Skinned dialogs

[Lele]

Hi all,
probably my question is very platform dependent but I'd like to know how can I have a skinned frame for my dialogs, just like Microsoft Messenger.
Thanks for any tips on that
Bye

[e8johan]

This is not platform specific - try to subclass QStyle. The style example shows how to implement norwegian wood, try starting from that.

[Lele]

thanks, I already use QStyle for customize widgets but I guess there's no way to customize application frame.

[jpn]

http://www.qtcentre.org/forum/f-qt-programming-2/t-window-style-3692.html

[moowy]

There is a way. U have to use native support and in there draw primitive element PE_CustomBase and than in drawPrimitive draw anything on it.

[Lele]

thanks for answering, this sounds very interesting to me, but I cannot figure it out how to do that.
One way could be to draw my window frameless and the draw by myself the window caption, but maybe there's a better way to do that
thanks,
bye

[pherthyl]

One way could be to draw my window frameless and the draw by myself the window caption, but maybe there's a better way to do that

This is how microsoft does it. (Windows media player, Live messenger, Office 12, etc). So still a dirty hack, but now endorsed by microsoft!

[Lele]

Thanks for your answer, I'll try to do that. However I thought there someone had already tried to have such kind of dialogs in Qt.
Bye

[PiXeL16]

Hi, Did you find a solution, im trying to do the same thing, with resizing support?
Any example that i could find to do this?

[Brandybuck]

Making your dialogs frameless, then drawing your own frame, is the best way. I have never done this directly, but I have done similar things writing an X11 window manager. Here's a brief overview:

1) Create a widget called WindowFrame
2) Give it a 3x3 grid layout
3) Put your dialog in the center
4) In WindowFrame::paintEvent(), draw corner pixmaps in the corner, and tilable edge pixmaps on the edges
5) To make it resizable, implement mousePressEvent() and mouseMoveEvent()

The inclusion of titlebar and title buttons I leave an an exercise to the reader.

[PiXeL16]

Hi, Thanks for the suggestions. I did what you say and it work.
The only problem that i had now is clipping the transparent part of the borders, so its actually round, and not black(it show transparent color as black)
I read that i can accomplish this with a mask, but i don't know how to add a mask to the widget, just to the particular corners.
All the different borders are separate images, and i have to join them some how, and then apply the mask to the widget
Any help with this???
thanks in advance!
CJC

[PiXeL16]

Someone can help on this plz? :confused:

[Brandybuck]

The only problem that i had now is clipping the transparent part of the borders, so its actually round, and not black(it show transparent color as black)
I read that i can accomplish this with a mask, but i don't know how to add a mask to the widget, just to the particular corners.
All the different borders are separate images, and i have to join them some how, and then apply the mask to the widget
Any help with this???
You will need to create the widget's bitmap mask out of the borders' masks. Set the size of the bitmap to the size of the widget, then "draw" in the corner and edge bitmap masks.

Adding the mask to the widget is the same as adding it to a pixmap: QWidget::setMask()

[PiXeL16]

I thanks, i had try this but i dont know why is not working.
I create a widget and add 9 frames, 8 for all the borders and 1 for the widget.
Then I set the borders as background images to their specific frame.
Then I try to create my pixmap buffering all the borders
Here is my code.




QPixmap buffer(_mainWidget->size());

QPainter painter(&buffer);

painter.drawPixmap(_uiMainWidget->upperLeftFrame->frameRect(), QPixmap(":pics/bg/upperLeftFrame.png"),
_uiMainWidget->upperLeftFrame->frameRect());
...
painter.drawPixmap(_uiMainWidget->leftFrame->frameRect(),
QPixmap(":pics/bg/leftFrame.png"),
_uiMainWidget->leftFrame->frameRect());



THe result here is that all my border images are drawn staked in the upper left side of the pixmap. And not in the correct position where the frames are.
Where could be wrong here? Are im using wrong the drawpixmap funtionality or missing something?
Any help will be much appreciated
Thanks
CJC

[stevey]

Have you tried Style sheets?

[PiXeL16]

How can sc help with the problem of the images? that i specified before?

[PiXeL16]

HI, i kind of fix my issue.
I should use .geometry and not frameRect()
Thanks for all the help
CJC :o

[kernel_panic]

could anyone post the code for resizing the frameless widget?
i tried this, but till today i've no idea how to implement this by myself...

[jpn]

could anyone post the code for resizing the frameless widget?
i tried this, but till today i've no idea how to implement this by myself...
How about QSizeGrip?

[kernel_panic]

thanks
one question: with qsizegrip ic can only resize to bottom-left, how can i let it resize to left or right or bottom only?

[jpn]

one question: with qsizegrip ic can only resize to bottom-left, how can i let it resize to left or right or bottom only?
One can place QSizeGrip to any corner and it will automatically adjust its behavior. For horizontal and vertical resize mode you will need something custom:

catch the point of mouse press event
resize the window on the fly in mouse move event
I suggest taking a sneak into QSizeGrip sources for more detailed implementation hints.

[kernel_panic]

i've made up two Skin-Classes (QSkinWidget and QSkinMainWindow) with the behavior like real widgets and windows (moving, resizing, title...) I will put them into the "Software Sektion". Thanks for all help.

[PiXeL16]

Hi, Is there a way to acomplish this with style sheets?
I have my frameless widget, now, is there a way to make its border round using style sheets?
Any help will me much appreciated
Thanks
CJC

[marcel]

Not with style sheets. Better create a custom style for this, but you will have to do the drawing.

Another, way simpler solution is to create a QRegion and apply it as a mask on the dialog. But this will affect the children too( everything that passes outside the bounds will get cut ).

regards

[Nabeel]

Hi, This post of mine is very beneficial and informative, however there are some specific facts or information that I require. If anyone can help me in this matter then please send me a private message. Best Regards,