qt-cb

Provides several convenience callback functions to rust-qt.

Rationale

Even though Qt's signal and slot mechanism is quite powerful and allows for very dynamic code and programming model, it's not always needed, especially for simple functionality.

In both C++ and Rust, defining signals and slots can become verbose at times, and even Qt itself supports lambda functions on the C++ side.

For example, compare the following 2 programs for readability and writing ergonomics. Both programs do the same thing, the first doesn't use callbacks, it defines slots for the required signals. The second program, uses this crate, and uses callbacks without having to define slots in a separate object, nor does it require the derive SlotNoArgs/SlotOfBool/SlotOfQString boilerplate.

The first program (no callbacks):

// no callbacks
use cpp_core::{Ptr, Ref, StaticUpcast};
use qt_core::{qs, slot, QBox, QObject, QString, SlotNoArgs, SlotOfBool, SlotOfQString};
use qt_widgets::{
    QApplication, QCheckBox, QHBoxLayout, QLineEdit, QPushButton, QVBoxLayout, QWidget,
};
use std::rc::Rc;

struct Form {
    win: QBox<QWidget>,
    ed: QBox<QLineEdit>,
    checkbox: QBox<QCheckBox>,
    button: QBox<QPushButton>,
}

impl StaticUpcast<QObject> for Form {
    unsafe fn static_upcast(ptr: Ptr<Self>) -> Ptr<QObject> {
        ptr.win.as_ptr().static_upcast()
    }
}

impl Form {
    fn new() -> Rc<Form> {
        unsafe {
            let win = QWidget::new_0a();
            win.set_fixed_size_2a(400, 300);
            let vbox = QVBoxLayout::new_1a(&win);
            let ed = QLineEdit::new();
            ed.set_placeholder_text(&qs("Enter name"));
            vbox.add_widget(&ed);
            let hbox = QHBoxLayout::new_0a();
            vbox.add_layout_1a(&hbox);
            let checkbox = QCheckBox::new();
            hbox.add_widget(&checkbox);
            checkbox.set_text(&qs("Check me!"));
            let button = QPushButton::new();
            hbox.add_widget(&button);
            button.set_text(&qs("Greet!"));
            win.show();

            let this = Rc::new(Self {
                win,
                ed,
                checkbox,
                button,
            });
            this.init();
            this
        }
    }

    unsafe fn init(self: &Rc<Self>) {
        self.ed
            .text_changed()
            .connect(&self.slot_on_lineedit_text_changed());
        self.button
            .pressed()
            .connect(&self.slot_on_button_pressed());
        self.checkbox
            .clicked()
            .connect(&self.slot_on_checkbox_clicked());
    }

    #[slot(SlotNoArgs)]
    unsafe fn on_button_pressed(self: &Rc<Self>) {
        println!("Hello {}", self.ed.text().to_std_string());
    }

    #[slot(SlotOfBool)]
    unsafe fn on_checkbox_clicked(self: &Rc<Self>, checked: bool) {
        println!(
            "{} is {}checked",
            self.checkbox.text().to_std_string(),
            if checked { "" } else { "un" }
        );
    }

    #[slot(SlotOfQString)]
    unsafe fn on_lineedit_text_changed(self: &Rc<Self>, txt: Ref<QString>) {
        println!("current lineedit text: {}", txt.to_std_string());
    }
}

fn main() {
    QApplication::init(|_| unsafe {
        let _form = Form::new();
        QApplication::exec()
    })
}

The second program (with callbacks):

// with callbacks
use qt_cb::prelude::*;
use qt_core::qs;
use qt_widgets::{
    QApplication, QCheckBox, QHBoxLayout, QLineEdit, QPushButton, QVBoxLayout, QWidget,
};

fn main() {
    QApplication::init(|_| unsafe {
        QApplication::set_style_q_string(&qs("Fusion"));
        let win = QWidget::new_0a();
        win.set_fixed_size_2a(400, 300);
        let vbox = QVBoxLayout::new_1a(&win);
        let ed = QLineEdit::new();
        ed.set_placeholder_text(&qs("Enter name"));
        ed.on_text_changed(|_ed, txt| {
            println!("current lineedit text: {}", txt.to_std_string());
        });
        vbox.add_widget(&ed);
        let hbox = QHBoxLayout::new_0a();
        vbox.add_layout_1a(&hbox);
        let checkbox = QCheckBox::new();
        hbox.add_widget(&checkbox);
        checkbox.set_text(&qs("Check me!"));
        checkbox.on_clicked(|b, checked| {
            println!(
                "{} is {}checked",
                b.text().to_std_string(),
                if checked { "" } else { "un" }
            );
        });
        let button = QPushButton::new();
        hbox.add_widget(&button);
        button.set_text(&qs("Greet!"));
        button.on_pressed(move |_b| {
            println!("Hello {}", ed.text().to_std_string());
        });
        win.show();
        QApplication::exec()
    })
}

Notice the:

    ed.on_text_changed(|_ed, txt| {
        println!("current lineedit text: {}", txt.to_std_string());
    });
    checkbox.on_clicked(|b, checked| {
        println!(
            "{} is {}checked",
            b.text().to_std_string(),
            if checked { "" } else { "un" }
        );
    });
    button.on_pressed(move |_b| {
        println!("Hello {}", ed.text().to_std_string());
    });

Instead of:

    self.ed
        .text_changed()
        .connect(&self.slot_on_lineedit_text_changed());
    self.button
        .pressed()
        .connect(&self.slot_on_button_pressed());
    self.checkbox
        .clicked()
        .connect(&self.slot_on_checkbox_clicked());

    #[slot(SlotNoArgs)]
    unsafe fn on_button_pressed(self: &Rc<Self>) {
        println!("Hello {}", self.ed.text().to_std_string());
    }

    #[slot(SlotOfBool)]
    unsafe fn on_checkbox_clicked(self: &Rc<Self>, checked: bool) {
        println!(
            "{} is {}checked",
            self.checkbox.text().to_std_string(),
            if checked { "" } else { "un" }
        );
    }

    #[slot(SlotOfQString)]
    unsafe fn on_lineedit_text_changed(self: &Rc<Self>, txt: Ref<QString>) {
        println!("current lineedit text: {}", txt.to_std_string());
    }

Usage

[dependencies]
qt-cb = "0.1.0"
# the rest of the dependencies or rust-qt

Requirements

This crate requires a C++17 compiler, and a qmake executable invokable from your shell (i.e in PATH). An installation of Qt5 (the same requirements for rust-qt basically). rust-qt also requires CMake. On linux, you can install Qt via your package manager (assuming debian):

sudo apt-get install -y qtbase5-dev libqt5widgets5

On Windows msys2/mingw64:

pacman -S $MINGW_PACKAGE_PREFIX-qt5-base