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This page was used to describe the new signal and slot syntax during its development. The feature is now released with Qt 5.
Signals, slots, QOBJECT, emit, SIGNAL, SLOT. Those are known as the Qt extension to C. They are in fact simple macros, defined in qobjectdefs.h. #define signals public #define slots /. nothing./ That is right, signals and slots are simple functions: the compiler will handle them them like any other functions. PyQt5 signals and slots Graphical applications (GUI) are event-driven, unlike console or terminal applications. A users action like clicks a button or selecting an item in a list is called an event. If an event takes place, each PyQt5 widget can emit a signal.
- Differences between String-Based and Functor-Based Connections (Official documentation)
- Introduction (Woboq blog)
- Implementation Details (Woboq blog)
Note: This is in addition to the old string-based syntax which remains valid.
- 1Connecting in Qt 5
- 2Disconnecting in Qt 5
- 4Error reporting
- 5Open questions
Connecting in Qt 5
There are several ways to connect a signal in Qt 5.
Old syntax
Qt 5 continues to support the old string-based syntax for connecting signals and slots defined in a QObject or any class that inherits from QObject (including QWidget)
New: connecting to QObject member
Here's Qt 5's new way to connect two QObjects and pass non-string objects:
Pros
- Compile time check of the existence of the signals and slot, of the types, or if the Q_OBJECT is missing.
- Argument can be by typedefs or with different namespace specifier, and it works.
- Possibility to automatically cast the types if there is implicit conversion (e.g. from QString to QVariant)
- It is possible to connect to any member function of QObject, not only slots.
Cons
- More complicated syntax? (you need to specify the type of your object)
- Very complicated syntax in cases of overloads? (see below)
- Default arguments in slot is not supported anymore.
New: connecting to simple function
The new syntax can even connect to functions, not just QObjects:
Pros
- Can be used with std::bind:
- Can be used with C++11 lambda expressions:
Cons
- There is no automatic disconnection when the 'receiver' is destroyed because it's a functor with no QObject. However, since 5.2 there is an overload which adds a 'context object'. When that object is destroyed, the connection is broken (the context is also used for the thread affinity: the lambda will be called in the thread of the event loop of the object used as context).
Disconnecting in Qt 5
As you might expect, there are some changes in how connections can be terminated in Qt 5, too.
Old way
You can disconnect in the old way (using SIGNAL, SLOT) but only if
- You connected using the old way, or
- If you want to disconnect all the slots from a given signal using wild card character
Symetric to the function pointer one
Only works if you connected with the symmetric call, with function pointers (Or you can also use 0 for wild card)In particular, does not work with static function, functors or lambda functions.
New way using QMetaObject::Connection
Works in all cases, including lambda functions or functors.
Asynchronous made easier
With C++11 it is possible to keep the code inline
Here's a QDialog without re-entering the eventloop, and keeping the code where it belongs:
Another example using QHttpServer : http://pastebin.com/pfbTMqUm
Error reporting
Tested with GCC.
Fortunately, IDEs like Qt Creator simplifies the function naming
Missing Q_OBJECT in class definition
Type mismatch
Open questions
Default arguments in slot
If you have code like this:
The old method allows you to connect that slot to a signal that does not have arguments.But I cannot know with template code if a function has default arguments or not.So this feature is disabled.
There was an implementation that falls back to the old method if there are more arguments in the slot than in the signal.This however is quite inconsistent, since the old method does not perform type-checking or type conversion. It was removed from the patch that has been merged.
Overload
As you might see in the example above, connecting to QAbstractSocket::error is not really beautiful since error has an overload, and taking the address of an overloaded function requires explicit casting, e.g. a connection that previously was made as follows:
connect(mySpinBox, SIGNAL(valueChanged(int)), mySlider, SLOT(setValue(int));
cannot be simply converted to:
...because QSpinBox has two signals named valueChanged() with different arguments. Instead, the new code needs to be:
Unfortunately, using an explicit cast here allows several types of errors to slip past the compiler. Adding a temporary variable assignment preserves these compile-time checks:
Some macro could help (with C++11 or typeof extensions). A template based solution was introduced in Qt 5.7: qOverload
The best thing is probably to recommend not to overload signals or slots …
… but we have been adding overloads in past minor releases of Qt because taking the address of a function was not a use case we support. But now this would be impossible without breaking the source compatibility.
Disconnect
Should QMetaObject::Connection have a disconnect() function?
The other problem is that there is no automatic disconnection for some object in the closure if we use the syntax that takes a closure.One could add a list of objects in the disconnection, or a new function like QMetaObject::Connection::require
Callbacks
Function such as QHostInfo::lookupHost or QTimer::singleShot or QFileDialog::open take a QObject receiver and char* slot.This does not work for the new method.If one wants to do callback C++ way, one should use std::functionBut we cannot use STL types in our ABI, so a QFunction should be done to copy std::function.In any case, this is irrelevant for QObject connections.
This section describes the older style for connecting signals and slots. Ituses the same API that a C++ application would use. This has a number ofadvantages.
- It is well understood and documented.
- Any future changes to the C++ API should be easily included.
Pros
- Can be used with std::bind:
- Can be used with C++11 lambda expressions:
Cons
- There is no automatic disconnection when the 'receiver' is destroyed because it's a functor with no QObject. However, since 5.2 there is an overload which adds a 'context object'. When that object is destroyed, the connection is broken (the context is also used for the thread affinity: the lambda will be called in the thread of the event loop of the object used as context).
Disconnecting in Qt 5
As you might expect, there are some changes in how connections can be terminated in Qt 5, too.
Old way
You can disconnect in the old way (using SIGNAL, SLOT) but only if
- You connected using the old way, or
- If you want to disconnect all the slots from a given signal using wild card character
Symetric to the function pointer one
Only works if you connected with the symmetric call, with function pointers (Or you can also use 0 for wild card)In particular, does not work with static function, functors or lambda functions.
New way using QMetaObject::Connection
Works in all cases, including lambda functions or functors.
Asynchronous made easier
With C++11 it is possible to keep the code inline
Here's a QDialog without re-entering the eventloop, and keeping the code where it belongs:
Another example using QHttpServer : http://pastebin.com/pfbTMqUm
Error reporting
Tested with GCC.
Fortunately, IDEs like Qt Creator simplifies the function naming
Missing Q_OBJECT in class definition
Type mismatch
Open questions
Default arguments in slot
If you have code like this:
The old method allows you to connect that slot to a signal that does not have arguments.But I cannot know with template code if a function has default arguments or not.So this feature is disabled.
There was an implementation that falls back to the old method if there are more arguments in the slot than in the signal.This however is quite inconsistent, since the old method does not perform type-checking or type conversion. It was removed from the patch that has been merged.
Overload
As you might see in the example above, connecting to QAbstractSocket::error is not really beautiful since error has an overload, and taking the address of an overloaded function requires explicit casting, e.g. a connection that previously was made as follows:
connect(mySpinBox, SIGNAL(valueChanged(int)), mySlider, SLOT(setValue(int));
cannot be simply converted to:
...because QSpinBox has two signals named valueChanged() with different arguments. Instead, the new code needs to be:
Unfortunately, using an explicit cast here allows several types of errors to slip past the compiler. Adding a temporary variable assignment preserves these compile-time checks:
Some macro could help (with C++11 or typeof extensions). A template based solution was introduced in Qt 5.7: qOverload
The best thing is probably to recommend not to overload signals or slots …
… but we have been adding overloads in past minor releases of Qt because taking the address of a function was not a use case we support. But now this would be impossible without breaking the source compatibility.
Disconnect
Should QMetaObject::Connection have a disconnect() function?
The other problem is that there is no automatic disconnection for some object in the closure if we use the syntax that takes a closure.One could add a list of objects in the disconnection, or a new function like QMetaObject::Connection::require
Callbacks
Function such as QHostInfo::lookupHost or QTimer::singleShot or QFileDialog::open take a QObject receiver and char* slot.This does not work for the new method.If one wants to do callback C++ way, one should use std::functionBut we cannot use STL types in our ABI, so a QFunction should be done to copy std::function.In any case, this is irrelevant for QObject connections.
This section describes the older style for connecting signals and slots. Ituses the same API that a C++ application would use. This has a number ofadvantages.
- It is well understood and documented.
- Any future changes to the C++ API should be easily included.
It also has a number of disadvantages.
- It requires knowledge of the C++ types of signal arguments.
- It is error prone in that if you mis-type the signal name or signature thenno exception is raised, either when the signal is connected or emitted.
- It is verbose.
- It is not Pythonic.
This older style of connecting signals and slots will continue to be supportedthroughout the life of PyQt4.
PyQt4 Signals and Qt Signals¶
Qt signals are statically defined as part of a C++ class. They are referencedusing the QtCore.SIGNAL() function. This method takes a single stringargument that is the name of the signal and its C++ signature. For example:
The returned value is normally passed to the QtCore.QObject.connect()method.
PyQt4 allows new signals to be defined dynamically. The act of emitting aPyQt4 signal implicitly defines it. PyQt4 signals are also referenced usingthe QtCore.SIGNAL() function.
The PyQt_PyObject Signal Argument Type¶
It is possible to pass any Python object as a signal argument by specifyingPyQt_PyObject as the type of the argument in the signature. For example:
While this would normally be used for passing objects like lists anddictionaries as signal arguments, it can be used for any Python type. Itsadvantage when passing, for example, an integer is that the normal conversionsfrom a Python object to a C++ integer and back again are not required.
The reference count of the object being passed is maintained automatically.There is no need for the emitter of a signal to keep a reference to the objectafter the call to QtCore.QObject.emit(), even if a connection is queued.
Short-circuit Signals¶
There is also a special form of a PyQt4 signal known as a short-circuit signal.Short-circut signals implicitly declare each argument as being of typePyQt_PyObject.
Short-circuit signals do not have a list of arguments or the surroundingparentheses.
Short-circuit signals may only be connected to slots that have been implementedin Python. They cannot be connected to Qt slots or the Python callables thatwrap Qt slots.
PyQt4 Slots and Qt Slots¶
Qt slots are statically defined as part of a C++ class. They are referencedusing the QtCore.SLOT() function. This method takes a single stringargument that is the name of the slot and its C++ signature. For example:
The returned value is normally passed to the QtCore.QObject.connect()method.
PyQt4 allows any Python callable to be used as a slot, not just Qt slots. Thisis done by simply referencing the callable. Because Qt slots are implementedas class methods they are also available as Python callables. Therefore it isnot usually necessary to use QtCore.SLOT() for Qt slots. However, doing sois more efficient as it avoids a conversion to Python and back to C++.
Qt allows a signal to be connected to a slot that requires fewer arguments thanthe signal passes. The extra arguments are quietly discarded. PyQt4 slots canbe used in the same way.
Note that when a slot is a Python callable its reference count is notincreased. This means that a class instance can be deleted without having toexplicitly disconnect any signals connected to its methods. However, if a slotis a lambda function or a partial function then its reference count isautomatically incremented to prevent it from being immediately garbagecollected.
Connecting Signals and Slots¶
Connections between signals and slots (and other signals) are made using theQtCore.QObject.connect() method. For example:
Disconnecting signals works in exactly the same way using theQtCore.QObject.disconnect() method. However, not all the variations ofthat method are supported by PyQt4. Signals must be disconnected one at atime.
Pyside2 Signal Slot
Emitting Signals¶
Any instance of a class that is derived from the QtCore.QObject class canemit a signal using its emit() method. This takes a minimum of oneargument which is the signal. Any other arguments are passed to the connectedslots as the signal arguments. For example:
Signal Slot Reference Generator
The QtCore.pyqtSignature() Decorator¶
Qt Signal Slot Undefined Reference
The QtCore.pyqtSignature() serves the same purpose as thepyqtSlot() decorator but has a less Pythonic API.
