Pyqt Tutorial

PyQt
About the Tutorial

PyQt is a GUI widgets toolkit. It is a Python interface for Qt, one of the most powerful, and
popular cross-platform GUI library. PyQt is a blend of Python programming language and the
Qt library. This introductory tutorial will assist you in creating graphical applications with the
help of PyQt.
Audience
This tutorial is designed for software programmers who are keen on learning how to develop
graphical applications using PyQt.
Prerequisites
You should have a basic understanding of computer programming terminologies. A basic
understanding of Python and any of the programming languages is a plus.
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PyQt
Table of Contents
About the Tutorial ............................................................................................................................................... i
Audience ............................................................................................................................................................. i
Prerequisites ....................................................................................................................................................... i
Disclaimer & Copyright ........................................................................................................................................ i
Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................................... ii
1.
PYQT INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 1
2.
HELLO WORLD .............................................................................................................................. 3
3.
MAJOR CLASSES ............................................................................................................................ 4
4.
USING QT DESIGNER ..................................................................................................................... 8
5.
SIGNALS AND SLOTS.................................................................................................................... 11
6.
LAYOUT MANAGERS ................................................................................................................... 14
7.
QBOXLAYOUT CLASS ................................................................................................................... 16
8.
QGRIDLAYOUT CLASS .................................................................................................................. 20
9.
QFORMLAYOUT CLASS ................................................................................................................ 22
10. QLABEL WIDGET ......................................................................................................................... 24

11. QLINEEDIT WIDGET ..................................................................................................................... 27
12. QPUSHBUTTON WIDGET ............................................................................................................. 31
13. QRADIOBUTTON WIDGET ........................................................................................................... 35
14. QCHECKBOX WIDGET .................................................................................................................. 38
15. QCOMBOBOX WIDGET................................................................................................................ 41
ii
PyQt
16. QSPINBOX WIDGET ..................................................................................................................... 44

17. QSLIDER - WIDGET & SIGNAL ..................................................................................................... 46
18. QMENUBAR, QMENU & QACTION WIDGETS............................................................................... 49
19. QTOOLBAR WIDGET .................................................................................................................... 52
20. QDIALOG CLASS .......................................................................................................................... 55
21. QMESSAGEBOX ........................................................................................................................... 57
22. QINPUTDIALOG WIDGET ............................................................................................................... 2
23. QFONTDIALOG WIDGET ................................................................................................................ 5
24. QFILEDIALOG WIDGET .................................................................................................................. 7
25. QTABWIDGET.............................................................................................................................. 11
26. QSTACKEDWIDGET...................................................................................................................... 14
27. QSPLITTER WIDGET ..................................................................................................................... 17
28. MULTIPLE DOCUMENT INTERFACE ............................................................................................. 20
29. DRAG AND DROP ........................................................................................................................ 25
30. DATABASE HANDLING ................................................................................................................. 28
31. DRAWING API IN PYQT ................................................................................................................ 33
32. BRUSHSTYLE CONSTANTS ........................................................................................................... 34
33. QCLIPBOARD ............................................................................................................................... 37
34. QDOCKWIDGET ........................................................................................................................... 39
35. QSTATUSBAR WIDGET ................................................................................................................ 42
36. QLISTWIDGET.............................................................................................................................. 45
iii
PyQt
37. QPIXMAP CLASS .......................................................................................................................... 47

38. QSCROLLBAR WIDGET................................................................................................................. 49
39. QCALENDAR WIDGET .................................................................................................................. 52
iv
1. PyQt Introduction
PyQt
PyQt is a GUI widgets toolkit. It is a Python interface for Qt, one of the most powerful, and
popular cross-platform GUI library. PyQt was developed by RiverBank Computing Ltd. The
latest version of PyQt can be downloaded from its official website:
www.riverbankcomputing.com/software/pyqt/download
PyQt API is a set of modules containing a large number of classes and functions. While QtCore
module contains non-GUI functionality for working with file and directory etc., QtGui module
contains all the graphical controls. In addition, there are modules for working with XML
(QtXml), SVG (QtSvg), and SQL (QtSql), etc.
Supporting Environments
PyQt is compatible with all the popular operating systems including Windows, Linux, and Mac
OS. It is dual licensed, available under GPL as well as commercial license.
Windows
You can download and install an appropriate installer from the above download link
corresponding to Python version (2.7 or 3.4) and hardware architecture (32 bit or 64 bit). Note
that there are two versions of PyQt that are available namely, PyQt 4.8 and PyQt 5.5.
While PyQt4 is available for Python 2 as well as Python 3, PyQt5 can be used along with
Python 3.* only.
PyQt4 Windows Binaries
PyQt4-4.11.4-gpl-Py3.4-Qt4.8.7-x64.exe
Windows 64 bit installer
PyQt5 Windows Binaries

PyQt5-5.5-gpl-Py3.4-Qt5.5.0-x64.exe
PyQt5-5.5-gpl-Py3.4-Qt5.5.0-x32.exe
PyQt
Linux
For Ubuntu or any other debian Linux distribution, use the following command to install PyQt:
sudo apt-get install python-qt4
or
sudo apt-get install python-qt5

You can also build from the source code available on the download page.
PyQt-x11-gpl-4.11.4.tar.gz
Linux, UNIX source for PyQt4
PyQt-gpl-5.5.tar.gz
Linux, UNIX, MacOS/X source for PyQt5
Mac OS
PyQtX project (http://sourceforge.net/projects/pyqtx/) hosts binaries of PyQt for Mac. Use
Homebrew installer as per the following command:
brew install pyqt
2. Hello World
PyQt
Creating a simple GUI application using PyQt involves the following steps:
Import QtGui module.
Create an application object.
A QWidget object creates top level window. Add QLabel object in it.
Set the caption of label as hello world.
Define the size and position of window by setGeometry() method.
Enter the mainloop of application by app.exec_() method.
import sys
from PyQt4 import QtGui
def window():
app = QtGui.QApplication(sys.argv)
w = QtGui.QWidget()
b= QtGui.QLabel(w)
b.setText("Hello World!")
w.setGeometry(100,100,200,50)
b.move(50,20)
w.setWindowTitle(PyQt)
w.show()
sys.exit(app.exec_())
if __name__ == '__main__':
window()
The above code produces the following output:
3. Major Classes
PyQt
PyQt API is a large collection of classes and methods. These classes are defined in more than
20 modules. Following are some of the frequently used modules:
QtCore
Core non-GUI classes used by other modules
QtGui
Graphical user interface components
QtMultimedia
Classes for low-level multimedia programming
QtNetwork
Classes for network programming
QtOpenGL
OpenGL support classes
QtScript
Classes for evaluating Qt Scripts
QtSql
Classes for database integration using SQL
QtSvg
Classes for displaying the contents of SVG files
QtWebKit
Classes for rendering and editing HTML
QtXml
Classes for handling XML
QtAssistant
Support for online help
QtDesigner
Classes for extending Qt Designer
PyQt API contains more than 400 classes. The QObject class is at the top of class hierarchy. It
is the base class of all Qt objects. Additionally, QPaintDevice class is the base class for all
objects that can be painted.
QApplication class manages the main settings and control flow of a GUI application. It
contains main event loop inside which events generated by window elements and other
sources are processed and dispatched. It also handles system-wide and application-wide
settings.
QWidget class, derived from QObject and QPaintDevice classes is the base class for all user
interface objects. QDialog and QFrame classes are also derived from QWidget class. They
have their own sub-class system.
Following diagrams depict some important classes in their hierarchy.
PyQt
QWidget
QcomboBox
QAbstractSpinBox QGroupBox
QDateTimeEdit
QDateEdit
QColorDialog
QLineEdit
QMainWindow
QSpinBox
QTimeEdit
QFileDialog
QFontDialog
QInputDialog
QIODevice
QBuffer
QFile
QProcess
PyQt
QPaintDevice
QImage
QPicture
QPixMap
QPrinter
Here is a select list of frequently used widgets:

QLabel
Used to display text or image
QLineEdit
Allows the user to enter one line of text
QTextEdit
Allows the user to enter multi-line text
QPushButton
A command button to invoke action
QRadioButton
Enables to choose one from multiple options
QCheckBox
Enables choice of more than one options
QSpinBox
Enables to increase/decrease an integer value
QScrollBar
Enables to access contents of a widget beyond

display aperture
QSlider
Enables to change the bound value linearly.
QComboBox
Provides a dropdown list of items to select from
QMenuBar
Horizontal bar holding QMenu objects
QStatusBar
Usually at bottom of QMainWindow, provides status

information.
QToolBar
Usually at top of QMainWindow or floating. Contains

action buttons
QListView
Provides a selectable list of items in ListMode or

IconMode
QPixmap
Off-screen image representation

QLabel or QPushButton object
QDialog
Modal or modeless window

information to parent window
for
which
display
can
on
return
A typical GUI based applications top level window is created by QMainWindow widget object.
Some widgets as listed above take their appointed place in this main window, while others are
placed in the central widget area using various layout managers.
The following diagram shows the QMainWindow framework:
PyQt
4. Using Qt Designer
PyQt
The PyQt installer comes with a GUI builder tool called Qt Designer. Using its simple drag and
drop interface, a GUI interface can be quickly built without having to write the code. It is
however, not an IDE such as Visual Studio. Hence, Qt Designer does not have the facility to
debug and build the application.
Creation of a GUI interface using Qt Designer starts with choosing a top level window for the
application.
You can then drag and drop required widgets from the widget box on the left pane. You can
also assign value to properties of widget laid on the form.
PyQt
The designed form is saved as demo.ui. This ui file contains XML representation of widgets and
their properties in the design. This design is translated into Python equivalent by using pyuic4
command line utility. This utility is a wrapper for uic module. The usage of pyuic4 is as follows:
pyuic4 x demo.ui o demo.py
In the above command, -x switch adds a small amount of additional code to the generated
XML so that it becomes a self-executable standalone application.
if __name__ == "__main__":
import sys
Dialog = QtGui.QDialog()
ui = Ui_Dialog()
ui.setupUi(Dialog)
Dialog.show()
The resultant python script is executed to show the following dialog box:
9
PyQt
The user can input data in input fields but clicking on Add button will not generate any action
as it is not associated with any function. Reacting to user-generated response is called as
event handling.
10
5. Signals and Slots
PyQt
Unlike a console mode application, which is executed in a sequential manner, a GUI based
application is event driven. Functions or methods are executed in response to users actions
like clicking on a button, selecting an item from a collection or a mouse click etc., called
events.
Widgets used to build the GUI interface act as the source of such events. Each PyQt widget,
which is derived from QObject class, is designed to emit signal in response to one or more
events. The signal on its own does not perform any action. Instead, it is connected to a slot.
The slot can be any callable Python function.
In PyQt, connection between a signal and a slot can be achieved in different ways. Following
are most commonly used techniques:
QtCore.QObject.connect(widget, QtCore.SIGNAL(signalname), slot_function)
A more convenient way to call a slot_function, when a signal is emitted by a widget is as
follows:
widget.signal.connect(slot_function)
Suppose if a function is to be called when a button is clicked. Here, the clicked signal is to be
connected to a callable function. It can be achieved in any of the following two techniques:
QtCore.QObject.connect(button, QtCore.SIGNAL(clicked()), slot_function)
or
button.clicked.connect(slot_function)
Example
In the following example, two QPushButton objects (b1 and b2) are added in QDialog window.
We want to call functions b1_clicked() and b2_clicked() on clicking b1 and b2 respectively.
When b1 is clicked, the clicked() signal is connected to b1_clicked() function
b1.clicked.connect(b1_clicked())
When b2 is clicked, the clicked() signal is connected to b2_clicked() function
QObject.connect(b2, SIGNAL("clicked()"), b2_clicked)
Example
11
PyQt
import sys
from PyQt4.QtCore import *
from PyQt4.QtGui import *
def window():
app = QApplication(sys.argv)
win = QDialog()
b1= QPushButton(win)
b1.setText("Button1")
b1.move(50,20)
b1.clicked.connect(b1_clicked)
b2=QPushButton(win)
b2.setText("Button2")
b2.move(50,50)
QObject.connect(b2,SIGNAL("clicked()"),b2_clicked)
win.setGeometry(100,100,200,100)
win.setWindowTitle("PyQt")
win.show()
def b1_clicked():
print "Button 1 clicked"
def b2_clicked():
print "Button 2 clicked"
if __name__ == '__main__':
window()
12
PyQt
Output:
Button 1 clicked
Button 2 clicked
13
6. Layout Managers
PyQt
A GUI widget can be placed inside the container window by specifying its absolute coordinates
measured in pixels. The coordinates are relative to the dimensions of the window defined by
setGeometry() method.
setGeometry() syntax:
QWidget.setGeometry(xpos, ypos, width, height)
In the following code snippet, the top level window of 300 by 200 pixels dimensions is
displayed at position (10, 10) on the monitor.
import sys
from PyQt4 import QtGui
def window():
w = QtGui.QWidget()
b = QtGui.QPushButton(w)
b.move(50,20)
w.setGeometry(10,10,300,200)
w.setWindowTitle(PyQt)
w.show()
if __name__ == '__main__':
window()
A PushButton widget is added in the window and placed at a position 50 pixels towards right
and 20 pixels below the top left position of the window.
This Absolute Positioning, however, is not suitable because of following reasons:
The position of the widget does not change even if the window is resized.
The appearance may not be uniform on different display devices with different
resolutions.
Modification in the layout is difficult as it may need redesigning the entire form.
14
PyQt
Original window
Resized window. Position of button is unchanged.
PyQt API provides layout classes for more elegant management of positioning of widgets inside
the container. The advantages of Layout managers over absolute positioning are:
Widgets inside the window are automatically resized.
Ensures uniform appearance on display devices with different resolutions
Adding or removing widget dynamically is possible without having to redesign.
QLayout class is the base class from which QBoxLayout, QGridLayout and QFormLayout
classes are derived.
15
7. QBoxLayout Class
PyQt
QBoxLayout class lines up the widgets vertically or horizontally. Its derived classes are
QVBoxLayout (for arranging widgets vertically) and QHBoxLayout (for arranging widgets
horizontally). Following table shows the important methods of QBoxLayout class:
addWidget()
Add a widget to the BoxLayout
addStretch()
Creates empty stretchable box
addLayout()
Add another nested layout
Example 1
Here two buttons are added in the vertical box layout. A stretchable empty space is added
between them by addStretch() method. Therefore, if the top level window is resized, the
position of buttons automatically gets relocated.
import sys
def window():
win = QWidget()
b1=QPushButton("Button1")
vbox=QVBoxLayout()
vbox.addWidget(b1)
vbox.addStretch()
vbox.addWidget(b2)
win.setLayout(vbox)
win.show()
if __name__ == '__main__':
window()
16
PyQt
Original window
Resized window. Position

changes dynamically
and
size
Example 2
This example uses horizontal box layout. addStretch() method inserts a stretchable empty
space between the two button objects. Hence, as the window is resized, the size and position
of the button changes dynamically.
import sys
def window():
win = QWidget()
b1= QPushButton("Button1")
hbox=QHBoxLayout()
hbox.addWidget(b1)
hbox.addStretch()
hbox.addWidget(b2)
win.setLayout(hbox)
17
PyQt
win.show()
if __name__ == '__main__':
window()
Original window
Resized window. Position and size of buttons

changes dynamically
Example 3
This example shows how the layouts can be nested. Here, two buttons are added to vertical
box layout. Then, a horizontal box layout object with two buttons and a stretchable empty
space is added to it. Finally, the vertical box layout object is applied to the top level window by
the setLayout() method.
import sys
def window():
win = QWidget()
vbox=QVBoxLayout()
vbox.addWidget(b1)
vbox.addStretch()
vbox.addWidget(b2)
hbox=QHBoxLayout()
18
PyQt
hbox.addWidget(b3)
hbox.addStretch()
hbox.addWidget(b4)
vbox.addStretch()
vbox.addLayout(hbox)
win.setLayout(vbox)
win.show()
if __name__ == '__main__':
window()
Original window
Resized window. Position and size of

buttons changes dynamically
19
8. QGridLayout Class
PyQt
A GridLayout class object presents with a grid of cells arranged in rows and columns. The
class contains addWidget() method. Any widget can be added by specifying the number of
rows and columns of the cell. Optionally, a spanning factor for row as well as column, if
specified makes the widget wider or taller than one cell. Two overloads of addWidget() method
are as follows:
addWidget(QWidget, int r, int c)
Adds a widget at specified row and column
addWidget(QWidget, int r, int c, int

rowspan, int columnspan)
Adds a widget at specified row and column

and having specified width and/or height
A child layout object can also be added at any cell in the grid.
addLayout(QLayout, int r, int c)
Adds a layout object at specified row and

column
Example
The following code creates a grid layout of 16 push buttons arranged in a grid layout of 4 rows
and 4 columns.
import sys
def window():
win = QWidget()
grid=QGridLayout()
for i in range(1,5):
for j in range(1,5):
grid.addWidget(QPushButton("B"+str(i)+str(j)),i,j)
win.setLayout(grid)
win.setGeometry(100,100,200,100)
win.show()
20
PyQt
if __name__ == '__main__':
window()
The code uses two nested for loops for row and column numbers, denoted by variables i and j.
They are converted to string to concatenate the caption of each push button to be added at ith
row and jth column.
21
9. QFormLayout Class
PyQt
QFormLayout is a convenient way to create two column form, where each row consists of an
input field associated with a label. As a convention, the left column contains the label and the
right column contains an input field. Mainly three overloads of addRow() method addLayout()
are commonly used.
addRow(QLabel, QWidget)
Adds a row containing label and input field
addRow(QLabel, QLayout)
Adds a child layout in the second column
addRow(QWidget)
Adds a widget spanning both columns
Example
This code adds a LineEdit field to input name in the first row. Then it adds a vertical box layout
for two address fields in the second column of the next row. Next, a horizontal box layout
object containing two Radio button fields is added in the second column of the third row. The
fourth row shows two buttons Submit and Cancel.
import sys
def window():
win = QWidget()
l1=QLabel("Name")
nm=QLineEdit()
l2=QLabel("Address")
add1=QLineEdit()
add2=QLineEdit()
fbox=QFormLayout()
fbox.addRow(l1,nm)
vbox=QVBoxLayout()
vbox.addWidget(add1)
vbox.addWidget(add2)
22
PyQt
fbox.addRow(l2,vbox)
hbox=QHBoxLayout()
r1=QRadioButton("Male")
r2=QRadioButton("Female")
hbox.addWidget(r1)
hbox.addWidget(r2)
hbox.addStretch()
fbox.addRow(QLabel("sex"),hbox)
fbox.addRow(QPushButton("Submit"),QPushButton("Cancel"))
win.setLayout(fbox)
win.show()
if __name__ == '__main__':
window()
23
10. QLabel Widget
PyQt
A QLabel object acts as a placeholder to display non-editable text or image, or a movie of

animated GIF. It can also be used as a mnemonic key for other widgets. Plain text, hyperlink
or rich text can be displayed on the label.
The following table lists the important methods defined in QLabel class:
Aligns the text as per alignment constants
Qt.AlignLeft
setAlignment()
Qt.AlignRight
Qt.AlignCenter
Qt.AlignJustify
setIndent()
Sets the labels text indent
setPixmap()
Displays an image
Text()
Displays the caption of the label
setText()
Programmatically sets the caption
selectedText()
Displays the selected text from the

textInteractionFlag
must
be
TextSelectableByMouse)
setBuddy()
Associates the label with any input widget
setWordWrap()
Enables or disables wrapping text in the label
label
set
(The
to
Signals of QLabel Class

linkActivated
linkHovered
If the label containing embedded hyperlink is clicked, the

URL will open. setOpenExternalLinks feature must be set to
true.
Slot method associated with this signal will be called when
the label having embedded hyperlinked is hovered by the
mouse.
Example
In this example, QLabel objects l2 and l4 have the caption containing hyperlink.
setOpenExternalLinks for l2 is set to true. Hence, if this label is clicked, the associated URL will
open in the browser. linkHovered signal of l4 is connected to hovered() function. So, whenever
the mouse hovers over it, the function will be executed.
QPixmap object prepares offscreen image from python.jpg file. It is displayed as label l3 by
using setPixmap() method.
24
PyQt
import sys
def window():
win = QWidget()
l1=QLabel()
l2=QLabel()
l3=QLabel()
l4=QLabel()
l1.setText("Hello World")
l4.setText("<A href='www.TutorialsPoint.com'>TutorialsPoint</a>")
l2.setText("<a href='#'>welcome to Python GUI Programming</a>")
l1.setAlignment(Qt.AlignCenter)
l3.setAlignment(Qt.AlignCenter)
l4.setAlignment(Qt.AlignRight)
l3.setPixmap(QPixmap("python.jpg"))
vbox=QVBoxLayout()
vbox.addWidget(l1)
vbox.addStretch()
vbox.addWidget(l2)
vbox.addStretch()
vbox.addWidget(l3)
vbox.addStretch()
vbox.addWidget(l4)
l1.setOpenExternalLinks(True)
l4.linkActivated.connect(clicked)
l2.linkHovered.connect(hovered)
l1.setTextInteractionFlags(Qt.TextSelectableByMouse)
win.setLayout(vbox)
win.setWindowTitle("QLabel Demo")
win.show()
25
PyQt
def hovered():
print "hovering"
def clicked():
print "clicked"
if __name__ == '__main__':
window()
26
11. QLineEdit Widget
PyQt
QLineEdit object is the most commonly used input field. It provides a box in which one line of
text can be entered. In order to enter multi-line text, QTextEdit object is required.
The following table lists a few important methods of QLineEdit class:
Aligns the text as per alignment constants
Qt.AlignLeft
setAlignment()
Qt.AlignRight
Qt.AlignCenter
Qt.AlignJustify
clear()
Erases the contents

Controls the appearance of the text inside the box.
Echomode values are:
QLineEdit.Normal
setEchoMode()
QLineEdit.NoEcho
QLineEdit.Password
QLineEdit.PasswordEchoOnEdit
setMaxLength()
Sets the maximum number of characters for input
setReadOnly()
Makes the text box non-editable
setText()
Programmatically sets the text
text()
Retrives text in the field

Sets the validation rules. Available validators are
QIntValidator: Restricts input to integer
setValidator()
QDoubleValidator: Fraction part of number limited to

specified decimals
QRegexpValidator:
expression
Checks input
against
a Regex
setInputMask()
Applies mask of combination of characters for input
setFont()
Displays the contents QFont object
QLineEdit object emits the following signals:

27
PyQt
cursorPositionChanged()
Whenever the cursor moves
editingFinished()
When you press Enter or the field loses focus
returnPressed()
When you press Enter
selectionChanged()
Whenever the selected text changes
textChanged()
As text in the box changes either by input or by

programmatic means
textEdited()
Whenever the text is edited
Example
QLineEdit objects in this example demonstrate use of some of these methods.
First field e1 shows text using a custom font, in right alignment and allows integer input.
Second field restricts input to a number with 2 digits after decimal point. An input mask for
entering the phone number is applied on the third field. textChanged() signal on the field e4 is
connected to textchanged() slot method.
Contents of e5 field are echoed in password form as its EchoMode property is set to Password.
Its editingfinished() signal is connected to presenter() method. So, once the user presses the
Enter key, the function will be executed. The field e6 shows a default text, which cannot be
edited as it is set to read only.
import sys
def window():
win = QWidget()
e1=QLineEdit()
e1.setValidator(QIntValidator())
e1.setMaxLength(4)
e1.setAlignment(Qt.AlignRight)
e1.setFont(QFont("Arial",20))
e2=QLineEdit()
e2.setValidator(QDoubleValidator(0.99,99.99,2))
flo=QFormLayout()
flo.addRow("integer validator", e1)
flo.addRow("Double validator",e2)
e3=QLineEdit()
28
PyQt
e3.setInputMask('+99_9999_999999')
flo.addRow("Input Mask",e3)
e4=QLineEdit()
e4.textChanged.connect(textchanged)
flo.addRow("Text changed",e4)
e5=QLineEdit()
e5.setEchoMode(QLineEdit.Password)
flo.addRow("Password",e5)
e6=QLineEdit("Hello Python")
e6.setReadOnly(True)
flo.addRow("Read Only",e6)
e5.editingFinished.connect(enterPress)
win.setLayout(flo)
win.show()
def textchanged(text):
print "contents of text box: "+text
def enterPress():
print "edited"
if __name__ == '__main__':
window()
29
PyQt
contents of text box: h

contents of text box: he
contents of text box: hel
contents of text box: hell
contents of text box: hello
editing finished
30
12. QPushButton Widget
PyQt
In any GUI design, the command button is the most important and most often used control.
Buttons with Save, Open, OK, Yes, No and Cancel etc. as caption are familiar to any computer
user. In PyQt API, the QPushButton class object presents a button which when clicked can be
programmed to invoke a certain function.
QPushButton class inherits its core functionality from QAbstractButton class. It is rectangular
in shape and a text caption or icon can be displayed on its face.
Following are some of the most commonly used methods of QPushButton class:
setCheckable()
Recognizes pressed and released states of button if set to true
toggle()
Toggles between checkable states
setIcon()
Shows an icon formed out of pixmap of an image file
setEnabled()
When set to false, the button becomes disabled, hence clicking it

doesnt emit a signal
isChecked()
Returns Boolean state of button
setDefault()
Sets the button as default
setText()
Programmatically sets buttons caption
text()
Retrieves buttons caption
Example
Four QPushButton objects are set with some of the above attributes. The example is written in
object oriented form, because the source of the event is needed to be passed as an argument
to slot function.
Four QPushButton objects are defined as instance variables in the class. First button b1 is
converted into toggle button by the statements:
self.b1.setCheckable(True)
self.b1.toggle()
Clicked signal of this button is connected to a member method btnstate() which identifies
whether button is pressed or released by checking isChecked() property.
def btnstate(self):
if self.b1.isChecked():
print "button pressed"
else:
31
PyQt
print "button released"

Second button b2 displays an icon on the face. setIcon() method takes a pixmap object of any
image file as argument.
b2.setIcon(QIcon(QPixmap("python.gif")))
Button b3 is set to be disabled by using setEnabled() method:
b3.setEnabled(False)
PushButton b4 is set to default button by setDefault() method. Shortcut to its caption is
created by prefixing & to the caption (&Default). As a result, by using the keyboard
combination Alt+D, connected slot method will be called.
Buttons b1 and b4 are connected to whichbtn() slot method. Since the function is intended to
retrieve caption of the clicked button, the button object should be passed as an argument. This
is achieved by the use of lambda function.
For example,
b4.clicked.connect(lambda:self.whichbtn(self.b4))
The complete code is given below:
import sys
class Form(QDialog):
def __init__(self, parent=None):
super(Form, self).__init__(parent)
layout = QVBoxLayout()
self.b1=QPushButton("Button1")
self.b1.setCheckable(True)
self.b1.toggle()
self.b1.clicked.connect(lambda:self.whichbtn(self.b1))
self.b1.clicked.connect(self.btnstate)
layout.addWidget(self.b1)
self.b2=QPushButton()
self.b2.setIcon(QIcon(QPixmap("python.gif")))
self.setLayout(layout)
32
PyQt
self.b3=QPushButton("Disabled")
self.b3.setEnabled(False)
self.b4=QPushButton("&Default")
self.b4.setDefault(True)
self.setWindowTitle("Button demo")
def btnstate(self):
if self.b1.isChecked():
print "button pressed"
else:
print "button released"
def whichbtn(self,b):
print "clicked button is "+b.text()
def main():
ex = Form()
ex.show()
if __name__ == '__main__':
main()
The above code produces the following output.
33
PyQt
clicked button is Button1

button released
clicked button is Button1
button pressed
clicked button is &Default
34
13. QRadioButton Widget
PyQt
A QRadioButton class object presents a selectable button with a text label. The user can
select one of many options presented on the form. This class is derived from QAbstractButton
class.
Radio buttons are autoexclusive by default. Hence, only one of the radio buttons in the parent
window can be selected at a time. If one is selected, previously selected button is
automatically deselected. Radio buttons can also be put in a QGroupBox or QButtonGroup
to create more than one selectable fields on the parent window.
The following listed methods of QRadioButton class are most commonly used.
setChecked()
Changes the state of radio button
setText()
Sets the label associated with the button
text()
Retrieves the caption of button
isChecked()
Checks if the button is selected
Default signal associated with QRadioButton object is toggled(), although other signals
inherited from QAbstractButton class can also be implemented.
Example
Here two mutually exclusive radio buttons are constructed on a top level window.
Default state of b1 is set to checked by the statement:
Self.b1.setChecked(True)
The toggled() signal of both the buttons is connected to btnstate() function. Use of lambda
allows the source of signal to be passed to the function as an argument.
self.b1.toggled.connect(lambda:self.btnstate(self.b1))
The btnstate() function checks state of button emitting toggled() signal.
if b.isChecked()==True:
print b.text()+" is selected"
else:
print b.text()+" is deselected"
import sys
35
PyQt

class Radiodemo(QWidget):
super(Radiodemo, self).__init__(parent)
layout = QHBoxLayout()
self.b1=QRadioButton("Button1")
self.b1.setChecked(True)
self.b2=QRadioButton("Button2")
self.setWindowTitle("RadioButton demo")
def btnstate(self,b):
if b.text()=="Button1":
else:
else:
def main():
ex = Radiodemo()
ex.show()
36
PyQt
if __name__ == '__main__':
main()
Button1 is deselected
Button2 is selected
Button2 is deselected
Button1 is selected
37
14. QCheckBox Widget
PyQt
A rectangular box before the text label appears when a QCheckBox object is added to the
parent window. Just as QRadioButton, it is also a selectable button. Its common use is in a
scenario when the user is asked to choose one or more of the available options.
Unlike Radio buttons, check boxes are not mutually exclusive by default. In order to restrict
the choice to one of the available items, the check boxes must be added to QButtonGroup.
The following table lists commonly used QCheckBox class methods:
setChecked()
Changes the state of checkbox button
setText()
Sets the label associated with the button
text()
Retrieves the caption of the button
isChecked()
Checks if the button is selected
setTriState()
Provides no change state to checkbox
Each time a checkbox is either checked or cleared, the object emits stateChanged() signal.
Example
Here, two QCheckBox objects are added to a horizontal layout. Their stateChanged() signal is
connected to btnstate() function. The source object of signal is passed to the function using
lambda.
self.b1.stateChanged.connect(lambda:self.btnstate(self.b1))
The isChecked() function is used to check if the button is checked or not.
else:
The complete code is as follows:
import sys
class checkdemo(QWidget):
38
PyQt

super(checkdemo, self).__init__(parent)
self.b1=QCheckBox("Button1")
self.b1.setChecked(True)
self.b1.stateChanged.connect(lambda:self.btnstate(self.b1))
self.b2=QCheckBox("Button2")
self.setWindowTitle("checkbox demo")
def btnstate(self,b):
else:
else:
def main():
ex = checkdemo()
ex.show()
if __name__ == '__main__':
main()
39
PyQt
As mentioned earlier, checkBox buttons can be made mutually exclusive by adding them in the
QButtonGroup object.
self.bg=QButtonGroup()
self.bg.addButton(self.b1,1)
self.bg.addButton(self.b2,2)
QButtonGroup object, provides abstract container for buttons and doesnt have a visual
representation. It emits buttonCliked() signal and sends Button objects reference to the slot
function btngroup().
self.bg.buttonClicked[QAbstractButton].connect(self.btngroup)
The btngroup() function displays the caption of the clicked checkbox.
def btngroup(self,btn):
print btn.text()+" is selected"
40
15. QComboBox Widget
PyQt
A QComboBox object presents a dropdown list of items to select from. It takes minimum
screen space on the form required to display only the currently selected item.
A Combo box can be set to be editable; it can also store pixmap objects. The following
methods are commonly used:
addItem()
Adds string to collection
addItems()
Adds items in a list object
Clear()
Deletes all items in the collection
count()
Retrieves number of items in the collection
currentText()
Retrieves the text of currently selected item
itemText()
Displays text belonging to specific index
currentIndex()
Returns index of selected item
setItemText()
Changes text of specified index
QComboBox Signals
activated()
When the user chooses an item
currentIndexChanged()
Whenever the current index is changed either by the

user or programmatically
highlighted()
When an item in the list is highlighted
Example
Let us see how some features of QComboBox widget are implemented in the following
example.
Items are added in the collection individually by addItem() method or items in a List object by
addItems() method.
self.cb.addItem("C++")
self.cb.addItems(["Java", "C#", "Python"])
QComboBox object emits currentIndexChanged() signal. It is connected to selectionchange()
method.
41
PyQt
Items in a combo box are listed using itemText() method for each item. Label belonging to the
currently chosen item is accessed by currentText() method.
def selectionchange(self,i):
print "Items in the list are :"
for count in range(self.cb.count()):
print self.cb.itemText(count)
print "Current index",i,"selection changed ",self.cb.currentText()
The entire code is as follows:
import sys
class combodemo(QWidget):
super(combodemo, self).__init__(parent)
self.cb = QComboBox()
self.cb.addItem("C")
self.cb.addItem("C++")
self.cb.addItems(["Java", "C#", "Python"])
self.cb.currentIndexChanged.connect(self.selectionchange)
layout.addWidget(self.cb)
self.setWindowTitle("combo box demo")
def selectionchange(self,i):
print "Items in the list are :"
for count in range(self.cb.count()):
print self.cb.itemText(count)
print "Current index",i,"selection changed ",self.cb.currentText()
def main():
ex = combodemo()
ex.show()
42
PyQt
if __name__ == '__main__':
main()
Items in the list are:

C
C++
Java
C#
Python
Current selection index 4 selection changed Python
43
16. QSpinBox Widget
PyQt
A QSpinBox object presents the user with a textbox which displays an integer with up/down
button on its right. The value in the textbox increases/decreases if the up/down button is
pressed.
By default, the integer number in the box starts with 0, goes upto 99 and changes by step 1.
Use QDoubleSpinBox for float values.
Important methods of QSpinBox class are listed in the following table:
setMinimum()
Sets the lower bound of counter
setMaximum()
Sets the upper bound of counter
setRange()
Sets the minimum, maximum and step value
setValue()
Sets the value of spin box programmatically
Value()
Returns the current value
singleStep()
Sets the step value of counter
QSpinBox object emits valueChanged() signal every time when up/own button is pressed. The
associated slot function can retrieve current value of the widget by value() method.
Following example has a label (l1) and spinbox (sp) put in vertical layout of a top window. The
valueChanged() signal is connected to valuechange() method.
self.sp.valueChanged.connect(self.valuechange)
The valueChange() function displays the current value as caption of the label.
self.l1.setText("current value:"+str(self.sp.value()))
import sys
class spindemo(QWidget):
super(spindemo, self).__init__(parent)
self.l1=QLabel("current value:")
44
PyQt
self.l1.setAlignment(Qt.AlignCenter)
layout.addWidget(self.l1)
self.sp=QSpinBox()
layout.addWidget(self.sp)
self.sp.valueChanged.connect(self.valuechange)
self.setWindowTitle("SpinBox demo")
def valuechange(self):
self.l1.setText("current value:"+str(self.sp.value()))
def main():
ex = spindemo()
ex.show()
if __name__ == '__main__':
main()
45
17. QSlider - Widget & Signal
PyQt
QSlider class object presents the user with a groove over which a handle can be moved. It is
a classic widget to control a bounded value. Position of the handle on the groove is equivalent
to an integer between the lower and the upper bounds of the control.
A slider control can be displayed in horizontal or vertical manner by mentioning the orientation
in the constructor.
self.sp=QSlider(Qt.Horizontal)
self.sp=QSlider(Qt.Vertical)
The following table lists some of the frequently used methods of QSlider class:
setMinimum()
Sets the lower bound of the slider
setMaximum()
Sets the upper bound of the slider
setSingleStep()
Sets the increment/decrement step
setValue()
Sets the value of the control programmatically
value()
Returns the current value
setTickInterval()
Puts the number of ticks on the groove

Places the ticks on the groove. Values are:
setTickPosition()
QSlider.NoTicks
No tick marks
QSlider.TicksBothSides
Tick marks on both sides
QSlider.TicksAbove
Tick marks above the slider
QSlider.TicksBelow
Tick marks below the slider
QSlider.TicksLeft
Tick marks to the left of the slider
QSlider.TicksRight
Tick marks to the right of the slider
QSlider Signals
Signal
Description
valueChanged()
When the slider's value has changed
sliderPressed()
When the user starts to drag the slider
sliderMoved()
When the user drags the slider
46
PyQt
sliderReleased()
When the user releases the slider
valueChanged() signal is the one which is most frequently used.
Example
The following example demonstrates the above functionality. A Label and a horizontal slider is
placed in a vertical layout. Sliders valueChanged() signal is connected to valuechange()
method.
self.sl.valueChanged.connect(self.valuechange)
The slot function valuechange() reads current value of the slider and uses it as the size of font
for labels caption.
size=self.sl.value()
self.l1.setFont(QFont("Arial",size))
import sys
class sliderdemo(QWidget):
super(sliderdemo, self).__init__(parent)
self.l1=QLabel("Hello")
self.l1.setAlignment(Qt.AlignCenter)
layout.addWidget(self.l1)
self.sl=QSlider(Qt.Horizontal)
self.sl.setMinimum(10)
self.sl.setMaximum(30)
self.sl.setValue(20)
self.sl.setTickPosition(QSlider.TicksBelow)
self.sl.setTickInterval(5)
layout.addWidget(self.sl)
self.sl.valueChanged.connect(self.valuechange)
self.setWindowTitle("SpinBox demo")
47
PyQt
def valuechange(self):
size=self.sl.value()
self.l1.setFont(QFont("Arial",size))
def main():
ex = sliderdemo()
ex.show()
if __name__ == '__main__':
main()
The font size of the label changes as handle of the slider is moved across the handle.
48
18. QMenuBar, QMenu & QAction Widgets
PyQt
A horizontal QMenuBar just below the title bar of a QMainWindow object is reserved for
displaying QMenu objects.
QMenu class provides a widget which can be added to menu bar. It is also used to create
context menu and popup menu. Each QMenu object may contain one or more QAction objects
or cascaded QMenu objects.
To create a popup menu, PyQt API provides createPopupMenu() function. menuBar() function
returns main windows QMenuBar object. addMenu() function lets addition of menu to the bar.
In turn, actions are added in the menu by addAction() method.
Following table lists some of the important methods used in designing a menu system.
menuBar()
Returns main windows QMenuBar object
addMenu()
Adds a new QMenu object to menu bar
addAction()
Adds an action button to QMenu widget consisting of text or icon
setEnabled()
Sets state of action button to enabled/disabled
addSeperator()
Adds a separator line in the menu
Clear()
Removes contents of menu/menu bar
setShortcut()
Associates keyboard shortcut to action button
setText()
Assigns text to action button
setTitle()
Sets the title of QMenu widget
text()
Retrieves the text associated with QAction object
title()
Retrieves the text associated with QMenu object
QMenu object emits triggered() signal whenever any QAction button is clicked. Reference to
the clicked QAction object is passed on to the connected slot function.
Example
In this example, first all reference to QMenuBar object of top level window (which has to be a
QMainWindow object) is stored.
bar=self.menuBar()
File menu is added to the menu bar by addMenu() method.
file=bar.addMenu("File")
An action button in the menu may be a string or a QAction object.
49
PyQt
file.addAction("New")
save=QAction("Save",self)
save.setShortcut("Ctrl+S")
file.addAction(save)
A submenu is added to top level menu.
edit=file.addMenu("Edit")
edit.addAction("copy")
edit.addAction("paste")
triggered() signal emitted by file menu is connected to processtrigger() method, which
receives QAction object causing the signal.
file.triggered[QAction].connect(self.processtrigger)
import sys
class menudemo(QMainWindow):
super(menudemo, self).__init__(parent)
bar=self.menuBar()
save=QAction("Save",self)
save.setShortcut("Ctrl+S")
file.addAction(save)
edit=file.addMenu("Edit")
edit.addAction("copy")
edit.addAction("paste")
quit=QAction("Quit",self)
file.addAction(quit)
50
PyQt
self.setWindowTitle("menu demo")
def processtrigger(self,q):
print q.text()+" is triggered"
def main():
ex = menudemo()
ex.show()
if __name__ == '__main__':
main()
51
19. QToolBar Widget
PyQt
A QToolBar widget is a movable panel consisting of text buttons, buttons with icons or other
widgets.
It is usually situated in a horizontal bar below menu bar, although it can be floating. Some
useful methods of QToolBar class are as follows:
addAction()
Adds tool buttons having text or icon
addSeperator()
Shows tool buttons in groups
addWidget()
Adds controls other than button in the toolbar
addToolBar()
QMainWindow class method adds a new toolbar
setMovable()
Toolbar becomes movable
setOrientation()
Toolbars orientation sets to Qt.Horizontal or Qt.vertical
Whenever a button on the toolbar is clicked, ActionTriggered() signal is emitted. Additionally, it

sends reference to QAction object associated with the event to the connected function.
A File toolbar is added in the toolbar area by calling addToolBar() method.
tb = self.addToolBar("File")
Although tool buttons with text captions can be added, a toolbar usually contains graphic
buttons. A QAction object with an icon and name is added to the toolbar.
new=QAction(QIcon("new.bmp"),"new",self)
tb.addAction(new)
Similarly, open and save buttons are added.
Finally, actionTriggered() signal is connected to a slot function toolbtnpressed()
tb.actionTriggered[QAction].connect(self.toolbtnpressed)
The complete code to execute the example is as follows:
import sys
class tooldemo(QMainWindow):
super(tooldemo, self).__init__(parent)
52
PyQt
tb = self.addToolBar("File")
new=QAction(QIcon("new.bmp"),"new",self)
tb.addAction(new)
open=QAction(QIcon("open.bmp"),"open",self)
tb.addAction(open)
save=QAction(QIcon("save.bmp"),"save",self)
tb.addAction(save)
tb.actionTriggered[QAction].connect(self.toolbtnpressed)
self.setWindowTitle("toolbar demo")
def toolbtnpressed(self,a):
print "pressed tool button is",a.text()
def main():
ex = tooldemo()
ex.show()
if __name__ == '__main__':
main()
53
PyQt
54
20. QDialog Class
PyQt
A QDialog widget presents a top level window mostly used to collect response from the user.
It can be configured to be Modal (where it blocks its parent window) or Modeless (the dialog
window can be bypassed).
PyQt API has a number of preconfigured Dialog widgets such as InputDialog, FileDialog,
FontDialog, etc.
Example
In the following example, WindowModality attribute of Dialog window decides whether it is
modal or modeless. Any one button on the dialog can be set to be default. The dialog is
discarded by QDialog.reject() method when the user presses the Escape key.
A PushButton on a top level QWidget window, when clicked, produces a Dialog window. A
Dialog box doesnt have minimize and maximize controls on its title bar.
The user cannot relegate this dialog box in the background because its WindowModality is set
to ApplicationModal.
import sys
def window():
w = QWidget()
b= QPushButton(w)
b.move(50,50)
b.clicked.connect(showdialog)
w.setWindowTitle("PyQt Dialog demo")
w.show()
def showdialog():
d=QDialog()
b1=QPushButton("ok",d)
b1.move(50,50)
d.setWindowTitle("Dialog")
d.setWindowModality(Qt.ApplicationModal)
d.exec_()
55
PyQt
if __name__ == '__main__':
window()
56
21. QMessageBox
PyQt
QMessageBox is a commonly used modal dialog to display some informational message and
optionally ask the user to respond by clicking any one of the standard buttons on it. Each
standard button has a predefined caption, a role and returns a predefined hexadecimal
number.
Important methods and enumerations associated with QMessageBox class are given in the
following table:
Displays predefined
message
icon
corresponding
to
severity
of
the
Question
setIcon()
Information
Warning
Critical
setText()
Sets the text of the main message to be displayed
setInformativeText()
Displays additional information
setDetailText()
Dialog shows a Details button. This text appears on clicking it
setTitle()
Displays the custom title of dialog

List of standard buttons to be displayed. Each button is
associated with
setStandardButtons()
QMessageBox.Ok
0x00000400
QMessageBox.Open
0x00002000
QMessageBox.Save
0x00000800
QMessageBox.Cancel 0x00400000
QMessageBox.Close 0x00200000
QMessageBox.Yes
0x00004000
QMessageBox.No
0x00010000
QMessageBox.Abort 0x00040000
57
PyQt
QMessageBox.Retry 0x00080000
QMessageBox.Ignore 0x00100000
setDefaultButton()
Sets the button as default. It emits the clicked signal if Enter is

pressed
setEscapeButton()
Sets the button to be treated as clicked if the escape key is

pressed
Example
In the following example, click signal of the button on the top level window, the connected
function displays the messagebox dialog.
msg=QMessageBox()
msg.setIcon(QMessageBox.Information)
msg.setText("This is a message box")
msg.setInformativeText("This is additional information")
msg.setWindowTitle("MessageBox demo")
msg.setDetailedText("The details are as follows:")
setStandardButton() function displays desired buttons.
msg.setStandardButtons(QMessageBox.Ok | QMessageBox.Cancel)
buttonClicked() signal is connected to a slot function, which identifies the caption of source of
the signal.
msg.buttonClicked.connect(msgbtn)
The complete code for the example is as follows:
import sys
def window():
w = QWidget()
b= QPushButton(w)
b.setText("Show message!")
b.move(50,50)
b.clicked.connect(showdialog)
w.setWindowTitle("PyQt Dialog demo")
58
PyQt
w.show()
def showdialog():
msg=QMessageBox()
msg.setIcon(QMessageBox.Information)
msg.setText("This is a message box")

msg.setInformativeText("This is additional information")
msg.setWindowTitle("MessageBox demo")
msg.setDetailedText("The details are as follows:")
msg.setStandardButtons(QMessageBox.Ok | QMessageBox.Cancel)
msg.buttonClicked.connect(msgbtn)
retval=msg.exec_()
print "value of pressed message box button:", retval
def msgbtn(i):
print "Button pressed is:",i.text()
if __name__ == '__main__':
window()
59
PyQt
22. QInputDialog Widget
PyQt
This is a preconfigured dialog with a text field and two buttons, OK and Cancel. The parent
window collects the input in the text box after the user clicks on Ok button or presses Enter.
The user input can be a number, a string or an item from the list. A label prompting the user
what he should do is also displayed.
The QInputDialog class has the following static methods to accept input from the user:
getInt()
Creates a spinner box for integer number
getDouble()
Spinner box with floating point number can be input
getText()
A simple line edit field to type text
getItem()
A combo box from which user can choose item
Example
The following example implements the input dialog functionality. The top level window has
three buttons. Their clicked() signal pops up InputDialog through connected slots.
items = ("C", "C++", "Java", "Python")
item, ok = QInputDialog.getItem(self, "select input dialog",

"list of languages", items, 0, False)
if ok and item:
self.le.setText(item)
def gettext(self):
text, ok = QInputDialog.getText(self, 'Text Input Dialog', 'Enter your name:')
if ok:
self.le1.setText(str(text))
def getint(self):
num,ok=QInputDialog.getInt(self,"integer input dualog","enter a number")
if ok:
self.le2.setText(str(num))

2
PyQt
import sys
class inputdialogdemo(QWidget):
super(inputdialogdemo, self).__init__(parent)
layout = QFormLayout()
self.btn=QPushButton("Choose from list")
self.btn.clicked.connect(self.getItem)
self.le=QLineEdit()
layout.addRow(self.btn,self.le)
self.btn1=QPushButton("get name")
self.btn1.clicked.connect(self.gettext)
self.le1=QLineEdit()
layout.addRow(self.btn1,self.le1)
self.btn2=QPushButton("Enter an integer")
self.btn2.clicked.connect(self.getint)
self.le2=QLineEdit()
layout.addRow(self.btn2,self.le2)
self.setWindowTitle("Input Dialog demo")
def getItem(self):
items = ("C", "C++", "Java", "Python")
item, ok = QInputDialog.getItem(self, "select input dialog",

"list of languages", items, 0, False)
if ok and item:
self.le.setText(item)
def gettext(self):
text, ok = QInputDialog.getText(self, 'Text Input Dialog', 'Enter your name:')
if ok:
self.le1.setText(str(text))
3
PyQt
def getint(self):
num,ok=QInputDialog.getInt(self,"integer input dualog","enter a number")
if ok:
self.le2.setText(str(num))
def main():
ex = inputdialogdemo()
ex.show()
if __name__ == '__main__':
main()
23. QFontDialog Widget
PyQt
Another commonly used dialog, a font selector widget is the visual appearance of QDialog
class. Result of this dialog is a Qfont object, which can be consumed by the parent window.
The class contains a static method getFont(). It displays the font selector dialog.
setCurrentFont() method sets the default Font of the dialog.
Example
The following example has a button and a label. When the button is clicked, the font dialog
pops up. The font chosen by the user (face, style and size) is applied to the text on the label.
The complete code is:
import sys
class fontdialogdemo(QWidget):
super(fontdialogdemo, self).__init__(parent)
self.btn=QPushButton("choose font")
self.btn.clicked.connect(self.getfont)
layout.addWidget(self.btn)
self.le=QLabel("Hello")
layout.addWidget(self.le)
self.setWindowTitle("Font Dialog demo")
def getfont(self):
font, ok = QFontDialog.getFont()
if ok:
self.le.setFont(font)
def main():
ex = fontdialogdemo()
5
PyQt
ex.show()
if __name__ == '__main__':
main()
24. QFileDialog Widget
PyQt
This widget is a file selector dialog. It enables the user to navigate through the file system and
select a file to open or save. The dialog is invoked either through static functions or by calling
exec_() function on the dialog object.
Static functions of QFileDialog class (getOpenFileName() and getSaveFileName()) call the
native file dialog of the current operating system.
A file filter can also applied to display only files of the specified extensions. The starting
directory and default file name can also be set.
Important methods and enumerations of QFileDialog class are listed in the following table:
getOpenFileName()
Returns name of the file selected by the user to open it
getSaveFileName()
Uses the file name selected by the user to save the file
Determines whether the file box acts as open or save dialog
setacceptMode()
QFileDialog.AcceptOpen
QFileDialog.AcceptSave
Type of selectable files. Enumerated constants are:
QFileDialog.AnyFile
setFileMode()
QFileDialog.ExistingFile
QFileDialog.Directory
QFileDialog.ExistingFiles
setFilter()
Displays only those files having mentioned extensions
Example
Both methods of invoking the file dialog are demonstrated in the following example.
The first button invokes the file dialog by the static method.
fname = QFileDialog.getOpenFileName(self, 'Open file', 'c:\\',"Image files (*.jpg
*.gif)")
PyQt
The selected image file is displayed on a label widget. The second button invokes the file dialog
by calling exec_() method on QFileDialog object.
dlg=QFileDialog()
dlg.setFileMode(QFileDialog.AnyFile)
dlg.setFilter("Text files (*.txt)")
filenames=QStringList()
if dlg.exec_():
filenames=dlg.selectedFiles()
The contents of the selected file are displayed in the TextEdit widget.
f = open(filenames[0], 'r')
with f:
data = f.read()
self.contents.setText(data)
import sys
class filedialogdemo(QWidget):
super(filedialogdemo, self).__init__(parent)
self.btn=QPushButton("QFileDialog static method demo")
self.btn.clicked.connect(self.getfile)
layout.addWidget(self.btn)
self.le=QLabel("Hello")
layout.addWidget(self.le)
self.btn1=QPushButton("QFileDialog object")
self.btn1.clicked.connect(self.getfiles)
layout.addWidget(self.btn1)
self.contents=QTextEdit()
layout.addWidget(self.contents)
self.setWindowTitle("File Dialog demo")
PyQt
def getfile(self):
fname = QFileDialog.getOpenFileName(self, 'Open file', 'c:\\',"Image files
(*.jpg *.gif)")
self.le.setPixmap(QPixmap(fname))
def getfiles(self):
dlg=QFileDialog()
dlg.setFileMode(QFileDialog.AnyFile)
dlg.setFilter("Text files (*.txt)")
filenames=QStringList()
if dlg.exec_():
filenames=dlg.selectedFiles()
f = open(filenames[0], 'r')
with f:
data = f.read()
self.contents.setText(data)
def main():
ex = filedialogdemo()
ex.show()
if __name__ == '__main__':
main()
PyQt
10
25. QTabWidget
PyQt
If a form has too many fields to be displayed simultaneously, they can be arranged in different
pages placed under each tab of a Tabbed Widget. The QTabWidget provides a tab bar and a
page area. The page under the first tab is displayed and others are hidden. The user can view
any page by clicking on the desired tab.
Following are some of the frequently used methods of QTabWidget class:
addTab()
Adds a tab associated with a widget page
insertTab()
Inserts a tab with the page at the desired position
removeTab()
Removes tab at given index
setCurrentIndex()
Sets the index of the currently visible page as current
setCurrentWidget()
Makes the visible page as current
setTabBar()
Sets the tab bar of the widget

Position of the tabs are controlled by the values
setTabPosition()
QTabWidget.North
above the pages
QTabWidget.South
below the pages
QTabWidget.West
to the left of the pages
QTabWidget.East
to the right of the pages
setTabText()
Defines the label associated with the tab index
The following signals are associated with QTabWidget object:

currentChanged()
Whenever the current page index changes
tabClosedRequested()
When the close button on the tab is clicked
Example
In the following example, the contents of a form are grouped in three categories. Each group
of widgets is displayed under a different tab.
Top level window itself is a QTabWidget. Three tabs are added into it.
self.addTab(self.tab1,"Tab 1")
11
PyQt
Each tab displays a sub form designed using a layout. Tab text is altered by the statement.
self.setTabText(0,"Contact Details")
self.setTabText(1,"Personal Details")
self.setTabText(2,"Education Details")
import sys
class tabdemo(QTabWidget):
super(tabdemo, self).__init__(parent)
self.tab1 = QWidget()
self.tab1UI()
self.tab2UI()
self.tab3UI()
self.setWindowTitle("tab demo")
def tab1UI(self):
layout=QFormLayout()
layout.addRow("Name",QLineEdit())
layout.addRow("Address",QLineEdit())
self.setTabText(0,"Contact Details")
self.tab1.setLayout(layout)
def tab2UI(self):
sex=QHBoxLayout()
sex.addWidget(QRadioButton("Male"))
12
PyQt
sex.addWidget(QRadioButton("Female"))
layout.addRow(QLabel("Sex"),sex)
layout.addRow("Date of Birth",QLineEdit())
self.setTabText(1,"Personal Details")
def tab3UI(self):
layout=QHBoxLayout()
layout.addWidget(QLabel("subjects"))
layout.addWidget(QCheckBox("Physics"))
layout.addWidget(QCheckBox("Maths"))
self.setTabText(2,"Education Details")
def main():
ex = tabdemo()
ex.show()
if __name__ == '__main__':
main()
13
26. QStackedWidget
PyQt
Functioning of QStackedWidget is similar to QTabWidget. It also helps in the efficient use of

windows client area.
QStackedWidget provides a stack of widgets, only one of which can be viewed at a time. It is a
useful layout built on top of QStackedLayout.
Example
A parent QStackedWidget object is populated with more than one child widget.
self.Stack = QStackedWidget (self)
self.stack1= QWidget()
self.Stack.addWidget (self.stack1)
Each child widget can have its own layout of form elements. QStackedWidget on its own
cannot switch between the pages. It is linked with the currently selected index of QListWidget.
self.leftlist = QListWidget ()
self.leftlist.insertItem (0, 'Contact' )
self.leftlist.insertItem (1, 'Personal' )
self.leftlist.insertItem (2, 'Educational' )
self.leftlist.currentRowChanged.connect(self.display)
Here, the currentRowChanged() signal of QListWidget is connected to display() function, which
changes the view of stacked widget.
def display(self,i):
self.Stack.setCurrentIndex(i)
import sys
class stackedExample(QWidget):
def __init__(self):
super(stackedExample, self).__init__()
14
PyQt
self.leftlist = QListWidget ()
self.leftlist.insertItem (0, 'Contact' )
self.leftlist.insertItem (1, 'Personal' )
self.leftlist.insertItem (2, 'Educational' )
self.stack1UI()
self.stack2UI()
self.stack3UI()
self.Stack = QStackedWidget (self)
hbox = QHBoxLayout(self)
hbox.addWidget(self.leftlist)
hbox.addWidget(self.Stack)
self.setLayout(hbox)
self.leftlist.currentRowChanged.connect(self.display)
self.setGeometry(300, 50, 10,10)
self.setWindowTitle('StackedWidget demo')
self.show()
def stack1UI(self):
layout.addRow("Name",QLineEdit())
layout.addRow("Address",QLineEdit())
#self.setTabText(0,"Contact Details")
self.stack1.setLayout(layout)
def stack2UI(self):
sex=QHBoxLayout()
sex.addWidget(QRadioButton("Male"))
sex.addWidget(QRadioButton("Female"))
layout.addRow(QLabel("Sex"),sex)
layout.addRow("Date of Birth",QLineEdit())
15
PyQt
def stack3UI(self):
layout=QHBoxLayout()
layout.addWidget(QLabel("subjects"))
layout.addWidget(QCheckBox("Physics"))
layout.addWidget(QCheckBox("Maths"))
def display(self,i):
self.Stack.setCurrentIndex(i)
def main():
ex = stackedExample()
if __name__ == '__main__':
main()
16
27. QSplitter Widget
PyQt
This is another advanced layout manager which allows the size of child widgets to be changed
dynamically by dragging the boundaries between them. The Splitter control provides a handle
that can be dragged to resize the controls.
The widgets in a QSplitter object are laid horizontally by default although the orientation can
be changed to Qt.Vertical.
Following are the methods and signals of QSplitter class:
addWidget()
Adds the widget to splitters layout
indexOf()
Returns the index of the widget in the layout
insetWidget()
Inserts a widget at the specified index
setOrientation()
Sets the layout of splitter to Qt.Horizontal or Qt.Vertical
setSizes()
Sets the initial size of each widget
count()
Returns the number of widgets in splitter widget
splitterMoved() is the only signal emitted by QSplitter object whenever the splitter handle is
dragged.
Example
The following example has a splitter object, splitter1, in which a frame and QTextEdit object
are horizontally added.
topleft = QFrame()
textedit=QTextEdit()
splitter1.addWidget(topleft)
splitter1.addWidget(textedit)
This splitter object splitter1 and a bottom frame object are added in another splitter, splitter2,
vertically. The object splitters is finally added in the top level window.
bottom = QFrame()
splitter2 = QSplitter(Qt.Vertical)
splitter2.addWidget(splitter1)
splitter2.addWidget(bottom)
hbox.addWidget(splitter2)
17
PyQt
import sys
class Example(QWidget):
def __init__(self):
super(Example, self).__init__()
self.initUI()
def initUI(self):
hbox = QHBoxLayout(self)
topleft = QFrame()
topleft.setFrameShape(QFrame.StyledPanel)
bottom = QFrame()
bottom.setFrameShape(QFrame.StyledPanel)
splitter1 = QSplitter(Qt.Horizontal)
textedit=QTextEdit()
splitter1.addWidget(topleft)
splitter1.addWidget(textedit)
splitter1.setSizes([100,200])
splitter2 = QSplitter(Qt.Vertical)
splitter2.addWidget(splitter1)
splitter2.addWidget(bottom)
hbox.addWidget(splitter2)
QApplication.setStyle(QStyleFactory.create('Cleanlooks'))
self.setGeometry(300, 300, 300, 200)

18
PyQt
self.setWindowTitle('QSplitter demo')
self.show()
def main():
ex = Example()
if __name__ == '__main__':
main()
Splitter Handle
19
28. Multiple Document Interface
PyQt
A typical GUI application may have multiple windows. Tabbed and stacked widgets allow to
activate one such window at a time. However, many a times this approach may not be useful
as view of other windows is hidden.
One way to display multiple windows simultaneously is to create them as independent
windows. This is called as SDI (single Document Interface). This requires more memory
resources as each window may have its own menu system, toolbar, etc.
MDI (Multiple Document Interface) applications consume lesser memory resources. The sub
windows are laid down inside main container with relation to each other. The container widget
is called QMdiArea.
QMdiArea widget generally occupies the central widget of QMainWondow object. Child windows
in this area are instances of QMdiSubWindow class. It is possible to set any QWidget as the
internal widget of subWindow object. Sub-windows in the MDI area can be arranged in
cascaded or tile fashion.
The following table lists important methods of QMdiArea class and QMdiSubWindow class:
addSubWindow()
Adds a widget as a new subwindow in MDI area
removeSubWindow()
Removes a widget that is internal widget of a

subwindow
setActiveSubWindow()
Activates a subwindow
cascadeSubWindows()
Arranges subwindows in MDiArea in a cascaded fashion
tileSubWindows()
Arranges subwindows in MDiArea in a tiled fashion
closeActiveSubWindow()
Closes the active subwindow
subWindowList()
Returns the list of subwindows in MDI Area
setWidget()
Sets a QWidget as an internal widget of a

QMdiSubwindow instance
QMdiArea object emits subWindowActivated() signal whereas windowStateChanged() signal is

emitted by QMdisubWindow object.
Example
In the following example, top level window comprising of QMainWindow has a menu and
MdiArea.
self.mdi = QMdiArea()
self.setCentralWidget(self.mdi)
20
PyQt
bar=self.menuBar()
file.addAction("cascade")
file.addAction("Tiled")
Triggered() signal of the menu is connected to windowaction() function.
file.triggered[QAction].connect(self.windowaction)
The new action of menu adds a subwindow in MDI area with a title having an incremental
number to it.
MainWindow.count=MainWindow.count+1
sub=QMdiSubWindow()
sub.setWidget(QTextEdit())
sub.setWindowTitle("subwindow"+str(MainWindow.count))
self.mdi.addSubWindow(sub)
sub.show()
Cascaded and tiled buttons of the menu arrange currently displayed subwindows in cascaded
and tiled fashion respectively.
import sys
class MainWindow(QMainWindow):
count=0
super(MainWindow, self).__init__(parent)
self.mdi = QMdiArea()
self.setCentralWidget(self.mdi)
bar=self.menuBar()
file.addAction("cascade")
file.addAction("Tiled")
file.triggered[QAction].connect(self.windowaction)
self.setWindowTitle("MDI demo")
def windowaction(self, q):
21
PyQt
print "triggered"
if q.text()=="New":
MainWindow.count=MainWindow.count+1
sub=QMdiSubWindow()
sub.setWidget(QTextEdit())
sub.setWindowTitle("subwindow"+str(MainWindow.count))
self.mdi.addSubWindow(sub)
sub.show()
if q.text()=="cascade":
self.mdi.cascadeSubWindows()
if q.text()=="Tiled":
self.mdi.tileSubWindows()
def main():
ex = MainWindow()
ex.show()
if __name__ == '__main__':
main()
22
PyQt
23
PyQt
24
29. Drag and Drop
PyQt
The provision of drag and drop is very intuitive for the user. It is found in many desktop
applications where the user can copy or move objects from one window to another.
MIME based drag and drop data transfer is based on QDrag class. QMimeData objects
associate the data with their corresponding MIME type. It is stored on clipboard and then used
in the drag and drop process.
The following QMimeData class functions allow the MIME type to be detected and used
conveniently.
Tester
Getter
Setter
MIME Types
hasText()
text()
setText()
text/plain
hasHtml()
html()
setHtml()
text/html
hasUrls()
urls()
setUrls()
text/uri-list
hasImage()
imageData()
setImageData()
image/ *
hasColor()
colorData()
setColorData()
application/x-color
Many QWidget objects support the drag and drop activity. Those that allow their data to be
dragged have setDragEnabled() which must be set to true. On the other hand, the widgets
should respond to the drag and drop events in order to store the data dragged into them.
DragEnterEvent provides an event which is sent to the target widget as dragging

action enters it.
DragMoveEvent is used when the drag and drop action is in progress.
DragLeaveEvent is generated as the drag and drop action leaves the widget.
DropEvent, on the other hand, occurs when the drop is completed. The events
proposed action can be accepted or rejected conditionally.
Example
In the following code, the DragEnterEvent verifies whether the MIME data of the event
contains text. If yes, the events proposed action is accepted and the text is added as a new
item in the ComboBox.
import sys
class combo(QComboBox):
25
PyQt
def __init__(self, title, parent):

super(combo, self).__init__( parent)
self.setAcceptDrops(True)
def dragEnterEvent(self, e):

print e
if e.mimeData().hasText():
e.accept()
else:
e.ignore()
def dropEvent(self, e):

self.addItem(e.mimeData().text())
def __init__(self):
self.initUI()
def initUI(self):
lo=QFormLayout()
lo.addRow(QLabel("Type some text in textbox and drag it into combo box"))
edit = QLineEdit()
edit.setDragEnabled(True)
com = combo("Button", self)
lo.addRow(edit,com)
self.setLayout(lo)
self.setWindowTitle('Simple drag & drop')
def main():
ex = Example()
26
PyQt
ex.show()
app.exec_()
if __name__ == '__main__':
main()
27
30. Database Handling
PyQt
PyQt API contains an elaborate class system to communicate with many SQL based databases.
Its QSqlDatabase provides access through a Connection object. Following is the list of currently
available SQL drivers:
Driver Type
Description
QDB2
IBM DB2
QIBASE
Borland InterBase Driver
QMYSQL
MySQL Driver
QOCI
Oracle Call Interface Driver
QODBC
ODBC Driver (includes Microsoft SQL Server)
QPSQL
PostgreSQL Driver
QSQLITE
SQLite version 3 or above
QSQLITE2
SQLite version 2
Example
A connection with a SQLite database is established using the static method:
db = QtSql.QSqlDatabase.addDatabase('QSQLITE')
db.setDatabaseName('sports.db')
Other methods of QSqlDatabase class are as follows:
setDatabaseName()
Sets the name of the database with which connection is

sought
setHostName()
Sets the name of the host on which the database is installed
setUserName()
Specifies the user name for connection
setPassword()
Sets the connection objects password if any
commit()
Commits the transactions and returns true if successful
rollback()
Rolls back the database transaction
close()
Closes the connection

28
PyQt
QSqlQuery class has the functionality to execute and manipulate SQL commands. Both DDL
and DML type of SQL queries can be executed. The most important method in the class is
exec_(), which takes as an argument a string containing SQL statement to be executed.
query = QtSql.QSqlQuery()
query.exec_("create table sportsmen(id int primary key, "
"firstname varchar(20), lastname varchar(20))")
The following script creates a SQLite database sports.db with a table of sportsperson populated
with five records.
from PyQt4 import QtSql, QtGui
def createDB():
if not db.open():
QtGui.QMessageBox.critical(None, QtGui.qApp.tr("Cannot open database"),
QtGui.qApp.tr("Unable to establish a database connection.\n"
"This example needs SQLite support. Please read "
"the Qt SQL driver documentation for information "
"how to build it.\n\n"
"Click Cancel to exit."),
QtGui.QMessageBox.Cancel)
return False
query = QtSql.QSqlQuery()
query.exec_("create table sportsmen(id int primary key, "
"firstname varchar(20), lastname varchar(20))")
query.exec_("insert into sportsmen values(101, 'Roger', 'Federer')")
query.exec_("insert into sportsmen values(102, 'Christiano', 'Ronaldo')")
query.exec_("insert into sportsmen values(103, 'Ussain', 'Bolt')")
query.exec_("insert into sportsmen values(104, 'Sachin', 'Tendulkar')")
query.exec_("insert into sportsmen values(105, 'Saina', 'Nehwal')")
return True
if __name__ == '__main__':
import sys
createDB()
29
PyQt
QSqlTableModel class in PyQt is a high-level interface that provides editable data model for
reading and writing records in a single table. This model is used to populate a QTableView
object. It presents to the user a scrollable and editable view that can be put on any top level
window.
A QTableModel object is declared in the following manner:
model = QtSql.QSqlTableModel()
Its editing strategy can be set to any of the following:
QSqlTableModel.OnFieldChange
All changes will be applied immediately
QSqlTableModel.OnRowChange
Changes will be applied when the user selects a

different row
QSqlTableModel.OnManualSubmit
All changes will be cached until either submitAll()

or revertAll() is called
Example
In the following example, sportsperson table is used as a model and the strategy is set as:
model.setTable('sportsmen')
model.setEditStrategy(QtSql.QSqlTableModel.OnFieldChange)
model.select()
QTableView class is part of Model/View framework in PyQt. The QTableView object is created
as follows:
view = QtGui.QTableView()
view.setModel(model)
view.setWindowTitle(title)
return view
This QTableView object and two QPushButton widgets are added to the top level QDialog
window. Clicked() signal of add button is connected to addrow() which performs insertRow()
on the model table.
button.clicked.connect(addrow)
def addrow():
print model.rowCount()
ret=model.insertRows(model.rowCount(), 1)
print ret
The Slot associated with the delete button executes a lambda function that deletes a row,
which is selected by the user.
btn1.clicked.connect(lambda: model.removeRow(view1.currentIndex().row()))
30
PyQt
import sys
from PyQt4 import QtCore, QtGui, QtSql
import sportsconnection
def initializeModel(model):
model.setTable('sportsmen')
model.setEditStrategy(QtSql.QSqlTableModel.OnFieldChange)
model.select()
model.setHeaderData(0, QtCore.Qt.Horizontal, "ID")
model.setHeaderData(1, QtCore.Qt.Horizontal, "First name")
model.setHeaderData(2, QtCore.Qt.Horizontal, "Last name")
def createView(title, model):

view = QtGui.QTableView()
view.setModel(model)
view.setWindowTitle(title)
return view
def addrow():
print model.rowCount()
ret=model.insertRows(model.rowCount(), 1)
print ret
def findrow(i):
delrow=i.row()
if __name__ == '__main__':
model = QtSql.QSqlTableModel()
delrow=-1
initializeModel(model)
view1 = createView("Table Model (View 1)", model)

31
PyQt
view1.clicked.connect(findrow)
dlg=QtGui.QDialog()
layout = QtGui.QVBoxLayout()
layout.addWidget(view1)
button = QtGui.QPushButton("Add a row")
button.clicked.connect(addrow)
layout.addWidget(button)
btn1 = QtGui.QPushButton("del a row")
btn1.clicked.connect(lambda: model.removeRow(view1.currentIndex().row()))
layout.addWidget(btn1)
dlg.setLayout(layout)
dlg.setWindowTitle("Database Demo")
dlg.show()
32
31. Drawing API in PyQt
PyQt
All the QWidget classes in PyQt are sub classed from QPaintDevice class. A QPaintDevice is
an abstraction of two dimensional space that can be drawn upon using a QPainter. Dimensions
of paint device are measured in pixels starting from the top-left corner.
QPainter class performs low level painting on widgets and other paintable devices such as
printer. Normally, it is used in widgets paint event. The QPaintEvent occurs whenever the
widgets appearance is updated.
The painter is activated by calling the begin() method, while the end() method deactivates it.
In between, the desired pattern is painted by suitable methods as listed in the following table.
begin()
Starts painting on the target device
drawArc()
Draws an arc between the starting and the end angle
drawEllipse()
Draws an ellipse inside a rectangle
drawLine()
Draws a line with endpoint coordinates specified
drawPixmap()
Extracts pixmap from the image file and displays it at the specified
position
drwaPolygon()
Draws a polygon using an array of coordinates
drawRect()
Draws a rectangle starting at the top-left coordinate with the given

width and height
drawText()
Displays the text at given coordinates
fillRect()
Fills the rectangle with the QColor parameter
setBrush()
Sets a brush style for painting
setPen()
Sets the color, size and style of pen to be used for drawing
33
32. BrushStyle Constants
PyQt
Predefined QColor Styles

Qt.NoBrush
No brush pattern
Qt.SolidPattern
Uniform color
Qt.Dense1Pattern
Extremely dense brush pattern
Qt.HorPattern
Horizontal lines
Qt.VerPattern
Vertical lines
Qt.CrossPattern
Crossing horizontal and vertical lines
Qt.BDiagPattern
Backward diagonal lines
Qt.FDiagPattern
Forward diagonal lines
Qt.DiagCrossPattern
Crossing diagonal lines
Predefined QColor Objects

Qt.white
Qt.black
Qt.red
Qt.darkRed
Qt.green
Qt.darkGreen
Qt.blue
Qt.cyan
Qt.magenta
Qt.yellow
Qt.darkYellow
Qt.gray
34
PyQt
Custom color can be chosen by specifying RGB or CMYK or HSV values.
Example
The following example implements some of these methods.
import sys
def __init__(self):
self.initUI()
def initUI(self):
self.text = "hello world"
self.setGeometry(100,100, 400,300)
self.setWindowTitle('Draw Demo')
self.show()
def paintEvent(self, event):

qp = QPainter()
qp.begin(self)
qp.setPen(QColor(Qt.red))
qp.setFont(QFont('Arial', 20))
qp.drawText(10,50, "hello Python")
qp.setPen(QColor(Qt.blue))
qp.drawLine(10,100,100,100)
qp.drawRect(10,150,150,100)
qp.setPen(QColor(Qt.yellow))
qp.drawEllipse(100,50,100,50)
qp.drawPixmap(220,10,QPixmap("python.jpg"))
qp.fillRect(200,175,150,100,QBrush(Qt.SolidPattern))
qp.end()
def main():
ex = Example()
35
PyQt
if __name__ == '__main__':
main()
36
33. QClipboard
PyQt
The QClipboard class provides access to system-wide clipboard that offers a simple
mechanism to copy and paste data between applications. Its action is similar to QDrag class
and uses similar data types.
QApplication class has a static method clipboard() which returns reference to clipboard object.
Any type of MimeData can be copied to or pasted from the clipboard.
Following are the clipboard class methods that are commonly used:
clear()
Clears clipboard contents
setImage()
Copies QImage into clipboard
setMimeData()
Sets MIME data into clipbopard
setPixmap()
Copies Pixmap object in clipboard
setText()
Copies QString in clipboard
text()
Retrieves text from clipboard
Signal associated with clipboard object is:

dataChanged()
Whenever clipboard data changes
Example
In the following example, two TextEdit objects and two Pushbutons are added to a top level
window.
To begin with the clipboard object is instantiated. Copy() method of textedit object copies the
data onto the system clipboard. When the Paste button is clicked, it fetches the clipboard data
and pastes it in other textedit object.
37
PyQt
38
34. QDockWidget
PyQt
A dockable window is a subwindow that can remain in floating state or can be attached to the
main window at a specified position. Main window object of QMainWindow class has an area
reserved for dockable windows. This area is around the central widget.
A dock window can be moved inside the main window, or they can be undocked to be moved
into a new area by the user. These properties are controlled by the following QDockWidget
class methods:
setWidget()
Sets any QWidget in the dock windows area
setFloating()
If set to true, the dock window can float

Sets the areas to which the window can be docked
LeftDockWidgetArea
RightDockWidgetArea
setAllowedAreas()
TopDockWidgetArea
BottomDockWidgetArea
NoDockWidgetArea
Sets the features of dock window
DockWidgetClosable
DockWidgetMovable
setFeatures()
DockWidgetFloatable
DockWidgetVerticalTitleBar
NoDockWidgetFeatures
Example
In the following example, top level window is a QMainWindow object. A QTextEdit object is its
central widget.
self.setCentralWidget(QTextEdit())
A dockable window is first created.
self.items = QDockWidget("Dockable", self)
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PyQt
A QListWidget object is added as a dock window.
self.listWidget = QListWidget()
self.listWidget.addItem("item1")
self.items.setWidget(self.listWidget)
Dockable object is placed towards the right side of the central widget.
self.addDockWidget(Qt.RightDockWidgetArea, self.items)
import sys
class dockdemo(QMainWindow):
super(dockdemo, self).__init__(parent)
bar=self.menuBar()
file.addAction("save")
file.addAction("quit")
self.items = QDockWidget("Dockable", self)

self.listWidget = QListWidget()
self.items.setWidget(self.listWidget)
self.items.setFloating(False)
self.addDockWidget(Qt.RightDockWidgetArea, self.items)
self.setWindowTitle("Dock demo")
def main():
40
PyQt
ex = dockdemo()
ex.show()
if __name__ == '__main__':
main()
41
35. QStatusBar Widget
PyQt
QMainWindow object reserves a horizontal bar at the bottom as the status bar. It is used to
display either permanent or contextual status information.
There are three types of status indicators:
Temporary Briefly occupies most of the status bar. For example, used to explain tool
tip texts or menu entries.
Normal Occupies part of the status bar and may be hidden by temporary messages.
For example, used to display the page and line number in a word processor.
Permanent It is never hidden. Used for important mode indications. For example,
some applications put a Caps Lock indicator in the status bar.
Status bar of QMainWindow is retrieved by statusBar() function. setStatusBar() function

activates it.
self.statusBar= QStatusBar()
self.setStatusBar(self.statusBar)
Methods of QStatusBar Class

addWidget()
Adds the given widget object in the status bar
addPermanentWidget()
Adds the given widget object in the status bar permanently
showMessage()
Displays a temperory message in the status bar for a

specified time interval
clearMessage()
Removes any temperory message being shown
removeWidget()
Removes specified widget from the status bar
Example
In the following example, a top level QMainWindow has a menu bar and a QTextEdit object as
its central widget.
Windows status bar is activated as explained above.
Menus triggered signal is passed to processtrigger() slot function. If show action is triggered,
it displays a temperory message in the status bar as:
if (q.text()=="show"):
self.statusBar.showMessage(q.text()+" is clicked",2000)
The message will be erased after 2000 milliseconds (2 sec). If add action is triggered, a
button widget is added.
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PyQt
if q.text()=="add":
self.statusBar.addWidget(self.b)
Remove action will remove the button from the status bar.
if q.text()=="remove":
self.statusBar.removeWidget(self.b)
self.statusBar.show()
import sys
class statusdemo(QMainWindow):
super(statusdemo, self).__init__(parent)
bar=self.menuBar()
file.addAction("show")
file.addAction("add")
file.addAction("remove")
self.statusBar= QStatusBar()
self.b=QPushButton("click here")
self.setWindowTitle("QStatusBar Example")
self.setStatusBar(self.statusBar)
def processtrigger(self,q):
if (q.text()=="show"):
self.statusBar.showMessage(q.text()+" is clicked",2000)
if q.text()=="add":
self.statusBar.addWidget(self.b)
if q.text()=="remove":
self.statusBar.removeWidget(self.b)
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PyQt
self.statusBar.show()
def main():
ex = statusdemo()
ex.show()
if __name__ == '__main__':
main()
44
36. QListWidget
PyQt
QListWidget class is an item-based interface to add or remove items from a list. Each item in
the list is a QListWidgetItem object. ListWidget can be set to be multiselectable.
Following are the frequently used methods of QListWidget class:
addItem()
Adds QListWidgetItem object or string in the list
addItems()
Adds each item in the list
insertItem()
Inserts item at the specified index
clear()
Removes contents of the list
setCurrentItem()
Sets currently selected item programmatically
sortItems()
Rearranges items in ascending order
Following are the signals emitted by QListWidget:

currentItemChanged()
Whenever current item changes
itemClicked()
Whenever an item in the list is clicked
Example
The following example shows the click event being captured to pop up a message box.
import sys
class myListWidget(QListWidget):
def Clicked(self,item):
QMessageBox.information(self,
"ListWidget",
"You clicked: "+item.text())
def main():
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PyQt
app
= QApplication(sys.argv)
listWidget
= myListWidget()
#Resize width and height

listWidget.resize(300,120)
listWidget.addItem("Item 1");
listWidget.setWindowTitle('PyQT QListwidget Demo')

listWidget.itemClicked.connect(listWidget.Clicked)
listWidget.show()
if __name__ == '__main__':
main()
46
37. QPixmap Class
PyQt
QPixmap class provides an off-screen representation of an image. It can be used as a

QPaintDevice object or can be loaded into another widget, typically a label or button.
Qt API has another similar class QImage, which is optimized for I/O and other pixel
manipulations. Pixmap, on the other hand, is optimized for showing it on screen. Both formats
are interconvertible.
The types of image files that can be read into a QPixmap object are as follows:
BMP
Windows Bitmap
GIF
Graphic Interchange Format (optional)
JPG
Joint Photographic Experts Group
JPEG
Joint Photographic Experts Group
PNG
Portable Network Graphics
PBM
Portable Bitmap
PGM
Portable Graymap
PPM
Portable Pixmap
XBM
X11 Bitmap
XPM
X11 Pixmap
Following methods are useful in handling QPixmap object:

copy()
Copies pixmap data from a QRect object
fromImage()
Converts QImage object into QPixmap
grabWidget()
Creates a pixmap from the given widget
grabWindow()
Create pixmap of data in a window
Load()
Loads an image file as pixmap
save()
Saves the QPixmap object as a file
toImage
Converts a QPixmap to QImage
The most common use of QPixmap is to display image on a label/button.
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PyQt
Example
The following example shows an image displayed on a QLabel by using the setPixmap()
method. The complete code is as follows:
import sys
def window():
win = QWidget()
l1=QLabel()
l1.setPixmap(QPixmap("python.jpg"))
vbox=QVBoxLayout()
vbox.addWidget(l1)
win.setLayout(vbox)
win.setWindowTitle("QPixmap Demo")
win.show()
if __name__ == '__main__':
window()
48
38. QScrollBar Widget
PyQt
A scrollbar control enables the user to access parts of the document that is outside the
viewable area. It provides visual indicator to the current position. It has a slider by which a
value between a preset range is set in analogous fashion. This value is usually correlated to
bring a hidden data inside the viewport.
The scrollbar control has four controls:
A slider
Two Scroll arrows
Page control
Following signals of QScrollBar class are frequently used:

valueChanged()
When the scrollbars value changes
sliderMoved()
When the user drags the slider
Example
In the following example, three scroll bars are placed to control RGB values of font color for
the text displayed in a label. The complete code is as follows:
import sys
def __init__(self):
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PyQt
self.initUI()
def initUI(self):
vbox=QVBoxLayout(self)
hbox = QHBoxLayout()
self.l1=QLabel("Drag scrollbar sliders to change color")
self.l1.setFont(QFont("Arial",16))
hbox.addWidget(self.l1)
self.s1=QScrollBar()
self.s1.setMaximum(255)
self.s1.sliderMoved.connect(self.sliderval)
hbox.addWidget(self.s1)
self.setGeometry(300, 300, 300, 200)

self.setWindowTitle('QSplitter demo')
self.show()
def sliderval(self):
print self.s1.value(),self.s2.value(), self.s3.value()
palette = QPalette()
c=QColor(self.s1.value(),self.s2.value(), self.s3.value(),255)
palette.setColor(QPalette.Foreground,c)
self.l1.setPalette(palette)
def main():
ex = Example()
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PyQt
if __name__ == '__main__':
main()
51
39. QCalendar Widget
PyQt
QCalendar widget is a useful date picker control. It provides a month-based view. The user
can select the date by the use of the mouse or the keyboard, the default being todays date.
Calendars date range can also be stipulated.
Following are some utility methods of this class:
setDateRange()
Sets the lower and upper date available for selection
Determines the day of the first column in the calendar

The predefined day constants are:
setFirstDayOfWeek()
Qt.Monday
Qt.Tuesday
Qt.Wednesday
Qt.Thursday
Qt.Friday
Qt.Saturday
Qt.Sunday
setMinimumDate()
Sets the lower date for selection
setMaximumDate()
Sets the upper date for selection
setSelectedDate()
Sets a QDate object as the selected date
showToday()
Shows the month of today
selectedDate()
Retrieves the selected date
setGridvisible()
Turns the calendar grid on or off
Example
The following example has a calendar widget and a label which displays the currently selected
date. The complete code is as follows:
import sys
from PyQt4 import QtGui, QtCore
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PyQt
class Example(QtGui.QWidget):
def __init__(self):
self.initUI()
def initUI(self):
cal = QtGui.QCalendarWidget(self)
cal.setGridVisible(True)
cal.move(20, 20)
cal.clicked[QtCore.QDate].connect(self.showDate)
self.lbl = QtGui.QLabel(self)
date = cal.selectedDate()
self.lbl.setText(date.toString())
self.lbl.move(20, 200)
self.setGeometry(100,100,300,300)
self.setWindowTitle('Calendar')
self.show()
def showDate(self, date):
self.lbl.setText(date.toString())
def main():
ex = Example()
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PyQt
if __name__ == '__main__':
main()
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PyQt
55

Pyqt Tutorial

Uploaded by

Pyqt Tutorial

Uploaded by

PyQt

About the Tutorial

Disclaimer & Copyright

PYQT INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 1

HELLO WORLD .............................................................................................................................. 3

MAJOR CLASSES ............................................................................................................................ 4

USING QT DESIGNER ..................................................................................................................... 8

SIGNALS AND SLOTS.................................................................................................................... 11

LAYOUT MANAGERS ................................................................................................................... 14

QBOXLAYOUT CLASS ................................................................................................................... 16

QGRIDLAYOUT CLASS .................................................................................................................. 20

QFORMLAYOUT CLASS ................................................................................................................ 22

10. QLABEL WIDGET ......................................................................................................................... 24

16. QSPINBOX WIDGET ..................................................................................................................... 44

37. QPIXMAP CLASS .......................................................................................................................... 47

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Windows 32 bit installer

Windows 64 bit installer

Windows 32 bit installer

PyQt5 Windows Binaries

Windows 64 bit installer

Windows 32 bit installer

sudo apt-get install python-qt5

Linux, UNIX source for PyQt4

Linux, UNIX, MacOS/X source for PyQt5

Import QtGui module.

Create an application object.

Set the caption of label as hello world.

Define the size and position of window by setGeometry() method.

Enter the mainloop of application by app.exec_() method.

Core non-GUI classes used by other modules

Graphical user interface components

Classes for low-level multimedia programming

Classes for network programming

OpenGL support classes

Classes for evaluating Qt Scripts

Classes for database integration using SQL

Classes for displaying the contents of SVG files

Classes for rendering and editing HTML

Classes for handling XML

Support for online help

Classes for extending Qt Designer

Here is a select list of frequently used widgets:

Used to display text or image

Allows the user to enter one line of text

Allows the user to enter multi-line text

A command button to invoke action

Enables to choose one from multiple options

Enables choice of more than one options

Enables to increase/decrease an integer value

Enables to access contents of a widget beyond

Enables to change the bound value linearly.

Provides a dropdown list of items to select from

Horizontal bar holding QMenu objects

Usually at bottom of QMainWindow, provides status

Usually at top of QMainWindow or floating. Contains

Provides a selectable list of items in ListMode or

Off-screen image representation

Modal or modeless window

5. Signals and Slots

The above code produces the following output:

Resized window. Position of button is unchanged.

Widgets inside the window are automatically resized.

Ensures uniform appearance on display devices with different resolutions

Adding or removing widget dynamically is possible without having to redesign.

Add a widget to the BoxLayout

Creates empty stretchable box

Add another nested layout

The above code produces the following output:

Resized window. Position

The above code produces the following output:

Resized window. Position and size of buttons

The above code produces the following output:

Resized window. Position and size of

def init(self, parent=None):