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# QAbstractAnimation Class Reference
[QtCore module]

The QAbstractAnimation class is the base of all animations. More...

Inherits QObject.

Inherited by QAnimationGroup, QPauseAnimation and QVariantAnimation.

### Types

- enum DeletionPolicy { KeepWhenStopped, DeleteWhenStopped }
- enum Direction { Forward, Backward }
- enum State { Stopped, Paused, Running }

### Methods

- __init__ (self, QObject parent = None)
- int currentLoop (self)
- int currentLoopTime (self)
- int currentTime (self)
- Direction direction (self)
- int duration (self)
- bool event (self, QEvent)
- QAnimationGroup group (self)
- int loopCount (self)
- pause (self)
- resume (self)
- setCurrentTime (self, int)
- setDirection (self, Direction)
- setLoopCount (self, int)
- setPaused (self, bool)
- start (self, DeletionPolicy policy = QAbstractAnimation.KeepWhenStopped)
- State state (self)
- stop (self)
- int totalDuration (self)
- updateCurrentTime (self, int)
- updateDirection (self, Direction)
- updateState (self, State, State)

### Qt Signals

- void currentLoopChanged (int)
- void directionChanged (QAbstractAnimation::Direction)
- void finished ()
- void stateChanged (QAbstractAnimation::State,QAbstractAnimation::State)

## Detailed Description

The QAbstractAnimation class is the base of all animations.

The class defines the functions for the functionality shared by all animations. By inheriting this class, you can create custom animations that plug into the rest of the animation framework.

The progress of an animation is given by its current time (currentLoopTime()), which is measured in milliseconds from the start of the animation (0) to its end (duration()). The value is updated automatically while the animation is running. It can also be set directly with setCurrentTime().

At any point an animation is in one of three states: Running, Stopped, or Paused--as defined by the State enum. The current state can be changed by calling start(), stop(), pause(), or resume(). An animation will always reset its current time when it is started. If paused, it will continue with the same current time when resumed. When an animation is stopped, it cannot be resumed, but will keep its current time (until started again). QAbstractAnimation will emit stateChanged() whenever its state changes.

An animation can loop any number of times by setting the loopCount property. When an animation's current time reaches its duration(), it will reset the current time and keep running. A loop count of 1 (the default value) means that the animation will run one time. Note that a duration of -1 means that the animation will run until stopped; the current time will increase indefinitely. When the current time equals duration() and the animation is in its final loop, the Stopped state is entered, and the finished() signal is emitted.

QAbstractAnimation provides pure virtual functions used by subclasses to track the progress of the animation: duration() and updateCurrentTime(). The duration() function lets you report a duration for the animation (as discussed above). The animation framework calls updateCurrentTime() when current time has changed. By reimplementing this function, you can track the animation progress. Note that neither the interval between calls nor the number of calls to this function are defined; though, it will normally be 60 updates per second.

By reimplementing updateState(), you can track the animation's state changes, which is particularly useful for animations that are not driven by time.

See also QVariantAnimation, QPropertyAnimation, QAnimationGroup, and The Animation Framework.

## Type Documentation

### QAbstractAnimation.DeletionPolicy

Constant | Value | Description
--- | --- | ---
`QAbstractAnimation.KeepWhenStopped` | `0` | The animation will not be deleted when stopped.
`QAbstractAnimation.DeleteWhenStopped` | `1` | The animation will be automatically deleted when stopped.

### QAbstractAnimation.Direction

This enum describes the direction of the animation when in Running state.

Constant | Value | Description
--- | --- | ---
`QAbstractAnimation.Forward` | `0` | The current time of the animation increases with time (i.e., moves from 0 and towards the end / duration).
`QAbstractAnimation.Backward` | `1` | The current time of the animation decreases with time (i.e., moves from the end / duration and towards 0).

See also direction.

### QAbstractAnimation.State

This enum describes the state of the animation.

Constant | Value | Description
--- | --- | ---
`QAbstractAnimation.Stopped` | `0` | The animation is not running. This is the initial state of QAbstractAnimation, and the state QAbstractAnimation reenters when finished. The current time remain unchanged until either setCurrentTime() is called, or the animation is started by calling start().
`QAbstractAnimation.Paused` | `1` | The animation is paused (i.e., temporarily suspended). Calling resume() will resume animation activity.
`QAbstractAnimation.Running` | `2` | The animation is running. While control is in the event loop, QAbstractAnimation will update its current time at regular intervals, calling updateCurrentTime() when appropriate.

See also state() and stateChanged().

## Method Documentation

### QAbstractAnimation.__init__ (self, QObject parent = None)

The parent argument, if not None, causes self to be owned by Qt instead of PyQt.

Constructs the QAbstractAnimation base class, and passes parent to QObject's constructor.

See also QVariantAnimation and QAnimationGroup.

### int QAbstractAnimation.currentLoop (self)

### int QAbstractAnimation.currentLoopTime (self)

Returns the current time inside the current loop. It can go from 0 to duration().

See also duration() and currentTime.

### int QAbstractAnimation.currentTime (self)

### Direction QAbstractAnimation.direction (self)

### int QAbstractAnimation.duration (self)

This method is abstract and should be reimplemented in any sub-class.

### bool QAbstractAnimation.event (self, QEvent)

Reimplemented from QObject.event().

### QAnimationGroup QAbstractAnimation.group (self)

If this animation is part of a QAnimationGroup, this function returns a pointer to the group; otherwise, it returns 0.

See also QAnimationGroup.addAnimation().

### int QAbstractAnimation.loopCount (self)

### QAbstractAnimation.pause (self)

This method is also a Qt slot with the C++ signature `void pause()`.

Pauses the animation. When the animation is paused, state() returns Paused. The value of currentTime will remain unchanged until resume() or start() is called. If you want to continue from the current time, call resume().

See also start(), state(), and resume().

### QAbstractAnimation.resume (self)

This method is also a Qt slot with the C++ signature `void resume()`.

Resumes the animation after it was paused. When the animation is resumed, it emits the resumed() and stateChanged() signals. The currenttime is not changed.

See also start(), pause(), and state().

### QAbstractAnimation.setCurrentTime (self, int)

This method is also a Qt slot with the C++ signature `void setCurrentTime(int)`.

### QAbstractAnimation.setDirection (self, Direction)

### QAbstractAnimation.setLoopCount (self, int)

### QAbstractAnimation.setPaused (self, bool)

This method is also a Qt slot with the C++ signature `void setPaused(bool)`.

If paused is true, the animation is paused. If paused is false, the animation is resumed.

See also state(), pause(), and resume().

### QAbstractAnimation.start (self, DeletionPolicy policy = QAbstractAnimation.KeepWhenStopped)

This method is also a Qt slot with the C++ signature `void start(QAbstractAnimation::DeletionPolicy = QAbstractAnimation.KeepWhenStopped)`.

Starts the animation. The policy argument says whether or not the animation should be deleted when it's done. When the animation starts, the stateChanged() signal is emitted, and state() returns Running. When control reaches the event loop, the animation will run by itself, periodically calling updateCurrentTime() as the animation progresses.

If the animation is currently stopped or has already reached the end, calling start() will rewind the animation and start again from the beginning. When the animation reaches the end, the animation will either stop, or if the loop level is more than 1, it will rewind and continue from the beginning.

If the animation is already running, this function does nothing.

See also stop() and state().

### State QAbstractAnimation.state (self)

### QAbstractAnimation.stop (self)

This method is also a Qt slot with the C++ signature `void stop()`.

Stops the animation. When the animation is stopped, it emits the stateChanged() signal, and state() returns Stopped. The current time is not changed.

If the animation stops by itself after reaching the end (i.e., currentLoopTime() == duration() and currentLoop() > loopCount() - 1), the finished() signal is emitted.

See also start() and state().

### int QAbstractAnimation.totalDuration (self)

Returns the total and effective duration of the animation, including the loop count.

See also duration() and currentTime.

### QAbstractAnimation.updateCurrentTime (self, int)

This method is abstract and should be reimplemented in any sub-class.

This pure virtual function is called every time the animation's currentTime changes.

See also updateState().

### QAbstractAnimation.updateDirection (self, Direction)

This virtual function is called by QAbstractAnimation when the direction of the animation is changed. The direction argument is the new direction.

See also setDirection() and direction().

### QAbstractAnimation.updateState (self, State, State)

This virtual function is called by QAbstractAnimation when the state of the animation is changed from oldState to newState.

See also start(), stop(), pause(), and resume().

## Qt Signal Documentation

### void currentLoopChanged (int)

This is the default overload of this signal.

QAbstractAnimation emits this signal whenever the current loop changes. currentLoop is the current loop.

See also currentLoop() and loopCount().

### void directionChanged (QAbstractAnimation::Direction)

This is the default overload of this signal.

QAbstractAnimation emits this signal whenever the direction has been changed. newDirection is the new direction.

See also direction.

### void finished ()

This is the default overload of this signal.

QAbstractAnimation emits this signal after the animation has stopped and has reached the end.

This signal is emitted after stateChanged().

See also stateChanged().

### void stateChanged (QAbstractAnimation::State,QAbstractAnimation::State)

This is the default overload of this signal.

QAbstractAnimation emits this signal whenever the state of the animation has changed from oldState to newState. This signal is emitted after the virtual updateState() function is called.

See also updateState().