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authorLars Knoll <lars.knoll@nokia.com>2009-03-23 09:18:55 (GMT)
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+/****************************************************************************
+**
+** Copyright (C) 2009 Nokia Corporation and/or its subsidiary(-ies).
+** Contact: Qt Software Information (qt-info@nokia.com)
+**
+** This file is part of the documentation of the Qt Toolkit.
+**
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+**
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+** General Public License version 2.1 as published by the Free Software
+** Foundation and appearing in the file LICENSE.LGPL included in the
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+**
+** If you are unsure which license is appropriate for your use, please
+** contact the sales department at qt-sales@nokia.com.
+** $QT_END_LICENSE$
+**
+****************************************************************************/
+
+/*!
+ \example xmlpatterns/filetree
+ \title File System Example
+
+ This example shows how to use QtXmlPatterns for querying non-XML
+ data that is modeled to look like XML.
+
+ \tableofcontents
+
+ \section1 Introduction
+
+ The example models your computer's file system to look like XML and
+ allows you to query the file system with XQuery. Suppose we want to
+ find all the \c{cpp} files in the subtree beginning at
+ \c{/filetree}:
+
+ \image filetree_1-example.png
+
+ \section2 The User Inteface
+
+ The example is shown below. First, we use \c{File->Open Directory}
+ (not shown) to select the \c{/filetree} directory. Then we use the
+ combobox on the right to select the XQuery that searches for \c{cpp}
+ files (\c{listCPPFiles.xq}). Selecting an XQuery runs the query,
+ which in this case traverses the model looking for all the \c{cpp}
+ files. The XQuery text and the query results are shown on the right:
+
+ \image filetree_2-example.png
+
+ Don't be mislead by the XML representation of the \c{/filetree}
+ directory shown on the left. This is not the node model itself but
+ the XML obtained by traversing the node model and outputting it as
+ XML. Constructing and using the custom node model is explained in
+ the code walk-through.
+
+ \section2 Running your own XQueries
+
+ You can write your own XQuery files and run them in the example
+ program. The file \c{xmlpatterns/filetree/queries.qrc} is the \l{The
+ Qt Resource System} {resource file} for this example. It is used in
+ \c{main.cpp} (\c{Q_INIT_RESOURCE(queries);}). It lists the XQuery
+ files (\c{.xq}) that can be selected in the combobox.
+
+ \quotefromfile examples/xmlpatterns/filetree/queries.qrc
+ \printuntil
+
+ To add your own queries to the example's combobox, store your
+ \c{.xq} files in the \c{examples/xmlpatterns/filetree/queries}
+ directory and add them to \c{queries.qrc} as shown above.
+
+ \section1 Code Walk-Through
+
+ The strategy is to create a custom node model that represents the
+ directory tree of the computer's file system. That tree structure is
+ non-XML data. The custom node model must have the same callback
+ interface as the XML node models that the QtXmlPatterns query engine
+ uses to execute queries. The query engine can then traverse the
+ custom node model as if it were traversing the node model built from
+ an XML document.
+
+ The required callback interface is in QAbstractXmlNodeModel, so we
+ create a custom node model by subclassing QAbstractXmlNodeModel and
+ providing implementations for its pure virtual functions. For many
+ cases, the implementations of several of the virtual functions are
+ always the same, so QtXmlPatterns also provides QSimpleXmlNodeModel,
+ which subclasses QAbstractXmlNodeModel and provides implementations
+ for the callback functions that you can ignore. By subclassing
+ QSimpleXmlNodeModel instead of QAbstractXmlNodeModel, you can reduce
+ development time.
+
+ \section2 The Custom Node Model Class: FileTree
+
+ The custom node model for this example is class \c{FileTree}, which
+ is derived from QSimpleXmlNodeModel. \c{FileTree} implements all the
+ callback functions that don't have standard implementations in
+ QSimpleXmlNodeModel. When you implement your own custom node model,
+ you must provide implementations for these callback functions:
+
+ \snippet examples/xmlpatterns/filetree/filetree.h 0
+ \snippet examples/xmlpatterns/filetree/filetree.h 1
+
+ The \c{FileTree} class declares four data members:
+
+ \snippet examples/xmlpatterns/filetree/filetree.h 2
+
+ The QVector \c{m_fileInfos} will contain the node model. Each
+ QFileInfo in the vector will represent a file or a directory in the
+ file system. At this point it is instructive to note that although
+ the node model class for this example (\c{FileTree}) actually builds
+ and contains the custom node model, building the custom node model
+ isn't always required. The node model class for the \l{QObject XML
+ Model Example} {QObject node model example} does not build its node
+ model but instead uses an already existing QObject tree as its node
+ model and just implements the callback interface for that already
+ existing data structure. In this file system example, however,
+ although we have an already existing data structure, i.e. the file
+ system, that data structure is not in memory and is not in a form we
+ can use. So we must build an analog of the file system in memory
+ from instances of QFileInfo, and we use that analog as the custom
+ node model.
+
+ The two sets of flags, \c{m_filterAllowAll} and \c{m_sortFlags},
+ contain OR'ed flags from QDir::Filters and QDir::SortFlags
+ respectively. They are set by the \c{FileTree} constructor and used
+ in calls to QDir::entryInfoList() for getting the child list for a
+ directory node, i.e. a QFileInfoList containing the file and
+ directory nodes for all the immediate children of a directory.
+
+ The QVector \c{m_names} is an auxiliary component of the node
+ model. It holds the XML element and attribute names (QXmlName) for
+ all the node types that will be found in the node model. \c{m_names}
+ is indexed by the enum \c{FileTree::Type}, which specifies the node
+ types:
+
+ \target Node_Type
+ \snippet examples/xmlpatterns/filetree/filetree.h 4
+
+ \c{Directory} and \c{File} will represent the XML element nodes for
+ directories and files respectively, and the other enum values will
+ represent the XML attribute nodes for a file's path, name, suffix,
+ its size in bytes, and its mime type. The \c{FileTree} constructor
+ initializes \c{m_names} with an appropriate QXmlName for each
+ element and attribute type:
+
+ \snippet examples/xmlpatterns/filetree/filetree.cpp 2
+
+ Note that the constructor does \e{not} pre-build the entire node
+ model. Instead, the node model is built \e{incrementally} as the
+ query engine evaluates a query. To see how the query engine causes
+ the node model to be built incrementally, see \l{Building And
+ Traversing The Node Model}. To see how the query engine accesses the
+ node model, see \l{Accessing the node model}. See also: \l{Node
+ Model Building Strategy}.
+
+ \section3 Accessing The Node Model
+
+ Since the node model is stored outside the query engine in the
+ \c{FileTree} class, the query engine knows nothing about it and can
+ only access it by calling functions in the callback interface. When
+ the query engine calls any callback function to access data in the
+ node model, it passes a QXmlNodeModelIndex to identify the node in
+ the node model that it wants to access. Hence all the virtual
+ functions in the callback interface use a QXmlNodeModelIndex to
+ uniquely identify a node in the model.
+
+ We use the index of a QFileInfo in \c{m_fileInfos} to uniquely
+ identify a node in the node model. To get the QXmlNodeModelIndex for
+ a QFileInfo, the class uses the private function \c{toNodeIndex()}:
+
+ \target main toNodeIndex
+ \snippet examples/xmlpatterns/filetree/filetree.cpp 1
+
+ It searches the \c{m_fileInfos} vector for a QFileInfo that matches
+ \c{fileInfo}. If a match is found, its array index is passed to
+ QAbstractXmlNodeModel::createIndex() as the \c data value for the
+ QXmlNodeIndex. If no match is found, the unmatched QFileInfo is
+ appended to the vector, so this function is also doing the actual
+ incremental model building (see \l{Building And Traversing The Node
+ Model}).
+
+ Note that \c{toNodeIndex()} gets a \l{Node_Type} {node type} as the
+ second parameter, which it just passes on to
+ \l{QAbstractXmlNodeModel::createIndex()} {createIndex()} as the
+ \c{additionalData} value. Logically, this second parameter
+ represents a second dimension in the node model, where the first
+ dimension represents the \e element nodes, and the second dimension
+ represents each element's attribute nodes. The meaning is that each
+ QFileInfo in the \c{m_fileInfos} vector can represent an \e{element}
+ node \e{and} one or more \e{attribute} nodes. In particular, the
+ QFileInfo for a file will contain the values for the attribute nodes
+ path, name, suffix, size, and mime type (see
+ \c{FileTree::attributes()}). Since the attributes are contained in
+ the QFileInfo of the file element, there aren't actually any
+ attribute nodes in the node model. Hence, we can use a QVector for
+ \c{m_fileInfos}.
+
+ A convenience overloading of \l{toNodeIndex of convenience}
+ {toNodeIndex()} is also called in several places, wherever it is
+ known that the QXmlNodeModelIndex being requested is for a directory
+ or a file and not for an attribute. The convenience function takes
+ only the QFileInfo parameter and calls the other \l{main toNodeIndex}
+ {toNodeIndex()}, after obtaining either the Directory or File node
+ type directly from the QFileInfo:
+
+ \target toNodeIndex of convenience
+ \snippet examples/xmlpatterns/filetree/filetree.cpp 0
+
+ Note that the auxiliary vector \c{m_names} is accessed using the
+ \l{Node_Type} {node type}, for example:
+
+ \snippet examples/xmlpatterns/filetree/filetree.cpp 3
+
+ Most of the virtual functions in the callback interface are as
+ simple as the ones described so far, but the callback function used
+ for traversing (and building) the node model is more complex.
+
+ \section3 Building And Traversing The Node Model
+
+ The node model in \c{FileTree} is not fully built before the query
+ engine begins evaluating the query. In fact, when the query engine
+ begins evaluating its first query, the only node in the node model
+ is the one representing the root directory for the selected part of
+ the file system. See \l{The UI Class: MainWindow} below for details
+ about how the UI triggers creation of the model.
+
+ The query engine builds the node model incrementally each time it
+ calls the \l{next node on axis} {nextFromSimpleAxis()} callback
+ function, as it traverses the node model to evaluate a query. Thus
+ the query engine only builds the region of the node model that it
+ needs for evaluating the query.
+
+ \l{next node on axis} {nextFromSimpleAxis()} takes an
+ \l{QAbstractXmlNodeModel::SimpleAxis} {axis identifier} and a
+ \l{QXmlNodeModelIndex} {node identifier} as parameters. The
+ \l{QXmlNodeModelIndex} {node identifier} represents the \e{context
+ node} (i.e. the query engine's current location in the model), and
+ the \l{QAbstractXmlNodeModel::SimpleAxis} {axis identifier}
+ represents the direction we want to move from the context node. The
+ function finds the appropriate next node and returns its
+ QXmlNodeModelIndex.
+
+ \l{next node on axis} {nextFromSimpleAxis()} is where most of the
+ work of implementing a custom node model will be required. The
+ obvious way to do it is to use a switch statement with a case for
+ each \l{QAbstractXmlNodeModel::SimpleAxis} {axis}.
+
+ \target next node on axis
+ \snippet examples/xmlpatterns/filetree/filetree.cpp 4
+
+ The first thing this function does is call \l{to file info}
+ {toFileInfo()} to get the QFileInfo of the context node. The use of
+ QVector::at() here is guaranteed to succeed because the context node
+ must already be in the node model, and hence must have a QFileInfo
+ in \c{m_fileInfos}.
+
+ \target to file info
+ \snippet examples/xmlpatterns/filetree/filetree.cpp 6
+
+ The \l{QAbstractXmlNodeModel::Parent} {Parent} case looks up the
+ context node's parent by constructing a QFileInfo from the context
+ node's \l{QFileInfo::absoluteFilePath()} {path} and passing it to
+ \l{main toNodeIndex} {toNodeIndex()} to find the QFileInfo in
+ \c{m_fileInfos}.
+
+ The \l{QAbstractXmlNodeModel::FirstChild} {FirstChild} case requires
+ that the context node must be a directory, because a file doesn't
+ have children. If the context node is not a directory, a default
+ constructed QXmlNodeModelIndex is returned. Otherwise,
+ QDir::entryInfoList() constructs a QFileInfoList of the context
+ node's children. The first QFileInfo in the list is passed to
+ \l{toNodeIndex of convenience} {toNodeIndex()} to get its
+ QXmlNodeModelIndex. Note that this will add the child to the node
+ model, if it isn't in the model yet.
+
+ The \l{QAbstractXmlNodeModel::PreviousSibling} {PreviousSibling} and
+ \l{QAbstractXmlNodeModel::NextSibling} {NextSibling} cases call the
+ \l{nextSibling helper} {nextSibling() helper function}. It takes the
+ QXmlNodeModelIndex of the context node, the QFileInfo of the context
+ node, and an offest of +1 or -1. The context node is a child of some
+ parent, so the function gets the parent and then gets the child list
+ for the parent. The child list is searched to find the QFileInfo of
+ the context node. It must be there. Then the offset is applied, -1
+ for the previous sibling and +1 for the next sibling. The resulting
+ index is passed to \l{toNodeIndex of convenience} {toNodeIndex()} to
+ get its QXmlNodeModelIndex. Note again that this will add the
+ sibling to the node model, if it isn't in the model yet.
+
+ \target nextSibling helper
+ \snippet examples/xmlpatterns/filetree/filetree.cpp 5
+
+ \section2 The UI Class: MainWindow
+
+ The example's UI is a conventional Qt GUI application inheriting
+ QMainWindow and the Ui_MainWindow base class generated by
+ \l{Qt Designer Manual} {Qt Designer}.
+
+ \snippet examples/xmlpatterns/filetree/mainwindow.h 0
+
+ It contains the custom node model (\c{m_fileTree}) and an instance
+ of QXmlNodeModelIndex (\c{m_fileNode}) used for holding the node
+ index for the root of the file system subtree. \c{m_fileNode} will
+ be bound to a $variable in the XQuery to be evaluated.
+
+ Two actions of interest are handled by slot functions: \l{Selecting
+ A Directory To Model} and \l{Selecting And Running An XQuery}.
+
+ \section3 Selecting A Directory To Model
+
+ The user selects \c{File->Open Directory} to choose a directory to
+ be loaded into the custom node model. Choosing a directory signals
+ the \c{on_actionOpenDirectory_triggered()} slot:
+
+ \snippet examples/xmlpatterns/filetree/mainwindow.cpp 1
+
+ The slot function simply calls the private function
+ \c{loadDirectory()} with the path of the chosen directory:
+
+ \target the standard code pattern
+ \snippet examples/xmlpatterns/filetree/mainwindow.cpp 4
+
+ \c{loadDirectory()} demonstrates a standard code pattern for using
+ QtXmlPatterns programatically. First it gets the node model index
+ for the root of the selected directory. Then it creates an instance
+ of QXmlQuery and calls QXmlQuery::bindVariable() to bind the node
+ index to the XQuery variable \c{$fileTree}. It then calls
+ QXmlQuery::setQuery() to load the XQuery text.
+
+ \note QXmlQuery::bindVariable() must be called \e before calling
+ QXmlQuery::setQuery(), which loads and parses the XQuery text and
+ must have access to the variable binding as the text is parsed.
+
+ The next lines create an output device for outputting the query
+ result, which is then used to create a QXmlFormatter to format the
+ query result as XML. QXmlQuery::evaluateTo() is called to run the
+ query, and the formatted XML output is displayed in the left panel
+ of the UI window.
+
+ Finally, the private function \l{Selecting And Running An XQuery}
+ {evaluateResult()} is called to run the currently selected XQuery
+ over the custom node model.
+
+ \note As described in \l{Building And Traversing The Node Model},
+ the \c FileTree class wants to build the custom node model
+ incrementally as it evaluates the XQuery. But, because the
+ \c{loadDirectory()} function runs the \c{wholeTree.xq} XQuery, it
+ actually builds the entire node model anyway. See \l{Node Model
+ Building Strategy} for a discussion about building your custom node
+ model.
+
+ \section3 Selecting And Running An XQuery
+
+ The user chooses an XQuery from the menu in the combobox on the
+ right. Choosing an XQuery signals the
+ \c{on_queryBox_currentIndexChanged()} slot:
+
+ \snippet examples/xmlpatterns/filetree/mainwindow.cpp 2
+
+ The slot function opens and loads the query file and then calls the
+ private function \c{evaluateResult()} to run the query:
+
+ \snippet examples/xmlpatterns/filetree/mainwindow.cpp 3
+
+ \c{evaluateResult()} is a second example of the same code pattern
+ shown in \l{the standard code pattern} {loadDirectory()}. In this
+ case, it runs the XQuery currently selected in the combobox instead
+ of \c{qrc:/queries/wholeTree.xq}, and it outputs the query result to
+ the panel on the lower right of the UI window.
+
+ \section2 Node Model Building Strategy
+
+ We saw that the \l{The Custom Node Model Class: FileTree} {FileTree}
+ tries to build its custom node model incrementally, but we also saw
+ that the \l{the standard code pattern} {MainWindow::loadDirectory()}
+ function in the UI class immediately subverts the incremental build
+ by running the \c{wholeTree.xq} XQuery, which traverses the entire
+ selected directory, thereby causing the entire node model to be
+ built.
+
+ If we want to preserve the incremental build capability of the
+ \c{FileTree} class, we can strip the running of \c{wholeTree.xq} out
+ of \l{the standard code pattern} {MainWindow::loadDirectory()}:
+
+ \snippet examples/xmlpatterns/filetree/mainwindow.cpp 5
+ \snippet examples/xmlpatterns/filetree/mainwindow.cpp 6
+
+ Note, however, that \c{FileTree} doesn't have the capability of
+ deleting all or part of the node model. The node model, once built,
+ is only deleted when the \c{FileTree} instance goes out of scope.
+
+ In this example, each element node in the node model represents a
+ directory or a file in the computer's file system, and each node is
+ represented by an instance of QFileInfo. An instance of QFileInfo is
+ not costly to produce, but you might imagine a node model where
+ building new nodes is very costly. In such cases, the capability to
+ build the node model incrementally is important, because it allows
+ us to only build the region of the model we need for evaluating the
+ query. In other cases, it will be simpler to just build the entire
+ node model.
+
+*/