Qt Creator Manual | Refactoring

Qt Creator Manual 4.5.2

Searching with the Locator ◦ Beautifying Source Code

# Refactoring

Refactor code to:

- Improve internal quality of your application
- Improve performance and extensibility
- Improve code readability and maintainability
- Simplify code structure

## Finding Symbols

To find the use of a specific symbol or QML component in your Qt C++ or Qt Quick project:

1. In the editor, place the cursor on the symbol or component, and select:
   - Tools > C++ > Find Usages
   - Tools > QML/JS > Find Usages
   - Ctrl+Shift+U

   Qt Creator looks for the symbol in the following locations:

   - Files listed as a part of the project
   - Files directly used by the project files (for example, generated files)
   - Header files of used frameworks and libraries

   Note: You can also select Edit > Find/Replace > Advanced Find > C++ Symbols to search for classes, functions, enums, and declarations either from files listed as part of the project or from all files that are used by the code, such as include files.

2. The Search Results pane opens and shows the location and number of instances of the symbol in the current project.

You can browse the search results in the following ways:

- To go directly to an instance, double-click the instance in the Search Results pane.
- To move between instances, click the (Next Item) button and (Previous Item) button in the Search Results pane.
- To expand and collapse the list of all instances, click the (Expand All) button.
- To clear the search results, click the (Clear) button.

## Renaming Symbols

You can rename symbols in all files in a project. When you rename a class, you can also change filenames that match the class name.

To rename a specific symbol in a Qt project:

1. In the editor, place the cursor on the symbol you would like to change and select Tools > C++ > Rename Symbol Under Cursor or Tools > QML/JS > Rename Symbol Under Cursor. Alternatively, press Ctrl+Shift+R.

   The Search Results pane opens and shows the location and number of instances of the symbol in the current project.

2. To replace all selected instances, enter the name of the new symbol in the Replace with text box.

   To omit an instance, uncheck the check-box next to the instance.

3. If the symbol is a class, select the Rename files check box to also change the filenames that match the class name.
4. Select Replace.

   Note: This action replaces all selected instances of the symbol in all files listed in the Search Results pane. You cannot undo this action.

Note: Renaming local symbols does not open the Search Results pane. The instances of the symbol are highlighted in code and you can edit the symbol. All instances of the local symbol are changed as you type.

## Column Editing

To apply a change to several rows in a column simultaneously, press Alt, select the rows, and enter or remove text. The changes are made simultaneously at the cursor position on all the selected rows.

## Applying Refactoring Actions

Qt Creator allows you to quickly and conveniently apply actions to refactor your code by selecting them in a context menu. The actions available depend on the position of the cursor in the code editor and on whether you are writing C++ or QML code.

To apply refactoring actions to C++ code, right-click an operand, conditional statement, string, or name to open a context menu. In QML code, click an item ID or name.

In the context menu, select Refactoring and then select a refactoring action.

You can also press Alt+Enter to open a context menu that contains refactoring actions available in the current cursor position.

If you use the Clang code model to parse the C++ files, the Clang fix-it hints that have been integrated into Qt Creator are also available to you. In addition to the standard ways of activating refactoring actions, you can select the actions that are applicable on a line in the context menu in the left margin of the code editor.

### Refactoring C++ Code

You can apply the following types of refactoring actions to C++ code:

- Change binary operands
- Simplify if and while conditions (for example, move declarations out of if conditions)
- Modify strings (for example, set the encoding for a string to Latin-1, mark strings translatable, and convert symbol names to camel case)
- Create variable declarations
- Create function declarations and definitions

The following table summarizes the refactoring actions for C++ code. The action is available when the cursor is in the position described in the Activation column.

Refactoring Action | Description | Activation
--- | --- | ---

Add Curly Braces

Adds curly braces to an if statement that does not contain a compound statement. For example, rewrites

      if (a)
          b;

as

      if (a) {
          b;
      }

`if`

Move Declaration out of Condition

Moves a declaration out of an if or while condition to simplify the condition. For example, rewrites

      if (Type name = foo()) {}

as

      Type name = foo;
      if (name) {}

Name of the introduced variable

Rewrite Condition Using ||

Rewrites the expression according to De Morgan's laws. For example, rewrites:

      !a && !b

as

      !(a || b)

`&&`

Rewrite Using operator

Rewrites an expression negating it and using the inverse operator. For example, rewrites:

-       a op b

  as

        !(a invop b)

-       (a op b)

  as

        !(a invop b)

-       !(a op b)

  as

        (a invob b)

`<=`, `<`, `>`, `>=`, `==` or `!=`

Split Declaration

Splits a simple declaration into several declarations. For example, rewrites:

      int *a, b;

as

      int *a;
      int b;

Type name or variable name

Split if Statement

Splits an if statement into several statements. For example, rewrites:

      if (something && something_else) {
      }

as

      if (something) {
         if (something_else) {
         }
      }

and

      if (something || something_else)
          x;

with

      if (something)
          x;
      else if (something_else)
          x;

`&&` or `||`

Swap Operands

Rewrites an expression in the inverse order using the inverse operator. For example, rewrites:

      a op b

as

      b flipop a

`<=`, `<`, `>`, `>=`, `==`, `!=`, `&&` or `||`

Convert to Decimal | Converts an integer literal to decimal representation | Numeric literal
Convert to Hexadecimal | Converts an integer literal to hexadecimal representation | Numeric literal
Convert to Octal | Converts an integer literal to octal representation | Numeric literal

Convert to Objective-C String Literal

Converts a string literal to an Objective-C string literal if the file type is Objective-C(++). For example, rewrites the following strings

      "abcd"
      QLatin1String("abcd")
      QLatin1Literal("abcd")

as

      @"abcd"

String literal

Enclose in QLatin1Char()

Sets the encoding for a character to Latin-1, unless the character is already enclosed in QLatin1Char, QT_TRANSLATE_NOOP, tr, trUtf8, QLatin1Literal, or QLatin1String. For example, rewrites

      'a'

as

      QLatin1Char('a')

String literal

Enclose in QLatin1String()

Sets the encoding for a string to Latin-1, unless the string is already enclosed in QLatin1Char, QT_TRANSLATE_NOOP, tr, trUtf8, QLatin1Literal, or QLatin1String. For example, rewrites

      "abcd"

as

      QLatin1String("abcd")

String literal

Mark as Translatable

Marks a string translatable. For example, rewrites `"abcd"` with one of the following options, depending on which of them is available:

      tr("abcd")
      QCoreApplication::translate("CONTEXT", "abcd")
      QT_TRANSLATE_NOOP("GLOBAL", "abcd")

String literal

Add Definition in ...

Inserts a definition stub for a function declaration either in the header file (inside or outside the class) or in the implementation file. For free functions, inserts the definition after the declaration of the function or in the implementation file. Qualified names are minimized when possible, instead of always being fully expanded.

For example, rewrites

      Class Foo {
          void bar();
      };

as (inside class)

      Class Foo {
          void bar() {

          }
      };

as (outside class)

      Class Foo {
          void bar();
      };

      void Foo::bar()
      {

      }

as (in implementation file)

      // Header file
      Class Foo {
          void bar();
      };

      // Implementation file
      void Foo::bar()
      {

      }

Function name

Add `Function` Declaration | Inserts the member function declaration that matches the member function definition into the class declaration. The function can be `public`, `protected`, `private`, `public slot`, `protected slot`, or `private slot`. | Function name
Switch with Next/Previous Parameter | Moves a parameter down or up one position in a parameter list. | Parameter in the declaration or definition of a function
Extract Function | Moves the selected code to a new function and replaces the block of code with a call to the new function. Enter a name for the function in the Extract Function Refactoring dialog. | Block of code selected
Extract Constant as Function Parameter | Replaces the selected literal and all its occurrences with the function parameter `newParameter`. The parameter `newParameter` will have the original literal as the default value. | Block of code selected

Add Local Declaration

Adds the type of an assignee, if the type of the right-hand side of the assignment is known. For example, rewrites

      a = foo();

as

      Type a = foo();

where Type is the return type of `foo()`

Assignee

Convert to Camel Case | Converts a symbol name to camel case, where elements of the name are joined without delimiter characters and the initial character of each element is capitalized. For example, rewrites `an_example_symbol` as `anExampleSymbol` and `AN_EXAMPLE_SYMBOL` as `AnExampleSymbol` | Identifier
Complete Switch Statement | Adds all possible cases to a switch statement of the type `enum` | `switch`

Generate Missing Q_PROPERTY Members

Adds missing members to a `Q_PROPERTY`:

- `read` function
- `write` function, if there is a WRITE
- `onChanged` signal, if there is a NOTIFY
- data member with the name `m_<propertyName>`

`Q_PROPERTY`

Apply Changes | Keeps function declarations and definitions synchronized by checking for the matching declaration or definition when you edit a function signature and by applying the changes to the matching code. | Function signature. When this action is available, a light bulb icon appears:
Add #include for undeclared or forward declared identifier | Adds an `#include` directive to the current file to make the definition of a symbol available. | Undeclared identifier

Reformat Pointers or References

Reformats declarations with pointers or references according to the code style settings for the current project. In case no project is open, the current global code style settings are used.

For example, rewrites:

      char*s;

as

      char *s;

When applied to selections, all suitable declarations in the selection are rewritten.

Declarations with pointers or references and selections containing such declarations

Create Getter and Setter Member Functions | Creates either both getter and setter member functions for member variables or only a getter or setter. | Member variable in class definition

Move Function Definition

Moves a function definition to the implementation file, outside the class or back to its declaration. For example, rewrites:

      class Foo
      {
        void bar()
        {
            // do stuff here
        }
      };

as

      class Foo
      {
        void bar();
      };

      void Foo::bar() {
          // do stuff here
      }

Function signature

Move All Function Definitions

Moves all function definitions to the implementation file or outside the class. For example, rewrites:

      class Foo
      {
        void bar()
        {
            // do stuff here
        }
        void baz()
        {
            // do stuff here
        }
      };

as

      class Foo
      {
        void bar();
        void baz();
      };

      void Foo::bar() {
          // do stuff here
      }

      void Foo::baz() {
          // do stuff here
      }

Class name

Assign to Local Variable

Adds a local variable which stores the return value of a function call or a new expression. For example, rewrites:

      QString s;
      s.toLatin1();

as

      QString s;
      QByteArray latin1 = s.toLatin1();

and

      new Foo;

as

      Foo * localFoo = new Foo;

Function call or class name

Insert (Pure) Virtual Functions

Select an insertion mode:

- Insert only declarations.
- Insert declarations and the corresponding definitions inside the class.
- Insert declarations and the corresponding definitions outside the class.
- Insert declarations and the corresponding definitions in the implementation file (only if an implementation file exists).

Class or base class name

Optimize for-Loop

Rewrites post increment operators as pre increment operators and post decrement operators as pre decrement operators. It also moves other than string or numeric literals and id expressions from the condition of a for loop to its initializer. For example, rewrites:

      for (int i = 0; i < 3 * 2; i++)

as

      for (int i = 0, total = 3 * 2; i < total; ++i)

`for`

Escape String Literal as UTF-8 | Escapes non-ASCII characters in a string literal to hexadecimal escape sequences. String Literals are handled as UTF-8. | String literal
Unescape String Literal as UTF-8 | Unescapes octal or hexadecimal escape sequences in a string literal. String Literals are handled as UTF-8. | String literal

Convert to Stack Variable

Converts the selected pointer to a stack variable. For example, rewrites:

      QByteArray *foo = new QByteArray("foo");
      foo->append("bar");

as

      QByteArray foo = "foo";
      foo.append("bar");

This operation is limited to work only within function scope. Also, the coding style for pointers and references is not respected yet.

Pointer Variable

Convert to Pointer

Converts the selected stack variable to a pointer. For example, rewrites:

      QByteArray foo = "foo";
      foo.append("bar");

as

      QByteArray *foo = new QByteArray("foo");
      foo->append("bar");

This operation is limited to work only within function scope. Also, the coding style for pointers and references is not respected yet.

Stack Variable

Convert connect() to Qt 5 Style | Converts a Qt 4 QObject::connect() to Qt 5 style. | QObject::connect() (Qt 4 style)

### Refactoring QML Code

You can apply the following types of refactoring actions to QML code:

- Rename IDs
- Split initializers
- Move a QML type into a separate file to reuse it in other .qml files

The following table summarizes the refactoring actions for QML code. The action is available when the cursor is in the position described in the Activation column.

Refactoring Action | Description | Activation
--- | --- | ---
Move Component into Separate File | Moves a QML type into a separate file. Give the new component a name and select whether properties are set for the new component or for the original one. | QML type name. This action is also available in the Form Editor in Qt Quick Designer.

Split Initializer

Reformats a one-line type into a multi-line type. For example, rewrites

      Item { x: 10; y: 20; width: 10 }

as

      Item {
          x: 10;
          y: 20;
          width: 10
      }

QML type property

Wrap Component in Loader | Wraps the type in a Component type and loads it dynamically in a Loader type. This is usually done to improve startup time. | QML type name
Add a message suppression comment | Prepends the line with an annotation comment that stops the message from being generated. | Error, warning or hint from static analysis