Cannot scroll to element in QListView backed by a custom QAbstractListModel when a lot of elements are present

[djsumdog]

This one has been racking my brain for a while. I've created a media viewer that uses a QListView to display videos/image thumbnails that can be selected. I recently added a menu to allow sorting by Name/Created/etc. and want the currently selected item to be maintained between changes in sort. When I try to re-select the current item after a data change, sometimes it selects the right element, and sometimes it selects nothing.

I created a Stack Overflow question if anyone knows the solution and wants those sweet Internet points. It's already been downvoted because I didn't have a minimal example, and then got downvoted again (probably because the minimal example I put in was fairly large; this is a complex issue).

The original place in my code I've attempted to implement this was here: https://gitlab.com/djsumdog/mediahug/-/blob/be7ff2fded26bcd8643035c588942983b7b1b4ff/mediahug/gui/viewtab/viewtab.py#L73

and I attempted to use createIndex() to get a new index off the refreshed model and scroll to/select it.

        idx = self._media_browser.get_file_index(self.current_file)
        q_idx = self._media_browser.model().createIndex(idx, 0)
        if not q_idx.isValid():
            self.log.error('Index is invalid')
        self._media_browser.scrollTo(q_idx)
        self._media_browser.setCurrentIndex(q_idx)

I've created as minimal example as I can. This does require opencv (with Python bindings) and uses PyQt6. It loads images/videos from /tmp/media. Left click selects and right click shuffles. If you only have 4 or 5 media files in the folder, it works correctly. The original selection is maintained after each shuffle. Add in 30 or so (enough you have to scroll) and sometimes it maintains the selection, sometimes it doesn't. In the minimal example, the selection is happening within def mousePressEvent(self, event): after the check to see if self.current_file isn't null.

I know it's a lot for a minimal example, but I think the fact that the model's icons are loading in a background thread is important here. If it were just text, the selection update would work fine. But the complex data model must be dealing with a race condition of some kind. Any insights are appreciated.

import sys
from os import listdir
from os.path import isfile, join, basename
from functools import lru_cache
from queue import Queue, Empty
from random import shuffle
from typing import Optional

from PyQt6 import QtCore
from PyQt6.QtCore import QSize, Qt, pyqtSlot, QModelIndex, QAbstractListModel, QVariant, QThread, pyqtSignal
from PyQt6.QtGui import QIcon, QPixmap
from PyQt6.QtWidgets import QApplication, QListView, QAbstractItemView, QListWidget, QWidget, QStyle, QMainWindow


def video_thumb(filename: str, threshold=10, thumb_width=250, thumb_height=250):
    try:
        import cv2
        vcap = cv2.VideoCapture(filename)

        # Jump to Middle of file
        total_frames = vcap.get(cv2.CAP_PROP_FRAME_COUNT)
        vcap.set(cv2.CAP_PROP_POS_FRAMES, total_frames / 2)

        # Make sure we don't get a blank frame
        res, im_ar = vcap.read()
        while im_ar.mean() < threshold and res:
            res, im_ar = vcap.read()

        # Create Thumbnail
        im_ar = cv2.resize(im_ar, (thumb_width, thumb_height), 0, 0, cv2.INTER_LINEAR)
        res, thumb_buf = cv2.imencode('.jpeg', im_ar)
        bt = thumb_buf.tobytes()
        return bt
    # noqa
    except Exception as e:
        print(f'Could not generate thumbnail for {filename}. Error {e}')
        return None


class ThumbLoaderThread(QThread):

    thumbnail_loaded = pyqtSignal(QModelIndex, QIcon)

    def __init__(self):
        QThread.__init__(self)
        self.thumbnail_queue = Queue()
        self.error_icon = QWidget().style().standardIcon(QStyle.StandardPixmap.SP_DialogCancelButton)

    def add_thumbnail(self, index: QModelIndex, filename: str):
        self.thumbnail_queue.put({'index': index, 'filename': filename})

    def run(self) -> None:
        print('Starting Thumbnailer Thread')
        while not self.isInterruptionRequested():
            try:
                item = self.thumbnail_queue.get(timeout=1)
                thumb = self.__load_thumb(item['filename'])
                if thumb:
                    self.thumbnail_loaded.emit(item['index'], thumb)
                else:
                    self.thumbnail_loaded.emit(item['index'], self.error_icon)
            except Empty:
                ...

    @lru_cache(maxsize=5000)
    def __load_thumb(self, filename):
        print(f'Loading Thumbnail For {filename}')
        thumb = video_thumb(filename, 10, 250, 250)
        img = QPixmap()
        img.loadFromData(thumb, 'JPEG')
        return QIcon(img)


class FileListModel(QAbstractListModel):

    numberPopulated = pyqtSignal(int)

    def __init__(self, dir_path: str):
        super().__init__()
        self.thumbnail_thread = ThumbLoaderThread()
        self.thumbnail_thread.thumbnail_loaded.connect(self.thumbnail_generated)
        self.thumbnail_thread.start()
        self.files = []
        self.loaded_file_count = 0
        self.set_dir_path(dir_path)

    def thumbnail_generated(self, index: QModelIndex, thumbnail: QIcon):
        self.files[index.row()]['thumbnail'] = thumbnail
        self.dataChanged.emit(index, index)

    def rowCount(self, parent: QModelIndex = QtCore.QModelIndex()) -> int:
        return 0 if parent.isValid() else self.loaded_file_count

    def set_dir_path(self, dir_path: str):
        self.beginResetModel()
        self.files = []
        self.loaded_file_count = 0
        only_files = [f for f in listdir(dir_path) if isfile(join(dir_path, f))]

        # The full program has sorting
        # In this minimal example, we'll just shuffle the order
        shuffle(only_files)

        for f in only_files:
            vid = join(dir_path, f)
            self.files.append({'filename': vid, 'thumbnail': None})
        self.endResetModel()

    def data(self, index: QModelIndex, role: int = Qt.ItemDataRole.DisplayRole):
        if not index.isValid():
            return QVariant()

        if index.row() >= len(self.files) or index.row() < 0:
            return QVariant()

        filename = self.files[index.row()]['filename']
        thumbnail = self.files[index.row()]['thumbnail']

        if role == Qt.ItemDataRole.DisplayRole:
            return QVariant(basename(filename))

        if role == Qt.ItemDataRole.DecorationRole:
            if thumbnail:
                return thumbnail
            else:
                self.thumbnail_thread.add_thumbnail(index, filename)
                return QWidget().style().standardIcon(QStyle.StandardPixmap.SP_BrowserReload)

        if role == Qt.ItemDataRole.SizeHintRole:
            return QSize(250, 250 + 25)

        return QVariant()

    def fetchMore(self, parent: QModelIndex) -> None:
        if parent.isValid():
            return

        remainder = len(self.files) - self.loaded_file_count
        items_to_fetch = min(100, remainder)
        if items_to_fetch <= 0:
            print("No More Items to Fetch")
            return

        print(f'Loaded Items: {self.loaded_file_count} / Items to Fetch: {items_to_fetch}')

        self.beginInsertRows(QModelIndex(), self.loaded_file_count, self.loaded_file_count + items_to_fetch - 1)
        self.loaded_file_count += items_to_fetch
        self.endInsertRows()
        self.numberPopulated.emit(items_to_fetch)

    def get_file_index(self, filename: str) -> Optional[int]:
        for i, file in enumerate(self.files):
            if file['filename'] == filename:
                return i

    def canFetchMore(self, parent: QModelIndex) -> bool:
        if parent.isValid():
            return False
        can_fetch = self.loaded_file_count < len(self.files)
        return can_fetch


class MediaBrowser(QListView):

    def __init__(self, dir_path):
        QListView.__init__(self)
        self.setLayoutMode(QListView.LayoutMode.Batched)
        self.setBatchSize(10)
        self.setUniformItemSizes(True)
        self.current_directory = dir_path

        self.setSelectionMode(QAbstractItemView.SelectionMode.SingleSelection)
        self.setViewMode(QListWidget.ViewMode.IconMode)
        self.setResizeMode(QListWidget.ResizeMode.Adjust)
        self.setIconSize(QSize(250, 250))

        self.file_list_model = FileListModel(dir_path)
        self.setModel(self.file_list_model)
        self.selectionModel().selectionChanged.connect(self.selection_change)
        self.current_file = None

    def mousePressEvent(self, event):
        """Prevent context menu from also selecting a file"""
        if event.type() == QtCore.QEvent.Type.MouseButtonPress:
            if event.button() == Qt.MouseButton.RightButton:
                # In our minimalistic example, right click
                # Means we will shuffle
                self.chdir(self.current_directory)

                if self.current_file:
                    idx = self.model().get_file_index(self.current_file)
                    print(f'Attempting to select and scroll to {self.current_file} at index {idx}')
                    q_idx = self.model().createIndex(idx, 0)
                    if not q_idx.isValid():
                        print('Index is invalid')
                    self.scrollTo(q_idx)
                    self.setCurrentIndex(q_idx)
            else:
                super(MediaBrowser, self).mousePressEvent(event)

    def chdir(self, directory: str):
        print(f'Change Directory {directory}.')
        self.current_directory = directory
        self.load_files(directory)

    @pyqtSlot()
    def selection_change(self):
        selected = self.selectionModel().selectedIndexes()
        if len(selected) != 1:
            print(f'Invalid Selection {selected}')
        else:
            s = selected[0]
            print(f'Item Selection {s}')
            self.current_file = self.get_model_filename(s.row())

    def showEvent(self, event):
        super().showEvent(event)
        QApplication.processEvents()

    def all_files(self):
        return self.file_list_model.files

    def get_model_filename(self, index):
        return self.all_files()[index]['filename']

    def load_files(self, dir_path):
        try:
            self.file_list_model.set_dir_path(dir_path)
        except PermissionError as e:
            print(f'{e.strerror}')


class MainWindow(QMainWindow):

    def __init__(self):
        QMainWindow.__init__(self)
        browser = MediaBrowser("/tmp/media")
        self.setCentralWidget(browser)


def main():
    app = QApplication(sys.argv)
    window = MainWindow()
    window.show()
    sys.exit(app.exec())


if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

[djsumdog]

On Stack Overflow, my question was closed due to "debugging details." I made a bunch of changes based on the comments to that questions and have a smaller example that strips out the thumbnail generation but still has the same issue.

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/79504092/with-pyqt6-calling-setcurrentindex-and-scrollto-is-inconsistant-with-a-custom-ql

Here's the new minimal example if anyone wants to take a stab at it:

import sys
from os import listdir
from os.path import isfile, join, basename
from functools import lru_cache
from queue import Queue, Empty
from random import shuffle
from typing import Optional

from PyQt6 import QtCore
from PyQt6.QtCore import QSize, Qt, pyqtSlot, QModelIndex, QAbstractListModel, QVariant, QThread, pyqtSignal
from PyQt6.QtGui import QImage, QPixmap
from PyQt6.QtWidgets import QApplication, QListView, QAbstractItemView, QListWidget, QWidget, QStyle, QMainWindow


class ThumbLoaderThread(QThread):

    thumbnail_loaded = pyqtSignal(str, QImage)

    def __init__(self):
        super().__init__()
        self.thumbnail_queue = Queue()
        self.error_icon = QWidget().style().standardIcon(QStyle.StandardPixmap.SP_DialogCancelButton).pixmap(250, 250).toImage()

    def add_thumbnail(self, filename: str):
        self.thumbnail_queue.put(filename)

    def run(self) -> None:
        print('Starting Thumbnailer Thread')
        while not self.isInterruptionRequested():
            try:
                filename = self.thumbnail_queue.get(timeout=1)
                thumb = self.__load_thumb(filename)
                if thumb:
                    self.thumbnail_loaded.emit(filename, thumb)
                else:
                    self.thumbnail_loaded.emit(filename, self.error_icon)
            except Empty:
                ...

    @lru_cache(maxsize=5000)
    def __load_thumb(self, filename):
        print(f'Loading Thumbnail For {filename}')
        # In the real application, I use openCV to create a thumbnail here
        # For right now, we're just using a standard image
        return QWidget().style().standardIcon(QStyle.StandardPixmap.SP_FileIcon).pixmap(250, 250).toImage()


class FileListModel(QAbstractListModel):

    numberPopulated = pyqtSignal(int)

    def __init__(self, dir_path: str):
        super().__init__()
        self.thumbnail_thread = ThumbLoaderThread()
        self.thumbnail_thread.thumbnail_loaded.connect(self.thumbnail_generated)
        self.thumbnail_thread.start()
        self.files = []
        self.loaded_file_count = 0
        self.set_dir_path(dir_path)

    def thumbnail_generated(self, filename: str, thumbnail: QImage):
        idx = self.index_for_filename(filename)
        if idx >= 0:
            q_idx = self.createIndex(idx, 0)
            self.files[idx]['thumbnail'] = QPixmap.fromImage(thumbnail)
            self.dataChanged.emit(q_idx, q_idx)

    def index_for_filename(self, filename) -> int:
        for index, item in enumerate(self.files):
            if item.get('filename') == filename:
                return index
        return -1

    def rowCount(self, parent: QModelIndex = QtCore.QModelIndex()) -> int:
        return 0 if parent.isValid() else self.loaded_file_count

    def set_dir_path(self, dir_path: str):
        self.beginResetModel()
        self.files = []
        self.loaded_file_count = 0
        only_files = [f for f in listdir(dir_path) if isfile(join(dir_path, f))]

        # The full program has sorting
        # In this minimal example, we'll just shuffle the order
        shuffle(only_files)

        for f in only_files:
            vid = join(dir_path, f)
            self.files.append({'filename': vid, 'thumbnail': None})
        self.endResetModel()

    def data(self, index: QModelIndex, role: int = Qt.ItemDataRole.DisplayRole):
        if not index.isValid():
            return QVariant()

        if index.row() >= len(self.files) or index.row() < 0:
            return QVariant()

        filename = self.files[index.row()]['filename']
        thumbnail = self.files[index.row()]['thumbnail']

        if role == Qt.ItemDataRole.DisplayRole:
            return QVariant(basename(filename))

        if role == Qt.ItemDataRole.DecorationRole:
            if thumbnail:
                return thumbnail
            else:
                self.thumbnail_thread.add_thumbnail(filename)
                return QWidget().style().standardIcon(QStyle.StandardPixmap.SP_BrowserReload)

        if role == Qt.ItemDataRole.SizeHintRole:
            return QSize(250, 250 + 25)

        return QVariant()

    def fetchMore(self, parent: QModelIndex) -> None:
        if parent.isValid():
            return

        remainder = len(self.files) - self.loaded_file_count
        items_to_fetch = min(100, remainder)
        if items_to_fetch <= 0:
            print("No More Items to Fetch")
            return

        print(f'Loaded Items: {self.loaded_file_count} / Items to Fetch: {items_to_fetch}')

        self.beginInsertRows(QModelIndex(), self.loaded_file_count, self.loaded_file_count + items_to_fetch - 1)
        self.loaded_file_count += items_to_fetch
        self.endInsertRows()
        self.numberPopulated.emit(items_to_fetch)

    def get_file_index(self, filename: str) -> Optional[int]:
        for i, file in enumerate(self.files):
            if file['filename'] == filename:
                return i

    def canFetchMore(self, parent: QModelIndex) -> bool:
        if parent.isValid():
            return False
        can_fetch = self.loaded_file_count < len(self.files)
        return can_fetch


class MediaBrowser(QListView):

    def __init__(self, dir_path):
        super().__init__()
        self.setLayoutMode(QListView.LayoutMode.Batched)
        self.setBatchSize(10)
        self.setUniformItemSizes(True)
        self.current_directory = dir_path

        self.setSelectionMode(QAbstractItemView.SelectionMode.SingleSelection)
        self.setViewMode(QListWidget.ViewMode.IconMode)
        self.setResizeMode(QListWidget.ResizeMode.Adjust)
        self.setIconSize(QSize(250, 250))

        self.file_list_model = FileListModel(dir_path)
        self.setModel(self.file_list_model)
        self.selectionModel().selectionChanged.connect(self.selection_change)
        self.current_file = None

    def mousePressEvent(self, event):
        """Prevent context menu from also selecting a file"""
        if event.type() == QtCore.QEvent.Type.MouseButtonPress:
            if event.button() == Qt.MouseButton.RightButton:
                # In our minimalistic example, right click
                # Means we will shuffle
                self.chdir(self.current_directory)

                if self.current_file:
                    idx = self.model().get_file_index(self.current_file)
                    print(f'Attempting to select and scroll to {self.current_file} at index {idx}')
                    q_idx = self.model().createIndex(idx, 0)
                    if not q_idx.isValid():
                        print('Index is invalid')
                    self.setCurrentIndex(q_idx)
                    self.scrollTo(q_idx)
            else:
                super(MediaBrowser, self).mousePressEvent(event)

    def chdir(self, directory: str):
        print(f'Change Directory {directory}.')
        self.current_directory = directory
        self.load_files(directory)

    @pyqtSlot()
    def selection_change(self):
        selected = self.selectionModel().selectedIndexes()
        if len(selected) != 1:
            print(f'Invalid Selection {selected}')
        else:
            s = selected[0]
            print(f'Item Selection {s}')
            self.current_file = self.get_model_filename(s.row())

    def showEvent(self, event):
        super().showEvent(event)
        QApplication.processEvents()

    def all_files(self):
        return self.file_list_model.files

    def get_model_filename(self, index):
        return self.all_files()[index]['filename']

    def load_files(self, dir_path):
        try:
            self.file_list_model.set_dir_path(dir_path)
        except PermissionError as e:
            print(f'{e.strerror}')


class MainWindow(QMainWindow):

    def __init__(self):
        super().__init__()
        browser = MediaBrowser("/tmp/media")
        self.setCentralWidget(browser)


def main():
    app = QApplication(sys.argv)
    window = MainWindow()
    window.show()
    sys.exit(app.exec())


if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()