How do I cast QML items to corresponding C++ Item in Qt Quick

Question

My question is best clarified by an example. I have QML with a Text{} item. In C++ I can get to this item and I have no problem using qobject_cast to turn anything into a QQuickItem*. But how do I turn it into the closest corresponding item so that I can call more specific methods directly like setText() the same way I might call setWidth()? I realize I can use the generic setProperty() method but I'm after the compile time checking that casting offers.

I'm after a more general answer for finding the correspondence between QML and their C++ classes, so that I can find out how to do this for Rectangles, MenuBars etc. I can't seem to find this in the docs. For those that prefer code examples:

auto text_object = app_item->findChild<QObject*>("myTextArea");
text_object->setProperty("text","New Text set from Code"); //THIS WORKS BUT...
auto text_qitem = qobject_cast<QQuickItem*>(text_object);
text_qitem->setWidth(128);
auto text_quick_text = qobject_cast<WHATGOESHERE???*>(text_object);
text_quick_text->setText("new Text for qml item");  //I WANT TO DO THIS

Answer 1

Q: but I'm after the compile time checking that casting offers.

qobject_cast does not offer any compilation-time checking. It is all runtime and dynamic, thus this request is not plausible. The context property is fine, or you could also get the class name with QMetaObject. Then, you could build a static LUT, but the effort may not be worth it overall...

Answer 2

All QML properties and methods are exposed to the meta-object system and can be called from C++ using Object::setProperty and QMetaObject::invokeMethod() respectively. invokeMethod parameters and return values passed from QML are always translated into QVariant values in C++:

QString msg("That's it");

auto text_object = app_item->findChild<QObject*>("myTextArea");

if (text_object)
    QMetaObject::invokeMethod(text_object, "append", Q_ARG(QString, msg));