- Qt 5.15
- Qt Widgets
- Elided Label Example
- Qt 5.15.19 Reference Documentation

# Elided Label Example

This example creates a widget similar to QLabel, that elides the last visible line, if the text is too long to fit the widget's geometry.

When text of varying length has to be displayed in a uniformly sized area, for instance within a list or grid view where all list items have the same size, it can be useful to give the user a visual clue when not all text is visible. QLabel can elide text that doesn't fit within it, but only in one line. The `ElidedLabel` widget shown in this example word wraps its text by its width, and elides the last visible line if some text is left out. `TestWidget` gives control to the features of `ElidedWidget` and forms the example application.

#### ElidedLabel Class Definition

Like QLabel, `ElidedLabel` inherits from QFrame. Here's the definition of the `ElidedLabel` class:

     class ElidedLabel : public QFrame
     {
         Q_OBJECT
         Q_PROPERTY(QString text READ text WRITE setText)
         Q_PROPERTY(bool isElided READ isElided)

     public:
         explicit ElidedLabel(const QString &text, QWidget *parent = nullptr);

         void setText(const QString &text);
         const QString & text() const { return content; }
         bool isElided() const { return elided; }

     protected:
         void paintEvent(QPaintEvent *event) override;

     signals:
         void elisionChanged(bool elided);

     private:
         bool elided;
         QString content;
     };

The `isElided` property depends the font, text content and geometry of the widget. Whenever any of these change, the `elisionChanged()` signal might trigger. We cache the current elision value in `elided`, so that it doesn't have to be recomputed every time it's asked for.

#### ElidedLabel Class Implementation

Except for initializing the member variables, the constructor sets the size policy to be horizontally expanding, since it's meant to fill the width of its container and grow vertically.

     ElidedLabel::ElidedLabel(const QString &text, QWidget *parent)
         : QFrame(parent)
         , elided(false)
         , content(text)
     {
         setSizePolicy(QSizePolicy::Expanding, QSizePolicy::Preferred);
     }

Changing the `content` require a repaint of the widget.

     void ElidedLabel::setText(const QString &newText)
     {
         content = newText;
         update();
     }

QTextLayout is used in the `paintEvent()` to divide the `content` into lines, that wrap on word boundaries. Each line, except the last visible one, is drawn `lineSpacing` pixels below the previous one. The `draw()` method of QTextLine will draw the line using the coordinate point as the top left corner.

     void ElidedLabel::paintEvent(QPaintEvent *event)
     {
         QFrame::paintEvent(event);

         QPainter painter(this);
         QFontMetrics fontMetrics = painter.fontMetrics();

         bool didElide = false;
         int lineSpacing = fontMetrics.lineSpacing();
         int y = 0;

         QTextLayout textLayout(content, painter.font());
         textLayout.beginLayout();
         forever {
             QTextLine line = textLayout.createLine();

             if (!line.isValid())
                 break;

             line.setLineWidth(width());
             int nextLineY = y + lineSpacing;

             if (height() >= nextLineY + lineSpacing) {
                 line.draw(&painter, QPoint(0, y));
                 y = nextLineY;

Unfortunately, QTextLayout does not elide text, so the last visible line has to be treated differently. This last line is elided if it is too wide. The `drawText()` method of QPainter draws the text starting from the base line, which is `ascecnt()` pixels below the last drawn line.

Finally, one more line is created to see if everything fit on this line.

     } else {
     QString lastLine = content.mid(line.textStart());
     QString elidedLastLine = fontMetrics.elidedText(lastLine, Qt::ElideRight, width());
     painter.drawText(QPoint(0, y + fontMetrics.ascent()), elidedLastLine);
     line = textLayout.createLine();
     didElide = line.isValid();
     break;
     }
     }
     textLayout.endLayout();

If the text was elided and wasn't before or vice versa, cache it in `elided` and emit the change.

     if (didElide != elided) {
         elided = didElide;
         emit elisionChanged(didElide);
     }
     }

#### TestWidget Class Definition

`TestWidget` is a QWidget and is the main window of the example. It contains an `ElidedLabel` which can be resized with two QSlider widgets.

     class TestWidget : public QWidget
     {
         Q_OBJECT

     public:
         TestWidget(QWidget *parent = nullptr);

     protected:
         void resizeEvent(QResizeEvent *event) override;

     private slots:
         void switchText();
         void onWidthChanged(int width);
         void onHeightChanged(int height);

     private:
         int sampleIndex;
         QStringList textSamples;
         ElidedLabel *elidedText;
         QSlider *heightSlider;
         QSlider *widthSlider;
     };

#### TestWidget Class Implementation

The constructor initializes the whole widget. Strings of different length are stored in `textSamples`. The user is able to switch between these.

     TestWidget::TestWidget(QWidget *parent)
         : QWidget(parent)
     {
         const QString romeo = tr(
             "But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? / "
             "It is the east, and Juliet is the sun. / "
             "Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon, / "
             "Who is already sick and pale with grief / "
             "That thou, her maid, art far more fair than she."
         );

         const QString macbeth = tr(
             "To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, / "
             "Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, / "
             "To the last syllable of recorded time; / "
             "And all our yesterdays have lighted fools / "
             "The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! / "
             "Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player, / "
             "That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, / "
             "And then is heard no more. It is a tale / "
             "Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, / "
             "Signifying nothing."
         );

         const QString harry = tr("Feeling lucky, punk?");

         textSamples << romeo << macbeth << harry;

An `ElidedLabel` is created to contain the first of the sample strings. The frame is made visible to make it easier to see the actual size of the widget.

     sampleIndex = 0;
     elidedText = new ElidedLabel(textSamples[sampleIndex], this);
     elidedText->setFrameStyle(QFrame::Box);

The buttons and the elision label are created. By connecting the `elisionChanged()` signal to the `setVisible()` slot of the `label`, it will act as an indicator to when the text is elided or not. This signal could, for instance, be used to make a "More" button visible, or similar.

     QPushButton *switchButton = new QPushButton(tr("Switch text"));
     connect(switchButton, &QPushButton::clicked, this, &TestWidget::switchText);

     QPushButton *exitButton = new QPushButton(tr("Exit"));
     connect(exitButton, &QPushButton::clicked, this, &TestWidget::close);

     QLabel *label = new QLabel(tr("Elided"));
     label->setVisible(elidedText->isElided());
     connect(elidedText, &ElidedLabel::elisionChanged, label, &QLabel::setVisible);

The `widthSlider` and `heightSlider` specify the size of the `elidedText`. Since the y-axis is inverted, the `heightSlider` has to be inverted to act appropriately.

     widthSlider = new QSlider(Qt::Horizontal);
     widthSlider->setMinimum(0);
     connect(widthSlider, &QSlider::valueChanged, this, &TestWidget::onWidthChanged);

     heightSlider = new QSlider(Qt::Vertical);
     heightSlider->setInvertedAppearance(true);
     heightSlider->setMinimum(0);
     connect(heightSlider, &QSlider::valueChanged, this, &TestWidget::onHeightChanged);

The components are all stored in a QGridLayout, which is made the layout of the `TestWidget`.

     QGridLayout *layout = new QGridLayout;
     layout->addWidget(label, 0, 1, Qt::AlignCenter);
     layout->addWidget(switchButton, 0, 2);
     layout->addWidget(exitButton, 0, 3);
     layout->addWidget(widthSlider, 1, 1, 1, 3);
     layout->addWidget(heightSlider, 2, 0);
     layout->addWidget(elidedText, 2, 1, 1, 3, Qt::AlignTop | Qt::AlignLeft);

     setLayout(layout);

The `widthSlider` and `heightSlider` have the exact same length as the dimensions of the `elidedText`. The maximum value for both of them is thus their lengths, and each tick indicates one pixel.

     void TestWidget::resizeEvent(QResizeEvent *event)
     {
         Q_UNUSED(event)

         int maxWidth = widthSlider->width();
         widthSlider->setMaximum(maxWidth);
         widthSlider->setValue(maxWidth / 2);

         int maxHeight = heightSlider->height();
         heightSlider->setMaximum(maxHeight);
         heightSlider->setValue(maxHeight / 2);

         elidedText->setFixedSize(widthSlider->value(), heightSlider->value());
     }

The `switchText()` slot simply cycles through all the available sample texts.

     void TestWidget::switchText()
     {
         sampleIndex = (sampleIndex + 1) % textSamples.size();
         elidedText->setText(textSamples.at(sampleIndex));
     }

These slots set the width and height of the `elided` text, in response to changes in the sliders.

#### The `main()` Function

The `main()` function creates an instance of `TestWidget` fullscreen and enters the message loop.

     int main( int argc, char *argv[] )
     {
     #ifdef Q_OS_ANDROID
         QApplication::setAttribute(Qt::AA_EnableHighDpiScaling);
     #endif
         QApplication application( argc, argv );
         TestWidget w;
         w.showFullScreen();
         return application.exec();
     }

Example project @ code.qt.io