Signals and slots is a language construct introduced also in Qt[1] for communication between objects which makes it easy to implement the observer pattern while avoiding boilerplate code. The concept is that GUI widgets can send signals containing event information which can be received by other widgets / controls using special functions known as slots. This is similar to C/C++ function pointers, but signal/slot system ensures the type-correctness of callback arguments.[citation needed]
Threads and Signals and Slots The Signals and Slots mechanism can be used in separate threads, as long as the rules for QObject based classes are followed. The Signals and Slots mechanism is synchronous: when a signal is emitted, all slots are called immediately. The slots are executed in the thread context that emitted the signal. Since QRect and QImage objects can be serialized for transmission via the signals and slots mechanism, they can be sent between threads in this way, making it convenient to use threads in a wide range of situations where built-in types are used. QObjects are one of the fundamental building blocks of Qt applications. QObjects provide memory management, advanced event handling, and signals and slots: a devious mechanism to allow communication between QObjects and modules in a thread-safe manner, while allowing your system to remain loosely coupled and flexible.
The signal/slot system fits well with the way graphical user interfaces are designed.[citation needed] Similarly, the signal/slot system can be used for other non-GUI usages, for example asynchronous I/O (including sockets, pipes, serial devices, etc.) event notification or to associate timeout events with appropriate object instances and methods or functions. It is easy to use and no registration/deregistration/invocation code need to be written, because Qt's metaobject compiler (MOC) automatically generates the needed infrastructure.
A commonly used metaphor[according to whom?] is a spreadsheet. A spreadsheet has cells that observe the source cell(s). When the source cell is changed, the dependent cells are updated from the event.
Alternative implementations[edit]
There are some implementations of signal/slot systems based on C++ templates, which don't require the extra metaobject compiler, as used by Qt, such as libsigc++, sigslot, vdk-signals, nano-signal-slot, neosigslot, Signals, boost.signals2, Synapse, Cpp::Events, Platinum and JBroadcaster. Common Language Infrastructure (CLI) languages such as C# also supports a similar construct although with a different terminology and syntax: events play the role of signals, and delegates are the slots. Another implementation of signals exists for ActionScript 3.0, inspired by C# events and signals/slots in Qt. Additionally, a delegate can be a local variable, much like a function pointer, while a slot in Qt must be a class member declared as such. The C based GObject system also provides similar functionality via GSignal.In D it is implemented by std.signals.
See also[edit]
Libraries[edit]
Qt Signals And Slots Thread Safe Code
Java: sig4j - multi-threaded, type-safe, based on the FunctionalInterface annotation introduced in Java 8.
C++: vdk-signals - thread-safe, type-safe, written in C++11 with atomic variables.
References[edit]
- ^'Signals & Slots - QtCore 5.1'. Qt Project. 2013-07-04. Retrieved 2013-07-04.
Signals and slots is a language construct introduced also in Qt[1] for communication between objects which makes it easy to implement the observer pattern while avoiding boilerplate code. The concept is that GUI widgets can send signals containing event information which can be received by other widgets / controls using special functions known as slots. This is similar to C/C++ function pointers, but signal/slot system ensures the type-correctness of callback arguments.[citation needed]
Threads and Signals and Slots The Signals and Slots mechanism can be used in separate threads, as long as the rules for QObject based classes are followed. The Signals and Slots mechanism is synchronous: when a signal is emitted, all slots are called immediately. The slots are executed in the thread context that emitted the signal. Since QRect and QImage objects can be serialized for transmission via the signals and slots mechanism, they can be sent between threads in this way, making it convenient to use threads in a wide range of situations where built-in types are used. QObjects are one of the fundamental building blocks of Qt applications. QObjects provide memory management, advanced event handling, and signals and slots: a devious mechanism to allow communication between QObjects and modules in a thread-safe manner, while allowing your system to remain loosely coupled and flexible.
The signal/slot system fits well with the way graphical user interfaces are designed.[citation needed] Similarly, the signal/slot system can be used for other non-GUI usages, for example asynchronous I/O (including sockets, pipes, serial devices, etc.) event notification or to associate timeout events with appropriate object instances and methods or functions. It is easy to use and no registration/deregistration/invocation code need to be written, because Qt's metaobject compiler (MOC) automatically generates the needed infrastructure.
A commonly used metaphor[according to whom?] is a spreadsheet. A spreadsheet has cells that observe the source cell(s). When the source cell is changed, the dependent cells are updated from the event.
Alternative implementations[edit]
There are some implementations of signal/slot systems based on C++ templates, which don't require the extra metaobject compiler, as used by Qt, such as libsigc++, sigslot, vdk-signals, nano-signal-slot, neosigslot, Signals, boost.signals2, Synapse, Cpp::Events, Platinum and JBroadcaster. Common Language Infrastructure (CLI) languages such as C# also supports a similar construct although with a different terminology and syntax: events play the role of signals, and delegates are the slots. Another implementation of signals exists for ActionScript 3.0, inspired by C# events and signals/slots in Qt. Additionally, a delegate can be a local variable, much like a function pointer, while a slot in Qt must be a class member declared as such. The C based GObject system also provides similar functionality via GSignal.In D it is implemented by std.signals.
See also[edit]
Libraries[edit]
Qt Signals And Slots Thread Safe Code
Java: sig4j - multi-threaded, type-safe, based on the FunctionalInterface annotation introduced in Java 8.
C++: vdk-signals - thread-safe, type-safe, written in C++11 with atomic variables.
References[edit]
- ^'Signals & Slots - QtCore 5.1'. Qt Project. 2013-07-04. Retrieved 2013-07-04.
When building with Qt, the Moc keywords signals and slots are defined using preprocessor macros, causing programs using Boost.Signals and Qt together to fail to compile.
For Qt 4.1 and later, This behavior can be turned off in Qt on a per-project or per-file basis with the no_keywords option. This works with out-of-the-box builds of Boost and Qt. You do not need to re-configure, re-build, or duplicate existing libraries. For a project where you want to use both Boost.Signals and Qt Signals and Slots, the relevant part of your .pro file might look like this:
Now you can mix Boost.Signals and Qt Signals and Slots in the same files, and even within the same class or function. You will have to use the upper-case versions of Qt macros in your own code. See the article A Deeper Look at Signals and Slots [off-site] for more complete examples and a survey of the strengths of the two systems.
Older versions of Qt did not provide a reliable mechanism for avoiding these unfriendly, all lower-case `keyword'-like macros. Although this is a problem with Qt and not Boost.Signals, a user can use the two systems together with a little extra effort. There are two ways to do this:
The first way involves defining the BOOST_SIGNALS_NAMESPACE macro to some other identifier (e.g., signalslib) when building and using the Boost.Signals library. Then the namespace of the Boost.Signals library will be boost::BOOST_SIGNALS_NAMESPACE instead of boost::signals. To retain the original namespace name in translation units that do not interact with Qt, you can use a namespace alias:
The second way, provided by Frank Hess and improved by Niels Dekker, involves creating a header signalslib.hpp that contains the following code:
Qt Signal Slot Not Working
Use this header to include the Boost library, then refer to it in the namespace boost::signalslib. This option is often preferable to the first option because it can be used without recompiling the Signals library binary.
