QMap Class

Home | All Classes | Main Classes | Annotated | Grouped Classes | Functions |

# QMap Class Reference

The QMap class is a value-based template class that provides a dictionary. More...

`#include <qmap.h>`

List of all member functions.

## Public Members

- typedef Key key_type
- typedef T mapped_type
- typedef QPair<const key_type, mapped_type> value_type
- typedef value_type * pointer
- typedef const value_type * const_pointer
- typedef value_type & reference
- typedef const value_type & const_reference
- typedef size_t size_type
- typedef QMapIterator<Key, T> iterator
- typedef QMapConstIterator<Key, T> const_iterator
- QMap ()
- QMap ( const QMap<Key, T> & m )
- QMap ( const std::map<Key, T> & m )
- ~QMap ()
- QMap<Key, T> & operator= ( const QMap<Key, T> & m )
- QMap<Key, T> & operator= ( const std::map<Key, T> & m )
- iterator begin ()
- iterator end ()
- const_iterator begin () const
- const_iterator end () const
- iterator replace ( const Key & k, const T & v )
- size_type size () const
- bool empty () const
- QPair<iterator, bool> insert ( const value_type & x )
- void erase ( iterator it )
- void erase ( const key_type & k )
- size_type count ( const key_type & k ) const
- T & operator[] ( const Key & k )
- void clear ()
- typedef QMapIterator<Key, T> Iterator
- typedef QMapConstIterator<Key, T> ConstIterator
- typedef T ValueType
- iterator find ( const Key & k )
- const_iterator find ( const Key & k ) const
- const T & operator[] ( const Key & k ) const
- bool contains ( const Key & k ) const (obsolete)
- size_type count () const (obsolete)
- bool isEmpty () const (obsolete)
- iterator insert ( const Key & key, const T & value, bool overwrite = TRUE ) (obsolete)
- void remove ( iterator it ) (obsolete)
- void remove ( const Key & k ) (obsolete)

## Protected Members

- void detach ()

## Related Functions

- QDataStream & operator>> ( QDataStream & s, QMap<Key, T> & m )
- QDataStream & operator<< ( QDataStream & s, const QMap<Key, T> & m )

## Detailed Description

The QMap class is a value-based template class that provides a dictionary.

QMap is a Qt implementation of an STL-like map container. It can be used in your application if the standard map<> is not available. QMap is part of the Qt Template Library.

QMap defines a template instance to create a dictionary with keys of type Key and values of type Data. QMap does not store pointers to the members of the map. Instead, it holds a copy of every member. For that reason this kind of classes is called "value-based", whereas QPtrList and QDict are "reference-based".

QMap contains and manages a collection of objects of type Data with associated key values of type Key and provides iterators that allow the contained objects to be addressed. QMap owns the contained elements. For more relaxed ownership semantics, see QPtrCollection and friends which are pointer-based containers.

Some classes cannot be used within a QMap - for example everything derived from QObject and thus all classes that implement widgets. Only values can be used in a QMap. To qualify as a value, the class must provide

- A copy constructor
- An assignment operator
- A default constructor, i.e. a constructor that does not take any arguments.

Note that C++ defaults to field-by-field assignment operators and copy constructors if no explicit version is supplied. In many cases, this is sufficient.

QMap uses an STL-like syntax to manipulate and address the objects it contains. For historical reasons, QMap contains additional functions which essentially perform the same task. It is recommended that the STL-like functions be used in application code to ease the transition to a future version of Qt. See the Qt Template Library for more information.

The class used for the key requires that the `operator<` is implemented to define ordering of the keys.

Example:

    #include <qstring.h>
    #include <qmap.h>
    #include <qstring.h>

    class Employee
    {
    public:
        Employee(): sn(0) {}
        Employee( const QString& forename, const QString& surname, int salary )
            : fn(forename), sn(surname), sal(salary)
        {}

        QString forename() const { return fn; }
        QString surname() const { return sn; }
        int salary() const { return sal; }
        void setSalary( int salary ) { sal = salary; }
    private:
        QString fn;
        QString sn;
        int sal;
    };

    int main(int argc, char **argv)
    {
        QApplication app( argc, argv );

        typedef QMap<QString,Employee> EmployeeMap;
        EmployeeMap map;

        map["JD001"] = Employee("John", "Doe", 50000);
        map["JD002"] = Employee("Jane", "Williams", 80000);
        map["TJ001"] = Employee("Tom", "Jones", 60000);

        Employee sasha( "Sasha", "Hind", 50000 );
        map["SH001"] = sasha ;
        sasha.setSalary( 40000 );

        EmployeeMap::Iterator it;
        for( it = map.begin(); it != map.end(); ++it ) {
            printf( "%s: %s, %s earns %d\n",
                it.key().latin1(),
                it.data().surname().latin1(),
                it.data().forename().latin1(),
                it.data().salary() );
        }
        return 0;
    }

Program output:

    JD001: Doe, John earns 50000
    JW002: Williams, Jane earns 80000
    SH001: Hind, Sasha earns 50000
    TJ001: Jones, Tom earns 60000

As you can see, the latest changes to Sasha's salary did not affect the value in the list because the map created a copy of Sasha's entry. In addition, notice that the items are sorted alphabetically (by key) when iterating over the map.

There are several ways to find items in a map. The begin() and end() functions return iterators to the beginning and end of the map. The advantage of using an iterator is that you can move forward or backward by incrementing/decrementing the iterator. The iterator returned by end() points to the element which is one past the last element in the container. The past-the-end iterator is still associated with the map it belongs to, however it is not dereferenceable; operator*() will not return a well-defined value. If the map is empty(), the iterator returned by begin() will equal the iterator returned by end(). Since end() returns a past-the-end iterator, the size() of the list is equal to end() - begin().

Another way to find an element in the map is by using the find() function. This returns an iterator pointing to the desired item or to the end() iterator if no such element exists.

Another approach uses the operator[]. But be warned: if the map does not contain an entry for the element you are looking for, operator[] inserts a default value. If you do not know that the element you are searching for is really in the list, you should not use operator[]. The following example illustrates this:

            QMap<QString,QString> map;
            map["Clinton"] = "Bill";
            str << map["Clinton"] << map["Bush"] << endl;

The code fragment will print out "Clinton", "". Since the value associated with the "Bush" key did not exist, the map inserted a default value (in this case, an empty string). If you are not sure whether a certain element is in the map, you should use find() and iterators instead.

If you just want to know whether a certain key is contained in the map, use the count() function. In addition, size() tells you how many keys there are currently in the map.

It is safe to have multiple iterators at the same time. If some member of the map is removed, only iterators pointing to the removed member become invalid; inserting in the map does not invalidate any iterators.

Since QMap is value-based, there is no need to be concerned about deleting elements in the map. The map holds its own copies and will free them if the corresponding member or the map itself is deleted. You can force the map to free all its item with clear().

QMap is implicitly shared. This means you can just make copies of the map in time O(1). If multiple QMap instances share the same data and one is modifying the map's data, this modifying instance makes a copy and modifies its private copy; it thus does not affect other instances. From a developer's point of view you can think that a QMap and a copy of this map have nothing to do with each other. If a QMap is being used in a multi-threaded program, you must protect all access to the map. See QMutex.

There are several ways of inserting new elements into the map. One uses the insert() method; the other one uses operator[] like this:

            QMap<QString,QString> map;
            map["Clinton"] = "Bill";
            map.insert( qMakePair("Bush", "George") );

Items can also be removed from the map in several ways. The first is to pass an iterator to erase(). The other is to pass a key value to erase(), which will delete the entry with the requested key. In addition you can clear the entire map using the clear() method.

See also QMapIterator, Qt Template Library Classes, Implicitly and Explicitly Shared Classes and Non-GUI Classes.

## Member Type Documentation

### QMap::ConstIterator

The map's const iterator type, QTL style.

### QMap::Iterator

The map's iterator type, QTL style.

### QMap::ValueType

Corresponds to QPair, QTL style.

### QMap::const_iterator

The map's const iterator type.

### QMap::const_pointer

Const pointer to value_type.

### QMap::const_reference

Const reference to value_type.

### QMap::iterator

The map's iterator type.

### QMap::key_type

The map's key type.

### QMap::mapped_type

The map's data type.

### QMap::pointer

Pointer to value_type.

### QMap::reference

Reference to value_type.

### QMap::size_type

An unsigned integral type, used to represent various sizes.

### QMap::value_type

Corresponds to QPair.

## Member Function Documentation

### QMap::QMap ()

Constructs an empty map.

### QMap::QMap ( const QMap<Key, T> & m )

Constructs a copy of m.

This operation costs O(1) time because QMap is implicitly shared. The first instance of applying modifications to a shared map will create a copy that takes in turn O(n) time. However, returning a QMap from a function is very fast.

### QMap::QMap ( const std::map<Key, T> & m )

Constructs a copy of m.

### QMap::~QMap ()

Destroys the map. References to the values in the map and all iterators of this map become invalidated. Since QMap is highly tuned for performance you won't see warnings if you use invalid iterators, because it is not possible for an iterator to check whether it is valid or not.

### iterator QMap::begin ()

Returns an iterator pointing to the first element in the map. This iterator equals end() if the map is empty.

The items in the map are traversed in the order defined by operator<(Key, Key).

See also end() and QMapIterator.

### const_iterator QMap::begin () const

This is an overloaded member function, provided for convenience. It behaves essentially like the above function.

See also end() and QMapConstIterator.

### void QMap::clear ()

Removes all items from the map.

See also erase().

### bool QMap::contains ( const Key & k ) const

This function is obsolete. It is provided to keep old source working. We strongly advise against using it in new code.

Use count() instead.

### size_type QMap::count ( const key_type & k ) const

Returns the number of elements whose key is k. The return value is either 0 or 1.

### size_type QMap::count () const

This function is obsolete. It is provided to keep old source working. We strongly advise against using it in new code.

Use size() instead.

See also isEmpty().

### void QMap::detach ()`[protected]`

If the map does not share its data with another QMap instance, nothing happens; otherwise the function creates a new copy of this map and detaches from the shared one. This function is called whenever the map is modified. The implicit sharing mechanism is implemented this way.

### bool QMap::empty () const

Returns TRUE if the map's size is zero; otherwise returns FALSE.

### iterator QMap::end ()

The iterator returned by end() points to the element which is one past the last element in the container. The past-the-end iterator is still associated with the map it belongs to, however it is not dereferenceable; operator*() will not return a well-defined value.

This iterator equals begin() if the map is empty.

See also begin() and QMapIterator.

### const_iterator QMap::end () const

This is an overloaded member function, provided for convenience. It behaves essentially like the above function.

The iterator returned by end() points to the element which is one past the last element in the container. The past-the-end iterator is still associated with the map it belongs to, however it is not dereferenceable; operator*() will not return a well-defined value.

This iterator equals begin() if the map is empty.

See also begin() and QMapConstIterator.

### void QMap::erase ( iterator it )

Removes the item at iterator position it in the map.

See also clear() and QMapIterator.

### void QMap::erase ( const key_type & k )

This is an overloaded member function, provided for convenience. It behaves essentially like the above function.

Removes the item with the key k.

See also clear().

### iterator QMap::find ( const Key & k )

Returns an iterator pointing to the element with key k in the map.

Returns end() if no key matched.

See also QMapIterator.

### const_iterator QMap::find ( const Key & k ) const

This is an overloaded member function, provided for convenience. It behaves essentially like the above function.

Returns an iterator pointing to the element with key k in the map.

Returns end() if no key matched.

See also QMapConstIterator.

### QPair<iterator, bool> QMap::insert ( const value_type & x )

Inserts x into the map. x is a QPair<> whose `first` element is a key to be inserted and whose `second` element is the associated value to be inserted. Returns a pair whose `first` element is an iterator pointing to the inserted item and whose `second` element is a bool indicating TRUE if x was inserted and FALSE if it was not inserted because it was already present.

### iterator QMap::insert ( const Key & key, const T & value, bool overwrite = TRUE )

This function is obsolete. It is provided to keep old source working. We strongly advise against using it in new code.

Use QMap::insert() instead.

See also iterator.

### bool QMap::isEmpty () const

This function is obsolete. It is provided to keep old source working. We strongly advise against using it in new code.

Use empty() instead.

See also size().

### QMap<Key, T> & QMap::operator= ( const QMap<Key, T> & m )

Assigns m to this map and returns a reference to this map.

All iterators of the current map become invalidated by this operation. The cost of such an assignment is O(1), because QMap is implicitly shared.

### QMap<Key, T> & QMap::operator= ( const std::map<Key, T> & m )

This is an overloaded member function, provided for convenience. It behaves essentially like the above function.

Assigns m to this map and returns a reference to this map.

All iterators of the current map become invalidated by this operation.

### T & QMap::operator[] ( const Key & k )

Returns the value associated with the key k. If no such key is present, an empty item is inserted with this key and a reference to the item is returned.

You can use this operator both for reading and writing:

        QMap<QString, QString> map;
        map["Clinton"] = "Bill";
        stream << map["Clinton"];

### const T & QMap::operator[] ( const Key & k ) const

This is an overloaded member function, provided for convenience. It behaves essentially like the above function.

Warning: This function differs from the non-const version of the same function. It will not insert an empty value if the key k does not exist. This may lead to logic errors in your program. You should check if the element exists before calling this function.

Returns the value associated with the key k. If no such key is present, a reference to an empty item is returned.

### void QMap::remove ( iterator it )

This function is obsolete. It is provided to keep old source working. We strongly advise against using it in new code.

Use erase() instead.

See also clear() and iterator.

### void QMap::remove ( const Key & k )

This function is obsolete. It is provided to keep old source working. We strongly advise against using it in new code.

This is an overloaded member function, provided for convenience. It behaves essentially like the above function.

Use erase() instead.

See also clear().

### iterator QMap::replace ( const Key & k, const T & v )

Replaces the value with key k from the map if possible, and inserts the new value v with key k in the map.

See also insert(), remove() and QMapIterator.

### size_type QMap::size () const

Returns the number of elements in the map.

## Related Functions

### QDataStream & operator<< ( QDataStream & s, const QMap<Key, T> & m )

Writes the map m to the stream s. The types Key and T must implement the streaming operator as well.

### QDataStream & operator>> ( QDataStream & s, QMap<Key, T> & m )

Reads the map m from the stream s. The types Key and T must implement the streaming operator as well.

This file is part of the Qt toolkit, copyright © 1995-2001 Trolltech, all rights reserved.