How to Design a Modern GUI Splash or Welcome Screen in Python using Pyside, PyQt, QT Designer, and C++

In this tutorial, we will learn how to create a splash or welcome screen in Python using PySide/PyQt and QT Designer. A splash screen is a graphical control element that is displayed while a program is loading or initializing. It provides users with visual feedback, indicating that the program is launching.

Here are the steps to create a modern splash screen using PySide/PyQt and QT Designer:

Step 1: Install PySide/PyQt and QT Designer
First, you need to install PySide/PyQt and QT Designer. PySide/PyQt is a set of Python bindings for the Qt application framework, while QT Designer is a visual design tool used to create GUI applications. You can install PySide/PyQt using pip:

pip install PySide2

You can also install QT Designer by downloading the Qt Creator IDE from the Qt website (https://www.qt.io/download). QT Creator includes QT Designer, which you can use to design your GUI application.

Step 2: Design your Splash Screen in QT Designer
Open QT Designer and create a new form. Design your splash screen using widgets such as QLabel, QPixmap, and QProgressBar. You can add images, text, and progress bars to create a visually appealing splash screen.

Once you have designed your splash screen, save it as a .ui file. This file will be used to generate Python code that creates the GUI.

Step 3: Convert the .ui file to Python code
You can convert the .ui file created in QT Designer to Python code using the pyuic5 tool. Run the following command to generate the Python code:

pyuic5 -x splash_screen.ui -o splash_screen.py

This command will create a splash_screen.py file that contains the Python code to create the splash screen GUI. You can then import this file into your main Python script to use the splash screen.

Step 4: Create the Main Python Script
Now, create a Python script that imports the splash_screen.py file and displays the splash screen. You can use the PySide/PyQt libraries to create the main window and show the splash screen before launching the main application.

Here is an example of a Python script that displays the splash screen:

import sys
from PySide2.QtWidgets import QApplication, QSplashScreen
from PySide2.QtGui import QPixmap
from splash_screen import Ui_SplashScreen

app = QApplication(sys.argv)

splash_pix = QPixmap("splash_image.png")
splash = QSplashScreen(splash_pix, Qt.WindowStaysOnTopHint)
splash.show()

import time
time.sleep(5)

splash.close()

sys.exit(app.exec_())

In this script, we import the necessary libraries, create a QSplashScreen object with the splash image, display the splash screen, wait for 5 seconds using time.sleep(), close the splash screen, and exit the application.

Step 5: Run the Application
Now, run the Python script to see the splash screen displayed before the main application starts. The splash screen will stay on top of all other windows until the main window is displayed.

Congratulations! You have successfully created a modern splash screen in Python using PySide/PyQt and QT Designer. Customize the splash screen by adding more widgets and animations to make it visually appealing and informative for users.