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Introducing KDDockWidgets An advanced docking framework for Qt

KDDockWidgets is an effort by KDAB to provide an advanced docking system for Qt.

Throughout the years KDAB has contributed and funded QDockWidget development. Sadly, this wasn’t without pain: each change took many days to implement and an equal amount of time to fix regressions.

QDockWidgetmixes GUI code with logic/state in a spaghetti manner, making it very hard to move forward. In hindsight, what caused this complexity was the combinatorial explosion of options it supports (which seem unneeded to me, as most people just want to use all the features). That, times 3 platforms, which have different nuances, times 2, since code behaves drastically different if you have animations enabled or not.

KDDockWidgets was born from my need to preserve sanity after having worked in two projects that needed extensive customization. One where we tried to work directly upstream but the regression rate ended up being too much. And another one where I took the route of using private API, fake mouse events and event filters, which seemed like a good idea at first, but ended up being a world of pain. Furthermore, our customers were getting more creative with their requests, so it was clear we needed a better docking framework.

Say hello to KDDockWidgets

KDDockWidgets in action

The immediate differences you can spot are the very precise docking indicators and the total freedom in terms of docking areas.

Here’s a comprehensive list:

  • You can now dock into the center or simply remove the concept of “central widget”
  • You can have tabs in the center
  • Nesting dock widgets in a floating window and docking that group back to main window works (Olivier Goffart from Woboq in collaboration with KDAB implemented the nesting part in QDockWidget for Qt 5.10, but dropping the floating window back to main window was too difficult to finish.)
  • Docking to any main window. The main window is no longer the “owner” of a dock widget
  • Separated GUI code from logic, so we can easily provide a QtQuick backend
  • Exposes inner helper widgets so the user can customize them or provide his own
  • 140+ tests, including some which send fake mouse events to test GUI DnD operations
  • A fuzzer to help find bugs
  • Allows the user to implement different types of docking indicators
  • Eventually: QtQuick support

Moreover, it intends to be a framework, so you can easily override interfaces to provide custom behaviour and appearance.

KDDockWidgets is Open Source (GPLv2 & GPLv3). Alternatively contact KDAB for other licensing options if you need it in proprietary software.

What’s next ?

In the last months we’ve been having fun using KDDockWidgets in a couple of customer projects already, incorporating valuable feedback into the API. The next step is getting official documentation and source/binary-compat guarantees, in preparation for the 1.0 release. I also hope to gather feature requests from the community, so feel free to comment here or drop me an e-mail.

View our ‘Widgets and more’ video series

Yes, widgets are still alive and kicking. In the many years we have worked with them, we have gathered quite a number of tips and tricks that we’d love to share with you.

Welcome to our brand new video series about...Qt Widgets! Yes, widgets are still alive and kicking. In the many years we have worked with them, we have gathered quite a number of tips and tricks that we'd love to share with you.

Whether it's some handy snippet in C++ or a hidden button in a graphical tool, these suggestions will make your development life considerably easier.
In this first video, we will show you a few ways to improve your workflow when using a QGridLayout inside Qt Designer. Sounds simple, doesn't it? Well, there are a few subtleties involved.

The example code showcased in this video is available here: https://github.com/KDAB/kdabtv

All Qt Widgets and more videos:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6CJYn40gN6gf-G-o6syFwGrtq3kItEqI

About the host:
The video is presented by Jesper Pedersen, who started with Qt back when Qt was widgets only and the version was 1.44, which gives him 21 years of experience with Qt. Since 2000 he has taught almost 100 Qt classes, ranging from Qt Widgets to QML. Heck, Jesper even taught a few classes on QTopia Core — Trolltech's initial attempt at creating a phone stack. Today Jesper holds a fancy business title, but that doesn't prevent him from coding both in his job and in his spare time.

About KDAB:
KDAB offers experienced software experts to help you deliver functional, high-performing and innovative software across embedded, mobile and desktop platforms for projects using C++, Qt, QML/Qt Quick, OpenGL, Qt 3D and more.  https://www.kdab.com/software-services

KDAB experts regularly take time out to deliver KDAB’s world class training, in-house or at open enrollment courses around the world. We are the market leaders for training in Qt, OpenGL and C++.

Contact us to find out more at training@kdab.com or visit our website: https://www.kdab.com/software-services/scheduled-training/

We are about 90 people, located all around the world. Our Head Office is in Sweden and we have other offices in Germany, France, the UK and the USA. https://www.kdab.com/about/contact/
GridLayout in Qt Designer

Welcome to our brand new video series about...Qt Widgets! Yes, widgets are still alive and kicking. In the many years we have worked with them, we have gathered quite a number of tips and tricks that we'd love to share with you.

Whether it's some handy snippet in C++ or a hidden button in a graphical tool, these suggestions will make your development life considerably easier.
In this first video, we will show you a few ways to improve your workflow when using a QGridLayout inside Qt Designer. Sounds simple, doesn't it? Well, there are a few subtleties involved.

The example code showcased in this video is available here: https://github.com/KDAB/kdabtv

The video is presented by Jesper Pedersen, who started with Qt back when Qt was widgets only and the version was 1.44, which gives him 21 years of experience with Qt. Since 2000 he has taught almost 100 Qt classes, ranging from Qt Widgets to QML. Heck, Jesper even taught a few classes on QTopia Core — Trolltech's initial attempt at creating a phone stack. Today Jesper holds a fancy business title, but that doesn't prevent him from coding both in his job and in his spare time.

About KDAB:
KDAB offers experienced software experts to help you deliver functional, high-performing and innovative software across embedded, mobile and desktop platforms for projects using C++, Qt, QML/Qt Quick, OpenGL, Qt 3D and more. https://www.kdab.com/software-services

KDAB experts regularly take time out to deliver KDAB’s world class training, in-house or at open enrollment courses around the world. We are the market leaders for training in Qt, OpenGL and C++.

Contact us to find out more at training@kdab.com or visit our website: https://www.kdab.com/software-services/scheduled-training/

We are about 90 people, located all around the world. Our Head Office is in Sweden and we have other offices in Germany, France, the UK and the USA. https://www.kdab.com/about/contact/

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YouTube Video UEw2Q0pZbjQwZ042Z2YtRy1vNnN5RndHcnRxM2tJdEVxSS41NkI0NEY2RDEwNTU3Q0M2

GridLayout in Qt Designer

Let's revisit Qt Designer once more, this time to discuss combo boxes. Mapping a QComboBox's entry to a specific value is easy in C++, but not so easy when the combo box is populated from within Qt Designer. How do we improve the situation?

The example code showcased in this video is available here: https://github.com/KDAB/kdabtv/tree/master/Qt-Widgets-and-more/ComboBoxSetup

All Qt Widgets and more videos:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6CJYn40gN6gf-G-o6syFwGrtq3kItEqI

About the host:
The video is presented by Jesper Pedersen, who started with Qt back when Qt was widgets only and the version was 1.44, which gives him 21 years of experience with Qt. Since 2000 he has taught almost 100 Qt classes, ranging from Qt Widgets to QML. Heck, Jesper even taught a few classes on QTopia Core — Trolltech's initial attempt at creating a phone stack. Today Jesper holds a fancy business title, but that doesn't prevent him from coding both in his job and in his spare time.

About KDAB:
KDAB offers experienced software experts to help you deliver functional, high-performing and innovative software across embedded, mobile and desktop platforms for projects using C++, Qt, QML/Qt Quick, OpenGL, Qt 3D and more.  https://www.kdab.com/software-services

KDAB experts regularly take time out to deliver KDAB’s world class training, in-house or at open enrollment courses around the world. We are the market leaders for training in Qt, OpenGL and C++.

Contact us to find out more at training@kdab.com or visit our website: https://www.kdab.com/software-services/scheduled-training/

We are about 90 people, located all around the world. Our Head Office is in Sweden and we have other offices in Germany, France, the UK and the USA. https://www.kdab.com/about/contact/
Populating a Combobox from Qt Designer

Let's revisit Qt Designer once more, this time to discuss combo boxes. Mapping a QComboBox's entry to a specific value is easy in C++, but not so easy when the combo box is populated from within Qt Designer. How do we improve the situation?

The example code showcased in this video is available here: https://github.com/KDAB/kdabtv

The video is presented by Jesper Pedersen, who started with Qt back when Qt was widgets only and the version was 1.44, which gives him 21 years of experience with Qt. Since 2000 he has taught almost 100 Qt classes, ranging from Qt Widgets to QML. Heck, Jesper even taught a few classes on QTopia Core — Trolltech's initial attempt at creating a phone stack. Today Jesper holds a fancy business title, but that doesn't prevent him from coding both in his job and in his spare time.

About KDAB:
KDAB offers experienced software experts to help you deliver functional, high-performing and innovative software across embedded, mobile and desktop platforms for projects using C++, Qt, QML/Qt Quick, OpenGL, Qt 3D and more. https://www.kdab.com/software-services

KDAB experts regularly take time out to deliver KDAB’s world class training, in-house or at open enrollment courses around the world. We are the market leaders for training in Qt, OpenGL and C++.

Contact us to find out more at training@kdab.com or visit our website: https://www.kdab.com/software-services/scheduled-training/

We are about 90 people, located all around the world. Our Head Office is in Sweden and we have other offices in Germany, France, the UK and the USA. https://www.kdab.com/about/contact/

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YouTube Video UEw2Q0pZbjQwZ042Z2YtRy1vNnN5RndHcnRxM2tJdEVxSS4yODlGNEE0NkRGMEEzMEQy

Populating a Combobox from Qt Designer

If you're submitting code for a review, there's nothing worse than getting nitpicked because you violated a style guideline of the project.
If you're doing the code review, there's nothing more annoying than nitpicking on small code style inconsistencies.

This is where clang-format can help you. Clang-format is a tool (based on the clang/LLVM compiler infrastructure) that can automatically reformat your source code. Not only can you run it manually to apply a given formatting, but you can set it up so that it automatically reformats the code when committing into git, or when saving in Qt Creator.

The example code showcased in this video is available here: 
https://github.com/KDAB/kdabtv/tree/master/Qt-Widgets-and-more/clang-format

All Qt Widgets and more videos:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6CJYn40gN6gf-G-o6syFwGrtq3kItEqI

About the host:
The video is presented by Jesper Pedersen, who started with Qt back when Qt was widgets only and the version was 1.44, which gives him 21 years of experience with Qt. Since 2000 he has taught almost 100 Qt classes, ranging from Qt Widgets to QML. Heck, Jesper even taught a few classes on QTopia Core — Trolltech's initial attempt at creating a phone stack. Today Jesper holds a fancy business title, but that doesn't prevent him from coding both in his job and in his spare time.

About KDAB:
KDAB offers experienced software experts to help you deliver functional, high-performing and innovative software across embedded, mobile and desktop platforms for projects using C++, Qt, QML/Qt Quick, OpenGL, Qt 3D and more.  https://www.kdab.com/software-services

KDAB experts regularly take time out to deliver KDAB’s world class training, in-house or at open enrollment courses around the world. We are the market leaders for training in Qt, OpenGL and C++.

Contact us to find out more at training@kdab.com or visit our website: https://www.kdab.com/software-services/scheduled-training/

We are about 90 people, located all around the world. Our Head Office is in Sweden and we have other offices in Germany, France, the UK and the USA. https://www.kdab.com/about/contact/
Using Clang-Format to Ensure Style Guidelines

If you're submitting code for a review, there's nothing worse than getting nitpicked because you violated some style guideline of the project.
If you're doing a code review, there's nothing more annoying than nitpicking on small code style inconsistencies.

This is where clang-format can help us. clang-format is a tool (based on the clang/LLVM compiler infrastructure) that can automatically reformat our source code. Not only we can run it manually to apply a given formatting, but we can set it up so that it automatically reformats the code when committing into git, or when saving in Qt Creator.

The example code showcased in this video is available here: https://github.com/KDAB/kdabtv

The video is presented by Jesper Pedersen, who started with Qt back when Qt was widgets only and the version was 1.44, which gives him 21 years of experience with Qt. Since 2000 he has taught almost 100 Qt classes, ranging from Qt Widgets to QML. Heck, Jesper even taught a few classes on QTopia Core — Trolltech's initial attempt at creating a phone stack. Today Jesper holds a fancy business title, but that doesn't prevent him from coding both in his job and in his spare time.

About KDAB:
KDAB offers experienced software experts to help you deliver functional, high-performing and innovative software across embedded, mobile and desktop platforms for projects using C++, Qt, QML/Qt Quick, OpenGL, Qt 3D and more. https://www.kdab.com/software-services

KDAB experts regularly take time out to deliver KDAB’s world class training, in-house or at open enrollment courses around the world. We are the market leaders for training in Qt, OpenGL and C++.

Contact us to find out more at training@kdab.com or visit our website: https://www.kdab.com/software-services/scheduled-training/

We are about 90 people, located all around the world. Our Head Office is in Sweden and we have other offices in Germany, France, the UK and the USA. https://www.kdab.com/about/contact/

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YouTube Video UEw2Q0pZbjQwZ042Z2YtRy1vNnN5RndHcnRxM2tJdEVxSS41MjE1MkI0OTQ2QzJGNzNG

Using Clang-Format to Ensure Style Guidelines

Today's video falls in the proverbial "removing the pebble in one's shoes" category. We'll talk about headers in a QTableView. Were you ever slightly annoyed by the fact that you can click on a header and sort the table by the corresponding column, but then you cannot undo the sorting? Let's fix that!

The example code showcased in this video is available here: https://github.com/KDAB/kdabtv/tree/master/Qt-Widgets-and-more/HeaderSortingAdapter

All Qt Widgets and more videos:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6CJYn40gN6gf-G-o6syFwGrtq3kItEqI

About the host:
The video is presented by Jesper Pedersen, who started with Qt back when Qt was widgets only and the version was 1.44, which gives him 21 years of experience with Qt. Since 2000 he has taught almost 100 Qt classes, ranging from Qt Widgets to QML. Heck, Jesper even taught a few classes on QTopia Core — Trolltech's initial attempt at creating a phone stack. Today Jesper holds a fancy business title, but that doesn't prevent him from coding both in his job and in his spare time.

About KDAB:
KDAB offers experienced software experts to help you deliver functional, high-performing and innovative software across embedded, mobile and desktop platforms for projects using C++, Qt, QML/Qt Quick, OpenGL, Qt 3D and more.  https://www.kdab.com/software-services

KDAB experts regularly take time out to deliver KDAB’s world class training, in-house or at open enrollment courses around the world. We are the market leaders for training in Qt, OpenGL and C++.

Contact us to find out more at training@kdab.com or visit our website: https://www.kdab.com/software-services/scheduled-training/

We are about 90 people, located all around the world. Our Head Office is in Sweden and we have other offices in Germany, France, the UK and the USA. https://www.kdab.com/about/contact/
Un-sorting Headers in QTableView

Today's video falls in the proverbial "removing the pebble in one's shoes" category. We'll talk about headers in a QTableView. Were you ever slightly annoyed by the fact that you can click on a header and sort the table by the corresponding column, but then you cannot undo the sorting? Let's fix that!

The example code showcased in this video is available here: https://github.com/KDAB/kdabtv

The video is presented by Jesper Pedersen, who started with Qt back when Qt was widgets only and the version was 1.44, which gives him 21 years of experience with Qt. Since 2000 he has taught almost 100 Qt classes, ranging from Qt Widgets to QML. Heck, Jesper even taught a few classes on QTopia Core — Trolltech's initial attempt at creating a phone stack. Today Jesper holds a fancy business title, but that doesn't prevent him from coding both in his job and in his spare time.

About KDAB:
KDAB offers experienced software experts to help you deliver functional, high-performing and innovative software across embedded, mobile and desktop platforms for projects using C++, Qt, QML/Qt Quick, OpenGL, Qt 3D and more. https://www.kdab.com/software-services

KDAB experts regularly take time out to deliver KDAB’s world class training, in-house or at open enrollment courses around the world. We are the market leaders for training in Qt, OpenGL and C++.

Contact us to find out more at training@kdab.com or visit our website: https://www.kdab.com/software-services/scheduled-training/

We are about 90 people, located all around the world. Our Head Office is in Sweden and we have other offices in Germany, France, the UK and the USA. https://www.kdab.com/about/contact/

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YouTube Video UEw2Q0pZbjQwZ042Z2YtRy1vNnN5RndHcnRxM2tJdEVxSS4wOTA3OTZBNzVEMTUzOTMy

Un-sorting Headers in QTableView

Remember this tip: when an application is being introspected by GammaRay, you can use Control + Shift + Mouse click on any of its widgets to select it for further inspection. This lets you check all the properties for the widget, its positioning, as well as simply get an answer to the question: of which class is this widget?

The example code showcased in this video is available here: https://github.com/KDAB/kdabtv

All Qt Widgets and more videos:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6CJYn40gN6gf-G-o6syFwGrtq3kItEqI

About the host:
The video is presented by Jesper Pedersen, who started with Qt back when Qt was widgets only and the version was 1.44, which gives him 21 years of experience with Qt. Since 2000 he has taught almost 100 Qt classes, ranging from Qt Widgets to QML. Heck, Jesper even taught a few classes on QTopia Core — Trolltech's initial attempt at creating a phone stack. Today Jesper holds a fancy business title, but that doesn't prevent him from coding both in his job and in his spare time.

About KDAB:
KDAB offers experienced software experts to help you deliver functional, high-performing and innovative software across embedded, mobile and desktop platforms for projects using C++, Qt, QML/Qt Quick, OpenGL, Qt 3D and more.  https://www.kdab.com/software-services

KDAB experts regularly take time out to deliver KDAB’s world class training, in-house or at open enrollment courses around the world. We are the market leaders for training in Qt, OpenGL and C++.

Contact us to find out more at training@kdab.com or visit our website: https://www.kdab.com/software-services/scheduled-training/

We are about 90 people, located all around the world. Our Head Office is in Sweden and we have other offices in Germany, France, the UK and the USA. https://www.kdab.com/about/contact/
Using GammaRay to Find the Class of an UI Element

Remember this tip: when an application is being introspected by GammaRay, you can use Control + Shift + Mouse click on any of its widgets to select it for further inspection. This lets you check all the properties for the widget, its positioning, as well as simply get an answer to the question: of which class is this widget?

The example code showcased in this video is available here: https://github.com/KDAB/kdabtv

The video is presented by Jesper Pedersen, who started with Qt back when Qt was widgets only and the version was 1.44, which gives him 21 years of experience with Qt. Since 2000 he has taught almost 100 Qt classes, ranging from Qt Widgets to QML. Heck, Jesper even taught a few classes on QTopia Core — Trolltech's initial attempt at creating a phone stack. Today Jesper holds a fancy business title, but that doesn't prevent him from coding both in his job and in his spare time.

About KDAB:
KDAB offers experienced software experts to help you deliver functional, high-performing and innovative software across embedded, mobile and desktop platforms for projects using C++, Qt, QML/Qt Quick, OpenGL, Qt 3D and more. https://www.kdab.com/software-services

KDAB experts regularly take time out to deliver KDAB’s world class training, in-house or at open enrollment courses around the world. We are the market leaders for training in Qt, OpenGL and C++.

Contact us to find out more at training@kdab.com or visit our website: https://www.kdab.com/software-services/scheduled-training/

We are about 90 people, located all around the world. Our Head Office is in Sweden and we have other offices in Germany, France, the UK and the USA. https://www.kdab.com/about/contact/

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YouTube Video UEw2Q0pZbjQwZ042Z2YtRy1vNnN5RndHcnRxM2tJdEVxSS4xMkVGQjNCMUM1N0RFNEUx

Using GammaRay to Find the Class of an UI Element

We know that we should use layouts to arrange children widgets inside a container widget. Layouts do the right thing for us, automatically, except when... they don't! Sometimes, we need to fine tune some of the decisions that layouts take; usually, the one that they take wrong is deciding how much padding/margins should be applied to contents. Let's see how to fix it.

The example code showcased in this video is available here: https://github.com/KDAB/kdabtv/tree/master/Qt-Widgets-and-more/ContentsMargins

All Qt Widgets and more videos:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6CJYn40gN6gf-G-o6syFwGrtq3kItEqI

About the host:
The video is presented by Jesper Pedersen, who started with Qt back when Qt was widgets only and the version was 1.44, which gives him 21 years of experience with Qt. Since 2000 he has taught almost 100 Qt classes, ranging from Qt Widgets to QML. Heck, Jesper even taught a few classes on QTopia Core — Trolltech's initial attempt at creating a phone stack. Today Jesper holds a fancy business title, but that doesn't prevent him from coding both in his job and in his spare time.

About KDAB:
KDAB offers experienced software experts to help you deliver functional, high-performing and innovative software across embedded, mobile and desktop platforms for projects using C++, Qt, QML/Qt Quick, OpenGL, Qt 3D and more.  https://www.kdab.com/software-services

KDAB experts regularly take time out to deliver KDAB’s world class training, in-house or at open enrollment courses around the world. We are the market leaders for training in Qt, OpenGL and C++.

Contact us to find out more at training@kdab.com or visit our website: https://www.kdab.com/software-services/scheduled-training/

We are about 90 people, located all around the world. Our Head Office is in Sweden and we have other offices in Germany, France, the UK and the USA. https://www.kdab.com/about/contact/
Understanding Contents Margins in Qt Layouts

We know that we should use layouts to arrange chidren widgets inside a container widget. Layouts do the right thing for us automatically. Except when... they don't! Sometimes we need to fine tune some of the decisions that layouts take; usually, the one that they take wrong is deciding how much padding/margins should be applied to contents. Let's see how to fix it.

The example code showcased in this video is available here: https://github.com/KDAB/kdabtv

The video is presented by Jesper Pedersen, who started with Qt back when Qt was widgets only and the version was 1.44, which gives him 21 years of experience with Qt. Since 2000 he has taught almost 100 Qt classes, ranging from Qt Widgets to QML. Heck, Jesper even taught a few classes on QTopia Core — Trolltech's initial attempt at creating a phone stack. Today Jesper holds a fancy business title, but that doesn't prevent him from coding both in his job and in his spare time.

About KDAB:
KDAB offers experienced software experts to help you deliver functional, high-performing and innovative software across embedded, mobile and desktop platforms for projects using C++, Qt, QML/Qt Quick, OpenGL, Qt 3D and more. https://www.kdab.com/software-services

KDAB experts regularly take time out to deliver KDAB’s world class training, in-house or at open enrollment courses around the world. We are the market leaders for training in Qt, OpenGL and C++.

Contact us to find out more at training@kdab.com or visit our website: https://www.kdab.com/software-services/scheduled-training/

We are about 90 people, located all around the world. Our Head Office is in Sweden and we have other offices in Germany, France, the UK and the USA. https://www.kdab.com/about/contact/

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YouTube Video UEw2Q0pZbjQwZ042Z2YtRy1vNnN5RndHcnRxM2tJdEVxSS41MzJCQjBCNDIyRkJDN0VD

Understanding Contents Margins in Qt Layouts

You've seen me constantly use GammaRay, when checking: item sizes, visibility, and layout margins. In this video, let me share with you a little trick: You can launch GammaRay right from within Qt Creator, with a convenient keyboard shortcut.

The example code showcased in this video is available here: https://github.com/KDAB/kdabtv

Link to the GammaRay Tutorials: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6CJYn40gN6itybeSJb5FvRWOxVW5PCUX

All Qt Widgets and more videos:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6CJYn40gN6gf-G-o6syFwGrtq3kItEqI

About the host:
The video is presented by Jesper Pedersen, who started with Qt back when Qt was widgets only and the version was 1.44, which gives him 21 years of experience with Qt. Since 2000 he has taught almost 100 Qt classes, ranging from Qt Widgets to QML. Heck, Jesper even taught a few classes on QTopia Core — Trolltech's initial attempt at creating a phone stack. Today Jesper holds a fancy business title, but that doesn't prevent him from coding both in his job and in his spare time.

About KDAB:
KDAB offers experienced software experts to help you deliver functional, high-performing and innovative software across embedded, mobile and desktop platforms for projects using C++, Qt, QML/Qt Quick, OpenGL, Qt 3D and more.  https://www.kdab.com/software-services

KDAB experts regularly take time out to deliver KDAB’s world class training, in-house or at open enrollment courses around the world. We are the market leaders for training in Qt, OpenGL and C++.

Contact us to find out more at training@kdab.com or visit our website: https://www.kdab.com/software-services/scheduled-training/

We are about 90 people, located all around the world. Our Head Office is in Sweden and we have other offices in Germany, France, the UK and the USA. https://www.kdab.com/about/contact/
Starting the Application in GammaRay from Qt Creator

You've seen me constantly use GammaRay, when checking: item sizes, visibility, and layout margins. In this video, let me share with you a little trick: You can launch GammaRay right from within Qt Creator, with a convenient keyboard shortcut.

The example code showcased in this video is available here: https://github.com/KDAB/kdabtv

Link to the GammaRay Tutorials: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6CJYn40gN6itybeSJb5FvRWOxVW5PCUX

The video is presented by Jesper Pedersen, who started with Qt back when Qt was widgets only and the version was 1.44, which gives him 21 years of experience with Qt. Since 2000 he has taught almost 100 Qt classes, ranging from Qt Widgets to QML. Heck, Jesper even taught a few classes on QTopia Core — Trolltech's initial attempt at creating a phone stack. Today Jesper holds a fancy business title, but that doesn't prevent him from coding both in his job and in his spare time.

About KDAB:
KDAB offers experienced software experts to help you deliver functional, high-performing and innovative software across embedded, mobile and desktop platforms for projects using C++, Qt, QML/Qt Quick, OpenGL, Qt 3D and more. https://www.kdab.com/software-services

KDAB experts regularly take time out to deliver KDAB’s world class training, in-house or at open enrollment courses around the world. We are the market leaders for training in Qt, OpenGL and C++.

Contact us to find out more at training@kdab.com or visit our website: https://www.kdab.com/software-services/scheduled-training/

We are about 90 people, located all around the world. Our Head Office is in Sweden and we have other offices in Germany, France, the UK and the USA. https://www.kdab.com/about/contact/

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YouTube Video UEw2Q0pZbjQwZ042Z2YtRy1vNnN5RndHcnRxM2tJdEVxSS5DQUNERDQ2NkIzRUQxNTY1

Starting the Application in GammaRay from Qt Creator

Sometimes a view would like to have more data for a cell than what is in a cell. Examples include:

A view that offers special context menu entries if the cell contains an employee. The text in the cell itself might just be the employee's name, and from that alone, it would be very hard to come to the conclusion that the cell indeed holds an employee.

A delegate that shows an annotation symbol (think cut of corner like in excel) if the data behind the cell is annotated. Again the cell text does not reveal this information.

One way to implement this is for the view or delegate to reach out to the model in question using a regular function call, but that will break in case there are proxy models in between.

This video shows how to obtain the effect by using custom roles.

You can contact us regarding our services at info@kdab.com

All Qt Widgets and more videos:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6CJYn40gN6gf-G-o6syFwGrtq3kItEqI

About the host:
The video is presented by Jesper Pedersen, who started with Qt back when Qt was widgets only and the version was 1.44, which gives him 21 years of experience with Qt. Since 2000 he has taught almost 100 Qt classes, ranging from Qt Widgets to QML. Heck, Jesper even taught a few classes on QTopia Core — Trolltech's initial attempt at creating a phone stack. Today Jesper holds a fancy business title, but that doesn't prevent him from coding both in his job and in his spare time.

About KDAB:

KDAB offers experienced software experts to help you deliver functional, high-performing and innovative software across embedded, mobile and desktop platforms for projects using C++, Qt, QML/Qt Quick, OpenGL, Qt 3D and more.  https://www.kdab.com/software-services

KDAB experts regularly take time out to deliver KDAB’s world class training, in-house or at open enrollment courses around the world. We are the market leaders for training in Qt, OpenGL and C++.

Contact us to find out more at training@kdab.com or visit our website: https://www.kdab.com/software-services/scheduled-training/

We are about 90 people, located all around the world. Our Head Office is in Sweden and we have other offices in Germany, France, the UK and the USA. https://www.kdab.com/about/contact/
Communicating between a View/Delegate and a Model

Sometimes a view would like to have more data for a cell than what is in a cell, examples includes:

A view that offer special context menu entries if the cell contains an employee. The text in the cell itself might just be the employees name, and from that alone it would be very hard to come to the conclusion that this the cell indeed holds an employee.

A delegate which shows an annotation symbol (think cut of corner like in excel) if the data behind the cell is annotated. Again the cell text do not reveal this information.

One way to implement this is for the view or delegate to reach out to the model in question using a regular function call, but that will break in case there are proxy models in between.

This video shows how to obtain the effect by using custom roles.

The example code showcased in this video is available here: https://github.com/KDAB/kdabtv

You can contact us regarding our services at info@kdab.com

The video is presented by Jesper Pedersen, who started with Qt back when Qt was widgets only and the version was 1.44, which gives him 21 years of experience with Qt. Since 2000 he has taught almost 100 Qt classes, ranging from Qt Widgets to QML. Heck, Jesper even taught a few classes on QTopia Core — Trolltech's initial attempt at creating a phone stack. Today Jesper holds a fancy business title, but that doesn't prevent him from coding both in his job and in his spare time.

About KDAB:

KDAB offers experienced software experts to help you deliver functional, high-performing and innovative software across embedded, mobile and desktop platforms for projects using C++, Qt, QML/Qt Quick, OpenGL, Qt 3D and more. https://www.kdab.com/software-services

KDAB experts regularly take time out to deliver KDAB’s world class training, in-house or at open enrollment courses around the world. We are the market leaders for training in Qt, OpenGL and C++.

Contact us to find out more at training@kdab.com or visit our website: https://www.kdab.com/software-services/scheduled-training/

We are about 90 people, located all around the world. Our Head Office is in Sweden and we have other offices in Germany, France, the UK and the USA. https://www.kdab.com/about/contact/

91 19

YouTube Video UEw2Q0pZbjQwZ042Z2YtRy1vNnN5RndHcnRxM2tJdEVxSS40NzZCMERDMjVEN0RFRThB

Communicating between a View/Delegate and a Model

Got a stack of proxy models where there is a subtle bug somewhere in there? No worries --GammaRay to the rescue!

It can visualize the stack of models for you, but there is one thing you better remember in your code --watch this video to find out what it is! 🙂

Link to download GammaRay: https://www.kdab.com/development-resources/qt-tools/gammaray/

All Qt Widgets and more videos:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6CJYn40gN6gf-G-o6syFwGrtq3kItEqI

About the host:
The video is presented by Jesper Pedersen, who started with Qt back when Qt was widgets only and the version was 1.44, which gives him 21 years of experience with Qt. Since 2000 he has taught almost 100 Qt classes, ranging from Qt Widgets to QML. Heck, Jesper even taught a few classes on QTopia Core — Trolltech's initial attempt at creating a phone stack. Today Jesper holds a fancy business title, but that doesn't prevent him from coding both in his job and in his spare time.

About KDAB:
KDAB offers experienced software experts to help you deliver functional, high-performing and innovative software across embedded, mobile and desktop platforms for projects using C++, Qt, QML/Qt Quick, OpenGL, Qt 3D and more.  https://www.kdab.com/software-services

KDAB experts regularly take time out to deliver KDAB’s world class training, in-house or at open enrollment courses around the world. We are the market leaders for training in Qt, OpenGL and C++.

Contact us to find out more at training@kdab.com or visit our website: https://www.kdab.com/software-services/scheduled-training/

We are about 90 people, located all around the world. Our Head Office is in Sweden and we have other offices in Germany, France, the UK and the USA. https://www.kdab.com/about/contact/
Visualizing the Model Stack in GammaRay

Got a stack of proxy models where there is a subtle bug somewhere in there? No worries --GammaRay to the rescue!

It can visualize the stack of models for you, but there is one thing you better remember in your code --watch this video to find out what it is! 🙂

Link to download GammaRay: https://www.kdab.com/development-resources/qt-tools/gammaray/

The video is presented by Jesper Pedersen, who started with Qt back when Qt was widgets only and the version was 1.44, which gives him 21 years of experience with Qt. Since 2000 he has taught almost 100 Qt classes, ranging from Qt Widgets to QML. Heck, Jesper even taught a few classes on QTopia Core — Trolltech's initial attempt at creating a phone stack. Today Jesper holds a fancy business title, but that doesn't prevent him from coding both in his job and in his spare time.

About KDAB:
KDAB offers experienced software experts to help you deliver functional, high-performing and innovative software across embedded, mobile and desktop platforms for projects using C++, Qt, QML/Qt Quick, OpenGL, Qt 3D and more. https://www.kdab.com/software-services

KDAB experts regularly take time out to deliver KDAB’s world class training, in-house or at open enrollment courses around the world. We are the market leaders for training in Qt, OpenGL and C++.

Contact us to find out more at training@kdab.com or visit our website: https://www.kdab.com/software-services/scheduled-training/

We are about 90 people, located all around the world. Our Head Office is in Sweden and we have other offices in Germany, France, the UK and the USA. https://www.kdab.com/about/contact/

28 0

YouTube Video UEw2Q0pZbjQwZ042Z2YtRy1vNnN5RndHcnRxM2tJdEVxSS5EMEEwRUY5M0RDRTU3NDJC

Visualizing the Model Stack in GammaRay

Sometimes a view or delegate needs to ask the model providing the data (at the bottom of a proxy model stack) some questions.

In the previous video, 'Communicating between a View/Delegate and a Model'  (https://youtu.be/q6eOEz_UfTI), I showed how custom roles can be used for this.

However, if the data isn't related to a specific cell, a better approach might be to traverse the proxy models yourself, to get to the actual source model.
This video shows this approach.

Link to download KDReports: https://www.kdab.com/development-resources/qt-tools/kd-reports/

All Qt Widgets and more videos:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6CJYn40gN6gf-G-o6syFwGrtq3kItEqI

About the host:
The video is presented by Jesper Pedersen, who started with Qt back when Qt was widgets only and the version was 1.44, which gives him 21 years of experience with Qt. Since 2000 he has taught almost 100 Qt classes, ranging from Qt Widgets to QML. Heck, Jesper even taught a few classes on QTopia Core — Trolltech's initial attempt at creating a phone stack. Today Jesper holds a fancy business title, but that doesn't prevent him from coding both in his job and in his spare time.

About KDAB:
KDAB offers experienced software experts to help you deliver functional, high-performing and innovative software across embedded, mobile and desktop platforms for projects using C++, Qt, QML/Qt Quick, OpenGL, Qt 3D and more.  https://www.kdab.com/software-services

KDAB experts regularly take time out to deliver KDAB’s world class training, in-house or at open enrollment courses around the world. We are the market leaders for training in Qt, OpenGL and C++.

Contact us to find out more at training@kdab.com or visit our website: https://www.kdab.com/software-services/scheduled-training/

We are about 90 people, located all around the world. Our Head Office is in Sweden and we have other offices in Germany, France, the UK and the USA. https://www.kdab.com/about/contact/
Traversing Proxy Models to Get to the Source Model at the Bottom

Sometimes a view or delegate need to ask the model providing the data (at the bottom of a proxy model stack) some questions.

In the previous video 'Communicating between a View/Delegate and a Model': https://youtu.be/q6eOEz_UfTI I showed how custom roles can be used for this.

However, if the data isn't related to a specific cell, a better approach might be to traverse the proxy models yourself, to get to the actual source model.
This video shows this approach.

Link to download KDReports: https://www.kdab.com/development-resources/qt-tools/kd-reports/

The example code showcased in this video is available here: https://github.com/KDAB/kdabtv

The video is presented by Jesper Pedersen, who started with Qt back when Qt was widgets only and the version was 1.44, which gives him 21 years of experience with Qt. Since 2000 he has taught almost 100 Qt classes, ranging from Qt Widgets to QML. Heck, Jesper even taught a few classes on QTopia Core — Trolltech's initial attempt at creating a phone stack. Today Jesper holds a fancy business title, but that doesn't prevent him from coding both in his job and in his spare time.

About KDAB:
KDAB offers experienced software experts to help you deliver functional, high-performing and innovative software across embedded, mobile and desktop platforms for projects using C++, Qt, QML/Qt Quick, OpenGL, Qt 3D and more. https://www.kdab.com/software-services

KDAB experts regularly take time out to deliver KDAB’s world class training, in-house or at open enrollment courses around the world. We are the market leaders for training in Qt, OpenGL and C++.

Contact us to find out more at training@kdab.com or visit our website: https://www.kdab.com/software-services/scheduled-training/

We are about 90 people, located all around the world. Our Head Office is in Sweden and we have other offices in Germany, France, the UK and the USA. https://www.kdab.com/about/contact/

22 0

YouTube Video UEw2Q0pZbjQwZ042Z2YtRy1vNnN5RndHcnRxM2tJdEVxSS45ODRDNTg0QjA4NkFBNkQy

Traversing Proxy Models to Get to the Source Model at the Bottom

In this episode, I'll show how you can use your own custom types to communicate between a model and a delegate editing these custom types. My example is a Money class which contains a currency and an amount. The delegate will see Money instances, rather than parse them from their string representation.

NOTE: This video was filmed before Qt6 was out, and it seems that, contrary to rumors, the function registerConverter is still there: https://doc.qt.io/qt-6/qmetatype.html#registerConverter.

The example code showcased in this video is available here: https://github.com/KDAB/kdabtv/tree/master/Qt-Widgets-and-more/CustomDataTypesInModel

All Qt Widgets and more videos:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6CJYn40gN6gf-G-o6syFwGrtq3kItEqI

About the host:
The video is presented by Jesper Pedersen, who started with Qt back when Qt was widgets only and the version was 1.44, which gives him 21 years of experience with Qt. Since 2000 he has taught almost 100 Qt classes, ranging from Qt Widgets to QML. Heck, Jesper even taught a few classes on QTopia Core — Trolltech's initial attempt at creating a phone stack. Today Jesper holds a fancy business title, but that doesn't prevent him from coding both in his job and in his spare time.

About KDAB:
KDAB offers experienced software experts to help you deliver functional, high-performing and innovative software across embedded, mobile and desktop platforms for projects using C++, Qt, QML/Qt Quick, OpenGL, Qt 3D and more.  https://www.kdab.com/software-services

KDAB experts regularly take time out to deliver KDAB’s world class training, in-house or at open enrollment courses around the world. We are the market leaders for training in Qt, OpenGL and C++.

Contact us to find out more at training@kdab.com or visit our website: https://www.kdab.com/software-services/scheduled-training/

We are about 90 people, located all around the world. Our Head Office is in Sweden and we have other offices in Germany, France, the UK and the USA. https://www.kdab.com/about/contact/
Using Custom Types with Model/View

In this episode I'll show how you can use your own custom types to communicate between a model and a delegate editing these custom types. My example is a Money class which contains a currency and an amount, the delegate will see Money instances, rather than parse them from their string representation.

NOTE: This video was filmed before Qt6 was out and it seems that contrary to rumors the function registerConverter is still there: https://doc.qt.io/qt-6/qmetatype.html#registerConverter

The example code showcased in this video is available here: https://github.com/KDAB/kdabtv .

The video is presented by Jesper Pedersen, who started with Qt back when Qt was widgets only and the version was 1.44, which gives him 21 years of experience with Qt. Since 2000 he has taught almost 100 Qt classes, ranging from Qt Widgets to QML. Heck, Jesper even taught a few classes on QTopia Core — Trolltech's initial attempt at creating a phone stack. Today Jesper holds a fancy business title, but that doesn't prevent him from coding both in his job and in his spare time.

About KDAB:
KDAB offers experienced software experts to help you deliver functional, high-performing and innovative software across embedded, mobile and desktop platforms for projects using C++, Qt, QML/Qt Quick, OpenGL, Qt 3D and more. https://www.kdab.com/software-services

KDAB experts regularly take time out to deliver KDAB’s world class training, in-house or at open enrollment courses around the world. We are the market leaders for training in Qt, OpenGL and C++.

Contact us to find out more at training@kdab.com or visit our website: https://www.kdab.com/software-services/scheduled-training/

We are about 90 people, located all around the world. Our Head Office is in Sweden and we have other offices in Germany, France, the UK and the USA. https://www.kdab.com/about/contact/

61 2

YouTube Video UEw2Q0pZbjQwZ042Z2YtRy1vNnN5RndHcnRxM2tJdEVxSS41Mzk2QTAxMTkzNDk4MDhF

Using Custom Types with Model/View

As a developer, your toolbox should help you as much as possible, and you ought to invest the time it takes to figure out what is in there. This episodes gives you my top seven shortcuts in Qt Creator that help me save hours (OK, maybe just minutes) every single day, but, much more importantly, ensures I stay focused on whatever problem I'm solving right now.

Download our Qt Creator Reference Card that lists lots more useful shortcuts here: https://www.kdab.com/development-resources/qtcreator/

All Qt Widgets and more videos:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6CJYn40gN6gf-G-o6syFwGrtq3kItEqI

About the host:
The video is presented by Jesper Pedersen, who started with Qt back when Qt was widgets only and the version was 1.44, which gives him 21 years of experience with Qt. Since 2000 he has taught almost 100 Qt classes, ranging from Qt Widgets to QML. Heck, Jesper even taught a few classes on QTopia Core — Trolltech's initial attempt at creating a phone stack. Today Jesper holds a fancy business title, but that doesn't prevent him from coding both in his job and in his spare time.

About KDAB:
KDAB offers experienced software experts to help you deliver functional, high-performing and innovative software across embedded, mobile and desktop platforms for projects using C++, Qt, QML/Qt Quick, OpenGL, Qt 3D and more.  https://www.kdab.com/software-services

KDAB experts regularly take time out to deliver KDAB’s world class training, in-house or at open enrollment courses around the world. We are the market leaders for training in Qt, OpenGL and C++.

Contact us to find out more at training@kdab.com or visit our website: https://www.kdab.com/software-services/scheduled-training/

We are about 90 people, located all around the world. Our Head Office is in Sweden and we have other offices in Germany, France, the UK and the USA. https://www.kdab.com/about/contact/
Top 7 Shortcuts in Qt Creator

As a developer your toolbox should help you as much as possible, and you ought to invest the time it takes to figure out what is in there. This episodes gives you my top seven shortcuts in Qt Creator that helps me save hours (OK, maybe just minutes) every single day, but much more important ensures I stay focused on whatever problem I'm solving right now.

Download our Qt Creator Reference Card that lists lots more useful shortcuts here: https://www.kdab.com/development-resources/qtcreator/

The video is presented by Jesper Pedersen, who started with Qt back when Qt was widgets only and the version was 1.44, which gives him 21 years of experience with Qt. Since 2000 he has taught almost 100 Qt classes, ranging from Qt Widgets to QML. Heck, Jesper even taught a few classes on QTopia Core — Trolltech's initial attempt at creating a phone stack. Today Jesper holds a fancy business title, but that doesn't prevent him from coding both in his job and in his spare time.

About KDAB:
KDAB offers experienced software experts to help you deliver functional, high-performing and innovative software across embedded, mobile and desktop platforms for projects using C++, Qt, QML/Qt Quick, OpenGL, Qt 3D and more. https://www.kdab.com/software-services

KDAB experts regularly take time out to deliver KDAB’s world class training, in-house or at open enrollment courses around the world. We are the market leaders for training in Qt, OpenGL and C++.

Contact us to find out more at training@kdab.com or visit our website: https://www.kdab.com/software-services/scheduled-training/

We are about 90 people, located all around the world. Our Head Office is in Sweden and we have other offices in Germany, France, the UK and the USA. https://www.kdab.com/about/contact/

110 6

YouTube Video UEw2Q0pZbjQwZ042Z2YtRy1vNnN5RndHcnRxM2tJdEVxSS5EQUE1NTFDRjcwMDg0NEMz

Top 7 Shortcuts in Qt Creator

In my code I have a lot of custom classes I use with model/view, including Money, PercentageValue, TimeValue just to name a few.

For years I've written code like this in my data methods of QAbstractItemModel subclasses:
return QVariant::fromValue(cost); // cost is an instance of the class Money
In this short video you will learn a very simple trick to avoid this.

The example code showcased in this video is available here: 
https://github.com/KDAB/kdabtv/tree/master/Qt-Widgets-and-more/CustomTypesAndVariants
and https://github.com/KDAB/kdabtv/tree/master/Qt-Widgets-and-more/VariantConverters

All Qt Widgets and more videos:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6CJYn40gN6gf-G-o6syFwGrtq3kItEqI

About the host:
The video is presented by Jesper Pedersen, who started with Qt back when Qt was widgets only and the version was 1.44, which gives him 21 years of experience with Qt. Since 2000 he has taught almost 100 Qt classes, ranging from Qt Widgets to QML. Heck, Jesper even taught a few classes on QTopia Core — Trolltech's initial attempt at creating a phone stack. Today Jesper holds a fancy business title, but that doesn't prevent him from coding both in his job and in his spare time.

About KDAB:
KDAB offers experienced software experts to help you deliver functional, high-performing and innovative software across embedded, mobile and desktop platforms for projects using C++, Qt, QML/Qt Quick, OpenGL, Qt 3D and more.  https://www.kdab.com/software-services

KDAB experts regularly take time out to deliver KDAB’s world class training, in-house or at open enrollment courses around the world. We are the market leaders for training in Qt, OpenGL and C++.

Contact us to find out more at training@kdab.com or visit our website: https://www.kdab.com/software-services/scheduled-training/

We are about 90 people, located all around the world. Our Head Office is in Sweden and we have other offices in Germany, France, the UK and the USA. https://www.kdab.com/about/contact/
Avoiding QVariant::fromValue around your Own Types

In my code I have a lot of custom classes I use with model/view, including Money, PercentageValue, TimeValue just to name a few.

For years I've written code like this in my data methods of QAbstractItemModel subclasses:
return QVariant::fromValue(cost); // cost is an instance of the class Money
In this short video you will learn a very simple trick to avoid this.

The example code showcased in this video is available here: https://github.com/KDAB/kdabtv

The video is presented by Jesper Pedersen, who started with Qt back when Qt was widgets only and the version was 1.44, which gives him 21 years of experience with Qt. Since 2000 he has taught almost 100 Qt classes, ranging from Qt Widgets to QML. Heck, Jesper even taught a few classes on QTopia Core — Trolltech's initial attempt at creating a phone stack. Today Jesper holds a fancy business title, but that doesn't prevent him from coding both in his job and in his spare time.

About KDAB:
KDAB offers experienced software experts to help you deliver functional, high-performing and innovative software across embedded, mobile and desktop platforms for projects using C++, Qt, QML/Qt Quick, OpenGL, Qt 3D and more. https://www.kdab.com/software-services

KDAB experts regularly take time out to deliver KDAB’s world class training, in-house or at open enrollment courses around the world. We are the market leaders for training in Qt, OpenGL and C++.

Contact us to find out more at training@kdab.com or visit our website: https://www.kdab.com/software-services/scheduled-training/

We are about 90 people, located all around the world. Our Head Office is in Sweden and we have other offices in Germany, France, the UK and the USA. https://www.kdab.com/about/contact/

48 6

YouTube Video UEw2Q0pZbjQwZ042Z2YtRy1vNnN5RndHcnRxM2tJdEVxSS41QTY1Q0UxMTVCODczNThE

Avoiding QVariant::fromValue around your Own Types

It is possible to have your own document templates in Qt Creator; learn in these four videos how to set that up.

In this first episode, I will create a simple template for new classes, based on the "C++ class" template. Further, I'll explain how to use macros and show the one expanding into the class name specified in the "new file" dialog.

Link to Qt Documentation: https://doc.qt.io/qtcreator/creator-project-wizards.html

The resulting template for these four episodes is in github. You can download it here: https://github.com/KDAB/kdabtv/tree/master/Qt-Widgets-and-more/QtCreatorFileTemplates

All Qt Widgets and more videos:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6CJYn40gN6gf-G-o6syFwGrtq3kItEqI

About the host:
The video is presented by Jesper Pedersen, who started with Qt back when Qt was widgets only and the version was 1.44, which gives him 21 years of experience with Qt. Since 2000 he has taught almost 100 Qt classes, ranging from Qt Widgets to QML. Heck, Jesper even taught a few classes on QTopia Core — Trolltech's initial attempt at creating a phone stack. Today Jesper holds a fancy business title, but that doesn't prevent him from coding both in his job and in his spare time.

About KDAB:
KDAB offers experienced software experts to help you deliver functional, high-performing and innovative software across embedded, mobile and desktop platforms for projects using C++, Qt, QML/Qt Quick, OpenGL, Qt 3D and more.  https://www.kdab.com/software-services

KDAB experts regularly take time out to deliver KDAB’s world class training, in-house or at open enrollment courses around the world. We are the market leaders for training in Qt, OpenGL and C++.

Contact us to find out more at training@kdab.com or visit our website: https://www.kdab.com/software-services/scheduled-training/

We are about 90 people, located all around the world. Our Head Office is in Sweden and we have other offices in Germany, France, the UK and the USA. https://www.kdab.com/about/contact/
Document Templates in Qt Creator - Part 1

It is possible to have your own document templates in Qt Creator, learn in these four videos how to set that up.

In this first episode, I will create a simple template for new classes based on the "C++ class" template. Further, I'll explain how to use macros, and show the one expanding into the class name specified in the "new file" dialog.

Link to Qt Documentation: https://doc.qt.io/qtcreator/creator-project-wizards.html

The resulting template for these four episodes is in github. You can download it here https://github.com/KDAB/kdabtv

The video is presented by Jesper Pedersen, who started with Qt back when Qt was widgets only and the version was 1.44, which gives him 21 years of experience with Qt. Since 2000 he has taught almost 100 Qt classes, ranging from Qt Widgets to QML. Heck, Jesper even taught a few classes on QTopia Core — Trolltech's initial attempt at creating a phone stack. Today Jesper holds a fancy business title, but that doesn't prevent him from coding both in his job and in his spare time.

About KDAB:
KDAB offers experienced software experts to help you deliver functional, high-performing and innovative software across embedded, mobile and desktop platforms for projects using C++, Qt, QML/Qt Quick, OpenGL, Qt 3D and more. https://www.kdab.com/software-services

KDAB experts regularly take time out to deliver KDAB’s world class training, in-house or at open enrollment courses around the world. We are the market leaders for training in Qt, OpenGL and C++.

Contact us to find out more at training@kdab.com or visit our website: https://www.kdab.com/software-services/scheduled-training/

We are about 90 people, located all around the world. Our Head Office is in Sweden and we have other offices in Germany, France, the UK and the USA. https://www.kdab.com/about/contact/

32 2

YouTube Video UEw2Q0pZbjQwZ042Z2YtRy1vNnN5RndHcnRxM2tJdEVxSS4yMUQyQTQzMjRDNzMyQTMy

Document Templates in Qt Creator - Part 1

It is possible to have your own document templates in Qt Creator. Learn, in these four videos, how to set that up.
In this episode, I'll show you how to add a new file (namely, a .ui file) to the set of files generated, which, among other things, will teach us a bit more about how the macro system works.

The resulting template for these four episodes is in github. You can download it here https://github.com/KDAB/kdabtv/tree/master/Qt-Widgets-and-more/QtCreatorFileTemplates

All Qt Widgets and more videos:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6CJYn40gN6gf-G-o6syFwGrtq3kItEqI

About the host:
The video is presented by Jesper Pedersen, who started with Qt back when Qt was widgets only and the version was 1.44, which gives him 21 years of experience with Qt. Since 2000 he has taught almost 100 Qt classes, ranging from Qt Widgets to QML. Heck, Jesper even taught a few classes on QTopia Core — Trolltech's initial attempt at creating a phone stack. Today Jesper holds a fancy business title, but that doesn't prevent him from coding both in his job and in his spare time.

About KDAB:

KDAB offers experienced software experts to help you deliver functional, high-performing and innovative softwae experts to help you deliver functional, high-performing and innovative software across embedded, mobile and desktop platforms for projects using C++, Qt, QML/Qt Quick, OpenGL, Qt 3D and more.  https://www.kdab.com/software-services

KDAB experts regularly take time out to deliver KDAB’s world class training, in-house or at open enrollment courses around the world. We are the market leaders for training in Qt, OpenGL and C++.

Contact us to find out more at training@kdab.com or visit our website: https://www.kdab.com/software-services/scheduled-training/

We are about 90 people, located all around the world. Our Head Office is in Sweden and we have other offices in Germany, France, the UK and the USA. https://www.kdab.com/about/contact/
Document Templates in Qt Creator - Part 2

It is possible to have your own document templates in Qt Creator, learn in these four videos how to set that up.
In this episode I'll show you how to add a new file (namely a .ui file) to the set of files generated, which among other things will teach us a bit more about how the macro system works.

The resulting template for these four episodes is in github. You can download it here https://github.com/KDAB/kdabtv

The video is presented by Jesper Pedersen, who started with Qt back when Qt was widgets only and the version was 1.44, which gives him 21 years of experience with Qt. Since 2000 he has taught almost 100 Qt classes, ranging from Qt Widgets to QML. Heck, Jesper even taught a few classes on QTopia Core — Trolltech's initial attempt at creating a phone stack. Today Jesper holds a fancy business title, but that doesn't prevent him from coding both in his job and in his spare time.

About KDAB:

KDAB offers experienced software experts to help you deliver functional, high-performing and innovative softwae experts to help you deliver functional, high-performing and innovative software across embedded, mobile and desktop platforms for projects using C++, Qt, QML/Qt Quick, OpenGL, Qt 3D and more. https://www.kdab.com/software-services

KDAB experts regularly take time out to deliver KDAB’s world class training, in-house or at open enrollment courses around the world. We are the market leaders for training in Qt, OpenGL and C++.

Contact us to find out more at training@kdab.com or visit our website: https://www.kdab.com/software-services/scheduled-training/

We are about 90 people, located all around the world. Our Head Office is in Sweden and we have other offices in Germany, France, the UK and the USA. https://www.kdab.com/about/contact/

10 4

YouTube Video UEw2Q0pZbjQwZ042Z2YtRy1vNnN5RndHcnRxM2tJdEVxSS45RTgxNDRBMzUwRjQ0MDhC

Document Templates in Qt Creator - Part 2

A nice feature of QListView and QTreeView is that the user can adapt the width of the columns using the mouse. A problem with that, however, is what to do if the column width is not wide enough to show all text. In this episode we will present an adapter that allows your model to provide multiple different strings the view can choose from.

The example code showcased in this video is available here: 
https://github.com/KDAB/kdabtv/tree/master/Qt-Widgets-and-more/ColumnHeaderLengthAdapter

All Qt Widgets and more videos:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6CJYn40gN6gf-G-o6syFwGrtq3kItEqI

About the host:
The video is presented by Jesper Pedersen, who started with Qt back when Qt was widgets only and the version was 1.44, which gives him 21 years of experience with Qt. Since 2000 he has taught almost 100 Qt classes, ranging from Qt Widgets to QML. Heck, Jesper even taught a few classes on QTopia Core — Trolltech's initial attempt at creating a phone stack. Today Jesper holds a fancy business title, but that doesn't prevent him from coding both in his job and in his spare time.

About KDAB:
KDAB offers experienced software experts to help you deliver functional, high-performing and innovative software across embedded, mobile and desktop platforms for projects using C++, Qt, QML/Qt Quick, OpenGL, Qt 3D and more.  https://www.kdab.com/software-services

KDAB experts regularly take time out to deliver KDAB’s world class training, in-house or at open enrollment courses around the world. We are the market leaders for training in Qt, OpenGL and C++.

Contact us to find out more at training@kdab.com or visit our website: https://www.kdab.com/software-services/scheduled-training/

We are about 90 people, located all around the world. Our Head Office is in Sweden and we have other offices in Germany, France, the UK and the USA. https://www.kdab.com/about/contact/
Adapting Column Content to Size

A nice feature of QListView and QTreeView is that the user can adapt the width of the columns using the mouse. A problem with that, however, is what to do if the column width is not wide enough to show all text. In this episode we will present an adapter that allows your model to provide multiple different string the view can choose from.

The example code showcased in this video is available here: https://github.com/KDAB/kdabtv

The video is presented by Jesper Pedersen, who started with Qt back when Qt was widgets only and the version was 1.44, which gives him 21 years of experience with Qt. Since 2000 he has taught almost 100 Qt classes, ranging from Qt Widgets to QML. Heck, Jesper even taught a few classes on QTopia Core — Trolltech's initial attempt at creating a phone stack. Today Jesper holds a fancy business title, but that doesn't prevent him from coding both in his job and in his spare time.

About KDAB:
KDAB offers experienced software experts to help you deliver functional, high-performing and innovative software across embedded, mobile and desktop platforms for projects using C++, Qt, QML/Qt Quick, OpenGL, Qt 3D and more. https://www.kdab.com/software-services

KDAB experts regularly take time out to deliver KDAB’s world class training, in-house or at open enrollment courses around the world. We are the market leaders for training in Qt, OpenGL and C++.

Contact us to find out more at training@kdab.com or visit our website: https://www.kdab.com/software-services/scheduled-training/

We are about 90 people, located all around the world. Our Head Office is in Sweden and we have other offices in Germany, France, the UK and the USA. https://www.kdab.com/about/contact/

29 1

YouTube Video UEw2Q0pZbjQwZ042Z2YtRy1vNnN5RndHcnRxM2tJdEVxSS5GM0Q3M0MzMzY5NTJFNTdE

Adapting Column Content to Size

In your code, you will likely find numerous places where you go from an enum to a QString and back. This could, for example, be code where you serialize your data.

The code might very well look like this:

    if (value == ExampleEnum::Foo)
        return "Foo";
    else if (value == ExampleEnum::Bar)
        return "Bar";
    ~~~

But there is a smarter way to do it, using Qt's introspection facilities. Watch here to learn that trick.

The example code showcased in this video is available here: 
https://github.com/KDAB/kdabtv/tree/master/Qt-Widgets-and-more/EnumConverter

All Qt Widgets and more videos:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6CJYn40gN6gf-G-o6syFwGrtq3kItEqI

About the host:
The video is presented by Jesper Pedersen, who started with Qt back when Qt was widgets only and the version was 1.44, which gives him 21 years of experience with Qt. Since 2000 he has taught almost 100 Qt classes, ranging from Qt Widgets to QML. Heck, Jesper even taught a few classes on QTopia Core — Trolltech's initial attempt at creating a phone stack. Today Jesper holds a fancy business title, but that doesn't prevent him from coding both in his job and in his spare time.

About KDAB:
KDAB offers experienced software experts to help you deliver functional, high-performing and innovative software across embedded, mobile and desktop platforms for projects using C++, Qt, QML/Qt Quick, OpenGL, Qt 3D and more.  https://www.kdab.com/software-services

KDAB experts regularly take time out to deliver KDAB’s world class training, in-house or at open enrollment courses around the world. We are the market leaders for training in Qt, OpenGL and C++.

Contact us to find out more at training@kdab.com or visit our website: https://www.kdab.com/software-services/scheduled-training/

We are about 90 people, located all around the world. Our Head Office is in Sweden and we have other offices in Germany, France, the UK and the USA. https://www.kdab.com/about/contact/
Converting Enums to and from Strings

In your code you will likely find numerous places where you go from an enum to a QString and back. This could for example be code where you serialize your data.

The code might very well look like this

if (value == ExampleEnum::Foo)
return "Foo";
else if (value == ExampleEnum::Bar)
return "Bar";
~~~

But there is a smarter way to do it using Qt's introspection facilities. Watch here to learn that trick.

The example code showcased in this video is available here: https://github.com/KDAB/kdabtv

The video is presented by Jesper Pedersen, who started with Qt back when Qt was widgets only and the version was 1.44, which gives him 21 years of experience with Qt. Since 2000 he has taught almost 100 Qt classes, ranging from Qt Widgets to QML. Heck, Jesper even taught a few classes on QTopia Core — Trolltech's initial attempt at creating a phone stack. Today Jesper holds a fancy business title, but that doesn't prevent him from coding both in his job and in his spare time.

About KDAB:
KDAB offers experienced software experts to help you deliver functional, high-performing and innovative software across embedded, mobile and desktop platforms for projects using C++, Qt, QML/Qt Quick, OpenGL, Qt 3D and more. https://www.kdab.com/software-services

KDAB experts regularly take time out to deliver KDAB’s world class training, in-house or at open enrollment courses around the world. We are the market leaders for training in Qt, OpenGL and C++.

Contact us to find out more at training@kdab.com or visit our website: https://www.kdab.com/software-services/scheduled-training/

We are about 90 people, located all around the world. Our Head Office is in Sweden and we have other offices in Germany, France, the UK and the USA. https://www.kdab.com/about/contact/

54 10

YouTube Video UEw2Q0pZbjQwZ042Z2YtRy1vNnN5RndHcnRxM2tJdEVxSS4zRjM0MkVCRTg0MkYyQTM0

Converting Enums to and from Strings

In this first episode on developing plugins for Qt Designer, we will discuss the widget promotion feature and its shortcomings compared to plugins.
This is the first video out of 6 on this topic. So, stay tuned!

The example code showcased in this video is available here: https://github.com/KDAB/kdabtv/tree/master/Qt-Widgets-and-more/WidgetPromotion

All Qt Designer Plugins videos:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6CJYn40gN6iNg0nIYH4QLhYkfs5PslbA

All Qt Widgets and more videos:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6CJYn40gN6gf-G-o6syFwGrtq3kItEqI

About the host:
The video is presented by Jesper Pedersen, who started with Qt back when Qt was widgets only and the version was 1.44, which gives him 21 years of experience with Qt. Since 2000 he has taught almost 100 Qt classes, ranging from Qt Widgets to QML. Heck, Jesper even taught a few classes on QTopia Core — Trolltech's initial attempt at creating a phone stack. Today Jesper holds a fancy business title, but that doesn't prevent him from coding both in his job and in his spare time.

About KDAB:
KDAB offers experienced software experts to help you deliver functional, high-performing and innovative software across embedded, mobile and desktop platforms for projects using C++, Qt, QML/Qt Quick, OpenGL, Qt 3D and more.  https://www.kdab.com/software-services

KDAB experts regularly take time out to deliver KDAB’s world class training, in-house or at open enrollment courses around the world. We are the market leaders for training in Qt, OpenGL and C++.

Contact us to find out more at training@kdab.com or visit our website: https://www.kdab.com/software-services/scheduled-training/

We are about 90 people, located all around the world. Our Head Office is in Sweden and we have other offices in Germany, France, the UK and the USA. https://www.kdab.com/about/contact/
Qt Designer Plugins (Part 1) - Widgets Promotion

In this first episode on developing plugins for Qt Designer, we will discuss the widget promotion feature and discuss its shortcoming compared to plugins.
This is the first video out of 6 on this topic so stay tuned!

The example code showcased in this video is available here: https://github.com/KDAB/kdabtv

The video is presented by Jesper Pedersen, who started with Qt back when Qt was widgets only and the version was 1.44, which gives him 21 years of experience with Qt. Since 2000 he has taught almost 100 Qt classes, ranging from Qt Widgets to QML. Heck, Jesper even taught a few classes on QTopia Core — Trolltech's initial attempt at creating a phone stack. Today Jesper holds a fancy business title, but that doesn't prevent him from coding both in his job and in his spare time.

About KDAB:
KDAB offers experienced software experts to help you deliver functional, high-performing and innovative software across embedded, mobile and desktop platforms for projects using C++, Qt, QML/Qt Quick, OpenGL, Qt 3D and more. https://www.kdab.com/software-services

KDAB experts regularly take time out to deliver KDAB’s world class training, in-house or at open enrollment courses around the world. We are the market leaders for training in Qt, OpenGL and C++.

Contact us to find out more at training@kdab.com or visit our website: https://www.kdab.com/software-services/scheduled-training/

We are about 90 people, located all around the world. Our Head Office is in Sweden and we have other offices in Germany, France, the UK and the USA. https://www.kdab.com/about/contact/

76 11

YouTube Video UEw2Q0pZbjQwZ042Z2YtRy1vNnN5RndHcnRxM2tJdEVxSS45NzUwQkI1M0UxNThBMkU0

Qt Designer Plugins (Part 1) - Widgets Promotion

Before you create a plugin, your classes may be configured using constructors like:

class Wishes {
public:
  Wishes(bool isExclusive, const QColor& color, QWidget* parent);
  ...
}

But how do you handle these parameters if your constructors can't take anything but the parent pointer?

This episode will discuss a few different possible solutions.

This is the second video out of 6 on this topic. So stay tuned!

The example code showcased in this video is available here: 
https://github.com/KDAB/kdabtv/tree/master/Qt-Widgets-and-more/WidgetInitialization

All Qt Designer Plugins videos:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6CJYn40gN6iNg0nIYH4QLhYkfs5PslbA

All Qt Widgets and more videos:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6CJYn40gN6gf-G-o6syFwGrtq3kItEqI

About the host:
The video is presented by Jesper Pedersen, who started with Qt back when Qt was widgets only and the version was 1.44, which gives him 21 years of experience with Qt. Since 2000 he has taught almost 100 Qt classes, ranging from Qt Widgets to QML. Heck, Jesper even taught a few classes on QTopia Core — Trolltech's initial attempt at creating a phone stack. Today Jesper holds a fancy business title, but that doesn't prevent him from coding both in his job and in his spare time.

About KDAB:
KDAB offers experienced software experts to help you deliver functional, high-performing and innovative software across embedded, mobile and desktop platforms for projects using C++, Qt, QML/Qt Quick, OpenGL, Qt 3D and more.  https://www.kdab.com/software-services

KDAB experts regularly take time out to deliver KDAB’s world class training, in-house or at open enrollment courses around the world. We are the market leaders for training in Qt, OpenGL and C++.

Contact us to find out more at training@kdab.com or visit our website: https://www.kdab.com/software-services/scheduled-training/

We are about 90 people, located all around the world. Our Head Office is in Sweden and we have other offices in Germany, France, the UK and the USA. https://www.kdab.com/about/contact/
Qt Designer Plugins (Part 2) - Initializing Classes when Using Qt Designer

Before you create a plugin, your classes may be configured using constructors, like:

class Wishes {
public:
Wishes(bool isExclusive, const QColor& color, QWidget* parent);
...
}

But how do you handle these parameters if your constructors can't take anything but the parent pointer?

This episode will discuss a few different possible solutions.

This is the second video out of 6 on this topic so stay tuned!

The example code showcased in this video is available here: https://github.com/KDAB/kdabtv

The video is presented by Jesper Pedersen, who started with Qt back when Qt was widgets only and the version was 1.44, which gives him 21 years of experience with Qt. Since 2000 he has taught almost 100 Qt classes, ranging from Qt Widgets to QML. Heck, Jesper even taught a few classes on QTopia Core — Trolltech's initial attempt at creating a phone stack. Today Jesper holds a fancy business title, but that doesn't prevent him from coding both in his job and in his spare time.

About KDAB:
KDAB offers experienced software experts to help you deliver functional, high-performing and innovative software across embedded, mobile and desktop platforms for projects using C++, Qt, QML/Qt Quick, OpenGL, Qt 3D and more. https://www.kdab.com/software-services

KDAB experts regularly take time out to deliver KDAB’s world class training, in-house or at open enrollment courses around the world. We are the market leaders for training in Qt, OpenGL and C++.

Contact us to find out more at training@kdab.com or visit our website: https://www.kdab.com/software-services/scheduled-training/

We are about 90 people, located all around the world. Our Head Office is in Sweden and we have other offices in Germany, France, the UK and the USA. https://www.kdab.com/about/contact/

30 1

YouTube Video UEw2Q0pZbjQwZ042Z2YtRy1vNnN5RndHcnRxM2tJdEVxSS5DNzE1RjZEMUZCMjA0RDBB

Qt Designer Plugins (Part 2) - Initializing Classes when Using Qt Designer

About KDAB

KDAB is a consulting company offering a wide variety of expert services in Qt, C++ and 3D/OpenGL and providing training courses in:

KDAB believes that it is critical for our business to contribute to the Qt framework and C++ thinking, to keep pushing these technologies forward to ensure they remain competitive.

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Categories: KDAB Blogs / KDAB Labs / KDAB on Qt / Qt

11 thoughts on “Introducing KDDockWidgets”

  1. Great start! It would be nice to have such framework as part of Qt in the future. Do you have the plans?

    1. Hi Dzmitry,

      As Sergio explained in the blog, we actually tried to improve QDockWidget, but reached a dead-end at some point, that’s the whole reason for this external library.
      We don’t plan on pushing this library upstream in Qt.

    1. Hi Alex,

      It is possible to use it in a close-source software, the library is dual license GPL/Commercial.
      If you are interested, please contact us at info@kdab.com

      Thank you

  2. Wow, a really cool docking framework for Qt – I like it. Great work guys. It looks like advanced docking is something that the people really need because this is already the 3rd advanced docking framework for Qt. ;o)

    If someone prefers LGPL2.1 license, then this one might be a nice alternative that I have written in Qt and that we already use in a commercial software:
    https://github.com/githubuser0xFFFF/Qt-Advanced-Docking-System

    And here is another nice commercial offering for an advanced Qt docking system:
    https://www.devmachines.com/qtitandocking-overview.html

    The cool thing about KDDockWidgets is the possibility to provide a future QtQuick backend. In my Qt Advanced Docking System I focused completely on QWidgets.

    Anyway, great to see nice docking solutions for Qt.

  3. Hi,
    cool framework. Is it possible to highlight the widget/frame which has currently the focus?
    I cant see it in the demo above.
    Kind regards
    Hannes

    1. Sérgio Martins

      Are you talking about keyboard focus ? Usually only widgets accepting input should have focus, I don’t see much value with highlighting a certain dock widget.
      Unless you want to make it easier to see that some line edit inside it has focus ?
      Anyway, it’s possible by sub-classing from the frame class, and do your custom painting there.

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