- Qt 6.5
- Qt Quick
- Qt Quick How-tos
- Qt 6.5.1 Reference Documentation

# Qt Quick How-tos

This page aims to provide an easily discoverable, useful reference that shows the simplest and best way of performing specific tasks in Qt Quick. Each solution provides QML and/or C++ code snippets where applicable, and every snippet is automatically tested by Qt to ensure they remain functional.

How do I:

- Call a C++ function from QML when a Button is clicked
- See which item has active focus

## Call a C++ function from QML when a Button is clicked

Assuming that the C++ type should be globally available to the QML files in the application, the simplest way is to make it a QML singleton with QML_SINGLETON. For example, in the header file, `backend.h`:

     #include <QObject>
     #include <QQmlEngine>

     class Backend : public QObject
     {
         Q_OBJECT
         QML_ELEMENT
         QML_SINGLETON

     public:
         Q_INVOKABLE void doStuff();
     };

`backend.cpp`:

     #include "backend.h"

     #include <QDebug>

     void Backend::doStuff()
     {
         qDebug() << "Did stuff!";
     }

You can then call that function from any QML file:

     import QtQuick.Controls

     import MyModule

     ApplicationWindow {
         width: 400
         height: 400
         title: qsTr("C++ Button example")

         Button {
             text: qsTr("Click me")
             onClicked: Backend.doStuff()
         }
     }

If the C++ type only needs to be available to a small set of QML files, consider using QML_ELEMENT. For more ways of exposing C++ types to QML, see Choosing the Correct Integration Method Between C++ and QML.

This example assumes that the `Backend` type is available in a QML module. With CMake, this is done via qt_add_qml_module. For an example that demonstrates this in detail, see Building a QML application.

## See which item has active focus

Write a property change signal handler for the window's activeFocusItem property:

     import QtQuick
     import QtQuick.Controls

     ApplicationWindow {
         width: 400
         height: 400
         visible: true
         title: qsTr("Active focus debugging example")

         onActiveFocusItemChanged: print("activeFocusItem: " + activeFocusItem)

         Row {
             TextField {
                 objectName: "textField1"
             }
             TextField {
                 objectName: "textField2"
             }
         }
     }

This will print the item which currently has active focus to the console. To ensure that the output is useful, give each item a descriptive objectName.