Why is it that on_button_clicked() doesn't need a signal?

[Q74r3wq-]

Hi experts,

I have a on_<button objectName>_clicked() slot function and somehow it is triggered every time a button is clicked, without any signals defined.

Now that the button is definitely the most used widget so maybe this is automated under the hood, I still would like know the mechanism, and more importantly which widgets have the same behavior. For example, QTGraphicsView doesn't work this way.

I already consulted the signal-slot page as well as the QTPushButton page but didn't find what I need.

Thanks!

[SGaist]

Hi,

This is done by QMetaObject::connectSlotsByName which is called as part of the you designer ui object setup method.

[mrjj]

Hi
When you us UI files, the code generated in setupUI calls
QMetaObject::connectSlotsByName(MainWindow);

which will try to match widgets and slots

https://doc.qt.io/qt-5/qmetaobject.html#connectSlotsByName

hehe one sec too late :)

In any case. Its far better to use connects in the code as this method suffer from easy to break.

if you ever rename your widget or the slot - it stops working. silently.
So for a production-quality app, its best to avoid this feature however handy it is.