qt-creator/doc/qtcreator/src/qtquick/qtquick-form-editor.qdoc

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/*!
    \contentspage index.html
    \page qtquick-form-editor.html
    \previouspage quick-components.html
    \nextpage quick-buttons.html

    \title Editing 2D Content

    You design applications in the \uicontrol {Form Editor} by placing items
    into it.

    \section1 Snapping to Parent and Sibling Items

    When you are working on a design, you can use snapping to align
    items in the \uicontrol {Form Editor}. Click the \inlineimage snapping.png
    button to have the items snap to their parent or sibling items. Snapping
    lines automatically appear to help you position the items.
    Click the \inlineimage snapping_and_anchoring.png
    button to anchor the item to the items that you snap to.

    Choose \uicontrol Tools > \uicontrol Options > \uicontrol {Qt Quick} >
    \uicontrol {\QMLD} to specify settings for snapping. In the
    \uicontrol {Parent item padding} field, specify the
    distance in pixels between the parent item and the snapping lines. In the
    \uicontrol {Sibling item spacing} field, specify the distance in pixels between
    sibling items and the snapping lines.

    The following image shows the snapping lines (1) when
    \uicontrol {Parent item padding} is set to 5 pixels.

    \image qmldesigner-snap-margins.png "Snapping lines on canvas"

    \section1 Hiding Item Boundaries

    The \uicontrol {Form Editor} displays the boundaries of items.
    To hide them, select the \inlineimage boundingrect.png
    button.

    \section1 Selecting Items

    When you point the mouse to overlapping items, the frontmost item is
    selected by default. However, items that do not have any content, such as
    the mouse area, are typically located in front of items that do have
    content, such as rectangles or border images. To select items with content
    by default, click the
    \inlineimage qmldesigner-only-select-items-with-content.png
    button.

    \section1 Previewing Component Size

    The width and height of the root item in a QML file determine the size of
    the component. You can reuse components, such as buttons, in different
    sizes in other QML files and design UIs for use with different device
    profiles, screen resolution, or screen orientation. The component size
    might also be zero (0,0) if its final size is determined by property
    bindings.

    To experiment with different component sizes, enter values in the
    \uicontrol {Override Width} and \uicontrol {Override Height} fields (1) on
    the canvas toolbar. The changes are displayed in the \uicontrol {Form Editor}
    (2) and in the \uicontrol States view (3), but the property
    values are not changed permanently in the QML file. You can permanently
    change the property values in the \uicontrol Properties view (4).

    \image qmldesigner-preview-size.png "Canvas width and height"

    To set the initial size of the root item, select \uicontrol Tools >
    \uicontrol Options > \uicontrol {Qt Quick} > \uicontrol {\QMLD} and
    specify the item width and height in the \uicontrol {Root Item Init Size}
    group.

    \section1 Specifying Canvas Size

    To change the canvas size, select \uicontrol Tools > \uicontrol Options >
    \uicontrol {Qt Quick} > \uicontrol {\QMLD} and
    specify the canvas width and height in the \uicontrol Canvas group.

    \section1 Refreshing the Form Editor Contents

    When you open QML files in the Design mode, the items in the file are drawn
    in the \uicontrol {Form Editor}. When you edit the item properties, the QML
    file and the contents of the editor might get out of sync. For example, when
    you change the position of an item within a column or a row, the new
    position might not be displayed correctly in the \uicontrol {Form Editor}.

    To refresh the contents of the \uicontrol {Form Editor}, press \key R or
    select the \inlineimage reset.png
    (\uicontrol {Reset View}) button.

*/