Getting Arabic ligatures on Qt/Linux

Question

Hi all.

I've to port to Qt/Linux a Win32 code that relies on GetCharacterPlacement() call for properly handle Arabic ligatures in strings.

While I've no problem at displaying these strings via QTextEdit or QLineEdit (Qt widgets correctly show ligatures), I can't "identify" and manage these ligatures.

In other words, if I type 3 Arabic glyphs in a QTextEdit they appear as/in a single ligature (so the font engine correctly works) but the widget still contains 3 different and separate QChars, not a single one (no low-level "conversion").

Is there any call/class I can use for obtaining these ligatures as single symbols (so I can get the corresponding single Unicode symbol)?

Any idea, even not based on Qt, is appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Bye.

Gian Paolo