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Queued Custom Type Example#

Demonstrates multi-thread programming using Qt.

The Queued Custom Type example shows how to send custom types between threads with queued signals and slots.

Contents:

Overview#

In the Custom Type Example , we showed how to integrate custom types with the meta-object system, enabling them to be stored in QVariant objects, written out in debugging information and used in signal-slot communication.

In this example, we create a new value class, Block, and register it with the meta-object system to enable us to send instances of it between threads using queued signals and slots.

The Block Class#

The Block class is similar to the Message class described in the Custom Type Example . It provides the default constructor, copy constructor and destructor in the public section of the class that the meta-object system requires. It describes a colored rectangle.

class Block():

# public
    Block()
    Block(Block other)
    ~Block()
    Block(QRect rect, QColor color)
    color = QColor()
    rect = QRect()
# private
    m_rect = QRect()
    m_color = QColor()

Q_DECLARE_METATYPE(Block)

We will still need to register it with the meta-object system at run-time by calling the qRegisterMetaType() template function before we make any signal-slot connections that use this type. Even though we do not intend to use the type with QVariant in this example, it is good practice to also declare the new type with Q_DECLARE_METATYPE() .

The implementation of the Block class is trivial, so we avoid quoting it here.

The Window Class#

We define a simple Window class with a public slot that accepts a Block object. The rest of the class is concerned with managing the user interface and handling images.

class Window(QWidget):

    Q_OBJECT
# public
    Window(QWidget parent = None)
    def loadImage(image):
# public slots
    def addBlock(block):
# private slots
    def loadImage():
    def resetUi():
# private
    label = QLabel()
    pixmap = QPixmap()
    loadButton = QPushButton()
    resetButton = QPushButton()
    path = QString()
    thread = RenderThread()

The Window class also contains a worker thread, provided by a RenderThread object. This will emit signals to send Block objects to the window’s addBlock(Block) slot.

The parts of the Window class that are most relevant are the constructor and the addBlock(Block) slot.

The constructor creates a thread for rendering images, sets up a user interface containing a label and two push buttons that are connected to slots in the same class.

def __init__(self, parent):
    super().__init__(parent)
    self.thread = RenderThread(self)        label = QLabel(self)
label.setAlignment(Qt.AlignCenter)
loadButton = QPushButton(tr("Load image..."), self)
resetButton = QPushButton(tr("Stop"), self)
resetButton.setEnabled(False)
loadButton.clicked.connect(
        self, QOverload<>.of(Window.loadImage))
resetButton.clicked.connect(
        thread.stopProcess)
thread.finished.connect(
        self.resetUi)        thread.sendBlock.connect(
        self.addBlock)

In the last of these connections, we connect a signal in the RenderThread object to the addBlock(Block) slot in the window.

    ...
setWindowTitle(tr("Queued Custom Type"))

The rest of the constructor simply sets up the layout of the window.

The addBlock(Block) slot receives blocks from the rendering thread via the signal-slot connection set up in the constructor:

def addBlock(self, block):

    color = block.color()
    color.setAlpha(64)
    painter = QPainter()
    painter.begin(pixmap)
    painter.fillRect(block.rect(), color)
    painter.end()
    label.setPixmap(pixmap)

We simply paint these onto the label as they arrive.

The RenderThread Class#

The RenderThread class processes an image, creating Block objects and using the sendBlock(Block) signal to send them to other components in the example.

class RenderThread(QThread):

    Q_OBJECT
# public
    RenderThread(QObject parent = None)
    ~RenderThread()
    def processImage(image):
# signals
    def sendBlock(block):
# public slots
    def stopProcess():
# protected
    def run():
# private
    m_abort = bool()
    m_image = QImage()
    mutex = QMutex()

The constructor and destructor are not quoted here. These take care of setting up the thread’s internal state and cleaning up when it is destroyed.

Processing is started with the processImage() function, which calls the RenderThread class’s reimplementation of the run() function:

def processImage(self, image):

    if image.isNull():
        return
    m_image = image
    m_abort = False
    start()

def run(self):

    size = qMax(m_image.width()/20, m_image.height()/20)
    for s in range( 0, size, -1):
        for c in range(0, 400):

Ignoring the details of the way the image is processed, we see that the signal containing a block is emitted in the usual way:

    ...
Block block(QRect(x1, y1, x2 - x1 + 1, y2 - y1 + 1),
            QColor(red/n, green/n, blue/n))
sendBlock.emit(block)
if m_abort:
    return
msleep(10)

Each signal that is emitted will be queued and delivered later to the window’s addBlock(Block) slot.

Registering the Type#

In the example’s main() function, we perform the registration of the Block class as a custom type with the meta-object system by calling the qRegisterMetaType() template function:

if __name__ == "__main__":

    app = QApplication([])
    qRegisterMetaType<Block>()
    window = Window()
    window.show()
    window.loadImage(createImage(256, 256))
    sys.exit(app.exec())

This call is placed here to ensure that the type is registered before any signal-slot connections are made that use it.

The rest of the main() function is concerned with setting a seed for the pseudo-random number generator, creating and showing the window, and setting a default image. See the source code for the implementation of the createImage() function.

Queued Custom Type Example#

Overview#

The Block Class#

The Window Class#

The RenderThread Class#

Registering the Type#

Further Reading#