|  | Home · All Classes · Modules

# QMainWindow Class Reference
[QtGui module]

The QMainWindow class provides a main application window. More...

Inherits QWidget.

### Types

- enum DockOption { AnimatedDocks, AllowNestedDocks, AllowTabbedDocks, ForceTabbedDocks, VerticalTabs }
- class DockOptions

### Methods

- __init__ (self, QWidget parent = None, Qt.WindowFlags flags = 0)
- addDockWidget (self, Qt.DockWidgetArea area, QDockWidget dockwidget)
- addDockWidget (self, Qt.DockWidgetArea area, QDockWidget dockwidget, Qt.Orientation orientation)
- addToolBar (self, Qt.ToolBarArea area, QToolBar toolbar)
- addToolBar (self, QToolBar toolbar)
- QToolBar addToolBar (self, QString title)
- addToolBarBreak (self, Qt.ToolBarArea area = Qt.TopToolBarArea)
- QWidget centralWidget (self)
- contextMenuEvent (self, QContextMenuEvent event)
- Qt.DockWidgetArea corner (self, Qt.Corner corner)
- QMenu createPopupMenu (self)
- DockOptions dockOptions (self)
- Qt.DockWidgetArea dockWidgetArea (self, QDockWidget dockwidget)
- bool documentMode (self)
- bool event (self, QEvent event)
- QSize iconSize (self)
- insertToolBar (self, QToolBar before, QToolBar toolbar)
- insertToolBarBreak (self, QToolBar before)
- bool isAnimated (self)
- bool isDockNestingEnabled (self)
- bool isSeparator (self, QPoint pos)
- QMenuBar menuBar (self)
- QWidget menuWidget (self)
- removeDockWidget (self, QDockWidget dockwidget)
- removeToolBar (self, QToolBar toolbar)
- removeToolBarBreak (self, QToolBar before)
- bool restoreDockWidget (self, QDockWidget dockwidget)
- bool restoreState (self, QByteArray state, int version = 0)
- QByteArray saveState (self, int version = 0)
- setAnimated (self, bool enabled)
- setCentralWidget (self, QWidget widget)
- setCorner (self, Qt.Corner corner, Qt.DockWidgetArea area)
- setDockNestingEnabled (self, bool enabled)
- setDockOptions (self, DockOptions options)
- setDocumentMode (self, bool enabled)
- setIconSize (self, QSize iconSize)
- setMenuBar (self, QMenuBar menubar)
- setMenuWidget (self, QWidget menubar)
- setStatusBar (self, QStatusBar statusbar)
- setTabPosition (self, Qt.DockWidgetAreas areas, QTabWidget.TabPosition tabPosition)
- setTabShape (self, QTabWidget.TabShape tabShape)
- setToolButtonStyle (self, Qt.ToolButtonStyle toolButtonStyle)
- setUnifiedTitleAndToolBarOnMac (self, bool set)
- splitDockWidget (self, QDockWidget after, QDockWidget dockwidget, Qt.Orientation orientation)
- QStatusBar statusBar (self)
- QList<QDockWidget *> tabifiedDockWidgets (self, QDockWidget dockwidget)
- tabifyDockWidget (self, QDockWidget first, QDockWidget second)
- QTabWidget.TabPosition tabPosition (self, Qt.DockWidgetArea area)
- QTabWidget.TabShape tabShape (self)
- Qt.ToolBarArea toolBarArea (self, QToolBar toolbar)
- bool toolBarBreak (self, QToolBar toolbar)
- Qt.ToolButtonStyle toolButtonStyle (self)
- bool unifiedTitleAndToolBarOnMac (self)

### Qt Signals

- void iconSizeChanged (const QSize&)
- void toolButtonStyleChanged (Qt::ToolButtonStyle)

## Detailed Description

The QMainWindow class provides a main application window.

- Qt Main Window Framework
- Creating Main Window Components

- Creating Menus
- Creating Toolbars
- Creating Dock Widgets
- The Status Bar

- Storing State

### Qt Main Window Framework

A main window provides a framework for building an application's user interface. Qt has QMainWindow and its related classes for main window management. QMainWindow has its own layout to which you can add QToolBars, QDockWidgets, a QMenuBar, and a QStatusBar. The layout has a center area that can be occupied by any kind of widget. You can see an image of the layout below.

Note: Creating a main window without a central widget is not supported. You must have a central widget even if it is just a placeholder.

### Creating Main Window Components

A central widget will typically be a standard Qt widget such as a QTextEdit or a QGraphicsView. Custom widgets can also be used for advanced applications. You set the central widget with `setCentralWidget()`.

Main windows have either a single (SDI) or multiple (MDI) document interface. You create MDI applications in Qt by using a QMdiArea as the central widget.

We will now examine each of the other widgets that can be added to a main window. We give examples on how to create and add them.

#### Creating Menus

Qt implements menus in QMenu and QMainWindow keeps them in a QMenuBar. QActions are added to the menus, which display them as menu items.

You can add new menus to the main window's menu bar by calling `menuBar()`, which returns the QMenuBar for the window, and then add a menu with QMenuBar.addMenu().

QMainWindow comes with a default menu bar, but you can also set one yourself with `setMenuBar()`. If you wish to implement a custom menu bar (i.e., not use the QMenuBar widget), you can set it with `setMenuWidget()`.

An example of how to create menus follows:

     void MainWindow.createMenus()
     {
         fileMenu = menuBar()->addMenu(tr("&File"));
         fileMenu->addAction(newAct);
         fileMenu->addAction(openAct);
         fileMenu->addAction(saveAct);

The `createPopupMenu()` function creates popup menus when the main window receives context menu events. The default implementation generates a menu with the checkable actions from the dock widgets and toolbars. You can reimplement `createPopupMenu()` for a custom menu.

#### Creating Toolbars

Toolbars are implemented in the QToolBar class. You add a toolbar to a main window with `addToolBar()`.

You control the initial position of toolbars by assigning them to a specific Qt.ToolBarArea. You can split an area by inserting a toolbar break - think of this as a line break in text editing - with `addToolBarBreak()` or `insertToolBarBreak()`. You can also restrict placement by the user with QToolBar.setAllowedAreas() and QToolBar.setMovable().

The size of toolbar icons can be retrieved with `iconSize()`. The sizes are platform dependent; you can set a fixed size with `setIconSize()`. You can alter the appearance of all tool buttons in the toolbars with `setToolButtonStyle()`.

An example of toolbar creation follows:

     void MainWindow.createToolBars()
     {
         fileToolBar = addToolBar(tr("File"));
         fileToolBar->addAction(newAct);

#### Creating Dock Widgets

Dock widgets are implemented in the QDockWidget class. A dock widget is a window that can be docked into the main window. You add dock widgets to a main window with `addDockWidget()`.

There are four dock widget areas as given by the Qt.DockWidgetArea enum: left, right, top, and bottom. You can specify which dock widget area that should occupy the corners where the areas overlap with `setCorner()`. By default each area can only contain one row (vertical or horizontal) of dock widgets, but if you enable nesting with `setDockNestingEnabled()`, dock widgets can be added in either direction.

Two dock widgets may also be stacked on top of each other. A QTabBar is then used to select which of the widgets that should be displayed.

We give an example of how to create and add dock widgets to a main window:

         QDockWidget *dockWidget = new QDockWidget(tr("Dock Widget"), this);
         dockWidget->setAllowedAreas(Qt.LeftDockWidgetArea |
                                     Qt.RightDockWidgetArea);
         dockWidget->setWidget(dockWidgetContents);
         addDockWidget(Qt.LeftDockWidgetArea, dockWidget);

#### The Status Bar

You can set a status bar with `setStatusBar()`, but one is created the first time `statusBar()` (which returns the main window's status bar) is called. See QStatusBar for information on how to use it.

### Storing State

QMainWindow can store the state of its layout with `saveState()`; it can later be retrieved with `restoreState()`. It is the position and size (relative to the size of the main window) of the toolbars and dock widgets that are stored.

See also QMenuBar, QToolBar, QStatusBar, QDockWidget, Application Example, Dock Widgets Example, MDI Example, SDI Example, and Menus Example.

## Type Documentation

### QMainWindow.DockOption

This enum contains flags that specify the docking behavior of QMainWindow.

Constant | Value | Description
--- | --- | ---
`QMainWindow.AnimatedDocks` | `0x01` | Identical to the animated property.
`QMainWindow.AllowNestedDocks` | `0x02` | Identical to the dockNestingEnabled property.
`QMainWindow.AllowTabbedDocks` | `0x04` | The user can drop one dock widget "on top" of another. The two widgets are stacked and a tab bar appears for selecting which one is visible.
`QMainWindow.ForceTabbedDocks` | `0x08` | Each dock area contains a single stack of tabbed dock widgets. In other words, dock widgets cannot be placed next to each other in a dock area. If this option is set, AllowNestedDocks has no effect.
`QMainWindow.VerticalTabs` | `0x10` | The two vertical dock areas on the sides of the main window show their tabs vertically. If this option is not set, all dock areas show their tabs at the bottom. Implies AllowTabbedDocks. See also setTabPosition().

These options only control how dock widgets may be dropped in a QMainWindow. They do not re-arrange the dock widgets to conform with the specified options. For this reason they should be set before any dock widgets are added to the main window. Exceptions to this are the AnimatedDocks and VerticalTabs options, which may be set at any time.

This enum was introduced in Qt 4.3.

The DockOptions type is a typedef for QFlags<DockOption>. It stores an OR combination of DockOption values.

## Method Documentation

### QMainWindow.__init__ (self, QWidget parent = None, Qt.WindowFlags flags = 0)

The parent argument, if not None, causes self to be owned by Qt instead of PyQt.

Constructs a QMainWindow with the given parent and the specified widget flags.

QMainWindow sets the Qt.Window flag itself, and will hence always be created as a top-level widget.

### QMainWindow.addDockWidget (self, Qt.DockWidgetArea area, QDockWidget dockwidget)

The dockwidget argument has it's ownership transferred to Qt.

Adds the given dockwidget to the specified area.

### QMainWindow.addDockWidget (self, Qt.DockWidgetArea area, QDockWidget dockwidget, Qt.Orientation orientation)

The dockwidget argument has it's ownership transferred to Qt.

Adds dockwidget into the given area in the direction specified by the orientation.

### QMainWindow.addToolBar (self, Qt.ToolBarArea area, QToolBar toolbar)

The toolbar argument has it's ownership transferred to Qt.

Adds the toolbar into the specified area in this main window. The toolbar is placed at the end of the current tool bar block (i.e. line). If the main window already manages toolbar then it will only move the toolbar to area.

See also insertToolBar(), addToolBarBreak(), and insertToolBarBreak().

### QMainWindow.addToolBar (self, QToolBar toolbar)

The toolbar argument has it's ownership transferred to Qt.

This is an overloaded function.

Equivalent of calling addToolBar(Qt.TopToolBarArea, toolbar)

### QToolBar QMainWindow.addToolBar (self, QString title)

This is an overloaded function.

Creates a QToolBar object, setting its window title to title, and inserts it into the top toolbar area.

See also setWindowTitle().

### QMainWindow.addToolBarBreak (self, Qt.ToolBarArea area = Qt.TopToolBarArea)

Adds a toolbar break to the given area after all the other objects that are present.

### QWidget QMainWindow.centralWidget (self)

Returns the central widget for the main window. This function returns zero if the central widget has not been set.

See also setCentralWidget().

### QMainWindow.contextMenuEvent (self, QContextMenuEvent event)

### Qt.DockWidgetArea QMainWindow.corner (self, Qt.Corner corner)

Returns the dock widget area that occupies the specified corner.

See also setCorner().

### QMenu QMainWindow.createPopupMenu (self)

Returns a popup menu containing checkable entries for the toolbars and dock widgets present in the main window. If there are no toolbars and dock widgets present, this function returns a null pointer.

By default, this function is called by the main window when the user activates a context menu, typically by right-clicking on a toolbar or a dock widget.

If you want to create a custom popup menu, reimplement this function and return a newly-created popup menu. Ownership of the popup menu is transferred to the caller.

See also addDockWidget(), addToolBar(), and menuBar().

### DockOptions QMainWindow.dockOptions (self)

### Qt.DockWidgetArea QMainWindow.dockWidgetArea (self, QDockWidget dockwidget)

Returns the Qt.DockWidgetArea for dockwidget. If dockwidget has not been added to the main window, this function returns `Qt.NoDockWidgetArea`.

See also addDockWidget(), splitDockWidget(), and Qt.DockWidgetArea.

### bool QMainWindow.documentMode (self)

### bool QMainWindow.event (self, QEvent event)

### QSize QMainWindow.iconSize (self)

### QMainWindow.insertToolBar (self, QToolBar before, QToolBar toolbar)

The toolbar argument has it's ownership transferred to Qt.

Inserts the toolbar into the area occupied by the before toolbar so that it appears before it. For example, in normal left-to-right layout operation, this means that toolbar will appear to the left of the toolbar specified by before in a horizontal toolbar area.

See also insertToolBarBreak(), addToolBar(), and addToolBarBreak().

### QMainWindow.insertToolBarBreak (self, QToolBar before)

Inserts a toolbar break before the toolbar specified by before.

### bool QMainWindow.isAnimated (self)

### bool QMainWindow.isDockNestingEnabled (self)

### bool QMainWindow.isSeparator (self, QPoint pos)

### QMenuBar QMainWindow.menuBar (self)

Returns the menu bar for the main window. This function creates and returns an empty menu bar if the menu bar does not exist.

If you want all windows in a Mac application to share one menu bar, don't use this function to create it, because the menu bar created here will have this QMainWindow as its parent. Instead, you must create a menu bar that does not have a parent, which you can then share among all the Mac windows. Create a parent-less menu bar this way:

     QMenuBar *menuBar = new QMenuBar(0);

See also setMenuBar().

### QWidget QMainWindow.menuWidget (self)

Returns the menu bar for the main window. This function returns null if a menu bar hasn't been constructed yet.

This function was introduced in Qt 4.2.

See also setMenuWidget().

### QMainWindow.removeDockWidget (self, QDockWidget dockwidget)

The dockwidget argument

Removes the dockwidget from the main window layout and hides it. Note that the dockwidget is not deleted.

### QMainWindow.removeToolBar (self, QToolBar toolbar)

The toolbar argument

Removes the toolbar from the main window layout and hides it. Note that the toolbar is not deleted.

### QMainWindow.removeToolBarBreak (self, QToolBar before)

Removes a toolbar break previously inserted before the toolbar specified by before.

### bool QMainWindow.restoreDockWidget (self, QDockWidget dockwidget)

Restores the state of dockwidget if it is created after the call to restoreState(). Returns true if the state was restored; otherwise returns false.

### bool QMainWindow.restoreState (self, QByteArray state, int version = 0)

Restores the state of this mainwindow's toolbars and dockwidgets. The version number is compared with that stored in state. If they do not match, the mainwindow's state is left unchanged, and this function returns `false`; otherwise, the state is restored, and this function returns `true`.

See also saveState(), QWidget.saveGeometry(), and QWidget.restoreGeometry().

### QByteArray QMainWindow.saveState (self, int version = 0)

Saves the current state of this mainwindow's toolbars and dockwidgets. The version number is stored as part of the data.

The objectName property is used to identify each QToolBar and QDockWidget. You should make sure that this property is unique for each QToolBar and QDockWidget you add to the QMainWindow

To restore the saved state, pass the return value and version number to restoreState().

See also restoreState(), QWidget.saveGeometry(), and QWidget.restoreGeometry().

### QMainWindow.setAnimated (self, bool enabled)

This method is also a Qt slot with the C++ signature `void setAnimated(bool)`.

### QMainWindow.setCentralWidget (self, QWidget widget)

The widget argument has it's ownership transferred to Qt.

Sets the given widget to be the main window's central widget.

Note: QMainWindow takes ownership of the widget pointer and deletes it at the appropriate time.

See also centralWidget().

### QMainWindow.setCorner (self, Qt.Corner corner, Qt.DockWidgetArea area)

Sets the given dock widget area to occupy the specified corner.

See also corner().

### QMainWindow.setDockNestingEnabled (self, bool enabled)

This method is also a Qt slot with the C++ signature `void setDockNestingEnabled(bool)`.

### QMainWindow.setDockOptions (self, DockOptions options)

### QMainWindow.setDocumentMode (self, bool enabled)

### QMainWindow.setIconSize (self, QSize iconSize)

### QMainWindow.setMenuBar (self, QMenuBar menubar)

The menubar argument has it's ownership transferred to Qt.

Sets the menu bar for the main window to menuBar.

Note: QMainWindow takes ownership of the menuBar pointer and deletes it at the appropriate time.

See also menuBar().

### QMainWindow.setMenuWidget (self, QWidget menubar)

The menubar argument has it's ownership transferred to Qt.

Sets the menu bar for the main window to menuBar.

QMainWindow takes ownership of the menuBar pointer and deletes it at the appropriate time.

This function was introduced in Qt 4.2.

See also menuWidget().

### QMainWindow.setStatusBar (self, QStatusBar statusbar)

The statusbar argument has it's ownership transferred to Qt.

Sets the status bar for the main window to statusbar.

Setting the status bar to 0 will remove it from the main window. Note that QMainWindow takes ownership of the statusbar pointer and deletes it at the appropriate time.

See also statusBar().

### QMainWindow.setTabPosition (self, Qt.DockWidgetAreas areas, QTabWidget.TabPosition tabPosition)

Sets the tab position for the given dock widget areas to the specified tabPosition. By default, all dock areas show their tabs at the bottom.

Note: The VerticalTabs dock option overrides the tab positions set by this method.

This function was introduced in Qt 4.5.

See also tabPosition() and setTabShape().

### QMainWindow.setTabShape (self, QTabWidget.TabShape tabShape)

### QMainWindow.setToolButtonStyle (self, Qt.ToolButtonStyle toolButtonStyle)

### QMainWindow.setUnifiedTitleAndToolBarOnMac (self, bool set)

### QMainWindow.splitDockWidget (self, QDockWidget after, QDockWidget dockwidget, Qt.Orientation orientation)

The dockwidget argument has it's ownership transferred to Qt.

Splits the space covered by the first dock widget into two parts, moves the first dock widget into the first part, and moves the second dock widget into the second part.

The orientation specifies how the space is divided: A Qt.Horizontal split places the second dock widget to the right of the first; a Qt.Vertical split places the second dock widget below the first.

Note: if first is currently in a tabbed docked area, second will be added as a new tab, not as a neighbor of first. This is because a single tab can contain only one dock widget.

Note: The Qt.LayoutDirection influences the order of the dock widgets in the two parts of the divided area. When right-to-left layout direction is enabled, the placing of the dock widgets will be reversed.

See also tabifyDockWidget(), addDockWidget(), and removeDockWidget().

### QStatusBar QMainWindow.statusBar (self)

Returns the status bar for the main window. This function creates and returns an empty status bar if the status bar does not exist.

See also setStatusBar().

### QList<QDockWidget *> QMainWindow.tabifiedDockWidgets (self, QDockWidget dockwidget)

Returns the dock widgets that are tabified together with dockwidget.

This function was introduced in Qt 4.5.

See also tabifyDockWidget().

### QMainWindow.tabifyDockWidget (self, QDockWidget first, QDockWidget second)

Moves second dock widget on top of first dock widget, creating a tabbed docked area in the main window.

See also tabifiedDockWidgets().

### QTabWidget.TabPosition QMainWindow.tabPosition (self, Qt.DockWidgetArea area)

Returns the tab position for area.

Note: The VerticalTabs dock option overrides the tab positions returned by this function.

This function was introduced in Qt 4.5.

See also setTabPosition() and tabShape().

### QTabWidget.TabShape QMainWindow.tabShape (self)

### Qt.ToolBarArea QMainWindow.toolBarArea (self, QToolBar toolbar)

Returns the Qt.ToolBarArea for toolbar. If toolbar has not been added to the main window, this function returns `Qt.NoToolBarArea`.

See also addToolBar(), addToolBarBreak(), and Qt.ToolBarArea.

### bool QMainWindow.toolBarBreak (self, QToolBar toolbar)

Returns whether there is a toolbar break before the toolbar.

See also addToolBarBreak() and insertToolBarBreak().

### Qt.ToolButtonStyle QMainWindow.toolButtonStyle (self)

### bool QMainWindow.unifiedTitleAndToolBarOnMac (self)

## Qt Signal Documentation

### void iconSizeChanged (const QSize&)

This is the default overload of this signal.

This signal is emitted when the size of the icons used in the window is changed. The new icon size is passed in iconSize.

You can connect this signal to other components to help maintain a consistent appearance for your application.

See also setIconSize().

### void toolButtonStyleChanged (Qt::ToolButtonStyle)

This is the default overload of this signal.

This signal is emitted when the style used for tool buttons in the window is changed. The new style is passed in toolButtonStyle.

You can connect this signal to other components to help maintain a consistent appearance for your application.

See also setToolButtonStyle().