QListViewExample.py

#!/usr/bin/python

import sys

from PySide import QtGui, QtCore

# Big thing to takeaway. You mostly work on models. You can totally customize the views, but 
# for simple things you're basically just building a model and letting the view display it for you.

def simple():

    app = QtGui.QApplication(sys.argv)

    widget = QtGui.QWidget()
    widget.setWindowTitle('Simple View')
    lay = QtGui.QVBoxLayout()
    widget.setLayout(lay)

    # Now let's create a model. This model will be boring and won't have much going on.

    listOfThings = ['Thing1', 'Thing2', 'Thing3', 'Thing4', 'Thing5']
    model = QtGui.QStandardItemModel()

    for thing in listOfThings:
        # We'll use a boring standard item. This basically holds information about 
        # a particular 'cell' in the model. If this was a more complex data set this item
        # could have children as well
        thingItem = QtGui.QStandardItem()

        # Now that we have an item we can set some data on that item. We'll use a 'role' 
        # for the data. Each role can have a different purpose for the view.

        # In QT there a number of built in roles that the view will understand automagically.
        # The ones I use most are...
        # QtCore.Qt.DisplayRole
        # QtCore.Qt.DecorationRole
        # QtCore.Qt.ToolTipRole
        # Check the docs for more info.

        # For now we'll only care about the DisplayRole. It's what the user will see in the interface
        thingItem.setData(thing, QtCore.Qt.DisplayRole)

        # Since this is a listview we'll only have one item in our row. If you had more items in this row
        # you could pass it to a tableview or tell the view which column of data to display in the listview.
        model.appendRow(thingItem)

    # Create a view. Nothing crazy to do.
    view = QtGui.QListView(widget)

    # Tell our view what model it's using
    view.setModel(model)

    lay.addWidget(view)

    widget.show()
    sys.exit(app.exec_())

def notSoSimple():
    app = QtGui.QApplication(sys.argv)

    widget = QtGui.QWidget()
    widget.setWindowTitle('Simple View')
    lay = QtGui.QVBoxLayout()
    widget.setLayout(lay)

    # In this one we'll add some extra data to our model.
    dictOfThings = {'thing1' : ['really important info for thing1', 'Thing1 Not Normal Data'],
                    'thing2' : ['really important info for thing2', 'Thing2 Not Normal Data'],
                    'thing3' : ['really important info for thing3', 'Thing3 Not Normal Data'],
                    'thing4' : ['really important info for thing4', 'Thing4 Not Normal Data']}

    model = QtGui.QStandardItemModel()

    for thing, data in dictOfThings.iteritems():
        thingItem = QtGui.QStandardItem()
        # Now I want my user to see 'thing1' as a title, and not how it's stored under the hood
        # So I will set my display data accordingly
        thingItem.setData(thing.title(), QtCore.Qt.DisplayRole)

        # I have some important info I want displayed as a tooltip, so I'll put that in here too
        thingItem.setData(data[0], QtCore.Qt.ToolTipRole)

        # Now we get to the even more fun part! I have some strange data that I want to be related to this item,
        # but there's not a normal place to put it. No ItemDataRole exists for my weird data.
        # Now we can use a UserRole. You can basically have any number of UserRoles and you can define what 
        # each one does according to your application needs.
        # I normally don't use UserRole directly, but start it incremented.
        originalNameRole = QtCore.Qt.UserRole + 1
        coolDataRole = QtCore.Qt.UserRole + 2

        # If it's not clear, these Roles are just an enum representing an integer. UserRole are anything 32 and up.
        thingItem.setData(thing, originalNameRole)
        thingItem.setData(data[1], coolDataRole)

        model.appendRow(thingItem)

    view = QtGui.QListView(widget)
    view.setModel(model)

    lay.addWidget(view)
    widget.show()
    sys.exit(app.exec_())



if __name__ == '__main__':

    # simple()
    notSoSimple()