QSignalSpy

The QSignalSpy class enables introspection of signal emission. More…

Synopsis

Functions

• def at (arg__1)

• def count ()

• def isValid ()

• def signal ()

• def size ()

• def wait ([timeout=5000])

Detailed Description

QSignalSpy can connect to any signal of any object and records its emission. QSignalSpy itself is a list of QVariant lists. Each emission of the signal will append one item to the list, containing the arguments of the signal.

The following example records all signal emissions for the clicked() signal of a QCheckBox :

box = ...
spy = QSignalSpy(box, SIGNAL(clicked(bool)))
# do something that triggers the signal
box.animateClick()
QCOMPARE(spy.count(), 1) # make sure the signal was emitted exactly one time
arguments = spy.takeFirst() # take the first signal
QVERIFY(arguments.at(0).toBool() == True) # verify the first argument

spy.takeFirst() returns the arguments for the first emitted signal, as a list of QVariant objects. The clicked() signal has a single bool argument, which is stored as the first entry in the list of arguments.

The example below catches a signal from a custom object:

spy = QSignalSpy(myCustomObject, SIGNAL(mySignal(int,QString,double)))
myCustomObject.doSomething() # trigger emission of the signal
arguments = spy.takeFirst()
QVERIFY(arguments.at(0).typeId() == QMetaType.Int)
QVERIFY(arguments.at(1).typeId() == QMetaType.QString)
QVERIFY(arguments.at(2).typeId() == QMetaType.Double)

Note

Non-standard data types need to be registered, using the qRegisterMetaType() function, before you can create a QSignalSpy . For example:

qRegisterMetaType<SomeStruct>()
spy = QSignalSpy(model, SIGNAL(whatever(SomeStruct)))

To retrieve the instance, you can use qvariant_cast :

# get the first argument from the first received signal:
result = qvariant_cast<SomeStruct>(spy.at(0).at(0))

Verifying Signal Emissions

The QSignalSpy class provides an elegant mechanism for capturing the list of signals emitted by an object. However, you should verify its validity after construction. The constructor does a number of sanity checks, such as verifying that the signal to be spied upon actually exists. To make the diagnosis of test failures easier, the results of these checks should be checked by calling QVERIFY(spy.isValid()) before proceeding further with a test.

See also

QVERIFY()

class PySide6.QtTest.QSignalSpy(signal)

PySide6.QtTest.QSignalSpy(obj, signal)

PySide6.QtTest.QSignalSpy(obj, aSignal)

Parameters

• obj – PySide6.QtCore.QObject

• signal – PySideSignalInstance

• aSignal – str

Constructs a new QSignalSpy that listens for emissions of the signal from the QObject obj. If QSignalSpy is not able to listen for a valid signal (for example, because obj is None or signal does not denote a valid signal of obj), an explanatory warning message will be output using qWarning() and subsequent calls to isValid() will return false.

This constructor is convenient to use when Qt’s meta-object system is heavily used in a test.

Basic usage example:

object = QObject()
mo = object.metaObject()
signalIndex = mo.indexOfSignal("objectNameChanged(QString)")
signal = mo.method(signalIndex)
spy = QSignalSpy(object, signal)
object.setObjectName("A object name")
QCOMPARE(spy.count(), 1)

Imagine we need to check whether all properties of the QWindow class that represent minimum and maximum dimensions are properly writable. The following example demonstrates one of the approaches:

def writeMinMaxDimensionalProps_data(self):
    QTest.addColumn<int>("propertyIndex")
    # Collect all relevant properties
    mo = QWindow.staticMetaObject()
    for i in range(mo.propertyOffset(), mo.propertyCount()):
        property = mo.property(i)
        # ...that have type int
        if (property.type() == QVariant.Int) {
            re = QRegularExpression("^minimum|maximum")
            name = property.name()
            # ...and start with "minimum" or "maximum"
            if (re.match(name).hasMatch()) {
                QTest.addRow("%s", name) << i




def writeMinMaxDimensionalProps(self):

    QFETCH(int, propertyIndex)
    property = QWindow.staticMetaObject.property(propertyIndex)
    QVERIFY(property.isWritable())
    QVERIFY(property.hasNotifySignal())
    window = QWindow()
    spy = QSignalSpy(window, property.notifySignal())
    QVERIFY(property.write(window, 42))
    QCOMPARE(spy.count(), 1)

Constructs a new QSignalSpy that listens for emissions of the signal from the QObject object. If QSignalSpy is not able to listen for a valid signal (for example, because object is None or signal does not denote a valid signal of object), an explanatory warning message will be output using qWarning() and subsequent calls to isValid() will return false.

Example:

spy = QSignalSpy(myPushButton, SIGNAL(clicked(bool)))

PySide6.QtTest.QSignalSpy.at(arg__1)

Parameters

arg__1 – qsizetype

Return type

PySide6.QtTest.QSignalSpy.count()

Return type

qsizetype

PySide6.QtTest.QSignalSpy.isValid()

Return type

bool

Returns true if the signal spy listens to a valid signal, otherwise false.

PySide6.QtTest.QSignalSpy.signal()

Return type

PySide6.QtCore.QByteArray

Returns the normalized signal the spy is currently listening to.

PySide6.QtTest.QSignalSpy.size()

Return type

qsizetype

PySide6.QtTest.QSignalSpy.wait([timeout=5000])

Parameters

timeout – int

Return type

bool

Starts an event loop that runs until the given signal is received. Optionally the event loop can return earlier on a timeout (in milliseconds).

Returns true if the signal was emitted at least once in timeout milliseconds, otherwise returns false.

Example:

QVERIFY(spy.wait(1000))