Storing and reading project preferences

The QGIS application settings are stored using the Qt API. However, QGIS project settings have their own object. In this recipe, we'll set and read the project title and then set and read a custom preference for a plugin.

Getting ready

We are going to set a plugin preference using the sample plugin created in the previous recipe, Creating a QGIS plugin. You can substitute the name of any plugin you want, however. We will also run this recipe in the QGIS Python console for quick testing, but this code will normally be used in a plugin.

How to do it…

In this recipe, we will first write and then read the title of the current project. Then, we will create a custom value for a plugin called splash, which can be used for the plugin startup splash screen if desired.

1. Start QGIS.
2. From the Plugins menu, select Python Console.
3. In the console, run the following code:

   proj = QgsProject.instance()
   proj.title("My QGIS Project")
   proj.title()
   proj.writeEntry("MyPlugin", "splash", "Geospatial Python Rocks!")
   proj.readEntry("MyPlugin", "splash", "Welcome!")[0]

How it works…

In the first two lines, we change the title of the current active project and then echo it back. In the next set of two lines, we set up and read custom settings for a plugin. Notice that the readEntry() method returns a tuple with the desired text and a boolean, acknowledging that the value is set. So, we extract the first index to get the text. The read method also allows the default text in case that property is not set (rather than throw an exception which must be handled) as well as the boolean value False to inform you that the default text was used because the property was not set. The values you set using this method are stored in the project's XML file when you save it.

There's more…

The QgsProject object has a number of methods and properties that may be useful. The QGIS API documentation details all of them at http://qgis.org/api/2.6/classQgsProject.html.