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QStyle Class Reference
^{[QtGui module]}

The QStyle class is an abstract base class that encapsulates the look and feel of a GUI. More...

Inherits QObject.

Inherited by QCommonStyle.

Types

• enum ComplexControl { CC_SpinBox, CC_ComboBox, CC_ScrollBar, CC_Slider, ..., CC_CustomBase }
• enum ContentsType { CT_PushButton, CT_CheckBox, CT_RadioButton, CT_ToolButton, ..., CT_CustomBase }
• enum ControlElement { CE_PushButton, CE_PushButtonBevel, CE_PushButtonLabel, CE_CheckBox, ..., CE_CustomBase }
• enum PixelMetric { PM_ButtonMargin, PM_ButtonDefaultIndicator, PM_MenuButtonIndicator, PM_ButtonShiftHorizontal, ..., PM_CustomBase }
• enum PrimitiveElement { PE_Q3CheckListController, PE_Q3CheckListExclusiveIndicator, PE_Q3CheckListIndicator, PE_Q3DockWindowSeparator, ..., PE_CustomBase }
• enum RequestSoftwareInputPanel { RSIP_OnMouseClickAndAlreadyFocused, RSIP_OnMouseClick }
• enum StandardPixmap { SP_TitleBarMenuButton, SP_TitleBarMinButton, SP_TitleBarMaxButton, SP_TitleBarCloseButton, ..., SP_CustomBase }
• class State
• enum StateFlag { State_None, State_Enabled, State_Raised, State_Sunken, ..., State_Mini }
• enum StyleHint { SH_EtchDisabledText, SH_DitherDisabledText, SH_ScrollBar_MiddleClickAbsolutePosition, SH_ScrollBar_ScrollWhenPointerLeavesControl, ..., SH_CustomBase }
• enum SubControl { SC_None, SC_ScrollBarAddLine, SC_ScrollBarSubLine, SC_ScrollBarAddPage, ..., SC_All }
• class SubControls
• enum SubElement { SE_PushButtonContents, SE_PushButtonFocusRect, SE_CheckBoxIndicator, SE_CheckBoxContents, ..., SE_CustomBase }

Methods

• __init__ (self)
• int combinedLayoutSpacing (self, QSizePolicy.ControlTypes controls1, QSizePolicy.ControlTypes controls2, Qt.Orientation orientation, QStyleOption option = None, QWidget widget = None)
• drawComplexControl (self, ComplexControl cc, QStyleOptionComplex opt, QPainter p, QWidget widget = None)
• drawControl (self, ControlElement element, QStyleOption opt, QPainter p, QWidget widget = None)
• drawItemPixmap (self, QPainter painter, QRect rect, int alignment, QPixmap pixmap)
• drawItemText (self, QPainter painter, QRect rectangle, int alignment, QPalette palette, bool enabled, QString text, QPalette.ColorRole textRole = QPalette.NoRole)
• drawPrimitive (self, PrimitiveElement pe, QStyleOption opt, QPainter p, QWidget widget = None)
• QPixmap generatedIconPixmap (self, QIcon.Mode iconMode, QPixmap pixmap, QStyleOption opt)
• SubControl hitTestComplexControl (self, ComplexControl cc, QStyleOptionComplex opt, QPoint pt, QWidget widget = None)
• QRect itemPixmapRect (self, QRect r, int flags, QPixmap pixmap)
• QRect itemTextRect (self, QFontMetrics fm, QRect r, int flags, bool enabled, QString text)
• int layoutSpacing (self, QSizePolicy.ControlType control1, QSizePolicy.ControlType control2, Qt.Orientation orientation, QStyleOption option = None, QWidget widget = None)
• int layoutSpacingImplementation (self, QSizePolicy.ControlType control1, QSizePolicy.ControlType control2, Qt.Orientation orientation, QStyleOption option = None, QWidget widget = None)
• int pixelMetric (self, PixelMetric metric, QStyleOption option = None, QWidget widget = None)
• polish (self, QWidget)
• polish (self, QApplication)
• QPalette polish (self, QPalette)
• QStyle proxy (self)
• QSize sizeFromContents (self, ContentsType ct, QStyleOption opt, QSize contentsSize, QWidget widget = None)
• QIcon standardIcon (self, StandardPixmap standardIcon, QStyleOption option = None, QWidget widget = None)
• QIcon standardIconImplementation (self, StandardPixmap standardIcon, QStyleOption option = None, QWidget widget = None)
• QPalette standardPalette (self)
• QPixmap standardPixmap (self, StandardPixmap standardPixmap, QStyleOption option = None, QWidget widget = None)
• int styleHint (self, StyleHint stylehint, QStyleOption option = None, QWidget widget = None, QStyleHintReturn returnData = None)
• QRect subControlRect (self, ComplexControl cc, QStyleOptionComplex opt, SubControl sc, QWidget widget = None)
• QRect subElementRect (self, SubElement subElement, QStyleOption option, QWidget widget = None)
• unpolish (self, QWidget)
• unpolish (self, QApplication)

Static Methods

• QRect alignedRect (Qt.LayoutDirection direction, Qt.Alignment alignment, QSize size, QRect rectangle)
• int sliderPositionFromValue (int min, int max, int logicalValue, int span, bool upsideDown = False)
• int sliderValueFromPosition (int min, int max, int position, int span, bool upsideDown = False)
• Qt.Alignment visualAlignment (Qt.LayoutDirection direction, Qt.Alignment alignment)
• QPoint visualPos (Qt.LayoutDirection direction, QRect boundingRect, QPoint logicalPos)
• QRect visualRect (Qt.LayoutDirection direction, QRect boundingRect, QRect logicalRect)

Qt contains a set of QStyle subclasses that emulate the styles of the different platforms supported by Qt (QWindowsStyle, QMacStyle, QMotifStyle, etc.). By default, these styles are built into the QtGui library. Styles can also be made available as plugins.

Qt's built-in widgets use QStyle to perform nearly all of their drawing, ensuring that they look exactly like the equivalent native widgets. The diagram below shows a QComboBox in eight different styles.

Topics:

The style of the entire application can be set using the QApplication.setStyle() function. It can also be specified by the user of the application, using the -style command-line option:

 ./myapplication -style motif

If no style is specified, Qt will choose the most appropriate style for the user's platform or desktop environment.

A style can also be set on an individual widget using the QWidget.setStyle() function.

If you are developing custom widgets and want them to look good on all platforms, you can use QStyle functions to perform parts of the widget drawing, such as drawItemText(), drawItemPixmap(), drawPrimitive(), drawControl(), and drawComplexControl().

Most QStyle draw functions take four arguments:

• an enum value specifying which graphical element to draw
• a QStyleOption specifying how and where to render that element
• a QPainter that should be used to draw the element
• a QWidget on which the drawing is performed (optional)

For example, if you want to draw a focus rectangle on your widget, you can write:

 void MyWidget.paintEvent(QPaintEvent * /* event */)
 {
     QPainter painter(this);

     QStyleOptionFocusRect option;
     option.initFrom(this);
     option.backgroundColor = palette().color(QPalette.Background);

     style()->drawPrimitive(QStyle.PE_FrameFocusRect, &option, &painter, this);
 }

QStyle gets all the information it needs to render the graphical element from QStyleOption. The widget is passed as the last argument in case the style needs it to perform special effects (such as animated default buttons on Mac OS X), but it isn't mandatory. In fact, you can use QStyle to draw on any paint device, not just widgets, by setting the QPainter properly.

QStyleOption has various subclasses for the various types of graphical elements that can be drawn. For example, PE_FrameFocusRect expects a QStyleOptionFocusRect argument.

To ensure that drawing operations are as fast as possible, QStyleOption and its subclasses have public data members. See the QStyleOption class documentation for details on how to use it.

For convenience, Qt provides the QStylePainter class, which combines a QStyle, a QPainter, and a QWidget. This makes it possible to write

     QStylePainter painter(this);
     ...
     painter.drawPrimitive(QStyle.PE_FrameFocusRect, option);

instead of

     QPainter painter(this);
     ...
     style()->drawPrimitive(QStyle.PE_FrameFocusRect, &option, &painter, this);

You can create a custom look and feel for your application by creating a custom style. There are two approaches to creating a custom style. In the static approach, you either choose an existing QStyle class, subclass it, and reimplement virtual functions to provide the custom behavior, or you create an entire QStyle class from scratch. In the dynamic approach, you modify the behavior of your system style at runtime. The static approach is described below. The dynamic approach is described in QProxyStyle.

The first step in the static approach is to pick one of the styles provided by Qt from which you will build your custom style. Your choice of QStyle class will depend on which style resembles your desired style the most. The most general class that you can use as a base is QCommonStyle (not QStyle). This is because Qt requires its styles to be QCommonStyles.

Depending on which parts of the base style you want to change, you must reimplement the functions that are used to draw those parts of the interface. To illustrate this, we will modify the look of the spin box arrows drawn by QWindowsStyle. The arrows are primitive elements that are drawn by the drawPrimitive() function, so we need to reimplement that function. We need the following class declaration:

 class CustomStyle : public QWindowsStyle
 {
     Q_OBJECT

 public:
     CustomStyle()
     ~CustomStyle() {}

     void drawPrimitive(PrimitiveElement element, const QStyleOption *option,
                        QPainter *painter, const QWidget *widget) const;
 };

To draw its up and down arrows, QSpinBox uses the PE_IndicatorSpinUp and PE_IndicatorSpinDown primitive elements. Here's how to reimplement the drawPrimitive() function to draw them differently:

 void CustomStyle.drawPrimitive(PrimitiveElement element, const QStyleOption *option,
                                 QPainter *painter, const QWidget *widget) const
 {
     if (element == PE_IndicatorSpinUp || element == PE_IndicatorSpinDown) {
         QPolygon points(3);
         int x = option->rect.x();
         int y = option->rect.y();
         int w = option->rect.width() / 2;
         int h = option->rect.height() / 2;
         x += (option->rect.width() - w) / 2;
         y += (option->rect.height() - h) / 2;

         if (element == PE_IndicatorSpinUp) {
             points[0] = QPoint(x, y + h);
             points[1] = QPoint(x + w, y + h);
             points[2] = QPoint(x + w / 2, y);
         } else { // PE_SpinBoxDown
             points[0] = QPoint(x, y);
             points[1] = QPoint(x + w, y);
             points[2] = QPoint(x + w / 2, y + h);
         }

         if (option->state & State_Enabled) {
             painter->setPen(option->palette.mid().color());
             painter->setBrush(option->palette.buttonText());
         } else {
             painter->setPen(option->palette.buttonText().color());
             painter->setBrush(option->palette.mid());
         }
         painter->drawPolygon(points);
     } else {
         QWindowsStyle.drawPrimitive(element, option, painter, widget);
     }
 }

Notice that we don't use the widget argument, except to pass it on to the QWindowStyle.drawPrimitive() function. As mentioned earlier, the information about what is to be drawn and how it should be drawn is specified by a QStyleOption object, so there is no need to ask the widget.

If you need to use the widget argument to obtain additional information, be careful to ensure that it isn't 0 and that it is of the correct type before using it. For example:

     QSpinBox *spinBox = qobject_cast<QSpinBox *>(widget);
     if (spinBox) {
     ...
     }

When implementing a custom style, you cannot assume that the widget is a QSpinBox just because the enum value is called PE_IndicatorSpinUp or PE_IndicatorSpinDown.

The documentation for the Styles example covers this topic in more detail.

Warning: Qt style sheets are currently not supported for custom QStyle subclasses. We plan to address this in some future release.

There are several ways of using a custom style in a Qt application. The simplest way is to pass the custom style to the QApplication.setStyle() static function before creating the QApplication object:

 #include <QtGui>

 #include "customstyle.h"

 int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 {
     QApplication.setStyle(new CustomStyle);
     QApplication app(argc, argv);
     QSpinBox spinBox;
     spinBox.show();
     return app.exec();
 }

You can call QApplication.setStyle() at any time, but by calling it before the constructor, you ensure that the user's preference, set using the -style command-line option, is respected.

You may want to make your custom style available for use in other applications, which may not be yours and hence not available for you to recompile. The Qt Plugin system makes it possible to create styles as plugins. Styles created as plugins are loaded as shared objects at runtime by Qt itself. Please refer to the Qt Plugin documentation for more information on how to go about creating a style plugin.

Compile your plugin and put it into Qt's plugins/styles directory. We now have a pluggable style that Qt can load automatically. To use your new style with existing applications, simply start the application with the following argument:

 ./myapplication -style custom

The application will use the look and feel from the custom style you implemented.

If you create a custom style, you should take special care when drawing asymmetric elements to make sure that they also look correct in a mirrored layout. An easy way to test your styles is to run applications with the -reverse command-line option or to call QApplication.setLayoutDirection() in your main() function.

Here are some things to keep in mind when making a style work well in a right-to-left environment:

• subControlRect() and subElementRect() return rectangles in screen coordinates
• QStyleOption.direction indicates in which direction the item should be drawn in
• If a style is not right-to-left aware it will display items as if it were left-to-right
• visualRect(), visualPos(), and visualAlignment() are helpful functions that will translate from logical to screen representations.
• alignedRect() will return a logical rect aligned for the current direction

The painting of items in views is performed by a delegate. Qt's default delegate, QStyledItemDelegate, is also used for for calculating bounding rectangles of items, and their sub-elements for the various kind of item data roles QStyledItemDelegate supports. See the QStyledItemDelegate class description to find out which datatypes and roles are supported. You can read more about item data roles in Model/View Programming.

When QStyledItemDelegate paints its items, it draws CE_ItemViewItem, and calculates their size with CT_ItemViewItem. Note also that it uses SE_ItemViewItemText to set the size of editors. When implementing a style to customize drawing of item views, you need to check the implementation of QCommonStyle (and any other subclasses from which your style inherits). This way, you find out which and how other style elements are painted, and you can then reimplement the painting of elements that should be drawn differently.

We include a small example where we customize the drawing of item backgrounds.

     switch (element) {
         case (PE_PanelItemViewItem): {
             painter->save();

             QPoint topLeft = option->rect.topLeft();
             QPoint bottomRight = option->rect.topRight();
             QLinearGradient backgroundGradient(topLeft, bottomRight);
             backgroundGradient.setColorAt(0.0, QColor(Qt.yellow).lighter(190));
             backgroundGradient.setColorAt(1.0, Qt.white);
             painter->fillRect(option->rect, QBrush(backgroundGradient));

             painter->restore();
         break;
         }
         default:
             QWindowsStyle.drawPrimitive(element, option, painter, widget);
     }

The primitive element PE_PanelItemViewItem is responsible for painting the background of items, and is called from QCommonStyle's implementation of CE_ItemViewItem.

To add support for drawing of new datatypes and item data roles, it is necessary to create a custom delegate. But if you only need to support the datatypes implemented by the default delegate, a custom style does not need an accompanying delegate. The QStyledItemDelegate class description gives more information on custom delegates.

The drawing of item view headers is also done by the style, giving control over size of header items and row and column sizes.

Type Documentation

QStyle.ComplexControl

This enum describes the available complex controls. Complex controls have different behavior depending upon where the user clicks on them or which keys are pressed.

See also SubControl and drawComplexControl().

QStyle.ContentsType

This enum describes the available contents types. These are used to calculate sizes for the contents of various widgets.

See also sizeFromContents().

QStyle.ControlElement

This enum represents a control element. A control element is a part of a widget that performs some action or displays information to the user.

See also drawControl().

QStyle.PixelMetric

This enum describes the various available pixel metrics. A pixel metric is a style dependent size represented by a single pixel value.

See also pixelMetric().

QStyle.PrimitiveElement

This enum describes the various primitive elements. A primitive element is a common GUI element, such as a checkbox indicator or button bevel.

See also drawPrimitive().

QStyle.RequestSoftwareInputPanel

This enum describes under what circumstances a software input panel will be requested by input capable widgets.

See also QEvent.RequestSoftwareInputPanel and QInputContext.

QStyle.StandardPixmap

This enum describes the available standard pixmaps. A standard pixmap is a pixmap that can follow some existing GUI style or guideline.

See also standardIcon().

QStyle.StateFlag

This enum describes flags that are used when drawing primitive elements.

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

See also drawPrimitive().

QStyle.StyleHint

This enum describes the available style hints. A style hint is a general look and/or feel hint.

See also styleHint().

QStyle.SubControl

This enum describes the available sub controls. A subcontrol is a control element within a complex control (ComplexControl).

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

See also ComplexControl.

QStyle.SubElement

This enum represents a sub-area of a widget. Style implementations use these areas to draw the different parts of a widget.

See also subElementRect().

Method Documentation

QStyle.__init__ (self)

Constructs a style object.

QRect QStyle.alignedRect (Qt.LayoutDirection direction, Qt.Alignment alignment, QSize size, QRect rectangle)

Returns a new rectangle of the specified size that is aligned to the given rectangle according to the specified alignment and direction.

int QStyle.combinedLayoutSpacing (self, QSizePolicy.ControlTypes controls1, QSizePolicy.ControlTypes controls2, Qt.Orientation orientation, QStyleOption option = None, QWidget widget = None)

Returns the spacing that should be used between controls1 and controls2 in a layout. orientation specifies whether the controls are laid out side by side or stacked vertically. The option parameter can be used to pass extra information about the parent widget. The widget parameter is optional and can also be used if option is 0.

controls1 and controls2 are OR-combination of zero or more control types.

This function is called by the layout system. It is used only if PM_LayoutHorizontalSpacing or PM_LayoutVerticalSpacing returns a negative value.

This function was introduced in Qt 4.3.

See also layoutSpacing() and layoutSpacingImplementation().

QStyle.drawComplexControl (self, ComplexControl cc, QStyleOptionComplex opt, QPainter p, QWidget widget = None)

This method is abstract and should be reimplemented in any sub-class.

Draws the given control using the provided painter with the style options specified by option.

The widget argument is optional and can be used as aid in drawing the control.

The option parameter is a pointer to a QStyleOptionComplex object that can be cast to the correct subclass using the qstyleoption_cast() function. Note that the rect member of the specified option must be in logical coordinates. Reimplementations of this function should use visualRect() to change the logical coordinates into screen coordinates before calling the drawPrimitive() or drawControl() function.

The table below is listing the complex control elements and their associated style option subclass. The style options contain all the parameters required to draw the controls, including QStyleOption.state which holds the style flags that are used when drawing. The table also describes which flags that are set when casting the given option to the appropriate subclass.

See also drawPrimitive() and drawControl().

QStyle.drawControl (self, ControlElement element, QStyleOption opt, QPainter p, QWidget widget = None)

This method is abstract and should be reimplemented in any sub-class.

Draws the given element with the provided painter with the style options specified by option.

The widget argument is optional and can be used as aid in drawing the control. The option parameter is a pointer to a QStyleOption object that can be cast to the correct subclass using the qstyleoption_cast() function.

The table below is listing the control elements and their associated style option subclass. The style options contain all the parameters required to draw the controls, including QStyleOption.state which holds the style flags that are used when drawing. The table also describes which flags that are set when casting the given option to the appropriate subclass.

Note that if a control element is not listed here, it is because it uses a plain QStyleOption object.

See also drawPrimitive() and drawComplexControl().

QStyle.drawItemPixmap (self, QPainter painter, QRect rect, int alignment, QPixmap pixmap)

Draws the given pixmap in the specified rectangle, according to the specified alignment, using the provided painter.

See also drawItemText().

QStyle.drawItemText (self, QPainter painter, QRect rectangle, int alignment, QPalette palette, bool enabled, QString text, QPalette.ColorRole textRole = QPalette.NoRole)

Draws the given text in the specified rectangle using the provided painter and palette.

The text is drawn using the painter's pen, and aligned and wrapped according to the specified alignment. If an explicit textRole is specified, the text is drawn using the palette's color for the given role. The enabled parameter indicates whether or not the item is enabled; when reimplementing this function, the enabled parameter should influence how the item is drawn.

See also Qt.Alignment and drawItemPixmap().

QStyle.drawPrimitive (self, PrimitiveElement pe, QStyleOption opt, QPainter p, QWidget widget = None)

This method is abstract and should be reimplemented in any sub-class.

Draws the given primitive element with the provided painter using the style options specified by option.

The widget argument is optional and may contain a widget that may aid in drawing the primitive element.

The table below is listing the primitive elements and their associated style option subclasses. The style options contain all the parameters required to draw the elements, including QStyleOption.state which holds the style flags that are used when drawing. The table also describes which flags that are set when casting the given option to the appropriate subclass.

Note that if a primitive element is not listed here, it is because it uses a plain QStyleOption object.

See also drawComplexControl() and drawControl().

QPixmap QStyle.generatedIconPixmap (self, QIcon.Mode iconMode, QPixmap pixmap, QStyleOption opt)

This method is abstract and should be reimplemented in any sub-class.

Returns a copy of the given pixmap, styled to conform to the specified iconMode and taking into account the palette specified by option.

The option parameter can pass extra information, but it must contain a palette.

Note that not all pixmaps will conform, in which case the returned pixmap is a plain copy.

See also QIcon.

SubControl QStyle.hitTestComplexControl (self, ComplexControl cc, QStyleOptionComplex opt, QPoint pt, QWidget widget = None)

This method is abstract and should be reimplemented in any sub-class.

Returns the sub control at the given position in the given complex control (with the style options specified by option).

Note that the position is expressed in screen coordinates.

The option argument is a pointer to a QStyleOptionComplex object (or one of its subclasses). The object can be cast to the appropriate type using the qstyleoption_cast() function. See drawComplexControl() for details. The widget argument is optional and can contain additional information for the function.

See also drawComplexControl() and subControlRect().

QRect QStyle.itemPixmapRect (self, QRect r, int flags, QPixmap pixmap)

Returns the area within the given rectangle in which to draw the specified pixmap according to the defined alignment.

QRect QStyle.itemTextRect (self, QFontMetrics fm, QRect r, int flags, bool enabled, QString text)

Returns the area within the given rectangle in which to draw the provided text according to the specified font metrics and alignment. The enabled parameter indicates whether or not the associated item is enabled.

If the given rectangle is larger than the area needed to render the text, the rectangle that is returned will be offset within rectangle according to the specified alignment. For example, if alignment is Qt.AlignCenter, the returned rectangle will be centered within rectangle. If the given rectangle is smaller than the area needed, the returned rectangle will be the smallest rectangle large enough to render the text.

See also Qt.Alignment.

int QStyle.layoutSpacing (self, QSizePolicy.ControlType control1, QSizePolicy.ControlType control2, Qt.Orientation orientation, QStyleOption option = None, QWidget widget = None)

Returns the spacing that should be used between control1 and control2 in a layout. orientation specifies whether the controls are laid out side by side or stacked vertically. The option parameter can be used to pass extra information about the parent widget. The widget parameter is optional and can also be used if option is 0.

This function is called by the layout system. It is used only if PM_LayoutHorizontalSpacing or PM_LayoutVerticalSpacing returns a negative value.

For binary compatibility reasons, this function is not virtual. If you want to specify custom layout spacings in a QStyle subclass, implement a slot called layoutSpacingImplementation(). QStyle will discover the slot at run-time (using Qt's meta-object system) and direct all calls to layoutSpacing() to layoutSpacingImplementation().

This function was introduced in Qt 4.3.

See also combinedLayoutSpacing() and layoutSpacingImplementation().

int QStyle.layoutSpacingImplementation (self, QSizePolicy.ControlType control1, QSizePolicy.ControlType control2, Qt.Orientation orientation, QStyleOption option = None, QWidget widget = None)

This method is also a Qt slot with the C++ signature int layoutSpacingImplementation(QSizePolicy::ControlType,QSizePolicy::ControlType,Qt::Orientation,const QStyleOption * = 0,const QWidget * = 0) const.

This slot is called by layoutSpacing() to determine the spacing that should be used between control1 and control2 in a layout. orientation specifies whether the controls are laid out side by side or stacked vertically. The option parameter can be used to pass extra information about the parent widget. The widget parameter is optional and can also be used if option is 0.

If you want to provide custom layout spacings in a QStyle subclass, implement a slot called layoutSpacingImplementation() in your subclass. Be aware that this slot will only be called if PM_LayoutHorizontalSpacing or PM_LayoutVerticalSpacing returns a negative value.

The default implementation returns -1.

This function was introduced in Qt 4.3.

See also layoutSpacing() and combinedLayoutSpacing().

int QStyle.pixelMetric (self, PixelMetric metric, QStyleOption option = None, QWidget widget = None)

This method is abstract and should be reimplemented in any sub-class.

Returns the value of the given pixel metric.

The specified option and widget can be used for calculating the metric. In general, the widget argument is not used. The option can be cast to the appropriate type using the qstyleoption_cast() function. Note that the option may be zero even for PixelMetrics that can make use of it. See the table below for the appropriate option casts:

Some pixel metrics are called from widgets and some are only called internally by the style. If the metric is not called by a widget, it is the discretion of the style author to make use of it. For some styles, this may not be appropriate.

QStyle.polish (self, QWidget)

Initializes the appearance of the given widget.

This function is called for every widget at some point after it has been fully created but just before it is shown for the very first time.

Note that the default implementation does nothing. Reasonable actions in this function might be to call the QWidget.setBackgroundMode() function for the widget. Do not use the function to set, for example, the geometry. Reimplementing this function provides a back-door through which the appearance of a widget can be changed, but with Qt's style engine it is rarely necessary to implement this function; reimplement drawItemPixmap(), drawItemText(), drawPrimitive(), etc. instead.

The QWidget.inherits() function may provide enough information to allow class-specific customizations. But because new QStyle subclasses are expected to work reasonably with all current and future widgets, limited use of hard-coded customization is recommended.

See also unpolish().

QStyle.polish (self, QApplication)

This is an overloaded function.

Late initialization of the given application object.

QPalette QStyle.polish (self, QPalette)

This is an overloaded function.

Changes the palette according to style specific requirements for color palettes (if any).

See also QPalette and QApplication.setPalette().

QStyle QStyle.proxy (self)

This function returns the current proxy for this style. By default most styles will return themselves. However when a proxy style is in use, it will allow the style to call back into its proxy.

This function was introduced in Qt 4.6.

QSize QStyle.sizeFromContents (self, ContentsType ct, QStyleOption opt, QSize contentsSize, QWidget widget = None)

This method is abstract and should be reimplemented in any sub-class.

Returns the size of the element described by the specified option and type, based on the provided contentsSize.

The option argument is a pointer to a QStyleOption or one of its subclasses. The option can be cast to the appropriate type using the qstyleoption_cast() function. The widget is an optional argument and can contain extra information used for calculating the size.

See the table below for the appropriate option casts:

See also ContentsType and QStyleOption.

int QStyle.sliderPositionFromValue (int min, int max, int logicalValue, int span, bool upsideDown = False)

Converts the given logicalValue to a pixel position. The min parameter maps to 0, max maps to span and other values are distributed evenly in-between.

See also sliderValueFromPosition().

int QStyle.sliderValueFromPosition (int min, int max, int position, int span, bool upsideDown = False)

Converts the given pixel position to a logical value. 0 maps to the min parameter, span maps to max and other values are distributed evenly in-between.

See also sliderPositionFromValue().

QIcon QStyle.standardIcon (self, StandardPixmap standardIcon, QStyleOption option = None, QWidget widget = None)

Returns an icon for the given standardIcon.

The standardIcon is a standard pixmap which can follow some existing GUI style or guideline. The option argument can be used to pass extra information required when defining the appropriate icon. The widget argument is optional and can also be used to aid the determination of the icon.

Warning: Because of binary compatibility constraints, this function is not virtual. If you want to provide your own icons in a QStyle subclass, reimplement the standardIconImplementation() slot in your subclass instead. The standardIcon() function will dynamically detect the slot and call it.

This function was introduced in Qt 4.1.

See also standardIconImplementation().

QIcon QStyle.standardIconImplementation (self, StandardPixmap standardIcon, QStyleOption option = None, QWidget widget = None)

This method is also a Qt slot with the C++ signature QIcon standardIconImplementation(QStyle::StandardPixmap,const QStyleOption * = 0,const QWidget * = 0) const.

Returns an icon for the given standardIcon.

Reimplement this slot to provide your own icons in a QStyle subclass; because of binary compatibility constraints, the standardIcon() function (introduced in Qt 4.1) is not virtual. Instead, standardIcon() will dynamically detect and call this slot.

The standardIcon is a standard pixmap which can follow some existing GUI style or guideline. The option argument can be used to pass extra information required when defining the appropriate icon. The widget argument is optional and can also be used to aid the determination of the icon.

This function was introduced in Qt 4.1.

See also standardIcon().

QPalette QStyle.standardPalette (self)

Returns the style's standard palette.

Note that on systems that support system colors, the style's standard palette is not used. In particular, the Windows XP, Vista, and Mac styles do not use the standard palette, but make use of native theme engines. With these styles, you should not set the palette with QApplication.setStandardPalette().

QPixmap QStyle.standardPixmap (self, StandardPixmap standardPixmap, QStyleOption option = None, QWidget widget = None)

This method is abstract and should be reimplemented in any sub-class.

int QStyle.styleHint (self, StyleHint stylehint, QStyleOption option = None, QWidget widget = None, QStyleHintReturn returnData = None)

This method is abstract and should be reimplemented in any sub-class.

Returns an integer representing the specified style hint for the given widget described by the provided style option.

returnData is used when the querying widget needs more detailed data than the integer that styleHint() returns. See the QStyleHintReturn class description for details.

QRect QStyle.subControlRect (self, ComplexControl cc, QStyleOptionComplex opt, SubControl sc, QWidget widget = None)

This method is abstract and should be reimplemented in any sub-class.

Returns the rectangle containing the specified subControl of the given complex control (with the style specified by option). The rectangle is defined in screen coordinates.

The option argument is a pointer to QStyleOptionComplex or one of its subclasses, and can be cast to the appropriate type using the qstyleoption_cast() function. See drawComplexControl() for details. The widget is optional and can contain additional information for the function.

See also drawComplexControl().

QRect QStyle.subElementRect (self, SubElement subElement, QStyleOption option, QWidget widget = None)

This method is abstract and should be reimplemented in any sub-class.

Returns the sub-area for the given element as described in the provided style option. The returned rectangle is defined in screen coordinates.

The widget argument is optional and can be used to aid determining the area. The QStyleOption object can be cast to the appropriate type using the qstyleoption_cast() function. See the table below for the appropriate option casts:

QStyle.unpolish (self, QWidget)

Uninitialize the given widget's appearance.

This function is the counterpart to polish(). It is called for every polished widget whenever the style is dynamically changed; the former style has to unpolish its settings before the new style can polish them again.

Note that unpolish() will only be called if the widget is destroyed. This can cause problems in some cases, e.g, if you remove a widget from the UI, cache it, and then reinsert it after the style has changed; some of Qt's classes cache their widgets.

See also polish().

QStyle.unpolish (self, QApplication)

This is an overloaded function.

Uninitialize the given application.

Qt.Alignment QStyle.visualAlignment (Qt.LayoutDirection direction, Qt.Alignment alignment)

Transforms an alignment of Qt.AlignLeft or Qt.AlignRight without Qt.AlignAbsolute into Qt.AlignLeft or Qt.AlignRight with Qt.AlignAbsolute according to the layout direction. The other alignment flags are left untouched.

If no horizontal alignment was specified, the function returns the default alignment for the given layout direction.

QWidget.layoutDirection

QPoint QStyle.visualPos (Qt.LayoutDirection direction, QRect boundingRect, QPoint logicalPos)

Returns the given logicalPosition converted to screen coordinates based on the specified direction. The boundingRectangle is used when performing the translation.

See also QWidget.layoutDirection.

QRect QStyle.visualRect (Qt.LayoutDirection direction, QRect boundingRect, QRect logicalRect)

Returns the given logicalRectangle converted to screen coordinates based on the specified direction. The boundingRectangle is used when performing the translation.

This function is provided to support right-to-left desktops, and is typically used in implementations of the subControlRect() function.

See also QWidget.layoutDirection.