Simple ribbon: how to use QActions within QTabBar?

Question

I'm trying to implement simple tabbed interface with Qt5. I use QTabWidget with QToolBars placed inside its tabs and I add QActions to the QToolBars.

That works but causes the following issue: any action remains accessible only while its parent tab is active. If I try to use keyboard shortcut for currently "invisible" action, I will have no success. Since there's no menu etc, the tabs are the only place, where the actions are placed.

Here's how I add the elements to the toolbar:

QTabWidget *ribbon               = new QTabWidget(window);
QToolBar *tool_bar_game          = new QToolBar(tab_game);
QAction *action_go_to_next_level = new QAction(window);

action_go_to_next_level->setText(QApplication::translate("Window", "&Next", 0));
action_go_to_next_level->setIcon(QIcon::fromTheme("go-last"));
action_go_to_next_level->setShortcut(QApplication::translate("Window", "PgDown", 0));


ribbon->addTab(tool_bar_game, tr("Game"));
tool_bar_game->addAction(action_go_to_next_level);

and a screenshot:

How can I make the action accessible with shortcuts, even when the action's parent tab is not currently opened?

Why don't you move the `QToolBar`s outside of the `QTabBar`? — Georg Schölly, Feb 27 '16 at 12:33
If I move the toolbars outside tabbar how would I switch between them? — Vercetti, Feb 27 '16 at 12:51
Can you add a screenshot how it looks like? I'm a bit confused where exactly your QTabBar is. — Georg Schölly, Feb 27 '16 at 12:52
And the shortcuts are added by using mnemonic shortcuts, i.e. `toolbar->addAction("&Save")`? — Georg Schölly, Feb 27 '16 at 13:18
No, I've meant not mnemonic shortcuts but hotkeys. For example: Page Up for "Previous" or Page Down for "Next". They are added when configuring actions, something like: `QTabWidget ribbon = new QTabWidget(window); QToolBar tool_bar_game = new QToolBar(tab_game); QAction *action_go_to_next_level = new QAction(window); ribbon->addTab(tool_bar_game, tr("Game")); tool_bar_game->addAction(action_go_to_next_level); ` (Sorry for single-line code here in comments). — Vercetti, Feb 27 '16 at 13:43
@Vercetti, Do you know about [**QtitanRibbon**](http://www.devmachines.com/qtitanribbon-overview.html) library ? — Vladimir Bershov, Feb 27 '16 at 13:46
@VladimirBershov, That's the problem. Also I do not currently need full functionality of MS-style ribbon. Buttons in a single line with icon and, optionally, text under or near it — that would be enough for me. — Vercetti, Feb 27 '16 at 13:52
@Vercetti: I still don't see how you add the shortcuts currently. I've added the information you gave so far to the question. (Also, I think there is a small mistake, `new QAction()` probably doesn't return a pointer.) — Georg Schölly, Feb 27 '16 at 13:59
@GeorgSchölly, I've updated the code above. Also new QAction() does return a pointer. — Vercetti, Feb 27 '16 at 14:08

Georg Schölly · Accepted Answer · 2016-02-27T15:37:03.797

I'm not surprised that this doesn't work, effectively you try to use a shortcut on a hidden widget. It would be very confusing if this worked.

The obvious workaround for this is to add the shortcut instead of to the QAction to a widget that is always active. Personally, I suggest the window.

Without having tested the code, I believe this should work:

QTabWidget *ribbon               = new QTabWidget(window);
QToolBar *tool_bar_game          = new QToolBar(tab_game);
QAction *action_go_to_next_level = new QAction(window);

action_go_to_next_level->setText(QApplication::translate("Window", "&Next", 0));
action_go_to_next_level->setIcon(QIcon::fromTheme("go-last"));

QShortcut *page_down = new QShortcut(QKeySequence("PgDown"), window);
// trigger the action when the shortcut is activated
QObject::connect(page_down,               &QShortcut::activated,
                 action_go_to_next_level, &QAction::trigger);

ribbon->addTab(tool_bar_game, tr("Game"));
tool_bar_game->addAction(action_go_to_next_level);

Yeap, that works! Thanks a lot! P. S. Should I `delete` shortcuts in destructor myself or the window will do it for me? — Vercetti, Feb 27 '16 at 15:36
@Vercetti: Pretty sure the window does it for you, just like it also deletes all its child widgets. — Georg Schölly, Feb 27 '16 at 15:38

Simple ribbon: how to use QActions within QTabBar?

1 Answers1