Best way to reuse forms(or ui design) in a project [SOLVED]

lijo

I am creating 10 different forms. All of them have a common header and footer. Header will have the same background image but different titles for different forms. Footer is also similar in concept. I would like to make the header and footer design only once and reuse them in all the forms. I should be able to set some properties like title from individual forms(or the associated implementation class). And if I make some design changes(like an extra label) later in header, it should be reflected on individual forms.
Also I would like to do all the ui design using QtCreator.

From my understanding so far, I can think of following possible solutions.

Inherit from a class implementing the common form design.
- I will not be able to use QtCreator for designing child forms.
Create a template with header & footer and use the template for creating forms.
- Any later change in header design will not be reflected on the forms
Create custom widgets for header and footer. Integrate with QtCreator and use in individual forms.
- Relatively complex and some extra overhead.

Since I am new to Qt, I am not sure which is the best way to go ahead or there are other options(Qt way!) available. Would any one help me on this? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
-lijo

tucnak

In my opinion, the best way - to create patterns and include it from all your forms.

Create QWidget class which will represent your header

Add it from your form. As example: ui->layout->addWidget(new Header());

...

PROFIT!!1

Undderstood?

lijo

Thanks for the quick response!

bq. 2. Add it from your form. As example: ui->layout->addWidget(new Header());

This is much better and easier(Qt way!)

tucnak

It's not Qt-way)) - it's logic way. In dev it called ui templates (you can change one widget and other widgets will change their state).

P.S.
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David_Gil

I would bet on making a custom QWidget. The constructor could also accept a QString for the title.

Chapter 5 of 'C++ GUI Programming With Qt 4' is dedicated to custom widgets. A must-have book, anyway.

lijo

Thanks for the suggestions. I will go ahead with custom widget approach(with QtCreator plugin). Integration with QtCreator is very useful for me, as I will be doing lot of experiments with design.