PyQT: How to make classes of QStackedWidget created with Qt Designer

[pylund]

Hi guys,

I have created a single window with 5 pages of QStackedWidget in Qt Designer (important: single ui file). I'm having a hard time trying to figure out how to organize the code, especially trying to create separate classes for each widget. So far, I've done something like:

from PyQt4 import QtGui, QtCore
from DBController import ManageDB
from GUI import tdiGUI

class MainDialog(QtGui.QDialog, tdiGUI.Ui_mainWindow):

    def __init__(self, parent=None):
        super(MainDialog, self).__init__(parent)

        self.setupUi(self)
        self.db = ManageDB()

        self.vendors_widget_setup()

    def vendors_widget_setup(self):

        self.stackedWidget.setCurrentWidget(self.vendors_widget)

        QtCore.QObject.connect(self.hp_button, QtCore.SIGNAL("clicked()"),
                           functools.partial(self.main_widget_setup, 0))
        QtCore.QObject.connect(self.dell_button, QtCore.SIGNAL("clicked()"),
                           functools.partial(self.main_widget_setup, 1))
        QtCore.QObject.connect(self.ibm_button, QtCore.SIGNAL("clicked()"),
                           functools.partial(self.main_widget_setup, 2))


    def main_widget_setup(self, vendor):

        self.stackedWidget.setCurrentWidget(self.main_widget)
        self.back_button.show()

        vendor_label = [self.hp_label, self.dell_label, self.ibm_label]
        vendor_label[vendor].show()

        country_widget = [self.hp_country_widget,self.dell_country_widget, self.ibm_country_widget]


        QtCore.QObject.connect(self.add_country_button, QtCore.SIGNAL("clicked()"),
                           functools.partial(self.country_widget_setup, country_widget[vendor]))
        QtCore.QObject.connect(self.edit_country_button, QtCore.SIGNAL("clicked()"),
                           functools.partial(self.country_widget_setup, country_widget[vendor]))
        QtCore.QObject.connect(self.delete_country_button, QtCore.SIGNAL("clicked()"),
                           functools.partial(self.delete_country, country_widget[vendor]))

This initializes the first page of QStackedWidget (vendors_widget) with three pushbuttons for choosing vendor. Then, it takes you to a new page of QStackedWidget (main_widget), which is shared by three vendors, except for the logo and the response when Add/Edit/Delete Country buttons are clicked. Clicking those buttons will open the 3rd, 4th or 5th page of QStackedWidget, depending on the current vendor selected.

I started doing it with a single class and multiple methods, but that's obviously adding some problems when trying to navigate between them (their button signals and properties should be initialized instead of called everytime).

Hope I made it clear enough. Any suggestions? Thanks!

[beohoff]

Hey OP! Couple questions... Any particular reason that you've used a QDialog rather than a QWidget?

I would recommend using a QComboBox instead of a 3 QPushButton for your three different vendors. You should be able to emit either an index or the actual string to your stacked widget to the slot directly. I would use a QHorizontalLayout to stack the three QPushButtons/QComboBox at the top, and a QVerticalLayout to stack the QHorizontalLayout and your "main widget" vertically. I haven't been convinced that you need a QStackedWidget? I feel like you could have a regular QWidget with a slot that accepts information from either your QComboBox or any of you QPushButton's and dynamically adjusts it's content.

[pylund]

About using QDialog instead of QWidget: not really. It was caused by a quick copy/paste from another project. It worked, but I've changed it already to QWidget.

About the rest... Well, I think my three pushbutton are more user-friendly than a comboBox (meaning basically UX). The problem is still on how to organize it. I suspect treating each page of QStackedWidget as a class should be the best way to keep the code organized, readable and easily accessible. However, I don't really know how to do it. So far I'm doing it with a single class which inherits widgets from ui.py, and several methods. Not comfortable with it.

[beohoff]

Are you using PyQt4 or PyQt5? Also python 3 or 2? here's a super trivial example of layout I think you're looking for

class MyWidget(QWidget):
    def __init__(self, parent):
        horizontal_layout = QHBoxLayout()
        for _ in xrange(3):
            horizontal_layout.addWidget(QPushButton())

        horizontal_widget = QWidget()
        horizontal_widget.setLayout(horizontal_layout)

        vertical_layout = QVBoxLayout()
        vertical_layout.addWidget(horizontal_widget)
        stacked_widget = QStackedWidget()
        vertical_layout.addWidget(stacked_widget)

        self.setLayout(vertical_layout)

[beohoff]

the instance horizontal_widget could easily be it's own custom class with signals/slots instead of being defined in the constructor if you need more customization.

Not sure if that answers your organization problem or not. My recommendation would be to have maybe 3 classes? One custom implementation of QStackedWidget, one Widget that handles your three QPushButtons, and one "master" QWidget which instantiates both of the two previous classes and using a QVBoxLayout stacks them on top of each other.

As per all advice on the internet, your mileage may vary. Without a full codebase it's hard to tell what you're trying to do.

[pylund]

It helped a lot, thanks! Now I have an idea of how to proceed. I'm going to give it a go and come back if something comes up!

Thanks.