Qt models don't support item flags for headers. Setting item flags on items that are used as headers has no effect. QHeaderView doesn't support drawing checkboxes. I'm afraid subclassing QHeaderView is the simpliest way.
I wrote an example of how it can be implemented based on this FAQ page. This class assumes that you use QStandardItemModel and uses flags of its header items. If someone would want to use other model class, subclassing QAbstractItemModel and implementing missing interface and changing headerview implementation would be needed.
class MyHeader : public QHeaderView
{
public:
MyHeader(Qt::Orientation orientation, QWidget * parent = 0);
protected:
QStandardItemModel* standard_model;
virtual void paintSection(QPainter *painter, const QRect &rect, int logicalIndex) const;
virtual void mousePressEvent(QMouseEvent *event);
virtual void setModel(QAbstractItemModel* model);
};
MyHeader::MyHeader(Qt::Orientation orientation, QWidget *parent) : QHeaderView(orientation, parent)
{
standard_model = 0;
}
void MyHeader::paintSection(QPainter *painter, const QRect &rect, int logical_index) const {
painter->save();
QHeaderView::paintSection(painter, rect, logical_index);
painter->restore();
if (standard_model && orientation() == Qt::Horizontal) {
QStandardItem* item = standard_model->horizontalHeaderItem(logical_index);
if (item && item->isCheckable()) {
int offset = (height() - style()->pixelMetric(QStyle::PM_IndicatorHeight))/2;
int pos = sectionViewportPosition(logical_index);
QStyleOptionButton option;
option.rect = QRect(offset + pos, offset,
style()->pixelMetric(QStyle::PM_IndicatorWidth),
style()->pixelMetric(QStyle::PM_IndicatorHeight));
if (item->checkState() == Qt::Checked) {
option.state = QStyle::State_On;
} else {
option.state = QStyle::State_Off;
}
option.state |= QStyle::State_Enabled;
style()->drawPrimitive(QStyle::PE_IndicatorCheckBox, &option, painter);
}
}
}
void MyHeader::mousePressEvent(QMouseEvent *event) {
int offset = (height() - style()->pixelMetric(QStyle::PM_IndicatorHeight))/2;
if (standard_model && orientation() == Qt::Horizontal) {
for(int logical_index = 0; logical_index < count(); logical_index++) {
int pos = sectionViewportPosition(logical_index);
QRect rect(offset + pos, offset,
style()->pixelMetric(QStyle::PM_IndicatorWidth),
style()->pixelMetric(QStyle::PM_IndicatorHeight));
if (rect.contains(event->pos())) {
QStandardItem* item = standard_model->horizontalHeaderItem(logical_index);
if (item && item->isCheckable()) {
item->setCheckState(item->checkState() == Qt::Checked ? Qt::Unchecked : Qt::Checked);
return;
}
}
}
}
QHeaderView::mousePressEvent(event);
}
void MyHeader::setModel(QAbstractItemModel *model) {
QHeaderView::setModel(model);
standard_model = qobject_cast<QStandardItemModel*>(model);
}
//usage
QTableView view;
QStandardItemModel model;
model.setColumnCount(5);
QStandardItem* item0 = new QStandardItem("some text");
item0->setCheckable(true);
item0->setCheckState(Qt::Checked);
item0->setText("some text");
model.setHorizontalHeaderItem(0, item0);
view.setModel(&model);
MyHeader *myHeader = new MyHeader(Qt::Horizontal, &view);
view.setHorizontalHeader(myHeader);
view.show();