Qt: Custom widget in QScrollArea - c++

Question

I am attempting to create a custom widget. My Widget renders itself unless it is inside a scroll area. The code below works. If I change the if(0) to an if(1) inside the MainWindow constructor, it will not render the "Hello World" string. I assume that I must (re)implement some additional methods, but so far I have not been able to find the correct ones with trial and error.
// hellowidget.h
#ifndef HELLOWIDGET_H
#define HELLOWIDGET_H
#include <QtGui>
class HelloWidget : public QWidget
{
Q_OBJECT
public:
HelloWidget(QWidget *parent = 0);
void paintEvent(QPaintEvent *event);
};
#endif // HELLOWIDGET_H
// hellowidget.cpp
#include "hellowidget.h"
HelloWidget::HelloWidget(QWidget *parent)
: QWidget(parent)
{
}
void HelloWidget::paintEvent(QPaintEvent *event)
{
QPainter painter(this);
painter.drawText(rect(), Qt::AlignCenter, "Hello World");
}
// mainwindow.h
#ifndef MAINWINDOW_H
#define MAINWINDOW_H
#include <QtGui>
class MainWindow : public QMainWindow
{
Q_OBJECT
public:
MainWindow(QWidget *parent = 0);
~MainWindow();
private:
};
#endif // MAINWINDOW_H
// mainwindow.cpp
#include "mainwindow.h"
#include "hellowidget.h"
MainWindow::MainWindow(QWidget *parent)
: QMainWindow(parent)
{
HelloWidget *hello = new HelloWidget;
QWidget *central = hello;
if( 0 )
{
QScrollArea *scroll = new QScrollArea ;
scroll->setWidget(hello);
central = scroll;
}
setCentralWidget( central );
}
MainWindow::~MainWindow()
{
}
// main.cpp
#include <QtGui/QApplication>
#include "mainwindow.h"
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
QApplication a(argc, argv);
MainWindow w;
w.show();
return a.exec();
}

Answer 1

You just have to give your HelloWidget a size and place.
Add this line to your code.
hello->setGeometry(QRect(110, 80, 120, 80));
Or if you want to fill the scroll area with your widget:
MainWindow::MainWindow(QWidget *parent)
: QMainWindow(parent)
{
QScrollArea *const scroll(new QScrollArea);
QHBoxLayout *const layout(new QHBoxLayout(scroll));
HelloWidget *const hello(new HelloWidget);
hello->setSizePolicy( QSizePolicy::Expanding, QSizePolicy::Expanding );
layout->addWidget(hello);
setCentralWidget( scroll );
}

Answer 2

Per Qt docs, "When using a scroll area to display the contents of a custom widget, it is important to ensure that the size hint of the child widget is set to a suitable value. If a standard QWidget is used for the child widget, it may be necessary to call QWidget::setMinimumSize() to ensure that the contents of the widget are shown correctly within the scroll area."
Does it work right if you follow these instructions?

Answer 3

I was pulling my hair out over this also, but eventually found QScrollArea's setWidgetResizable, which made the QScrollArea allow my widget to expand to take up the available space.