Development/Tutorials/Using KActions: Difference between revisions

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    {{TutorialBrowser|
    {{TutorialBrowser|


    series=Beginner Tutorial|
    series=Beginner Tutorial|


    name=How To Use KActions and XmlGui|
    name=How To Use KActions and XMLGUI|


    pre=[[Development/Tutorials/Programming_Tutorial_KDE_4/Using_KXmlGuiWindow|Tutorial 2 - KXmlGuiWindow]], Basic XML knowledge|
    pre=[[Development/Tutorials/Using_KXmlGuiWindow|Tutorial 2 - KXmlGuiWindow]], Basic XML knowledge|


    next=[[Development/Tutorials/Programming_Tutorial_KDE_4/Using_KConfig|Tutorial 4 - KConfig]]|  
    next=[[Development/Tutorials/Saving_and_loading|Tutorial 4 - Saving and loading]]|  


    reading=None
    reading=None
    Line 13: Line 14:


    ==Abstract==
    ==Abstract==
    We're going to introduce the concept of actions. Actions are a unified way of supplying the user with ways to interact with your program.
    This tutorial introduces the concept of actions. Actions are a unified way of supplying the user with ways to interact with your program.


    Say, for example, we want to let the user clear the text box by clicking a button in the toolbar, from an option in the File menu or through a keyboard shortcut; we can provide all of those through one {{class|KAction}}.
    For example, if we wanted to let the user of [[Development/Tutorials/Using_KXmlGuiWindow|Tutorial 2 ]] clear the text box by clicking a button in the toolbar, from an option in the File menu or through a keyboard shortcut, it could all be done with one [http://doc.qt.io/qt-5/qaction.html QAction].


    [[image:introtokdetutorial3.png|frame|center]]
    [[image:tutorial3-kf5.png|frame|center]]


    ==KAction==
    ==QAction==
    A {{class|KAction}} is an object which contains all the information about the icon and shortcuts you want associated to a certain action. You then connect the action to a [http://doc.trolltech.com/latest/signalsandslots.html slot] which carries out the work of your action.


    ===Creating Your Own===
    A [http://doc.qt.io/qt-5/qaction.html QAction] is an object which contains all the information about the icon and shortcuts that is associated with a certain action. The action is then connected to a [http://doc.qt.io/qt-5/signalsandslots.html slot] which carries out the work of your action.


    To create an action, you need to <tt>#include <KAction></tt> in your <tt>.cpp</tt> file.
    ==The Code==
    =====Creating the object=====
    We're going to create an action which will clear the text area (see Tutorial 2). The KAction is built up in a number of steps. The first is creating the KAction
    <code cppqt>KAction* clearAction = new KAction(this);</code>
    This creates a KAction called <tt>clearAction</tt>.
    =====Text=====
    Now we have our KAction object, we can start setting its properties. First, we'll set the text that will be displayed in the menu and under its icon in the toolbar.
    <code cppqt>clearAction->setText(i18n("Clear"));</code>
    As you can see, the text must be passed through the i18n() function if you want your UI to be translatable.


    =====Icon=====
    ===main.cpp===
    If you're going to display the action in a toolbar, you're going to want to have an icon depicting the action. To set an icon we simply use the <tt>setIcon()</tt> function thus:
    <syntaxhighlight lang="cpp-qt">
    <code cppqt>clearAction->setIcon(KIcon("filenew"));</code>
    #include <cstdlib>
    Here we're setting the icon to the standard KDE <tt>filenew</tt> icon.
    =====Shortcut=====
    #include <QApplication>
    We can also set a shortcut that will perform our action. It's as simple as a
    #include <QCommandLineParser>
    <code cppqt>clearAction->setShortcut(Qt::CTRL+Qt::Key_W);</code>
    to set Ctrl+W to be associated to this action.
    =====Adding to the Collection=====
    In order for our action to be accessable by the XmlGui framework it must be added to the application's ''action collection''. It is accessed via the <tt>actionCollection()</tt> function thus:
    <code cppqt>
    actionCollection()->addAction("clear", clearAction);
    </code>
    Here we add the <tt>clearAction</tt> KAction to the collection and give it a name of ''clear''. This name is used by the XmlGui framework.
    =====Connecting the action=====
    Now our action is fully set up, we need to connect it to something useful. We're going to connect our action to the <tt>clear()</tt> action belonging to a KTextArea.
    <code cppqt>
    connect( clearAction, SIGNAL( triggered(bool) ),
            textArea, SLOT( clear() ) );
    </code>
    This is the same as it would be done in Qt with a {{qt|QAction}}.


    ===KStandardAction===
    #include <KAboutData>
    #include <KLocalizedString>


    For actions which would likely appear in almost every KDE application such as 'quit', 'save', and 'load' there are pre-created convenience KActions, accessed through {{class|KStandardAction}}.
    #include "mainwindow.h"
     
    They are very simple to use. Once you've done <tt>#include <KStandardAction></tt>, you simply need to supply it with what you want the function to do and which KActionCollection to add it to. For example,
    int main (int argc, char *argv[])
    <code cppqt>KStandardAction::quit(kapp, SLOT(quit()), actionCollection());</code>
    {
    Will Create a KAction with the correct icon, text and shortcut and will even add it to the File menu.
        QApplication app(argc, argv);
        KLocalizedString::setApplicationDomain("tutorial3");
       
        KAboutData aboutData(
                            // The program name used internally. (componentName)
                            QStringLiteral("tutorial3"),
                            // A displayable program name string. (displayName)
                            i18n("Tutorial 3"),
                            // The program version string. (version)
                            QStringLiteral("1.0"),
                            // Short description of what the app does. (shortDescription)
                            i18n("A simple text area using KAction etc."),
                            // The license this code is released under
                            KAboutLicense::GPL,
                            // Copyright Statement (copyrightStatement = QString())
                            i18n("(c) 2015"),
                            // Optional text shown in the About box.
                            // Can contain any information desired. (otherText)
                            i18n("Some text..."),
                            // The program homepage string. (homePageAddress = QString())
                            QStringLiteral("http://example.com/"),
                            // The bug report email address
                            // (bugsEmailAddress = QLatin1String("[email protected]")
                            QStringLiteral("[email protected]"));
        aboutData.addAuthor(i18n("Name"), i18n("Task"), QStringLiteral("[email protected]"),
                            QStringLiteral("http://your.website.com"), QStringLiteral("OSC Username"));
        KAboutData::setApplicationData(aboutData);
        QCommandLineParser parser;
        parser.addHelpOption();
        parser.addVersionOption();
        aboutData.setupCommandLine(&parser);
        parser.process(app);
        aboutData.processCommandLine(&parser);
       
        MainWindow* window = new MainWindow();
        window->show();
       
        return app.exec();
    }
    </syntaxhighlight>
    This time, very little has changed in <tt>main.cpp</tt>, only the KAboutData constructor has been updated to show that we are now on tutorial 3.


    ==The Code==
    ===mainwindow.h===
    ===mainwindow.h===
    <code cppqt n>
    <syntaxhighlight lang="cpp-qt">
    #ifndef MAINWINDOW_H
    #ifndef MAINWINDOW_H
    #define MAINWINDOW_H
    #define MAINWINDOW_H
     
    #include <KXmlGuiWindow>
    #include <KXmlGuiWindow>
    #include <KTextEdit>


    class KTextEdit;
    class MainWindow : public KXmlGuiWindow
    class MainWindow : public KXmlGuiWindow
    {
    {
       public:
       public:
         MainWindow(QWidget *parent=0);
         MainWindow(QWidget *parent=0);
       private:
       private:
         KTextEdit* textArea;
         KTextEdit* textArea;
         void setupActions();
         void setupActions();
    };
    };
     
    #endif
    #endif
    </code>
    </syntaxhighlight>
    Only a function <tt>void setupActions()</tt> has been added which will do all the work setting up the QActions.


    ===mainwindow.cpp===
    ===mainwindow.cpp===
    <code cppqt n>
    <syntaxhighlight lang="cpp-qt">
    #include "mainwindow.h"
    #include <QApplication>
    #include <QAction>


    #include <KApplication>
    #include <KTextEdit>
    #include <KAction>
    #include <KLocalizedString>
    #include <KLocale>
    #include <KActionCollection>
    #include <KActionCollection>
    #include <KStandardAction>
    #include <KStandardAction>


    MainWindow::MainWindow(QWidget *parent)
    #include "mainwindow.h"
        : KXmlGuiWindow(parent)
     
    MainWindow::MainWindow(QWidget *parent) : KXmlGuiWindow(parent)
    {
    {
       textArea = new KTextEdit;
       textArea = new KTextEdit();
       setCentralWidget(textArea);
       setCentralWidget(textArea);
     
     
       setupActions();
       setupActions();
    }
    }
    Line 107: Line 128:
    void MainWindow::setupActions()
    void MainWindow::setupActions()
    {
    {
      KAction* clearAction = new KAction(this);
        QAction* clearAction = new QAction(this);
      clearAction->setText(i18n("Clear"));
        clearAction->setText(i18n("&Clear"));
      clearAction->setIcon(KIcon("filenew"));
        clearAction->setIcon(QIcon::fromTheme("document-new"));
      clearAction->setShortcut(Qt::CTRL+Qt::Key_W);
        actionCollection()->setDefaultShortcut(clearAction, Qt::CTRL + Qt::Key_W);
      actionCollection()->addAction("clear", clearAction);
        actionCollection()->addAction("clear", clearAction);
      connect(clearAction, SIGNAL(triggered(bool)),
        connect(clearAction, SIGNAL(triggered(bool)), textArea, SLOT(clear()));
              textArea, SLOT(clear()));
       
        KStandardAction::quit(qApp, SLOT(quit()), actionCollection());
       
        setupGUI(Default, "tutorial3ui.rc");
    }
    </syntaxhighlight>
     
    ==Explanation==
     
    This builds upon the KXmlGuiWindow code from [[Development/Tutorials/Using_KXmlGuiWindow/KF5|Tutorial 2]]. Most of the changes are to <tt>mainwindow.cpp</tt>, an important structural change being that the constructor for MainWindow now calls <tt>setupActions()</tt> instead of <tt>setupGUI()</tt>. <tt>setupActions()</tt> is where the new QAction code goes before finally calling <tt>setupGUI()</tt> itself.
     
    ===Creating the QAction object===
    The QAction is built up in a number of steps. The first is including the <tt>QAction</tt> header and then creating the QAction:
    <syntaxhighlight lang="cpp-qt">
    #include <QAction>
    ...
    QAction* clearAction = new QAction(this);
    </syntaxhighlight>
    This creates a new QAction called <tt>clearAction</tt>.
     
    ===Setting QAction Properties===
    ====Text====
    Now that we have our QAction object, we can start setting its properties. The following code sets the text that will be displayed in the menu and under the <tt>QAction</tt>'s icon in the toolbar.
    <syntaxhighlight lang="cpp-qt">
    clearAction->setText(i18n("&Clear"));
    </syntaxhighlight>
    Note that the text is passed through the <tt>i18n()</tt> function; this is necessary for the UI to be translatable (more information on this can be found in the [[Development/Tutorials/Localization/i18n|i18n tutorial]]).
     
    The text of the action should contain a <tt>&</tt> because that makes it easier to translate in non-latin1 languages. In Japanese, the translation might be <tt>ソース(&S)</tt> and without the <tt>&</tt> in the english text the translators cannot know if they have to add a <tt>&</tt> or not.
     
    ====Icon====
    If the action is going to be displayed in a toolbar, it is nice to have an icon depicting the action. The following code sets the icon to the standard the <tt>document-new</tt> icon through the use of the <tt>setIcon()</tt> function:
    <syntaxhighlight lang="cpp-qt">
    clearAction->setIcon(QIcon::fromTheme("document-new"));
    </syntaxhighlight>


      KStandardAction::quit(kapp, SLOT(quit()),
    ====Keyboard Shortcut====
                            actionCollection());
    Setting a keyboard shortcut to perform our action is equally simple:
    <syntaxhighlight lang="cpp-qt">
    actionCollection()->setDefaultShortcut(clearAction, Qt::CTRL + Qt::Key_W);
    </syntaxhighlight>
    This associates Ctrl+W with the QAction.


      setupGUI();
    ===Adding to the Collection===
    }
    In order for the action to be accessed by the XMLGUI framework (explained in depth later) it must be added to the application's ''action collection''. The action collection is accessed via the <tt>actionCollection()</tt> function like this:
    </code>
    <syntaxhighlight lang="cpp-qt">
    actionCollection()->addAction("clear", clearAction);
    </syntaxhighlight>
    Here, the <tt>clearAction</tt> QAction is added to the collection and given a name of ''clear''. This name (''clear'') is used by the XMLGUI framework to refer to the action, ergo, it should not be localized, since it is used internally only.
     
    ====Connecting the action====
    Now that the action is fully set up, it needs to be connected to something useful. In this case (because we want to clear the text area), we connect our action to the <tt>clear()</tt> action belonging to a KTextEdit (which, unsurprisingly, clears the KTextEdit)
    <syntaxhighlight lang="cpp-qt">
    connect( clearAction, SIGNAL( triggered(bool) ),
            textArea, SLOT( clear() ) );
    </syntaxhighlight>
     
    ===KStandardAction===
     
    For actions which would likely appear in almost every KDE application such as 'quit', 'save', and 'load' there are pre-created convenience QActions, accessed through {{kde|KStandardAction}}.
     
    They are very simple to use. Once the library has been included (<tt>#include <KStandardAction></tt>), simply supply it with what you want the function to do and which QActionCollection to add it to. For example:
    <syntaxhighlight lang="cpp-qt">
    KStandardAction::quit(qApp, SLOT(quit()), actionCollection());
    </syntaxhighlight>
    Here we call the QApplicaton's [http://doc.qt.io/qt-5/qapplication.html#quit quit] method whenever the KStandardAction quit is triggered. We are able to access that QApplication method via the [http://doc.qt.io/qt-5/qapplication.html#qApp qApp] macro.


    ===main.cpp===
    In the end, this creates a QAction with the correct icon, text and shortcut and even adds it to the File menu.
    <code cppqt n>
    #include <KApplication>
    #include <KAboutData>
    #include <KCmdLineArgs>


    #include "mainwindow.h"
    ==Adding the action to menus and toolbars==
    At the moment, the new "Clear" action has been created but it hasn't been associated with any menus or toolbars. This is done with a KDE technology called XMLGUI, which does nice things like movable toolbars for you.


    int main (int argc, char *argv[])
    ==Defining your own help menu==
    {
    The help menu is god-given, that is why all KDE help menus look the same. If you want to create your own help menu, search for the explanation around showAboutApplication() in from the {{class|KHelpMenu}} class in XMLGUI.
      KAboutData aboutData( "tutorial3", "Tutorial 3",
          "1.0", "A simple text area using KAction etc.",
          KAboutData::License_GPL, "(c) 2006" );
      KCmdLineArgs::init( argc, argv, &aboutData );
      KApplication app;
      MainWindow* window = new MainWindow();
      window->show();
      return app.exec();
    }
    </code>


    ==Putting the actions in the menus and toolbars==
    ==XMLGUI==
    Now, at the moment, we've only created our new "Clear" action. It won't yet show up in the menus or in the toolbars. To tell the program where to put our actions (and to allow the end-user to move them around) we use a KDE technology called XmlGui.
    ===XmlGui===
    {{note|In a later version of KDE4, XmlGui may be replaced with a new framework called liveui. For now, XmlGui is the only and correct way to set up the UI.}}


    When you call <tt>setupGUI()</tt> in your {{class|KXmlGuiWindow}} class, it calls the XmlGui system which reads an XML file description of your interface (which we will create in a minute) and creates the buttons and menus appropriately.
    The <tt>setupGUI()</tt> function in {{class|KXmlGuiWindow}} depends on the XMLGUI system to construct the GUI, which XMLGUI does by parsing an XML file description of the interface.


    Now obviously XmlGui needs to know which file is your description file, i.e. it needs to know its name and location. The rule for the naming is the file should be called <tt>appnameui.rc</tt> (where <tt>appname</tt> is the name you set in {{class|KAboutData}}), so in our example, the file will be called <tt>tutorial3ui.rc</tt>. Where the file will be located is handled by CMake.
    The rule for naming this XML file is <tt>appnameui.rc</tt>, where <tt>appname</tt> is the name you set in {{class|KAboutData}} (in this case, ''tutorial3''). So in our example, the file is called <tt>tutorial3ui.rc</tt>, and is located in the build directory. Where the file will ultimately be placed is handled by CMake.


    ===Writing your ''appname''ui.rc File===
    ==appnameui.rc file==


    Since the description of our UI is being defined with XML, the layout of the description must follow strict rules. We won't go through all the rules in this tutorial but for more information, see the _detailed_XmlGui_page_ (once we have a full explanation of XmlGui (or possibly liveui if that's done soon :)) on the wiki, I'll link it up).
    Since the description of the UI is defined with XML, the layout must follow strict rules. This tutorial will not go into great depth on this topic, but for more information, see the [[Development/Architecture/KDE4/XMLGUI_Technology|detailed XMLGUI page]].


    ===tutorial3ui.rc===
    ===tutorial3ui.rc===
    <code xml n>
    <syntaxhighlight lang="xml">
    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
    <!DOCTYPE kpartgui SYSTEM "kpartgui.dtd">
    <gui name="tutorial3"
    <gui name="tutorial3" version="1">
        version="1"
     
        xmlns="http://www.kde.org/standards/kxmlgui/1.0"
      <ToolBar name="mainToolBar" >
        xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
        <text>Main Toolbar</text>
        xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.kde.org/standards/kxmlgui/1.0
        <Action name="clear" />
                            http://www.kde.org/standards/kxmlgui/1.0/kxmlgui.xsd" >
      </ToolBar>
       <MenuBar>
       <MenuBar>
         <Menu name="file" >
         <Menu name="file" >
          <text>&amp;File</text>
           <Action name="clear" />
           <Action name="clear" />
         </Menu>
         </Menu>
        <Menu >
          <text>A&amp;nother Menu</text>
          <Action name="clear" />
        </Menu >
       </MenuBar>
       </MenuBar>
      <ToolBar name="mainToolBar" >
        <text>Main Toolbar</text>
        <Action name="clear" />
      </ToolBar>
    </gui>
    </gui>
    </code>
    </syntaxhighlight>
     
    The <tt><Toolbar></tt> tag allows you to describe the toolbar, which is the bar across the top of the window normally with icons. Here it is given the unique name ''mainToolBar'' and its user visible name set to ''Main Toolbar'' using the <tt><text></tt> tag. The clear action is added to the toolbar using the <tt><Action></tt> tag, the name parameter in this tag being the string that was passed to the KActionCollection with <tt>addAction()</tt> in <tt>mainwindow.cpp</tt>.


    The <tt><Toolbar></tt> tag allows you to describe the toolbar. That is the bar across the top of the window with the icons. Here we give it a unique name ''mainToolBar'', set it's user visible name ''Main Toolbar'' using the <tt><text></tt> tag and finally add our clear action to the toolbar using the <tt><Action></tt> tag. The name parameter in this tag relates to the string that was passed to the <tt>addAction()</tt> function in the C++ code.
    Besides having the action in the toolbar, it can also be added to the menubar. Here the action is being added to the ''File'' menu of the <tt>MenuBar</tt> the same way it was added to the toolbar.


    As well as having our action in the toolbar, we can also add it to the menubar. Within the <tt><MenuBar></tt> tag, we say we want to add our action to the ''File'' menu and we add the action in the same way as for the toolbar.
    Change the 'version' attribute of the <tt><nowiki><gui></nowiki></tt> tag if you changed .rc file since the last install to force a system cache update. Be sure it is an integer, if you use a decimal value, it will not work, but will not notify that it didn't. '
     
    {{Warning|The version attribute must be an integer number, if you type in version<nowiki>=</nowiki>"1.2" it will dispose of your kittens  (but not eat them).}}
     
    Some notes on the interaction between code and the .rc file: Menus appear automatically and should have a <tt><nowiki><text/></nowiki></tt> child tag unless they refer to standard menus. Actions need to be created manually and inserted into the actionCollection() using the name in the .rc file. Actions can be hidden or disabled, whereas menus can't.


    ==CMake==
    ==CMake==
    Now that we're using XmlGui, we need to put the <tt>tutorial3ui.rc</tt> somewhere where KDE can find it. '''This means we need to install our project somewhere.'''
    Finally, the <tt>tutorial3ui.rc</tt> needs to go somewhere where KDE can find it (can't just leave it in the source directory!). '''This means the project needs to be installed somewhere''', unlike in the previous tutorials.
     
    ===CMakeLists.txt===
    ===CMakeLists.txt===
    <code>
    <syntaxhighlight lang="cmake">
    project(tutorial3)
    project (tutorial3)


    find_package(KDE4 REQUIRED)
    cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.8.12 FATAL_ERROR)
    include_directories( ${KDE4_INCLUDES} )
    set(QT_MIN_VERSION "5.3.0")
    set(KF5_MIN_VERSION "5.2.0")


    set(tutorial3_SRCS
    find_package(ECM 1.0.0 REQUIRED NO_MODULE)
      main.cpp
    set(CMAKE_MODULE_PATH ${ECM_MODULE_PATH} ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/cmake)
      mainwindow.cpp
     
    include(KDEInstallDirs)
    include(KDECMakeSettings)
    include(KDECompilerSettings)
    include(FeatureSummary)
     
    find_package(Qt5 ${QT_MIN_VERSION} CONFIG REQUIRED COMPONENTS
        Core    # QCommandLineParser, QStringLiteral
        Widgets # QApplication, QAction
    )
    )


    kde4_add_executable(tutorial3 ${tutorial3_SRCS})
    find_package(KF5 ${KF5_MIN_VERSION} REQUIRED COMPONENTS
        CoreAddons      # KAboutData
        I18n            # KLocalizedString
        XmlGui          # KXmlGuiWindow, KActionCollection
        TextWidgets    # KTextEdit
        ConfigWidgets  # KStandardActions
    )
       


    target_link_libraries(tutorial3 ${KDE4_KDEUI_LIBS})
    feature_summary(WHAT ALL INCLUDE_QUIET_PACKAGES FATAL_ON_MISSING_REQUIRED_PACKAGES)
       
    set(tutorial3_SRCS main.cpp mainwindow.cpp)


    install(TARGETS tutorial3 DESTINATION ${BIN_INSTALL_DIR})
    add_executable(tutorial3 ${tutorial3_SRCS})
    install( FILES tutorial3ui.rc
            DESTINATION  ${DATA_INSTALL_DIR}/tutorial3 )
    </code>


    This file is almost identical to the one for tutorial2 but it has two extra lines at the end. These describe where the filesare to be installed. Firstly, the <tt>tutorial3</tt> target is installed to the <tt>BIN_INSTALL_DIR</tt> then the <tt>tutorial3ui.rc</tt> file that describes the layout of the user interface is installed to the application's data directory.
    target_link_libraries(tutorial3
        Qt5::Widgets
        KF5::CoreAddons
        KF5::I18n
        KF5::XmlGui
        KF5::TextWidgets
        KF5::ConfigWidgets
    )
     
    install(TARGETS tutorial3  ${INSTALL_TARGETS_DEFAULT_ARGS})
    install(FILES tutorial3ui.rc DESTINATION ${KXMLGUI_INSTALL_DIR}/tutorial3)
    </syntaxhighlight>
     
    This file is almost identical to the one for tutorial2, but with two extra lines at the end that describe where the files are to be installed. Firstly, the <tt>tutorial3</tt> target is installed to the <tt>INSTALL_TARGETS_DEFAULT_ARGS</tt> then the <tt>tutorial3ui.rc</tt> file that describes the layout of the user interface is installed to the application's data directory under <tt>KXMLGUI_INSTALL_DIR</tt>.


    ===Make, Install And Run===
    ===Make, Install And Run===
    If you don't have write access to where your KDE4 installation directory, you can install it to a folder in your home directory.
    This is probably the trickiest part. Where you install the files, especially <tt>tutorial3ui.rc</tt> is important. Normally, you'd want to install it where KDE software is installed by your distribution, which is usually under {{path|/usr}}. That, however, would require root/admin access and If you don't have that, you can install it to a folder in your home directory.


    To tell CMake where to install the program, set the <tt>DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX</tt> switch. So to install the program to the KDE directory, do
    To tell CMake where to install the program, set the <tt>DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX</tt> switch. You probably just want to install it somewhere local for testing (it's probably a bit silly to go to the effort of installing these tutorials to your KDE directory), so the following might be appropriate:
    cmake . -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=$KDEDIR
    <syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
    make install
    mkdir build && cd build
    tutorial3
    cmake .. -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=$HOME
    Though, if you just want to install it somewhere local for testing (it's probably a bit silly to go to the effort of installing these tutorials to your KDE directory) you can do something like
    make install
    cmake . -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/home/kde-devel/kdetmp
    </syntaxhighlight>
    which will create a KDE-like directory structure under ~/kdetmp and will install the executable to {{path|/home/kde-devel/kdetmp/bin/tutorial3}}.
    which will create a KDE-like directory structure in your user's home directory. Specifically, it will create the directories {{path|$HOME/bin/}} and {{path|$HOME/share/}} and will install the executable to {{path|$HOME/bin/tutorial3}} and the <tt>tutorial3ui.rc</tt> file to {{path|$HOME/share/kxmlgui/tutorial3/tutorial3ui.rc}}.
     
    However, to be able to run the program properly, you will need to let the system know where the XMLGUI file is. Since we installed it in a nonstandard location, we'll have to explicitly to do so every time. The following command would suffice:
    <syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
    XDG_DATA_DIRS=$HOME/share:$XDG_DATA_DIRS $HOME/bin/tutorial3
    </syntaxhighlight>
    This temporarily adds (prepends) the newly created "share" location to <tt>XDG_DATA_DIRS</tt>, the standard path for application data files.


    ==Moving On==
    ==Moving On==
    Now that we can make the GUI look like and do whatever we want, we can move on to storing application settings with [[Development/Tutorials/Programming_Tutorial_KDE_4/Using_KConfig|KConfig XT]].
    Now you can move on to [[Development/Tutorials/Saving_and_loading|saving and loading]].
     
    Or you can learn [[Development/Tutorial/Icons|how to add icons to your application]].
     
    Or you can learn [[Development/Tutorials/Desktop_File|how to place your application in the K-Menu using .desktop files]].
     
    {{Attention||The source code on this page applies only the current KDE Frameworks 5 ("KF5") version. For the older KDE Development Platform ("KDE4"), See [[Development/Tutorials/First_program/KDE4]]}}


    [[Category:C++]]
    [[Category:C++]]

    Revision as of 18:04, 18 April 2020

    How To Use KActions and XMLGUI
    Tutorial Series   Beginner Tutorial
    Previous   Tutorial 2 - KXmlGuiWindow, Basic XML knowledge
    What's Next   Tutorial 4 - Saving and loading
    Further Reading   None

    Abstract

    This tutorial introduces the concept of actions. Actions are a unified way of supplying the user with ways to interact with your program.

    For example, if we wanted to let the user of Tutorial 2 clear the text box by clicking a button in the toolbar, from an option in the File menu or through a keyboard shortcut, it could all be done with one QAction.

    QAction

    A QAction is an object which contains all the information about the icon and shortcuts that is associated with a certain action. The action is then connected to a slot which carries out the work of your action.

    The Code

    main.cpp

    #include <cstdlib>
     
    #include <QApplication>
    #include <QCommandLineParser>
    
    #include <KAboutData>
    #include <KLocalizedString>
    
    #include "mainwindow.h"
     
    int main (int argc, char *argv[])
    {
        QApplication app(argc, argv);
        KLocalizedString::setApplicationDomain("tutorial3");
        
        KAboutData aboutData(
                             // The program name used internally. (componentName)
                             QStringLiteral("tutorial3"),
                             // A displayable program name string. (displayName)
                             i18n("Tutorial 3"),
                             // The program version string. (version)
                             QStringLiteral("1.0"),
                             // Short description of what the app does. (shortDescription)
                             i18n("A simple text area using KAction etc."),
                             // The license this code is released under
                             KAboutLicense::GPL,
                             // Copyright Statement (copyrightStatement = QString())
                             i18n("(c) 2015"),
                             // Optional text shown in the About box.
                             // Can contain any information desired. (otherText)
                             i18n("Some text..."),
                             // The program homepage string. (homePageAddress = QString())
                             QStringLiteral("http://example.com/"),
                             // The bug report email address
                             // (bugsEmailAddress = QLatin1String("[email protected]")
                             QStringLiteral("[email protected]"));
        aboutData.addAuthor(i18n("Name"), i18n("Task"), QStringLiteral("[email protected]"),
                            QStringLiteral("http://your.website.com"), QStringLiteral("OSC Username"));
        KAboutData::setApplicationData(aboutData);
     
        QCommandLineParser parser;
        parser.addHelpOption();
        parser.addVersionOption();
        aboutData.setupCommandLine(&parser);
        parser.process(app);
        aboutData.processCommandLine(&parser);
        
        MainWindow* window = new MainWindow();
        window->show();
        
        return app.exec();
    }
    

    This time, very little has changed in main.cpp, only the KAboutData constructor has been updated to show that we are now on tutorial 3.

    mainwindow.h

    #ifndef MAINWINDOW_H
    #define MAINWINDOW_H
     
    #include <KXmlGuiWindow>
    
    class KTextEdit;
     
    class MainWindow : public KXmlGuiWindow
    {
      public:
        MainWindow(QWidget *parent=0);
     
      private:
        KTextEdit* textArea;
        void setupActions();
    };
     
    #endif
    

    Only a function void setupActions() has been added which will do all the work setting up the QActions.

    mainwindow.cpp

    #include <QApplication>
    #include <QAction>
    
    #include <KTextEdit>
    #include <KLocalizedString>
    #include <KActionCollection>
    #include <KStandardAction>
    
    #include "mainwindow.h"
    
    MainWindow::MainWindow(QWidget *parent) : KXmlGuiWindow(parent)
    {
      textArea = new KTextEdit();
      setCentralWidget(textArea);
      
      setupActions();
    }
    
    void MainWindow::setupActions()
    {
        QAction* clearAction = new QAction(this);
        clearAction->setText(i18n("&Clear"));
        clearAction->setIcon(QIcon::fromTheme("document-new"));
        actionCollection()->setDefaultShortcut(clearAction, Qt::CTRL + Qt::Key_W);
        actionCollection()->addAction("clear", clearAction);
        connect(clearAction, SIGNAL(triggered(bool)), textArea, SLOT(clear()));
        
        KStandardAction::quit(qApp, SLOT(quit()), actionCollection());
        
        setupGUI(Default, "tutorial3ui.rc");
    }
    

    Explanation

    This builds upon the KXmlGuiWindow code from Tutorial 2. Most of the changes are to mainwindow.cpp, an important structural change being that the constructor for MainWindow now calls setupActions() instead of setupGUI(). setupActions() is where the new QAction code goes before finally calling setupGUI() itself.

    Creating the QAction object

    The QAction is built up in a number of steps. The first is including the QAction header and then creating the QAction:

    #include <QAction>
    ...
    QAction* clearAction = new QAction(this);
    

    This creates a new QAction called clearAction.

    Setting QAction Properties

    Text

    Now that we have our QAction object, we can start setting its properties. The following code sets the text that will be displayed in the menu and under the QAction's icon in the toolbar.

    clearAction->setText(i18n("&Clear"));
    

    Note that the text is passed through the i18n() function; this is necessary for the UI to be translatable (more information on this can be found in the i18n tutorial).

    The text of the action should contain a & because that makes it easier to translate in non-latin1 languages. In Japanese, the translation might be ソース(&S) and without the & in the english text the translators cannot know if they have to add a & or not.

    Icon

    If the action is going to be displayed in a toolbar, it is nice to have an icon depicting the action. The following code sets the icon to the standard the document-new icon through the use of the setIcon() function:

    clearAction->setIcon(QIcon::fromTheme("document-new"));
    

    Keyboard Shortcut

    Setting a keyboard shortcut to perform our action is equally simple:

    actionCollection()->setDefaultShortcut(clearAction, Qt::CTRL + Qt::Key_W);
    

    This associates Ctrl+W with the QAction.

    Adding to the Collection

    In order for the action to be accessed by the XMLGUI framework (explained in depth later) it must be added to the application's action collection. The action collection is accessed via the actionCollection() function like this:

    actionCollection()->addAction("clear", clearAction);
    

    Here, the clearAction QAction is added to the collection and given a name of clear. This name (clear) is used by the XMLGUI framework to refer to the action, ergo, it should not be localized, since it is used internally only.

    Connecting the action

    Now that the action is fully set up, it needs to be connected to something useful. In this case (because we want to clear the text area), we connect our action to the clear() action belonging to a KTextEdit (which, unsurprisingly, clears the KTextEdit)

    connect( clearAction, SIGNAL( triggered(bool) ), 
             textArea, SLOT( clear() ) );
    

    KStandardAction

    For actions which would likely appear in almost every KDE application such as 'quit', 'save', and 'load' there are pre-created convenience QActions, accessed through Template:Kde.

    They are very simple to use. Once the library has been included (#include <KStandardAction>), simply supply it with what you want the function to do and which QActionCollection to add it to. For example:

    KStandardAction::quit(qApp, SLOT(quit()), actionCollection());
    

    Here we call the QApplicaton's quit method whenever the KStandardAction quit is triggered. We are able to access that QApplication method via the qApp macro.

    In the end, this creates a QAction with the correct icon, text and shortcut and even adds it to the File menu.

    Adding the action to menus and toolbars

    At the moment, the new "Clear" action has been created but it hasn't been associated with any menus or toolbars. This is done with a KDE technology called XMLGUI, which does nice things like movable toolbars for you.

    Defining your own help menu

    The help menu is god-given, that is why all KDE help menus look the same. If you want to create your own help menu, search for the explanation around showAboutApplication() in from the KHelpMenu class in XMLGUI.

    XMLGUI

    The setupGUI() function in KXmlGuiWindow depends on the XMLGUI system to construct the GUI, which XMLGUI does by parsing an XML file description of the interface.

    The rule for naming this XML file is appnameui.rc, where appname is the name you set in KAboutData (in this case, tutorial3). So in our example, the file is called tutorial3ui.rc, and is located in the build directory. Where the file will ultimately be placed is handled by CMake.

    appnameui.rc file

    Since the description of the UI is defined with XML, the layout must follow strict rules. This tutorial will not go into great depth on this topic, but for more information, see the detailed XMLGUI page.

    tutorial3ui.rc

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
    <gui name="tutorial3"
         version="1"
         xmlns="http://www.kde.org/standards/kxmlgui/1.0"
         xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
         xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.kde.org/standards/kxmlgui/1.0
                             http://www.kde.org/standards/kxmlgui/1.0/kxmlgui.xsd" >
     
      <MenuBar>
        <Menu name="file" >
          <Action name="clear" />
        </Menu>
        <Menu >
          <text>A&amp;nother Menu</text>
          <Action name="clear" />
        </Menu >
      </MenuBar>
     
      <ToolBar name="mainToolBar" >
        <text>Main Toolbar</text>
        <Action name="clear" />
      </ToolBar>
     
    </gui>
    

    The <Toolbar> tag allows you to describe the toolbar, which is the bar across the top of the window normally with icons. Here it is given the unique name mainToolBar and its user visible name set to Main Toolbar using the <text> tag. The clear action is added to the toolbar using the <Action> tag, the name parameter in this tag being the string that was passed to the KActionCollection with addAction() in mainwindow.cpp.

    Besides having the action in the toolbar, it can also be added to the menubar. Here the action is being added to the File menu of the MenuBar the same way it was added to the toolbar.

    Change the 'version' attribute of the <gui> tag if you changed .rc file since the last install to force a system cache update. Be sure it is an integer, if you use a decimal value, it will not work, but will not notify that it didn't. '

    Warning
    The version attribute must be an integer number, if you type in version="1.2" it will dispose of your kittens (but not eat them).


    Some notes on the interaction between code and the .rc file: Menus appear automatically and should have a <text/> child tag unless they refer to standard menus. Actions need to be created manually and inserted into the actionCollection() using the name in the .rc file. Actions can be hidden or disabled, whereas menus can't.

    CMake

    Finally, the tutorial3ui.rc needs to go somewhere where KDE can find it (can't just leave it in the source directory!). This means the project needs to be installed somewhere, unlike in the previous tutorials.

    CMakeLists.txt

    project (tutorial3)
    
    cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.8.12 FATAL_ERROR)
    set(QT_MIN_VERSION "5.3.0")
    set(KF5_MIN_VERSION "5.2.0")
    
    find_package(ECM 1.0.0 REQUIRED NO_MODULE)
    set(CMAKE_MODULE_PATH ${ECM_MODULE_PATH} ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/cmake)
    
    include(KDEInstallDirs)
    include(KDECMakeSettings)
    include(KDECompilerSettings)
    include(FeatureSummary)
    
    find_package(Qt5 ${QT_MIN_VERSION} CONFIG REQUIRED COMPONENTS 
        Core    # QCommandLineParser, QStringLiteral
        Widgets # QApplication, QAction
    )
    
    find_package(KF5 ${KF5_MIN_VERSION} REQUIRED COMPONENTS
        CoreAddons      # KAboutData
        I18n            # KLocalizedString
        XmlGui          # KXmlGuiWindow, KActionCollection
        TextWidgets     # KTextEdit
        ConfigWidgets   # KStandardActions
    )
        
    
    feature_summary(WHAT ALL INCLUDE_QUIET_PACKAGES FATAL_ON_MISSING_REQUIRED_PACKAGES)
        
    set(tutorial3_SRCS main.cpp mainwindow.cpp)
    
    add_executable(tutorial3 ${tutorial3_SRCS})
    
    target_link_libraries(tutorial3
        Qt5::Widgets
        KF5::CoreAddons
        KF5::I18n
        KF5::XmlGui
        KF5::TextWidgets
        KF5::ConfigWidgets
    )
    
    install(TARGETS tutorial3  ${INSTALL_TARGETS_DEFAULT_ARGS})
    install(FILES tutorial3ui.rc DESTINATION ${KXMLGUI_INSTALL_DIR}/tutorial3)
    

    This file is almost identical to the one for tutorial2, but with two extra lines at the end that describe where the files are to be installed. Firstly, the tutorial3 target is installed to the INSTALL_TARGETS_DEFAULT_ARGS then the tutorial3ui.rc file that describes the layout of the user interface is installed to the application's data directory under KXMLGUI_INSTALL_DIR.

    Make, Install And Run

    This is probably the trickiest part. Where you install the files, especially tutorial3ui.rc is important. Normally, you'd want to install it where KDE software is installed by your distribution, which is usually under /usr. That, however, would require root/admin access and If you don't have that, you can install it to a folder in your home directory.

    To tell CMake where to install the program, set the DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX switch. You probably just want to install it somewhere local for testing (it's probably a bit silly to go to the effort of installing these tutorials to your KDE directory), so the following might be appropriate:

    mkdir build && cd build
    cmake .. -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=$HOME
    make install
    

    which will create a KDE-like directory structure in your user's home directory. Specifically, it will create the directories $HOME/bin/ and $HOME/share/ and will install the executable to $HOME/bin/tutorial3 and the tutorial3ui.rc file to $HOME/share/kxmlgui/tutorial3/tutorial3ui.rc.

    However, to be able to run the program properly, you will need to let the system know where the XMLGUI file is. Since we installed it in a nonstandard location, we'll have to explicitly to do so every time. The following command would suffice:

    XDG_DATA_DIRS=$HOME/share:$XDG_DATA_DIRS $HOME/bin/tutorial3
    

    This temporarily adds (prepends) the newly created "share" location to XDG_DATA_DIRS, the standard path for application data files.

    Moving On

    Now you can move on to saving and loading.

    Or you can learn how to add icons to your application.

    Or you can learn how to place your application in the K-Menu using .desktop files.

    The source code on this page applies only the current KDE Frameworks 5 ("KF5") version. For the older KDE Development Platform ("KDE4"), See Development/Tutorials/First_program/KDE4