QUndoStack Class Reference
[QtGui module]

Command Compression and Macros

Command compression is useful when several commands can be compressed into a single command that can be undone and redone in a single operation. For example, when a user types a character in a text editor, a new command is created. This command inserts the character into the document at the cursor position. However, it is more convenient for the user to be able to undo or redo typing of whole words, sentences, or paragraphs. Command compression allows these single-character commands to be merged into a single command which inserts or deletes sections of text. For more information, see QUndoCommand::mergeWith() and push().

A command macro is a sequence of commands, all of which are undone and redone in one go. Command macros are created by giving a command a list of child commands. Undoing or redoing the parent command will cause the child commands to be undone or redone. Command macros may be created explicitly by specifying a parent in the QUndoCommand constructor, or by using the convenience functions beginMacro() and endMacro().

Although command compression and macros appear to have the same effect to the user, they often have different uses in an application. Commands that perform small changes to a document may be usefully compressed if there is no need to individually record them, and if only larger changes are relevant to the user. However, for commands that need to be recorded individually, or those that cannot be compressed, it is useful to use macros to provide a more convenient user experience while maintaining a record of each command.

 stack.beginMacro("insert red text");
 stack.push(new InsertText(document, idx, text));
 stack.push(new SetColor(document, idx, text.length(), Qt::red));
 stack.endMacro(); // indexChanged() is emitted

 QUndoCommand *insertRed = new QUndoCommand(); // an empty command
 insertRed->setText("insert red text");

 new InsertText(document, idx, text, insertRed); // becomes child of insertRed
 new SetColor(document, idx, text.length(), Qt::red, insertRed);

 stack.push(insertRed);