Qt UI Tools

The Qt UI Tools module allows you to instantiate Qt Widgets Designer forms (UI files) at run-time. This is an alternative to compiling the form into code using the User Interface Compiler (uic). It enables you to adapt the user interface without the need to recompile or restart the application.

UI files can be loaded from various places, such as the application's resources, the local file system, or a trusted network source. Once located, use the QUiLoader class and its QUiLoader::load() function to instantiate the file.

Using the Module

Using a Qt module's C++ API requires linking against the module library, either directly or through other dependencies. Several build tools have dedicated support for this, including CMake and qmake.

Building with CMake

Use the find_package() command to locate the needed module component in the Qt6 package:

find_package(Qt6 REQUIRED COMPONENTS UiTools)
target_link_libraries(mytarget PRIVATE Qt6::UiTools)

For more details, see the Build with CMake overview.

Building with qmake

To configure the module for building with qmake, add the module as a value of the QT variable in the project's .pro file:

QT += uitools

Security Considerations

Only load forms from trusted sources, like the Qt resource system. Loading .ui files from untrusted sources can lead to security threats in your application, such as denial of service attacks, UI deception, or the loading of unexpected plugins.

Examples

• Qt UI Tools Examples

Reference

• C++ Classes

Licenses

Qt UI Tools is available under commercial licenses from The Qt Company. In addition, it is available under free software licenses. Since Qt 6.0, these free software licenses are GNU Lesser General Public License, version 3, or the GNU General Public License, version 2. See Qt Licensing for further details.