Extending QML - Object and List Property Types Example

Exporting C++ Properties.

This example builds on Extending QML - Adding Types Example.

The Object and List Property Types example shows how to add object and list properties in QML. This example adds a BirthdayParty type that specifies a birthday party, consisting of a celebrant and a list of guests. People are specified using the People QML type built in the previous example.

import examples.properties.people

BirthdayParty {
    host: Person {
        name: "Bob Jones"
        shoe_size: 12
    }
    guests: [
        Person { name: "Leo Hodges" },
        Person { name: "Jack Smith" },
        Person { name: "Anne Brown" }
    ]
}

Declare the BirthdayParty

The BirthdayParty class is declared like this:

from person import Person


# To be used on the @QmlElement decorator
# (QML_IMPORT_MINOR_VERSION is optional)
QML_IMPORT_NAME = "People"
QML_IMPORT_MAJOR_VERSION = 1


@QmlElement
class BirthdayParty(QObject):

    def __init__(self, parent=None):
        super().__init__(parent)
        self._host = None
        self._guests = []

    @Property(Person)
    def host(self):
        return self._host

    @host.setter
    def host(self, h):
        self._host = h

    def guest(self, n):
        return self._guests[n]

    def guestCount(self):
        return len(self._guests)

    def appendGuest(self, guest):
        self._guests.append(guest)

    guests = ListProperty(Person, appendGuest)

The class contains a member to store the celebrant object, and also a list member storing the Person instances.

In QML, the type of a list properties - and the guests property is a list of people - are all of type ListProperty. ListProperty is simple value type that contains a set of functions. QML calls these functions whenever it needs to read from, write to or otherwise interact with the list. In addition to concrete lists like the people list used in this example, the use of QQmlListProperty allows for “virtual lists” and other advanced scenarios.

Running the Example

The main.py file in the example includes a simple shell application that loads and runs the QML snippet shown at the beginning of this page.

Download this example

main.py

# Copyright (C) 2022 The Qt Company Ltd.
# SPDX-License-Identifier: LicenseRef-Qt-Commercial OR BSD-3-Clause

"""PySide6 port of the qml/examples/qml/referenceexamples/properties example from Qt v6.x"""

from pathlib import Path
import sys

from PySide6.QtCore import QCoreApplication
from PySide6.QtQml import QQmlComponent, QQmlEngine

from person import Person
from birthdayparty import BirthdayParty


if __name__ == '__main__':
    app = QCoreApplication(sys.argv)

    engine = QQmlEngine()
    engine.addImportPath(Path(__file__).parent)
    component = QQmlComponent(engine)
    component.loadFromModule("People", "Main")

    party = component.create()
    if party:
        print(f"{party.host} is having a birthday!\nThey are inviting:")
        for g in range(party.guestCount()):
            name = party.guest(g).name
            print(f"    {name}")
    else:
        print(component.errors())

    del engine
    sys.exit(0)

person.py

# Copyright (C) 2022 The Qt Company Ltd.
# SPDX-License-Identifier: LicenseRef-Qt-Commercial OR BSD-3-Clause

from PySide6.QtCore import QObject, Property
from PySide6.QtQml import QmlElement

# To be used on the @QmlElement decorator
# (QML_IMPORT_MINOR_VERSION is optional)
QML_IMPORT_NAME = "People"
QML_IMPORT_MAJOR_VERSION = 1


@QmlElement
class Person(QObject):
    def __init__(self, parent=None):
        super().__init__(parent)
        self._name = ''
        self._shoe_size = 0

    @Property(str)
    def name(self):
        return self._name

    @name.setter
    def name(self, n):
        self._name = n

    @Property(int)
    def shoe_size(self):
        return self._shoe_size

    @shoe_size.setter
    def shoe_size(self, s):
        self._shoe_size = s

birthdayparty.py

# Copyright (C) 2022 The Qt Company Ltd.
# SPDX-License-Identifier: LicenseRef-Qt-Commercial OR BSD-3-Clause

from PySide6.QtCore import QObject, Property
from PySide6.QtQml import QmlElement, ListProperty

from person import Person


# To be used on the @QmlElement decorator
# (QML_IMPORT_MINOR_VERSION is optional)
QML_IMPORT_NAME = "People"
QML_IMPORT_MAJOR_VERSION = 1


@QmlElement
class BirthdayParty(QObject):

    def __init__(self, parent=None):
        super().__init__(parent)
        self._host = None
        self._guests = []

    @Property(Person)
    def host(self):
        return self._host

    @host.setter
    def host(self, h):
        self._host = h

    def guest(self, n):
        return self._guests[n]

    def guestCount(self):
        return len(self._guests)

    def appendGuest(self, guest):
        self._guests.append(guest)

    guests = ListProperty(Person, appendGuest)

People/Main.qml

// Copyright (C) 2021 The Qt Company Ltd.
// SPDX-License-Identifier: LicenseRef-Qt-Commercial OR BSD-3-Clause

import People

BirthdayParty {
    host: Person {
        name: "Bob Jones"
        shoe_size: 12
    }
    guests: [
        Person { name: "Leo Hodges" },
        Person { name: "Jack Smith" },
        Person { name: "Anne Brown" }
    ]
}

People/qmldir

module People
typeinfo coercion.qmltypes
Main 1.0 Main.qml