Animate Binding Change in Qt

Question

I'm trying to find a way to do a transition on a QML element, when a binding changes. Say you have a Text element, with the text property bound to something. What I want is when the data in the binding changes, the element fades out (Still displaying old data), switches and fades back in with the new data (the actual transition occurring while the element isn't visible.)

I've been searching everywhere for a way to do this but I can figure it out. I've tried using Qt Quick animations within QML, but the data itself changes before the animation runs, leaving the animation unnecessary. I've tried creating a custom QDeclarativeItem object that calls an animation within the QDeclarativeItem::paint() but I can't figure out how to get it to actually run.

I should note here that I know my bindings are working fine as the displayed data changes, I just can't get these animations to run at the proper time.

Here is what I tried with QML:

Text {
    id: focusText
    text: somedata

    Behavior on text {
         SequentialAnimation {
             NumberAnimation { target: focusText; property: "opacity"; to: 0; duration: 500 }
             NumberAnimation { target: focusText; property: "opacity"; to: 1; duration: 500 }
         }
     }
}

And here is what I tried in implementing a custom QDeclarativeItem :

// PAINTER
void AnimatedBinding::paint(QPainter *painter, const QStyleOptionGraphicsItem *option, QWidget *widget) {
    // Setup the pen
    QPen pen(m_color, 2);
    painter->setPen(pen);
    painter->setOpacity(this->opacity());

    // Draw the item
    if (m_bindingType == QString("text")) {
        QPropertyAnimation animation(this, "opacity");
        animation.setDuration(1000);
        animation.setStartValue(1);

        if (drawn) {
            animation.setStartValue(1);
            animation.setEndValue(0);
            animation.start();
        } else drawn = true;

        painter->drawText(boundingRect(), m_data.toString());
        animation.setEndValue(0);
        animation.start();
    } else {
        qCritical() << "Error unknown binding type!";
        return;
    }
}

But like I said, the animation that I start within the painter never actually fires.

Any tips? Anyone ever done this before? I've been banging my head on this for about a week.

Answer 1

How about doing it in qml only this ways :

1. Define a custom element of your own type, that behaves the way you want it to.
2. Use this element instead of traditional element to be animated.

eg. I have create a custom 'AnimatedText' type to have the fading in and fading out behavior on the text elements whenever text related to them changes.

File 1 : AnimatedText.qml

import QtQuick 1.0

Item
{
    id: topParent
    property string aText: ""
    property string aTextColor: "black"
    property int aTextFontSize: 10
    property int aTextAnimationTime : 1000

    Behavior on opacity { NumberAnimation { duration: aTextAnimationTime } }

    onATextChanged:
    {
         topParent.opacity = 0
         junkTimer.running = true
    }

    Timer
    {
       id: junkTimer
       running: false
       repeat: false
       interval: aTextAnimationTime
       onTriggered:
       {
           junkText.text = aText
           topParent.opacity = 1
       }
    }

    Text
    {
        id: junkText
        anchors.centerIn: parent
        text: ""
        font.pixelSize: aTextFontSize
        color: aTextColor
    }
}

and in your main.qml

import QtQuick 1.0

Rectangle
{
    id: topParent
    width:  360
    height: 360

    AnimatedText
    {
      id: someText

      anchors.centerIn: parent
      aText: "Click Me to change!!!.."
      aTextFontSize: 25
      aTextColor: "green"
      aTextAnimationTime: 500
    }

    MouseArea
    {
        anchors.fill: parent
        onClicked:
        {
            someText.aText = "Some random junk"
        }
    }
}