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/*!
\page qtqml-syntax-signals.html

\title Signal and Handler Event System
\brief the event system in QML

Application and user interface components need to communicate with each other. For
example, a button needs to know that the user has clicked on it.
The button may change colors to indicate its state or perform some logic. As
well, application needs to know whether the user is clicking the button. The
application may need to relay this clicking event to other applications.

QML has a signal and handler mechanism, where the \e signal is the event
and the signal is responded to through a \e {signal handler}. When a signal
is emitted, the corresponding signal handler is invoked. Placing logic such as
a script or other operations in the handler allows the component to respond to
the event.

\target qml-signals-and-handlers
\section1 Receiving signals with signal handlers

To receive a notification when a particular signal is emitted for a particular
object, the object definition should declare a signal handler named
\e on<Signal>, where \e <Signal> is the name of the signal, with the first
letter capitalized. The signal handler should contain the JavaScript code to be
executed when the signal handler is invoked.

For example, the \l [QtQuickControls]{Button} type from the
\l{Qt Quick Controls} module has a \c clicked signal, which
is emitted whenever the button is clicked. In this case, the signal handler for
receiving this signal should be \c onClicked. In the example below, whenever
the button is clicked, the \c onClicked handler is invoked, applying a random
color to the parent \l Rectangle:

\qml \QtMinorVersion
import QtQuick 2.\1
import QtQuick.Controls 2.\1

Rectangle {
    id: rect
    width: 250; height: 250

    Button {
        anchors.bottom: parent.bottom
        anchors.horizontalCenter: parent.horizontalCenter
        text: "Change color!"
        onClicked: {
            rect.color = Qt.rgba(Math.random(), Math.random(), Math.random(), 1);
        }
    }
}
\endqml

\section2 Property change signal handlers

A signal is automatically emitted when the value of a QML property changes.
This type of signal is a \e {property change signal} and signal handlers for
these signals are written in the form \e on<Property>Changed, where
\e <Property> is the name of the property, with the first letter capitalized.

For example, the \l MouseArea type has a \l {MouseArea::pressed}{pressed} property. To receive a notification whenever this property changes, write a signal handler named \c onPressedChanged:

\qml \QtMinorVersion
import QtQuick 2.\1

Rectangle {
    id: rect
    width: 100; height: 100

    TapHandler {
        onPressedChanged: console.log("taphandler pressed?", pressed)
    }
}
\endqml

Even though the \l TapHandler documentation does not document a signal handler
named \c onPressedChanged, the signal is implicitly provided by the fact that
the \c pressed property exists.

\section2 Using the Connections type

In some cases it may be desirable to access a signal outside of the object that
emits it. For these purposes, the \c QtQuick module provides the \l Connections
type for connecting to signals of arbitrary objects. A \l Connections object
can receive any signal from its specified \l {Connections::target}{target}.

For example, the \c onClicked handler in the earlier example could have been
received by the root \l Rectangle instead, by placing the \c onClicked handler
in a \l Connections object that has its \l {Connections::target}{target} set to
the \c button:

\qml \QtMinorVersion
import QtQuick 2.\1
import QtQuick.Controls 2.\1

Rectangle {
    id: rect
    width: 250; height: 250

    Button {
        id: button
        anchors.bottom: parent.bottom
        anchors.horizontalCenter: parent.horizontalCenter
        text: "Change color!"
    }

    Connections {
        target: button
        function onClicked() {
            rect.color = Qt.rgba(Math.random(), Math.random(), Math.random(), 1);
        }
    }
}
\endqml


\section2 Attached signal handlers

An \l {Attached Properties and Attached Signal Handlers}{attached signal handler}
receives a signal from an \e {attaching type} rather than the object within which
the handler is declared.

For example, \l{Component::completed}{Component.onCompleted} is an attached
signal handler. It is often used to execute some JavaScript code when its
creation process is complete. Here is an example:

\qml \QtMinorVersion
import QtQuick 2.\1

Rectangle {
    width: 200; height: 200
    color: Qt.rgba(Qt.random(), Qt.random(), Qt.random(), 1)

    Component.onCompleted: {
        console.log("The rectangle's color is", color)
    }
}
\endqml

The \c onCompleted handler is not responding to a \c completed signal from
the \l Rectangle type. Instead, an object of the \c Component \e{attaching type}
with a \c completed signal has automatically been \e attached to the \l Rectangle
object by the QML engine. The engine emits this signal when the Rectangle object is
created, thus triggering the \c Component.onCompleted signal handler.

Attached signal handlers allow objects to be notified of particular signals that are
significant to each individual object. If there was no \c Component.onCompleted
attached signal handler, for example, an object could not receive this notification
without registering for some special signal from some special object.
The \e {attached signal handler} mechanism enables objects to receive particular
signals without extra code.

See \l {Attached properties and attached signal handlers} for more information on
attached signal handlers.

\section1 Adding signals to custom QML types

Signals can be added to custom QML types through the \c signal keyword.

The syntax for defining a new signal is:

\tt{signal <name>[([<type> <parameter name>[, ...]])]}

A signal is emitted by invoking the signal as a method.

For example, the code below is defined in a file named \c SquareButton.qml. The
root \l Rectangle object has an \c activated signal, which is emitted whenever the
child \l TapHandler is \c tapped. In this particular example the activated signal
is emitted with the x and y coordinates of the mouse click:

\qml \QtMinorVersion
// SquareButton.qml
import QtQuick 2.\1

Rectangle {
    id: root

    signal activated(real xPosition, real yPosition)
    property point mouseXY
    property int side: 100
    width: side; height: side

    TapHandler {
        id: handler
        onTapped: root.activated(mouseXY.x, mouseXY.y)
        onPressedChanged: mouseXY = handler.point.position
    }
}
\endqml

Now any objects of the \c SquareButton can connect to the \c activated signal using an \c onActivated signal handler:

\qml
// myapplication.qml
SquareButton {
    onActivated: console.log("Activated at " + xPosition + "," + yPosition)
}
\endqml

See \l {Signal Attributes} for more details on writing signals for custom QML types.


\target qml-connect-signals-to-method
\section1 Connecting signals to methods and signals

Signal objects have a \c connect() method to a connect a signal either to a
method or another signal. When a signal is connected to a method, the method is
automatically invoked whenever the signal is emitted. This mechanism enables a
signal to be received by a method instead of a signal handler.

Below, the \c messageReceived signal is connected to three methods using the \c connect() method:

\qml \QtMinorVersion
import QtQuick 2.\1

Rectangle {
    id: relay

    signal messageReceived(string person, string notice)

    Component.onCompleted: {
        relay.messageReceived.connect(sendToPost)
        relay.messageReceived.connect(sendToTelegraph)
        relay.messageReceived.connect(sendToEmail)
        relay.messageReceived("Tom", "Happy Birthday")
    }

    function sendToPost(person, notice) {
        console.log("Sending to post: " + person + ", " + notice)
    }
    function sendToTelegraph(person, notice) {
        console.log("Sending to telegraph: " + person + ", " + notice)
    }
    function sendToEmail(person, notice) {
        console.log("Sending to email: " + person + ", " + notice)
    }
}
\endqml

In many cases it is sufficient to receive signals through signal handlers
rather than using the connect() function. However, using the \c connect
method allows a signal to be received by multiple methods as shown earlier,
which would not be possible with signal handlers as they must be uniquely
named. Also, the \c connect method is useful when connecting signals to
\l {Dynamic QML Object Creation from JavaScript}{dynamically created objects}.

There is a corresponding \c disconnect() method for removing connected signals:

\qml
Rectangle {
    id: relay
    //...

    function removeTelegraphSignal() {
        relay.messageReceived.disconnect(sendToTelegraph)
    }
}
\endqml

\section3 Signal to signal connect

By connecting signals to other signals, the \c connect() method can form different
signal chains.

\qml \QtMinorVersion
import QtQuick 2.\1

Rectangle {
    id: forwarder
    width: 100; height: 100

    signal send()
    onSend: console.log("Send clicked")

    TapHandler {
        id: mousearea
        anchors.fill: parent
        onTapped: console.log("Mouse clicked")
    }

    Component.onCompleted: {
        mousearea.tapped.connect(send)
    }
}
\endqml


Whenever the \l TapHandler's \c tapped signal is emitted, the \c send
signal will automatically be emitted as well.

\code
output:
    MouseArea clicked
    Send clicked
\endcode
*/
