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diff --git a/doc/qtcreatordev/src/actionmanager.qdoc b/doc/qtcreatordev/src/actionmanager.qdoc new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..194d0eefdf --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/qtcreatordev/src/actionmanager.qdoc @@ -0,0 +1,193 @@ +/**************************************************************************** +** +** Copyright (C) 2020 The Qt Company Ltd. +** Contact: https://www.qt.io/licensing/ +** +** This file is part of the Qt Creator documentation. +** +** Commercial License Usage +** Licensees holding valid commercial Qt licenses may use this file in +** accordance with the commercial license agreement provided with the +** Software or, alternatively, in accordance with the terms contained in +** a written agreement between you and The Qt Company. For licensing terms +** and conditions see https://www.qt.io/terms-conditions. For further +** information use the contact form at https://www.qt.io/contact-us. +** +** GNU Free Documentation License Usage +** 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. Please review the following information to ensure +** the GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 requirements +** will be met: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/fdl-1.3.html. +** +****************************************************************************/ + +/*! + \page actionmanager.html + \title The Action Manager and Commands + + \QC provides a central options page for managing shortcuts for actions in + \uicontrol Tools > \uicontrol Options > \uicontrol Environment > + \uicontrol Keyboard. Plugins must tell \QC about the actions they provide, + so they can appear in the options. Also some actions, like \uicontrol Edit > + \uicontrol Undo, need to be dispatched to different plugins depending on the + context which the user is currently in, for example a text editor, or + a UI design component. The Core::ActionManager and Core::Command classes + are used to manage this. + + The action manager contains a list of Core::Command instances. Each command + represents an entry in the keyboard shortcut settings. + + A command also manages which actual QAction is currently represented by the + command, depending on context. For this, a command has its own QAction which + is accessible via Core::Command::action(), and should be used when adding + the command to the UI like the menu and tool buttons. This QAction delegates + its \c triggered() and \c toggled() signals to the currently active QAction. + + \image actionmanager.png + + \section1 Command + + The class Core::Command represents an action with a shortcut that can be + set by the user in the settings, and can be delegated to an actual + QAction in a plugin, depending on context. + + A command is referred to by its unique ID. Plugins use the ID when + registering an action for the command in a specified context with + Core::ActionManager::registerAction(). That method returns a Core::Command + instance that is then used to further configure the action. + If multiple QActions are registered for the same command (the same ID), + they must be registered for different contexts. + The ID is also used for grouping in the options page: everything up to the + first dot in the ID is used as the category, under which to show the + command. + + By default, the options page shows the text of the currently active QAction + in addition to the ID. If that does not fit the purpose well, you can set a + different display text with Core::Command::setDescription(). + + Use the command's Core::Command::setDefaultKeySequence() method to set the + default key sequence that is used if the user doesn't customize it. + The shortcut on the QAction that you register with + Core::ActionManager::registerAction() is never used, so do not set that. + + Core::Command::action() returns the action that should be used for UI and + user interaction. Add this to menus and tool buttons. You should never + set properties like the enabled or visibility state on this QAction + directly. It is managed by the action manager and reflects the state of the + currently active QAction in some plugin. + + The QAction that you registered in the action manager is for your internal + purposes. Use that to connect your logic to the QAction::triggered() + signal, and to set the enabled and visibility state. + Core::Command::action() will reflect these changes, if your QAction is + active, determined by the active context. For performance reasons the + action text, tool tip and icon are not updated by default. They are only + copied from the first QAction registered for the command. Set the + corresponding Core::Command::CommandAttribute if you need dynamic updates + of these properties. + + \section1 Contexts + + When plugins register a QAction for a command, they need to provide a + Core::Context. Which of the registered QActions for a command is currently + active is decided via an ordered list of current contexts. + + Contexts are collected from multiple sources: + + \list + \li Global context. This is a context that is always active, with lowest + priority order. + \li Application focus. Instances of QWidget can be associated to a + context via Core::IContext. All contexts from the current focus + widget up the widget hierarchy are added to the current context. + \li Manually managed contexts. Contexts can be added and removed + manually via ICore::updateAdditionalContexts(). + \endlist + + \section2 Using IContext + + Core::IContext is a separate object that associates the QWidget from + Core::IContext::widget() with the context Core::IContext::context(). + + To associate a widget with a context, create a Core::IContext instance, + set the widget and context on it, and register it with + Core::ICore::addContextObject(). Whenever your widget is in the parent + chain of the application focus widget, the context that you specified + will be active as well. + + \code + auto contextObj = new Core::IContext(this); + contextObj->setWidget(myWidget); + contextObj->setContext(myContext); + Core::ICore::addContextObject(contextObj); + \endcode + + You also have to unregister the IContext object with + Core::ICore::removeContextObject() when you do not need it anymore. + + Some constructs in \QC automatically have an associated context, like + Core::IEditor and Core::IMode. + + \section2 Manually Managing Contexts + + If you want a context to be active or inactive independently of the + application focus, you can add and remove contexts manually with + Core::ICore::updateAdditionalContexts(), Core::ICore::addAdditionalContext() + and Core::ICore::removeAdditionalContext(). + Prefer Core::ICore::updateAdditionalContexts() if you need to remove and add + contexts, to avoid overhead introduced by removing and adding contexts + in separate calls. + + \section1 Registering Actions + + Prefer registering actions in your plugin's + ExtensionSystem::IPlugin::initialize() method. This way any plugin depending + on your plugin has access to these actions. + + \code + namespace Constants { + const char ACTION_ID[] = "Example.Action"; + } // Constants + + bool ExamplePlugin::initialize(const QStringList &arguments, QString *errorString) + { + // some other setup ... + + QAction *action = new QAction(tr("Example Action"), this); + Core::Command *cmd = Core::ActionManager::registerAction(action, Constants::ACTION_ID, + Core::Context(Core::Constants::C_GLOBAL)); + cmd->setDefaultKeySequence(QKeySequence(tr("Ctrl+Alt+Meta+A"))); + connect(action, &QAction::triggered, this, [this] { + // do something + }); + + // more setup ... + + return true; + } + \endcode + + This snippet sets up a sample action with the ID \c ACTION_ID that is always + active (specified by the context \c {Core::Constants::C_GLOBAL}), and gives + it the keyboard shortcut \c {Ctrl+Alt+Meta+A}. The \c {QAction *action} + that is registered for the global context for the action is owned by the + plugin. Connect to this QAction's triggered signal, and manage the action's + state by calling the corresponding methods on this QAction instance. + + \section1 Summary + + \list + \li Use Core::ActionManager::registerAction() to register your own + QAction for a command with the specified ID. + \li If multiple QActions are registered for the same command, they need + to be registered for different contexts. + \li Use Core::Command::setDefaultKeySequence(), do \e not use + QAction::setShortcut(). + \li Use Core::Command::action() for user-facing purposes, such as + menus and tool buttons. + \li Use your own QAction to set properties like text and icon, and to + connect your application logic. + \endlist +*/ |