QGraphicsLayout¶
The QGraphicsLayout class provides the base class for all layouts in Graphics View. More…

Inherited by: QGraphicsLinearLayout, QGraphicsGridLayout, QGraphicsAnchorLayout
Synopsis¶
Functions¶
def
activate
()def
addChildLayoutItem
(layoutItem)def
isActivated
()def
setContentsMargins
(left, top, right, bottom)
Virtual functions¶
def
count
()def
invalidate
()def
itemAt
(i)def
removeAt
(index)def
widgetEvent
(e)
Static functions¶
def
instantInvalidatePropagation
()def
setInstantInvalidatePropagation
(enable)
Detailed Description¶
QGraphicsLayout is an abstract class that defines a virtual API for arranging QGraphicsWidget children and other QGraphicsLayoutItem
objects for a QGraphicsWidget . QGraphicsWidget assigns responsibility to a QGraphicsLayout through setLayout()
. As the widget is resized, the layout will automatically arrange the widget’s children. QGraphicsLayout inherits QGraphicsLayoutItem
, so, it can be managed by any layout, including its own subclasses.
Writing a Custom Layout¶
You can use QGraphicsLayout as a base to write your own custom layout (e.g., a flowlayout), but it is more common to use one of its subclasses instead - QGraphicsLinearLayout
or QGraphicsGridLayout
. When creating a custom layout, the following functions must be reimplemented as a bare minimum:
Function
Description
Notifies you when the geometry of the layout is set. You can store the geometry in your own layout class in a reimplementation of this function.
Returns the layout’s size hints.
Returns the number of items in your layout.
Returns a pointer to an item in your layout.
Removes an item from your layout without destroying it.
For more details on how to implement each function, refer to the individual function documentation.
Each layout defines its own API for arranging widgets and layout items. For example, with a grid layout, you require a row and a column index with optional row and column spans, alignment, spacing, and more. A linear layout, however, requires a single row or column index to position its items. For a grid layout, the order of insertion does not affect the layout in any way, but for a linear layout, the order is essential. When writing your own layout subclass, you are free to choose the API that best suits your layout.
QGraphicsLayout provides the addChildLayoutItem()
convenience function to add layout items to a custom layout. The function will automatically reparent graphics items, if required.
Activating the Layout¶
When the layout’s geometry changes, QGraphicsLayout immediately rearranges all of its managed items by calling on each item. This rearrangement is called activating the layout.
QGraphicsLayout updates its own geometry to match the contentsRect()
of the QGraphicsLayoutItem
it is managing. Thus, it will automatically rearrange all its items when the widget is resized. QGraphicsLayout caches the sizes of all its managed items to avoid calling too often.
Note
A QGraphicsLayout will have the same geometry as the contentsRect()
of the widget (not the layout) it is assigned to.
Activating the Layout Implicitly¶
The layout can be activated implicitly using one of two ways: by calling activate()
or by calling invalidate()
. Calling activate()
activates the layout immediately. In contrast, calling invalidate()
is delayed, as it posts a LayoutRequest
event to the managed widget. Due to event compression, the activate()
will only be called once after control has returned to the event loop. This is referred to as invalidating the layout. Invalidating the layout also invalidates any cached information. Also, the invalidate()
function is a virtual function. So, you can invalidate your own cache in a subclass of QGraphicsLayout by reimplementing this function.
Event Handling¶
QGraphicsLayout listens to events for the widget it manages through the virtual widgetEvent()
event handler. When the layout is assigned to a widget, all events delivered to the widget are first processed by widgetEvent()
. This allows the layout to be aware of any relevant state changes on the widget such as visibility changes or layout direction changes.
Margin Handling¶
The margins of a QGraphicsLayout can be modified by reimplementing setContentsMargins()
and getContentsMargins()
.
-
class
PySide6.QtWidgets.
QGraphicsLayout
([parent=None])¶ - Parameters
Contructs a QGraphicsLayout object.
parent
is passed to QGraphicsLayoutItem
‘s constructor and the QGraphicsLayoutItem
‘s isLayout
argument is set to true.
If parent
is a QGraphicsWidget the layout will be installed on that widget. (Note that installing a layout will delete the old one installed.)
-
PySide6.QtWidgets.QGraphicsLayout.
activate
()¶
Activates the layout, causing all items in the layout to be immediately rearranged. This function is based on calling and , and then calling on all items sequentially. When activated, the layout will adjust its geometry to its parent’s contentsRect()
. The parent will then invalidate any layout of its own.
If called in sequence or recursively, e.g., by one of the arranged items in response to being resized, this function will do nothing.
Note that the layout is free to use geometry caching to optimize this process. To forcefully invalidate any such cache, you can call invalidate()
before calling .
See also
-
PySide6.QtWidgets.QGraphicsLayout.
addChildLayoutItem
(layoutItem)¶ - Parameters
layoutItem –
PySide6.QtWidgets.QGraphicsLayoutItem
This function is a convenience function provided for custom layouts, and will go through all items in the layout and reparent their graphics items to the closest QGraphicsWidget ancestor of the layout.
If layoutItem
is already in a different layout, it will be removed from that layout.
If custom layouts want special behaviour they can ignore to use this function, and implement their own behaviour.
See also
-
PySide6.QtWidgets.QGraphicsLayout.
count
()¶ - Return type
int
-
static
PySide6.QtWidgets.QGraphicsLayout.
instantInvalidatePropagation
()¶ - Return type
bool
returns true
if the complete widget/layout hierarchy is rearranged in one go.
See also
-
PySide6.QtWidgets.QGraphicsLayout.
invalidate
()¶
Clears any cached geometry and size hint information in the layout, and posts a LayoutRequest
event to the managed parent QGraphicsLayoutItem
.
See also
-
PySide6.QtWidgets.QGraphicsLayout.
isActivated
()¶ - Return type
bool
Returns true
if the layout is currently being activated; otherwise, returns false
. If the layout is being activated, this means that it is currently in the process of rearranging its items (i.e., the activate()
function has been called, and has not yet returned).
See also
-
PySide6.QtWidgets.QGraphicsLayout.
itemAt
(i)¶ - Parameters
i – int
- Return type
-
PySide6.QtWidgets.QGraphicsLayout.
removeAt
(index)¶ - Parameters
index – int
-
PySide6.QtWidgets.QGraphicsLayout.
setContentsMargins
(left, top, right, bottom)¶ - Parameters
left – float
top – float
right – float
bottom – float
Sets the contents margins to left
, top
, right
and bottom
. The default contents margins for toplevel layouts are style dependent (by querying the pixelMetric for PM_LayoutLeftMargin
, PM_LayoutTopMargin
, PM_LayoutRightMargin
and PM_LayoutBottomMargin
).
For sublayouts the default margins are 0.
Changing the contents margins automatically invalidates the layout.
See also
-
static
PySide6.QtWidgets.QGraphicsLayout.
setInstantInvalidatePropagation
(enable)¶ - Parameters
enable – bool
Calling this function with enable
set to true will enable a feature that makes propagation of invalidation up to ancestor layout items to be done in one go. It will propagate up the parentLayoutItem()
hierarchy until it has reached the root. If the root item is a QGraphicsWidget , it will *post* a layout request to it. When the layout request is consumed it will traverse down the hierarchy of layouts and widgets and activate all layouts that is invalid (not activated). This is the recommended behaviour.
If not set it will also propagate up the parentLayoutItem()
hierarchy, but it will stop at the first widget it encounters, and post a layout request to the widget. When the layout request is consumed, this might cause it to continue propagation up to the parentLayoutItem()
of the widget. It will continue in this fashion until it has reached a widget with no parentLayoutItem()
. This strategy might cause drawing artifacts, since it is not done in one go, and the consumption of layout requests might be interleaved by consumption of paint events, which might cause significant flicker. Note, this is not the recommended behavior, but for compatibility reasons this is the default behaviour.
See also
-
PySide6.QtWidgets.QGraphicsLayout.
widgetEvent
(e)¶ - Parameters
This virtual event handler receives all events for the managed widget. QGraphicsLayout uses this event handler to listen for layout related events such as geometry changes, layout changes or layout direction changes.
e
is a pointer to the event.
You can reimplement this event handler to track similar events for your own custom layout.
See also
event()
sceneEvent()
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