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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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+**
+** GNU Lesser General Public License Usage
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+** 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/qobjectxmlmodel
+ \title QObject XML Model Example
+
+ This example shows how to use QtXmlPatterns to query QObject trees
+ by modeling the non-XML data structure of a QObject tree to look
+ like XML.
+
+ \tableofcontents
+
+ \section1 Introduction
+
+ This example illustrates two important points about using XQuery to
+ query non-XML data modeled to look like XML. The first point is that
+ a custom node model class doesn't always have to actually build the
+ node model. Sometimes the node model can be an already existing data
+ structure, like the QObject tree used in this example. The second
+ point is to explain what is required to make non-XML data look like
+ XML.
+
+ In this example, we want to model a QObject tree to look like
+ XML. That is easy to do because a QObject tree maps to the XML tree
+ structure in a staightforward way. Each QObject node is modeled as
+ an XML element node. However, when we want to add the QMetaObject tree
+ to the QObject tree node model, we are trying to add a second tree to
+ the node model. The QMetaObject tree exists \e{behind} the QObject
+ tree. Adding the QMetaObject tree to the node model changes the two
+ dimensional tree into a three dimensional tree.
+
+ The query engine can only traverse two dimensional trees, because an
+ XML document is always a two dimensional tree. If we want to add the
+ QMetaObject tree to the node model, we have to somehow flatten it
+ into the the same plane as the QObject tree. This requires that the
+ node model class must build an auxiliary data structure and make it
+ part of the two dimensional QObject node model. How to do this is
+ explained in \l{Including The QMetaObject Tree}.
+
+ \section2 The User Interface
+
+ The UI for this example was created using Qt Designer:
+
+ \image qobjectxmlmodel-example.png
+
+ \section1 Code Walk-Through
+
+ The strategy for this example is different from the strategy for the
+ \l{File System Example}{file system example}. In the file system
+ example, the node model class had to actually build a node model
+ because the non-XML data to be traversed was the computer's file
+ system, a structure stored on disk in a form that the query engine
+ couldn't use. The node model class had to build an analog of the
+ computer's file system in memory.
+
+ For this example, the data structure to be traversed already exists
+ in memory in a usable form. It is the QObject tree of the example
+ application itself. All we need is the pointer to the root of the
+ QObject tree.
+
+ \note When we add the QMetaObject tree to the node model, the node
+ model class will have to build an auxiliary data structure to move
+ the QMetaObject tree into the same plane as the QObject tree. This
+ is explained later in \l{Including The QMetaObject Tree}.
+
+ \section2 The Custom Node Model Class: QObjextXmlModel
+
+ The node model class for this example is QObjextXmlModel, which is
+ derived from QSimpleXmlNodeModel. QObjextXmlModel implements the
+ callback interface functions that don't have implementations in
+ QSimpleXmlNodeModel:
+
+ \snippet examples/xmlpatterns/qobjectxmlmodel/qobjectxmlmodel.h 0
+
+ The node model class declares three data members:
+
+ \target Three Data Members
+ \snippet examples/xmlpatterns/qobjectxmlmodel/qobjectxmlmodel.h 2
+
+ The constructor sets \c m_baseURI to the QUrl constructed from the
+ \l{QCoreApplication::applicationFilePath()}{file path} of the
+ application executable. This is the value returned by
+ \l{QAbstractXmlNodeModel::documentUri()}{documentUri()}. The
+ constructor sets \c{m_root} to point to the QObject tree for the
+ example application. This is the node model that the query engine
+ will use. And the constructor calls a local function to build the
+ auxiliary data structure (\c{m_allMetaObjects}) for including the
+ QMetaObject tree in the node model. How this auxiliary data
+ structure is incorporated into the QObject node model is discussed
+ in \l{Including The QMetaObject Tree}.
+
+ \section3 Accessing The Node Model
+
+ Since the query engine knows nothing about QObject trees, it can
+ only access them by calling functions in the node model callback
+ interface. The query engine passes a QXmlNodeModelIndex to uniquely
+ identify a node in the node model. The QXmlNodeModelIndex is
+ constructed from a pointer to the QObject that represents the node.
+ \l{QAbstractXmlNodeModel::createIndex()}{createIndex()} creates the
+ QXmlNodeModelIndex, as in the local \c{root()} function, for example:
+
+ \snippet examples/xmlpatterns/qobjectxmlmodel/qobjectxmlmodel.cpp 0
+
+ A QObject represents an element node in the node model, but we also
+ need to represent attribute nodes. For example, the class name of a
+ QObject is an attribute of the QObject, so it should be an attribute
+ node in the node model. A QObject's class name is obtained from the
+ QObject. (Actually, it is in the QMetaObject, which is obtained from
+ the QObject). This means that a single QObject logically represents
+ multiple nodes in the node model: the element node and potentially
+ many attribute nodes.
+
+ To uniquely identify an attribute node, we need the pointer to the
+ QObject containing the attribute, and an additional value that
+ identifies the attribute in the QObject. For this \e{additional
+ data} value, we use \c{enum QObjectNodeType}:
+
+ \snippet examples/xmlpatterns/qobjectxmlmodel/qobjectxmlmodel.h 3
+
+ Ignore the \c{MetaObjectXXX} values for now. They will be explained
+ in \l{Including The QMetaObject Tree}. Here we are interested in the
+ three node types for QObject nodes: \c{IsQObject}, which represents
+ the element node type for a QObject, and \c{QObjectProperty} and
+ \c{QObjectClassName}, which represent the attribute node types for
+ the attributes of a QObject.
+
+ The \l{QAbstractXmlNodeModel::createIndex()}{createIndex()}
+ function called in the \c{root()} snippet above is the overload that
+ accepts a \c{void*} pointer and a second parameter,
+ \c{additionalData}, with default value 0 (\c{IsQObject}). Wherever
+ you see a call to \l{QAbstractXmlNodeModel::createIndex()}
+ {createIndex()} that only passes the QObject pointer, it is creating
+ the node index for a QObject element node. To create the node index
+ for the class name attribute, for example, the \l{QObject
+ attributes} {attributes()} function uses
+ \c{createIndex(object,QObjectClassName)}.
+
+ \target QObject attributes
+ \snippet examples/xmlpatterns/qobjectxmlmodel/qobjectxmlmodel.cpp 6
+ \snippet examples/xmlpatterns/qobjectxmlmodel/qobjectxmlmodel.cpp 8
+
+ \l{QObject attributes} {attributes()} is one of the callback
+ functions you have to implement in your custom node model class. It
+ returns a QVector of \l{QXmlNodeModelIndex} {node indexes} for all
+ the attribute nodes for QObject \c{n}. It calls
+ \l{QAbstractXmlNodeModel::createIndex()} {createIndex()} in two places.
+ Both calls use the QObject pointer from the current node \c{n} (the
+ element node), and just add a different value for the \e{additional data}
+ parameter. This makes sense because, in XML, the attributes of an
+ element are part of that element.
+
+ \section3 Traversing The Node Model
+
+ The query engine traverses the QObject tree by calling back to the
+ node model class's implementation of \l{QObject nextFromSimpleAxis}
+ {nextFromSimpleAxis()}. This function is the heart of the callback
+ interface, and it will probably be the most complex to implement in
+ your custom node model class. Below is a partial listing of the
+ implementation for this example. The full listing will be shown in
+ \l{Including The QMetaObject Tree}, where we discuss traversing the
+ QMetaObject tree.
+
+ \target QObject nextFromSimpleAxis
+ \snippet examples/xmlpatterns/qobjectxmlmodel/qobjectxmlmodel.cpp 2
+ \snippet examples/xmlpatterns/qobjectxmlmodel/qobjectxmlmodel.cpp 4
+
+ The main switch uses \c toNodeType(), which obtains the node
+ type from \l{QXmlNodeModelIndex::additionalData()}:
+
+ \snippet examples/xmlpatterns/qobjectxmlmodel/qobjectxmlmodel.cpp 1
+
+ \c{case IsObject} case is the most interesting. It switches again on
+ the value of the \c{axis} parameter, which specifies the direction
+ the query engine wants to take from the current node. It is one of
+ the four enum values of \l{QAbstractXmlNodeModel::SimpleAxis}. The
+ \l{QAbstractXmlNodeModel::Parent} {Parent} and
+ \l{QAbstractXmlNodeModel::FirstChild} {FirstChild} cases reduce to
+ calls to QObject::parent() and QObject::children()
+ respectively. Note that a default constructed QXmlNodeModelIndex is
+ returned in the \l{QAbstractXmlNodeModel::Parent} {Parent} case if
+ the current node is the root, and in the
+ \l{QAbstractXmlNodeModel::FirstChild} {FirstChild} case if the
+ current node has no children.
+
+ For the \l{QAbstractXmlNodeModel::NextSibling} {NextSibling} and
+ \l{QAbstractXmlNodeModel::PreviousSibling} {PreviousSibling} axes,
+ the helper function \c{qObjectSibling()} is called, with +1 to
+ traverse to the \l{QAbstractXmlNodeModel::NextSibling} {NextSibling}
+ and -1 to traverse to the
+ \l{QAbstractXmlNodeModel::PreviousSibling} {PreviousSibling}.
+
+ \snippet examples/xmlpatterns/qobjectxmlmodel/qobjectxmlmodel.cpp 5
+
+ \c{qObjectSibling()} determines whether or not the node has any
+ siblings. It is called with \c{n}, the index of the current node.
+ If the current node is a child, then it has a parent with children
+ (the current node one of these).
+ So, we get the \l{QObject::parent()}{parent}, obtain the parent's
+ \l{QObject::children()} {child list}, find the current node in the
+ list, and construct the node index for the next or previous child
+ (sibling) and return it.
+
+ \note In \l{QObject nextFromSimpleAxis} {nextFromSimpleAxis()}, the
+ special case of asking for the
+ \l{QAbstractXmlNodeModel::PreviousSibling} {PreviousSibling} of the
+ root node is discussed in \l{Including The QMetaObject Tree}.
+
+ Traversing away from a \c{QObjectClassName} attribute node or a
+ \c{QObjectProperty} attribute node might seem a bit confusing at
+ first glance. The only move allowed from an attribute node is to the
+ \l{QAbstractXmlNodeModel::Parent} {Parent}, because attribute nodes
+ don't have children. But these two cases simply return the
+ \l{QXmlNodeModelIndex} {node index} of the current node.
+
+ \snippet examples/xmlpatterns/qobjectxmlmodel/qobjectxmlmodel.cpp 7
+
+ Since \c n is the QXmlNodeModelIndex of the current node, all this
+ does is create another QXmlNodeModelIndex for the current node and
+ return it. This was explained above in \l{Accessing The Node Model},
+ where we saw that each QObject in the node model actually represents
+ an element node and potentially many attribute nodes. Traversing to
+ the parent node of an attribute simply creates a node index for the
+ same QObject, but with an \e{additional data} value of 0
+ (\c{IsQObject}).
+
+ If we only wanted to traverse the QObject tree with XQuery, we could
+ just implement the rest of the virtual callback functions listed
+ earlier and we would be done. The implementations for the remaining
+ functions are straightforward. But if we also want to use XQuery to
+ traverse the QMetaObject tree, we must include the QMetaObject tree
+ in the custom node model.
+
+ \section3 Including The QMetaObject Tree
+
+ The \l{Meta-Object System} {metaobject system} not only enables Qt's
+ \l{Signals and Slots} {signals and slots}, it also provides type
+ information that is useful at run-time; e.g., getting and setting
+ properties without knowing the property names at compile time. Each
+ QObject has an associated QMetaObject tree which contains all this
+ useful type information. Given a QObject, its QMetaObject is
+ obtained with QObject::metaObject(). Then QMetaObject::superClass()
+ can be called repeatedly to get the QMetaObject for each class in the
+ class hierarchy for the original QObject.
+
+ However, the QMetaObject hierarchy is a second tree in a plan that
+ exists logically behind the plane of the QObject tree. The QtXmlPatterns
+ query engine can only traverse a two dimensional node model that
+ represents an XML tree. If we want to include the QMetaObject in the
+ same node model that represents the QObject tree, we must find a way
+ to flatten the QMetaObject tree into the same plane as the QObject
+ tree.
+
+ The node model class declares \l{All MetaObjects}{m_allMetaObjects}
+ as a vector of pointers to QMetaObject:
+
+ \target All MetaObjects
+ \snippet examples/xmlpatterns/qobjectxmlmodel/qobjectxmlmodel.h 1
+ \snippet examples/xmlpatterns/qobjectxmlmodel/qobjectxmlmodel.h 4
+
+ This vector gets populated by the QObjectXmlModel constructor by
+ calling the private allMetaObjects() function:
+
+ \snippet examples/xmlpatterns/qobjectxmlmodel/qobjectxmlmodel.cpp 9
+
+ The first half of the function is an example of the standard code
+ pattern for using QtXmlPatterns to run an XQuery. First it creates an
+ instance of QXmlQuery. Then it \l{QXmlQuery::bindVariable()}{binds}
+ the XQuery variable \c{$root} to the root node of the of the node
+ model; i.e., the root of the QObject tree. Then it
+ \l{QXmlQuery::setQuery()} {sets the query} to be an XQuery that
+ returns all the QObjects in the node model. Finally, the query is
+ evaluated into a \l{QXmlResultItems} {result item list}.
+
+ \note \l{QXmlQuery::bindVariable()} must be called before
+ \l{QXmlQuery::setQuery()}, because setting the query causes
+ QtXmlPatterns to \e compile the XQuery, which requires knowledge of
+ the variable bindings.
+
+ The second half of the function traverses the \l{QXmlResultItems}
+ {result item list}, getting the QMetaObject hierarchy for each
+ QObject and appending it to \l{All MetaObjects} {m_allMetaObjects},
+ if it isn't already there. But how do we include this vector of
+ pointers to QMetaObjects in the node model? The key insight is
+ shown in the full listing of \l{Full Listing of nextFromSimpleAxis}
+ {nextFromSimpleAxis()}, where we are interested now in the
+ \c{MetaObjectXXX} cases:
+
+ \target Full Listing of nextFromSimpleAxis
+ \snippet examples/xmlpatterns/qobjectxmlmodel/qobjectxmlmodel.cpp 2
+ \snippet examples/xmlpatterns/qobjectxmlmodel/qobjectxmlmodel.cpp 3
+ \snippet examples/xmlpatterns/qobjectxmlmodel/qobjectxmlmodel.cpp 4
+
+ But first, revisit the \c{PreviousSibling} case for the
+ \c{IsQObject} case:
+
+ \snippet examples/xmlpatterns/qobjectxmlmodel/qobjectxmlmodel.cpp 10
+
+ When asking for the previous sibling of the root of the QObject
+ tree, it creates a node model index with a null QObject pointer and
+ an \c{additionalData} value of \c{MetaObjects}. This effectively
+ allows the query engine to jump from the QObject tree to the
+ QMetaObject tree.
+
+ The query engine can jump from the QMetaObject tree back to the
+ QObject tree in the \c{NextSibling} case of case \c{MetaObjects},
+ where the \c{root()} function is called:
+
+ \snippet examples/xmlpatterns/qobjectxmlmodel/qobjectxmlmodel.cpp 11
+
+ Having jumped from the QObject tree to the QMetaObject tree, the
+ query engine will use the \c{MetaObject}, \c{MetaObjectClassName},
+ and \c{MetaObjectSuperClass} cases, which are similar to the cases
+ for \c{IsQObject}, \c{QObjectProperty}, and \c{QObjectClassName}.
+*/