Do you use the designer, or do you code your gui manually?

[wysota]

If I want a combobox in a toolbar, for example, I'm out of luck.

True, but this is quite easily implementable, so it's highly probable we'll have access to QWidgetAction objects from Designer.

Or if I want to assign a QIcon with different states to an action, instead of a single image.

I think this one is possible to do with current Designer, but I'd have to check how it assigns icons to widgets.

Or if I want to lay-out the status-bar.

True, but this is easily doable by combining two Designer generated widgets and not more than five lines of code.

Or if I want to set my own central widget.

Hmm... This one you certainly can do within Designer, especially with the help of custom widgets.

The code would be a lot cleaner if you could do more in Designer.

True, but it'd start to get difficult to use the tool.

[Michiel]

I think this one is possible to do with current Designer, but I'd have to check how it assigns icons to widgets.

Looks to me like you can only select one file or one resource.

True, but this is easily doable by combining two Designer generated widgets and not more than five lines of code.

Hm.. Could you explain this? Right now I do it with only 4 lines of code, without using designer.

Hmm... This one you certainly can do within Designer, especially with the help of custom widgets.

In Designer, the central widget is a QWidget, which is the parent of my real main widget. This is all in Designer, but it's a bit of a waste to have a QWidget that doesn't really do anything.

Or I can use the setCentralWidget() function in the code. This costs extra lines of code to create the widget, set its properties and make it the central widget.

True, but it'd start to get difficult to use the tool.

True, but I don't think we're at that point yet. Right now, many more features could be added without sacrificing simplicity.

[wysota]

Looks to me like you can only select one file or one resource.

There are other ways to assign pixmaps.

Hm.. Could you explain this? Right now I do it with only 4 lines of code, without using designer.

You can certainly implement your statusBar widget in Designer and then just assign it to the status bar using code. There is also a high chance you could use QStatusBar as the base for your form in Designer and then just replace the default bar with yours with a single line of code. If not, then it's just a matter of subclassing QStatusBar to introduce proper functionality.

In Designer, the central widget is a QWidget, which is the parent of my real main widget. This is all in Designer, but it's a bit of a waste to have a QWidget that doesn't really do anything.

That's not much of a waste, isn't it? I'm sure you can spare extra 100 bytes of memory. It's just a pitty you can't promote the default central widget to the proper widget. But maybe that's a suggestion for Trolltech to do it. Should take them not more than 15 minutes to do that.

True, but I don't think we're at that point yet. Right now, many more features could be added without sacrificing simplicity.

I'm sure there are features in Designer which you have not discovered yet

Edit: I just checked and confirmed it's possible to assign whatever icons you want from within Designer.

[Michiel]

You can certainly implement your statusBar widget in Designer and then just assign it to the status bar using code. There is also a high chance you could use QStatusBar as the base for your form in Designer and then just replace the default bar with yours with a single line of code. If not, then it's just a matter of subclassing QStatusBar to introduce proper functionality.

Too much trouble. Right now, I only have two QLabels inside the statusbar. And I only require 4 lines of code (6 if you include the member var declarations) to put them there. I simply think you should be able to drag them (and maybe progressbars, etc.) to the statusbar in Designer.

That's not much of a waste, isn't it? I'm sure you can spare extra 100 bytes of memory. It's just a pitty you can't promote the default central widget to the proper widget. But maybe that's a suggestion for Trolltech to do it. Should take them not more than 15 minutes to do that.

You're right, it's not much of a waste. And I'll sacrifice those 100 bytes to be able to do as much as possible in Designer. I simply think that you should be able to remove any unnecessary layers of code. As you say, it's probably not hard to implement this one.

I'm sure there are features in Designer which you have not discovered yet

I don't think so. Don't misunderstand. I love Designer. It's clean, easy to use and elegant. But there are improvements to be made. You can't take full advantage of the features of Qt 4 in Designer.

Edit: I just checked and confirmed it's possible to assign whatever icons you want from within Designer.

Well, don't keep it to yourself. How do I assign a QIcon (with different sizes + enabled/disabled states) to a QAction from within Designer?

[wysota]

Well, don't keep it to yourself. How do I assign a QIcon (with different sizes + enabled/disabled states) to a QAction from within Designer?

You use the "pixmap function" feature of Designer.

BTW. I don't say Designer is perfect. See the posts about UIC and container plugins on my blog.

[Chuk]

I use Designer for QMainWindow and QDialogs. I find it handy to get the layout right, especially when I want to stretch "correctly", whatever that is depending on the dialog. It helps to connect simple signals/slots such as pressing enter in a text edit box to activate the Apply button. It makes it very easy to write code with the automatic slot naming, such as on_QSpinBox_valueChanged(int ID).

The times I write code are when the contents change.. such as a joystick dialog where it loads sliders for each available axis, and buttons for each available button. A library handles most of the work and gives me counts for each.

[pherthyl]

You use the "pixmap function" feature of Designer

What is the pixmap function and how do I use it? I've been writing most of my interface code by hand since I need to assign icons containing multiple pixmap sizes to QActions , but if it was possible to do in designer I would switch.

[wysota]

What is the pixmap function and how do I use it?

You probably don't need it - it is a function you can write to generate pixmaps according to a name. You can substitute the default pixmap generation process (based on a filepath) with it.

I've been writing most of my interface code by hand since I need to assign icons containing multiple pixmap sizes to QActions , but if it was possible to do in designer I would switch.

You wouldn't see the result in (current) Designer. If icons are your only problem, you can write a simple routine that would set the icons in code and layout the gui in Designer.

[GreyGeek]

Always the designer.

I also avoid using "clever code" which will give trouble to those that are going to be supporting my aps after June of next year. Writing "inspired" code which you can't figure out when you are not so "inspired" is foolish. The maintainers will hate you for it.

[alecs1]

Thank you for this discussion. Because of this I have finally took the time to learn using the forms, excelent.

[Colx007]

At the possible I use designer. But if I would know , I would use a text editor.

[C167]

I started with Qt4, and i started with the designer. I always had problems with the designer-generated UIs, i could not handle them. So i mainly use it now to visualize what i want to do and then hardcode it. One problem with generated widgets i had was that they never adjusted their size to the widget or mainwindow that contained them.

[jpn]

One problem with generated widgets i had was that they never adjusted their size to the widget or mainwindow that contained them.

It's a matter of installing a top-level layout on the form. Deselect child widgets and choose a layout from the Form-menu (or context menu or toolbar).

[MrShahi]

Not often, I use the designer when my gui design is very complex because it makes the gui very easily...........otherwise I prefer coding to design gui..................

[WinchellChung]

Newbie that I am, I generally use the Designer.

But occasionally when I am trying to add new items, it is a real pain to have to break all the layouts, or have Designer turn your dialog into a tangled mess.

In those cases I usually manually insert items into the *.ui file, using an XML editor.

[triperzonak]

i use designer almost everytime, but in my app i use designer in one form but in the other not..

and there is 1 proj that i cant use designer cause everything is dynamic..

in my kind of job where everything has deadline or timelimit or what ever you want to call that.. designer is very helpful..

[ComaWhite]

I don't bother with signals/slots in them. Because the designer creates ugly naming of the slots. etc. But I use it everything else, but depending on what I need it for.

[KaptainKarl]

I don't use QT Designer ever.
I guess I'm just old school and prefer controlling everything in my own code.
I also find QTs syntax for building layouts very intuitive so it's easy for me.

Karl

[thiforums]

Honestly, dealing with layouts in qDesigner is bad and waste of time. If they add an anchors property for each visual control, it should become more easy, more comfortable and faster way to develop GUIs.

[rexi]

Honestly, NO! And it seems this is not only my opinion. Have a look at the other thread you started. Qt has one of the most advanced, flexible, easy to use layout systems I've ever seen. Sorry to say that, but anchors suck. You cannot design a good user interface with anchors

Qt's layouts are very simple. And that's what makes them very powerful. Just have a serious look at them, and I'm sure you will find out how you can achieve whatever you want it to be. With anchors, you just cannot...

Damn, in my opinion even Java's layouts are superiour to the anchor approach. And I really scorn most of Java's built-in layouts...