Qt Reference Documentation

Rich Text Document Structure

# Rich Text Processing

The Scribe framework provides a set of classes for reading and manipulating structured rich text documents. Unlike previous rich text support in Qt, the new classes are centered around the QTextDocument class rather than raw textual information. This enables the developer to create and modify structured rich text documents without having to prepare content in an intermediate markup format.

The information within a document can be accessed via two complementary interfaces: A cursor-based interface is used for editing, and a read-only hierarchical interface provides a high level overview of the document structure. The main advantage of the cursor-based interface is that the text can be edited using operations that mimic a user's interaction with an editor, without losing the underlying structure of the document. The read-only hierarchical interface is most useful when performing operations such as searching and document export.

This document is divided up into chapters for convenient reference:

- Rich Text Document Structure outlines the different kinds of elements in a QTextDocument, and describes how they are arranged in a document structure.
- The QTextCursor Interface explains how rich text documents can be edited using the cursor-based interface.
- Document Layouts briefly explains the role of document layouts.
- Common Rich Text Editing Tasks examines some common tasks that involve reading or manipulating rich text documents.
- Advanced Rich Text Processing examines advanced rich text editing tasks.
- Supported HTML Subset lists the HTML tags supported by QTextDocument.

## Rich Text Processing APIs

Qt provides an extensive collection of classes for parsing, rendering manipulating and editing rich text.

QAbstractTextDocumentLayout | Abstract base class used to implement custom layouts for QTextDocuments
QFont | Specifies a font used for drawing text
QPlainTextDocumentLayout | Implements a plain text layout for QTextDocument
QPlainTextEdit | Widget that is used to edit and display plain text
QSyntaxHighlighter | Allows you to define syntax highlighting rules, and in addition you can use the class to query a document's current formatting or user data
QTextBlock | Container for text fragments in a QTextDocument
QTextBlockFormat | Formatting information for blocks of text in a QTextDocument
QTextBlockGroup | Container for text blocks within a QTextDocument
QTextBlockUserData | Used to associate custom data with blocks of text
QTextBrowser | Rich text browser with hypertext navigation
QTextCharFormat | Formatting information for characters in a QTextDocument
QTextCursor | Offers an API to access and modify QTextDocuments
QTextDocument | Holds formatted text that can be viewed and edited using a QTextEdit
QTextDocumentFragment | Represents a piece of formatted text from a QTextDocument
QTextDocumentWriter | Format-independent interface for writing a QTextDocument to files or other devices
QTextEdit | Widget that is used to edit and display both plain and rich text
QTextFormat | Formatting information for a QTextDocument
QTextFragment | Holds a piece of text in a QTextDocument with a single QTextCharFormat
QTextFrame | Represents a frame in a QTextDocument
QTextFrameFormat | Formatting information for frames in a QTextDocument
QTextImageFormat | Formatting information for images in a QTextDocument
QTextInlineObject | Represents an inline object in a QTextLayout
QTextLayout | Used to lay out and render text
QTextLength | Encapsulates the different types of length used in a QTextDocument
QTextLine | Represents a line of text inside a QTextLayout
QTextList | Decorated list of items in a QTextDocument
QTextListFormat | Formatting information for lists in a QTextDocument
QTextObject | Base class for different kinds of objects that can group parts of a QTextDocument together
QTextOption | Description of general rich text properties
QTextTable | Represents a table in a QTextDocument
QTextTableCell | Represents the properties of a cell in a QTextTable
QTextTableCellFormat | Formatting information for table cells in a QTextDocument
QTextTableFormat | Formatting information for tables in a QTextDocument
QTextFrame::iterator | Iterator for reading the contents of a QTextFrame