Python PyQt4 functions to save and restore UI widget values?

Question

Before I attempt to write my own Python PyQt4 module functions... I wanted to ask if anyone has such a function to share.

In many of my python programs where I hav

Answer 1

I'm adding update for QListWidget.

In guisave:

if isinstance(obj, QListWidget):
    name = obj.objectName()
    settings.beginWriteArray(name)
    for i in range(obj.count()):
        settings.setArrayIndex(i)
        settings.setValue(name, obj.item(i).text())
    settings.endArray()

in guirestore:

if isinstance(obj, QListWidget):
    name = obj.objectName()
    size = settings.beginReadArray(name)
    for i in range(size):
        settings.setArrayIndex(i)
        value = settings.value(name)  # get stored value from registry
        if value != None:
            obj.addItem(value)
    settings.endArray()

Answer 2

I found these answers useful, so I thought I'd put them together and post a version (for PySide2/Qt5) with some duplication removed and a name provided to group the settings under.

from PySide2.QtWidgets import *
import inspect

def GetHandledTypes():
    return (QComboBox, QLineEdit, QCheckBox, QRadioButton, QSpinBox, QSlider, QListWidget)

def IsHandledType(widget):
    return any(isinstance(widget, t) for t in GetHandledTypes())

#===================================================================
# save "ui" controls and values to registry "setting"
#===================================================================

def GuiSave(ui : QWidget, settings : QSettings, uiName="uiwidget"):
    namePrefix = f"{uiName}/"
    settings.setValue(namePrefix + "geometry", ui.saveGeometry())

    for name, obj in inspect.getmembers(ui):
        if not IsHandledType(obj):
            continue

        name = obj.objectName()
        value = None
        if isinstance(obj, QComboBox):
            index = obj.currentIndex()  # get current index from combobox
            value = obj.itemText(index)  # get the text for current index

        if isinstance(obj, QLineEdit):
            value = obj.text()

        if isinstance(obj, QCheckBox):
            value = obj.isChecked()

        if isinstance(obj, QRadioButton):
            value = obj.isChecked()

        if isinstance(obj, QSpinBox):
            value = obj.value()

        if isinstance(obj, QSlider):
            value = obj.value()

        if isinstance(obj, QListWidget):
            settings.beginWriteArray(name)
            for i in range(obj.count()):
                settings.setArrayIndex(i)
                settings.setValue(namePrefix + name, obj.item(i).text())
            settings.endArray()
        elif value is not None:
            settings.setValue(namePrefix + name, value)

#===================================================================
# restore "ui" controls with values stored in registry "settings"
#===================================================================

def GuiRestore(ui : QWidget, settings : QSettings, uiName="uiwidget"):
    from distutils.util import strtobool

    namePrefix = f"{uiName}/"
    geometryValue = settings.value(namePrefix + "geometry")
    if geometryValue:
        ui.restoreGeometry(geometryValue)

    for name, obj in inspect.getmembers(ui):
        if not IsHandledType(obj):
            continue

        name = obj.objectName()
        value = None
        if not isinstance(obj, QListWidget):
            value = settings.value(namePrefix + name)
            if value is None:
                continue

        if isinstance(obj, QComboBox):
            index = obj.findText(value)  # get the corresponding index for specified string in combobox

            if index == -1:  # add to list if not found
                obj.insertItems(0, [value])
                index = obj.findText(value)
                obj.setCurrentIndex(index)
            else:
                obj.setCurrentIndex(index)  # preselect a combobox value by index

        if isinstance(obj, QLineEdit):
            obj.setText(value)

        if isinstance(obj, QCheckBox):
            obj.setChecked(strtobool(value))

        if isinstance(obj, QRadioButton):
            obj.setChecked(strtobool(value))

        if isinstance(obj, QSlider):
            obj.setValue(int(value))

        if isinstance(obj, QSpinBox):
            obj.setValue(int(value))

        if isinstance(obj, QListWidget):
            size = settings.beginReadArray(namePrefix + name)
            for i in range(size):
                settings.setArrayIndex(i)
                value = settings.value(namePrefix + name)
                if value is not None:
                    obj.addItem(value)
            settings.endArray()```

Answer 3

thank you Panofish and everyone i am adding some update for QSlider/QSpinBox. it's small and simple.

at guisave you can add :

if isinstance(obj, QSpinBox):
    name  = obj.objectName()
    value = obj.value()             # get stored value from registry
    settings.setValue(name, value)

if isinstance(obj, QSlider):
    name  = obj.objectName()
    value = obj.value()             # get stored value from registry
    settings.setValue(name, value)

at guirestore you can add :

if isinstance(obj, QSlider):
    name = obj.objectName()
    value = settings.value(name)    # get stored value from registry
    if value != None:           
        obj. setValue(int(value))   # restore value from registry

if isinstance(obj, QSpinBox):
    name = obj.objectName()
    value = settings.value(name)    # get stored value from registry
    if value != None:
        obj. setValue(int(value))   # restore value from registry

Answer 4

I'm a novice programmer so I'm not sure where I was going wrong and please excuse my lack of proper terminology/ technical understanding but my application has multiple QWidget classes for different app 'states' that load/ unload different UI's(and related functions) per state - all in and out of a single main 'QMainWindow'

this is using @beesleep class implementation but it looks like the code in question is the same for all the above examples

I was having issues with -

def _is_handled_type(cls, widget):
    return any(isinstance(widget, t) for t in cls._get_handled_types())


for name, obj in inspect.getmembers(self)
    # print(name) <------------------------------
    if not self._is_handled_type...

The methods of self "QMainWindow" are returned instead of all active child widgets.

.

My fix was this. I deleted - ***this part is not necessary, the code is just no longer used

@classmethod
def _is_handled_type(cls, widget):
    return any(isinstance(widget, t) fort in cls._get_handled_types())

Then changed in _gui_save() and _gui_restore() -

for name, obj in inspect.getmembers(self):
    if not self._is_handled_type(obj):
        continue
    if name in self._names_to_avoid: # _gui_restore()
        continue                     # _gui_restore()
        name = obj.objectName()
        value = None

To -

for child in self._get_handled_types():

    for obj in self.findChildren(child):

        if obj:

            name = obj.objectName()
            if name in self._names_to_avoid: # _gui_restore()
                continue                     # _gui_restore()
            value = None

The last step is that you have to assign a name to each object that you want to save

self.q_list = QListWidget()
self.q_list.setObjectName("List")
...
self.q_text = QLineEdit('enter text')
self.q_text.setObjectName("Text")

.

for child in self._get_handled_types():
    for obj in self.findChildren(child):
        if obj:
            name = obj.objectName()

            print(name, obj) <-------------

Returns

Text <PyQt5.QtWidgets.QLineEdit object at 0x0000023DD43E2708>
List <PyQt5.QtWidgets.QListWidget object at 0x0000023DD42530D8>

final note... if you want to see where the settings file is being saved then add - print(self.settings.fileName()) under the init

cheers!

Answer 5

OK, I wrote a module with 2 functions to do what I was asking for. Not really that complicated, once I figured it out, but it sure does save a lot of time whenever you create new pyqt gui programs where you want to save widget field values between sessions. I currently only have lineEdit, checkBox and combobox fields coded. If anyone else wants to add or improve (e.g. radio buttons...etc) ... I'm sure others, including myself, will appreciate it.

#===================================================================
# Module with functions to save & restore qt widget values
# Written by: Alan Lilly 
# Website: http://panofish.net
#===================================================================

import sys
from PyQt4.QtCore import *
from PyQt4.QtGui import *
import inspect

#===================================================================
# save "ui" controls and values to registry "setting"
# currently only handles comboboxes editlines & checkboxes
# ui = qmainwindow object
# settings = qsettings object
#===================================================================

def guisave(ui, settings):

    #for child in ui.children():  # works like getmembers, but because it traverses the hierarachy, you would have to call guisave recursively to traverse down the tree

    for name, obj in inspect.getmembers(ui):
        #if type(obj) is QComboBox:  # this works similar to isinstance, but missed some field... not sure why?
        if isinstance(obj, QComboBox):
            name   = obj.objectName()      # get combobox name
            index  = obj.currentIndex()    # get current index from combobox
            text   = obj.itemText(index)   # get the text for current index
            settings.setValue(name, text)   # save combobox selection to registry

        if isinstance(obj, QLineEdit):
            name = obj.objectName()
            value = obj.text()
            settings.setValue(name, value)    # save ui values, so they can be restored next time

        if isinstance(obj, QCheckBox):
            name = obj.objectName()
            state = obj.checkState()
            settings.setValue(name, state)

#===================================================================
# restore "ui" controls with values stored in registry "settings"
# currently only handles comboboxes, editlines &checkboxes
# ui = QMainWindow object
# settings = QSettings object
#===================================================================

def guirestore(ui, settings):

    for name, obj in inspect.getmembers(ui):
        if isinstance(obj, QComboBox):
            index  = obj.currentIndex()    # get current region from combobox
            #text   = obj.itemText(index)   # get the text for new selected index
            name   = obj.objectName()

            value = unicode(settings.value(name))  

            if value == "":
                continue

            index = obj.findText(value)   # get the corresponding index for specified string in combobox

            if index == -1:  # add to list if not found
                obj.insertItems(0,[value])
                index = obj.findText(value)
                obj.setCurrentIndex(index)
            else:
                obj.setCurrentIndex(index)   # preselect a combobox value by index    

        if isinstance(obj, QLineEdit):
            name = obj.objectName()
            value = unicode(settings.value(name))  # get stored value from registry
            obj.setText(value)  # restore lineEditFile

        if isinstance(obj, QCheckBox):
            name = obj.objectName()
            value = settings.value(name)   # get stored value from registry
            if value != None:
                obj.setCheckState(value)   # restore checkbox

        #if isinstance(obj, QRadioButton):                

################################################################

if __name__ == "__main__":

    # execute when run directly, but not when called as a module.
    # therefore this section allows for testing this module!

    #print "running directly, not as a module!"

    sys.exit() 

Answer 6

Here is another version of this great code, that includes QTabWidget, and wrap everything into a class for easier use:

qt_utils.py:

from PyQt5 import QtGui
from PyQt5.QtWidgets import QComboBox, QCheckBox, QLineEdit,\
    QRadioButton, QSpinBox, QSlider, QListWidget, QTabWidget
from PyQt5.QtCore import QSettings
from distutils.util import strtobool

import inspect


class QMainWindow(QtGui.QMainWindow):
    companie_name = 'CompanieName'
    software_name = 'SoftwareName'
    settings_ui_name = 'defaultUiwidget'
    settings_ui_user_name = 'user'
    _names_to_avoid = {}

    def __init__(self, parent=None):
        super(QMainWindow, self).__init__(parent)
        self.settings = QSettings(self.companie_name, self.software_name)

    def closeEvent(self, e):
        self._gui_save()

    @classmethod
    def _get_handled_types(cls):
        return QComboBox, QLineEdit, QCheckBox, QRadioButton, QSpinBox, QSlider, QListWidget, QTabWidget

    @classmethod
    def _is_handled_type(cls, widget):
        return any(isinstance(widget, t) for t in cls._get_handled_types())

    def _gui_save(self):
        """
        save "ui" controls and values to registry "setting"
        :return:
        """
        name_prefix = f"{self.settings_ui_name}/"
        self.settings.setValue(name_prefix + "geometry", self.saveGeometry())

        for name, obj in inspect.getmembers(self):
            if not self._is_handled_type(obj):
                continue

            name = obj.objectName()
            value = None
            if isinstance(obj, QComboBox):
                index = obj.currentIndex()  # get current index from combobox
                value = obj.itemText(index)  # get the text for current index

            elif isinstance(obj, QTabWidget):
                value = obj.currentIndex()

            elif isinstance(obj, QLineEdit):
                value = obj.text()

            elif isinstance(obj, QCheckBox):
                value = obj.isChecked()

            elif isinstance(obj, QRadioButton):
                value = obj.isChecked()

            elif isinstance(obj, QSpinBox):
                value = obj.value()

            elif isinstance(obj, QSlider):
                value = obj.value()

            elif isinstance(obj, QListWidget):
                self.settings.beginWriteArray(name)
                for i in range(obj.count()):
                    self.settings.setArrayIndex(i)
                    self.settings.setValue(name_prefix + name, obj.item(i).text())
                self.settings.endArray()

            if value is not None:
                self.settings.setValue(name_prefix + name, value)

    def _gui_restore(self):
        """
        restore "ui" controls with values stored in registry "settings"
        :return:
        """

        name_prefix = f"{self.settings_ui_name}/"
        geometry_value = self.settings.value(name_prefix + "geometry")
        if geometry_value:
            self.restoreGeometry(geometry_value)

        for name, obj in inspect.getmembers(self):
            if not self._is_handled_type(obj):
                continue
            if name in self._names_to_avoid:
                continue

            name = obj.objectName()
            value = None
            if not isinstance(obj, QListWidget):
                value = self.settings.value(name_prefix + name)
                if value is None:
                    continue

            if isinstance(obj, QComboBox):
                index = obj.findText(value)  # get the corresponding index for specified string in combobox

                if index == -1:  # add to list if not found
                    obj.insertItems(0, [value])
                    index = obj.findText(value)
                    obj.setCurrentIndex(index)
                else:
                    obj.setCurrentIndex(index)  # preselect a combobox value by index

            elif isinstance(obj, QTabWidget):
                try:
                    value = int(value)
                except ValueError:
                    value = 0
                obj.setCurrentIndex(value)

            elif isinstance(obj, QLineEdit):
                obj.setText(value)

            elif isinstance(obj, QCheckBox):
                obj.setChecked(strtobool(value))

            elif isinstance(obj, QRadioButton):
                obj.setChecked(strtobool(value))

            elif isinstance(obj, QSlider):
                obj.setValue(int(value))

            elif isinstance(obj, QSpinBox):
                obj.setValue(int(value))

            elif isinstance(obj, QListWidget):
                size = self.settings.beginReadArray(name_prefix + name)
                for i in range(size):
                    self.settings.setArrayIndex(i)
                    value = self.settings.value(name_prefix + name)
                    if value is not None:
                        obj.addItem(value)
                self.settings.endArray()

    def _add_setting(self, name, value):
        name_prefix = f"{self.settings_ui_user_name}/"
        self.settings.setValue(name_prefix + name, value)

    def _get_setting(self, name):
        name_prefix = f"{self.settings_ui_user_name}/"
        return self.settings.value(name_prefix + name)

Here is an example of use:

import qt_utils


class MyMaine(qt_utils.QMainWindow, Ui_MainWindow):
    companie_name = 'Name'
    software_name = 'softName'
    _names_to_avoid = {'my_widget_name_not_to_save'}

    def __init__(self, parent=None):
        super(MyMaine, self).__init__(parent)

        self.setupUi(self)

        self._gui_restore()