Still need help: Best way to have application "skins"?

[codeslicer]

Ok, I'm sorry but I don't understand what you mean by having a base and 2 subclasses...

I have 2 seperate ui files with different styles. The "plain" one contains just the essentials, nothing more than a simple form with no style whats so ever(Other than the style Qt gives to it at run time, based on the OS). Then, I have a "fancy" one which includes the core functions and buttons, etc, but also contains some different actions in the constructor(like setMask()). It also has a different style, like different images, integrated style sheets in Qt Designer, and more.

In my program I want to let the user chose which style he wants. After he chooses, the program restarts, and reads from QSettings what he wants. If it's the fancy style, the program should read the "fancy" ui file and perform extra operations on the main window, in addition to the core commands.
However, if it's plain, then the program should read the "plain" ui file, and only do the core commands.

I received some suggestions from jpn, having setFancyMode() and setPlainMode(), but my question is, how can I transform the application from single-inheritance to multi-inheritance. Ie, I don't want to have to call plainUi.myTextBox, instead calling just myTextBox.

If I create pointers to each object during the setPlainStyle() or setFancyStyle() functions, do I have to somehow globally declare them in the header file, or will they be globally defined already for use in other functions of the same class?

Thanks a lot so far, I think I'm not getting it because I'm kinda new and need more explanation than a normal coder would So again, thanks for all this help, this forum is the best I've been on

[codeslicer]

I don't think I need to dynamically redefine all of the objects in the forum, only the essential buttons. One more thing, should I use pointers, ie:

QLineEdit myLineEdit = *plainUi.myLineEdit;

QLineEdit myLineEdit = *plainUi.myLineEdit;

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or direct declarations:

myLineEdit = plainUi.myLineEdit;

myLineEdit = plainUi.myLineEdit;

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Also, do I need to declare these in the header file?

Thanks

PS: I can't change the topic title. Can a mod please change it to SOLVED? That would be great, thanks

[wysota]

Ok, I'm sorry but I don't understand what you mean by having a base and 2 subclasses...

Hmm... you know what a "class" in object oriented language is, right?

I have 2 seperate ui files with different styles. The "plain" one contains just the essentials, nothing more than a simple form with no style whats so ever(Other than the style Qt gives to it at run time, based on the OS). Then, I have a "fancy" one which includes the core functions and buttons, etc, but also contains some different actions in the constructor(like setMask()). It also has a different style, like different images, integrated style sheets in Qt Designer, and more.

Yes, I have read what you had written

In my program I want to let the user chose which style he wants. After he chooses, the program restarts, and reads from QSettings what he wants. If it's the fancy style, the program should read the "fancy" ui file and perform extra operations on the main window, in addition to the core commands.
However, if it's plain, then the program should read the "plain" ui file, and only do the core commands.

Do both these UI contain the same widgets (just positioned or styled differently)? Could you maybe attach them to your post so that we may have a look at them? If you only wish to change the look of your widget, you don't need two separate UI files - you can apply different stylesheets on the same set of widgets or set a different style on the widget.

[codeslicer]

I kinda want to keep it a secret for now...

But my two ui files are different, yet same. Here's what I mean.

In the plain one, all I have is a tabwidget and several group boxes w/different buttons and such.

Now in the fancy one, I still have that same tab widget, But it is surrounded by a layout of QLabels, which, combined with setMask(), form the dialog's unique display. So in other words, it still contains the same objects, but more, with more styles and images.

[wysota]

I kinda want to keep it a secret for now...

I'm going to keep the solution a secret as well then. Most probably (with about 99.9% probability) you don't need two UI files, one is enough to obtain both modes.

[codeslicer]

Well, either I'm wrong, or I have a 0.01 chance of getting this right. Attached, you will find screen shots of my program(Yes it might look a bit "weird" but here it is...)

[wysota]

Yes, you can do that using a single UI. Attached you'll find a UI with two different stylesheets set. Combined with setMask you'll achieve the effect you want.

[codeslicer]

Well, those "borders" are images. Also, they need to dynamically expand, so there are severl of them, all different. Using stylesheets, would I just set the QLabel image to nothing?

[wysota]

Well, those "borders" are images. Also, they need to dynamically expand, so there are severl of them, all different.

It's all achievable using style sheets.

[codeslicer]

Thanks, I'll try that.

But what should I do, create "placeholders" for those images?

[wysota]

No. Just style the form or put a frame in the form and style it like I did in the images I posted "border" and "border-image" statements are your friends.

[codeslicer]

How do I have multiple border images, ie some images have to be fixed size while the others have to stretch.

My form has to be dynamic, different fonts are used on different OS's, so I can't create one big image...

[wysota]

How do I have multiple border images, ie some images have to be fixed size while the others have to stretch.

See the docs for border-image.