/**************************************************************************** ** ** Explanation of tqmoc and the meta object system ** ** Copyright (C) 1992-2008 Trolltech ASA. All rights reserved. ** ** This file is part of the TQt GUI Toolkit. ** ** This file may be used under the terms of the GNU General ** Public License versions 2.0 or 3.0 as published by the Free ** Software Foundation and appearing in the files LICENSE.GPL2 ** and LICENSE.GPL3 included in the packaging of this file. ** Alternatively you may (at your option) use any later version ** of the GNU General Public License if such license has been ** publicly approved by Trolltech ASA (or its successors, if any) ** and the KDE Free TQt Foundation. ** ** Please review the following information to ensure GNU General ** Public Licensing requirements will be met: ** http://trolltech.com/products/qt/licenses/licensing/opensource/. ** If you are unsure which license is appropriate for your use, please ** review the following information: ** http://trolltech.com/products/qt/licenses/licensing/licensingoverview ** or contact the sales department at sales@trolltech.com. ** ** This file may be used under the terms of the Q Public License as ** defined by Trolltech ASA and appearing in the file LICENSE.QPL ** included in the packaging of this file. Licensees holding valid Qt ** Commercial licenses may use this file in accordance with the Qt ** Commercial License Agreement provided with the Software. ** ** This file is provided "AS IS" with NO WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, ** INCLUDING THE WARRANTIES OF DESIGN, MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR ** A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. Trolltech reserves all rights not granted ** herein. ** **********************************************************************/ /*! \page metaobjects.html \title Meta Object System \keyword meta object \keyword TQ_OBJECT Qt's Meta Object System provides the signals and slots mechanism for inter-object communication, runtime type information, and the dynamic property system. The Meta Object System is based on three things: \list 1 \i the \l TQObject class; \i the TQ_OBJECT macro inside the private section of the class declaration; \i the \link tqmoc.html Meta Object Compiler (tqmoc)\endlink. \endlist \e TQMoc reads a C++ source file. If it finds one or more class declarations that contain the TQ_OBJECT macro, it produces another C++ source file which contains the meta object code for the classes that contain the TQ_OBJECT macro. This generated source file is either #included into the class's source file or compiled and linked with the class's implementation. In addition to providing the \link signalsandslots.html signals and slots \endlink mechanism for communication between objects (the main reason for introducing the system), the meta object code provides additional features in TQObject: \list \i the \link TQObject::className() className() \endlink function that returns the class name as a string at runtime, without requiring native runtime type information (RTTI) support through the C++ compiler. \i the \link TQObject::inherits() inherits() \endlink function that returns whether an object is an instance of a class that inherits a specified class within the TQObject inheritance tree. \i the \link TQObject::tr() tr() \endlink and \link TQObject::trUtf8() trUtf8() \endlink functions for string translation as used for internationalization. \i the \link TQObject::setProperty() setProperty() \endlink and \link TQObject::property() property() \endlink functions for dynamically setting and getting \link properties.html object properties\endlink by name. \i the \link TQObject::metaObject() metaObject() \endlink function that returns the associated \link TQMetaObject meta object \endlink for the class. \endlist While it is possible to use TQObject as a base class without the TQ_OBJECT macro and without meta object code, neither signals and slots nor the other features described here will be available if the TQ_OBJECT macro is not used. From the meta object system's point of view, a TQObject subclass without meta code is equivalent to its closest ancestor with meta object code. This means for example, that className() will not return the actual name of your class, but the class name of this ancestor. We \e strongly recommend that all subclasses of TQObject use the TQ_OBJECT macro regardless of whether they actually use signals, slots and properties or not. */