I'd appreciate advise on to how create a Qt UI consisting of four layouts and has the following properties.
Any increases in the height of the UI is absorbed by the layouts, as shown below
Any further decreases in the height of the UI is absorbed by the contents of a specific layout, e.g. the two large buttons as shown below
1# Create new UI form base on QWidget: File -> New file or project -> Qt -> Qt Designer form class -> select Widget form templates, next, next, select project and finish
2# Add Vertical layout from left bar
3# After that click right somewhere on UI form, where is not just added layout, "Lay out" -> "Lay out in a grid"
4# You can adjust layout margin on right menu (I'm always setting 5 points)
5# Add four Horizontal layout
6# Add Button and text and what you need
7# Add Vertical spacers between Horizontal layout
8# Final result:
I prepared quick code what fits your problem, please take a look: https://github.com/troyane/StackOverflow-pro/tree/master/creating-auto-scaling-qt-ui-using-layouts
Grab that code and take a look at next moments (you can open mainwindow.ui in QtCreator):
centralWidget has next layoutStretch param: 1,2,1,1 -- it means, that we'll have next correlation among all items placed into this vertical layout.
TextLabel and both SmallButtons has Fixed VerticalPolicy
Both BigButtons has Minimum vertical policy and set minimumSize's Height to 100. UPD: Also maximumSize->height parameter is 250 px. So, it is guarantee that both BigButtons will not grow more than 250 px on height.
Take a look at another answer, there you can find lots of literature to read about Layouts.
You can put two vertical spacers in each layout. One should be placed at top most and the other one at the bottom :
Related
I'm using Qt Designer to create a graphic interface, but i am struggling to do a basic operation.
I want to create a vertical layout in which there are 2 (or more) horizontals layouts. But if I try to grab my horizontal layouts to put them in the vertical one, the first horizontal layout ends up taking all the space in vertical layout, so i can't add the second one other than inside the first hozitontal layout.
I end up with Horizontal layout 1 in Horizontal layout 2 in Vertical layout which is not what i want
here is the picture or what i get :
VS what i want :
I tried to do it through the Tree object at the right, but it seems we can't drag and drop objets there nor can i copy and paste it to change the ancestor. Is there any way to do it other than editing the XML file ?
One fewer horizontal layout (spacers added for clarity):
Cause
Qt Designer sets the margins of the newly added layouts to 0, 0, 0, 0, so it is impossible to target with the mouse a 0px-wide area when you try to add something to the layout.
Solution
Change the margins of the layout temporarily to something, which is comfortable for you to hit with the mouse. Then you can easily drag and drop new items to this layout. Later you could change the margins back to 0.
When I run my program it will display all content properly, and when I resizing the main window, the layout along with all associated widgets remain fixed, rather than resizing with the main window. I used to increase my all widget and listWidget respect to window computer resolution size but still this not one work properly.
I used this one code finding the system height and width.
QWidget widget;
widget.resize(widget.width(), widget.minimumHeight());
QRect rec = QApplication::desktop()->screenGeometry();
int h = rec.height();
int w = rec.width();
// Increasing the listwidget size
ui->listWidget->setFixedHeight(h);
ui->listWidget->setFixedWidth(w);
//increasing the button size
ui->pushButton->setFixedHeight(h0.2);
ui->pushButton->setFixedWidth(w0.2);
At this link you will find two screenshots that illustrate my problem.
Please resolve to solve my problem. Thanks very much in advance.
When defining the layout of your windows and forms in Qt Designer you have to define each element of your form in advance, in order to have a working layout.
This solution is based on the screenshots provided in the comments to the question. Follow these steps:
Add an empty widget to the central area of your form, if there is nothing there. It will be used as a placeholder for the controls you will add later, and of course you can replace it with whatever widget you want. But you need it there to define a proper layout.
In the property panel, set the horizontal QSizePolicy of this widget to MinimumExpanding.
Add an horizontal spacer to the left side of your progress bar.
Define a minimum/maximum width for the white widget on the left (I guess it's a text area). As an example set the maximum width to 200
pixels.
Make the same for the QTabWidget on the right.
Give a minimum height to the Groupbox on top.
Then give the grid layout to the MainWindow.
You should get something similar in the designer view (I use a dark theme, yours will have different colors of course):
If you complete all steps you should have a nicely resizing window.
For the future: remember to integrally define your layouts, also using placeholder widgets when needed, read carefully the documentation about the widgets size policies (there are several, you need to play with them to fully understand each one) and keep in mind that Qt uses a container based approach which is different, as an example from those used by the .Net framework that relies on the concept of anchors.
EDIT : to answer questions in the comments
You will need to add a layout to any widget that contains other widgets, e.g. adding controls to your groupbox will require to give it a grid, horizontal or vertical layout in order to scale nicely on resize. Again use spacers and size policies to make it look the way you want. If you need to add or remove controls, or change their positions, you may need to brake the layout, rearrange and then set it again.
You can also select groups of widgets and give them a layout e.g. vertical, than another group and set them horizontal and so on... then give a grid layout to the container widget to build a compound layout.
There are endless possibilities, you just need to practice and go through trial and error as for everything else...
You can also do it all programmatically, check the Qt widgets documentation for this. But for complex layouts I would not go that way: it's a lot of code... and you have to compile and run to test every modification.
Using the QtCreator, within the designer you can simply right-click on the parent-widget and add a Grid-Layout.
This one resizes it's children to it's dimensions.
When I maximize my window, I want to restrict a vertical layout (and the entire row below it also) so that it has a specific size (lets say a width of 200). How can I achieve this? Below is what I get now. The buttons are stretched too far. I want them to keep a width of 200.
To stop the buttons stretching, use the following steps in Qt Designer:
click on scrollArea in the Object Inspector
click on Break Layout on the toolbar
click on scrollArea in the Object Inspector
click on Lay Out in a Grid on the toolbar
click on scrollAreaWidgetContents in the Object Inspector
scroll down to the bottom of the Property Editor
change layoutColumnStretch to 0,1
These steps should remove an empty column from the scroll-area grid-layout, and make the second column stretch to take up the available space when the window is resized.
You just need to restrict the maximum width of all widgets (in this case the buttons) within the layouts of this grid column to the expected size, else they'll just keep expanding. You may also have to fiddle the horizontal size policy; I seem to remember that buttons were a bit tricky in this regard (or was that the height?), but can't test it right now.
The layout size contraint you tried only applies to the layout's direct parent widget, if it has one, which isn't the case for the vertical layouts here.
I am trying to make a basic wireframe design before I add colours, etc. As seen in the two pictures below, the sizing of the layouts is very different in designer and when the program is run. I have tried changing the layout stretch but it has no effect.
Designer:
Running program:
You need to decide what should happen when the window is resized larger than the size shown in Qt Designer. Presumably, you don't want the "Logo" and "Date" rows to expand to take up the extra vertical space, and you don't want the "Modules" row to expand either. So the extra space will have to go at the bottom.
The simplest way to achieve that is to put an expanding spacer immediately below the "Modules" row, but inside the outer layout. This will push everything up against the top of the window, and only allow space to grow at the bottom.
I am trying to place a set of buttons so that they are anchored to the bottom right of the screen. My problem is that whenever I resize the screen, the buttons are not anchored to the bottom right, but stay in its current position.
I have placed two Push Buttons inside a Horizontal Layout. I then placed this layout inside a Grid Layout, which contains a Horizontal and Vertical Spacer. I have modified the Grid Layout layoutSize property to SetMaximumSize.
What am I doing incorrectly, so that I can get my buttons to be anchored to the bottom right?
You have almost everything just right here, but you probably overlooked something that is really easy to miss when you first start using Qt Designer.
Your grid layout is sitting inside your widget with a fixed size and position. It too needs to be managed by a layout. If you take a look at the Object Inspector on the top right (that contains your hierarchy) you will probably see your top level widget with a red icon. This indicates that it contains no layout. You have two options to fix this...
Have your existing grid layout placed into another main layout (like a vertical layout). You would simply right click on your top level widget in the Object Inspector -> Lay Out -> [Choose a main layout type].
Have your grid be the main layout. To do this you would need to remove the grid layout and have your child items arranged exactly how you have them in that picture. Then follow the previous option, right clicking on the top level widget (or the blank background) and choose Lay out -> Grid. This will pop your widgets into a Grid at a best visual fit (which you can then fix if needed), and your grid will be the top level layout.
That grid layout will make placing other widgets quite hard. Try this instead:
Add (from left to right) horizontal spacer and the two buttons.
Multiselect them all.
Select "Lay Out Horizontally" (Ctrl-H) from the Qt Designer's (or Qt Creator's) top toolbar (not from the widget box in the left!).
Add vertical spacer on top of the previous widgets.
Select the main window by clicking it (none of the added widgets are now selected).
Select "Lay Out Vertically" (Ctrl-L) from the top toolbar.
Done.
It seems that you're doing it correctly. Just forgot to apply a layout to your central widget, right? The Grid layout should be arranged in your central widget. The more convenient way is to remove grid layout widget and lay out the central widget in a grid ;-)