NAME

       kgendesignerplugin - Generates widget plugins for Qt(TM) Designer.

SYNOPSIS

       kgendesignerplugin [OPTIONS...] file

DESCRIPTION

       The custom widget plugins for Qt(TM) Designer usually follow a standard pattern, and the
       classes provided by the plugin mostly provide static information, along with function to
       create an instance that is normally just a simple constructor call.  kgendesignerplugin
       allows developers of libraries that provide new widgets to create such a plugin without
       creating all the associated boilerplate code, by providing a simple ini-style description
       file.

       kgendesignerplugin chooses sensible defaults for most settings, so minimal configuration
       is usually necessary.

OPTIONS

       -o file
           The name for the generated C++ file. If not given, stdout will be used.

       -n plugin-name
           Provided for compatibility. The default value for the PluginName option in the input
           file.

       -g group
           Provided for compatibility. The default value for the DefaultGroup option in the input
           file.

       --author
           Show author information.

       --license
           Show license information.

       -h, --help
           Show a brief help text.

       -v , --version
           Show version information.

FILE FORMAT

       The input file is an ini-style configuration file (specifically, it is in the format
       supported by the KConfig framework) that describes a set of widgets. It contains a
       [Global] section, providing general information about the plugin, and a section for each
       widget that should be included in the plugin.

       The [Global] section can have the following entries:

       DefaultGroup
           The default value for the Group entry in the class sections (default: "Custom", unless
           the -g option is given).

       Includes
           A (comma-separated) list of required includes (default: empty). Note that the header
           files for the widgets specified later in file should not be listed here; instead, this
           is for special headers for the plugin's own use, like those for classes providing
           previews.

       PluginName
           The name of the main C++ class in the plugin (default: "WidgetsPlugin", unless the -n
           option is given).

       Each class should have its own [ClassName] section, which can include the following
       entries:

       CodeTemplate
           The value returned by the codeTemplate() function of the plugin, which is marked for
           "future use" by Qt(TM) Designer (default: empty).

       ConstructorArgs
           The arguments to pass to the constructor of the class given by ImplClass; these must
           be surrounded by parentheses (default: "(parent)"). The only variable guaranteed to be
           available is parent, which is the parent QWidget passed by Qt(TM) Designer.

           This entry is ignored if CreateWidget is set.

       CreateWidget
           The code necessary to create an instance of the widget (default: uses new to create an
           instance of the class given by the ImplClass entry, passing the arguments specified by
           ConstructorArgs). See the notes for ImplClass and ConstructorArgs.

       DomXML
           An XML UI description of the widget (default: the default provided by the Qt(TM)
           Designer plugin headers).

       Group
           The group to display the widget under in Qt(TM) Designer (default: the value of the
           DefaultGroup entry in the [Global] section).

       IconName
           The image file or standard icon name to use as the icon for this widget in the Qt(TM)
           Designer widget list (default: a PNG file named with the section name, with any double
           colons removed, in the "pics" directory of a compiled-in resource file; for example,
           :/pics/Foo.png in the section [Foo], or :/pics/FooBar.png in the section [Foo::Bar]).

       ImplClass
           The class that should be used to create an instance of the widget for the use of
           Qt(TM) Designer (default: the section name). Note that this does not actually have to
           be the class that would be created for an end application: that is determined by the
           DomXML.

           This entry is ignored if CreateWidget is set.

       IncludeFile
           The header that needs to be included to use this widget (default: the lowercase
           version of the section name, with any colons removed and ".h" appended; for example,
           foo.h in the section [Foo], or foobar.h in the section [Foo::Bar]).

       IsContainer
           Whether this widget can contain other widgets (default: false).

       ToolTip
           The tooltip to display when hovering over the widget in the widget list of Qt(TM)
           Designer (default: the section name, with " Widget" appended; for example, Foo Widget
           in the section [Foo]).

       WhatsThis
           The What's This text associated with the widget in Qt(TM) Designer (default: the
           section name, with " Widget" appended; for example, Foo Widget in the section [Foo]).

EXAMPLES

       The simplest description file might look like:

           [Foo]
           ToolTip=Displays foos
           [Bar]
           ToolTip=Bar editor

       Note that each class must have at least one key set (ToolTip was used in this example),
       otherwise it will be ignored.

       Usually, you want to change at least the user-visible text, which means the ToolTip,
       WhatsThis and Group entries. Additionally, setting the plugin name can be a good idea to
       prevent possible symbol clashes and not confuse debuggers (both the debugger application
       and the person doing the debugging):

           [Global]
           PluginName=FooWidgets
           DefaultGroup=Display

           [Foo]
           ToolTip=Displays bears
           WhatsThis=An image widget that displays dancing bears

           [Bar]
           ToolTip=Bar editor
           WhatsThis=An editor interface for bars for bears
           Group=Editing

       More complex files may be necessary if you have namespaced classes or extra options that
       need supplying to constructors, for example:

           [Global]
           PluginName=FooWidgets
           DefaultGroup=Foo

           [Foo::Bar]
           ToolTip=Displays bars
           WhatsThis=A widget that displays bars in a particular way
           IncludeFile=foo/bar.h
           IconName=:/previews/bar.png

           [Foo::Baz]
           IncludeFile=foo/baz.h
           ConstructorArgs=(Foo::Baz::SomeOption, parent)
           Group=Foo (Special)
           IsContainer=true
           IconName=:/previews/baz.png

       Sometimes especially complex widgets might need a special "preview class" implementation
       for use in Qt(TM) Designer; this might be a subclass of the real widget that just does
       some extra setup, or it might be a completely different implementation.

           [Global]
           Includes=foopreviews.h

           [FancyWidget]
           ImplClass=FancyWidgetPreview

SEE ALSO

       https://doc.qt.io/qt-5/designer-creating-custom-widgets.html
           The Qt(TM) Designer documentation on creating plugins for custom widgets.

BUGS

       Please use KDE's bugtracker[1] to report bugs, do not mail the authors directly.

AUTHORS

       Richard Johnson <rjohnson@kde.org>
           Wrote the original documentation.

       Alex Merry <alexmerry@kde.org>
           Updated the documentation for KDE Frameworks 5.

NOTES

        1. KDE's bugtracker
           https://bugs.kde.org