QAction

The QAction class provides an abstraction for user commands that can be added to different user interface components. More…

Inheritance diagram of PySide6.QtGui.QAction

Inherited by: QWidgetAction

Synopsis

Functions

Slots

Signals

Detailed Description

In applications many common commands can be invoked via menus, toolbar buttons, and keyboard shortcuts. Since the user expects each command to be performed in the same way, regardless of the user interface used, it is useful to represent each command as an action.

Actions can be added to menus and toolbars, and will automatically keep them in sync. For example, in a word processor, if the user presses a Bold toolbar button, the Bold menu item will automatically be checked.

A QAction may contain an icon, menu text, a shortcut, status text, “What’s This?” text, and a tooltip. Most of these can be set in the constructor. They can also be set independently with setIcon() , setText() , setIconText() , setShortcut() , setStatusTip() , setWhatsThis() , and setToolTip() . For menu items, it is possible to set an individual font with setFont() .

We recommend that actions are created as children of the window they are used in. In most cases actions will be children of the application’s main window.

QAction in widget applications

Once a QAction has been created, it should be added to the relevant menu and toolbar, then connected to the slot which will perform the action. For example:

openIcon = QIcon.fromTheme("document-open", QIcon(":/images/open.png"))
openAct = QAction(openIcon, tr("Open..."), self)
openAct.setShortcuts(QKeySequence.Open)
openAct.setStatusTip(tr("Open an existing file"))
connect(openAct, QAction.triggered, self, MainWindow.open)
fileMenu.addAction(openAct)
fileToolBar.addAction(openAct)

Actions are added to widgets using addAction() or addAction() . Note that an action must be added to a widget before it can be used. This is also true when the shortcut should be global (i.e., ApplicationShortcut as ShortcutContext ).

Actions can be created as independent objects. But they may also be created during the construction of menus. The QMenu class contains convenience functions for creating actions suitable for use as menu items.

See also

QMenu QToolBar Qt Widgets - Application Example

class PySide6.QtGui.QAction([parent=None])

PySide6.QtGui.QAction(icon, text[, parent=None])

PySide6.QtGui.QAction(text[, parent=None])

Parameters

Constructs an action with parent. If parent is an action group the action will be automatically inserted into the group.

Note

The parent argument is optional since Qt 5.7.

Constructs an action with an icon and some text and parent. If parent is an action group the action will be automatically inserted into the group.

The action uses a stripped version of text (e.g. “&Menu Option…” becomes “Menu Option”) as descriptive text for tool buttons. You can override this by setting a specific description with setText() . The same text will be used for tooltips unless you specify a different text using setToolTip() .

Constructs an action with some text and parent. If parent is an action group the action will be automatically inserted into the group.

The action uses a stripped version of text (e.g. “&Menu Option…” becomes “Menu Option”) as descriptive text for tool buttons. You can override this by setting a specific description with setText() . The same text will be used for tooltips unless you specify a different text using setToolTip() .

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.MenuRole

This enum describes how an action should be moved into the application menu on macOS.

Constant

Description

QAction.NoRole

This action should not be put into the application menu

QAction.TextHeuristicRole

This action should be put in the application menu based on the action’s text as described in the QMenuBar documentation.

QAction.ApplicationSpecificRole

This action should be put in the application menu with an application specific role

QAction.AboutQtRole

This action handles the “About Qt” menu item.

QAction.AboutRole

This action should be placed where the “About” menu item is in the application menu. The text of the menu item will be set to “About <application name>”. The application name is fetched from the Info.plist file in the application’s bundle (See Qt for macOS - Deployment).

QAction.PreferencesRole

This action should be placed where the “Preferences…” menu item is in the application menu.

QAction.QuitRole

This action should be placed where the Quit menu item is in the application menu.

Setting this value only has effect on items that are in the immediate menus of the menubar, not the submenus of those menus. For example, if you have File menu in your menubar and the File menu has a submenu, setting the for the actions in that submenu have no effect. They will never be moved.

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.Priority

This enum defines priorities for actions in user interface.

Constant

Description

QAction.LowPriority

The action should not be prioritized in the user interface.

QAction.NormalPriority

QAction.HighPriority

The action should be prioritized in the user interface.

See also

priority

New in version 4.6.

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.ActionEvent

This enum type is used when calling activate()

Constant

Description

QAction.Trigger

this will cause the triggered() signal to be emitted.

QAction.Hover

this will cause the hovered() signal to be emitted.
PySide6.QtGui.QAction.actionGroup()
Return type

PySide6.QtGui.QActionGroup

Returns the action group for this action. If no action group manages this action, then None will be returned.

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.activate(event)
Parameters

event – ActionEvent

Sends the relevant signals for ActionEvent event.

Action-based widgets use this API to cause the QAction to emit signals as well as emitting their own.

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.associatedObjects()
Return type

Returns a list of objects this action has been added to.

See also

addAction() addAction()

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.autoRepeat()
Return type

bool

This property holds whether the action can auto repeat.

If true, the action will auto repeat when the keyboard shortcut combination is held down, provided that keyboard auto repeat is enabled on the system. The default value is true.

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.changed()
PySide6.QtGui.QAction.checkableChanged(checkable)
Parameters

checkable – bool

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.data()
Return type

object

Returns the user data as set in setData .

See also

setData()

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.enabledChanged(enabled)
Parameters

enabled – bool

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.font()
Return type

PySide6.QtGui.QFont

This property holds the action’s font.

The font property is used to render the text set on the QAction . The font can be considered a hint as it will not be consulted in all cases based upon application and style.

By default, this property contains the application’s default font.

See also

setText()

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.hover()

This is a convenience slot that calls activate(Hover).

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.hovered()
PySide6.QtGui.QAction.icon()
Return type

PySide6.QtGui.QIcon

This property holds the action’s icon.

In toolbars, the icon is used as the tool button icon; in menus, it is displayed to the left of the menu text. There is no default icon.

If a null icon ( isNull() ) is passed into this function, the icon of the action is cleared.

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.iconText()
Return type

str

This property holds the action’s descriptive icon text.

If toolButtonStyle is set to a value that permits text to be displayed, the text defined held in this property appears as a label in the relevant tool button.

It also serves as the default text in menus and tooltips if the action has not been defined with setText() or setToolTip() , and will also be used in toolbar buttons if no icon has been defined using setIcon() .

If the icon text is not explicitly set, the action’s normal text will be used for the icon text.

By default, this property contains an empty string.

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.isCheckable()
Return type

bool

This property holds whether the action is a checkable action.

A checkable action is one which has an on/off state. For example, in a word processor, a Bold toolbar button may be either on or off. An action which is not a toggle action is a command action; a command action is simply executed, e.g. file save. By default, this property is false.

In some situations, the state of one toggle action should depend on the state of others. For example, “Left Align”, “Center” and “Right Align” toggle actions are mutually exclusive. To achieve exclusive toggling, add the relevant toggle actions to a QActionGroup with the QActionGroup::exclusive property set to true.

See also

setChecked()

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.isChecked()
Return type

bool

This property holds whether the action is checked..

Only checkable actions can be checked. By default, this is false (the action is unchecked).

Note

The notifier signal for this property is toggled() . As toggling a QAction changes its state, it will also emit a changed() signal.

See also

checkable toggled()

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.isEnabled()
Return type

bool

This property holds whether the action is enabled.

Disabled actions cannot be chosen by the user. They do not disappear from menus or toolbars, but they are displayed in a way which indicates that they are unavailable. For example, they might be displayed using only shades of gray.

What’s This? help on disabled actions is still available, provided that the whatsThis property is set.

An action will be disabled when all widgets to which it is added (with addAction() ) are disabled or not visible. When an action is disabled, it is not possible to trigger it through its shortcut.

By default, this property is true (actions are enabled).

See also

text

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.isIconVisibleInMenu()
Return type

bool

This property holds Whether or not an action should show an icon in a menu.

In some applications, it may make sense to have actions with icons in the toolbar, but not in menus. If true, the icon (if valid) is shown in the menu, when it is false, it is not shown.

The default is to follow whether the AA_DontShowIconsInMenus attribute is set for the application. Explicitly settings this property overrides the presence (or absence) of the attribute.

For example:

app = QApplication([])
app.setAttribute(Qt.AA_DontShowIconsInMenus) # Icons are no longer shown in menus
# ...
myAction = QAction()
# ...
myAction.setIcon(SomeIcon)
myAction.setIconVisibleInMenu(True) # Icon will be shown in menus for this action.

See also

icon setAttribute()

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.isSeparator()
Return type

bool

Returns true if this action is a separator action; otherwise it returns false.

See also

setSeparator()

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.isShortcutVisibleInContextMenu()
Return type

bool

This property holds Whether or not an action should show a shortcut in a context menu.

In some applications, it may make sense to have actions with shortcuts in context menus. If true, the shortcut (if valid) is shown when the action is shown via a context menu, when it is false, it is not shown.

The default is to follow whether the AA_DontShowShortcutsInContextMenus attribute is set for the application. Explicitly setting this property overrides the attribute.

See also

shortcut setAttribute()

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.isVisible()
Return type

bool

This property holds whether the action can be seen (e.g. in menus and toolbars).

If visible is true the action can be seen (e.g. in menus and toolbars) and chosen by the user; if visible is false the action cannot be seen or chosen by the user.

Actions which are not visible are not grayed out; they do not appear at all.

By default, this property is true (actions are visible).

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.menuRole()
Return type

MenuRole

This property holds the action’s menu role.

This indicates what role the action serves in the application menu on macOS. By default all actions have the TextHeuristicRole , which means that the action is added based on its text (see QMenuBar for more information).

The menu role can only be changed before the actions are put into the menu bar in macOS (usually just before the first application window is shown).

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.priority()
Return type

Priority

This property holds the actions’s priority in the user interface..

This property can be set to indicate how the action should be prioritized in the user interface.

For instance, when toolbars have the ToolButtonTextBesideIcon mode set, then actions with LowPriority will not show the text labels.

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.resetEnabled()

This property holds whether the action is enabled.

Disabled actions cannot be chosen by the user. They do not disappear from menus or toolbars, but they are displayed in a way which indicates that they are unavailable. For example, they might be displayed using only shades of gray.

What’s This? help on disabled actions is still available, provided that the whatsThis property is set.

An action will be disabled when all widgets to which it is added (with addAction() ) are disabled or not visible. When an action is disabled, it is not possible to trigger it through its shortcut.

By default, this property is true (actions are enabled).

See also

text

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.setActionGroup(group)
Parameters

group – PySide6.QtGui.QActionGroup

Sets this action group to group. The action will be automatically added to the group’s list of actions.

Actions within the group will be mutually exclusive.

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.setAutoRepeat(arg__1)
Parameters

arg__1 – bool

This property holds whether the action can auto repeat.

If true, the action will auto repeat when the keyboard shortcut combination is held down, provided that keyboard auto repeat is enabled on the system. The default value is true.

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.setCheckable(arg__1)
Parameters

arg__1 – bool

This property holds whether the action is a checkable action.

A checkable action is one which has an on/off state. For example, in a word processor, a Bold toolbar button may be either on or off. An action which is not a toggle action is a command action; a command action is simply executed, e.g. file save. By default, this property is false.

In some situations, the state of one toggle action should depend on the state of others. For example, “Left Align”, “Center” and “Right Align” toggle actions are mutually exclusive. To achieve exclusive toggling, add the relevant toggle actions to a QActionGroup with the QActionGroup::exclusive property set to true.

See also

setChecked()

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.setChecked(arg__1)
Parameters

arg__1 – bool

This property holds whether the action is checked..

Only checkable actions can be checked. By default, this is false (the action is unchecked).

Note

The notifier signal for this property is toggled() . As toggling a QAction changes its state, it will also emit a changed() signal.

See also

checkable toggled()

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.setData(var)
Parameters

var – object

Sets the action’s internal data to the given data.

See also

data()

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.setDisabled(b)
Parameters

b – bool

This is a convenience function for the enabled property, that is useful for signals–slots connections. If b is true the action is disabled; otherwise it is enabled.

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.setEnabled(arg__1)
Parameters

arg__1 – bool

This property holds whether the action is enabled.

Disabled actions cannot be chosen by the user. They do not disappear from menus or toolbars, but they are displayed in a way which indicates that they are unavailable. For example, they might be displayed using only shades of gray.

What’s This? help on disabled actions is still available, provided that the whatsThis property is set.

An action will be disabled when all widgets to which it is added (with addAction() ) are disabled or not visible. When an action is disabled, it is not possible to trigger it through its shortcut.

By default, this property is true (actions are enabled).

See also

text

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.setFont(font)
Parameters

font – PySide6.QtGui.QFont

This property holds the action’s font.

The font property is used to render the text set on the QAction . The font can be considered a hint as it will not be consulted in all cases based upon application and style.

By default, this property contains the application’s default font.

See also

setText()

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.setIcon(icon)
Parameters

icon – PySide6.QtGui.QIcon

This property holds the action’s icon.

In toolbars, the icon is used as the tool button icon; in menus, it is displayed to the left of the menu text. There is no default icon.

If a null icon ( isNull() ) is passed into this function, the icon of the action is cleared.

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.setIconText(text)
Parameters

text – str

This property holds the action’s descriptive icon text.

If toolButtonStyle is set to a value that permits text to be displayed, the text defined held in this property appears as a label in the relevant tool button.

It also serves as the default text in menus and tooltips if the action has not been defined with setText() or setToolTip() , and will also be used in toolbar buttons if no icon has been defined using setIcon() .

If the icon text is not explicitly set, the action’s normal text will be used for the icon text.

By default, this property contains an empty string.

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.setIconVisibleInMenu(visible)
Parameters

visible – bool

This property holds Whether or not an action should show an icon in a menu.

In some applications, it may make sense to have actions with icons in the toolbar, but not in menus. If true, the icon (if valid) is shown in the menu, when it is false, it is not shown.

The default is to follow whether the AA_DontShowIconsInMenus attribute is set for the application. Explicitly settings this property overrides the presence (or absence) of the attribute.

For example:

app = QApplication([])
app.setAttribute(Qt.AA_DontShowIconsInMenus) # Icons are no longer shown in menus
# ...
myAction = QAction()
# ...
myAction.setIcon(SomeIcon)
myAction.setIconVisibleInMenu(True) # Icon will be shown in menus for this action.

See also

icon setAttribute()

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.setMenuRole(menuRole)
Parameters

menuRole – MenuRole

This property holds the action’s menu role.

This indicates what role the action serves in the application menu on macOS. By default all actions have the TextHeuristicRole , which means that the action is added based on its text (see QMenuBar for more information).

The menu role can only be changed before the actions are put into the menu bar in macOS (usually just before the first application window is shown).

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.setPriority(priority)
Parameters

priority – Priority

This property holds the actions’s priority in the user interface..

This property can be set to indicate how the action should be prioritized in the user interface.

For instance, when toolbars have the ToolButtonTextBesideIcon mode set, then actions with LowPriority will not show the text labels.

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.setSeparator(b)
Parameters

b – bool

If b is true then this action will be considered a separator.

How a separator is represented depends on the widget it is inserted into. Under most circumstances the text, submenu, and icon will be ignored for separator actions.

See also

isSeparator()

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.setShortcut(arg__1)
Parameters

arg__1 – Key

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.setShortcut(shortcut)
Parameters

shortcut – PySide6.QtGui.QKeySequence

This property holds the action’s primary shortcut key.

Valid keycodes for this property can be found in Key and Modifier . There is no default shortcut key.

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.setShortcutContext(context)
Parameters

context – ShortcutContext

This property holds the context for the action’s shortcut.

Valid values for this property can be found in ShortcutContext . The default value is WindowShortcut .

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.setShortcutVisibleInContextMenu(show)
Parameters

show – bool

This property holds Whether or not an action should show a shortcut in a context menu.

In some applications, it may make sense to have actions with shortcuts in context menus. If true, the shortcut (if valid) is shown when the action is shown via a context menu, when it is false, it is not shown.

The default is to follow whether the AA_DontShowShortcutsInContextMenus attribute is set for the application. Explicitly setting this property overrides the attribute.

See also

shortcut setAttribute()

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.setShortcuts(arg__1)
Parameters

arg__1 – StandardKey

Sets a platform dependent list of shortcuts based on the key. The result of calling this function will depend on the currently running platform. Note that more than one shortcut can assigned by this action. If only the primary shortcut is required, use setShortcut instead.

See also

keyBindings()

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.setShortcuts(shortcuts)
Parameters

shortcuts –

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.setStatusTip(statusTip)
Parameters

statusTip – str

This property holds the action’s status tip.

The status tip is displayed on all status bars provided by the action’s top-level parent widget.

By default, this property contains an empty string.

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.setText(text)
Parameters

text – str

This property holds the action’s descriptive text.

If the action is added to a menu, the menu option will consist of the icon (if there is one), the text, and the shortcut (if there is one). If the text is not explicitly set in the constructor, or by using , the action’s description icon text will be used as text. There is no default text.

See also

iconText

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.setToolTip(tip)
Parameters

tip – str

This property holds the action’s tooltip.

This text is used for the tooltip. If no tooltip is specified, the action’s text is used.

By default, this property contains the action’s text.

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.setVisible(arg__1)
Parameters

arg__1 – bool

This property holds whether the action can be seen (e.g. in menus and toolbars).

If visible is true the action can be seen (e.g. in menus and toolbars) and chosen by the user; if visible is false the action cannot be seen or chosen by the user.

Actions which are not visible are not grayed out; they do not appear at all.

By default, this property is true (actions are visible).

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.setWhatsThis(what)
Parameters

what – str

This property holds the action’s “What’s This?” help text.

The “What’s This?” text is used to provide a brief description of the action. The text may contain rich text. There is no default “What’s This?” text.

See also

QWhatsThis

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.shortcut()
Return type

PySide6.QtGui.QKeySequence

This property holds the action’s primary shortcut key.

Valid keycodes for this property can be found in Key and Modifier . There is no default shortcut key.

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.shortcutContext()
Return type

ShortcutContext

This property holds the context for the action’s shortcut.

Valid values for this property can be found in ShortcutContext . The default value is WindowShortcut .

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.shortcuts()
Return type

Returns the list of shortcuts, with the primary shortcut as the first element of the list.

See also

setShortcuts()

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.showStatusText([object=None])
Parameters

object – PySide6.QtCore.QObject

Return type

bool

Updates the relevant status bar for the UI represented by object by sending a QStatusTipEvent . Returns true if an event was sent, otherwise returns false.

If a null widget is specified, the event is sent to the action’s parent.

See also

statusTip

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.statusTip()
Return type

str

This property holds the action’s status tip.

The status tip is displayed on all status bars provided by the action’s top-level parent widget.

By default, this property contains an empty string.

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.text()
Return type

str

This property holds the action’s descriptive text.

If the action is added to a menu, the menu option will consist of the icon (if there is one), the text, and the shortcut (if there is one). If the text is not explicitly set in the constructor, or by using , the action’s description icon text will be used as text. There is no default text.

See also

iconText

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.toggle()

This is a convenience function for the checked property. Connect to it to change the checked state to its opposite state.

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.toggled(arg__1)
Parameters

arg__1 – bool

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.toolTip()
Return type

str

This property holds the action’s tooltip.

This text is used for the tooltip. If no tooltip is specified, the action’s text is used.

By default, this property contains the action’s text.

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.trigger()

This is a convenience slot that calls activate(Trigger).

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.triggered([checked=false])
Parameters

checked – bool

PySide6.QtGui.QAction.visibleChanged()
PySide6.QtGui.QAction.whatsThis()
Return type

str

This property holds the action’s “What’s This?” help text.

The “What’s This?” text is used to provide a brief description of the action. The text may contain rich text. There is no default “What’s This?” text.

See also

QWhatsThis