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222 lines
11 KiB
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<!-- /home/espenr/tmp/qt-3.3.8-espenr-2499/qt-x11-free-3.3.8/doc/object.doc:210 -->
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<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1">
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<title>Properties</title>
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<a href="index.html">
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<font color="#004faf">Home</font></a>
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| <a href="classes.html">
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<font color="#004faf">All Classes</font></a>
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<font color="#004faf">Main Classes</font></a>
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<font color="#004faf">Annotated</font></a>
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<font color="#004faf">Grouped Classes</font></a>
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<font color="#004faf">Functions</font></a>
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<td align="right" valign="center"><img src="logo32.png" align="right" width="64" height="32" border="0"></td></tr></table><h1 align=center>Properties</h1>
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<p> TQt provides a sophisticated property system similar to those supplied
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by some compiler vendors. However, as a compiler- and
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platform-independent library, TQt cannot rely on non-standard compiler
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features like <tt>__property</tt> or <tt>[property]</tt>. Our solution works with
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<em>any</em> standard C++ compiler on every platform we support. It's based
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on the meta-object system that also provides object communication
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through <a href="signalsandslots.html">signals and slots</a>.
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<p> The <tt>TQ_PROPERTY</tt> macro in a class declaration declares a
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property. Properties can only be declared in classes that inherit <a href="tqobject.html">TQObject</a>. A second macro, <tt>TQ_OVERRIDE</tt>, can be used to override some
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aspects of an inherited property in a subclass. (See <a href="#override">TQ_OVERRIDE</a>.)
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<p> To the outer world, a property appears to be similar to a data member.
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But properties have several features that distinguish them from
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ordinary data members:
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<p> <ul>
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<li> A read function. This always exists.
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<p> <li> A write function. This is optional: read-only properties like <a href="tqwidget.html#isDesktop">TQWidget::isDesktop</a>() do not have one.
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<p> <li> An attribute "stored" that indicates persistence. Most properties
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are stored, but a few virtual properties are not. For example, <a href="tqwidget.html#minimumWidth">TQWidget::minimumWidth</a>() isn't stored, since it's just a view of
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<a href="tqwidget.html#minimumSize">TQWidget::minimumSize</a>(), and has no data of its own.
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<p> <li> A reset function to set a property back to its context specific
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default value. This is very rare, but for example, <a href="tqwidget.html#font">TQWidget::font</a>()
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needs this, since no call to <a href="tqwidget.html#setFont">TQWidget::setFont</a>() can mean 'reset to
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the context specific font'.
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<p> <li> An attribute "designable" that indicates whether it makes sense to
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make the property available in a GUI builder (e.g. <a href="designer-manual.html">TQt Designer</a>). For most properties this
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makes sense, but not for all, e.g. <a href="ntqbutton.html#isDown">TQButton::isDown</a>(). The user can
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press buttons, and the application programmer can make the program
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press its own buttons, but a GUI design tool can't press buttons.
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<p> </ul>
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<p> The read, write, and reset functions must be public member functions
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from the class in which the property is defined.
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<p> Properties can be read and written through generic functions in
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<a href="tqobject.html">TQObject</a> without knowing anything about the class in use. These two
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function calls are equivalent:
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<p> <pre>
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// TQButton *b and TQObject *o point to the same button
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b->setDown( TRUE );
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o->setProperty( "down", TRUE );
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</pre>
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<p> Equivalent, that is, except that the first is faster, and provides
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much better diagnostics at compile time. When practical, the first is
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better. However, since you can get a list of all available properties
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for any TQObject through its <a href="ntqmetaobject.html">TQMetaObject</a>, <a href="tqobject.html#setProperty">TQObject::setProperty</a>()
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can give you control over classes that weren't available at compile
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time.
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<p> As well as <a href="tqobject.html#setProperty">TQObject::setProperty</a>(), there is a corresponding <a href="tqobject.html#property">TQObject::property</a>() function. <a href="ntqmetaobject.html#propertyNames">TQMetaObject::propertyNames</a>() returns
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the names of all available properties. <a href="ntqmetaobject.html#property">TQMetaObject::property</a>()
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returns the property data for a named property: a <a href="qmetaproperty.html">TQMetaProperty</a>
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object.
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<p> Here's a simple example that shows the most important property
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functions in use:
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<p> <pre>
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class MyClass : public <a href="tqobject.html">TQObject</a>
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{
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<a href="metaobjects.html#TQ_OBJECT">TQ_OBJECT</a>
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public:
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MyClass( <a href="tqobject.html">TQObject</a> * parent=0, const char * name=0 );
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~MyClass();
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enum Priority { High, Low, VeryHigh, VeryLow };
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void setPriority( Priority );
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Priority priority() const;
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};
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</pre>
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<p> The class has a property "priority" that is not yet known to the <a href="metaobjects.html#meta-object">meta object</a> system. In order to make the property known, you must
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declare it with the <tt>TQ_PROPERTY</tt> macro. The syntax is as follows:
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<p> <pre>
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TQ_PROPERTY( type name READ getFunction [WRITE setFunction]
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[RESET resetFunction] [DESIGNABLE bool]
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[SCRIPTABLE bool] [STORED bool] )
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</pre>
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<p> For the declaration to be valid, the get function must be const and
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to return either the type itself, a pointer to it, or a reference to
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it. The optional write function must return void and must take exactly
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one argument, either the type itself, a pointer or a const reference
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to it. The meta object compiler enforces this.
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<p> The type of a property can be any <a href="ntqvariant.html">TQVariant</a> supported type or an
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enumeration type declared in the class itself. Since <tt>MyClass</tt> uses
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the enumeration type <tt>Priority</tt> for the property, this type must be
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registered with the property system as well.
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<p> There are two exceptions to the above: The type of a property can also
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be either <a href="tqvaluelist.html">TQValueList<TQVariant></a> or <a href="tqmap.html">TQMap<TQString,TQVariant></a>. In
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these cases the type must be specified as <a href="tqvaluelist.html">TQValueList</a> or as <a href="tqmap.html">TQMap</a>
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(i.e. without their template parameters).
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<p> It is possible to set a value by name, like this:
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<pre>
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obj->setProperty( "priority", "VeryHigh" );
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</pre>
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In the case of <a href="tqvaluelist.html">TQValueList</a> and <a href="tqmap.html">TQMap</a> properties the value passes
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is a <a href="ntqvariant.html">TQVariant</a> whose value is the entire list or map.
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<p> Enumeration types are registered with the <tt>TQ_ENUMS</tt> macro. Here's the
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final class declaration including the property related declarations:
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<p> <pre>
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class MyClass : public <a href="tqobject.html">TQObject</a>
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{
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TQ_OBJECT
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TQ_PROPERTY( Priority priority READ priority WRITE setPriority )
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TQ_ENUMS( Priority )
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public:
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MyClass( <a href="tqobject.html">TQObject</a> * parent=0, const char * name=0 );
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~MyClass();
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enum Priority { High, Low, VeryHigh, VeryLow };
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void setPriority( Priority );
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Priority priority() const;
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};
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</pre>
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<p> Another similar macro is <tt>TQ_SETS</tt>. Like <tt>TQ_ENUMS</tt>, it registers an
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enumeration type but marks it in addition as a "set", i.e. the
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enumeration values can be OR-ed together. An I/O class might have
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enumeration values "Read" and "Write" and accept "Read|Write": such an
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enum is best handled with <tt>TQ_SETS</tt>, rather than <tt>TQ_ENUMS</tt>.
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<p> The remaining keywords in the <tt>TQ_PROPERTY</tt> section are <tt>RESET</tt>, <tt>DESIGNABLE</tt>, <tt>SCRIPTABLE</tt> and <tt>STORED</tt>.
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<p> <tt>RESET</tt> names a function that will set the property to its default
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state (which may have changed since initialization). The function
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must return void and take no arguments.
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<p> <tt>DESIGNABLE</tt> declares whether this property is suitable for
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modification by a GUI design tool. The default is <tt>TRUE</tt> for
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writable properties; otherwise <tt>FALSE</tt>. Instead of <tt>TRUE</tt> or <tt>FALSE</tt>, you can specify a boolean member function.
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<p> <tt>SCRIPTABLE</tt> declares whether this property is suited for access by a
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scripting engine. The default is <tt>TRUE</tt>. Instead of <tt>TRUE</tt> or <tt>FALSE</tt>,
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you can specify a boolean member function.
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<p> <tt>STORED</tt> declares whether the property's value must be remembered
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when storing an object's state. Stored makes only sense for writable
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properties. The default value is <tt>TRUE</tt>. Technically superfluous
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properties (like <a href="tqpoint.html">TQPoint</a> pos if <a href="tqrect.html">TQRect</a> geometry is already a property)
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define this to be <tt>FALSE</tt>.
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<p> Connected to the property system is an additional macro, "TQ_CLASSINFO",
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that can be used to attach additional name/value-pairs to a class'
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meta object, for example:
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<p> <pre>
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TQ_CLASSINFO( "Version", "3.0.0" )
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</pre>
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<p> Like other meta data, class information is accessible at runtime
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through the meta object, see <a href="ntqmetaobject.html#classInfo">TQMetaObject::classInfo</a>() for details.
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<p> <a name="override"></a>
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<h2> TQ_OVERRIDE
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</h2>
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<a name="1"></a><p> When you inherit a <a href="tqobject.html">TQObject</a> subclass you may wish to override some
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aspects of some of the class's properties.
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<p> For example, in <a href="tqwidget.html">TQWidget</a> we have the autoMask property defined like
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this:
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<pre>
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TQ_PROPERTY( bool autoMask READ autoMask WRITE setAutoMask DESIGNABLE false SCRIPTABLE false )
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</pre>
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<p> But we need to make the auto mask property designable in some TQWidget
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subclasses. Similarly some classes will need this property to be
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scriptable (e.g. for TQSA). This is achieved by overriding these
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features of the property in a subclass. In <a href="tqcheckbox.html">TQCheckBox</a>, for example, we
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achieve this using the following code:
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<pre>
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TQ_OVERRIDE( bool autoMask DESIGNABLE true SCRIPTABLE true )
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</pre>
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<p> Another example is <a href="tqtoolbutton.html">TQToolButton</a>. By default TQToolButton has a read-only
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"toggleButton" property, because that's what it inherits from TQButton:
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<pre>
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TQ_PROPERTY( bool toggleButton READ isToggleButton )
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</pre>
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<p> But we want to make our tool buttons able to be toggled, so we write a
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WRITE function in TQToolButton, and use the following property override
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to make it acessible:
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<pre>
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TQ_OVERRIDE( bool toggleButton WRITE setToggleButton )
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</pre>
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The result is read-write (and scriptable and designable, since we now
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have a WRITE function) boolean property "toggleButton" for tool
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buttons.
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<p>
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<!-- eof -->
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<p><address><hr><div align=center>
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<table width=100% cellspacing=0 border=0><tr>
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<td>Copyright © 2007
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<a href="troll.html">Trolltech</a><td align=center><a href="trademarks.html">Trademarks</a>
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<td align=right><div align=right>TQt 3.3.8</div>
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</table></div></address></body>
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</html>
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