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How to add EmbeddedPyQt to your C++ project

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How to use EmbeddedPyQt

Calling Python from C++

The method EmbeddedPyQt::execute emits a signal excecutionRequested(QString command, bool globalContext) which is connected to the Python interpreter.

embpyqt->execute("embpyqt_console.Visible = True", true);

If the second parameter is true then the command will be executed in a global context. Else the call will be executed in a new context.

To execute a complete script you could use Python’s execfile function:

embpyqt->execute("execfile('myscript.py')", false);

Or you import the script as a module

embpyqt->execute("import myscript", false);

But beware that a module will be only imported once.

To pass complex parameters (e.g. QObject instances) to Python the best way is to create a signal. Then load a script into the global context and connect the C++ signal with your Python callback. After that you can emit the signal.

Using C++ from Python

Python can connect to existing C++ signals and is able to modify the user interface. All available classes and instances are availale in the global context. With a fresh context you have to import the names from the embeddedpyqt package.

from embeddedpyqt import *
embpyqt_console.Visible = True
test = Test()        # available in to demo app
print test.calc(1,2) # should return 3
embpyqt_console.WindowTitle = "Done"

Differences to sip

Because the bindings are dynamically created they behave not like sip bindings. The classes are created on-the-fly with Python meta programming.

Using the descriptor protocol it is possible to support properties natively (without using property/setProperty). To prevent name clashes between properties and their getter methods the property name always starts with a captital letter. So while you would do the following with PyQt objects

old_title = dlg.windowTitle()
dlg.setWindowTitle(old_title + "*")

You now can write

dlg.WindowTitle = dlg.WindowTitle + "*"

The idea is to provide a really simple scripting api for the end user.

Additionally -like QtScript- a child object can be accessed like an attribute if the child has a object name.

Known limitations:

  • a little bit slower than sip
  • currently sub-classing is not really working and untested
  • explicit garbage collection handling might be needed for some objects
  • exception handling not fully tested and undocumented
  • creating a new QApplication instance will stop your app from working, please use qApp or QCoreApplication.instance() instead

Hint

The underlying QObject of every wrapped class is available as an attribute called _qt.