PyQt Widgets - QtWidgets Module

Comprehensive guide to Qt widgets and layout management.

Display Widgets

QLabel

from PySide6.QtWidgets import QLabel
from PySide6.QtCore import Qt
from PySide6.QtGui import QPixmap

label = QLabel("Text Label")

# Text properties
label.setText("New text")
label.setAlignment(Qt.AlignmentFlag.AlignCenter)
label.setWordWrap(True)
label.setIndent(10)  # Pixels

# Image
label.setPixmap(QPixmap("image.png"))
label.setScaledContents(True)

# Rich text
label.setText("<b>Bold</b> and <i>italic</i>")
label.setTextFormat(Qt.TextFormat.RichText)

# Link
label.setText('<a href="https://example.com">Click here</a>')
label.setOpenExternalLinks(True)
label.linkActivated.connect(lambda url: print(f"Clicked: {url}"))

QProgressBar

from PySide6.QtWidgets import QProgressBar

progress = QProgressBar()

# Set range and value
progress.setRange(0, 100)
progress.setValue(50)

# Text visibility
progress.setTextVisible(True)
progress.setFormat("%p%")  # %p = percentage, %v = value

# Indeterminate mode
progress.setRange(0, 0)  # Shows busy indicator

# Orientation
progress.setOrientation(Qt.Orientation.Horizontal)
progress.setOrientation(Qt.Orientation.Vertical)

QLCDNumber

from PySide6.QtWidgets import QLCDNumber

lcd = QLCDNumber()
lcd.display(123)
lcd.setDigitCount(4)
lcd.setMode(QLCDNumber.Mode.Dec)  # Hex, Oct, Bin
lcd.setSegmentStyle(QLCDNumber.SegmentStyle.Flat)

Input Widgets

QLineEdit

from PySide6.QtWidgets import QLineEdit

line = QLineEdit()

# Text
line.setText("Default")
line.setPlaceholderText("Enter text...")
line.clear()

# Echo mode
line.setEchoMode(QLineEdit.EchoMode.Normal)
line.setEchoMode(QLineEdit.EchoMode.Password)
line.setEchoMode(QLineEdit.EchoMode.NoEcho)

# Validation
line.setMaxLength(100)
line.setInputMask("999-9999")  # Phone number
line.setValidator(QIntValidator(0, 100))  # Numbers only

# Selection
line.selectAll()
line.setSelection(0, 5)

# Signals
line.textChanged.connect(self.onTextChange)
line.textEdited.connect(self.onTextEdit)
line.returnPressed.connect(self.onSubmit)
line.editingFinished.connect(self.onEditDone)

QTextEdit

from PySide6.QtWidgets import QTextEdit

text = QTextEdit()

# Plain text
text.setPlainText("Plain text content")
plain = text.toPlainText()

# HTML
text.setHtml("<b>Bold</b> and <i>italic</i>")
html = text.toHtml()

# Append
text.append("More text")
text.append("<b>HTML text</b>")

# Properties
text.setReadOnly(True)
text.setLineWrapMode(QTextEdit.LineWrapMode.WidgetWidth)

# Cursor
cursor = text.textCursor()
cursor.insertText("Inserted text")

# Undo/Redo
text.undo()
text.redo()
text.setUndoRedoEnabled(False)

QSpinBox and QDoubleSpinBox

from PySide6.QtWidgets import QSpinBox, QDoubleSpinBox

spin = QSpinBox()
spin.setRange(0, 100)
spin.setValue(50)
spin.setSingleStep(5)  # Step on arrow click
spin.setSuffix(" px")
spin.setPrefix("$ ")
spin.valueChanged.connect(lambda v: print(f"Value: {v}"))

# Double spin box
dspin = QDoubleSpinBox()
dspin.setRange(0.0, 1.0)
dspin.setValue(0.5)
dspin.setDecimals(2)
dspin.setSingleStep(0.1)

QComboBox

from PySide6.QtWidgets import QComboBox

combo = QComboBox()

# Add items
combo.addItem("Option 1")
combo.addItems(["Option 2", "Option 3", "Option 4"])

# Current selection
combo.setCurrentIndex(0)
combo.setCurrentText("Option 2")
index = combo.currentIndex()
text = combo.currentText()

# Editable
combo.setEditable(True)
combo.setCompleter(None)  # Disable autocomplete

# Insert
combo.insertItem(0, "First")
combo.insertItems(1, ["A", "B"])

# Remove
combo.removeItem(0)
combo.clear()

# Signals
combo.currentIndexChanged.connect(lambda i: print(f"Index: {i}"))
combo.currentTextChanged.connect(lambda t: print(f"Text: {t}"))

QCheckBox

from PySide6.QtWidgets import QCheckBox

check = QCheckBox("Enable feature")
check.setChecked(True)

# Tristate
check.setTristate(True)
check.setCheckState(Qt.CheckState.PartiallyChecked)

# State
is_checked = check.isChecked()
state = check.checkState()

# Signals
check.stateChanged.connect(lambda s: print(f"State: {s}"))
check.toggled.connect(lambda c: print(f"Checked: {c}"))

QRadioButton

from PySide6.QtWidgets import QRadioButton, QButtonGroup

radio1 = QRadioButton("Option A")
radio2 = QRadioButton("Option B")

# Group (exclusive)
group = QButtonGroup()
group.addButton(radio1)
group.addButton(radio2)

# Or use parent widget for auto-exclusive behavior

# Select
radio1.setChecked(True)

# Check
if radio1.isChecked():
    print("Option A selected")

# Signals
radio1.toggled.connect(lambda c: print(f"Toggled: {c}"))
group.buttonClicked.connect(lambda btn: print(f"Clicked: {btn.text()}"))

QSlider

from PySide6.QtWidgets import QSlider

slider = QSlider(Qt.Orientation.Horizontal)
slider.setRange(0, 100)
slider.setValue(50)
slider.setSingleStep(1)
slider.setPageStep(10)
slider.setTickPosition(QSlider.TickPosition.TicksBelow)
slider.setTickInterval(10)

value = slider.value()
slider.valueChanged.connect(lambda v: print(f"Value: {v}"))

Buttons

QPushButton

from PySide6.QtWidgets import QPushButton
from PySide6.QtGui import QIcon

button = QPushButton("Click Me")

# Icon
button.setIcon(QIcon("icon.png"))
button.setIconSize(QSize(16, 16))

# Properties
button.setEnabled(False)
button.setDefault(True)  # Default button in dialog
button.setFlat(True)  # No border

# Checkable
button.setCheckable(True)
button.setChecked(True)
button.toggled.connect(lambda c: print(f"Toggled: {c}"))

# Menu
menu = QMenu(button)
menu.addAction("Option 1")
menu.addAction("Option 2")
button.setMenu(menu)

# Signals
button.clicked.connect(lambda: print("Clicked!"))
button.pressed.connect(lambda: print("Pressed"))
button.released.connect(lambda: print("Released"))

QToolButton

from PySide6.QtWidgets import QToolButton

tool = QToolButton()
tool.setIcon(QIcon("icon.png"))
tool.setToolTip("Tool tip")
tool.setToolButtonStyle(Qt.ToolButtonStyle.ToolButtonTextUnderIcon)
tool.setAutoRaise(True)  # Flat until hover

Container Widgets

QGroupBox

from PySide6.QtWidgets import QGroupBox, QVBoxLayout

group = QGroupBox("Settings")
group.setCheckable(True)
group.setChecked(True)

layout = QVBoxLayout(group)
layout.addWidget(QCheckBox("Option 1"))
layout.addWidget(QCheckBox("Option 2"))

QTabWidget

from PySide6.QtWidgets import QTabWidget, QWidget

tabs = QTabWidget()

# Add tabs
page1 = QWidget()
page2 = QWidget()
tabs.addTab(page1, "Tab 1")
tabs.addTab(page2, "Tab 2")

# With icon
tabs.addTab(page3, QIcon("icon.png"), "Tab 3")

# Current tab
tabs.setCurrentIndex(0)
index = tabs.currentIndex()

# Properties
tabs.setTabsClosable(True)
tabs.setMovable(True)
tabs.setDocumentMode(True)  # Flat style

# Signals
tabs.currentChanged.connect(lambda i: print(f"Tab: {i}"))
tabs.tabCloseRequested.connect(lambda i: tabs.removeTab(i))

QScrollArea

from PySide6.QtWidgets import QScrollArea, QLabel

scroll = QScrollArea()

# Content widget
content = QLabel("Very long content...")
content.setWordWrap(True)

scroll.setWidget(content)
scroll.setWidgetResizable(True)
scroll.setHorizontalScrollBarPolicy(Qt.ScrollBarPolicy.ScrollBarAlwaysOff)
scroll.setVerticalScrollBarPolicy(Qt.ScrollBarPolicy.ScrollBarAsNeeded)

QSplitter

from PySide6.QtWidgets import QSplitter

splitter = QSplitter(Qt.Orientation.Horizontal)
splitter.addWidget(left_widget)
splitter.addWidget(right_widget)

# Sizes
splitter.setSizes([200, 400])
sizes = splitter.sizes()

# Collapsible
splitter.setChildrenCollapsible(False)

QStackedWidget

from PySide6.QtWidgets import QStackedWidget

stack = QStackedWidget()
stack.addWidget(page1)  # Index 0
stack.addWidget(page2)  # Index 1
stack.addWidget(page3)  # Index 2

stack.setCurrentIndex(0)
stack.setCurrentWidget(page2)
current = stack.currentIndex()

Best Practices

Layout

# ✅ GOOD: Use layouts, not fixed positions
layout = QVBoxLayout()
layout.addWidget(button)

# ❌ BAD: Hardcoded positions
button.setGeometry(10, 10, 100, 30)

# ✅ GOOD: Responsive layouts
layout.setStretchFactor(widget, 1)  # Proportional sizing

Widget Creation

# ✅ GOOD: Reuse widgets
class CustomButton(QPushButton):
    def __init__(self, text):
        super().__init__(text)
        self.setMinimumSize(100, 40)

# ❌ BAD: Create widgets in loops
# Create outside loop, update in loop

State Management

# ✅ GOOD: Centralize state
class AppState:
    def __init__(self):
        self.data_changed = Signal()
        
state = AppState()
# Connect to signal for updates

Do:

• Use layouts over fixed geometry
• Set size policies, not fixed sizes
• Use signals for communication

Don't:

• Mix layout with setGeometry
• Create widgets in tight loops
• Hardcode sizes

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Deep Dives

For detailed reference, see:

• Item Views and Layouts - QListWidget, QTreeWidget, QTableWidget, QVBoxLayout, QHBoxLayout, QGridLayout, QFormLayout, QStackedLayout
• Event Handling - Event handlers, event filters, keyboard/mouse shortcuts

References

• Qt for Python Widgets: https://doc.qt.io/qtforpython-6/PySide6/QtWidgets/
• Widget Gallery: https://doc.qt.io/qtforpython-6/widgetgallery.html
• Layout Management: https://doc.qt.io/qtforpython-6/layouts.html