Multiple QComboboxes, best practice

xiit

Hey!

I have two QComboboxes, one which should display categories and another one which should change and display subcategories depending on what category you choose.

What would be the best way to approach this?

Here is an example:

@Main Category 1

Subcat 1
Subcat 2
Some random data, like "id", "type" or w/e
Main Category 2
Subcat 1
Some random data, like "id", "type" or w/e
Subcat 2@

The main categories should be shown in the first combobox. When selecting one, its subcategories should appear in the second one. And then I should be able to access the "data" for that subcategory.

I hope I'm clear enough about what I want to accomplish.

Thankful for any ideas!

holygirl

I'm not sure if I understood the question correctly. If you are just looking for a way to do what you are trying to do, then follow the instructions down below. If you are looking for a better or a more efficient way, then my answer may not be the right one.

@
QComboBox *items = new QComboBox();
items->addItem("Item1");
items->addItem("Item2");
//How many ever items you want to add to the comboBox

//This slot is to check if the text in comboBox has changed
connect(items,SIGNAL(currentTextChanged(QString)),SLOT(display_other_items));

//The SLOT
void MainWindow::display_other_items()
{
QComboBox *subItems = new QComboBox();
if(items->currentText=="Item1")
{
subItems->addItem("SubItem1");
subItems->addItem("SubItem2");
subItems->addItem("SubItem3");
}
else
if(items->currentText=="Item2")
{
subItems->addItem("SubItem1");
subItems->addItem("SubItem2");
subItems->addItem("SubItem3");
}
}
@

Adrien Leravat

One possible solution would be to use a single model to represent your data, and use the QComboBox'es as view for your data. You can set the model of a QComboBox with QComboBox::setModel.

A model can be build as a tree, thus representing the parenting of your data. Here details about "Qt Model/View models":http://doc.qt.digia.com/qt/model-view-programming.html#model-classes. Depending on what you use, you'll have to manually add data to your model, or not (Qt SQL table models for instance do that by their own. You can choose from QSqlRelationalTableModel, QStandardItemModel, etc., or your custom model based on QAbstractItemModel).

Bind a slot to the signal QComboBox::currentIndexChanged ( int index ) of each QComboBox, and in the slot retrieve the corresponding element of your model (identified with a QModelIndex), and pass it to the next level combobox with the method
@
QComboBox::setRootModelIndex ( const QModelIndex & index )
@

You'll also have to update other child comboboxes the same way.

This is not the easiest way to do what you want, but surely the most flexible, scalable to your data. If you look for a solid design, I'd recommand this. Else simply use QStringLists to store/retrieve your data when selection changes.

Edit: holygirl proposal is perfect if you have few/static data.

xiit

I was actually thinking of models, but it seemed a little bit too complicated for this.

I will look in to both of your suggestions and see which suits me the most. Thanks a bunch! :)

qxoz

Models are more prefered.
Another variant is using QSortFilterProxyModel , and at QComboBox::currentIndexChanged ( int index ) set the filter for proxy model.

xiit

Alright, I'm pretty much lost when it comes to models. I hate to ask for this, but does someone have a simple example on how to do this?

I've googled and found various examples but they really doesn't make any sense to me. I'm probably just to stupid for this. :P

andre

From a user experience perspective, I'd like to raise another issue. Are you sure that using two QComboBoxes to select a main & sub category is really the optimal solution? Personally, I don't like it much to be honest. You don't get a great overview over what is available, and you need quite a number of mouse clicks to select anything.

Would it not make sense to use a single tree view instead, in which you allow filtering? That would allow your user to view all available categories and subcategories in one go and allow you to extend your hierarchy in places where that is needed. You could even, with some tricks, use that tree view as the dropdown-part of a QComboBox in case you lack the space for a full tree view in your form.

The filtering feature would need a bit of work to get right. A standard QSFPM doesn't cut it, as you would have to still return main categories that have sub categories that match, even if they themselves do not match the filter (and vise versa). However, there are already topics discussing this here on the forum, complete with example code on how you could do this.

xiit

Andre: You're right. However, I want to keep the form minimalistic.

Say, a push button which pops up a menu when triggered and then changes text to represent what category you have chosen. Would that be considered user friendly/practical or just messy?

You'd have somewhat better overview than with two comboboxes though.

Tree view as the dropdown part of a combobox seems a little bit too advanced for me. :)

Thanks for your input!

holygirl

I hope the following code will help. I've included comments to help you understand. I'm new to Qt myself so if my example is wrong, others will definitely point it out. Good luck!

@
QSqlDatabase db = QSqlDatabase::addDatabase("QSQLITE"); // The DB being used
db.setDatabaseName("Path\test1.db"); //Where the DB lies
db.open(); //to open the database

QSqlTableModel m = new QSqlTableModel(); //Model which maps the DB to the comboBox
m->setTable("table"); //The table in the DB which has to be mapped
m->select(); //The model needs to be selected in order to use it

QComboBox *comboBox = new QCombobox();
comboBox->setModel(m); //This is where the mapping happens
comboBox->show();
@

andre

The code shown by holygirl is not very useful for the case at hand. The discussion was about a set of two comboboxes with a catagory and a sub category. There was no mention of the data being stored in a data base though. The code also fails to handle the case where the thing to be displayed in the combo box is not in the first column of the table, as would often be the case (the ID is usually first).

holygirl

[quote author="Andre" date="1359455436"]The code also fails to handle the case where the thing to be displayed in the combo box is not in the first column of the table, as would often be the case (the ID is usually first). [/quote]

Suppose we had to display the 3rd column in the comboBox, could we not do something like?
@
model->removeColumns(0,2);
@

qxoz

For displaying correct column you not need delete others, just set the model column for combo box:
@comboBox->setModelColumn(2);//for 3rd column@

but still, we stepped back from the main topic.

holygirl

qxoz!

  Omg!! I didn't know I could do something like

@
comboBox->setModelColumn(int);
@

I've been deleting columns all this while to get to the correct column. Thank you SO SO much for teaching me this. I'm clearly not doing a good job learning by myself. So, thanks!

And sorry to the OP for deviating from the main topic.

qxoz

You’re welcome ! :)
All programmers became good, by self training. Just move on.

andre

Indeed. I bet, if you dig deep enough in the (public!) archives on the interwebs, you'll be able to discover many quite basic Qt and C++ questions asked by yours truly...

xiit

Okay, I think I'm starting to understand models a little bit now - though I haven't made a custom one yet. This is what I've come up with now:

In my main window constructor
@ QStandardItem *categoryOne = new QStandardItem("One");
categoryOne->appendRow(new QStandardItem("Some"));
categoryOne->appendRow(new QStandardItem("stuff"));
categoryOne->appendRow(new QStandardItem("here"));

QStandardItem *categoryTwo = new QStandardItem("Two");
categoryTwo->appendRow(new QStandardItem("More"));
categoryTwo->appendRow(new QStandardItem("stuff"));

QStandardItemModel *model = new QStandardItemModel();
model->appendRow(categoryOne);
model->appendRow(categoryTwo);

ui->comboCategory->setModel(model);
ui->comboSubcategory->setModel(model);@

In the currentIndexChanged slot for the main category combobox

@ //QStandardItemModel model = static_cast<QStandardItemModel>(ui->comboCategory->model());

QAbstractItemModel *model = ui->comboCategory->model();

ui->comboSubcategory->setRootModelIndex(model->index(index, 0));
ui->comboSubcategory->setCurrentIndex(0);@

It seems to work fine, but is this the "correct" way of doing it?