GSoC 2023 Qt Widgets Improvement Week-7 [ Qt integration ]

In Week 7, I am excited to share my progress on implementing the integration of the gr-qtgui flowgraph’s Qt GUI widget component with QT Creator and Qt Designer, providing users with enhanced customization options for their GUIs. This integration aims to provide users with a seamless experience in customizing their flowgraphs gui widgets by easily placing, aligning, adding custom labels, and formatting widgets to their liking.

Integrating gr-qtgui with QT Creator and Qt Designer

The primary goal of Week 7 was to establish seamless integration between the gr-qtgui flowgraph’s Qt GUI widget component and popular tools such as QT Creator and Qt Designer. By doing so, we enable users to have more control over the layout, alignment, and custom formatting of widgets in their GUIs.

Benefits of Integration

With the successful integration of gr-qtgui with QT Creator and Qt Designer, users can now effortlessly design and customize their GUIs using a familiar and feature-rich environment. Here are some of the key benefits:

1. Enhanced Layout and Placement Users can utilize QT Creator’s drag-and-drop functionality to easily place widgets on the canvas and arrange them according to their preference. This streamlines the GUI design process and eliminates the need for manual positioning.

2. Widget Alignment QT Creator allows users to align widgets to the grid, ensuring a clean and organized appearance of the GUI. This feature is especially useful when working with complex flowgraphs that involve multiple widgets.

3. Custom Labeling With Qt Designer, users can add custom labels to widgets, making it easier to identify and understand the purpose of each widget in the flowgraph. This enhances the overall user experience and readability of the GUI.

4. Formatting Options Qt Designer provides a wide range of formatting options for widgets, such as font style, color, and size. Users can now customize the visual appearance of their GUI elements to match their application’s branding or personal preference.

5. .ui File Generation The integration also enables users to generate .ui files directly from Qt Designer, capturing all the layout and customization settings. These .ui files can then be seamlessly integrated back into GNU Radio projects, preserving the designed GUI layout and appearance.

How to Get Started

To take advantage of the integration, users simply need to have both gr-qtgui and QT Creator/Qt Designer installed on their systems. Once installed, they can easily access the gr-qtgui widgets within Qt Designer’s widget library and begin designing their custom GUIs.

Week 8 [preview] :

In the upcoming weeks, I will continue to explore additional improvements and optimizations for the Qt widgets, further enhancing the GNU Radio user experience. Stay tuned for more exciting updates!