summaryrefslogtreecommitdiffstats
path: root/doc/src/declarative/qml-intro.qdoc
blob: ac794962ee599442109018bd8b2bfbf27fd22c79 (plain)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531
532
533
534
535
536
537
538
539
540
541
542
543
544
545
546
547
548
549
550
551
552
553
554
555
556
557
558
559
560
561
562
563
564
565
566
567
568
569
570
571
572
573
574
575
576
577
578
579
580
581
582
583
584
585
586
587
588
589
590
591
592
593
594
595
596
597
598
599
600
601
602
603
604
605
606
607
608
609
610
611
612
613
614
615
616
617
618
619
620
621
622
623
624
625
626
627
628
629
630
631
632
633
634
635
636
637
638
639
640
641
642
643
644
645
646
647
648
649
650
651
652
653
654
655
656
657
658
659
660
661
662
663
664
665
666
667
668
669
670
671
672
673
674
675
676
677
678
679
680
681
682
683
684
685
686
687
688
689
690
691
692
693
694
695
696
697
698
699
700
701
702
703
704
705
706
707
708
709
710
711
712
713
714
715
716
717
718
719
720
721
722
723
724
725
726
727
728
729
730
731
732
733
734
735
736
737
738
739
740
741
742
743
744
745
746
747
748
749
750
751
752
753
754
755
756
757
758
759
760
761
762
763
764
765
766
767
768
769
770
771
772
773
774
775
776
777
778
779
780
781
782
783
784
785
786
787
788
789
790
791
792
793
794
795
796
797
798
799
800
801
802
803
804
805
806
807
808
809
810
811
812
813
814
815
816
817
818
819
820
821
822
823
824
825
826
827
828
829
830
831
832
833
834
835
836
837
838
839
840
841
842
843
844
845
846
847
848
849
850
851
852
853
854
855
856
857
858
859
860
861
862
863
864
865
866
867
868
869
870
871
872
873
874
875
876
877
878
879
880
881
882
883
884
885
886
887
888
889
890
891
892
893
894
895
896
897
898
899
900
901
902
903
904
905
906
907
908
909
910
911
912
913
914
915
916
917
918
919
920
921
922
923
924
925
926
927
928
929
930
931
932
933
934
935
936
937
938
939
940
941
942
943
944
945
946
947
948
949
950
951
952
953
/****************************************************************************
**
** Copyright (C) 2010 Nokia Corporation and/or its subsidiary(-ies).
** All rights reserved.
** Contact: Nokia Corporation (qt-info@nokia.com)
**
** This file is part of the documentation of the Qt Toolkit.
**
** $QT_BEGIN_LICENSE:FDL$
** Commercial Usage
** Licensees holding valid Qt Commercial licenses may use this file in
** accordance with the Qt Commercial License Agreement provided with the
** Software or, alternatively, in accordance with the terms contained in a
** written agreement between you and Nokia.
**
** GNU Free Documentation License
** Alternatively, this file may be used under the terms of the GNU Free
** Documentation License version 1.3 as published by the Free Software
** Foundation and appearing in the file included in the packaging of this
** file.
**
** If you have questions regarding the use of this file, please contact
** Nokia at qt-info@nokia.com.
** $QT_END_LICENSE$
**
****************************************************************************/



/*!

\page  qml-intro.html
\title Beginning Qt Quick


\section1 Overview


QML is a high level, scripted language. Its commands, more correctly \e elements,
leverage the power and efficiency of the Qt libraries to make easy to use
commands that perform intuitive functions. Draw a rectangle, display an image at
a position and so on. Behind these elements are complex C++ libraries that
efficiently perform the action. As with any graphical application, always
consider that this ability to easily build graphically rich applications means
that some care may be needed to prevent performance problems.

The language also allows more flexibility of these commands by using
Javascript rather than C++ to add new layers of logic to your application.
Javascript is easier to learn than C++ and can be embedded into the QML
files or imported from a separate file.

\bold{In QML the types of various 'objects' are referred to as \l {QML
Elements}{ elements}}.

An element usually has various \e properties that help define the element. For
example, if we created an element called Circle then the radius of the circle
would be a property.


\section1 A First Look

The basic syntax of an \l {QML Elements}{element} is

    \code
    SomeElement {
        id: myObject
        ... some other things here ...
    }
    \endcode

Here we are defining a new object. We specify its 'type' first as SomeElement.
Then within matching braces { ... } we specify the various parts of our 
element.

The \c id is a unique identifier for the element, it must start with a lower
case letter and only contain letters, numbers and underscores. It is this
particular object's name. If this SomeElement \l {QML Elements}{element} was
a Rectangle instead and it was one of many then the \e optional unique id
would allow us to manipulate each element individually.

Each visual element is ultimately based on, or inherits from, an element
called \l Item. \l Item has certain properties and actions that may be
useful. The properties have default values so you need only specify the
ones you will need.

Take a simple element such as a \l Rectangle. It has an \c id, we will call
it \e myRectangle, it has a \c width and a \c height. Imagine that we
want a rectangle that is 500 pixels by 400 pixels in the x and y directions
(horizontal by vertical).

We can implement this \l Rectangle with these properties this way

    \code
    import Qt 4.7

    // This is a comment. And below myRectangle is defined.
    Rectangle {
        id: myRectangle
        width: 500
        height: 400
    }
    \endcode

This is a valid QML script. To run it, copy it and save it to a file, say
myexample.qml, and on the command line run the command

    \code
    qml myexample.qml
    \endcode

It will create a very boring rectangle in its own window.



\section1 Hello World!

We can now add some color and text to make a Hello World QML program.

\l Rectangle has the property \l {Rectangle::color}{color} to produce a
background color.

Text is handled by a different element called \l Text. We need to create a
\l Text object inside the \l Rectangle and set its \l {Text::text}{text}
property to "Hello World!". So to set the text to 'Hello world' and the
background colour to light gray,

    \code
    import Qt 4.7
    
    Rectangle {
        id: myRectangle
        width: 500
        height: 400

        Text { text: "Hello World!" }

        color: "lightgray"
    }
    \endcode


\section1 Hello World Again

From now on we will not always show the import statement for Qt but it
should still be there when you create your QML scripts.

To make our Hello World example a little nicer set the position of the text
to be at pixel position x = 100, y = 100 within the displayed window. This
position belongs to the \l Text element so we set the position inside its
definition. Note that we separate different QML statements on the same line
with a semi-colon, or we could have simply put each statement on a new line

    \code
    Text {
        text: "<h2>Hello World</h2>"; color: "darkgreen"
        x: 100; y:100
    }
    \endcode

Not only did we reposition the text, but the text was altered by adding
HTML tags to change the font size. The text color was also changed from the
default black to dark green by using a standard string for the color's SVG
name.

We could also have used a hexadecimal string for the RGB (red-green-blue, as
#rrggbb) values of the color similar to the method used in HTML. For
example, mostly blue with a green tint,

    \code
    Text {
        text: "<h1>Hello world again</h1>"
        color: "#002288"
        x: 100; y: 100
    }
    \endcode

All of these changes occurred within the \l Text object which is the scope
of these property changes.

Other objects may use the information but it belongs to the element where
the property has been defined.


\section1 Images

To add an image to our little application we use the \l Image element. An
\l Image uses a path to an image file, and has properties to control
the aspect ratio, the image size, to tile the area amongst others. The
source of the image, the path to the file, is a URL. Therefore the file can
be local: \e {mydir/myimage1.png}. Or it can be remote:
\e {"http://www.example.com/images/myimage1.png"}.

    \code
    Image {
        source: "images/qt-logo.png"
    }
    \endcode

This displays the image, as we would expect, at the top left of the window.
The position of the default x = 0, y = 0 coordinate. The example here uses
a PNG file, but it could have been one of various supported formats,
including JPG and GIF.

Let us reposition the image and enlarge it. Place it at the same 'x' offset
as the "Hello world again" text, but put it another 50 pixels below the
text, also make it 150 by 150 pixels in size,

    \code
    Image {
        source: "images/qt-logo.png"
        x: 100; y: 150
        width: 150; height: 150
    }
    \endcode

Adding the Hello World example, with the text and the image example we can
write a simple piece of QML that starts to look a bit better.

    \code
    import Qt 4.7

    Rectangle {
        id: myRectangle
        width: 500
        height: 400
        
        // A light gray background
        color: "lightgray"

        // Position and color some text
        Text {
            text: "<h1>Hello world again</h1>"
            color: "darkgreen"
            x: 100; y: 100
        }

        // Using the opportunity to resize the image.
        Image {
            source: "images/qt-logo.png"
            x: 100; y: 150
            width: 150; height: 150
        }

    }
    \endcode

The result is still quite simple

\image qml-intro-helloa.png


\section1 Anchors: Aligning Elements

Using absolute positioning, such as saying x = 100 and y = 150, works well
until the user or developer stretches or increases the size of the window.
Then the positions need to be recalculated. What would be nice would be a
relative means of positioning of objects in a window or rectangle. For
example, we want to place an image at the bottom of a rectangle, we would
like to specify the image's location as the 'bottom of the window', not a
specific coordinate. We can do this with the anchors property, which
objects inherit from Item.

The anchors property is really a property group. It is a collection of
related properties. It has properties within it which can be used by means
of the dot notation.

The dot notation uses object \c{id}s and property names to use a particular
object or property. Say I have a rectangle r1, which contains a rectangle
r2, which contains an Item item1, which has an 'x' property I want to
change. I just use the dot notation to identify it: r1.r2.item1.x

If we want to position an image at the bottom of the rectangle it is
inside. I have to specify that the bottom of the image is also at the
bottom of the rectangle

    \code
    import Qt 4.7

    Rectangle {
        id: myWin
        width: 500
        height: 400

        Image {
            id: image1
            source: "images/qt-logo.png"
            width: 150; height: 150
            anchors.bottom: myWin.bottom
        }
    }
    \endcode

This places the logo at the bottom left of the window.

\image qml-intro-anchors1.png  "A simple anchor"

We would like it centered and not touching the bottom of the window, for
aesthetic reasons. For the centering we use the horizontalCenter property,
and to prevent the touching of the image to the bottom of the rectangle,
the bottomMargin property is used. So the new actions for the script are

    \list
    \o set the bottom of the image (anchors.bottom) to be the bottom of the window
    \o move the image to be in the horizontal center of the window
    \o set a margin of 10 pixels so that the image does not touch the bottom window border
    \endlist

Encoded into QML the script becomes

    \code
    import Qt 4.7

    Rectangle {
        id: myWin
        width: 500
        height: 400

        Image {
            id: image1
            source: "images/qt-logo.png"
            width: 150; height: 150
            anchors.bottom: myWin.bottom
            anchors.horizontalCenter: myWin.horizontalCenter
            anchors.bottomMargin: 10
        }
    }
    \endcode


Run this and resize the window. You will see that now the position of the
image adjusts during the resize.

\image qml-intro-anchors2.png  "Image Centered at the Bottom"

You can also add another object say a block of descriptive text and place
it above or below the image or to the side. This code places some text just
above the image

    \code
    Text {
        text: "<h2>The Qt Logo</h2>"
        anchors.bottom: image1.top
        anchors.horizontalCenter: myWin.horizontalCenter
        anchors.bottomMargin: 15
    }
    \endcode

\image qml-intro-anchors3.png

\note \e anchors is a property group, to be used within the object. When
referencing these properties from another object we use the property
directly, instead of saying:

    \code
    myRectangle.anchors.top  // Wrong
    \endcode

we use

    \code
    myRectangle.top         // Correct
    \endcode




\section1 Transformations

We can transform a graphical object to get additional effects. Rotate a
piece of text by 180 degrees to display upside-down text. Rotate an image
by 90 degrees to lay it on its side. These transformations require
additonal information.

For rotation, the additional information includes: the origin relative to
the object being rotated, the axis of rotation, and the angle in degrees to
rotate the image through in a clockwise direction. The axis does not have
to be the z-axis, the line between your eyes and the image, it could be
along the vertical y-axis or the horizontal x-axis. We have three
dimensions to play with. For simplicity in this example we will rotate
about the z-axis by 90 degrees in a negative direction, anti-clockwise.

Rotation of text was also suggested. It could also be useful to scale the
text. We can do both. The \l {Item::transform}{transform} property is a
\e list of \l Transform elements, so using the list syntax

    \code
    myList: [ listElement1, listElement2, ... } ]
    \endcode

we can produce a list of transformations.

The text will be rotated by 45 degrees anti-clockwise and scaled 
vertically by a factor of 1.5 and by 1.2 horizontally.

Using the example above as the basis for this we have,

    \code
    import Qt 4.7

    Rectangle {
        id: myWin
        width: 500
        height: 400

        Image {
            id: image1
            source: "images/qt-logo.png"
            width: 150; height: 150
            anchors.bottom: myWin.bottom
            anchors.horizontalCenter: myWin.horizontalCenter
            anchors.bottomMargin: 10

            transform: Rotation {
                origin.x: 75; origin.y: 75
                axis{ x: 0; y: 0; z:1 }  angle: -90
            }

        }
        
        Text {
            text: "<h2>The Qt Logo -- taking it easy</h2>"
            anchors.bottom: image1.top
            anchors.horizontalCenter: myWin.horizontalCenter
            anchors.bottomMargin: 15

            transform: [
                Scale { xScale: 1.5; yScale: 1.2 } ,
            
                Rotation {
                    origin.x: 75; origin.y: 75
                    axis{ x: 0; y: 0; z:1 }  angle: -45
                }
            ]
        }
    }
    \endcode

The code block in \c image1 starting with \c transform specifies that the
\l {Item::transform}{transform} property will be a Rotation through -90
degrees, which is anti-clockwise, about the z-axis running through the
center of the image at (75,75), since the image is 150 x 150 pixels.

The other transformation available is \l Translate. This produces a change
in position of the item.

\note In a list of transformations the order of the transformations is
important. In the above example try swapping around the Scale transform with
the Rotation transform, remember to remove or add the comma. The results are
acceptable for our little test but not the same.


\section1 Animations

Animation in QML is done by animating properties of objects. Properties
that are numbers, colors, Rectangles, points and directions. In QML these
are \l {QML Basic Types} named as real, int, color, rect, point, size, and
vector3d. There are a number of different ways to do animation. Here we
will look at a few of them.

\section2 Number Animation

Previously we have used a rotation transformation to change the orientation
of an image. We could easily animate this rotation so that instead of a
straight rotation counter-clockwise of 90 degrees we could rotate the image
through a full 360 degrees in an animation. The axis of rotation wont
change, the position of the center of the image will not change, only the
angle will change. Therefore, a NumberAnimation of a rotation's angle should
be enough for the task. If we wish for a simple rotation about the center
of the image then we can use the \c rotation property that is inherited
from \l Item. The rotation property is a real number that specifies the
angle in a clockwise direction for the rotation of the object. Here is the
code for our animated rotating image.

    \code
    import Qt 4.7

    Rectangle {
        id: mainRec
        width:  600
        height: 400

        Image {
            id: image1
            source: "images/qt-logo.png"
            x: 200; y: 100
            width: 100; height: 100
            
            // Animate a rotation
            transformOrigin: Item.Center
            NumberAnimation on rotation {
                from: 0; to: 360
                duration: 2000
                loops: Animation.Infinite
            }
        }
    }
    \endcode

The \c {transformOrigin: Item.Center} is redundant since this is the default
axis of rotation anyway. But if you change \c Center to \c BottomRight you
will see an interesting variation.

Also if instead the \l Rotation transformation had been used then we would have
more control over the various parameters. We could vary the axis, to be not
just a different offset from the z-axis but along the y-axis, x-axis or
combination. For example, if the task had been to animate the rotation
about the y-axis passing through the center of the image then the following
code would do it.

    \code
    import Qt 4.7

    Rectangle {
        id: mainRec
        width:  600
        height: 400

        Image {
            id: image1
            source: "images/qt-logo.png"
            x: 200; y: 100
            width: 100; height: 100

            // Animate a rotation
            transform: Rotation {
                origin.x: 50; origin.y: 50; axis {x:0; y:1; z:0} angle:0
                NumberAnimation on angle  {
                    from: 0; to: 360;
                    duration: 3000;
                    loops: Animation.Infinite
                }
            }
        }
    }
    \endcode

Here there is a rectangle 600 by 400 pixels. Placed within that rectangle
is an image 100 by 100 pixels. It is rotated about the center of the image
about the y-axis so that it looks as if it is rotating about an invisible
vertical string holding it up. The time it takes to complete the rotation is 3
seconds (3,000 milliseconds). The NumberAnimation is applied to the angle
taking it from 0 (no change) to 360 degrees, back where it started.
Strictly speaking it isn't necessary to go from 0 to 360 since the same
location is duplicated, but it makes it easier to read in this example and
it has no visible effect on the animation. The number of loops that the
animation will execute is set to \c {Animation.Infinite} which means that the
animation is in an endless loop.

To see an interesting variation. Change the axis to \c {axis { x:1; y:1; z:1
}}. This is a line coming from the center of the image downwards to the
right and out of the screen. Although the change is simple the rotation
seems complex.

\section2 Sequential Animation

For a more complex animation we will need two images. The first image will
be placed at the center of a window (Rectangle) and the second image will
be at the upper left of the window. The animation will move the second
image from the top left of the window to the bottom right. In doing so we
will be animating the position and the size of the image.

First create two images

    \code
    import Qt 4.7

    Rectangle {
        id: mainRec
        width:  600
        height: 400
        z: 0

        Image {
            id: image1
            source: "images/qt-logo.png"
            x: 20; y: 20 ; z: 1
            width: 100; height: 100
        }

        Image {
            id: image2
            source: "images/qt-logo.png"
            width: 100; height: 100
            x: (mainRec.width - 100)/2; y: (mainRec.height - 100)/2
            z: 2
        }
    }
    \endcode

We will add to 'image1' a SequentialAnimation from x = 20 to the target of
x = 450. The 'from' values will be used because we will be repeating the
animation, so the object needs to know where the original position is, both
x and y. The SequentialAnimation of x will set it to repeat by indicating
that the number of animation loops is infinite, meaning that the 'loop'
counter will be set to a value Animation.Infinite that indicates an endless
cycle. Also there will be a NumberAnimation to vary the numeric property
between the x values and over a given duration. After the NumberAnimation
there will be a PauseAnimation that will pause the animation for 500
milliseconds (half a second) simply for the visual effect.

    \code
    SequentialAnimation on x {
        loops: Animation.Infinite
        NumberAnimation { from: 20; to: 450; easing.type: "InOutQuad";
duration: 2000 }
        PauseAnimation { duration: 500 }
    }
    \endcode

A similar block of code is written for the animation of the 'y' value of
the position.

We will also animate the scale of the object, so as it goes from top left
to bottom right of the window it will become smaller until about midway,
and then become larger. To complete the animation we will set the 'z'
values of the images. 'z' is the stacking order, the z-axis effectively
points out from the screen to your eyes with the default value of 'z' being
0. So if we set the Rectangle to have z with value zero, just to be sure,
and image1 to 1 and image2 to 2 then image2 will be in the foreground and
image1 in the background. When image1 passes image2 it will pass behind it.
The completed code looks like

    \code
    Rectangle {
        id: mainRec
        width:  600
        height: 400
        z: 0

        Image {
            id: image2
            source: "images/qt-logo.png"
            width: 100; height: 100
            x: (mainRec.width - 100)/2; y: (mainRec.height - 100)/2
            z: 2
        }

        Image {
            id: image1
            source: "images/qt-logo.png"
            x: 20; y: 20 ; z: 1
            width: 100; height: 100

            SequentialAnimation on x {
                loops: Animation.Infinite
                NumberAnimation {
                    from: 20; to: 450
                    easing.type: "InOutQuad"; duration: 2000
                }
                PauseAnimation { duration: 500 }
            }
            
            SequentialAnimation on y {
                loops: Animation.Infinite
                NumberAnimation {
                    from: 20; to: 250
                    easing.type: "InOutQuad"; duration: 2000
                }
                PauseAnimation { duration: 500 }
            }

            SequentialAnimation on scale {
                loops: Animation.Infinite
                NumberAnimation { from: 1; to: 0.5; duration: 1000 }
                NumberAnimation { from: 0.5; to: 1; duration: 1000 }
                PauseAnimation { duration: 500 }
            }
        }
    }
    \endcode

The \c {easing.type} has many options, expressed as a string. It specifies the
kind of equation that describes the acceleration of the property value, not
necessarily position, over time.

For example, \e InOutQuad means that at the start and the end of the animation the
'velocity' is low but the acceleration or deceleration is high. Much like a car
accelerating from stop, and decelerating to stop at the end of a journey,
with the maximum speed being in the middle. Examine the \l {PropertyAnimation::easing.type}
{easing} documentation and the various graphs that show the effect. The horizontal
axis, 'progress', can be thought of as time. The vertical axis is the value
of the particular property.

In discussing animation we need to describe three objects: State, MouseArea
and Signals. Although independent of the animation elements, animation
delivers some of the best examples that illustrate these new elements.



\section2 Animation Summary

\table
    \header
        \o Name
        \o Description
    \row
        \o PropertyAnimation
        \o a property value on a target object is varied to a specified value over a given time.

    \row
        \o NumberAnimation
        \o animate a numeric property from one value to another over a given time.

    \row
        \o PauseAnimation
        \o results in the task waiting for the specified duration, in milliseconds.

    \row
        \o SequentialAnimation
        \o allows us to list in order the animation events we want to occur, first A then B then C and so on.

    \row
        \o ParallelAnimation
        \o enables us to run different animations at the same time instead of sequentially.

\endtable





\section1 Using States

A state is a defined set of values in the configuration of an object and
often depends on the previous state. For example, a glass could be in a
state we call 'HalfFull' if it is being filled with a liquid and has
reached half of its total capacity. We could also have a state called
HalfEmpty which is the state that occurs when the amount of liquid drops to
half of the glass's capacity. Both states represent the same amount of
liquid, but we consider them different. Likewise, states in a program
represent not just values but may include how the current values were
reached.

When a state changes a \e transition occurs. This is an opportunity to make
changes or take actions that depend on the movement to the new state. For
example, if we had a scene in the country where the state variable has two
states "daylight" and "night". Then when the state changes to "night" at
this transition the sky would be made dark, stars would be shown, the
countryside would be darkened. And when the state changes to "daylight" the
opposite changes would be made: the sky is now blue, the scenery is green,
there is a sun in the sky.

Here is a simple QML program that shows the change of state in the above
example. We have two rectangles, the top one is the 'sky' and the bottom
one is the 'ground'. We will animate the change from daylight to night.
There will be two states, but we only need to define one since 'daylight'
will be the default state. We will just go to 'night' by clicking and
holding the left mouse button down, releasing the mouse button will reverse
the process

    \code
    import Qt 4.7

    Rectangle {
        id: mainRectangle
        width:  600
        height: 400
        color: "black"

        Rectangle {
            id: sky
            width: 600
            height: 200
            y: 0
            color: "lightblue"
        }

        Rectangle {
            id: ground
            width: 600; height: 200
            y: 200
            color: "green"
        }

        MouseArea {
            id: mousearea
            anchors.fill: mainRectangle
        }

        states: [ State {
                name: "night"
                when: mousearea.pressed == true
                PropertyChanges { target: sky; color: "darkblue" }
                PropertyChanges { target: ground; color: "black" }
            },
            State {
                name: "daylight"
                when: mousearea.pressed == false
                PropertyChanges { target: sky; color: "lightblue" }
                PropertyChanges { target: ground; color: "green" }
            }
        ]

        transitions: [ Transition {
                from: "daylight"; to: "night"
                ColorAnimation { duration: 1000 }
            },
            Transition {
                from: "night"; to: "daylight"
                ColorAnimation { duration: 500 }
            }
        ]
    }
    \endcode

Several new things appear in this sample. Firstly, we use a \l MouseArea
element to detect mouse clicks in the \e mainRectangle. Secondly, we use
the list notation [ thing1 , thing2, ... ] to build a list of states and a
list of transitions.

\l MouseArea defines a region that will respond to mouse clicks. In this case
we are only concerned with when the mouse is pressed or not pressed, not
the particular button or other details. The area of the MouseArea is the
entire main window, mainRectangle, so that clicking anywhere in this region
will start the animation. Since we are using the 'pressed' mouse state,
then the animation will move from 'daylight' to 'night' only while the mouse
button remains pressed.

When the button is released the 'daylight' state is entered and the
transition from 'night' to 'daylight' is triggered causing the animation to
run. The transition specifies the duration in milliseconds of the
ColorAnimation, while the state specifies the color of the new state.

The PropertyChanges command is the way that we nominate which properties
will change in a change of state, and what new value the property will
take. Since, for example, we want the 'sky' region to turn to dark blue and
the 'ground' region to turn to black for the 'night' state, then the
rectangles for those regions are the 'target' and the property in the target
is 'color'.


\section1 Signals

Signals are simply events that can be hooked up to actions we want performed.
In QML they are usually preceded by the word 'on', for example in the animation
using a MouseArea the signal was \l {MouseArea::onPressed}{onPressed}. If
you look at the C++ documentation you will see a lot of talk about
\l {Signals & Slots}{Signals and Slots}. Signals are connected to Slots. The
signal represents an event and the Slot is the function that does something
based on that event. You can also have Signals connected to other Signals, so
that one Signal (event) triggers another Signal (event), and so forth. It is
nice to know this is what happens beneath the QML layer but not essential for
using QML.

Most elements do not have Signals associated with them. However, a few like
the \l Audio element have many signals. Some of the \l Audio signals are
used to represent events such as when the audio is stopped, play is pressed,
paused, and reaching the end of the media. They allow the developer to connect,
 for example, the press of a user interface button (perhaps a MouseArea) to
 some QML that will handle this event.


\section1 Analyzing An Example: Dial Control

In the Qt \e {examples/declarative/ui-components} folder you will find a folder
\e {dialcontrol} which contains the \e dialcontrol example.

\image qml-dial.png  "QML Dial example with Slider"

In essence this small application has a sliding bar that you can slide using
a mouse, and a graphical dial that responds to the position of the slider.

The code for the example is in two parts: Dial.qml and dialcontrol.qml.

\e {Dial.qml} can be found in the \e content sub-directory. It defines a \c Dial
component similar to an odometer. Eventually, the example will hook up a slider
component so that moving the slider will change the position of a needle on the
dial.

The code for the \c Dial, identified by the name of the file, contains four images
in overlapping order: the background (numbers and divisions), the shadow of the
needle, the needle itself, and finally the 'glass' overlay (containing
transparent layers).

The \c needle_shadow.png image has a \l Rotation assigned to the \e transform
attribute of the \l Image. The rotation is set to match the angle of the needle
image angle value \e {needleRotation.angle}. Both the needle and the
needle_shadow have the same default \e x and \e y values but the rotation origin
for the needle is slightly different so that a shadow will be evident as the
needle moves.

\snippet ../../examples/declarative/ui-components/dialcontrol/content/Dial.qml  needle_shadow

And the needle

\snippet ../../examples/declarative/ui-components/dialcontrol/content/Dial.qml  needle

The final image is the overlay which simply has a position defined.

\snippet ../../examples/declarative/ui-components/dialcontrol/content/Dial.qml  overlay

\e {dialcontrol.qml} in the \e {examples/declarative/ui-components/dialcontrol} directory is the
main file of the example. It defines the visual environment that the Dial
will fit into. Because the \e Dial component and the images live in the \e
content sub-directory we will have to import this into \e dialcontrol.qml. So the
start of the file looks like

    \code
    import Qt 4.7
    import "content"
    \endcode

The visual space is bound by a 300 by 300 pixel \l Rectangle which is given
a gray color. Inside this rectangle is our component \e Dial and a \l Rectangle.
Inside the rectangle called 'container' is another rectangle with the
interesting name 'slider'.

\snippet ../../examples/declarative/ui-components/dialcontrol/dialcontrol.qml  0

The Dial component, named 'dial, is \e anchored to the center of the main
rectangle. The \c value attribute of 'dial' is set to a value based on the
'slider' horizontal position and the 'container' width. So changes to the
'slider' position will change the Dial \c value which is used in Dial to compute
the rotation of the needle image. Notice this piece of code in Dial where
the change in \c value modifies the position of the needle.

    \code
    SpringFollow on angle {
        spring: 1.4
        damping: .15
        to: Math.min(Math.max(-130, root.value*2.6 - 130), 133)
    }
    \endcode

This is part of the \c needleRotation that rotates the needle and causes the
rotation of its shadow. \l SpringFollow is an element that modifies the value
of that rotation angle \e to and mimics the oscillatory behavior of a spring,
with the appropriate \e spring constant to control the acceleration and the \e
damping to control how quickly the effect dies away.

The 'container' is light gray with a color gradient defined using
\l GradientStop. The gradient is applied vertically. If you need a horizontal
gradient then you could apply the vertical gradient and then rotate the item
by 90 degrees.

The 'slider' is dark gray and also has a vertical color gradient. The most
important thing about the 'slider' is that it has a MouseArea defined, which
specifies a \c {drag.target} on itself along the X-axis. With minimum
and maximum values on the X-axis defined. So we can click on the 'slider' and
drag it left and right within the confines of the 'container'. The motion of
the 'slider' will then change the \c value attribute in \e Dial as discussed
already.

Also notice the use of a \c radius value for a rectangle. This produces rounded
corners. That is how the 'container' and 'slider' are displayed with a
pleasant rounded look.



*/