Qt - Centering 'MinimumExpanding' widgets in a layout - qt

I got a QHBoxLayout, which contains 2 QWidgets. Both of these QWidgets have a fixed aspect ratio (square) and have a minimum expanding QSizePolicy by doing this:
QSizePolicy policy(QSizePolicy::MinimumExpanding, QSizePolicy::MinimumExpanding);
policy.setHeightForWidth(true);
setSizePolicy(policy);
and implementing heightForWidth like this:
virtual int heightForWidth (int w) const override {
return w;
}
Now, I would like those widgets to be centered in my layout. Thus I add them to the layout like this:
layout->addWidget(widget1, 0, Qt::AlignCenter);
However, like this they end up at their preferred size, but do not taking up all space that's available. Why is that? It seems like Qt::AlignCenter overwrites my SizePolicy?!
In contrast using Qt::AlignVCenter will actually make them occupy all space available. How does that fit together?
Thanks you!

Please note that Qt::AlignCenter = Qt::AlignVCenter + Qt::AlignHCenter.
Note that if you set alignment of any kind then you are saying that you want preferred size (what sizeHint returns) but object should positioned in proper way. When you want to fill whole space then alignment has no sense.
So I suspect that behavior you have described is designed like that.
Digression: Note that QGraphicsWidgets have 3 sizeHints: minimum, preferred and maximum, so in this case when some alignment expanding size policy still applies since there is maximum size widget can occupy.

Related

how to specify the height of scrollbar in QTreeView

just like the title described, when i redraw the scrollbar in QTreeView which has a header(QHeaderView), but the scrollbar's height is the entire height of QTreeView, and i want to let the scrollbar's height equals the QTreeView's height minus the header's height.just like the pic below:
A solution for your problem might be setting the location of the vertical scrollbar to a constant_offset value acquired from the QHeaderView (on the y axis).
This could be done by subclassing the QTreeView like so:
class MyTreeView : public QTreeView
{
public:
MyTreeView(QWidget* parent = nullptr): QTreeView(parent){}
void updateVertScrollBar()
{
auto* ptr = verticalScrollBar();
QRect rect = ptr->geometry();
rect.setTop(header()->height());
ptr->setGeometry(rect);
}
void resizeEvent(QResizeEvent* ev) override
{
QTreeView::resizeEvent(ev);
updateVertScrollBar();
}
};
Depending on the sizePolicy the updateVertScrollBar method could be called just after data is filled or as presented in the sample implementation the update can occur for each resizeEvent - which should cover various resizing performed to the widget.
EDIT
Additionally removing the blank space left from the shrunk scrollbar would be tricky. First denote that the QTreeView is built from a viewport widget and scrollbars (among others). The issue you now see comes from the fact that viewport plus vertical scrollbar widths (if visible) should match and this is calculated internally.
I stated that it's tricky since there is a load of stuff happening when you try to force the size of these components. Some updates are called in-place some are called through the event loop. You can check this to get more detaile info about the concept. Similar approach is probably applied to QTreeView.
Basically what you would need to do is to stretch the viewport width. This should be probably done during the resizeEvent but calling from there methods like viewport()->setGeometry() might not end well - you might get caught into a loop. You might try blockSignals but I'm not sure this would help. In general if you want to mess with the internals of a given Qt widget you should go through it's implementation at least briefly.

Qt layouting: default size constraints vertically, setFixedSize horizontally

I'm developing an app with a complex hierarchy of widgets and layouts, but in short it has a central widget with a formulary as upper widget and a QScrollArea as buttom widget (by means of a QVBoxLayout).
That QScrollArea represents a list (grid layout indeed) of QPushButtons which can contain a huge number of buttons (or not).
I want my app fits the following constraints:
Both (form and list) consume all available horizontal space, redistributing its contents to fill all horizontal space (nor SpaceItems neither contents margins).
Both must save as vertical space as possible, in order to make "lines" close to each other.
I've solve partially my problem making use of setSizeConstraint(QLayout::SetFixedSize) on the form, which shrinks it vertically, but also horizontally, causing that both, list and form, have different widths, wich doesn't look like very well.
How can I achieve that? I mean, how can specify something like grow horizontally to fill the widget but shrink vertically has much as possible?
Add a spacer as the last item to the layout:
gridLayout->addItem(new QSpacerItem(10, 10, QSizePolicy::Expanding, QSizePolicy::Expanding), lastrow, 0);
I think this is what you want:
If you know how many columns you will have (and it doesn't change), insertStretch() in the last column (although it might give you the same effect as using a spacer).
int columnCount = gridLayout()->columnCount();
gridLayout->insertStretch( columnCount(), 1 ); // Default stretch for other
Note that this will resize your buttons to the size Qt thinks they should be unless you are explicitly changing their widths.

QSizePolicy true meaning, documentation and thoughts

I have been now two years working deeply with Qt layout system. After this time i encountered thosand of problems with SizePolicies and Layouts. I normally found out solutions, but never really understood what i was doing.
Now i was taking some time to try to understand correctly and build a 101 GUIDE for them and never fail. I found out this piece of information in the documentation about QSizePolicy of a QWidget:
This property holds the default layout behavior of the widget
If there is a QLayout that manages this widget's children, the size
policy specified by that layout is used. If there is no such QLayout,
the result of this function is used.
I thought that if you had a QLabel, for example, and you set the policies to Horizontal Expanding, Vertical Fixed, THE LABEL itself changed that way.
But it doesn't, at all.
When reading that i see that it talks about ITS CHILDREN inside the LAYOUT. So what does it mean, then?. Nothing is inside the label, is that why it does not work?.
WHat about inserting a label inside a QFrame, and telling the frame to be Expanding... Will the QFrame expand or stretch (depending on the rest of brother widgets in the same Layout) or will the label expand or stretch, not the QFrame?
What a mess...
What about Stretching?. If you set stretching 10 when you add the widget:
layout->addwidget(label, 10, Qt::AlignHCenter);
It doesn't work either.
Stretch 0 when you add the widget means : Take the policies i told you. Default, depends on the type of widget. Button-like widgets have expanding-fixed. Box-like Expanding-Expanding...
Stretch 10 means: grow maximum.
Am i right? Well. When having a QFrame and a QLabel inside, setting Expanding, and 10 to strech to the label DOES NOT WORK.
I don't understand all of your questions, so I will only answer to those that I think i do.
I thought that if you had a QLabel, for example, and you set the policies to Horizontal Expanding, Vertical Fixed, THE LABEL itself
changed that way. But it doesn't, at all.
I don't know what that means. What is the exact behavior you're expecting and what is actually happening? Is this label in a layout? Are there any other widgets in this layout?
WHat about inserting a label inside a QFrame, and telling the frame to be Expanding...
If you set a QSizePolicy to your QFrame object and set a layout to it, this size policy might be ignored. Docs: If there is a QLayout that manages this widget's children, the size policy specified by that layout is used. If there is no such QLayout, the result of this function is used. This means that the widget's layout should manage the size of the widget. Note that it will still respect the minimum/maximum width/height values.
Stretch 10 means: grow maximum.
What makes you think that?. The stretch factor is dependent on other widgets inside the layout. Docs: Stretch factors are used to change how much space widgets are given in proportion to one another.
When having a QFrame and a QLabel inside, setting Expanding, and 10 to strech to the label DOES NOT WORK.
Does not work how? If you set stretch for QFrame to 1 and for QLabel to 10, your QLabel object should always be 10 times as wide/high(depending of your layout type) as your QFrame object. If your QFrame has a layout and it contains children, then this might not work as it would depend on the childrens size policies.

changing size of Widget from QStyle

I am writting a QStyle Here I am changing the QProgressBar to a Slim single line, no text. So Height will also be reduced to 5px. However Widget Width will be determined by layout. what should I do in My Style's drawControl to change widget height ?
I've never actually written a QStyle but I would consider it odd if you were supposed to resize anything inside drawControl. I could be wrong on this by a quick review of the documentation would seem to suggest that you would override subElementRect and return a rect based on current width and your preferred height. I assume this would be called by layout activities and would be sorted out by the time drawControl gets called.
Do you need the height for the widget to be fixed? Or just the drawn height to never go past 5 pixels? For the first, set the height and resize policy on the polish function. For the second, override the drawing in the QStyle to only use 5 pixels. The functions that do the drawing generally take rects; you can call the base class's draw with a modified rect if you properly override the appropriate functions. Unfortunately, it's been years since I've done any QStyle work, so I'm not sure exactly what those functions are.

QT Layout - initial directions

I am new to QT. I'm trying to understand the layout mechanism by trying to implement this small window seen below. It has the following elements under the QWidget that's the main window:
One big QWidget that stretches on all the client area.
Two QWidget containers on the top of the window. Both should have the same height, but the right one stretches horizontally, as the window grows/shrinks.
one button container widget on the top right, with fixed height and width
Large QWidget container filling the rest of the client area, that should resize as the window resizes.
The parent window itself is resizeable.
I'm looking for hints as to what layout I should use. How do I achieve this programatically? define what stretches automatically, what stays with a fix size? and how the proportions are kept where they need to be kept.
I'd appreciate any pointer you may have.
The easiest, and IMHO best, way to accomplish this is via the QHBoxLayout and QVBoxLayouts. You can do this via the designer in QtCreator, but I find it doesn't work perfectly if you need to adapt things over time. If it's a static set of widgets, I do suggest designing it using the QtCreator designer as it'll greatly simplify your life.
If you're going to do it programatically, the main window should be set to use a QVBoxLayout and then two sub-QVBoxLayout's after that, where the bottom one is configured to take any space it can get. Then in the top QVBoxLayout, add a QHBoxLayout with your two upper components.
to set a widget to fixed size in code you call setFixedSize( int h, int w ) on the widget. To do it in Designer click on the widget and look in the property editor in the QWidget section. open the sizePolicy thingy and set horizontal and/or vertical to fixed. Then open Geometry and set the width and Height.
To make them stretch at different ratios in code you use a separate argument when using a box layout. eg layout->addWidget( button1, 1 ); layout->addWidget (button2, 2); this would cause button2 to expand at twice the rate of button1. To do this in designer, open the sizePolicy property of the widgets and set the HorizontalStrech and/or VerticalSretch. Note that the size policy needs to not be Fixed in this case for the direction you want to set the stretch on. Also it will never let a widget shrink below its minimum size (it would rather mess up the ratio than shrink something too small).

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