Skip to content
  • Categories
  • Recent
  • Tags
  • Popular
  • Users
  • Groups
  • Search
  • Get Qt Extensions
  • Unsolved
Collapse
Brand Logo
  1. Home
  2. Qt Development
  3. General and Desktop
  4. How to create VS2013 like frameless window with dark style
Forum Updated to NodeBB v4.3 + New Features

How to create VS2013 like frameless window with dark style

Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Unsolved General and Desktop
45 Posts 5 Posters 18.0k Views 5 Watching
  • Oldest to Newest
  • Newest to Oldest
  • Most Votes
Reply
  • Reply as topic
Log in to reply
This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
  • J Jorgen

    @Chris-Kawa Wow, thx for the deep review and comments. As I said before it is the first initial example, of a simple way to style and decorate dialogs. To get all the features to have native feeling - I had to add OS specific code inside.
    So I think I will create a dev branch to make a more windows native version with some points from your list.

    The reason I started this was the dark style I created times ago based on fusion and applied stylesheets. It looks great on Systems with dark window styles - but on Windows7 it looks terrible. I have to use Windows for my day job, so I'm, using there VS2013/2015/2017... and I really like the style/theme and the frameless window.

    So I started to make this little example to "look" like the Visual Studio IDE ;)

    Maybe someone else is interested in improving my code by @Chris-Kawa s List. You are welcome to do it

    mrjjM Offline
    mrjjM Offline
    mrjj
    Lifetime Qt Champion
    wrote on last edited by
    #10

    @Jorgen
    You are not alone liking dark and frame less so many people would be happy
    for a good solution to download. Even if its windows only.

    1 Reply Last reply
    0
    • J Jorgen

      @Chris-Kawa Wow, thx for the deep review and comments. As I said before it is the first initial example, of a simple way to style and decorate dialogs. To get all the features to have native feeling - I had to add OS specific code inside.
      So I think I will create a dev branch to make a more windows native version with some points from your list.

      The reason I started this was the dark style I created times ago based on fusion and applied stylesheets. It looks great on Systems with dark window styles - but on Windows7 it looks terrible. I have to use Windows for my day job, so I'm, using there VS2013/2015/2017... and I really like the style/theme and the frameless window.

      So I started to make this little example to "look" like the Visual Studio IDE ;)

      Maybe someone else is interested in improving my code by @Chris-Kawa s List. You are welcome to do it

      AsimovA Offline
      AsimovA Offline
      Asimov
      wrote on last edited by
      #11

      @Jorgen
      I would love to see a youtube video showing how you go about styling a dialog.
      I wonder if you would be up for that.

      I mean start with an empty qt and show how you go about doing some simple styling, because I have no idea how it works, even though I have looked at your code.

      J 1 Reply Last reply
      0
      • AsimovA Asimov

        @Jorgen
        I would love to see a youtube video showing how you go about styling a dialog.
        I wonder if you would be up for that.

        I mean start with an empty qt and show how you go about doing some simple styling, because I have no idea how it works, even though I have looked at your code.

        J Offline
        J Offline
        Jorgen
        wrote on last edited by
        #12

        @Asimov good idea - I'm really busy - but I try to make such a tutorial video next few weeks.
        I currently using some "tricks" to do this. The important one, is to embed my "main" window into another one, which has some window flags to make it frameless. (like a splash screen).
        After that I can add my buttons (minimize, maximize, close, ...) the title bar etc. to my upper window layout. And of course using stylesheets to give the outer window a nice look and feel.

        All the "magic" with drag & drop on titlebar or minimize/maximize is also done in the outer window by overloading mouse events.

        ToDOs:

        • maybe install eventFilter or connect signals from embed window, to get all the changes (if you change the size, make it maximize, etc...)
        • also implement resize by all borders, not only the sizeGrid
        • and improve all the stuff @Chris-Kawa mentioned before
        1 Reply Last reply
        1
        • J Offline
          J Offline
          Jorgen
          wrote on last edited by
          #13

          Guys I had some spare time to update my Repo: https://github.com/Jorgen-VikingGod/Qt-Frameless-Window-DarkStyle

          There is now a much more improved frameless window, separated into extra classes to make it easier to use in existing projects. Also add feature to handle active/inactive or focus/no focus.

          I also added a kind of drop shadow around the window. If it is active the shadow/glow is blue (=highlight color from palette) else it is dark.

          There is also now a ui file for the frameless window, so you can easy move the buttons, change the layout, style, etc...

          Here is simple example of using the frameless window:

          #include <QApplication>
          #include "DarkStyle.h"
          #include "framelesswindow.h"
          #include "mainwindow.h"
          
          int main(int argc, char *argv[])
          {
            QApplication a(argc, argv);
          
            // style our application with custom dark style
            CDarkStyle::assign();
          
            // create frameless window (and set windowState or title)
            FramelessWindow framelessWindow;
            //framelessWindow.setWindowState(Qt::WindowMaximized);
            //framelessWindow.setWindowTitle("test title");
          
            // create our mainwindow
            MainWindow mainWindow;
          
            // add the mainwindow to our custom frameless window
            framelessWindow.setContent(&mainWindow);
            framelessWindow.show();
          
            return a.exec();
          }
          
          1 Reply Last reply
          1
          • Chris KawaC Offline
            Chris KawaC Offline
            Chris Kawa
            Lifetime Qt Champion
            wrote on last edited by
            #14

            @Jorgen Note that FramelessWindow takes ownership of the content so the example is "order dependent" i.e. this

            FramelessWindow framelessWindow;
            MainWindow mainWindow;
            framelessWindow.setContent(&mainWindow);
            

            will work, but this

            MainWindow mainWindow;
            FramelessWindow framelessWindow;
            framelessWindow.setContent(&mainWindow);
            

            will crash at exit. A more Qtish way of doing it would be

            FramelessWindow framelessWindow;
            MainWindow* mainWindow = new MainWindow;
            framelessWindow.setContent(mainWindow);
            

            to let the parent/child mechanism clean up.
            This way order of creation doesn't matter and it might be less error prone example.

            J 1 Reply Last reply
            1
            • Chris KawaC Chris Kawa

              @Jorgen Note that FramelessWindow takes ownership of the content so the example is "order dependent" i.e. this

              FramelessWindow framelessWindow;
              MainWindow mainWindow;
              framelessWindow.setContent(&mainWindow);
              

              will work, but this

              MainWindow mainWindow;
              FramelessWindow framelessWindow;
              framelessWindow.setContent(&mainWindow);
              

              will crash at exit. A more Qtish way of doing it would be

              FramelessWindow framelessWindow;
              MainWindow* mainWindow = new MainWindow;
              framelessWindow.setContent(mainWindow);
              

              to let the parent/child mechanism clean up.
              This way order of creation doesn't matter and it might be less error prone example.

              J Offline
              J Offline
              Jorgen
              wrote on last edited by
              #15

              @Chris-Kawa thanks again for great tips.
              Repo is now up to date.

              1 Reply Last reply
              1
              • S Offline
                S Offline
                saeid0034
                wrote on last edited by
                #16

                hi im new to qt and c++, i wand to use this this Qt-Frameless-Window-DarkStyle on multi ui file
                but i dont know how
                every time i try all my ui file showed in a window together...
                anyone can help me

                mrjjM 1 Reply Last reply
                0
                • S saeid0034

                  hi im new to qt and c++, i wand to use this this Qt-Frameless-Window-DarkStyle on multi ui file
                  but i dont know how
                  every time i try all my ui file showed in a window together...
                  anyone can help me

                  mrjjM Offline
                  mrjjM Offline
                  mrjj
                  Lifetime Qt Champion
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #17

                  Hi and welcome to the forums

                  Did you try to create a frameless for each ?

                  // 1
                  FramelessWindow * framelessWindow = new FramelessWindow;
                  MainWindow *mainWindow = new MainWindow;
                  framelessWindow->setContent(mainWindow);
                  // 2
                  FramelessWindow * framelessWindow2 = new FramelessWindow;
                  MainWindow *mainWindow2 = new MainWindow;
                  framelessWindow2->setContent(mainWindow2);

                  S 1 Reply Last reply
                  1
                  • mrjjM mrjj

                    Hi and welcome to the forums

                    Did you try to create a frameless for each ?

                    // 1
                    FramelessWindow * framelessWindow = new FramelessWindow;
                    MainWindow *mainWindow = new MainWindow;
                    framelessWindow->setContent(mainWindow);
                    // 2
                    FramelessWindow * framelessWindow2 = new FramelessWindow;
                    MainWindow *mainWindow2 = new MainWindow;
                    framelessWindow2->setContent(mainWindow2);

                    S Offline
                    S Offline
                    saeid0034
                    wrote on last edited by saeid0034
                    #18

                    @mrjj said in How to create VS2013 like frameless window with dark style:

                    // 1
                    FramelessWindow * framelessWindow = new FramelessWindow;
                    MainWindow *mainWindow = new MainWindow;
                    framelessWindow->setContent(mainWindow);
                    // 2
                    FramelessWindow * framelessWindow2 = new FramelessWindow;
                    MainWindow *mainWindow2 = new MainWindow;
                    framelessWindow2->setContent(mainWindow2);

                    thanks for fast reply
                    this code doesn't work
                    this time no ui come up at all

                    my code first of all open a window
                    when i click a button in first windows, second window open (first window hide)

                    1 Reply Last reply
                    0
                    • S Offline
                      S Offline
                      saeid0034
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #19
                      a.setStyle(new DarkStyle);
                      
                        // create frameless window (and set windowState or title)
                        FramelessWindow framelessWindow;
                        //framelessWindow.setWindowState(Qt::WindowMaximized);
                        framelessWindow.setWindowTitle("SubRan Patcher");
                        framelessWindow.setWindowIcon(QIcon(":/png/sr-removebg-preview.png"));
                      
                        // create our mainwindow instance
                        MainWindow *mainwindow = new MainWindow;
                        MainWindow2 *mainwindow2 = new MainWindow2;
                      
                        // add the mainwindow to our custom frameless window
                        framelessWindow.setContent(mainwindow);
                        framelessWindow.setContent(mainwindow2);
                        framelessWindow.show();
                      
                        return a.exec();
                      

                      when i use this code my program start like this
                      1d86c029-0a04-4c18-8e3c-a15df0f36f60-image.png

                      as you can see my two windows showed together in one window

                      1 Reply Last reply
                      0
                      • mrjjM Offline
                        mrjjM Offline
                        mrjj
                        Lifetime Qt Champion
                        wrote on last edited by mrjj
                        #20

                        Hi
                        You still using same frameless for both
                        framelessWindow.setContent(mainwindow);
                        framelessWindow.setContent(mainwindow2);

                        S 1 Reply Last reply
                        2
                        • mrjjM mrjj

                          Hi
                          You still using same frameless for both
                          framelessWindow.setContent(mainwindow);
                          framelessWindow.setContent(mainwindow2);

                          S Offline
                          S Offline
                          saeid0034
                          wrote on last edited by saeid0034
                          #21

                          @mrjj said in How to create VS2013 like frameless window with dark style:

                          Hi
                          You still using same frameless for both
                          framelessWindow.setContent(mainwindow);
                          framelessWindow.setContent(mainwindow2);

                          what can i do about this?
                          i use 2 frameless in my test too but the output is second window doesn't show (only a empty frameless window show)

                          also i use this code in mainwindow.cpp to show new window and hide old one

                          void MainWindow::on_pushButton_clicked()
                          {
                              // ----- Hide old Window and show new window ----- //
                               hide();
                               mainwindow2 = new MainWindow2(this);
                          }
                          
                          mrjjM 1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • S saeid0034

                            @mrjj said in How to create VS2013 like frameless window with dark style:

                            Hi
                            You still using same frameless for both
                            framelessWindow.setContent(mainwindow);
                            framelessWindow.setContent(mainwindow2);

                            what can i do about this?
                            i use 2 frameless in my test too but the output is second window doesn't show (only a empty frameless window show)

                            also i use this code in mainwindow.cpp to show new window and hide old one

                            void MainWindow::on_pushButton_clicked()
                            {
                                // ----- Hide old Window and show new window ----- //
                                 hide();
                                 mainwindow2 = new MainWindow2(this);
                            }
                            
                            mrjjM Offline
                            mrjjM Offline
                            mrjj
                            Lifetime Qt Champion
                            wrote on last edited by mrjj
                            #22

                            @saeid0034
                            so you did try with
                            FramelessWindow framelessWindow;
                            FramelessWindow framelessWindow2;

                            and it wont show ?

                            also the on_pushButton_clicked will just make a new one and NOT USE frameless as you dont add that ot it like you do in main.

                            S 1 Reply Last reply
                            1
                            • mrjjM mrjj

                              @saeid0034
                              so you did try with
                              FramelessWindow framelessWindow;
                              FramelessWindow framelessWindow2;

                              and it wont show ?

                              also the on_pushButton_clicked will just make a new one and NOT USE frameless as you dont add that ot it like you do in main.

                              S Offline
                              S Offline
                              saeid0034
                              wrote on last edited by saeid0034
                              #23

                              @mrjj said in How to create VS2013 like frameless window with dark style:

                              @saeid0034
                              so you did try with
                              FramelessWindow framelessWindow;
                              FramelessWindow framelessWindow2;

                              and it wont show ?

                              also the on_pushButton_clicked will just make a new one and NOT USE frameless as you dont add that ot it like you do in main.

                              what can i do?
                              you mean i need somthing like this in my mainwindow.cpp?

                              void MainWindow::on_pushButton_clicked()
                              {
                                  // ----- Hide old Window and show new window ----- //
                                   hide();
                              
                                   // style our application with custom dark style
                                   setStyle(new DarkStyle);
                              
                                   // create frameless window (and set windowState or title)
                                   FramelessWindow framelessWindow2;
                                   //framelessWindow.setWindowState(Qt::WindowMaximized);
                                   framelessWindow2.setWindowTitle(".r");
                                   framelessWindow2.setWindowIcon(QIcon(":/png/sr-removebg-preview.png"));
                              
                                   // create our mainwindow instance
                                   MainWindow2 *mainwindow2 = new MainWindow2;
                              
                                   // add the mainwindow to our custom frameless window
                                   framelessWindow2.setContent(mainwindow2);
                                   framelessWindow2.show();
                              
                                   //mainwindow2 = new MainWindow2(this);
                              }
                              

                              sorry for asking lots of question (and sorry about mistake in framelessWindow2.setWindowTitle in above code)

                              mrjjM S 2 Replies Last reply
                              0
                              • S saeid0034

                                @mrjj said in How to create VS2013 like frameless window with dark style:

                                @saeid0034
                                so you did try with
                                FramelessWindow framelessWindow;
                                FramelessWindow framelessWindow2;

                                and it wont show ?

                                also the on_pushButton_clicked will just make a new one and NOT USE frameless as you dont add that ot it like you do in main.

                                what can i do?
                                you mean i need somthing like this in my mainwindow.cpp?

                                void MainWindow::on_pushButton_clicked()
                                {
                                    // ----- Hide old Window and show new window ----- //
                                     hide();
                                
                                     // style our application with custom dark style
                                     setStyle(new DarkStyle);
                                
                                     // create frameless window (and set windowState or title)
                                     FramelessWindow framelessWindow2;
                                     //framelessWindow.setWindowState(Qt::WindowMaximized);
                                     framelessWindow2.setWindowTitle(".r");
                                     framelessWindow2.setWindowIcon(QIcon(":/png/sr-removebg-preview.png"));
                                
                                     // create our mainwindow instance
                                     MainWindow2 *mainwindow2 = new MainWindow2;
                                
                                     // add the mainwindow to our custom frameless window
                                     framelessWindow2.setContent(mainwindow2);
                                     framelessWindow2.show();
                                
                                     //mainwindow2 = new MainWindow2(this);
                                }
                                

                                sorry for asking lots of question (and sorry about mistake in framelessWindow2.setWindowTitle in above code)

                                mrjjM Offline
                                mrjjM Offline
                                mrjj
                                Lifetime Qt Champion
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #24

                                Hi
                                seems ok.
                                Yes you need to to the same each time you create a Window you want to be frame less

                                one thing.

                                setStyle(new DarkStyle);

                                that sets on the current MainWindow and i thnik you need that on the new one

                                // create our mainwindow instance
                                MainWindow2 *mainwindow2 = new MainWindow2;
                                mainwindow2 -> setStyle(new DarkStyle);

                                • sorry for asking lots of question
                                  That is quite allright :)
                                S 1 Reply Last reply
                                1
                                • S saeid0034

                                  @mrjj said in How to create VS2013 like frameless window with dark style:

                                  @saeid0034
                                  so you did try with
                                  FramelessWindow framelessWindow;
                                  FramelessWindow framelessWindow2;

                                  and it wont show ?

                                  also the on_pushButton_clicked will just make a new one and NOT USE frameless as you dont add that ot it like you do in main.

                                  what can i do?
                                  you mean i need somthing like this in my mainwindow.cpp?

                                  void MainWindow::on_pushButton_clicked()
                                  {
                                      // ----- Hide old Window and show new window ----- //
                                       hide();
                                  
                                       // style our application with custom dark style
                                       setStyle(new DarkStyle);
                                  
                                       // create frameless window (and set windowState or title)
                                       FramelessWindow framelessWindow2;
                                       //framelessWindow.setWindowState(Qt::WindowMaximized);
                                       framelessWindow2.setWindowTitle(".r");
                                       framelessWindow2.setWindowIcon(QIcon(":/png/sr-removebg-preview.png"));
                                  
                                       // create our mainwindow instance
                                       MainWindow2 *mainwindow2 = new MainWindow2;
                                  
                                       // add the mainwindow to our custom frameless window
                                       framelessWindow2.setContent(mainwindow2);
                                       framelessWindow2.show();
                                  
                                       //mainwindow2 = new MainWindow2(this);
                                  }
                                  

                                  sorry for asking lots of question (and sorry about mistake in framelessWindow2.setWindowTitle in above code)

                                  S Offline
                                  S Offline
                                  saeid0034
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #25
                                  This post is deleted!
                                  1 Reply Last reply
                                  0
                                  • mrjjM mrjj

                                    Hi
                                    seems ok.
                                    Yes you need to to the same each time you create a Window you want to be frame less

                                    one thing.

                                    setStyle(new DarkStyle);

                                    that sets on the current MainWindow and i thnik you need that on the new one

                                    // create our mainwindow instance
                                    MainWindow2 *mainwindow2 = new MainWindow2;
                                    mainwindow2 -> setStyle(new DarkStyle);

                                    • sorry for asking lots of question
                                      That is quite allright :)
                                    S Offline
                                    S Offline
                                    saeid0034
                                    wrote on last edited by saeid0034
                                    #26

                                    @mrjj said in How to create VS2013 like frameless window with dark style:

                                    Hi
                                    seems ok.
                                    Yes you need to to the same each time you create a Window you want to be frame less

                                    one thing.

                                    setStyle(new DarkStyle);

                                    that sets on the current MainWindow and i thnik you need that on the new one

                                    // create our mainwindow instance
                                    MainWindow2 *mainwindow2 = new MainWindow2;
                                    mainwindow2 -> setStyle(new DarkStyle);

                                    • sorry for asking lots of question
                                      That is quite allright :)

                                    i tested it with following code

                                             hide();
                                             // create frameless window (and set windowState or title)
                                             FramelessWindow framelessWindow2;
                                             //framelessWindow.setWindowState(Qt::WindowMaximized);
                                             framelessWindow2.setWindowTitle(".r");
                                             framelessWindow2.setWindowIcon(QIcon(":/png/sr-removebg-preview.png"));
                                    
                                             // create our mainwindow instance
                                             MainWindow2 *mainwindow2 = new MainWindow2;
                                             mainwindow2 -> setStyle(new DarkStyle);
                                    
                                             // add the mainwindow to our custom frameless window
                                             framelessWindow2.setContent(mainwindow2);
                                             framelessWindow2.show();
                                    
                                             //mainwindow2 = new MainWindow2(this);
                                    

                                    but again it show me only a blank frameless window of my second ui file

                                    bdc7674c-a57e-441e-869c-56bbf4dd7ac8-image.png

                                    one other point is as you can see WindowTitle is test (i use this title in my frist windown in main.cpp) its not use new WindowTitle i set in above code

                                    1 Reply Last reply
                                    0
                                    • mrjjM Offline
                                      mrjjM Offline
                                      mrjj
                                      Lifetime Qt Champion
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #27

                                      Hi
                                      Sorry was not paying enough focus.

                                      You cannot do
                                      FramelessWindow framelessWindow2;

                                      as it will run out of scope. That only works in main.cpp

                                      you MUST new them as you do with MainWindow

                                      S 1 Reply Last reply
                                      1
                                      • mrjjM mrjj

                                        Hi
                                        Sorry was not paying enough focus.

                                        You cannot do
                                        FramelessWindow framelessWindow2;

                                        as it will run out of scope. That only works in main.cpp

                                        you MUST new them as you do with MainWindow

                                        S Offline
                                        S Offline
                                        saeid0034
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #28

                                        @mrjj said in How to create VS2013 like frameless window with dark style:

                                        Hi
                                        Sorry was not paying enough focus.

                                        You cannot do
                                        FramelessWindow framelessWindow2;

                                        as it will run out of scope. That only works in main.cpp

                                        you MUST new them as you do with MainWindow

                                        how can i add new FramelessWindow framelessWindow2 in main.cpp and then use it onvoid MainWindow::on_pushButton_clicked()in mainwindow.cpp?

                                        mrjjM 1 Reply Last reply
                                        0
                                        • S saeid0034

                                          @mrjj said in How to create VS2013 like frameless window with dark style:

                                          Hi
                                          Sorry was not paying enough focus.

                                          You cannot do
                                          FramelessWindow framelessWindow2;

                                          as it will run out of scope. That only works in main.cpp

                                          you MUST new them as you do with MainWindow

                                          how can i add new FramelessWindow framelessWindow2 in main.cpp and then use it onvoid MainWindow::on_pushButton_clicked()in mainwindow.cpp?

                                          mrjjM Offline
                                          mrjjM Offline
                                          mrjj
                                          Lifetime Qt Champion
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #29

                                          @saeid0034

                                          Hi you dont need to add it there you can add anywhere but you must NEW it then

                                          and not as local variable as then it runs out of scope.

                                          So what i mean is just to do
                                          FramelessWindow * framelessWindow2 = new FramelessWindow ;

                                          and not just
                                          FramelessWindow framelessWindow2; // this is a local variable and as soon as
                                          on_pushButton_clicked ends , it will be deleted

                                          so you have to new it

                                          1 Reply Last reply
                                          1

                                          • Login

                                          • Login or register to search.
                                          • First post
                                            Last post
                                          0
                                          • Categories
                                          • Recent
                                          • Tags
                                          • Popular
                                          • Users
                                          • Groups
                                          • Search
                                          • Get Qt Extensions
                                          • Unsolved