**Topic: Custom Widgets and Components with Qt for Modern App Design** In this example, we will create a custom, animated "Hamburger Menu" widget for modern application design using PyQt6 and Qt Designer. The Hamburger Menu is a widely used UI element that allows users to toggle between different menus or views. **Prerequisites:** * Python 3.8+ * PyQt6 (or PySide6) * Qt Designer (optional, for UI design) * Qt 6.x (latest version) **Step 1: Designing the Hamburger Menu UI** Create a new PyQt6 project and open Qt Designer. Drag and drop a `QWidget` onto the design canvas. Create a `QLabel` with the desired menu content, and add two `QPushButton`s to function as the hamburger menu and the close button. Layout the UI elements as desired. Save the .ui file as `hamburger_menu.ui`. **Step 2: Creating the Custom Hamburger Menu Widget** Create a new Python file called `hamburger_menu.py`. Here's the code: ```python import sys from PyQt6.QtWidgets import QApplication, QWidget, QLabel, QPushButton from PyQt6.QtCore import Qt, QPropertyAnimation, QRect from PyQt6.QtGui import QFont from PyQt6 import uic class HamburgerMenu(QWidget): def __init__(self): super().__init__() self.initUI() def initUI(self): uic.loadUi("hamburger_menu.ui", self) self.hamburger_button = self.findChild(QPushButton, "hamburgerButton") self.close_button = self.findChild(QPushButton, "closeButton") self.menu_content = self.findChild(QLabel, "menuContent") self.hamburger_button.clicked.connect(self.toggle_menu) self.close_button.clicked.connect(self.toggle_menu) self.menu_content.hide() self.is_menu_open = False def toggle_menu(self): if not self.is_menu_open: self.menu_content.show() self.animate_menu_open() self.is_menu_open = True else: self.animate_menu_close() self.is_menu_open = False def animate_menu_open(self): animation = QPropertyAnimation(self, b"geometry") animation.setDuration(500) animation.setStartValue(QRect(-200, 0, 0, 0)) animation.setEndValue(QRect(0, 0, 200, 0)) animation.start() def animate_menu_close(self): animation = QPropertyAnimation(self, b"geometry") animation.setDuration(500) animation.setStartValue(QRect(0, 0, 200, 0)) animation.setEndValue(QRect(-200, 0, 0, 0)) animation.finished.connect(self.menu_content.hide) animation.start() def main(): app = QApplication(sys.argv) hamburger_menu = HamburgerMenu() hamburger_menu.setGeometry(100, 100, 200, 200) hamburger_menu.show() sys.exit(app.exec()) if __name__ == "__main__": main() ``` **Explanation and Demonstration:** * We create a custom `HamburgerMenu` widget that inherits from `QWidget`. * We design the UI using Qt Designer and load the `hamburger_menu.ui` file into our Python code using `uic.loadUI`. * We connect the `hamburger_button` and `close_button` to the `toggle_menu` method, which animates the menu open and close using `QPropertyAnimation`. * The menu content is hidden when the menu is closed and reappears when the menu is opened. **Best Practices:** * Keep your custom widget UI separate from your main application UI for better reusability. * Use Qt Designer for UI design to take advantage of drag-and-drop functionality and instantly see how your UI looks. * Follow Qt's recommended coding guidelines for readability and maintainability. **Tips and Tricks:** * Experiment with different animation styles by modifying the `QPropertyAnimation` parameters. * Add keyboard shortcuts to make your hamburger menu more accessible. * Consider adding animated transitions for better user experience. **Additional Example Use Case:** You can integrate the custom hamburger menu widget into a larger application by creating a main application window that uses the hamburger menu as a side panel. **Updated Source Code for Larger Application:** ```python from PyQt6.QtWidgets import QApplication, QMainWindow, QWidget from hamburger_menu import HamburgerMenu class MainWindow(QMainWindow): def __init__(self): super().__init__() self.initUI() def initUI(self): self.setGeometry(200, 200, 800, 600) self.main_content = QWidget() self.main_content.setStyleSheet("background-color: #F0F0F0;") self.hamburger_menu = HamburgerMenu() self.hamburger_menu.setGeometry(0, 0, 200, 600) self.hamburger_menu.setStyleSheet("background-color: #FFFFFF; border: 1px solid #000000;") self.setCentralWidget(self.main_content) self.addDockWidget(Qt.DockWidgetArea.LeftDockWidgetArea, self.hamburger_menu) def main(): app = QApplication(sys.argv) window = MainWindow() window.show() sys.exit(app.exec()) if __name__ == "__main__": main() ``` In this larger application, we use a `QMainWindow` as the main application window and add the hamburger menu as a side panel using `addDockWidget`. We set the main application window's central widget to an empty `QWidget` and add our hamburger menu widget to the left dock.