Python code generator for Qt .ui files in OOP style?

Question

I'd like to know how to generate OOP style Python code from the .ui files that I have created with QtDesigner.

What I try to say is that pyuic4 generates code that isn't OOP style: The widgets don't become subclasses of the QtGui classes. The code is hard to read and extend.

I want classes that encapsulate all the child widgets, layouts and functions.

Let's look at a simple example. This mainwindow contains a slider and a lcd display, and they are connected in the obvious way.

First, this is the code generated by pyuic4:

from PyQt4 import QtCore, QtGui

class Ui_MainWindow(object):
    def setupUi(self, MainWindow):
        MainWindow.setObjectName("MainWindow")
        MainWindow.resize(268, 186)
        self.centralwidget = QtGui.QWidget(MainWindow)
        self.centralwidget.setObjectName("centralwidget")
        self.gridLayout = QtGui.QGridLayout(self.centralwidget)
        self.gridLayout.setObjectName("gridLayout")
        self.horizontalSlider = QtGui.QSlider(self.centralwidget)
        self.horizontalSlider.setOrientation(QtCore.Qt.Vertical)
        self.horizontalSlider.setObjectName("horizontalSlider")
        self.gridLayout.addWidget(self.horizontalSlider, 0, 1, 1, 1)
        self.lcdNumber = QtGui.QLCDNumber(self.centralwidget)
        self.lcdNumber.setObjectName("lcdNumber")
        self.gridLayout.addWidget(self.lcdNumber, 0, 2, 1, 1)
        MainWindow.setCentralWidget(self.centralwidget)
        self.menubar = QtGui.QMenuBar(MainWindow)
        self.menubar.setGeometry(QtCore.QRect(0, 0, 268, 25))
        self.menubar.setObjectName("menubar")
        MainWindow.setMenuBar(self.menubar)
        self.statusbar = QtGui.QStatusBar(MainWindow)
        self.statusbar.setObjectName("statusbar")
        MainWindow.setStatusBar(self.statusbar)

        self.retranslateUi(MainWindow)
        QtCore.QObject.connect(self.horizontalSlider, QtCore.SIGNAL("valueChanged(int)"), self.lcdNumber.display)
        QtCore.QMetaObject.connectSlotsByName(MainWindow)

    def retranslateUi(self, MainWindow):
        MainWindow.setWindowTitle(QtGui.QApplication.translate("MainWindow", "MainWindow", None, QtGui.QApplication.UnicodeUTF8))


if __name__ == "__main__":
    import sys
    app = QtGui.QApplication(sys.argv)
    MainWindow = QtGui.QMainWindow()
    ui = Ui_MainWindow()
    ui.setupUi(MainWindow)
    MainWindow.show()
    sys.exit(app.exec_())

I manually edited that to the style I want:

from PyQt4 import QtCore, QtGui

class MainWindow(QtGui.QMainWindow):
    def __init__(self):
        QtGui.QMainWindow.__init__(self)

        self.setObjectName("MainWindow")
        self.resize(268, 186)
        self.centralwidget = QtGui.QWidget(self)
        self.centralwidget.setObjectName("centralwidget")
        self.gridLayout = QtGui.QGridLayout(self.centralwidget)
        self.gridLayout.setObjectName("gridLayout")
        self.horizontalSlider = QtGui.QSlider(self.centralwidget)
        self.horizontalSlider.setOrientation(QtCore.Qt.Vertical)
        self.horizontalSlider.setObjectName("horizontalSlider")
        self.gridLayout.addWidget(self.horizontalSlider, 0, 1, 1, 1)
        self.lcdNumber = QtGui.QLCDNumber(self.centralwidget)
        self.lcdNumber.setObjectName("lcdNumber")
        self.gridLayout.addWidget(self.lcdNumber, 0, 2, 1, 1)
        self.setCentralWidget(self.centralwidget)
        self.menubar = QtGui.QMenuBar(self)
        self.menubar.setGeometry(QtCore.QRect(0, 0, 268, 25))
        self.menubar.setObjectName("menubar")
        self.setMenuBar(self.menubar)
        self.statusbar = QtGui.QStatusBar(self)
        self.statusbar.setObjectName("statusbar")
        self.setStatusBar(self.statusbar)

        self.retranslateUi()

        QtCore.QObject.connect(self.horizontalSlider, QtCore.SIGNAL("valueChanged(int)"), self.lcdNumber.display)
        QtCore.QMetaObject.connectSlotsByName(self)

    def retranslateUi(self):
        self.setWindowTitle(QtGui.QApplication.translate("MainWindow", "MainWindow", None, QtGui.QApplication.UnicodeUTF8))


if __name__ == "__main__":
    import sys
    app = QtGui.QApplication(sys.argv)
    main_window = MainWindow()
    main_window.show()
    sys.exit(app.exec_())

This could be done by a code generator without the need of boring editing. My question is: Is there one such code generator available?

Answer 1

You can use multiple inheritance instead (see Using Qt Designer in PyQt4 for possible approaches):

from PyQt4.QtGui import QDialog
from ui_imagedialog import Ui_ImageDialog

class ImageDialog(QDialog, Ui_ImageDialog):
    def __init__(self):
        QDialog.__init__(self)

        # Set up the user interface from Designer.
        self.setupUi(self)

        # Make some local modifications.
        self.colorDepthCombo.addItem("2 colors (1 bit per pixel)")

        # Connect up the buttons.
        self.okButton.clicked.connect(self.accept)
        self.cancelButton.clicked.connect(self.reject)

Nevertheless, both approaches are OOP-style. Each of them has pros and cons.

And don't read or edit automatically generated files.

Answer 2

You don't even have to generate the python file from the ui file: use the uic module

import os
from PyQt4 import QtGui, QtCore, uic

class MyMainWindow(QtGui.QMainWindow):
  def __init__(self, parent):
    QtGui.QMainWindow.__init__(self, parent)
    # We want to inheritate from MyMainWindow.ui
    uic.loadUi(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)),"MyMainWindow.ui"), self)

    # All widgets are available as classic attributes:
    self.okButton.clicked.connect(self.accept)