You can pass QML object ids as function parameters just fine. In C++ those work as QObject *. Also, besides ids you can use the parent property, or children[indexOfChild]. Note that you don't pass the actual objects, since that would require invoking a copy constructor, and copying is disabled for all QObject derived classes, it is passed by reference, which works in JS with var and in C++ with QObject*. In a similar fashion, you can use QObject* to pass objects to QML. Additionally, you might want to add your custom types to the Qt metatypes with qRegisterMetaType() or Q_DECLARE_METATYPE, which will give you autocomplete for that type in QML.
In order to expose C++ functions in the QML context, you need to make those functions either slots or Q_INVOKABLE of a QObject derived class, instantiate the class and use setContextProperty() to expose it to QML.
Or alternatively, you can register that object to the QML engine so you can instantiate it, you can even share the same data across multiple instances of that object by following this example.
EDIT: OK, try this one:
QML:
ApplicationWindow {
objectName: "blah"
//...
function foo(obj) { console.log(obj) }
}
CPP:
QObject * root = engine.rootObjects().at(0);
QMetaObject::invokeMethod(root, "foo", Q_ARG(QVariant, QVariant::fromValue(root)));
and output is
qml: ApplicationWindow_QMLTYPE_11_QML_12(0x4121e70, "blah")
Seems you have to pass it as a Q_ARG(QVariant, QVariant::fromValue(QObject*)
However, TabView.addTab() expects not an object (which is an instance of a Component) but a component, i.e. a prototype for an object.
One way you can do that is:
QObject * root = engine.rootObjects().at(0);
QQmlComponent comp(&engine, QUrl("qrc:/Test.qml"));
QMetaObject::invokeMethod(root, "addTab", Q_ARG(QVariant, QVariant::fromValue(&comp)));