Introduction to Qt Widgets (Part 67B)

Drag and Drop

9 October 2025

To watch this video on our website please or view it directly on YouTube

One of the most intuitive gestures in applications is drag and drop - "I have something here, I want it there"

In this episode, we will learn how to add drag and drop facilities to your application, both so it can work with other applications, but also so you can drag, possibly even complex data around inside your application.

Links:

* KDAB Service: Qt5 to Qt6 Migration: https://www.kdab.com/services/qt-services/qt-5-to-qt-6-migration-services/

* Codebrowser: https://codebrowser.dev/

* Code for QMimeDataPrivate on Codebrowser: https://codebrowser.dev/qt6/qtbase/src/corelib/kernel/qmimedata.cpp.html#106

Chapters

00:00 Welcome

01:01 Fives step to DnD

02:31 Step 1 - detect a drag is about to start

04:44 Step 2 - starting the drag

08:27 QMimeData

09:55 Advertise: Qt5 to Qt6 migration

10:15 Step 3+4 - the drop side

15:34 Encoding your own data type - the drag side

18:27 Decoding your own data - the drop site

21:48 Only encode the data when the drop happens

24:00 Drag and drop inside the application

24:53 The clipboard

26:40 The application shown thoughout the episode

The example code showcased in this video is available here:

https://github.com/KDABLabs/kdabtv/tree/master/Programming-With-Qt-Widgets/DragAndDrop

Introduction to Qt Widgets Modules

Please note that non-English dubs for all KDAB videos are auto-generated. These translations have not been moderated by us and may contain inaccuracies. We appreciate your understanding and apologize for any confusion this may cause.

Jesper K. Pedersen

HR Director / COO

Jesper K. Pedersen – COO/HR director at KDAB. Jesper has actively developed with Qt since 1998 and, despite his fancy title, still does so.

He has held almost 100 training classes in Qt since 2000. Today, his greatest claim to fame is the QML youtube series and more recently his youtube series called Qt Widgets and More.

Introduction to Qt Widgets (Part 67B)

Drag and Drop

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