Creating a QMenubar with Icons and Shortcuts in PyQt5

PyQt5 is a popular Python library for creating GUI applications. One of the key components in building a GUI application is creating a menu bar. A menu bar typically contains a set of menus, each of which may contain a list of actions. In this article, we will look at how to create a menu bar with icons and shortcuts in PyQt5.

Step 1: Import the necessary modules

First, make sure you have PyQt5 installed. If not, you can install it using pip:

pip install pyqt5

Then, import the necessary modules in your Python script:

import sys
from PyQt5.QtWidgets import QApplication, QMainWindow, QAction, QMenuBar
from PyQt5.QtGui import QIcon

Step 2: Create a QMainWindow

Create a subclass of QMainWindow, which will serve as the main window for your application:

class MyWindow(QMainWindow):
    def __init__(self):
        super().__init__()
        self.initUI()

    def initUI(self):
        # Set window title
        self.setWindowTitle('Menu Bar Example')

Step 3: Create a Menu Bar with Icons and Shortcuts

Next, create a menu bar and add menus and actions to it:

    menubar = self.menuBar()

    # Create File menu
    file_menu = menubar.addMenu('File')

    # Create a QAction for New action with icon and shortcut
    new_action = QAction(QIcon('new.png'), '&New', self)
    new_action.setShortcut('Ctrl+N')
    file_menu.addAction(new_action)

    # Create a QAction for Open action with icon and shortcut
    open_action = QAction(QIcon('open.png'), '&Open', self)
    open_action.setShortcut('Ctrl+O')
    file_menu.addAction(open_action)

    # Create a QAction for Save action with icon and shortcut
    save_action = QAction(QIcon('save.png'), '&Save', self)
    save_action.setShortcut('Ctrl+S')
    file_menu.addAction(save_action)

Step 4: Run the application

Finally, create an instance of MyWindow and run the application:

if __name__ == '__main__':
    app = QApplication(sys.argv)
    window = MyWindow()
    window.show()
    sys.exit(app.exec_())

Conclusion

Creating a menu bar with icons and shortcuts in PyQt5 is essential for building user-friendly GUI applications. By following the steps outlined in this article, you can easily create a menu bar with icons and shortcuts in your PyQt5 application.