Search QTableView with a value(e.g. ID) which is not displayed

Question

Scenario:

Say, I have a person class

class Person{
    int id;          // only unique value, NOT displayed
    QString name;    // displayed
    QString address; // displayed 
    QString age;     // displayed
    etc etc          // displayed
}

The model class I am using; inherits QAbstractTableModel - MyCustomModelClass : QAbstractTableModel . MyCustomModelClass has a reference to the person list. Person list is maintained in class called MyAllData which is outside of my model class.

The table does not display the ID number of a person. But it is the only thing with which one can identify a person separately. If I want to search my table data with ID then how can I do that?

Answer 1

It depends a bit on which method you would like to search your model class with. Usually, I would implement a Qt::UserRole in your data() method. This role could either return your ID only or a pointer to your complete structure (using Q_DECLARE_METATYPE).

Then, you can either work your way through the model indices on your own, calling

model->data(idx, Qt::UserRole).toValue<Person*>()

or use methods like QT's match(.) and use Qt::UserRole there.

A third possibility would be to return the ID as if you would like to display it, but hiding the column in your view.