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QTabWidget Class Reference


The QTabWidget class provides a stack of tabbed widgets. More...

#include <qtabwidget.h>

Inherits QWidget.

List of all member functions.

Public Members

Signals

Protected Members


Detailed Description

The QTabWidget class provides a stack of tabbed widgets.

A tabbed widget is one in which several "pages" are available, and the user selects which page to see and use by clicking on its tab, or by pressing the indicated Alt-(letter) key combination.

QTabWidget does not provide more than one row of tabs, and does not provide tabs along the sides or bottom of the pages. It also does not offer any way to find out which page is currently visible or to set the visible page.

The normal way to use QTabWidget is to do the following in the constructor:

  1. Create a QTabWidget.
  2. Create a QWidget for each of the pages in the tab dialog, insert children into it, set up geometry management for it, and use addTab() to set up a tab and keyboard accelerator for it.
  3. Connect to the signals and slots.

If you don't call addTab(), the page you have created will not be visible. Please don't confuse the object name you supply to the QWidget constructor and the tab label you supply to addTab(): addTab() takes a name which indicates an accelerator and is meaningful and descriptive to the user, while the widget name is used primarily for debugging.

A signal selected() is emitted when the user selects some page.

Each tab is either enabled or disabled at any given time. If a tab is enabled, the tab text is drawn in black and the user can select that tab. If it is disabled, the tab is drawn in a different way and the user can not select that tab. Note that even though a tab is disabled, the page can still be visible, for example if all of the tabs happen to be disabled.

While tab widgets can be a very good way to split up a complex dialog, it's also very easy to make a royal mess out of it. See QTabDialog for some design hints.

Most of the functionality in QTabWidget is provided by a QTabBar (at the top, providing the tabs) and a QWidgetStack (most of the area, organizing the individual pages).

See also: QTabDialog.


Member Function Documentation

QTabWidget::QTabWidget ( QWidget * parent=0, const char * name=0 )

Constructs a QTabWidget.

QTabWidget::~QTabWidget ()

Destructs the tab widget.

void QTabWidget::addTab ( QWidget * child, QTab * tab )

This is a lower-level method for adding tabs, similar to the other addTab() method. It is useful if you are using setTabBar() to set a QTabBar subclass with an overridden QTabBar::paint() routine for a subclass of QTab.

void QTabWidget::addTab ( QWidget * child, const QIconSet & iconset, const QString & label )

Adds another tab and page to the tab view.

This function is the same as addTab() but with an additional iconset.

void QTabWidget::addTab ( QWidget * child, const QString & label )

Adds another tab and page to the tab view.

The tab will be labelled label and child constitutes the new page. Note the difference between the widget name (which you supply to widget constructors and to e.g. setTabEnabled()) and the tab label: The name is internal to the program and invariant, while the label is shown on screen and may vary according to e.g. language.

label is written in the QButton style, where &P makes Qt create an accelerator key on Alt-P for this page. For example:

    td->addTab( graphicsPane, "&Graphics" );
    td->addTab( soundPane, "&Sound" );

If the user presses Alt-S the sound page of the tab dialog is shown, if the user presses Alt-P the graphics page is shown.

If you call addTab() after show(), the screen will flicker and the user will be confused.

void QTabWidget::changeTab ( QWidget * w, const QString & label )

Defines a new label for the tab of page \w.

QWidget * QTabWidget::currentPage () const

Returns a pointer to the page currently being displayed by the tab dialog. The tab dialog does its best to make sure that this value is never 0, but if you try hard enough it can be.

bool QTabWidget::eventFilter ( QObject * o, QEvent * e ) [virtual protected]

Reimplemented for internal reasons; the API is not affected.

Reimplemented from QObject.

void QTabWidget::insertTab ( QWidget * child, QTab * tab, int index = -1 )

This is a lower-level method for inserting tabs, similar to the other insertTab() method. It is useful if you are using setTabBar() to set a QTabBar subclass with an overridden QTabBar::paint() routine for a subclass of QTab.

void QTabWidget::insertTab ( QWidget * child, const QIconSet & iconset, const QString & label, int index = -1 )

Inserts another tab and page to the tab view.

This function is the same as insertTab() but with an additional iconset.

void QTabWidget::insertTab ( QWidget * child, const QString & label, int index = -1 )

Inserts another tab and page to the tab view.

The tab will be labelled label and child constitutes the new page. Note the difference between the widget name (which you supply to widget constructors and to e.g. setTabEnabled()) and the tab label: The name is internal to the program and invariant, while the label is shown on screen and may vary according to e.g. language.

label is written in the QButton style, where &P makes Qt create an accelerator key on Alt-P for this page. For example:

    td->insertTab( graphicsPane, "&Graphics" );
    td->insertTab( soundPane, "&Sound" );

If index is not specified, the tab is simply added. Otherwise it's inserted at the specified position.

If the user presses Alt-S the sound page of the tab dialog is shown, if the user presses Alt-P the graphics page is shown.

If you call insertTab() after show(), the screen will flicker and the user will be confused.

bool QTabWidget::isTabEnabled ( QWidget * w ) const

Returns TRUE if the page w is enabled, and false if it is disabled.

See also: setTabEnabled() and QWidget::isEnabled().

int QTabWidget::margin () const

Returns the width of the margin. The margin is the distance between the innermost pixel of the frame and the outermost pixel of the pages.

See also: setMargin().

QSize QTabWidget::minimumSizeHint () const [virtual]

Returns a suitable minimum size for the tab widget.

Reimplemented from QWidget.

void QTabWidget::removePage ( QWidget * w )

Removes page w from this stack of widgets. Does not delete w.

See also: showPage() and QWidgetStack::removeWidget().

void QTabWidget::selected ( const QString & tabLabel ) [signal]

This signal is emitted whenever a tab is selected (raised), including during the first show().

See also: raise().

void QTabWidget::setMargin ( int w )

Sets the width of the margin to w.

See also: margin().

void QTabWidget::setTabBar ( QTabBar * tb ) [protected]

Replaces the QTabBar heading the dialog by the given tab bar. Note that this must be called before any tabs have been added, or the behavior is undefined.

See also: tabBar().

void QTabWidget::setTabEnabled ( QWidget * w, bool enable )

Enables/disables page w according to the value of enable, and redraws the page's tab appropriately.

QTabWidget uses QWidget::setEnabled() internally, rather than keep a separate flag.

Note that even a disabled tab/page may be visible. If the page is visible already, QTabWidget will not hide it, and if all the pages are disabled, QTabWidget will show one of them.

See also: isTabEnabled() and QWidget::setEnabled().

void QTabWidget::showEvent ( QShowEvent * ) [virtual protected]

Reimplemented for internal reasons; the API is not affected.

Reimplemented from QWidget.

void QTabWidget::showPage ( QWidget * w )

Ensures that w is shown. This is useful mainly for accelerators.

Warning: Used carelessly, this function can easily surprise or confuse the user.

See also: QTabBar::setCurrentTab().

QSize QTabWidget::sizeHint () const [virtual]

Returns a suitable size for the tab widget.

Reimplemented from QWidget.

void QTabWidget::styleChange ( QStyle & old ) [virtual protected]

Reimplemented for internal reasons; the API is not affected.

Reimplemented from QWidget.

QTabBarQTabWidget::tabBar () const [protected]

Returns the currently set QTabBar.

See also: setTabBar().

QString QTabWidget::tabLabel ( QWidget * w )

Returns the text in the tab for page w.

void QTabWidget::updateMask () [virtual protected]

Reimplemented for internal reasons; the API is not affected.

Reimplemented from QWidget.


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