<![CDATA[Sharing a header file between C and C++, and using Qt-specific macros via #ifdef]]>Hi all,

For a few days now I've been struggling to understand what exactly is going wrong in my setup. I have a header file that contains code that looks like the following, in two projects which use CMake:

#if defined(Q_MOC_RUN)
#include <QtQml/qqmlregistration.h>
#endif /* Q_MOC_RUN */

#include <stdbool.h>

typedef struct _GetIntStatusResponse_t
{
#if defined(Q_MOC_RUN)
    Q_GADGET

    Q_PROPERTY(bool clearToSend MEMBER getClearToSend)
    Q_PROPERTY(bool error MEMBER getError)
    Q_PROPERTY(bool rsqInterrupt MEMBER getRsqInterrupt)
    Q_PROPERTY(bool rdsInterrupt MEMBER getRdsInterrupt)
    Q_PROPERTY(bool seekTuneCompletedInterrupt MEMBER getSeekTuneCompletedInterrupt)
#endif /* Q_MOC_RUN */

    /* When set, the device is ready to receive the next command */
    bool clearToSend;

    /* When set, the device has encountered an error */
    bool error;

    /* When set, a Received Signal Quality interrupt has been triggered */
    bool rsqInterrupt;

    /* When set, an Radio Data System interrupt has been triggered */
    bool rdsInterrupt;

    /* When set, the Seek/Tune Complete interrupt has been triggered */
    bool seekTuneCompletedInterrupt;
} GetIntStatusResponse_t;

The intent here is that when the C program compiles the header, it only sees the boolean members but when a Qt application does, it also invokes the meta-object complier to generate whatever it needs to in order for the properties to be accessible from a QML element.

The header itself is ferried over as a CMake configuration file together with a target file, and target_link_libraries is used to include it to the Qt application. This is enough, and commands like #include "header.h" work without a hitch.

Using a debugger I have verified that the structs arrive correctly to the C++ application side: they are read from a byte array sent over USB, and when std::memcpy is used the debugger shows that the content of the structure instance looks correct compared to what Wireshark is showing on the wire. From this I deduce that the data moves correctly between the C program, USB and the C++ application.

However, when an instance of the struct is emitted through a signal, and arrives to the QML side it is completely empty i.e. using console.log together with JSON.stringify I get the following the application's console:

qml: Received status report: QVariant(_GetIntStatusResponse_t, )
qml: Stringified: ""

Naturally, if I try to access any of the members I get undefined. The data itself has mysteriously vanished somewhere during the conversion from a C++ instance to a QVariant-wrapped object.

I can provide more code and details if necessary but does anyone have any ideas on what could be going wrong? I have tried stepping through the code that comes when I call emit but it goes so deep into how Qt works that I just can't make sense of it.

I have already tried the following:

  • Using #ifdef __cplusplus instead; this leads to a number of linker errors related to a function called staticMetaObject, one per struct type
  • Omitting Qt stuff from the structs in the shared header, and instead defining more struct in the C++ side; this works but seems rather hacky. There must be a way to coax MOC to do my bidding.
  • Including the shared headers inside qt_add_executable; this has no effect, the properties are still undefined.
]]>https://forum.qt.io/topic/164347/sharing-a-header-file-between-c-and-c-and-using-qt-specific-macros-via-ifdefRSS for NodeWed, 06 May 2026 17:59:58 GMTSat, 28 Feb 2026 20:04:28 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to Sharing a header file between C and C++, and using Qt-specific macros via #ifdef on Sat, 28 Feb 2026 22:08:11 GMT]]>I managed to stumble across a solution. My problem was that the header files provided by the first CMake project have to be explicitly added to the qt_add_executable stanza so that the meta-object compiler picks them up, and when I first tried it the variable I thought I read them to was, in fact, empty.

This is why I received so many linker errors when using the ifdef __cplusplus in the header file. The shared header file was being used through an #import statement but for some reason meta-object compiler only processed the header file which included it, not the shared header itself.

After noticing that the variable was empty I explicitly added the header files to qt_add_executable, and much to my surprise the linker error is now gone, and everything works.

]]>https://forum.qt.io/post/836686https://forum.qt.io/post/836686Sat, 28 Feb 2026 22:08:11 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Sharing a header file between C and C++, and using Qt-specific macros via #ifdef on Sat, 28 Feb 2026 20:44:54 GMT]]>@SGaist What I'm doing is creating an instance of a "report struct" that uses a union type in the C application, filling the proper portion of that, send it as a HID report, and then parse the bytes on the other side.

Here is the glue which makes it work:

typedef struct _Report_t
{
    /* Identifier of the report */
    ReportIdentifier_t identifier;

    /* Report bytes */
    union ReportBytes {
        GetIntStatusResponse_t interruptStatus;
        ... other structs ...

        //* This defines the "maximum size" the report can have; one byte is reserved for the identifier */
        uint8_t raw[MAX_REPORT_SIZE - 1];
    } bytes;
} Report_t;

The relevant portion of the C++ code looks like this. It uses the hidapi library:

unsigned char buf[MAX_REPORT_SIZE];

int res = hid_read_timeout(m_source, buf, sizeof(buf), 250);
if (res > 0)
{
    ReportIdentifier_t identifier = (ReportIdentifier_t)buf[0];

    switch (identifier)
    {
    ... other report types ...

    case REPORT_IDENTIFIER_INTERRUPT_STATUS: {
        GetIntStatusResponse_t report;
        std::memcpy(&report, &buf[1], sizeof(GetIntStatusResponse_t));

        emit intStatusReportReceived(report);

        break;
    }
}

If I look at the report object in debugger, it is correct each and every time. The problems surface once the struct is pushed towards QML with emit.

]]>https://forum.qt.io/post/836684https://forum.qt.io/post/836684Sat, 28 Feb 2026 20:44:54 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Sharing a header file between C and C++, and using Qt-specific macros via #ifdef on Sat, 28 Feb 2026 20:23:11 GMT]]>Hi,

Do I understand correctly that you are trying to load a binary representation of one struct in C into what is technically a different struct in C++ ?

memcpy is the wrong tool here, you should initialize your C++ struct based on the C one. These two have different memory layouts thus overwriting the memory taken by the latter with the former is a recipe for tragedy.

]]>https://forum.qt.io/post/836682https://forum.qt.io/post/836682Sat, 28 Feb 2026 20:23:11 GMT