Hey, thanks you two for your help. I got it working so far.

I realized my blunder - I basically had the right code, just in the wrong place.

My main now loads the .ui file, followed by
Qt Code:
  1. MainForm mfMain;
  2. mfMain.setCentralWidget(formWidget);
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where the ctor for MainForm goes like so
Qt Code:
  1. MainForm::MainForm(QWidget *parent) : QMainWindow(parent)
  2. {
  3. //...
  4. }
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This makes a lot of sense too; it works like wysota's post above.

Any idea why Gtk's (using Glade) method of interface design explicitly promotes dynamic interface loading, while in Qt land the paradigm focuses on the static method? I can see advantages and restrictions in both, but neither seems clearly better.