Re: [Libqtlua-list] Accessing QObject inside a property in Lua

[Gustavo de Sá Carvalho Honorato]

2011/1/16 Alexandre Becoulet <address@hidden>:
> On Friday, January 14, 2011 05:39:11 pm you wrote:
>
> Hi
>
>> > > >> The problem occurs when I try to access the MainWindow by typing
>> > > >> app.mainWindow:close() in Lua Console, and I got the error "error:
>> > > >> [string ""]:1: attempt to index field 'mainWindow' (a nil value)".
>> > > >>
>> > > >> It's quite weird because when I type list(app) I can see that the
>> > > >> property mainWindow has a value QtLua::Property<MainWindow*>
>> > > >> mainWindow = Application::mainWindow.
>> > > >
>> > > > QtLua has no way to guess how to convert your declared meta type to a
>> > > > QtLua::Value. Try using a QObject* or QWidget* instead of a
>> > > > MainWindow* pointer type.
>> > >
>> > > Sorry, I gave you an incomplete information. MainWindow inherits from
>> > > QMainWindow which inherits from QWidget. I've registered MainWindow*
>> > > type because when I tried to access mainWindow property, I was getting
>> > > "QMetaProperty::read: Unable to handle unregistered datatype" error.
>> >
>> > I guessed that. The problem is once registered as a Qt meta type,
>> > MainWindow* and QObject* are just different meta types. Qt meta types
>> > system does not enable QtLua to guess at runtime that MainWindow* can be
>> > interpreted as a QObject*, due to C++ inheritance rules.
>>
>> It's not possible to discover that MainWindow inherits from QObject by
>> searching its superclasses using the method
>> mainWindow->metaObject()->superClass() ?
>
> You are right it is, but we still have to find a way to cast MainWindow
> pointer to QObject pointer dynamically. I'll try to figure it out.

Have you tried qobject_cast ?

>
>> > Qt meta types unknown to QtLua are converted to nil values.
>> >
>> > So you have to use QObject* or QWidget* type with Q_PROPERTY() property
>> > declaration instead of MainWindow* because these types are already known
>> > to Qt and have convertion code in QtLua. Value convertion will work and
>> > QtLua should still dynamically expose the object as a MainWindow with
>> > its specific members.
>>
>> The problem with this approach is that in C++ side I'll have more
>> generic properties and if I need to access those properties in C++
>> code I'll need to use typecasting in every access to those properties.
>
> Right, C++ access will be tricky.
>
>> I think a better approach is to add support to QtLua to handle custom
>> types. I can implement this feature if you are too busy, it should be
>> good for me to improve my knowledge of QtLua. If you agree, I'll just
>> need some directions because I don't know where to start.
>
> It should not take too long for me to implement, it's just a matter of
> accessing a QMap in the 'default:' section of a switch statement to handle
> dynamically registered types cases. I have precise idea of how user callbacks
> should be implemented and will update the manual with examples.
>
> You may want to spend time on features you need for your applications, like
> custom delegates and other things we discussed instead of studying all behind
> the scene hacks of the Qt meta object system to implement a simple feature:).

Very good! Thanks! I'm looking forward to this feature. You can count
on me if you need any help.

>
> --
> Alexandre
>