QMessageBox Class Reference
[QtGui module]

Default and Escape Keys

The default button (i.e., the button activated when Enter is pressed) can be specified using setDefaultButton(). If a default button is not specified, QMessageBox tries to find one based on the button roles of the buttons used in the message box.

The escape button (the button activated when Esc is pressed) can be specified using setEscapeButton(). If an escape button is not specified, QMessageBox tries to find one using these rules:

1. If there is only one button, it is the button activated when Esc is pressed.
2. If there is a Cancel button, it is the button activated when Esc is pressed.
3. If there is exactly one button having either the Reject role or the the No role, it is the button activated when Esc is pressed.

When an escape button can't be determined using these rules, pressing Esc has no effect.

See also QDialogButtonBox, GUI Design Handbook: Message Box, Standard Dialogs Example, and Application Example.

Member Type Documentation

enum QMessageBox::ButtonRole

This enum describes the roles that can be used to describe buttons in the button box. Combinations of these roles are as flags used to describe different aspects of their behavior.

See also StandardButton.

enum QMessageBox::Icon

This enum has the following values:

enum QMessageBox::StandardButton
flags QMessageBox::StandardButtons

These enums describe flags for standard buttons. Each button has a defined ButtonRole.

The following values are obsolete:

This enum was introduced in Qt 4.2.

The StandardButtons type is a typedef for QFlags<StandardButton>. It stores an OR combination of StandardButton values.

See also ButtonRole and standardButtons.

Property Documentation

detailedText : QString

This property holds the text to be displayed in the details area.

The text will be interpreted as a plain text.

By default, this property contains an empty string.

This property was introduced in Qt 4.2.

Access functions:

• QString detailedText () const
• void setDetailedText ( const QString & text )

See also QMessageBox::text and QMessageBox::informativeText.

icon : Icon

This property holds the message box's icon.

The icon of the message box can be specified with one of the values:

• QMessageBox::NoIcon
• QMessageBox::Question
• QMessageBox::Information
• QMessageBox::Warning
• QMessageBox::Critical

The default is QMessageBox::NoIcon.

The pixmap used to display the actual icon depends on the current GUI style. You can also set a custom pixmap for the icon by setting the icon pixmap property.

Access functions:

• Icon icon () const
• void setIcon ( Icon )

See also iconPixmap.

iconPixmap : QPixmap

This property holds the current icon.

The icon currently used by the message box. Note that it's often hard to draw one pixmap that looks appropriate in all GUI styles; you may want to supply a different pixmap for each platform.

By default, this property is undefined.

Access functions:

• QPixmap iconPixmap () const
• void setIconPixmap ( const QPixmap & pixmap )

See also icon.

informativeText : QString

This property holds the informative text that provides a fuller description for the message.

Infromative text can be used to expand upon the text() to give more information to the user. On the Mac, this text appears in small system font below the text(). On other platforms, it is simply appended to the existing text.

By default, this property contains an empty string.

This property was introduced in Qt 4.2.

Access functions:

• QString informativeText () const
• void setInformativeText ( const QString & text )

See also QMessageBox::text and QMessageBox::detailedText.

standardButtons : StandardButtons

This property holds collection of standard buttons in the message box.

This property controls which standard buttons are used by the message box.

By default, this property contains no standard buttons.

This property was introduced in Qt 4.2.

Access functions:

• StandardButtons standardButtons () const
• void setStandardButtons ( StandardButtons buttons )

See also addButton().

text : QString

This property holds the message box text to be displayed.

The text will be interpreted either as a plain text or as rich text, depending on the text format setting (QMessageBox::textFormat). The default setting is Qt::AutoText, i.e., the message box will try to auto-detect the format of the text.

The default value of this property is an empty string.

Access functions:

• QString text () const
• void setText ( const QString & text )

See also textFormat, QMessageBox::informativeText, and QMessageBox::detailedText.

textFormat : Qt::TextFormat

This property holds the format of the text displayed by the message box.

The current text format used by the message box. See the Qt::TextFormat enum for an explanation of the possible options.

The default format is Qt::AutoText.

Access functions:

• Qt::TextFormat textFormat () const
• void setTextFormat ( Qt::TextFormat format )

See also setText().

Member Function Documentation

QMessageBox::QMessageBox ( QWidget * parent = 0 )

Constructs a message box with no text and no buttons. parent is passed to the QDialog constructor.

If parent is 0, the message box is an application modal dialog box. If parent is a widget, the message box is window modal relative to parent.

On Mac OS X, if parent is not 0 and you want your message box to appear as a Qt::Sheet of that parent, set the message box's window modality to Qt::WindowModal (default). Otherwise, the message box will be a standard dialog.

QMessageBox::QMessageBox ( Icon icon, const QString & title, const QString & text, StandardButtons buttons = NoButton, QWidget * parent = 0, Qt::WindowFlags f = Qt::Dialog | Qt::MSWindowsFixedSizeDialogHint )

Constructs a message box with the given icon, title, text, and standard buttons. Standard or custom buttons can be added at any time using addButton(). The parent and f arguments are passed to the QDialog constructor.

If parent is 0, the message box is an application modal dialog box. If parent is a widget, the message box is window modal relative to parent.

On Mac OS X, if parent is not 0 and you want your message box to appear as a Qt::Sheet of that parent, set the message box's window modality to Qt::WindowModal (default). Otherwise, the message box will be a standard dialog.

See also setWindowTitle(), setText(), setIcon(), and setStandardButtons().

QMessageBox::~QMessageBox ()

Destroys the message box.

void QMessageBox::about ( QWidget * parent, const QString & title, const QString & text )   [static]

Displays a simple about box with title title and text text. The about box's parent is parent.

about() looks for a suitable icon in four locations:

1. It prefers parent->icon() if that exists.
2. If not, it tries the top-level widget containing parent.
3. If that fails, it tries the active window.
4. As a last resort it uses the Information icon.

The about box has a single button labelled "OK".

See also QWidget::windowIcon() and QApplication::activeWindow().

void QMessageBox::aboutQt ( QWidget * parent, const QString & title = QString() )   [static]

Displays a simple message box about Qt, with the given title and centered over parent (if parent is not 0). The message includes the version number of Qt being used by the application.

This is useful for inclusion in the Help menu of an application, as shown in the Menus example.

QApplication provides this functionality as a slot.

See also QApplication::aboutQt().

void QMessageBox::addButton ( QAbstractButton * button, ButtonRole role )

Adds the given button to the message box with the specified role.

This function was introduced in Qt 4.2.

See also removeButton(), button(), and setStandardButtons().

QPushButton * QMessageBox::addButton ( const QString & text, ButtonRole role )

This is an overloaded member function, provided for convenience.

Creates a button with the given text, adds it to the message box for the specified role, and returns it.

This function was introduced in Qt 4.2.

QPushButton * QMessageBox::addButton ( StandardButton button )

This is an overloaded member function, provided for convenience.

Adds a standard button to the message box if it is valid to do so, and returns the push button.

This function was introduced in Qt 4.2.

See also setStandardButtons().

QAbstractButton * QMessageBox::button ( StandardButton which ) const

Returns a pointer corresponding to the standard button which, or 0 if the standard button doesn't exist in this message box.

This function was introduced in Qt 4.2.

See also standardButtons and standardButton().

QAbstractButton * QMessageBox::clickedButton () const

Returns the button that was clicked by the user, or 0 if the user hit the Esc key and no escape button was set.

If exec() hasn't been called yet, returns 0.

Example:

 QMessageBox messageBox(this);
 QAbstractButton *disconnectButton =
       messageBox.addButton(tr("Disconnect"), QMessageBox::ActionRole);
 ...
 messageBox.exec();
 if (messageBox.clickedButton() == disconnectButton) {
     ...
 }

This function was introduced in Qt 4.2.

See also standardButton() and button().

StandardButton QMessageBox::critical ( QWidget * parent, const QString & title, const QString & text, StandardButtons buttons = Ok, StandardButton defaultButton = NoButton )   [static]

Opens a critical message box with the specified title and text. The standard buttons are added to the message box. defaultButton specifies the button used when Enter is pressed. If defaultButton is QMessageBox::NoButton, QMessageBox chooses a suitable default automatically.

Returns the identity of the standard button that was clicked. If Esc was pressed instead, the escape button is returned.

If parent is 0, the message box is an application modal dialog box. If parent is a widget, the message box is window modal relative to parent.

This function was introduced in Qt 4.2.

See also question(), warning(), and information().

QPushButton * QMessageBox::defaultButton () const

Returns the button that should be the message box's default button. Returns 0 if no default button was set.

This function was introduced in Qt 4.2.

See also setDefaultButton(), addButton(), and QPushButton::setDefault().

QAbstractButton * QMessageBox::escapeButton () const

Returns the button that is activated when escape is pressed.

By default, QMessageBox attempts to automatically detect an escape button as follows:

1. If there is only one button, it is made the escape button.
2. If there is a Cancel button, it is made the escape button.
3. On Mac OS X only, if there is exactly one button with the role QMessageBox::RejectRole, it is made the escape button.

When an escape button could not be automatically detected, pressing Esc has no effect.

This function was introduced in Qt 4.2.

See also setEscapeButton() and addButton().

int QMessageBox::exec ()   [slot]

Shows the message box as a modal dialog, blocking until the user closes it.

When using a QMessageBox with standard buttons, this functions returns a StandardButton value indicating the standard button that was clicked. When using QMessageBox with custom buttons, this function returns an opaque value; use clickedButton() to determine which button was clicked.

Users cannot interact with any other window in the same application until they close the dialog, either by clicking a button or by using a mechanism provided by the window system.

See also show() and result().

StandardButton QMessageBox::information ( QWidget * parent, const QString & title, const QString & text, StandardButtons buttons = Ok, StandardButton defaultButton = NoButton )   [static]

Opens an information message box with the specified title and text. The standard buttons are added to the message box. defaultButton specifies the button used when Enter is pressed. If defaultButton is QMessageBox::NoButton, QMessageBox chooses a suitable default automatically.

Returns the identity of the standard button that was clicked. If Esc was pressed instead, the escape button is returned.

If parent is 0, the message box is an application modal dialog box. If parent is a widget, the message box is window modal relative to parent.

This function was introduced in Qt 4.2.

See also question(), warning(), and critical().

StandardButton QMessageBox::question ( QWidget * parent, const QString & title, const QString & text, StandardButtons buttons = Ok, StandardButton defaultButton = NoButton )   [static]

Opens a question message box with the specified title and text. The standard buttons are added to the message box. defaultButton specifies the button used when Enter is pressed. If defaultButton is QMessageBox::NoButton, QMessageBox chooses a suitable default automatically.

Returns the identity of the standard button that was clicked. If Esc was pressed instead, the escape button is returned.

If parent is 0, the message box is an application modal dialog box. If parent is a widget, the message box is window modal relative to parent.

This function was introduced in Qt 4.2.

See also information(), warning(), and critical().

void QMessageBox::removeButton ( QAbstractButton * button )

Removes button from the button box without deleting it.

This function was introduced in Qt 4.2.

See also addButton() and setStandardButtons().

void QMessageBox::setDefaultButton ( QPushButton * button )

Sets the message box's default button to button.

This function was introduced in Qt 4.2.

See also defaultButton(), addButton(), and QPushButton::setDefault().

void QMessageBox::setDefaultButton ( StandardButton button )

This is an overloaded member function, provided for convenience.

Sets the message box's default button to button.

This function was introduced in Qt 4.3.

See also addButton() and QPushButton::setDefault().

void QMessageBox::setEscapeButton ( QAbstractButton * button )

Sets the button that gets activated when the Escape key is pressed to button.

This function was introduced in Qt 4.2.

See also escapeButton(), addButton(), and clickedButton().

void QMessageBox::setEscapeButton ( StandardButton button )

This is an overloaded member function, provided for convenience.

Sets the buttons that gets activated when the Escape key is pressed to button.

This function was introduced in Qt 4.3.

See also addButton() and clickedButton().

void QMessageBox::setWindowModality ( Qt::WindowModality windowModality )

This function shadows QWidget::setWindowModality().

Sets the modality of the message box to windowModality.

On Mac OS X, if the modality is set to Qt::WindowModal and the message box has a parent, then the message box will be a Qt::Sheet, otherwise the message box will be a standard dialog.

This function was introduced in Qt 4.2.

void QMessageBox::setWindowTitle ( const QString & title )

This function shadows QWidget::setWindowTitle().

Sets the title of the message box to title. On Mac OS X, the window title is ignored (as required by the Mac OS X Guidelines).

This function was introduced in Qt 4.2.

StandardButton QMessageBox::standardButton ( QAbstractButton * button ) const

Returns the standard button enum value corresponding to the given button, or NoButton if the given button isn't a standard button.

This function was introduced in Qt 4.2.

See also button() and standardButtons().

StandardButton QMessageBox::warning ( QWidget * parent, const QString & title, const QString & text, StandardButtons buttons = Ok, StandardButton defaultButton = NoButton )   [static]

Opens a warning message box with the specified title and text. The standard buttons are added to the message box. defaultButton specifies the button used when Enter is pressed. If defaultButton is QMessageBox::NoButton, QMessageBox chooses a suitable default automatically.

Returns the identity of the standard button that was clicked. If Esc was pressed instead, the escape button is returned.

If parent is 0, the message box is an application modal dialog box. If parent is a widget, the message box is window modal relative to parent.

This function was introduced in Qt 4.2.

See also question(), information(), and critical().