Dynamically change font size of QLabel to fit available space

Question

I\'m trying to make an horizontal layout with 3 QLabel scale use all its available space. More specifically, this is what I have

this is what I

Answer 1

Althought I consider KubaOber's answer better, I'll post this in case it's helpful to someone who wants a solution in the line of the answers mentioned in the post.

Note that the sampletext could be retrieved from the labels as well, the font from the stylesheet, and the code could potentially be placed on a resizeEvent of the groupbox or layout. It wouldn't work on the resizeEvent of the labels since they would compete for the space.

That is one reason why KubaOber answer is superior. Other reasons I can think of is stability given that the 3 labels space differs from the sampletext, thus the font size is not as accurate as it could be. Therefore a resize event could potentially be triggered again by the font change.

static void fitGroupBoxLabels(QGroupBox* groupbox, const QFont &samplefont, const QLayout* const samplelayout)
{

    groupbox->setSizePolicy(QSizePolicy::Ignored, QSizePolicy::Ignored);

    QString sampletext = "V 1000.0 kts";
    QRect availablerect = samplelayout->contentsRect();

    if(samplefont.pointSizeF() <= 0) return; //not initalized yet, return
    QRect textrect   = QFontMetrics(samplefont).boundingRect(sampletext);
    if(!textrect.isValid() || !availablerect.isValid()) return; //not initalized yet, return

    float factorh = availablerect.width() / (float)textrect.width();
    float factorw = availablerect.height() / (float)textrect.height();
    float factor = std::min(factorh, factorw);

    if (factor < 0.95 || factor > 1.05)
    {
      float fontSize = samplefont.pointSizeF()*factor;
      QString groupBoxStyle = QString("QGroupBox{font-size:8pt} QLabel{font-size:%1pt}").arg(fontSize);
      groupbox->setStyleSheet(groupBoxStyle);
    }

}

Answer 2

After struggling with this issue, I create DynamicFontSizeLabel and DynamicFontSizePushButton widgets. Hope it helps.

https://github.com/jonaias/DynamicFontSizeWidgets/

Answer 3

One could apply the Newton's method approach from this answer to work on all widgets in a given layout. It will work on any widget with a settable font, not only on a QLabel.

The Newton's algorithm converges reasonably quickly when given a good starting point, e.g. when resizing interactively. It's not atypical to have the loop execute only once. On the other hand, QWidget::sizeHint is integer-valued and and widgets may round fractional font sizes, thus sometimes the iteration is a bit slower than one would expect. The number of iterations is capped to ensure decent performance.

A custom replacement for the label, that provided a QSizeF sizeHintF(), would work better here.

The minimum sizing for the widgets is a bit of a stretch, as the size is not updated as the widget contents change. This could be remedied easily, though.

 // https://github.com/KubaO/stackoverflown/tree/master/questions/label-text-size-vert-40861305
#include <QtWidgets>

class LabelStretcher : public QObject {
   Q_OBJECT
   static constexpr const char kMinimumsAcquired[] = "ls_minimumsAcquired";
   static constexpr const char kStretcherManaged[] = "ls_stretcherManaged";
public:
   LabelStretcher(QObject *parent = 0) : QObject(parent) {
      apply(qobject_cast<QWidget*>(parent));
   }
   void apply(QWidget *widget) {
      if (!widget) return;
      setManaged(widget);
      setMinimumSize(widget);
      widget->installEventFilter(this);
   }
   void setManaged(QWidget *w, bool managed = true) {
      w->setProperty(kStretcherManaged, managed);
   }
protected:
   bool eventFilter(QObject * obj, QEvent * ev) override {
      auto widget = qobject_cast<QWidget*>(obj);
      if (widget && ev->type() == QEvent::Resize)
         resized(widget);
      return false;
   }
private:
   void onLayout(QLayout *layout, const std::function<void(QWidget*)> &onWidget) {
      if (!layout) return;
      auto N = layout->count();
      for (int i = 0; i < N; ++i) {
         auto item = layout->itemAt(i);
         onWidget(item->widget());
         onLayout(item->layout(), onWidget);
      }
   }
   void setFont(QLayout *layout, const QFont &font) {
      onLayout(layout, [&](QWidget *widget){ setFont(widget, font); });
   }
   void setFont(QWidget *widget, const QFont &font) {
      if (!widget || !widget->property(kStretcherManaged).toBool()) return;
      widget->setFont(font);
      setFont(widget->layout(), font);
   }
   void setMinimumSize(QWidget *widget) {
      if (widget->layout()) return;
      widget->setMinimumSize(widget->minimumSizeHint());
   }
   static int dSize(const QSizeF & inner, const QSizeF & outer) {
      auto dy = inner.height() - outer.height();
      auto dx = inner.width() - outer.width();
      return std::max(dx, dy);
   }
   qreal f(qreal fontSize, QWidget *widget) {
      auto font = widget->font();
      font.setPointSizeF(fontSize);
      setFont(widget, font);
      auto d = dSize(widget->sizeHint(), widget->size());
      qDebug() << "f:" << fontSize << "d" << d;
      return d;
   }
   qreal df(qreal fontSize, qreal dStep, QWidget *widget) {
      fontSize = std::max(dStep + 1.0, fontSize);
      return (f(fontSize + dStep, widget) - f(fontSize - dStep, widget)) / dStep;
   }
   void resized(QWidget *widget) {
      qDebug() << "pre: " << widget->minimumSizeHint() << widget->sizeHint() << widget->size();
      if (!widget->property(kMinimumsAcquired).toBool()) {
         onLayout(widget->layout(), [=](QWidget *widget){ setMinimumSize(widget); });
         widget->setProperty(kMinimumsAcquired, true);
      }

       // Newton's method
      auto font = widget->font();
      auto fontSize = font.pointSizeF();
      qreal dStep = 1.0;
      int i;
      for (i = 0; i < 10; ++i) {
         auto prevFontSize = fontSize;
         auto d = df(fontSize, dStep, widget);
         if (d == 0) {
            dStep *= 2.0;
            continue;
         }
         fontSize -= f(fontSize, widget)/d;
         fontSize = std::max(dStep + 1.0, fontSize);
         auto change = fabs(prevFontSize - fontSize)/fontSize;
         qDebug() << "d:" << d << " delta" << change;
         if (change < 0.01) break; // we're within 1% of target
      }
      font.setPointSizeF(fontSize);
      setFont(widget, font);
      qDebug() << "post:" << i << widget->minimumSizeHint() << widget->sizeHint() << widget->size();
   }
};
constexpr const char LabelStretcher::kMinimumsAcquired[];
constexpr const char LabelStretcher::kStretcherManaged[];

int main(int argc, char ** argv) {
   QApplication app{argc, argv};
   QWidget w;
   QGridLayout layout{&w};
   LabelStretcher stretch{&w};
   QLabel labels[6];
   QString texts[6] = {"V", "30.0", "kts", "H", "400.0", "ft"};
   int i = 0, j = 0, k = 0;
   for (auto & label : labels) {
      stretch.setManaged(&label);
      label.setFrameStyle(QFrame::Box);
      label.setText(texts[k++]);
      if (j == 0) label.setAlignment(Qt::AlignRight | Qt::AlignVCenter);
      else if (j == 1) label.setAlignment(Qt::AlignCenter);
      layout.addWidget(&label, i, j++);
      if (j >= 3) { i++; j=0; }
   }
   w.show();
   return app.exec();
}
#include "main.moc"