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# QDesignerFormWindowInterface Class Reference

The QDesignerFormWindowInterface class allows you to query and manipulate form windows appearing in Qt Designer's workspace. More...

     #include <QDesignerFormWindowInterface>

Inherits: QWidget.

- List of all members, including inherited members

## Public Types

flags | Feature
enum | FeatureFlag { EditFeature, GridFeature, TabOrderFeature, DefaultFeature }

## Public Functions

| QDesignerFormWindowInterface ( QWidget * parent = 0, Qt::WindowFlags flags = 0 )
virtual | ~QDesignerFormWindowInterface ()
virtual QDir | absoluteDir () const = 0
virtual void | addResourceFile ( const QString & path ) = 0
virtual QString | author () const = 0
virtual QString | comment () const = 0
virtual QString | contents () const = 0
virtual QDesignerFormEditorInterface * | core () const
virtual QDesignerFormWindowCursorInterface * | cursor () const = 0
virtual void | emitSelectionChanged () = 0
virtual QString | exportMacro () const = 0
virtual Feature | features () const = 0
virtual QString | fileName () const = 0
virtual QPoint | grid () const = 0
virtual bool | hasFeature ( Feature feature ) const = 0
virtual QStringList | includeHints () const = 0
virtual bool | isDirty () const = 0
virtual bool | isManaged ( QWidget * widget ) const = 0
virtual void | layoutDefault ( int * margin, int * spacing ) = 0
virtual void | layoutFunction ( QString * margin, QString * spacing ) = 0
virtual QWidget * | mainContainer () const = 0
virtual QString | pixmapFunction () const = 0
virtual void | removeResourceFile ( const QString & path ) = 0
virtual QStringList | resourceFiles () const = 0
virtual void | setAuthor ( const QString & author ) = 0
virtual void | setComment ( const QString & comment ) = 0
virtual void | setContents ( QIODevice * device ) = 0
virtual void | setExportMacro ( const QString & exportMacro ) = 0
virtual void | setIncludeHints ( const QStringList & includeHints ) = 0
virtual void | setLayoutDefault ( int margin, int spacing ) = 0
virtual void | setLayoutFunction ( const QString & margin, const QString & spacing ) = 0
virtual void | setMainContainer ( QWidget * mainContainer ) = 0
virtual void | setPixmapFunction ( const QString & pixmapFunction ) = 0

- 221 public functions inherited from QWidget
- 29 public functions inherited from QObject
- 13 public functions inherited from QPaintDevice

## Public Slots

virtual void | clearSelection ( bool update = true ) = 0
virtual void | manageWidget ( QWidget * widget ) = 0
virtual void | selectWidget ( QWidget * widget, bool select = true ) = 0
virtual void | setContents ( const QString & contents ) = 0
virtual void | setDirty ( bool dirty ) = 0
virtual void | setFeatures ( Feature features ) = 0
virtual void | setFileName ( const QString & fileName ) = 0
virtual void | setGrid ( const QPoint & grid ) = 0
virtual void | unmanageWidget ( QWidget * widget ) = 0

- 19 public slots inherited from QWidget
- 1 public slot inherited from QObject

## Signals

void | aboutToUnmanageWidget ( QWidget * widget )
void | activated ( QWidget * widget )
void | changed ()
void | featureChanged ( Feature feature )
void | fileNameChanged ( const QString & fileName )
void | geometryChanged ()
void | mainContainerChanged ( QWidget * mainContainer )
void | objectRemoved ( QObject * object )
void | resourceFilesChanged ()
void | selectionChanged ()
void | widgetManaged ( QWidget * widget )
void | widgetRemoved ( QWidget * widget )
void | widgetUnmanaged ( QWidget * widget )

- 1 signal inherited from QWidget
- 1 signal inherited from QObject

## Static Public Members

QDesignerFormWindowInterface * | findFormWindow ( QWidget * widget )
QDesignerFormWindowInterface * | findFormWindow ( QObject * object )

- 4 static public members inherited from QWidget
- 7 static public members inherited from QObject

### Additional Inherited Members

- 58 properties inherited from QWidget
- 1 property inherited from QObject
- 37 protected functions inherited from QWidget
- 8 protected functions inherited from QObject
- 1 protected function inherited from QPaintDevice
- 1 protected slot inherited from QWidget

## Detailed Description

The QDesignerFormWindowInterface class allows you to query and manipulate form windows appearing in Qt Designer's workspace.

QDesignerFormWindowInterface provides information about the associated form window as well as allowing its properties to be altered. The interface is not intended to be instantiated directly, but to provide access to Qt Designer's current form windows controlled by Qt Designer's form window manager.

If you are looking for the form window containing a specific widget, you can use the static QDesignerFormWindowInterface::findFormWindow() function:

         QDesignerFormWindowInterface *formWindow;
         formWindow = QDesignerFormWindowInterface::findFormWindow(myWidget);

But in addition, you can access any of the current form windows through Qt Designer's form window manager: Use the QDesignerFormEditorInterface::formWindowManager() function to retrieve an interface to the manager. Once you have this interface, you have access to all of Qt Designer's current form windows through the QDesignerFormWindowManagerInterface::formWindow() function. For example:

         QList<QDesignerFormWindowInterface *> forms;
         QDesignerFormWindowInterface *formWindow;

         QDesignerFormWindowManagerInterface *manager = formEditor->formWindowManager();

         for (int i = 0; i < manager->formWindowCount(); i++) {
             formWindow = manager->formWindow(i);
             forms.append(formWindow);
         }

The pointer to Qt Designer's current QDesignerFormEditorInterface object (`formEditor` in the example above) is provided by the QDesignerCustomWidgetInterface::initialize() function's parameter. When implementing a custom widget plugin, you must subclass the QDesignerCustomWidgetInterface class to expose your plugin to Qt Designer.

Once you have the form window, you can query its properties. For example, a plain custom widget plugin is managed by Qt Designer only at its top level, i.e. none of its child widgets can be resized in Qt Designer's workspace. But QDesignerFormWindowInterface provides you with functions that enables you to control whether a widget should be managed by Qt Designer, or not:

             if (formWindow->isManaged(myWidget))
                 formWindow->manageWidget(myWidget->childWidget);

The complete list of functions concerning widget management is: isManaged(), manageWidget() and unmanageWidget(). There is also several associated signals: widgetManaged(), widgetRemoved(), aboutToUnmanageWidget() and widgetUnmanaged().

In addition to controlling the management of widgets, you can control the current selection in the form window using the selectWidget(), clearSelection() and emitSelectionChanged() functions, and the selectionChanged() signal.

You can also retrieve information about where the form is stored using absoluteDir(), its include files using includeHints(), and its layout and pixmap functions using layoutDefault(), layoutFunction() and pixmapFunction(). You can find out whether the form window has been modified (but not saved) or not, using the isDirty() function. You can retrieve its author(), its contents(), its fileName(), associated comment() and exportMacro(), its mainContainer(), its features(), its grid() and its resourceFiles().

The interface provides you with functions and slots allowing you to alter most of this information as well. The exception is the directory storing the form window. Finally, there is several signals associated with changes to the information mentioned above and to the form window in general.

See also QDesignerFormWindowCursorInterface, QDesignerFormEditorInterface, and QDesignerFormWindowManagerInterface.

## Member Type Documentation

### enum QDesignerFormWindowInterface::FeatureFlag
flags QDesignerFormWindowInterface::Feature

This enum describes the features that are available and can be controlled by the form window interface. These values are used when querying the form window to determine which features it supports:

Constant | Value | Description
--- | --- | ---
`QDesignerFormWindowInterface::EditFeature` | `0x01` | Form editing
`QDesignerFormWindowInterface::GridFeature` | `0x02` | Grid display and snap-to-grid facilities for editing
`QDesignerFormWindowInterface::TabOrderFeature` | `0x04` | Tab order management
`QDesignerFormWindowInterface::DefaultFeature` | `EditFeature | GridFeature` | Support for default features (form editing and grid)

The Feature type is a typedef for QFlags<FeatureFlag>. It stores an OR combination of FeatureFlag values.

See also hasFeature() and features().

## Member Function Documentation

### QDesignerFormWindowInterface::QDesignerFormWindowInterface ( QWidget * parent = 0, Qt::WindowFlags flags = 0 )

Constructs a form window interface with the given parent and the specified window flags.

### QDesignerFormWindowInterface::~QDesignerFormWindowInterface ()`[virtual]`

Destroys the form window interface.

### void QDesignerFormWindowInterface::aboutToUnmanageWidget ( QWidget * widget )`[signal]`

This signal is emitted whenever a widget on the form is about to become unmanaged. When this signal is emitted, the specified widget is still managed, and a widgetUnmanaged() signal will follow, indicating when it is no longer managed.

See also unmanageWidget() and isManaged().

### QDir QDesignerFormWindowInterface::absoluteDir () const`[pure virtual]`

Returns the absolute location of the directory containing the form shown in the form window.

### void QDesignerFormWindowInterface::activated ( QWidget * widget )`[signal]`

This signal is emitted whenever a widget is activated on the form. The activated widget is specified by widget.

### void QDesignerFormWindowInterface::addResourceFile ( const QString & path )`[pure virtual]`

Adds the resource file at the given path to those used by the form.

See also resourceFiles() and resourceFilesChanged().

### QString QDesignerFormWindowInterface::author () const`[pure virtual]`

Returns details of the author or creator of the form currently being displayed in the window.

See also setAuthor().

### void QDesignerFormWindowInterface::changed ()`[signal]`

This signal is emitted whenever a form is changed.

### void QDesignerFormWindowInterface::clearSelection ( bool update = true )`[pure virtual slot]`

Clears the current selection in the form window. If update is true, the emitSelectionChanged() function is called, emitting the selectionChanged() signal.

See also selectWidget().

### QString QDesignerFormWindowInterface::comment () const`[pure virtual]`

Returns comments about the form currently being displayed in the window.

See also setComment().

### QString QDesignerFormWindowInterface::contents () const`[pure virtual]`

Returns details of the contents of the form currently being displayed in the window.

See also setContents().

### QDesignerFormEditorInterface * QDesignerFormWindowInterface::core () const`[virtual]`

Returns a pointer to Qt Designer's current QDesignerFormEditorInterface object.

### QDesignerFormWindowCursorInterface * QDesignerFormWindowInterface::cursor () const`[pure virtual]`

Returns the cursor interface used by the form window.

### void QDesignerFormWindowInterface::emitSelectionChanged ()`[pure virtual]`

Emits the selectionChanged() signal.

See also selectWidget() and clearSelection().

### QString QDesignerFormWindowInterface::exportMacro () const`[pure virtual]`

Returns the export macro associated with the form currently being displayed in the window. The export macro is used when the form is compiled to create a widget plugin.

See also setExportMacro() and Creating Custom Widgets for Qt Designer.

### void QDesignerFormWindowInterface::featureChanged ( Feature feature )`[signal]`

This signal is emitted whenever a feature changes in the form. The new feature is specified by feature.

See also setFeatures().

### Feature QDesignerFormWindowInterface::features () const`[pure virtual]`

Returns a combination of the features provided by the form window associated with the interface. The value returned can be tested against the Feature enum values to determine which features are supported by the window.

See also setFeatures() and hasFeature().

### QString QDesignerFormWindowInterface::fileName () const`[pure virtual]`

Returns the file name of the UI file that describes the form currently being shown.

See also setFileName().

### void QDesignerFormWindowInterface::fileNameChanged ( const QString & fileName )`[signal]`

This signal is emitted whenever the file name of the form changes. The new file name is specified by fileName.

See also setFileName().

### QDesignerFormWindowInterface * QDesignerFormWindowInterface::findFormWindow ( QWidget * widget )`[static]`

Returns the form window interface for the given widget.

### QDesignerFormWindowInterface * QDesignerFormWindowInterface::findFormWindow ( QObject * object )`[static]`

Returns the form window interface for the given object.

This function was introduced in Qt 4.4.

### void QDesignerFormWindowInterface::geometryChanged ()`[signal]`

This signal is emitted whenever the form's geometry changes.

### QPoint QDesignerFormWindowInterface::grid () const`[pure virtual]`

Returns the grid spacing used by the form window.

See also setGrid().

### bool QDesignerFormWindowInterface::hasFeature ( Feature feature ) const`[pure virtual]`

Returns true if the form window offers the specified feature; otherwise returns false.

See also features().

### QStringList QDesignerFormWindowInterface::includeHints () const`[pure virtual]`

Returns a list of the header files that will be included in the form window's associated UI file.

Header files may be local, i.e. relative to the project's directory, `"mywidget.h"`, or global, i.e. part of Qt or the compilers standard libraries: `<QtGui/QWidget>`.

See also setIncludeHints().

### bool QDesignerFormWindowInterface::isDirty () const`[pure virtual]`

Returns true if the form window is "dirty" (modified but not saved); otherwise returns false.

See also setDirty().

### bool QDesignerFormWindowInterface::isManaged ( QWidget * widget ) const`[pure virtual]`

Returns true if the specified widget is managed by the form window; otherwise returns false.

See also manageWidget().

### void QDesignerFormWindowInterface::layoutDefault ( int * margin, int * spacing )`[pure virtual]`

Fills in the default margin and spacing for the form's default layout in the margin and spacing variables specified.

See also setLayoutDefault().

### void QDesignerFormWindowInterface::layoutFunction ( QString * margin, QString * spacing )`[pure virtual]`

Fills in the current margin and spacing for the form's layout in the margin and spacing variables specified.

See also setLayoutFunction().

### QWidget * QDesignerFormWindowInterface::mainContainer () const`[pure virtual]`

Returns the main container widget for the form window.

See also setMainContainer().

### void QDesignerFormWindowInterface::mainContainerChanged ( QWidget * mainContainer )`[signal]`

This signal is emitted whenever the main container changes. The new container is specified by mainContainer.

See also setMainContainer().

### void QDesignerFormWindowInterface::manageWidget ( QWidget * widget )`[pure virtual slot]`

Instructs the form window to manage the specified widget.

See also isManaged(), unmanageWidget(), and widgetManaged().

### void QDesignerFormWindowInterface::objectRemoved ( QObject * object )`[signal]`

This signal is emitted whenever an object (such as an action or a QButtonGroup) is removed from the form. The object that was removed is specified by object.

This function was introduced in Qt 4.5.

### QString QDesignerFormWindowInterface::pixmapFunction () const`[pure virtual]`

Returns the name of the function used to load pixmaps into the form window.

See also setPixmapFunction().

### void QDesignerFormWindowInterface::removeResourceFile ( const QString & path )`[pure virtual]`

Removes the resource file at the specified path from the list of those used by the form.

See also resourceFiles() and resourceFilesChanged().

### QStringList QDesignerFormWindowInterface::resourceFiles () const`[pure virtual]`

Returns a list of paths to resource files that are currently being used by the form window.

See also addResourceFile() and removeResourceFile().

### void QDesignerFormWindowInterface::resourceFilesChanged ()`[signal]`

This signal is emitted whenever the list of resource files used by the form changes.

See also resourceFiles().

### void QDesignerFormWindowInterface::selectWidget ( QWidget * widget, bool select = true )`[pure virtual slot]`

If select is true, the given widget is selected; otherwise the widget is deselected.

See also clearSelection() and selectionChanged().

### void QDesignerFormWindowInterface::selectionChanged ()`[signal]`

This signal is emitted whenever the selection in the form changes.

See also selectWidget() and clearSelection().

### void QDesignerFormWindowInterface::setAuthor ( const QString & author )`[pure virtual]`

Sets the details for the author or creator of the form to the author specified.

See also author().

### void QDesignerFormWindowInterface::setComment ( const QString & comment )`[pure virtual]`

Sets the information about the form to the comment specified. This information should be a human-readable comment about the form.

See also comment().

### void QDesignerFormWindowInterface::setContents ( QIODevice * device )`[pure virtual]`

Sets the form's contents using data obtained from the given device.

Data can be read from QFile objects or any other subclass of QIODevice.

See also contents().

### void QDesignerFormWindowInterface::setContents ( const QString & contents )`[pure virtual slot]`

Sets the contents of the form using data read from the specified contents string.

See also contents().

### void QDesignerFormWindowInterface::setDirty ( bool dirty )`[pure virtual slot]`

If dirty is true, the form window is marked as dirty, meaning that it is modified but not saved. If dirty is false, the form window is considered to be unmodified.

See also isDirty().

### void QDesignerFormWindowInterface::setExportMacro ( const QString & exportMacro )`[pure virtual]`

Sets the form window's export macro to exportMacro. The export macro is used when building a widget plugin to export the form's interface to other components.

See also exportMacro().

### void QDesignerFormWindowInterface::setFeatures ( Feature features )`[pure virtual slot]`

Enables the specified features for the form window.

See also features() and featureChanged().

### void QDesignerFormWindowInterface::setFileName ( const QString & fileName )`[pure virtual slot]`

Sets the file name for the form to the given fileName.

See also fileName() and fileNameChanged().

### void QDesignerFormWindowInterface::setGrid ( const QPoint & grid )`[pure virtual slot]`

Sets the grid size for the form window to the point specified by grid. In this function, the coordinates in the QPoint are used to specify the dimensions of a rectangle in the grid.

See also grid().

### void QDesignerFormWindowInterface::setIncludeHints ( const QStringList & includeHints )`[pure virtual]`

Sets the header files that will be included in the form window's associated UI file to the specified includeHints.

Header files may be local, i.e. relative to the project's directory, `"mywidget.h"`, or global, i.e. part of Qt or the compilers standard libraries: `<QtGui/QWidget>`.

See also includeHints().

### void QDesignerFormWindowInterface::setLayoutDefault ( int margin, int spacing )`[pure virtual]`

Sets the default margin and spacing for the form's layout.

See also layoutDefault().

### void QDesignerFormWindowInterface::setLayoutFunction ( const QString & margin, const QString & spacing )`[pure virtual]`

Sets the margin and spacing for the form's layout.

The default layout properties will be replaced by the corresponding layout functions when `uic` generates code for the form, that is, if the functions are specified. This is useful when different environments requires different layouts for the same form.

See also layoutFunction().

### void QDesignerFormWindowInterface::setMainContainer ( QWidget * mainContainer )`[pure virtual]`

Sets the main container widget on the form to the specified mainContainer.

See also mainContainer() and mainContainerChanged().

### void QDesignerFormWindowInterface::setPixmapFunction ( const QString & pixmapFunction )`[pure virtual]`

Sets the function used to load pixmaps into the form window to the given pixmapFunction.

See also pixmapFunction().

### void QDesignerFormWindowInterface::unmanageWidget ( QWidget * widget )`[pure virtual slot]`

Instructs the form window not to manage the specified widget.

See also aboutToUnmanageWidget() and widgetUnmanaged().

### void QDesignerFormWindowInterface::widgetManaged ( QWidget * widget )`[signal]`

This signal is emitted whenever a widget on the form becomes managed. The newly managed widget is specified by widget.

See also manageWidget().

### void QDesignerFormWindowInterface::widgetRemoved ( QWidget * widget )`[signal]`

This signal is emitted whenever a widget is removed from the form. The widget that was removed is specified by widget.

### void QDesignerFormWindowInterface::widgetUnmanaged ( QWidget * widget )`[signal]`

This signal is emitted whenever a widget on the form becomes unmanaged. The newly released widget is specified by widget.

See also unmanageWidget() and aboutToUnmanageWidget().