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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-05-18T01:07:59+00:00

I am trying to create an interface for my application using Qt Designer. I

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I am trying to create an interface for my application using Qt Designer. I want it to have a tabbed, ribbon-style set of controls at the top, and a MDI-style area with docked windows which I plan to show and hide depending on which tab of the ribbon is currently selected. I am just beginning with Qt Designer as well as Qt4 itself for that matter so I’m not quite sure how to setup the window, which widgets and layouts should I use etc.

It’s quite obvious there should be a QTabWidget at the top, but I’m not sure about the bottom. Should I use a QFrame? A QMdiArea? A dock widget? What layouts can I use to make sure the tab widget has a fixed height, occupies the whole width of the window at all times and the bottom area scales as the window is resized?

I’ve read in the manual that splitter layouts allow for manual adjustment of the size of the widgets they contain, but I can’t drag the box size of a widget after I place them inside a splitter. Thus I’m unable to setup the area below the ribbon. Anyone, help?

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    You should look into the QMainWindow and check the multiple utilities it can provide you (Toolbar, StatusBar, DockWidgets, CentralWidget, etc…).

    The way I understood your case is that you will always have the MDI Area visible, and that the tab bar will only be used to change the dockWidgets. Here’s how I would do it.

    The centralWidget of the mainWindow would be a QWidget with a QVBoxLayout containing a QTabBar widget first (up) and a QMdiArea under it. The sizes should be handled automatically.

    This will allow the user (or you) to dock widgets on the left, bottom, top or right areas of the mainWindow’s central widget. Keep pointers to the dockWidgets to be able to move and show/hide them at will.

    Hope this helps.

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