qtlabsstylekit-overview.qdoc

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// Copyright (C) 2026 The Qt Company Ltd.
// SPDX-License-Identifier: LicenseRef-Qt-Commercial OR GFDL-1.3-no-invariants-only
 
/*!
    \page qtlabsstylekit-overview-features.html
    \title StyleKit Features Overview
    \brief An introduction to the main features of StyleKit.
 
    This page gives a brief introduction to the main features of StyleKit.
    For a complete reference of all available types and properties, see the
    \l {Qt Labs StyleKit QML Types}{QML Types} page.
 
    \section1 Creating a Style
 
    A \l Style is a QML object that describes the visual appearance of all
    \l {Qt Quick Controls} in your application — \l {AbstractStylableControls::}{button},
    \l {AbstractStylableControls::}{slider}, \l {AbstractStylableControls::}{checkBox}, and
    so on. Each has its own group in the style where you can set properties such as
    colors, sizes, radii, and shadows for the visual parts that make up the control.
 
    The \l {AbstractStylableControls::control}{control group} is special, since it acts as
    a fallback for all the other control groups. If you leave out some of the properties
    for a \c slider, for example, they will be read from \c control instead.
    Properties not set in \c slider or \c control fall back further to the
    \l {Style::fallbackStyle}{fallback style} which is a complete style similar to
    the \l {Basic Style}.
    This means you don't necessarily need to style all the available controls, only
    the ones you want to customize — the fallback system takes care of styling the rest:
 
    \snippet Overview_style.qml Plain Style
 
    \section2 Activating a Style
 
    To activate the style, assign it to \l {StyleKit::style}{StyleKit.style} on
    the root \l ApplicationWindow. All controls in the application then pick it up
    automatically:
 
    \snippet PlainStyleMain.qml 1
 
    \section1 Control States
 
    Controls change appearance depending on user interaction — a button looks
    different when hovered, pressed, or disabled. \c StyleKit lets you express
    this in the style by placing the \l {ControlStateStyle}{state} name in front of
    the affected properties, to give them alternative values when the control is
    in that state.
 
    States can be nested, and a more specific combination (e.g.
    \c hovered.checked) takes precedence over its individual components:
 
    \snippet Overview_states.qml States
 
    \section2 State Transitions
 
    State changes can be animated by setting the
    \l {ControlStyle::transition}{transition} property on a control style.
    A \l StyleAnimation provides a convenient way to animate groups of
    related style properties, such as all background or indicator colors, but
    you can use standard QML animations such as \l {ColorAnimation} and
    \l {NumberAnimation} as well:
 
    \snippet StyleAnimationSnippets.qml transition
 
    \section1 Theming
 
    \c StyleKit has built-in support for light and dark themes through the
    \l {Style::light}{light} and \l {Style::dark}{dark} properties on a \l Style.
    Similar to a \l Style, a \l Theme lets you define the style each control
    should have when that theme is active. Properties that are not set in a
    theme will fall back to be read from the style:
 
    \snippet Overview_theme.qml themes
 
    \section2 Custom Themes
 
    Beyond light and dark, you can define any number of additional themes using
    \l CustomTheme. Each \c CustomTheme has a \l {CustomTheme::name}{name} and
    holds a \l Theme object with the same structure as the built-in themes:
 
    \snippet CustomThemeSnippets.qml custom themes
 
    To switch themes at runtime, set \l {Style::themeName}{Style.themeName} from
    a QML file in your application to the name of the desired theme. The
    \l {Style::themeNames}{Style.themeNames} property lists all available theme
    names, which makes it straightforward to populate a selector control:
 
    \snippet CustomThemeSnippets.qml change theme
 
    To activate a theme at application start-up, set
    \l {Style::themeName}{themeName} when assigning the style:
 
    \snippet CustomThemeSnippets.qml custom theme at start-up
 
    \section1 Style Variations
 
    A \l StyleVariation lets you define alternative styling for parts of the
    application. This is useful when you need to style controls differently when
    they are children of, for example, a ToolBar or a GroupBox, or if you want
    to implement style hints that the application can optionally apply to some
    of the controls.
 
    There are two types of style variations: type variations and instance variations.
 
    \section2 Type Variations
 
    A type variation contains alternative styling for controls that are children
    (or descendants) of another control type. This means that if a StyleVariation
    contains styling for a button, and it's added to the \l {ControlStyle::variations}{variations}
    property of a frame, \c StyleKit will style all \l [QtQuickControls]{Button}{Buttons} that
    are children of \l [QtQuickControls]{Frame}{Frames} in the application accordingly:
 
    \snippet TypeVariationSnippets.qml frame with variation
 
    \section2 Instance Variations
 
    Named \l {StyleVariation}{StyleVariations} can be applied to individual controls
    in the application using the \l {StyleVariation::variations}{StyleVariation.variations}
    attached property. When applied, the control itself, and all its descendants, will
    receive the alternative styling. This is different from a type variation, which
    affects all controls of a certain type, such as all \l [QtQuickControls]{Frame}{Frames}.
    Instance variations will only affect the control instance (and the descendants) on which
    they're attached:
 
    \snippet InstanceVariationSnippets.qml instance variations in style
 
    Apply them to controls in your application:
 
    \snippet InstanceVariationSnippets.qml apply instance variation
 
    \section1 Custom Controls
 
    If your application includes custom controls that are not part of
    \l {Qt Quick Controls}, you can still integrate them with \c StyleKit.
    Just add a \l CustomControl for each of them and style them the same
    way you style the \l {AbstractStylableControls}{built-in controls}:
 
    \snippet CustomControlSnippets.qml custom control style
 
    In the control's implementation, use a \l StyleReader with the matching
    \l {StyleReader::controlType}{controlType} to read back the style properties.
    The correct property values are resolved by taking \l {Theme}{Themes},
    \l {StyleVariation}{StyleVariations}, \l {AbstractStylableControls}{fallback types},
    and property propagation into account.
    For a style reader to do this, it needs to know the state of your control.
    Therefore bind your control's state to the relevant \l StyleReader
    properties such as \l {StyleReader::hovered}{hovered} and
    \l {StyleReader::pressed}{pressed}. Each time there is a state change, any
    affected style properties will be updated, causing your control to repaint:
 
    \snippet CustomControlSnippets.qml custom control
 
    \section1 Custom Delegates
 
    Each visual part of a control —
    \l {ControlStyleProperties::background}{background},
    \l {ControlStyleProperties::handle}{handle},
    \l {ControlStyleProperties::indicator}{indicator}, etc — is rendered by a
    \l {DelegateStyle::delegate}{delegate}. By default \c StyleKit uses
    \l StyledItem for rendering, but you can replace it entirely with you own
    QML component.
 
    The component needs to define two \l {Required Properties}{required properties}
    that \c StyleKit populates automatically:
 
    \list
    \li \c delegateStyle — the \l DelegateStyle that carries the resolved style
        properties (color, radius, implicit size, etc.)
    \li \c control — the \l {Qt Quick Controls}{Qt Quick Control} the delegate belongs to
    \endlist
 
    You then assign the component to the \l {DelegateStyle::delegate}{delegate} property
    of the visual part that you want to affect:
 
    \snippet DelegateStyle_delegates.qml delegate
 
    \section2 Overlay and Underlay
 
    If you only want to \e augment the default rendering rather than replace it
    completely, use \l StyledItem as the root of your delegate. Any children you
    add to \l StyledItem are drawn on top of (overlay) the default rendering:
 
    \snippet StyledItemOverlay.qml overlay
 
    To draw something \e underneath the default rendering instead, make your
    delegate an \l Item, place the extra content first, and embed a \l StyledItem
    as a child to render the default appearance on top:
 
    \snippet StyledItemUnderlay.qml underlay
 
    \section2 Custom Data
 
    Custom delegates sometimes need additional styling properties that go beyond the
    \l {DelegateProperties}{built-in ones} — for example to style child items
    that \c StyleKit knows nothing about. The \l {DelegateStyle::data}{data}
    property makes this possible. It can hold any \l QtObject, so it can carry
    whatever information your delegate needs.
 
    Like all the other style properties, \c data participates in style property
    resolution — the delegate always receives the object that matches the current
    control state, active theme, and style variations. Unlike the built-in
    properties, \c data is propagated as a whole — individual properties \e inside
    the object do not propagate separately:
 
    \snippet DelegateStyle_delegates.qml data
 
*/