QStyledItemDelegate Class Reference
[QtGui module]

Subclassing QStyledItemDelegate

If the delegate does not support painting of the data types you need or you want to customize the drawing of items, you need to subclass QStyledItemDelegate, and reimplement paint() and possibly sizeHint(). The paint() function is called individually for each item, and with sizeHint(), you can specify the hint for each of them.

When reimplementing paint(), one would typically handle the datatypes one would like to draw and use the superclass implementation for other types.

The painting of check box indicators are performed by the current style. The style also specifies the size and the bounding rectangles in which to draw the data for the different data roles. The bounding rectangle of the item itself is also calculated by the style. When drawing already supported datatypes, it is therefore a good idea to ask the style for these bounding rectangles. The QStyle class description describes this in more detail.

If you wish to change any of the bounding rectangles calculated by the style or the painting of check box indicators, you can subclass QStyle. Note, however, that the size of the items can also be affected by reimplementing sizeHint().

It is possible for a custom delegate to provide editors without the use of an editor item factory. In this case, the following virtual functions must be reimplemented:

• createEditor() returns the widget used to change data from the model and can be reimplemented to customize editing behavior.
• setEditorData() provides the widget with data to manipulate.
• updateEditorGeometry() ensures that the editor is displayed correctly with respect to the item view.
• setModelData() returns updated data to the model.

The Star Delegate example creates editors by reimplementing these methods.