QDockWidget will not show contents - qt

Question

I am attempting to create a specialised QDockWidget, with some contents, that I can use in other Qt5 UIs. To do this, I have created a QDockWidget subclass complete with a UI form, called SpecialDockWidget. The contents (a QTreeWidget) are added in the UI form.
In my main UI, I have added SpecialDockWidget as a QDockWidget promotion, have promoted the desired dock widget, and everything compiles OK. However, when I run the application my promoted dock widget contains the title of the SpecialDockWidget in its title bar, but the contents remain empty. This only happens if the dock widget is made part of the main UI (whether floating or attached), and the dock widget displays the contents successfully if it is instantiated on its own as a top-level widget.
The Qt documentation says the following with regards to QDockWidget::setWidget():
If the dock widget is visible when widget is added, you must show() it explicitly.
Note that you must add the layout of the widget before you call this function; if not, the widget will not be visible.
I have tried calling show() on both the SpecialDockWidget and the contents, and have set the layout myself, but the contents still don't show up.
Can anyone tell me what I might be doing wrong?
EDIT: Some photos showing what's going on:
Dock widget code:
#include "specialdockwidget.h"
#include "ui_specialdockwidget.h"
#include <QVBoxLayout>
SpecialDockWidget::SpecialDockWidget(QWidget *parent) :
QDockWidget(parent),
ui(new Ui::SpecialDockWidget)
{
ui->setupUi(this);
}
SpecialDockWidget::~SpecialDockWidget()
{
delete ui;
}
Main window code:
#include "mainwindow.h"
#include "ui_mainwindow.h"
MainWindow::MainWindow(QWidget *parent) :
QMainWindow(parent),
ui(new Ui::MainWindow)
{
ui->setupUi(this);
// This produces the top-level dock widget
// SpecialDockWidget* w = new SpecialDockWidget();
// w->show();
}
MainWindow::~MainWindow()
{
delete ui;
}

Answer 1

The QDockWidget is created in the Designer so it's not very clear how the tree is added to the QDockWidget. If the tree is simply a child of the QDockWidget it's not correct. You must add the tree to the QDockWidget using QDockWidget::setWidget().
I suggest to not use the Designer to create a subclass of QDockWidget because it seems not possible to add the content correctly. You can do something like this instead.
MainWindow::MainWindow(QWidget *parent) :
QMainWindow(parent), ui(new Ui::MainWindow)
{
ui->setupUi(this);
QDockWidget *dw = new QDockWidget(this);
QTreeWidget* tw = new QTreeWidget(dw);
dw->setWidget(tw);
addDockWidget(Qt::LeftDockWidgetArea, dw);
dw->show();
}
Of course, if you need to put inside a dock widget a more complex widget, you can create the content with the Designer as a simple QWidget subclass and add it to the dock widget in the same way.

Answer 2

I think your main window's constructor should look like, for example:
MainWindow::MainWindow(QWidget *parent)
:
QMainWindow(parent),
ui(new Ui::MainWindow)
{
ui->setupUi(this);
SpecialDockWidget *w = new SpecialDockWidget();
// Add dock widget to the specified area of main window.
addDockWidget(Qt::LeftDockWidgetArea, w);
}