context-properties.qdoc

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// Copyright (C) 2026 The Qt Company Ltd.
// SPDX-License-Identifier: LicenseRef-Qt-Commercial OR GFDL-1.3-no-invariants-only
 
/*!
\page qmllint-warnings-and-errors-context-properties.html
\ingroup qmllint-warnings-and-errors
 
\title Context properties
\brief [context-properties] A context property was used.
 
\qmllintwarningcategory context-properties
 
\section1 Potential context property access detected
 
\section2 What happened?
A potential \l{Embedding C++ Objects into QML with Context Properties}{context property}
 access was detected.
 
\section2 Why is this bad?
By using context properties in your QML code, you create a dependency from your
QML code to the specific context you have in mind when writing it. This limits
reusability of your code since the context may be different in other places
where it might be used. Furthermore, the dependency is not declared. You never
import the context or otherwise state what you expect. Therefore, anyone
trying to reuse your code will have difficulties finding out whether the
place where it is reused has a context sufficient for your code.
 
QML tooling can't use the context property: the \l{Qt Quick Compiler}{compiler} can't
compile this file to C++ and \l{qmllint} as well as \l{\QMLLS} can't provide useful
warnings on that file.
 
\section2 Example
 
\code
// main.cpp
int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
    QGuiApplication app(argc, argv);
    QQuickView view;
    view.rootContext()
        ->setContextProperty("myProperty", QDateTime::currentDateTime());
    view.loadFromModule("MyModule", "Main");
    view.show();
    app.exec();
}
\endcode
 
\qml
// Main.qml
import QtQuick
 
Item {
    Component.onCompleted: console.log(myProperty)
}
\endqml
 
To fix this warning, you can:
\list
\li Make the property required.
\li Use a singleton.
\li Add an entry to \c{.contextProperties.ini}.
\endlist
 
\section3 Using a required property
 
Use required properties for context properties that have different values in different
components. To fix this warning with a required property, use one of the
\c{setInitialProperties} methods instead of \l{QQmlContext::}{setContextProperty}:
 
\list
 \li \l{QQuickView::setInitialProperties},
 \li \l{QQmlComponent::setInitialProperties},
 \li \l{QQmlApplicationEngine::setInitialProperties},
 \li \l{QQmlIncubator::setInitialProperties}, or
 \li \l{QQuickWidget::setInitialProperties}.
\endlist
 
Also define the required property in \c{Main.qml}.
 
\code
// main.cpp
int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
    QGuiApplication app(argc, argv);
    QQuickView view;
    view.setInitialProperties( { {"myProperty", QDateTime::currentDateTime()}  } );
    view.loadFromModule("MyModule", "Main");
    view.show();
    app.exec();
}
\endcode
 
\qml
// Main.qml
import QtQuick
 
Item {
    required property date myProperty
    Component.onCompleted: console.log(myProperty)
}
\endqml
 
See also \l{Exposing State from C++ to QML}.
 
\section3 Using a singleton
 
Use singletons for context properties that have the same value in all components.
To fix this warning with a \l{Singletons in QML}{singleton}, remove the
\l{QQmlContext::}{setContextProperty} call, define a
singleton and replace the context property usage with the singleton property.
 
\code
// mysingleton.h
class MySingleton : public QObject {
    Q_OBJECT
    QML_SINGLETON
    QML_ELEMENT
    Q_PROPERTY(QDateTime myProperty MEMBER m_myProperty NOTIFY myPropertyChanged FINAL)
 
    QDateTime m_myProperty = QDateTime::currentDateTime();
signals:
    void myPropertyChanged();
};
// main.cpp
int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
    QGuiApplication app(argc, argv);
    QQuickView view;
    view.loadFromModule("MyModule", "Main");
    view.show();
    app.exec();
}
\endcode
 
\qml
// Main.qml
import QtQuick
 
Item {
    Component.onCompleted: console.log(MySingleton.myProperty)
}
\endqml
 
See also \l{Exposing State from C++ to QML}.
 
\section3 Adding an entry to .contextProperties.ini
 
If you can't replace the context property, create a
\l{Context property settings}{.contextProperties.ini} file in your project
source directory if there is none, and write the following content:
 
\badcode
[General]
disableUnqualifiedAccess = "myProperty"
warnOnUsage = "myProperty"
disableHeuristic = false
\endcode
 
To silence this warning if the \c{.contextProperties.ini} file already exists,
append the context property name to the already existing lists:
 
\badcode
[General]
disableUnqualifiedAccess = "someOtherProperty,myProperty"
warnOnUsage = "someOtherProperty,myProperty"
disableHeuristic = false
\endcode
 
See also \l{Context property settings} for more information on the
\c {.contextProperties.ini} format.
 
*/