How to use Share API in macOS and Qt Quick

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Hi everyone!

In this article I've tried to explain how to use Mac OS X Share API in your Qt Quick app. Share API was implemented in Mac OS 10.10 (Yosemite).

As you know all frameworks in OS X which you could use in your application created with Objective-C/C+. That's why you can't use framework in your C+ classes. You need to rename your .cpp file to .mm and then you can call Objective-C code. But sometimes you need to call methods with arguments with Objective-C. As you know in .h file you can't call Objective-C code. You must create Objective-C class which will call all needed methods to work with target framework.

Classes with Share API support.

First you need to create class with all methods in Objective-C/C++ to use Share API. To do this you need follow a few steps:

1. Create a new class and rename .cpp file to .mm.
2. Add .h file to .pro of your project in section "OBJECTIVE_HEADERS" and .mm to "OBJECTIVE_SOURCES".
3. Change .h file content to this code:

#ifdef __cplusplus
extern "C" {
#endif

#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>
#import <Social/Social.h>

/**

typedef QfSharePickerItemClicked *

param sharingService Selected type of sharing.
 *

author Andrew Shapovelov*/

typedef void(^{QfSharePickerItemClicked)(NSSharingService* sharingService);}

/**

class QfSharePicker
 *

brief Object to show share menu. *

author Andrew Shapovalov*/

interface QfSharePicker : NSObject /**

brief Create a new object.
 *

param view View on what will show share menu. *

param frame Rect to show share window.
 *

param datas Datas items to share. *

param block Block of code to select item.
 *

author Andrew Shapovalov*/

- (instancetype)initWithView:(NSView*)view frame:(NSRect)frame datasArray:(NSArray*)datas onItemClicked:(QfSharePickerItemClicked)block;

end

#ifdef __cplusplus
}
#endif

1. Change .mm file content to this code:

#import "qfsharepicker.h"
#include <QtCore>

/**

brief The private methods and properties of QfSharePicker class. *

author Andrew Shapovalov*/

interface QfSharePicker () <NSSharingServicePickerDelegate, NSSharingServiceDelegate>

/** Sharing service picker.*/

property (nonatomic, retain) NSSharingServicePicker''' picker;

/** Block of code to select item.*/

property (nonatomic, copy) QfSharePickerItemClicked onItemClicked;

end

implementation QfSharePicker

1. pragma mark - Init methods

- (instancetype)initWithView:(NSView)view frame:(NSRect)frame datasArray:(NSArray*)datas onItemClicked:(QfSharePickerItemClicked)block {

self = [super init];

if(self)
{
self.onItemClicked = block;
self.picker = [[NSSharingServicePicker alloc] initWithItems: datas];
self.picker.delegate = self;
[self.picker showRelativeToRect:frame ofView:view preferredEdge:NSMinXEdge];
}

return self;

}

1. pragma mark - NSSharingServicePickerDelegate methods

- (void)sharingServicePicker:(NSSharingServicePicker )sharingServicePicker didChooseSharingService:(NSSharingService)service {

if(self.picker == sharingServicePicker)
{
if(self.onItemClicked)
{
self.onItemClicked(service);
}
}

}

- (id <NSSharingServiceDelegate>)sharingServicePicker:(NSSharingServicePicker )sharingServicePicker delegateForSharingService:(NSSharingService)sharingService {

Q_UNUSED(sharingService);

if(self.picker == sharingServicePicker)
{
}

return self;

}

1. pragma mark - NSSharingServiceDelegate methods

- (void)sharingService:(NSSharingService )sharingService willShareItems:(NSArray)items {

Q_UNUSED(sharingService);
Q_UNUSED(items);

//Some code here

}

- (void)sharingService:(NSSharingService )sharingService didFailToShareItems:(NSArray)items error:(NSError )error {

Q_UNUSED(sharingService);
Q_UNUSED(items);
Q_UNUSED(error);

//Some code here

}

- (void)sharingService:(NSSharingService)sharingService didShareItems:(NSArray )items {

Q_UNUSED(sharingService);
Q_UNUSED(items);

//Some code here

}

1. pragma mark - Clear memory

- (void)dealloc {

[super dealloc];

[self.picker autorelease];
[self.onItemClicked release];
self.onItemClicked = nil;

}

end

p. More information you can find in official Apple "documentation":https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/DOCUMENTATION/AppKit/Reference/NSSharingServicePicker_Class/index.html. And you need to see information about class "NSSharingServicePickerDelegate":https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/DOCUMENTATION/AppKit/Reference/NSSharingServicePickerDelegate_Protocol/index.html#//apple_ref/occ/intf/NSSharingServicePickerDelegate.

h1. Create QtQuick Item to use Share API from App.

p. Second class which you need to create is a class to call from C+. This class will call Objective-C/C. To do this you need follow a few steps:

1. Create a new C+ class.
2. Rename .cpp file to .mm and added it to "OBJECTIVE_SOURCES".
3. Change .h file content to code:

#include <QtCore>
#include <QtQuick>

/'''*

class QfShareItem *

brief Manager to use share logic.
 *

author Andrew Shapovalov*/

class QfShareItem : public QQuickPaintedItem {

Q_OBJECT
Q_PROPERTY(QString shareString READ getShareString WRITE setShareString NOTIFY shareStringChanged)
Q_PROPERTY(QUrl shareUrl READ getShareUrl WRITE setShareUrl NOTIFY shareUrlChanged)

private:
/** The share string info.*/
QString m_shareString;

/* The share link.*/
QUrl m_shareUrl;

/*

brief Strip all HTML tags from string.
 *

param body The source string. *

return Plain text.
 *

author Andrew Shapovalov*/

QString stripHTMLTags(QString body);

/**

brief Works with all applications events.
 *

param obj The object which call event. *

param event The event of call.
 *

author Andrew Shapovalov*/

bool eventFilter(QObject* obj, QEvent* event);

/**

brief Share current content.
 *

author Andrew Shapovalov*/

void shareCurrentContent();

public:

/**

brief Create a new object.
 *

param parent Parent object. *

author Andrew Shapovalov*/
 explicit QfShareItem(QQuickPaintedItem '''parent = 0);

 //Others
 /'''*

brief Called when current object will redrawing. *

param painter The object for draw data.
 *

author Andrew Shapovalov*/

void paint(QPainter painter);

//Getters

/*

brief Get share content string.
 *

return Share string content. *

author Andrew Shapovalov*/
 inline QString getShareString(){return m_shareString;}

 /**

brief Get share url. *

return Share url.
 *

author Andrew Shapovalov*/

inline QUrl getShareUrl(){return m_shareUrl;}

//Setters

/**

brief Set share content string.
 *

param value Share string content. *

author Andrew Shapovalov*/
 inline void setShareString(QString value){m_shareString = value; emit shareStringChanged(m_shareString);}

 /**

brief Set share url. *

param value Share url.
 *

author Andrew Shapovalov*/

inline void setShareUrl(QUrl value){m_shareUrl = value; emit shareUrlChanged(m_shareUrl);}

/**

brief Share content and url.
 *

param text The text of share. *

param url The url to share.
 *

author Andrew Shapovalov*/

Q_INVOKABLE void shareContent(QString text = QString(), QUrl url = QUrl());

signals:

/**

brief Called when share content string was changed.
 *

param value Share string content. *

author Andrew Shapovalov*/
 void shareStringChanged(QString value);

 /**

brief Called when share url was changed. *

param value Share url.
 *

author Andrew Shapovalov*/

void shareUrlChanged(QUrl value);

/**

brief Called when user select share service.
 *

param serviceName The name of selected service. *

author Andrew Shapovalov*/
 void selectedService(QString serviceName);

 public slots:
};

1. Change .mm file content to code:

#include "qfshareitem.h"
#include "qfsharepicker.h"

QString QfShareItem::stripHTMLTags(QString body)
{
 body.replace("<br>","");
 body.replace("</br>","");
 body.replace("</p>","");
 body.replace("</td>","");
 body.remove(QRegExp("<head&amp;amp;gt;(.''')</head&amp;amp;gt;"));
 body.remove(QRegExp("<form(.''')</form>"));
 body.remove(QRegExp( "<(.)[</sup>>]'''>"));

 return body.trimmed();
}

bool QfShareItem::eventFilter(QObject''' obj, QEvent* event)
{
 if(obj == this)
 {
 if(parentItem())
 {
 return QObject::eventFilter(parentItem(), event);
 }
 }

return QObject::eventFilter(obj, event);
}

void QfShareItem::shareCurrentContent()
{
 QQuickItem* parentItem = this->parentItem();
 if(!m_shareString.isEmpty() &amp;&amp; parentItem)
 {
 QRectF rect = parentItem->mapRectToItem(NULL, parentItem->boundingRect());
 NSView* view = reinterpret_cast<NSView *>(parentItem->window()->winId());
 NSRect frame = NSMakeRect(rect.x(), rect.y(), rect.width(), rect.height());

 m_shareString = m_shareString.replace("<style type=quot;text/cssquot;>a {color:#44a51c;text-decoration:none;}</style&amp;amp;gt;", "");
 QString content = stripHTMLTags(m_shareString).trimmed();
 NSMutableArray* datas = [NSMutableArray arrayWithObject: content.toNSString()];
 if(!m_shareUrl.isEmpty())
 {
 NSURL* url = [NSURL URLWithString: m_shareUrl.toString().toNSString()];
 if(url)
 {
 [datas addObject: url];
 }
 }
 QfSharePicker* sharePicker = [[QfSharePicker alloc] initWithView:view frame:frame datasArray:datas onItemClicked:nil];
 [sharePicker autorelease];
 }
}

QfShareItem::QfShareItem(QQuickPaintedItem '''parent) :
 QQuickPaintedItem(parent)
{
 m_shareString.clear();
 m_shareUrl.clear();

 connect(this, &amp;QQuickPaintedItem::parentChanged, [this](QQuickItem''' newParent){

 if(newParent)
 {
 newParent->setFiltersChildMouseEvents(true);
 }
 });
 this->installEventFilter(this);

setFlag(QQuickPaintedItem::ItemHasContents, true);
 setFlag(QQuickPaintedItem::ItemClipsChildrenToShape, true);
 setFlag(QQuickPaintedItem::ItemAcceptsDrops, true);
 setRenderTarget(QQuickPaintedItem::InvertedYFramebufferObject);
}

void QfShareItem::paint(QPainter *painter)
{
 try
 {
 Q_UNUSED(painter);
 }
 catch(std::exception&amp;amp; exception)
 {
 qDebug()<<"exception: "<<exception.what();
 }
}

void QfShareItem::shareContent(QString text, QUrl url)
{
 if(!text.isEmpty())
 {
 m_shareString = text;
 }

if(!url.isEmpty())
 {
 m_shareUrl = url;
 }

shareCurrentContent();
}

1. Register new type to use in QML.

qmlRegisterType<YourShareItem>(uri, 1, 1, "YourShareItem");

How to use in QML.

Import the new type to your QML file where you need to use share logic and add this code:

Button {
 id: btnLink
 width: 22
 height: 22

onClicked: {
 share.shareContent();
 }

QfShareItem {
 id: share
 anchors.fill: btnLink
 shareUrl: userPanelView.shareUrl
 }
}