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/****************************************************************************
**
** Copyright (C) 2012 Nokia Corporation and/or its subsidiary(-ies).
** Contact: http://www.qt-project.org/
**
** This file is part of the documentation of the Qt Toolkit.
**
** $QT_BEGIN_LICENSE:FDL$
** 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.
**
** Other Usage
** Alternatively, this file may be used in accordance with the terms
** and conditions contained in a signed written agreement between you
** and Nokia.
**
**
**
**
**
** $QT_END_LICENSE$
**
****************************************************************************/
/*!
\page qtqml-modules-cppplugins.html
\title Creating C++ Plugins for QML
\brief Description of how to write C++ plugins for QML
\section1 Creating a Plugin
The \l{QQmlEngine}{QML engine} load C++ plugins for QML.
Such plugins are usually provided in a QML extension module, and can
provide types and functionality for use by clients in QML documents
which import the module.
QQmlExtensionPlugin is a plugin interface that makes it possible to
create QML extensions that can be loaded dynamically into QML applications.
These extensions allow custom QML types to be made available to the
QML engine.
To write a QML extension plugin:
\list 1
\li Subclass QQmlExtensionPlugin
\list
\li Use the Q_PLUGIN_METADATA() macro to register the plugin with
the Qt meta object system
\li Override the \l{QQmlExtensionPlugin::}{registerTypes()} method
and call qmlRegisterType() to register the types to be exported
by the plugin
\endlist
\li Write a project file for the plugin
\li Create a \l{Module Definition qmldir Files}{qmldir file} to
describe the plugin
\endlist
QML extension plugins are for either application-specific or library-like
plugins. Library plugins should limit themselves to registering types, as
any manipulation of the engine's root context may cause conflicts or other
issues in the library user's code.
\section1 Plugin Example
Suppose there is a new \c TimeModel C++ class that should be made available
as a new QML element. It provides the current time through \c hour and \c minute
properties.
\snippet examples/qml/plugins/plugin.cpp 0
\dots
To make this type available, we create a plugin class named \c QExampleQmlPlugin
which is a subclass of \l QQmlExtensionPlugin. It overrides the
\l{QQmlExtensionPlugin::}{registerTypes()} method in order to register the \c TimeModel
type using qmlRegisterType(). It also uses the Q_PLUGIN_METADATA() macro in the class
definition to register the plugin with the Qt meta object system using a unique
identifier for the plugin.
\snippet examples/qml/plugins/plugin.cpp plugin
The \c TimeModel class receives a \c{1.0} version of this plugin library, as
a QML type called \c Time. The Q_ASSERT() macro can ensure the type namespace is
imported correctly by any QML components that use this plugin. The
\l{Defining QML Types from C++} article has more information about registering C++
types into the runtime.
For this example, the TimeExample source directory is in
\c{com/nokia/TimeExample}. The plugin's type namespace will mirror
this structure, so the types are registered into the namespace
"com.nokia.TimeExample".
Additionally, the project file, in a \c .pro file, defines the project as a plugin library,
specifies it should be built into the \c com/nokia/TimeExample directory, and registers
the plugin target name and various other details:
\code
TEMPLATE = lib
CONFIG += qt plugin
QT += qml
DESTDIR = com/nokia/TimeExample
TARGET = qmlqtimeexampleplugin
SOURCES += qexampleqmlplugin.cpp
\endcode
Finally, a \l{Module Definition qmldir Files}{qmldir file} is required
in the \c com/nokia/TimeExample directory to describe the plugin and the types that it
exports. The plugin includes a \c Clock.qml file along with the \c qmlqtimeexampleplugin
that is built by the project (as shown above in the \c .pro file) so both of these
need to be specified in the \c qmldir file:
\quotefile examples/qml/plugins/com/nokia/TimeExample/qmldir
Once the project is built and installed, the new \c Time component is
accessible by any QML component that imports the \c com.nokia.TimeExample
module
\snippet examples/qml/plugins/plugins.qml 0
The full source code is available in the \l {qml/plugins}{plugins example}.
\section1 Reference
\list
\li \l {Writing QML Extensions with C++} - contains a chapter
on creating QML plugins.
\li \l{Defining QML Types from C++} - information about registering C++ types into
the runtime.
\li \l{How to Create Qt Plugins} - information about Qt plugins
\endlist
*/
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