std formatted string with QTextEdit

[nileshsince1980]

Hi All,
In my QT application ( QT 4.5.1 & Windows XP , SUSE Linux) I am formatting the string using std formatting functions (e.g std::setw() )
But when I fomratted required string and put it on QTextEdit to display the formatting doesnt get apply But if same string I see using std::cout I see the formatting is correctly applied. Can you tell me how to apply formatting in QTextEdit.

e.g.
std::stringstream ss;
ss << std::left << std::setw(40) << "Values" << std::setw(40) << "Keyword/Constant" << std::endl;
ss << std::left << std::setw(40) << "One" << std::setw(40) << "One" << std::endl;
ss << std::left << std::setw(40) << "Four" << std::setw(40) << "Four" << std::endl;
ss << std::left << std::setw(40) << "Three" << std::setw(40) << "Three" << std::endl;

cout << ss.str(); //Works fine

textEdit->setPlainText(QString::fromStdString(ss.str())); // Formatting doesnt apply

[Ginsengelf]

Hi, is there a special reason why you have to use std::stringstream? Otherwise you should use QString's methods like QString::arg().

Ginsengelf

[nileshsince1980]

Hi,
Thanks for reply ...
As I want to use std::setw(..) function for formatting and return the std::string object which will be then covert to QString using fromStdString(..).
Can you tell me how to use QString::arg(..) function for above code??

Thanks in advance !

[gargoylle_ltk]

What exactly happens ? Does it help if you set a fixed-width font (such as courier new) for the QTextEdit ?

[nileshsince1980]

Hi,
In my app, it is not setting the fixed width font with QTextEdit so I am not able to get the output as I could see using std::cout.
If you tried to test above code you will see the difference between the expected output & actualt output.

[pitonyak]

Hi,
Thanks for reply ...
As I want to use std::setw(..) function for formatting and return the std::string object which will be then covert to QString using fromStdString(..).
Can you tell me how to use QString::arg(..) function for above code??

Check the docs! http://qt.nokia.com/doc/4.6/qstring.html#arg

Consider this code

ss << std::left << std::setw(40) << "Values" << std::setw(40) << "Keyword/Constant" << std::endl;

ss << std::left << std::setw(40) << "Values" << std::setw(40) << "Keyword/Constant" << std::endl;

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This will likely work with

QString("%1%2\n").arg("Values", -40).arg("Keyword/Constant", -40)

QString("%1%2\n").arg("Values", -40).arg("Keyword/Constant", -40)

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As a side note, if you desire to do this in a similar way using QT constructs, you can use a QTextSTream
http://qt.nokia.com/doc/4.6/qtextstream.html
Points of interest are:

• setFieldAlignment Sets the field alignment mode (so you can set left, center, right...). Use the left() shortcut.
• setFieldWidth Sets the current field width to width. This also applies to endl, so be careful.

OK, now for an untested example:

QString s;
QTextStream ss(&s);
ss.setFieldAlignment(QTextStream::AlignLeft);
ss.setFieldWidth(40);
...

QString s;
QTextStream ss(&s);
ss.setFieldAlignment(QTextStream::AlignLeft);
ss.setFieldWidth(40);
...

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You can also use the inline functions:

QString s;
    QTextStream ss(&s);
    ss << left << qSetFieldWidth(40) << "Value" << "Keyword/Constant" << qSetFieldWidth(0) << endl;
    ss << qSetFieldWidth(40) << "One" << "One" << qSetFieldWidth(0) << endl;
    qDebug(qPrintable(s));

QString s;
    QTextStream ss(&s);
    ss << left << qSetFieldWidth(40) << "Value" << "Keyword/Constant" << qSetFieldWidth(0) << endl;
    ss << qSetFieldWidth(40) << "One" << "One" << qSetFieldWidth(0) << endl;
    qDebug(qPrintable(s));

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I will note, however, that printing the last item on a line with a field width of 40 seems a little silly, because this simply provides spaces after the field, but before the new line character.

[pitonyak]

Hi,
In my app, it is not setting the fixed width font with QTextEdit so I am not able to get the output as I could see using std::cout.
If you tried to test above code you will see the difference between the expected output & actualt output.

Have you considered using tabs between columns rather than spaces? You can then use setTabStopWidth to set the tab width if it is not appropriate.

[nileshsince1980]

Hi Pitonyak,
thanks for reply.
I tried usinbg QTextStream class ..but still I am not able to see formatting as per expected for QTextEdit class.
If you tried the output on command window using cout or qDebug and in QTextEdit you will able to see the difference.
e.g. Using cout
Values Keyword/Constant
One One
Three Three
Four Four

but in QTextEdit class
Values Keyword/Constant
One One
Three Three
Four Four

The column width is not setting propertly for QTextWidth.

[pitonyak]

I do not have an example handy that allows me to check a column width... I just looked where I expected to see such a thing.

[Lesiok]

Remember that GUI is working with non constant character width font. Ie. word "mmmm" is about 3-4 times bigger than "iiii". Command line window, where You can see qDebug() or cout output is working with constant character width font. Ie. words "mmmm" are "iiii" have this same size. Just like here :
Text with non constant width font :
mmmm
iiii

and Qt Code (text with constant width font)

mmmm
iiii

mmmm
iiii

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[gargoylle_ltk]

I'm still not sure I understand exactly what the problem is but here is a screenshot of what I tried (you can see the actual code in the background):
snapshot1.jpg
Is this not what you expected/wanted ?

[nileshsince1980]

Hi gargoylle_ltk

I want exactly as per the snap shot you have shown.
If if I use QTextEdit with constant width font.

[nileshsince1980]

Hi Lesiok

thanks for reply.
I think I have to use constand with font for QTextEdit to get the output expected.
Can you tell me how to use QTextEdit for constant width font ??

Thanks,
Nilesh

[Lesiok]

Look at QWidget::font

[nileshsince1980]

Thanks to all,
I got the solution,

QFont fnt("",10);

fnt.setStyleHint(QFont::Courier, QFont::PreferQuality);

QTextEdit* ed = new QTextEdit();

ed->setCurrentFont(fnt);


Above code works fine for me,

Thanks again...!!!

Nilesh