QFileDialog::getExistingDirectoryUrl opening remote dirs

[musimbate]

Hi,
I can't seem to find the difference between the two flavors of the static methods provided by QFileDialog. The docs state that the QUrl flavor can even work on remote files/directories but can't seem to see the differences in the dialogs generated by the code snippets below :

First

QString dir = QFileDialog::getExistingDirectory(this, tr("Open Directory"),
                                                     "/home",
                                                     QFileDialog::ShowDirsOnly
                                                     | QFileDialog::DontResolveSymlinks);

Second

QUrl url = QFileDialog::getExistingDirectoryUrl(this, tr("Open Directory"));

The Displayed dialog looks like this (Windows)

Would be great if somebody helped clarify. I must be missing something here.

[ambershark]

The first one takes a QString for the path and returns a QString. The second one uses QUrl for both it's starting path and returns a QUrl.

They both do the same thing because /home is not a valid path on windows for the first one so you get your last set directory (D: based on the screen shot). In the second example you don't set a starting path/url so you get the same thing which is D:.

[musimbate]

@ambershark
Thanks for the reply. Sorry for my messy code snippets, it was a quick run to see how these methods work. What I really want to know is what they mean by

"The main difference with QFileDialog::getExistingDirectory() comes from the ability offered to the user to select a remote directory"
In the doc. Is there any indication in the UI that the user can choose a remote directory? is there needed settings to pass in to have the dialog provide that ability ? Basically a simple code example of how to use this method to select remote dirs would clear the fog a bit.

[ambershark]

@musimbate Oh I understand... so with a QUrl you can use any type of protocol for remote access.. For instance you could use ftp. So you could set up a dialog like:

auto url = QFileDialog::getExistingDirectoryUrl(this, tr("Open Directory"), QUrl("ftp://my.ftp.com"));

You can limit the protocols you allow but setting them as supportedSchemes too.

See QUrl docs for details on forming and using QUrl and schemes.

[musimbate]

@ambershark
A ha! Now it all makes sense. This makes it clear. Thanks a lot.