QT Designer? Coding by hand?

[wysota]

well, I suppose its stupid to only allow 2mins to create a poll...

Usually people create polls when opening the thread and not after a meditation in a bathroom...

What if you really have to go to the bathroom!?

Do it before opening a thread with a poll...


About the issue with Designer. I think Designer is there for you to use it. It generates a very good code, you won't be able to write a better one yourself. And using it doesn't mean you don't know how to code a widget manually, but saves a lot of time.

Maybe my opinion will sound a bit too strong, but I think that lame people are not the ones using Designer (because "real programmers code everything themselves"), but the ones not using it. Otherwise we'd be all stuck with binary code, perforated cards or in the best case assembly.

To be honest I am thinking of writing a set of macros which would relieve me of writing the same standard things all the time (what a waste of time it is), like:

#include <QWidget>
#include <QApplication>
 
int main(int argc, char **argv){
  QApplication app(argc, argv);
  QWidget wgt;
  wgt.show();  
  return app.exec();
}

#include <QWidget>
#include <QApplication>

int main(int argc, char **argv){
  QApplication app(argc, argv);
  QWidget wgt;
  wgt.show();  
  return app.exec();
}

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It'd be better to write for example:

#include <QWidget>
Q_START
QWidget wgt;
wgt.show();
Q_END

#include <QWidget>
Q_START
QWidget wgt;
wgt.show();
Q_END

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There are many things like the one above... Qt already has some nice things like forever() or foreach() and of course Tulip (although real h4x0rs would say they always implement their own vectors or lists... because using COTS solutions is lame ).

[Brandybuck]

Back in the 1.x days, I used Qt Architect. But as I got used to Qt I started doing all my layouts by hand. In 2.x I tried using Designer, but I didn't like it, and so stuck with hand coding. I improved enough in 3.x that I started using it. But I only used it to generate boilerplate code, which I would cut-n-paste into my own code.

In 4.x, however, I'm using Designer for all my layout, even my menus. I'll still hand code tiny layouts, however.

[cristianbdg]

When I started with Qt, I always used Designer, because I thought coding a GUI by hand would be very difficult. The bad part was that every time I wanted to subclass a widget to add some functionality, I had to do a lot of work to make it play well with Designer. That's when I started reading the GUI code in the Qt examples and I noticed it wasn't that difficult. Also, I noticed that the GUI behaves more the way I want it when I code "by hand". With the arrival of Qt4 it has become even easier, because they simplified the layout classes.

So maybe it takes me a bit more time, but I prefer coding by hand.

[elcuco]

I started very recently using the designer for main windows as well. With Qt4 and the auto connection mechanism, the code you need to write for making a usable application is much smaller. This leads to less mistakes and clearer code.

[aMan]

When I started with Qt, I always used Designer, because I thought coding a GUI by hand would be very difficult. The bad part was that every time I wanted to subclass a widget to add some functionality, I had to do a lot of work to make it play well with Designer. That's when I started reading the GUI code in the Qt examples and I noticed it wasn't that difficult. Also, I noticed that the GUI behaves more the way I want it when I code "by hand". With the arrival of Qt4 it has become even easier, because they simplified the layout classes.

So maybe it takes me a bit more time, but I prefer coding by hand.

so there are people don't using the designer..

i am using the designer.
first to have a concept: how will the program look like and how do you use it.. it is easier to think about the program when you see the gui. you know which elements you need etc..

second it's much easier to start coding for me.

regards..
aman..

[lauranger]

Hi

...

About the issue with Designer. I think Designer is there for you to use it. It generates a very good code, you won't be able to write a better one yourself. And using it doesn't mean you don't know how to code a widget manually, but saves a lot of time.

...

I can not second you about "no better code yourself" : there are unuseful and annoying lines especially for SizePolicy's and fonts where the default are better than explicit settings that, more often than never, are unwelcome.

I don't want to tag myself as reactionnary, so I have to say that even if you have to get used to QtDesigner before you can feel how to do what you want, it is better than many gui designer I've used so far.
Still, I am suspectful towards "clickodroms" for such things,
I prefer powerful layouts that permit "straightforward" tweaking (they achieve flexibility with as few (orthogonal) parameters as possible, for example).
But for some sub-parts specialized of a rich panel QtDesigner can be ok. But integration of parts is easier for me by hand.
By the way, the possibility to change a "common" property among a multiple selection would be convenient : selecting several widget that are not all in the same "containers" and are not all the children of the topmost widget and being able to set the font boldness at once, these kind of thing, would be very practical. To be constructive
My2c.

[jacek]

By the way, the possibility to change a "common" property among a multiple selection would be convenient

Yes, hopefully it will work soon: http://www.trolltech.com/developer/t...entry&id=87181