The complete PyQt5 tutorial — Create GUI applications with Python

Like writing any code, building PyQt5 applications is all about approaching it in the right way. In the first part of the course we cover the fundamentals necessary to get you building Python GUIs as quickly as possible. By the end of the first part you'll have a running QApplication which we can then customise.

As your applications get larger or interfaces become more complicated, it can get a bit cumbersome to define all elements programmatically. The good news is that Qt comes with a graphical editor Qt Designer (or Qt Creator) which contains a drag-and-drop UI editor — Qt Designer. In this PyQt5 tutorial we'll cover the basics of creating Python GUIs with Qt Designer.

In this PyQt5 tutorial we'll cover some small extensions you can use to improve your Python GUIs.

Now we've learnt the basics, we'll put it into practice building a real-life app. In this course we'll create a functional web browser using Qt5 widgets. Starting with the basics and then gradually extending it to add features like opening and saving pages, help, printing and tabbed browsing. Follow the tutorial step by step to create your own app, but feel free to experiment as you go.

As your applications become more complex you may finding yourself wanting to perform long-running tasks, such as interacting with remote APIs or performing complex calculations. By default any code you write exists in the same thread and process, meaning your long-running code can actually block Qt execution and cause your app to "hang". In this PyQt5 tutorial we'll cover how to avoid this happening and keep your applications running smoothly, no matter the workload.

All but the simplest of apps will usually need to interact with some kind of external data store — whether that's a database, a remote API or simple configuration data. The Qt ModelView architecture simplifies the linking and updating your UI with data in custom formats or from external sources. In this PyQt5 tutorial we'll discover how you can use Qt ModelViews to build high performance Python GUIs.

In addition to the simple bitmap graphics already covered, Qt provides API for vector graphics. Vector graphics can be used to build complex and interactive interfaces beyond the normal widget interface. They can also be used for plotting nice graphs with PyQtGraph. In this PyQt5 tutorial we'll introduce vector graphics and have a look at plotting data with PyQtGraph.

Widgets in Qt are built on bitmap graphics — drawing pixels on a rectangular canvas to construct the "widget". To be able to create your own custom widgets you first need to understand how the QPainter system works and what you can do with it. In this PyQt5 tutorial we'll go from basic bitmap graphics to our own entirely custom widget.

There comes a point in any app's development where it needs to leave home — half the fun in writing software is being able to share it with other people. Packaging Python apps can be a little tricky, but in this PyQt5 tutorial we'll cover how to package up your apps to share, whether commercially or just for fun.