Menu without action

[yogis40]

Hello,
I'm a newbie in Qt and I've a simple question.

When I click on the Menu 'Clear', I want to clear a QTextEdit widget.
In the same application, I have a Menu 'File' which contains several choices as New, Save and Quit.
With these items, I have associated a slot for each action and it works fine.

So my question, is to know if it's possible to click on the Menu 'Clear' and the QTextEdit will clear.

Thanks by advance for your help.
Yogis

[0_1549345723904_mainwindow.cpp](Uploading 100%)

My code for the MainWindow.cpp file:

#include "mainwindow.h"
#include "ui_mainwindow.h"

MainWindow::MainWindow(QWidget *parent) :
    QMainWindow(parent),
    ui(new Ui::MainWindow)
{
    ui->setupUi(this);
    //connect(this->menuWidget()->,this->Clear(),ui->textEdit,Clear);
}

MainWindow::~MainWindow()
{
    delete ui;
}

void MainWindow::on_actionNew_triggered()
{
    ui->textEdit->append("New option selected");
}

void MainWindow::on_actionSave_triggered()
{
    ui->textEdit->append("Save option selected");
}

void MainWindow::on_actionExit_triggered()
{
    ui->textEdit->append("Exit option selected");
}

void MainWindow::Clear()
{
    ui->textEdit->clear();
}

[jsulm]

@yogis40 Yes it is possible - connect the signal to the clear() slot of your text edit. It works same way you did for the other menues.

[yogis40]

Thanks for your answer, I've tried but it seems that the syntax I propose is not the correct one.

[mrjj]

Hi
try
connect(ui->menuTest, &QMenu::triggered, ui->textEdit, &QTextEdit::clear);

[yogis40]

Hello,
Unfortunately it's not working. I've tried your syntax as follows:

    connect(ui->menuClear,&QMenu::triggered, ui->textEdit, &QTextEdit::clear);

[jsulm]

@yogis40 said in Menu without action:

Unfortunately it's not working

What exactly does not work? The connect? ...?

[mpergand]

It's very unusual for a menu to trigger an action directly, it's more like a button behaviour.
If you want some buttons to trigger actions use a Toolbar, that's what it is made for.

Cordialement :)

[yogis40]

@jsulm
Hi, the compilation goes fine but when I click on the Clear menu as shown in the snapshot, the QtextEdit::clear method is not called or not working.
B/R
yogis40

[SGaist]

Hi,

As written in the triggered signal documentation:

• This signal is emitted when an action in this menu is triggered.

[yogis40]

@SGaist :
Hi,
Thanks for your reply. I've looked into the documentation and not found a 'click' action in QtMenu.
Thanks by advance

[yogis40]

@yogis40
Sorry, i’ve Forgotten to ask my question.
How do we catch when the user is clicking on ‘Clear’ menu ? Is it possible to specify the ‘Clear’ in the QMenu::triggered(&Clear)
?
Thanks for your help and sorry to ask but I’m a newbie and struggle with Qt.

[SGaist]

It's not exactly a Qt problem. It's what you are trying to do. You're going against the UI guidelines of all desktop environments and against the normal usage of a menu.

The content of the menu bar is menus. Clicking on a menu should not trigger anythings else that showing its content.

Your clear action should be in for example an edit menu. You can put accelerator on it and even a keyboard shortcut.

[mrjj]

Hi
Just had a test.
connect(ui->menuClear,&QMenu::triggered, ui->textEdit, &QTextEdit::clear);
does not work as a top menu (with no sub items) added in Designer does not call triggered.
(it has no QAction to be triggered)
That is why its not working - as its expected to have sub items.

That said, its possible from code, using an QAction instead.

QAction *a = new QAction("Clear", this);
ui->menuBar->addAction(a);
connect(a, &QAction::triggered, ui->textEdit, &QTextEdit::clear);

That works however as SGist says, its not really a normal way for menus to work seen
from a users perspective. a clear command would normally be in Edit sub menu.

[yogis40]

Hello,
Thanks for your help and your answers.

Regarding the UI guidelines, I’m interested to found it. As mentioned previuously, I’m newbie in Qt and the last time I’ve programmed a UI it was in Visual Basic in 2004. Then, 15-years ago...

Thanks.

[mrjj]

@yogis40
Hi
Welcome back to GUI programming then :)
Such single click activation commands are often put in the QToolbar
(Lives just under the menu)

[SGaist]

@yogis40 said in Menu without action:

Regarding the UI guidelines, I’m interested to found it. As mentioned previuously, I’m newbie in Qt and the last time I’ve programmed a UI it was in Visual Basic in 2004. Then, 15-years ago...

There's per platform:

• KDE's human interface guidelines
• Apple's human interface guildines for macOS
• Apple's human interface guildines for iOS
• Apple's human interface guildines for tvOS
• Windows desktop guideline