Developing Advanced GUI Applications with Qt

Tutorial 5 of 5

1. Introduction

The goal of this tutorial is to get you started with developing more complex GUI applications using the Qt framework. By the end of the tutorial, you will be able to:

  • Create applications with multiple windows
  • Use advanced widgets
  • Handle more complex events

Prerequisites: Basic knowledge of C++ and familiarity with Qt for simple GUI applications.

2. Step-by-Step Guide

2.1 Creating Applications with Multiple Windows

In Qt, you can create a new window by creating an instance of QMainWindow, QDialog, or QWidget. You may want to use multiple windows for different parts of your application.

QMainWindow *newWindow = new QMainWindow;
newWindow->show();

2.2 Using Advanced Widgets

Widgets are the primary element for creating user interfaces in Qt. Qt provides a large number of widgets for different purposes, such as QPushButton, QLabel, QTextEdit, QListView, etc.

QPushButton *button = new QPushButton("Hello, World!");
button->show();

2.3 Handling More Complex Events

Qt uses a system of signals and slots for its events. A signal is emitted when a particular event occurs, and a slot is a function that is called in response to a particular signal.

connect(button, SIGNAL(clicked()), this, SLOT(onButtonClicked()));

3. Code Examples

3.1 Creating a Simple Window

// Create a simple window with a button
#include <QApplication>
#include <QPushButton>

int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
    QApplication app (argc, argv);

    QPushButton button ("Hello, World!");
    button.show();

    return app.exec();
}

This creates a simple window with a single button labeled "Hello, World!".

4. Summary

In this tutorial, we have covered creating applications with multiple windows, using advanced widgets, and handling more complex events in Qt.

For further learning, you can explore:

  • Other widgets provided by Qt
  • Creating custom widgets
  • More complex event handling

5. Practice Exercises

5.1 Exercise 1: Create a window with two buttons, labeled "Button 1" and "Button 2".

5.2 Exercise 2: Make "Button 1" open a new window when clicked, with a label that says "New Window".

5.3 Exercise 3: Make "Button 2" change the label in the new window to "Updated" when clicked.

Tips for further practice: Try creating a more complex application with multiple windows, widgets, and events. Experiment with different widgets and event handling methods.