Styling CircularGauge

The Needle Component

The needle component is rotated around the gauge to represent the current value.

Starting from the default style, we'll add a very basic white needle:

 needle: Rectangle {
     y: outerRadius * 0.15
     implicitWidth: outerRadius * 0.03
     implicitHeight: outerRadius * 0.9
     antialiasing: true
     color: "#e5e5e5"
 }

As mentioned in the documentation for CircularGaugeStyle, implicitWidth and implicitHeight properties need to be set. This is so that the needle can be positioned properly. We always scale items by the outerRadius property of the style, ensuring the control resizes gracefully.

We offset the needle vertically so that its back sits beyond the knob.

The Foreground Component

We've now changed the needle, but the default knob is still there; let's replace it. The foreground component defines the default knob, so we can specify our own by overriding it (note that we could also set it to null if we didn't want a foreground):

 foreground: Item {
     Rectangle {
         width: outerRadius * 0.2
         height: width
         radius: width / 2
         color: "#e5e5e5"
         anchors.centerIn: parent
     }
 }

Firstly, we create a circle from the Rectangle item by setting the radius to be half the width (either width or height will work here; they are always equal in this case). We make it a child of the Item, because the foreground fills the gauge. We then center it within the Item.

We set the color of the knob to the same white that we used before.

The Tickmark Label Component

Suppose we want to caution the user if the value displayed by the gauge goes above or below a certain range. We could present this range to the user in several ways:

  1. Change the color of the tickmarks depending on styleData.value
  2. Add an image to the background
  3. Draw it with Canvas

We'll choose options 1 and 3, as they are more flexible than using an image.

Firstly, let's change the color of the three highest tickmark labels:

 tickmarkLabel:  Text {
     font.pixelSize: Math.max(6, outerRadius * 0.1)
     text: styleData.value
     color: styleData.value >= 80 ? "#e34c22" : "#e5e5e5"
     antialiasing: true
 }

tickmarkLabel

We also change the color of the rest of the labels to the same white that we used for the needle and knob.

The Tickmark Component

Now let's do the same for the three highest tickmarks:

 tickmark: Rectangle {
     visible: styleData.value < 80 || styleData.value % 10 == 0
     implicitWidth: outerRadius * 0.02
     antialiasing: true
     implicitHeight: outerRadius * 0.06
     color: styleData.value >= 80 ? "#e34c22" : "#e5e5e5"
 }

tickmark

The Minor Tickmark Component

For the minor tickmarks, we'll only show those which are not higher than 80:

 minorTickmark: Rectangle {
     visible: styleData.value < 80
     implicitWidth: outerRadius * 0.01
     antialiasing: true
     implicitHeight: outerRadius * 0.03
     color: "#e5e5e5"
 }

minorTickmark

This is because we'll draw something between that range in the next section.

The Background Component

We'll display the range that indicates caution with an orange arc:

 function degreesToRadians(degrees) {
     return degrees * (Math.PI / 180);
 }

 background: Canvas {
     onPaint: {
         var ctx = getContext("2d");
         ctx.reset();

         ctx.beginPath();
         ctx.strokeStyle = "#e34c22";
         ctx.lineWidth = outerRadius * 0.02;

         ctx.arc(outerRadius, outerRadius, outerRadius - ctx.lineWidth / 2,
             degreesToRadians(valueToAngle(80) - 90), degreesToRadians(valueToAngle(100) - 90));
         ctx.stroke();
     }
 }

We define a function to convert degrees to radians, which are the units used by Canvas.

Next, we do the drawing of the range using Canvas. We draw an arc between 80 and 100, using the valueToAngle() function provided by CircularGaugeStyle. Note that we subtract 90 degrees before converting to radians, as our origin is north and Canvas' is east.

The finished product:

background

The complete code for this example is as follows:

 import QtQuick 2.0
 import QtQuick.Controls 1.4
 import QtQuick.Controls.Styles 1.4
 import QtQuick.Extras 1.4
 import QtQuick.Extras.Private 1.0

 Rectangle {
     width: 300
     height: 300
     color: "#494d53"

     CircularGauge {
         id: gauge
         anchors.centerIn: parent
         style: CircularGaugeStyle {
             id: style

             function degreesToRadians(degrees) {
                 return degrees * (Math.PI / 180);
             }

             background: Canvas {
                 onPaint: {
                     var ctx = getContext("2d");
                     ctx.reset();

                     ctx.beginPath();
                     ctx.strokeStyle = "#e34c22";
                     ctx.lineWidth = outerRadius * 0.02;

                     ctx.arc(outerRadius, outerRadius, outerRadius - ctx.lineWidth / 2,
                         degreesToRadians(valueToAngle(80) - 90), degreesToRadians(valueToAngle(100) - 90));
                     ctx.stroke();
                 }
             }

             tickmark: Rectangle {
                 visible: styleData.value < 80 || styleData.value % 10 == 0
                 implicitWidth: outerRadius * 0.02
                 antialiasing: true
                 implicitHeight: outerRadius * 0.06
                 color: styleData.value >= 80 ? "#e34c22" : "#e5e5e5"
             }

             minorTickmark: Rectangle {
                 visible: styleData.value < 80
                 implicitWidth: outerRadius * 0.01
                 antialiasing: true
                 implicitHeight: outerRadius * 0.03
                 color: "#e5e5e5"
             }

             tickmarkLabel:  Text {
                 font.pixelSize: Math.max(6, outerRadius * 0.1)
                 text: styleData.value
                 color: styleData.value >= 80 ? "#e34c22" : "#e5e5e5"
                 antialiasing: true
             }

             needle: Rectangle {
                 y: outerRadius * 0.15
                 implicitWidth: outerRadius * 0.03
                 implicitHeight: outerRadius * 0.9
                 antialiasing: true
                 color: "#e5e5e5"
             }

             foreground: Item {
                 Rectangle {
                     width: outerRadius * 0.2
                     height: width
                     radius: width / 2
                     color: "#e5e5e5"
                     anchors.centerIn: parent
                 }
             }
         }
     }
 }