Home | All Classes | Main Classes | Annotated | Grouped Classes | Functions |

# QCoreApplication Class Reference

The QCoreApplication class provides an event loop for Qt applications. More...

    #include <QCoreApplication>

Inherits QObject.

Inherited by QApplication.

- List of all members, including inherited members
- Obsolete members
- Compatibility members

### Public Types

- enum Encoding { DefaultCodec, UnicodeUTF8 }

### Writable Properties

- 1 writable property inherited from QObject

### Public Functions

- QCoreApplication ( int & argc, char ** argv )
- ~QCoreApplication ()
- QString application () const
- QString applicationDirPath ()
- QString applicationFilePath ()
- int argc () const
- char ** argv () const
- virtual int exec ()
- bool hasPendingEvents ()
- void installTranslator ( QTranslator * mf )
- virtual bool notify ( QObject * receiver, QEvent * e )
- QString organization () const
- void processEvents ()
- void processEvents ( int maxtime )
- void removeTranslator ( QTranslator * mf )
- void setProductInfo ( const QString & organization, const QString & application = QString() )
- virtual bool winEventFilter ( MSG * )

- 24 public functions inherited from QObject

### Public Slots

- void quit ()

- 1 public slot inherited from QObject

### Signals

- void aboutToQuit ()

- 1 signal inherited from QObject

### Static Public Members

- void addLibraryPath ( const QString & path )
- bool closingDown ()
- QEventLoop * eventLoop ()
- void exit ( int retcode = 0 )
- void flush ()
- QCoreApplication * instance ()
- QStringList libraryPaths ()
- void postEvent ( QObject * receiver, QEvent * event )
- void removeLibraryPath ( const QString & path )
- void removePostedEvents ( QObject * receiver )
- bool sendEvent ( QObject * receiver, QEvent * event )
- void sendPostedEvents ( QObject * receiver, int event_type )
- void sendPostedEvents ()
- void setLibraryPaths ( const QStringList & paths )
- bool startingUp ()
- QString translate ( const char * context, const char * sourceText, const char * comment = 0, Encoding encoding = DefaultCodec )

- 4 static public members inherited from QObject

### Protected Functions

- 9 protected functions inherited from QObject

## Detailed Description

The QCoreApplication class provides an event loop for Qt applications.

This class is used by non-GUI applications to provide their event loop. For GUI applications see QApplication.

The command line arguments which QCoreApplication's constructor should be called with are accessible using argc() and argv(). The event loop is started with a call to exec(). Long running operations can call processEvents() to keep the application responsive. An application has an applicationDirPath() and an applicationFilePath(). Translators can be added or removed using installTranslator() and removeTranslator().

The class provides one signal, aboutToQuit(), and one slot, quit().

Several static convenience functions are also provided. The QCoreApplication object is available from instance(), and the event loop from eventLoop(). Events can be sent or posted using sendEvent(), postEvent(), and sendPostedEvents(). Pending events can be removed with removePostedEvents() or flushed with flush(). Library paths (see QLibrary) can be retrieved with libraryPaths() and manipulated by setLibraryPaths(), addLibraryPath(), and removeLibraryPath(). Application strings can be translated using translate().

## Member Type Documentation

### enum QCoreApplication::Encoding

This enum type defines the 8-bit encoding of character string arguments to translate():

`QCoreApplication::DefaultCodec` | - the encoding specified by QTextCodec::codecForTr() (Latin1 if none has been set)
`QCoreApplication::UnicodeUTF8` | - UTF-8

See also QObject::tr(), QObject::trUtf8(), and QString::fromUtf8().

## Member Function Documentation

### QCoreApplication::QCoreApplication ( int & argc, char ** argv )

Constructs a Qt kernel application. Kernel applications are applications without a graphical user interface. These type of applications are used at the console or as server processes.

The argc and argv arguments are available from argc() and argv().

### QCoreApplication::~QCoreApplication ()

Destructor.

### void QCoreApplication::aboutToQuit () `[signal]`

This signal is emitted when the application is about to quit the main event loop, e.g. when the event loop level drops to zero. This may happen either after a call to quit() from inside the application or when the users shuts down the entire desktop session.

The signal is particularly useful if your application has to do some last-second cleanup. Note that no user interaction is possible in this state.

See also quit().

### void QCoreApplication::addLibraryPath ( const QString & path ) `[static]`

Append path to the end of the library path list. If path is empty or already in the path list, the path list is not changed.

The default path list consists of a single entry, the installation directory for plugins. The default installation directory for plugins is `INSTALL/plugins`, where `INSTALL` is the directory where Qt was installed.

See also removeLibraryPath(), libraryPaths(), and setLibraryPaths().

### QString QCoreApplication::application () const

Returns the name of this application.

See also setProductInfo() and organization().

### QString QCoreApplication::applicationDirPath ()

Returns the directory that contains the application executable.

For example, if you have installed Qt in the `C:\Trolltech\Qt` directory, and you run the `demo` example, this function will return "C:/Trolltech/Qt/examples/demo".

On Mac OS X this will point to the directory actually containing the executable, which may be inside of an application bundle (if the application is bundled).

Warning: On Unix, this function assumes that argv[0] contains the file name of the executable (which it normally does). It also assumes that the current directory hasn't been changed by the application.

See also applicationFilePath().

### QString QCoreApplication::applicationFilePath ()

Returns the file path of the application executable.

For example, if you have installed Qt in the `C:\Trolltech\Qt` directory, and you run the `demo` example, this function will return "C:/Trolltech/Qt/examples/demo/demo.exe".

Warning: On Unix, this function assumes that argv[0] contains the file name of the executable (which it normally does). It also assumes that the current directory hasn't been changed by the application.

See also applicationDirPath().

### int QCoreApplication::argc () const

Returns the number of command line arguments.

The documentation for argv() describes how to process command line arguments.

See also argv() and QApplication::QApplication().

### char ** QCoreApplication::argv () const

Returns the command-line argument array.

argv()[0] is the program name, argv()[1] is the first argument, and argv()[argc() - 1] is the last argument.

A QApplication object is constructed by passing argc and argv from the `main()` function. Some of the arguments may be recognized as Qt options and removed from the argument vector. For example, the X11 version of Qt knows about `-display`, `-font`, and a few more options.

Example:

        // showargs.cpp - displays program arguments in a list box

        #include <qapplication.h>
        #include <qlistbox.h>

        int main(int argc, char **argv)
        {
            QApplication a(argc, argv);
            QListBox b;
            a.setMainWidget(&b);
            for (int i = 0; i < a.argc(); i++)  // a.argc() == argc
                b.insertItem(a.argv()[i]);      // a.argv()[i] == argv[i]
            b.show();
            return a.exec();
        }

If you run `showargs -display unix:0 -font 9x15bold hello world` under X11, the list box contains the three strings "showargs", "hello", and "world".

Qt provides a global pointer, `qApp`, that points to the QApplication object, and through which you can access argc() and argv() in functions other than main().

See also argc() and QApplication::QApplication().

### bool QCoreApplication::closingDown () `[static]`

Returns true if the application objects are being destroyed; otherwise returns false.

See also startingUp().

### QEventLoop * QCoreApplication::eventLoop () `[static]`

Returns the application event loop. This function will return zero if called during and after destroying QCoreApplication.

To create your own instance of QEventLoop or QEventLoop subclass create it before you create the QCoreApplication object.

See also QEventLoop.

### int QCoreApplication::exec () `[virtual]`

Enters the main event loop and waits until exit() is called or the main widget is destroyed, and returns the value that was set to exit() (which is 0 if exit() is called via quit()).

It is necessary to call this function to start event handling. The main event loop receives events from the window system and dispatches these to the application widgets.

Generally speaking, no user interaction can take place before calling exec(). As a special case, modal widgets like QMessageBox can be used before calling exec(), because modal widgets call exec() to start a local event loop.

To make your application perform idle processing, i.e. executing a special function whenever there are no pending events, use a QTimer with 0 timeout. More advanced idle processing schemes can be achieved using processEvents().

See also quit(), exit(), processEvents(), and QApplication::setMainWidget().

### void QCoreApplication::exit ( int retcode = 0 ) `[static]`

Tells the application to exit with a return code.

After this function has been called, the application leaves the main event loop and returns from the call to exec(). The exec() function returns retcode.

By convention, a retcode of 0 means success, and any non-zero value indicates an error.

Note that unlike the C library function of the same name, this function does return to the caller -- it is event processing that stops.

See also quit() and exec().

### void QCoreApplication::flush () `[static]`

Flushes the platform specific event queues.

If you are doing graphical changes inside a loop that does not return to the event loop on asynchronous window systems like X11 or double buffered window systems like MacOS X, and you want to visualize these changes immediately (e.g. Splash Screens), call this function.

See also sendPostedEvents().

### bool QCoreApplication::hasPendingEvents ()

This function returns true if there are pending events; otherwise returns false. Pending events can be either from the window system or posted events using QApplication::postEvent().

### void QCoreApplication::installTranslator ( QTranslator * mf )

Adds the message file mf to the list of message files to be used for translations.

Multiple message files can be installed. Translations are searched for in the last installed message file, then the one from last, and so on, back to the first installed message file. The search stops as soon as a matching translation is found.

See also removeTranslator(), translate(), and QTranslator::load().

### QCoreApplication * QCoreApplication::instance () `[static]`

Returns a pointer to the application's QCoreApplication.

### QStringList QCoreApplication::libraryPaths () `[static]`

Returns a list of paths that the application will search when dynamically loading libraries. The installation directory for plugins is the only entry if no paths have been set. The default installation directory for plugins is `INSTALL/plugins`, where `INSTALL` is the directory where Qt was installed. The directory of the application executable (NOT the working directory) is also added to the plugin paths.

If you want to iterate over the list, you should iterate over a copy, e.g.

        QStringList list = app.libraryPaths();
        QStringList::Iterator it = list.begin();
        while(it != list.end()) {
            myProcessing(*it);
            ++it;
        }

See the plugins documentation for a description of how the library paths are used.

See also setLibraryPaths(), addLibraryPath(), removeLibraryPath(), and QLibrary.

### bool QCoreApplication::notify ( QObject * receiver, QEvent * e ) `[virtual]`

Sends event e to receiver: receiver->event(e). Returns the value that is returned from the receiver's event handler.

For certain types of events (e.g. mouse and key events), the event will be propagated to the receiver's parent and so on up to the top-level object if the receiver is not interested in the event (i.e., it returns false).

There are five different ways that events can be processed; reimplementing this virtual function is just one of them. All five approaches are listed below:

1. Reimplementing this function. This is very powerful, providing complete control; but only one subclass can be qApp.
2. Installing an event filter on qApp. Such an event filter is able to process all events for all widgets, so it's just as powerful as reimplementing notify(); furthermore, it's possible to have more than one application-global event filter. Global event filters even see mouse events for disabled widgets.
3. Reimplementing QObject::event() (as QWidget does). If you do this you get Tab key presses, and you get to see the events before any widget-specific event filters.
4. Installing an event filter on the object. Such an event filter gets all the events except Tab and Shift-Tab key presses.
5. Reimplementing paintEvent(), mousePressEvent() and so on. This is the commonest, easiest and least powerful way.

See also QObject::event() and installEventFilter().

### QString QCoreApplication::organization () const

Returns the Internet domain of the organization which wrote this application.

See also setProductInfo() and application().

### void QCoreApplication::postEvent ( QObject * receiver, QEvent * event ) `[static]`

Adds the event event with the object receiver as the receiver of the event, to an event queue and returns immediately.

The event must be allocated on the heap since the post event queue will take ownership of the event and delete it once it has been posted. It is not safe to modify or delete the event after it has been posted.

When control returns to the main event loop, all events that are stored in the queue will be sent using the notify() function.

Note: function is thread-safe.

See also sendEvent() and notify().

### void QCoreApplication::processEvents ()

Processes pending events, for 3 seconds or until there are no more events to process, whichever is shorter.

You can call this function occasionally when your program is busy performing a long operation (e.g. copying a file).

See also exec(), QTimer, and QEventLoop::processEvents().

### void QCoreApplication::processEvents ( int maxtime )

This is an overloaded member function, provided for convenience. It behaves essentially like the above function.

Processes pending events for maxtime milliseconds or until there are no more events to process, whichever is shorter.

You can call this function occasionally when you program is busy doing a long operation (e.g. copying a file).

See also exec(), QTimer, and QEventLoop::processEvents().

### void QCoreApplication::quit () `[slot]`

Tells the application to exit with return code 0 (success). Equivalent to calling QApplication::exit(0).

It's common to connect the QApplication::lastWindowClosed() signal to quit(), and you also often connect e.g. QButton::clicked() or signals in QAction, QPopupMenu or QMenuBar to it.

Example:

        QPushButton *quitButton = new QPushButton("Quit");
        connect(quitButton, SIGNAL(clicked()), qApp, SLOT(quit()));

See also exit(), aboutToQuit(), QApplication::lastWindowClosed(), and QAction.

### void QCoreApplication::removeLibraryPath ( const QString & path ) `[static]`

Removes path from the library path list. If path is empty or not in the path list, the list is not changed.

See also addLibraryPath(), libraryPaths(), and setLibraryPaths().

### void QCoreApplication::removePostedEvents ( QObject * receiver ) `[static]`

Removes all events posted using postEvent() for receiver.

The events are not dispatched, instead they are removed from the queue. You should never need to call this function. If you do call it, be aware that killing events may cause receiver to break one or more invariants.

Note: function is thread-safe.

### void QCoreApplication::removeTranslator ( QTranslator * mf )

Removes the message file mf from the list of message files used by this application. (It does not delete the message file from the file system.)

See also installTranslator(), translate(), and QObject::tr().

### bool QCoreApplication::sendEvent ( QObject * receiver, QEvent * event ) `[static]`

Sends event event directly to receiver receiver, using the notify() function. Returns the value that was returned from the event handler.

The event is not deleted when the event has been sent. The normal approach is to create the event on the stack, e.g.

        QMouseEvent me(QEvent::MouseButtonPress, pos, 0, 0);
        QApplication::sendEvent(mainWindow, &me);

If you create the event on the heap you must delete it.

See also postEvent() and notify().

### void QCoreApplication::sendPostedEvents ( QObject * receiver, int event_type ) `[static]`

Immediately dispatches all events which have been previously queued with QCoreApplication::postEvent() and which are for the object receiver and have the event type event_type.

Note that events from the window system are not dispatched by this function, but by processEvents().

If receiver is null, the events of event_type are sent for all objects. If event_type is 0, all the events are sent for receiver.

### void QCoreApplication::sendPostedEvents () `[static]`

This is an overloaded member function, provided for convenience. It behaves essentially like the above function.

Dispatches all posted events, i.e. empties the event queue.

### void QCoreApplication::setLibraryPaths ( const QStringList & paths ) `[static]`

Sets the list of directories to search when loading libraries to paths. All existing paths will be deleted and the path list will consist of the paths given in paths.

See also libraryPaths(), addLibraryPath(), removeLibraryPath(), and QLibrary.

### void QCoreApplication::setProductInfo ( const QString & organization, const QString & application = QString() )

Sets the name of this application and the Internet domain of the organization which wrote it.

These values are used by the QSettings class when it is constructed using the empty constructor. This saves having to repeat this information each time a QSettings object is created.

See also QSettings, organization(), and application().

### bool QCoreApplication::startingUp () `[static]`

Returns true if an application object has not been created yet; otherwise returns false.

See also closingDown().

### QString QCoreApplication::translate ( const char * context, const char * sourceText, const char * comment = 0, Encoding encoding = DefaultCodec ) `[static]`

Returns the translation text for sourceText, by querying the installed messages files. The message files are searched from the most recently installed message file back to the first installed message file.

QObject::tr() and QObject::trUtf8() provide this functionality more conveniently.

context is typically a class name (e.g., "MyDialog") and sourceText is either English text or a short identifying text, if the output text will be very long (as for help texts).

comment is a disambiguating comment, for when the same sourceText is used in different roles within the same context. By default, it is null. encoding indicates the 8-bit encoding of character stings

See the QTranslator documentation for more information about contexts and comments.

If none of the message files contain a translation for sourceText in context, this function returns a QString equivalent of sourceText. The encoding of sourceText is specified by encoding; it defaults to `DefaultCodec`.

This function is not virtual. You can use alternative translation techniques by subclassing QTranslator.

Warning: This method is reentrant only if all translators are installed before calling this method. Installing or removing translators while performing translations is not supported. Doing so will most likely result in crashes or other undesirable behavior.

Note: function is reentrant.

See also QObject::tr(), installTranslator(), and defaultCodec().

### bool QCoreApplication::winEventFilter ( MSG * ) `[virtual]`