Is there a possibility to automatically convert QVariants to Python objects?

Question

PyQt 4.5.4, Python 2.6.2

Since version 4.5.2 PyQt is able to accept any Python objects where formerly only QVariants were allowed. This leads to some problems:

>>> itemModel.data(index, Qt.EditRole)
<Product object at 0xb7ce766c>
>>> index.data(Qt.EditRole)
<QVariant object at 0xb7ce768c>

Is there a possibility to remove this inconsistence?

Answer 1

PyQt 4.6, using the modern API:

The QVariant class is implemented as a mapped type. Any Python object can be passed when a QVariant instance is expected. When Qt returns a QVariant then it will automatically be converted to the original Python object or an equivalent. None is interpreted as an invalid QVariant and vice versa.

Answer 2

You could use the .toPyObject() method on a QVariant. I doubt that this works for custom types, though.

Answer 3

The only solution I have found is converting every value to a QVariant and then back:

QVariant(possiblyAQVariant).toPyObject()

This works for QVariants and Python types.