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Signals and slots are used for communication between objects. The signals and slots mechanism is a central feature of Qt and probably the part that differs most from the features provided by other frameworks. Signals and slots are made possible by Qt's meta-object system.

Introduction

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In GUI programming, when we change one widget, we often want another widget to be notified. More generally, we want objects of any kind to be able to communicate with one another. For example, if a user clicks a Close button, we probably want the window's close() function to be called.

Other toolkits achieve this kind of communication using callbacks. A callback is a pointer to a function, so if you want a processing function to notify you about some event you pass a pointer to another function (the callback) to the processing function. The processing function then calls the callback when appropriate. While successful frameworks using this method do exist, callbacks can be unintuitive and may suffer from problems in ensuring the type-correctness of callback arguments.

Signals and Slots

In Qt, we have an alternative to the callback technique: We use signals and slots. A signal is emitted when a particular event occurs. Qt's widgets have many predefined signals, but we can always subclass widgets to add our own signals to them. A slot is a function that is called in response to a particular signal. Qt's widgets have many pre-defined slots, but it is common practice to subclass widgets and add your own slots so that you can handle the signals that you are interested in.

The signals and slots mechanism is type safe: The signature of a signal must match the signature of the receiving slot. (In fact a slot may have a shorter signature than the signal it receives because it can ignore extra arguments.) Since the signatures are compatible, the compiler can help us detect type mismatches when using the function pointer-based syntax. The string-based SIGNAL and SLOT syntax will detect type mismatches at runtime. Signals and slots are loosely coupled: A class which emits a signal neither knows nor cares which slots receive the signal. Qt's signals and slots mechanism ensures that if you connect a signal to a slot, the slot will be called with the signal's parameters at the right time. Signals and slots can take any number of arguments of any type. They are completely type safe.

All classes that inherit from QObject or one of its subclasses (e.g., QWidget) can contain signals and slots. Signals are emitted by objects when they change their state in a way that may be interesting to other objects. This is all the object does to communicate. It does not know or care whether anything is receiving the signals it emits. This is true information encapsulation, and ensures that the object can be used as a software component.

Slots can be used for receiving signals, but they are also normal member functions. Just as an object does not know if anything receives its signals, a slot does not know if it has any signals connected to it. This ensures that truly independent components can be created with Qt.

You can connect as many signals as you want to a single slot, and a signal can be connected to as many slots as you need. It is even possible to connect a signal directly to another signal. (This will emit the second signal immediately whenever the first is emitted.)

Together, signals and slots make up a powerful component programming mechanism.

Signals

Signals are emitted by an object when its internal state has changed in some way that might be interesting to the object's client or owner. Signals are public access functions and can be emitted from anywhere, but we recommend to only emit them from the class that defines the signal and its subclasses.

When a signal is emitted, the slots connected to it are usually executed immediately, just like a normal function call. When this happens, the signals and slots mechanism is totally independent of any GUI event loop. Execution of the code following the emit statement will occur once all slots have returned. The situation is slightly different when using queued connections; in such a case, the code following the emit keyword will continue immediately, and the slots will be executed later.

If several slots are connected to one signal, the slots will be executed one after the other, in the order they have been connected, when the signal is emitted.

Signals are automatically generated by the moc and must not be implemented in the .cpp file. They can never have return types (i.e. use void).

A note about arguments: Our experience shows that signals and slots are more reusable if they do not use special types. If QScrollBar::valueChanged() were to use a special type such as the hypothetical QScrollBar::Range, it could only be connected to slots designed specifically for QScrollBar. Connecting different input widgets together would be impossible.

Slots

A slot is called when a signal connected to it is emitted. Slots are normal C++ functions and can be called normally; their only special feature is that signals can be connected to them.

Since slots are normal member functions, they follow the normal C++ rules when called directly. However, as slots, they can be invoked by any component, regardless of its access level, via a signal-slot connection. This means that a signal emitted from an instance of an arbitrary class can cause a private slot to be invoked in an instance of an unrelated class.

You can also define slots to be virtual, which we have found quite useful in practice.

Compared to callbacks, signals and slots are slightly slower because of the increased flexibility they provide, although the difference for real applications is insignificant. In general, emitting a signal that is connected to some slots, is approximately ten times slower than calling the receivers directly, with non-virtual function calls. This is the overhead required to locate the connection object, to safely iterate over all connections (i.e. checking that subsequent receivers have not been destroyed during the emission), and to marshall any parameters in a generic fashion. While ten non-virtual function calls may sound like a lot, it's much less overhead than any new or delete operation, for example. As soon as you perform a string, vector or list operation that behind the scene requires new or delete, the signals and slots overhead is only responsible for a very small proportion of the complete function call costs. The same is true whenever you do a system call in a slot; or indirectly call more than ten functions. The simplicity and flexibility of the signals and slots mechanism is well worth the overhead, which your users won't even notice.

Note that other libraries that define variables called signals or slots may cause compiler warnings and errors when compiled alongside a Qt-based application. To solve this problem, #undef the offending preprocessor symbol.

A Small Example

A minimal C++ class declaration might read:

A small QObject-based class might read:

The QObject-based version has the same internal state, and provides public methods to access the state, but in addition it has support for component programming using signals and slots. This class can tell the outside world that its state has changed by emitting a signal, valueChanged(), and it has a slot which other objects can send signals to.

All classes that contain signals or slots must mention Q_OBJECT at the top of their declaration. They must also derive (directly or indirectly) from QObject.

Slots are implemented by the application programmer. Here is a possible implementation of the Counter::setValue() slot:

The emit line emits the signal valueChanged() from the object, with the new value as argument.

In the following code snippet, we create two Counter objects and connect the first object's valueChanged() signal to the second object's setValue() slot using QObject::connect():

Calling a.setValue(12) makes a emit a valueChanged(12) signal, which b will receive in its setValue() slot, i.e. b.setValue(12) is called. Then b emits the same valueChanged() signal, but since no slot has been connected to b's valueChanged() signal, the signal is ignored.

Note that the setValue() function sets the value and emits the signal only if value != m_value. This prevents infinite looping in the case of cyclic connections (e.g., if b.valueChanged() were connected to a.setValue()).

By default, for every connection you make, a signal is emitted; two signals are emitted for duplicate connections. You can break all of these connections with a single disconnect() call. If you pass the Qt::UniqueConnectiontype, the connection will only be made if it is not a duplicate. If there is already a duplicate (exact same signal to the exact same slot on the same objects), the connection will fail and connect will return false.

This example illustrates that objects can work together without needing to know any information about each other. To enable this, the objects only need to be connected together, and this can be achieved with some simple QObject::connect() function calls, or with uic's automatic connections feature.

A Real Example

The following is an example of the header of a simple widget class without member functions. The purpose is to show how you can utilize signals and slots in your own applications.

LcdNumber inherits QObject, which has most of the signal-slot knowledge, via QFrame and QWidget. It is somewhat similar to the built-in QLCDNumber widget.

The Q_OBJECT macro is expanded by the preprocessor to declare several member functions that are implemented by the moc; if you get compiler errors along the lines of 'undefined reference to vtable for LcdNumber', you have probably forgotten to run the moc or to include the moc output in the link command.

After the class constructor and public members, we declare the class signals. The LcdNumber class emits a signal, overflow(), when it is asked to show an impossible value.

If you don't care about overflow, or you know that overflow cannot occur, you can ignore the overflow() signal, i.e. don't connect it to any slot.

If on the other hand you want to call two different error functions when the number overflows, simply connect the signal to two different slots. Qt will call both (in the order they were connected).

A slot is a receiving function used to get information about state changes in other widgets. LcdNumber uses it, as the code above indicates, to set the displayed number. Since display() is part of the class's interface with the rest of the program, the slot is public.

Several of the example programs connect the valueChanged() signal of a QScrollBar to the display() slot, so the LCD number continuously shows the value of the scroll bar.

Note that display() is overloaded; Qt will select the appropriate version when you connect a signal to the slot. With callbacks, you'd have to find five different names and keep track of the types yourself.

Signals And Slots With Default Arguments

The signatures of signals and slots may contain arguments, and the arguments can have default values. Consider QObject::destroyed():

When a QObject is deleted, it emits this QObject::destroyed() signal. We want to catch this signal, wherever we might have a dangling reference to the deleted QObject, so we can clean it up. A suitable slot signature might be:

To connect the signal to the slot, we use QObject::connect(). There are several ways to connect signal and slots. The first is to use function pointers:

There are several advantages to using QObject::connect() with function pointers. First, it allows the compiler to check that the signal's arguments are compatible with the slot's arguments. Arguments can also be implicitly converted by the compiler, if needed.

You can also connect to functors or C++11 lambdas:

In both these cases, we provide this as context in the call to connect(). The context object provides information about in which thread the receiver should be executed. This is important, as providing the context ensures that the receiver is executed in the context thread.

The lambda will be disconnected when the sender or context is destroyed. You should take care that any objects used inside the functor are still alive when the signal is emitted.

The other way to connect a signal to a slot is to use QObject::connect() and the SIGNAL and SLOT macros. The rule about whether to include arguments or not in the SIGNAL() and SLOT() macros, if the arguments have default values, is that the signature passed to the SIGNAL() macro must not have fewer arguments than the signature passed to the SLOT() macro.

All of these would work:

But this one won't work:

...because the slot will be expecting a QObject that the signal will not send. This connection will report a runtime error.

Note that signal and slot arguments are not checked by the compiler when using this QObject::connect() overload.

Advanced Signals and Slots Usage

For cases where you may require information on the sender of the signal, Qt provides the QObject::sender() function, which returns a pointer to the object that sent the signal.

Lambda expressions are a convenient way to pass custom arguments to a slot:

Using Qt with 3rd Party Signals and Slots

It is possible to use Qt with a 3rd party signal/slot mechanism. You can even use both mechanisms in the same project. Just add the following line to your qmake project (.pro) file.

It tells Qt not to define the moc keywords signals, slots, and emit, because these names will be used by a 3rd party library, e.g. Boost. Then to continue using Qt signals and slots with the no_keywords flag, simply replace all uses of the Qt moc keywords in your sources with the corresponding Qt macros Q_SIGNALS (or Q_SIGNAL), Q_SLOTS (or Q_SLOT), and Q_EMIT.

See also QLCDNumber, QObject::connect(), Digital Clock Example, Tetrix Example, Meta-Object System, and Qt's Property System.

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You’re browsing the documentation for v2.x and earlier. For v3.x, click here.

This page assumes you’ve already read the Components Basics. Read that first if you are new to components.

In 2.6.0, we introduced a new unified syntax (the v-slot directive) for named and scoped slots. It replaces the slot and slot-scope attributes, which are now deprecated, but have not been removed and are still documented here. The rationale for introducing the new syntax is described in this RFC.

Slot Content

Vue implements a content distribution API inspired by the Web Components spec draft, using the <slot> element to serve as distribution outlets for content.

This allows you to compose components like this:

Then in the template for <navigation-link>, you might have:

When the component renders, <slot></slot> will be replaced by “Your Profile”. Slots can contain any template code, including HTML:

Or even other components:

If <navigation-link>‘s template did not contain a <slot> element, any content provided between its opening and closing tag would be discarded.

Compilation Scope

When you want to use data inside a slot, such as in:

That slot has access to the same instance properties (i.e. the same “scope”) as the rest of the template. The slot does not have access to <navigation-link>‘s scope. For example, trying to access url would not work:

As a rule, remember that:

Everything in the parent template is compiled in parent scope; everything in the child template is compiled in the child scope.

Fallback Content

There are cases when it’s useful to specify fallback (i.e. default) content for a slot, to be rendered only when no content is provided. For example, in a <submit-button> component:

We might want the text “Submit” to be rendered inside the <button> most of the time. To make “Submit” the fallback content, we can place it in between the <slot> tags:

Now when we use <submit-button> in a parent component, providing no content for the slot:

will render the fallback content, “Submit”:

But if we provide content:

Then the provided content will be rendered instead:

Named Slots

Updated in 2.6.0+. See here for the deprecated syntax using the slot attribute.

There are times when it’s useful to have multiple slots. For example, in a <base-layout> component with the following template:

For these cases, the <slot> element has a special attribute, name, which can be used to define additional slots:

A <slot> outlet without name implicitly has the name “default”.

To provide content to named slots, we can use the v-slot directive on a <template>, providing the name of the slot as v-slot‘s argument:

Now everything inside the <template> elements will be passed to the corresponding slots. Any content not wrapped in a <template> using v-slot is assumed to be for the default slot.

However, you can still wrap default slot content in a <template> if you wish to be explicit:

Either way, the rendered HTML will be:

Note that v-slot can only be added to a <template> (with one exception), unlike the deprecated slot attribute.

Scoped Slots

Updated in 2.6.0+. See here for the deprecated syntax using the slot-scope attribute.

Sometimes, it’s useful for slot content to have access to data only available in the child component. For example, imagine a <current-user> component with the following template:

We might want to replace this fallback content to display the user’s first name, instead of last, like this:

That won’t work, however, because only the <current-user> component has access to the user and the content we’re providing is rendered in the parent.

To make user available to the slot content in the parent, we can bind user as an attribute to the <slot> element:

Attributes bound to a <slot> element are called slot props. Now, in the parent scope, we can use v-slot with a value to define a name for the slot props we’ve been provided:

In this example, we’ve chosen to name the object containing all our slot props slotProps, but you can use any name you like.

Abbreviated Syntax for Lone Default Slots

In cases like above, when only the default slot is provided content, the component’s tags can be used as the slot’s template. This allows us to use v-slot directly on the component:

This can be shortened even further. Just as non-specified content is assumed to be for the default slot, v-slot without an argument is assumed to refer to the default slot:

Note that the abbreviated syntax for default slot cannot be mixed with named slots, as it would lead to scope ambiguity:

Whenever there are multiple slots, use the full <template> based syntax for all slots:

Destructuring Slot Props

Internally, scoped slots work by wrapping your slot content in a function passed a single argument:

That means the value of v-slot can actually accept any valid JavaScript expression that can appear in the argument position of a function definition. So in supported environments (single-file components or modern browsers), you can also use ES2015 destructuring to pull out specific slot props, like so:

This can make the template much cleaner, especially when the slot provides many props. It also opens other possibilities, such as renaming props, e.g. user to person:

You can even define fallbacks, to be used in case a slot prop is undefined:

Dynamic Slot Names

New in 2.6.0+

Dynamic directive arguments also work on v-slot, allowing the definition of dynamic slot names:

Named Slots Shorthand

New in 2.6.0+

Similar to v-on and v-bind, v-slot also has a shorthand, replacing everything before the argument (v-slot:) with the special symbol #. For example, v-slot:header can be rewritten as #header:

However, just as with other directives, the shorthand is only available when an argument is provided. That means the following syntax is invalid:

Instead, you must always specify the name of the slot if you wish to use the shorthand:

Other Examples

Slot props allow us to turn slots into reusable templates that can render different content based on input props. This is most useful when you are designing a reusable component that encapsulates data logic while allowing the consuming parent component to customize part of its layout.

For example, we are implementing a <todo-list> component that contains the layout and filtering logic for a list:

Instead of hard-coding the content for each todo, we can let the parent component take control by making every todo a slot, then binding todo as a slot prop:

Now when we use the <todo-list> component, we can optionally define an alternative <template> for todo items, but with access to data from the child:

However, even this barely scratches the surface of what scoped slots are capable of. For real-life, powerful examples of scoped slot usage, we recommend browsing libraries such as Vue Virtual Scroller, Vue Promised, and Portal Vue.

Deprecated Syntax

The v-slot directive was introduced in Vue 2.6.0, offering an improved, alternative API to the still-supported slot and slot-scope attributes. The full rationale for introducing v-slot is described in this RFC. The slot and slot-scope attributes will continue to be supported in all future 2.x releases, but are officially deprecated and will eventually be removed in Vue 3.

Named Slots with the slot Attribute

Deprecated in 2.6.0+. See here for the new, recommended syntax.

To pass content to named slots from the parent, use the special slot attribute on <template> (using the <base-layout> component described here as example):

Or, the slot attribute can also be used directly on a normal element:

There can still be one unnamed slot, which is the default slot that serves as a catch-all for any unmatched content. In both examples above, the rendered HTML would be:

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Scoped Slots with the slot-scope Attribute

Deprecated in 2.6.0+. See here for the new, recommended syntax.

To receive props passed to a slot, the parent component can use <template> with the slot-scope attribute (using the <slot-example> described here as example):

Here, slot-scope declares the received props object as the slotProps variable, and makes it available inside the <template> scope. You can name slotProps anything you like similar to naming function arguments in JavaScript.

Here slot='default' can be omitted as it is implied:

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The slot-scope attribute can also be used directly on a non-<template> element (including components):

The value of slot-scope can accept any valid JavaScript expression that can appear in the argument position of a function definition. This means in supported environments (single-file components or modern browsers) you can also use ES2015 destructuring in the expression, like so:

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Using the <todo-list> described here as an example, here’s the equivalent usage using slot-scope: