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

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/*!
    \page qtquick-form-editor.html
    \previouspage quick-components.html
    \nextpage quick-shapes.html

    \title Editing 2D Content

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

    \image qmldesigner-form-editor.png "Form Editor view"

    \section1 Resizing Items

    When you select items in the \uicontrol {Form Editor}, selection handles
    appear around their edges and in their corners. You can drag the selection
    handles to resize items.

    \if defined(qtdesignstudio)
    To have the resizing done from the center of the selected item instead from
    its edges, press \key Alt.

    To preserve the image aspect ratio while resizing when using the corner
    handles, press \key Shift. This also works on items that are anchored
    using left, right, top, or bottom anchors.

    To both resize from the center of the item and preserve the aspect ratio,
    press \key Alt+Shift.
    \endif

    \section1 Rotating Items

    You can use a rotation tool \inlineimage icons/rotation-cursor.png
    in one of the corners of an item to freely rotate
    items around their origin in \uicontrol {Form Editor}.
    Drag clockwise or counter-clockwise to rotate the item.

    \image qtquick-designer-rotating-items.png "2D rotation tool"

    Additionally, press \key Shift or \key Alt to rotate items in steps of 5 or
    45 degrees, respectively.

    You can set the \l{Managing 2D Transformations}{origin} in the
    \uicontrol Origin field in the \uicontrol Advanced tab in the
    \uicontrol Properties view. There, you can also enter the value
    of the \uicontrol Rotation property in degrees.

    \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 {Qt Quick Designer} 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 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 {Qt Quick Designer} 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 {Qt Quick Designer} 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.

*/