Toolbox (QToolBox) is a container widget in PyQt. The widget can show groups of items separated by tabs. If there are to many items for a toolbar, you may want a toolbox.

A screenshot of a toolbox QToolBox is shown below.

toolbox pyqt qtoolbox

Related Course: Create GUI Apps with Python PyQt5

Toolbox example

QToolBox

A QToolBox widget shows a column of tabs one above the other. The current item is shown below the current tab. Every tab has an index position and every tab’s item is a QWidget. A toolbox (QToolBox) can be created with a single line of code:

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toolbox = QToolBox()

After creationg you can add items to the toolbox with the method addItem(). For example:

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toolbox.addItem(label, "Students")

The Python code below creates a toolbox with 3 items. The toolbox QToolBox has a method .addItem(), which is used to add it ems.

The toolbox itself has to be added to a layout, for instance layout.addWidget(toolbox, 0, 0).

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from PyQt5.QtWidgets import *
import sys

class Window(QWidget):

    def __init__(self):
        QWidget.__init__(self)
        layout = QGridLayout()
        self.setLayout(layout)

        # Add toolbar and items
        toolbox = QToolBox()
        layout.addWidget(toolbox, 0, 0)
        label = QLabel()
        toolbox.addItem(label, "Students")
        label = QLabel()
        toolbox.addItem(label, "Teachers")
        label = QLabel()
        toolbox.addItem(label, "Directors")

app = QApplication(sys.argv)
screen = Window()
screen.show()
sys.exit(app.exec_())

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Methods

The QToolBox has many methods that can be used, you’ve seen .addItem() before but there are many more.

  • addItem()
  • count()
  • currentIndex()
  • insertItem()
  • itemToolTip()
  • itemText()
  • itemIcon()
  • isItemEnabled()
  • removeItem()
  • setItemEnabled()
  • setItemIcon()
  • setItemText()
  • setItemToolTip()

The example below demonstrates the use of some of these methods:

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from PyQt5.QtWidgets import *
import sys

class Window(QWidget):

    def __init__(self):
        QWidget.__init__(self)
        layout = QGridLayout()
        self.setLayout(layout)

        # Add toolbar and items
        toolbox = QToolBox()
        layout.addWidget(toolbox, 0, 0)
        label = QLabel()
        toolbox.addItem(label, "Students")
        label = QLabel()
        toolbox.addItem(label, "Teachers")
        label = QLabel()
        toolbox.addItem(label, "Directors")

        # show number of items
        print(toolbox.count())

        # disable tab
        toolbox.setItemEnabled(0, False)

        # mouseover tooltip
        toolbox.setItemToolTip(0, "This is a tooltip")

        # tests if items are enabled
        print(toolbox.isItemEnabled(0))
        print(toolbox.isItemEnabled(1))

        # insert item
        item = QLabel()
        toolbox.insertItem(1, item, "Python")

app = QApplication(sys.argv)
screen = Window()
screen.show()
sys.exit(app.exec_())

If you are new to Python PyQt, then I highly recommend this book.

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