QShortcut Class Reference
[QtGui module]

On certain widgets, using '&' in front of a character will automatically create a mnemonic (a shortcut) for that character, e.g. "E&xit" will create the shortcut Alt+X (use '&&' to display an actual ampersand). The widget might consume and perform an action on a given shortcut. On X11 the ampersand will not be shown and the character will be underlined. On Windows, shortcuts are normally not displayed until the user presses the Alt key, but this is a setting the user can change. On Mac, shortcuts are disabled by default. Call qt_set_sequence_auto_mnemonic() to enable them. However, because mnemonic shortcuts do not fit in with Aqua's guidelines, Qt will not show the shortcut character underlined.

For applications that use menus, it may be more convenient to use the convenience functions provided in the QMenu class to assign keyboard shortcuts to menu items as they are created. Alternatively, shortcuts may be associated with other types of actions in the QAction class.

The simplest way to create a shortcut for a particular widget is to construct the shortcut with a key sequence. For example:

 shortcut = new QShortcut(QKeySequence(tr("Ctrl+O", "File|Open")),
                          parent);

When the user types the key sequence for a given shortcut, the shortcut's activated() signal is emitted. (In the case of ambiguity, the activatedAmbiguously() signal is emitted.) A shortcut is "listened for" by Qt's event loop when the shortcut's parent widget is receiving events.

A shortcut's key sequence can be set with setKey() and retrieved with key(). A shortcut can be enabled or disabled with setEnabled(), and can have "What's This?" help text set with setWhatsThis().

See also QShortcutEvent, QKeySequence, and QAction.

Property Documentation

autoRepeat : bool

This property holds whether the shortcut can auto repeat.

If true, the shortcut will auto repeat when the keyboard shortcut combination is held down, provided that keyboard auto repeat is enabled on the system. The default value is true.

This property was introduced in Qt 4.2.

Access functions:

• bool autoRepeat () const
• void setAutoRepeat ( bool on )

context : Qt::ShortcutContext

This property holds the context in which the shortcut is valid.

A shortcut's context decides in which circumstances a shortcut is allowed to be triggered. The normal context is Qt::WindowShortcut, which allows the shortcut to trigger if the parent (the widget containing the shortcut) is a subwidget of the active top-level window.

By default, this property is set to Qt::WindowShortcut.

Access functions:

• Qt::ShortcutContext context ()
• void setContext ( Qt::ShortcutContext context )

enabled : bool

This property holds whether the shortcut is enabled.

An enabled shortcut emits the activated() or activatedAmbiguously() signal when a QShortcutEvent occurs that matches the shortcut's key() sequence.

If the application is in WhatsThis mode the shortcut will not emit the signals, but will show the "What's This?" text instead.

By default, this property is true.

Access functions:

• bool isEnabled () const
• void setEnabled ( bool enable )

See also whatsThis.

key : QKeySequence

This property holds the shortcut's key sequence.

This is a key sequence with an optional combination of Shift, Ctrl, and Alt. The key sequence may be supplied in a number of ways:

 setKey(0);                  // no signal emitted
 setKey(QKeySequence());     // no signal emitted
 setKey(0x3b1);              // Greek letter alpha
 setKey(Qt::Key_D);              // 'd', e.g. to delete
 setKey('q');                // 'q', e.g. to quit
 setKey(Qt::CTRL + Qt::Key_P);       // Ctrl+P, e.g. to print document
 setKey("Ctrl+P");           // Ctrl+P, e.g. to print document

By default, this property contains an empty key sequence.

Access functions:

• QKeySequence key () const
• void setKey ( const QKeySequence & key )

whatsThis : QString

This property holds the shortcut's "What's This?" help text.

The text will be shown when the application is in "What's This?" mode and the user types the shortcut key() sequence.

To set "What's This?" help on a menu item (with or without a shortcut key), set the help on the item's action.

By default, this property contains an empty string.

Access functions:

• QString whatsThis () const
• void setWhatsThis ( const QString & text )

See also QWhatsThis::inWhatsThisMode() and QAction::setWhatsThis().

Member Function Documentation

QShortcut::QShortcut ( QWidget * parent )

Constructs a QShortcut object for the parent widget. Since no shortcut key sequence is specified, the shortcut will not emit any signals.

See also setKey().

QShortcut::QShortcut ( const QKeySequence & key, QWidget * parent, const char * member = 0, const char * ambiguousMember = 0, Qt::ShortcutContext context = Qt::WindowShortcut )

Constructs a QShortcut object for the parent widget. The shortcut operates on its parent, listening for QShortcutEvents that match the key sequence. Depending on the ambiguity of the event, the shortcut will call the member function, or the ambiguousMember function, if the key press was in the shortcut's context.

QShortcut::~QShortcut ()

Destroys the shortcut.

void QShortcut::activated ()   [signal]

This signal is emitted when the user types the shortcut's key sequence.

See also activatedAmbiguously().

void QShortcut::activatedAmbiguously ()   [signal]

This signal is emitted when the user types a shortcut key sequence that is ambiguous. For example, if one key sequence is a "prefix" for another and the user types these keys it isn't clear if they want the shorter key sequence, or if they're about to type more to complete the longer key sequence.

See also activated().

int QShortcut::id () const

Returns the shortcut's ID.

See also QShortcutEvent::shortcutId().

QWidget * QShortcut::parentWidget () const

Returns the shortcut's parent widget.