The QPointer class is a template class that provides guarded pointers to QObjects.
A guarded pointer, QPointer<T>, behaves like a normal C++ pointer T *, except that it is automatically set to 0 when the referenced object is destroyed (unlike normal C++ pointers, which become "dangling pointers" in such cases). T must be a subclass of QObject.
Guarded pointers are useful whenever you need to store a pointer to a QObject that is owned by someone else, and therefore might be destroyed while you still hold a reference to it. You can safely test the pointer for validity.