How to declare a global changeable variable?

[JonB]

@GCDX
I can only imagine this means: at present there is a DEFINE for a constant number/string for some "API key", and you want to change that to be a variable which can be assigned at runtime (somehow) so that it can vary.

[GCDX]

@JonB Yes, i want it to change such that every user who downloads the app can generate their own API key so a single API key won't be the one polling the system

[JonB]

@GCDX
Then you do indeed need to change over from the DEFINE to a variable! (The existing DEFINE is not a "static global variable", it's a [pre-processor] constant, which is quite different.)

[GCDX]

@JonB Yes its global variable using extern in a globalvariable.h file.

[mrjj]

@GCDX
And you also need to save it to a file or will user generate new each time?

[GCDX]

@mrjj do i need to use QFileDialog for this??

[JonB]

@GCDX
Read up on http://doc.qt.io/qt-5/qsettings.html#details for an explanation (including sub-topic Platform-Specific Notes). In the usual case, you do not ask the user where to save the settings (your QFileDialog), you allow Qt to save it in the "default" place for your OS.

QSettings automatically saves your changes for you.

[EDIT: I'm not sure why I started talking about QSettings here, I thought you/@mrjj had mentioned it, but perhaps not --- I may have been getting mixed up with another question I was answering! Nonetheless, it's a possible way of saving something to file if that's what you want...]

[mrjj]

@GCDX
Only if user should select file name himself.
else you will just save it using QFile to a writable location , you can find lookup using
http://doc.qt.io/qt-5/qstandardpaths.html

[JonB]

@GCDX
If you ask the user for a file name/path to save to, you are going to have to ask the user for the same path in order to read it back at a later date. This does not sound likely! More like @mrjj's suggestion of saving to a standard file name in a standard directory so that you can re-read it subsequently automatically.

[GCDX]

@JonB @mrjj Hmm this is interesting, however, i read the QSettings documentation and i am a little confused. How does QSettings store a permanent change? If not shouldn't i used QSettings instead of the extern global variable??

[mrjj]

@GCDX
QSetting could also be used. Not a bad idea.
On linux it stores in a ini file pr default. on Windows , in registry.

https://wiki.qt.io/How_to_Use_QSettings