    87     \snippet doc/src/snippets/code/doc_src_examples_qtscriptcustomclass.qdoc 4
       
    88 
       
    89     The above assignment won't affect the contents of the array, but will rather assign a value
       
    90     to the object property named "foo".
       
    91 
       
    92     \c{ByteArray} objects have a set of methods: chop(), equals(), left(), mid(), toBase64() and so on.
       
    93     These map directly onto the corresponding methods in QByteArray.
       
    94 
       
    95     \snippet doc/src/snippets/code/doc_src_examples_qtscriptcustomclass.qdoc 5
       
    96 
       
    97     \section1 ByteArray Class Implementation
       
    98 
       
    99     To implement the \c{ByteArray} script class in C++, we create a subclass of QScriptClass,
       
   100     called ByteArrayClass, and reimplement the virtual functions from QScriptClass. We also provide
       
   101     a Qt Script constructor function suitable for being added to a QScriptEngine's environment.
       
   102 
       
   103     The ByteArrayClass constructor prepares the script class:
       
   104 
       
   105     \snippet examples/script/customclass/bytearrayclass.cpp 0
       
   106 
       
   107     First, the constructor registers a pair of conversion functions, so that C++ QByteArray objects
       
   108     and Qt Script \c{ByteArray} objects can move seamlessly between the C++ side and the script side.
       
   109     For example, if a \c{ByteArray} object is passed to a C++ slot that takes a QByteArray
       
   110     argument, the actual QByteArray that the \c{ByteArray} object wraps will be passed correctly.
       
   111 
       
   112     Second, we store a handle to the string "length", so that we can quickly compare a given property name
       
   113     to "length" later on.
       
   114 
       
   115     Third, we initialize the standard \c{ByteArray} prototype, to be returned by our prototype()
       
   116     reimplementation later on. (The implementation of the prototype is discussed later.)
       
   117 
       
   118     Fourth, we initialize a constructor function for \c{ByteArray}, to be returned by the
       
   119     constructor() function. We set the internal data of the constructor to be a pointer to
       
   120     this ByteArrayClass object, so that the constructor, when it is invoked, can extract the
       
   121     pointer and use it to create a new \c{ByteArray} object.
       
   122 
       
   123     \snippet examples/script/customclass/bytearrayclass.cpp 1
       
   124 
       
   125     The newInstance() function isn't part of the QScriptClass API; its purpose is to offer
       
   126     a convenient way to construct a \c{ByteArray} object from an existing QByteArray. We store the
       
   127     QByteArray as the internal data of the new object, and return the new object.
       
   128     QScriptEngine::newObject() will call the prototype() function of our class, ensuring that
       
   129     the prototype of the new object will be the standard \c{ByteArray} prototype.
       
   130 
       
   131     \snippet examples/script/customclass/bytearrayclass.cpp 2
       
   132 
       
   133     construct() is the native function that will act as a constructor for \c{ByteArray}
       
   134     in scripts. We extract the pointer to the class, then call a newInstance() overload
       
   135     that takes an initial size as argument, and return the new script object.
       
   136 
       
   137     \snippet examples/script/customclass/bytearrayclass.cpp 3
       
   138 
       
   139     queryProperty() is the function that Qt Script will call whenever someone tries to access
       
   140     a property of a \c{ByteArray} object. We first get a pointer to the underlying QByteArray.
       
   141     We check if the property being accessed is the special \c{length} property; if so, we
       
   142     return, indicating that we will handle every kind of access to this property (e.g. both
       
   143     read and write). Otherwise, we attempt to convert the property name to an array index. If
       
   144     this fails, we return, indicating that we don't want to handle this property. Otherwise, we
       
   145     have a valid array index, and store it in the \c{id} argument, so that we don't have to
       
   146     recompute it in e.g. property() or setProperty(). If the index is greater than or equal to
       
   147     the QByteArray's size, we indicate that we don't want to handle read access (but we still want
       
   148     to handle writes, if requested).
       
   149 
       
   150     \snippet examples/script/customclass/bytearrayclass.cpp 4
       
   151 
       
   152     In the property() reimplementation, we do similar checks as in queryProperty() to find out
       
   153     which property is being requested, and then return the value of that property.
       
   154 
       
   155     \snippet examples/script/customclass/bytearrayclass.cpp 5
       
   156 
       
   157     The setProperty() reimplementation has a structure that is similar to property(). If the \c{length} property
       
   158     is being set, we resize the underlying QByteArray to the given length. Otherwise, we grab the
       
   159     array index that was calculated in the queryProperty() function, enlarge the array if necessary,
       
   160     and write the given value to the array.
       
   161 
       
   162     \snippet examples/script/customclass/bytearrayclass.cpp 6
       
   163 
       
   164     The propertyFlags() reimplementation specifies that the \c{length} property can't be deleted,
       
   165     and that it is not enumerable. Array elements can't be deleted.
       
   166 
       
   167     \snippet examples/script/customclass/bytearrayclass.cpp 7
       
   168 
       
   169     We want the array elements to show up when a \c{ByteArray} object is used in for-in
       
   170     statements and together with QScriptValueIterator. Therefore, we reimplement the
       
   171     newIterator() function and have it return a new iterator for a given \c{ByteArray}.
       
   172 
       
   173     \section1 ByteArray Iterator Implementation
       
   174 
       
   175     \snippet examples/script/customclass/bytearrayclass.cpp 8
       
   176 
       
   177     The \c{ByteArrayClassPropertyIterator} class is simple. It maintains an index into the
       
   178     underlying QByteArray, and checks and updates the index in hasNext(), next() and so on.
       
   179 
       
   180     \section1 ByteArray Prototype Implementation
       
   181 
       
   182     The prototype class, ByteArrayPrototype, implements the \c{ByteArray} functions as slots.
       
   183 
       
   184     \snippet examples/script/customclass/bytearrayprototype.h 0
       
   185 
       
   186     There is a small helper function, thisByteArray(), that returns a pointer to the QByteArray
       
   187     being operated upon:
       
   188 
       
   189     \snippet examples/script/customclass/bytearrayprototype.cpp 0
       
   190 
       
   191     The slots simply forward the calls to the QByteArray. Examples:
       
   192 
       
   193     \snippet examples/script/customclass/bytearrayprototype.cpp 1
       
   194 
       
   195     The remove() function is noteworthy; if we look at QByteArray::remove(), we see that it
       
   196     should return a reference to the QByteArray itself (i.e. not a copy). To get the same
       
   197     behavior in scripts, we return the script object (thisObject()).
       
   198 */