Functional Requirements

A robust configuration wizard must satisfy several core interaction and rendering criteria:

• Maintain multiple distinct configuration screens within a single application window.
• Provide continuous navigasion controls for moving between sequential steps.
• Allow independent widget sets and arrangement patterns per step.
• Rely entirely on layout managers to handle responsive positioning and resizing.

Architectural Approach

Constructing this interface follows a modular composition model. Instead of manually calculating pixel coordinates, the design combines several Qt layout primitives:

1. Hierarchical Nesting: Complex surfaces are assembled by embedding smaller layout objects inside one another.
2. Stacked Page Control: QStackedLayout acts as the central controller, exposing only one child widget at a time based on an integer index.
3. Dynamic Step Instantiation: Each wizard phase is generated as an independent QWidget instance containing its own layout and child elements.

Layout Mechanics & Ownership Rules

• Any widget derived from QObject that supports child items can host a layout.
• When widgets are added to a specific layout, they implicitly adopt that layout's parent widget as their owner.
• This automatic parent-child assignment streamlines event propagation and guarantees deterministic memory deallocation when the parent is destroyed.

Implementation Structure

The header defines the window class, declares shared member widgets for demonstration purposes, and reserves references to the navigation stack.

#ifndef WIZARDWINDOW_H
#define WIZARDWINDOW_H

#include <QWidget>
#include <QLabel>
#include <QLineEdit>
#include <QPushButton>
#include <QStackedLayout>

class WizardWindow : public QWidget
{
    Q_OBJECT
private:
    QLabel m_infoA;
    QLabel m_infoB;
    QLabel m_infoC;
    QLabel m_infoD;
    QLineEdit m_userInput;

    QPushButton m_actionBtn;
    QPushButton m_resetBtn;

    QStackedLayout* m_stackController;

    void initializeUI();
    QWidget* constructPhaseOne();
    QWidget* constructPhaseTwo();
    QWidget* constructPhaseThree();

private slots:
    void movePrevious();
    void moveNext();

public:
    explicit WizardWindow(QWidget *parent = nullptr);
    ~WizardWindow();
};

#endif // WIZARDWINDOW_H

The source file wires the visual hierarchy together. Modern Qt signal-slot connections replace legacy macros, and layout indices are calculated using modular arithmetic to support seamless circular navigation.

#include "wizardwindow.h"
#include <QHBoxLayout>
#include <QVBoxLayout>
#include <QFormLayout>

WizardWindow::WizardWindow(QWidget *parent)
    : QWidget(parent), m_stackController(new QStackedLayout(this))
{
    initializeUI();
}

void WizardWindow::initializeUI()
{
    QHBoxLayout* bottomBar = new QHBoxLayout();
    QPushButton* prevControl = new QPushButton("Back");
    QPushButton* nextControl = new QPushButton("Forward");
    prevControl->setFixedWidth(90);
    nextControl->setFixedWidth(90);

    bottomBar->addStretch();
    bottomBar->addWidget(prevControl);
    bottomBar->addWidget(nextControl);
    bottomBar->addStretch();

    m_stackController->addWidget(constructPhaseOne());
    m_stackController->addWidget(constructPhaseTwo());
    m_stackController->addWidget(constructPhaseThree());

    QVBoxLayout* rootLayout = new QVBoxLayout(this);
    rootLayout->addLayout(m_stackController);
    rootLayout->addLayout(bottomBar);

    connect(prevControl, &QPushButton::clicked, this, &WizardWindow::movePrevious);
    connect(nextControl, &QPushButton::clicked, this, &WizardWindow::moveNext);
}

QWidget* WizardWindow::constructPhaseOne()
{
    QWidget* container = new QWidget;
    QGridLayout* grid = new QGridLayout(container);

    m_infoA.setText("Element Alpha");
    m_infoB.setText("Element Beta");
    m_infoC.setText("Element Gamma");
    m_infoD.setText("Element Delta");

    grid->addWidget(&m_infoA, 0, 0);
    grid->addWidget(&m_infoB, 0, 1);
    grid->addWidget(&m_infoC, 1, 0);
    grid->addWidget(&m_infoD, 1, 1);

    return container;
}

QWidget* WizardWindow::constructPhaseTwo()
{
    QWidget* container = new QWidget;
    QFormLayout* form = new QFormLayout(container);
    form->addRow("Identifier:", &m_userInput);
    return container;
}

QWidget* WizardWindow::constructPhaseThree()
{
    QWidget* container = new QWidget;
    m_actionBtn.setText("Process Submission");
    m_resetBtn.setText("Clear Fields");

    QVBoxLayout* col = new QVBoxLayout(container);
    col->addWidget(&m_actionBtn);
    col->addWidget(&m_resetBtn);
    return container;
}

void WizardWindow::movePrevious()
{
    int currentIdx = m_stackController->currentIndex();
    int totalPages = m_stackController->count();
    int targetIdx = (currentIdx - 1 + totalPages) % totalPages;
    m_stackController->setCurrentIndex(targetIdx);
}

void WizardWindow::moveNext()
{
    int currentIdx = m_stackController->currentIndex();
    int totalPages = m_stackController->count();
    int targetIdx = (currentIdx + 1) % totalPages;
    m_stackController->setCurrentIndex(targetIdx);
}

WizardWindow::~WizardWindow()
{
    // Child objects are auto-released via Qt object tree
}

The entry point instantiates the custom window, applies a default geometry, and passes control to the event loop.

#include <QApplication>
#include "wizardwindow.h"

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
    QApplication application(argc, argv);
    WizardWindow navigator;
    navigator.resize(420, 320);
    navigator.show();
    return application.exec();
}

Design Considerations

• Combining standard layout classes enables scalable interface construction without hardcoding dimensions.
• Container widgets serve as universal hosts for layout assignments, regardless of their initial purpose.
• Explicitly sharing a parent across managed elements ensures consistent repainting and coordinate transformations.
• Relying on Qt's parent-child ownership model eliminates manual pointer deletion and prevents memory fragmentation in long-running GUI applications.