Positioning QPushButtons via qss in QT

Question

I have a set of five buttons that I am trying to position in a qss file. The default position that I have set up in the ui file works for one of the layouts I need. However, I want to group the buttons differently in the other theme.

I am new to qss files and have been experimenting, but cannot figure out if some things are possible. The "left" property is defined here: http://doc.qt.io/archives/4.6/stylesheet.html#left-attr but nothing happens when I try to use it.

margin-left actually moves the button, but only relationally. So, if the buttons are positioned in the ui file with a gap of 100 between them, a margin-left for the second button in the list is offset by 100.

What am I doing wrong? Could it be some setting in the ui file that is preventing it from moving? I already "broke layout" and it doesn't seem to matter. Is there a good resource you'd suggest?

Here is a sample of my qss file. The left has no effect.

QPushButton#Button_1 
{       
    min-width: 50;
    max-width: 50;
    min-height: 50;
    max-height: 50; 
    position:absolute;
    subcontrol-origin: border;  
    left:200;
}

EDIT: I've figured out that I can change the position of the button by deriving a class from QPushButton and making a "GeomX" qproperty. This seems to work, but I am running into an odd issue now. When I first load my app, it draws the buttons as they are positioned on the ui file. When I use the "change theme" option that I've coded, and select the currently loaded theme, it moves the buttons as I'd expect. However, resizing the app dumps them back to the ui positions and restarting also places them back in their ui positions. Is there a setting in the ui file that I could alter to get it to stop moving them? Is there a load-order issue that I need to address? Is it possible to even address this? What is going on?

Answer 1

Generally speaking, style sheets in Qt are used to alter the way a widget is drawn, not where it is positioned (except to add padding/margin). As the documentation you've referenced mentions, the "left" property is specific to sub-controls (that is, components within a widget and not the widget itself).

What it sounds like you're trying to accomplish (change the layout depending on the theme) would likely require a different approach. A couple of options would be to react to when the theme changes by:

• Moving around your spacers in your layout to move the buttons to the desired position
• Using a stacked widget, one page in the stack for each layout you desire, and change which page in the stack you're showing depending on what theme you're using.