Gazebo Gui

API Reference

8.3.0
Style

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Overview

Gazebo GUI leverages QtQuick Controls 2 Styles for styling. The recommended and best supported style is the Material Style, but it is also possible to use others such as Default and Universal. This tutorial focuses on customizing the Material style.

The default style is hardcoded into the qtquickcontrols2.conf file.

There are a few ways to override the default style:

  • Through the graphical interface (GUI)
  • Setting environment variables (env)
  • Through Gazebo GUI config files (config)

If styles are set from multiple sources, this is the order in which they take precedence:

GUI > config > env

Variables

Users can customize the whole application's material style using just a few variables:

  • Theme (Light / Dark)
  • Primary color
  • Accent color

QML types provided by QtQuick Controls 2, as well as QML types provided by Gazebo GUI, use these variables as appropriate. It's recommended that developers make sure their plugins use these variables for a more integrated experience.

Top toolbar

On top of those, Gazebo GUI also offers a few variables specific to customizing the top toolbar.

By default, the top toolbar will use the primary color, while the plugin toolbars will use the accent color, according to the current theme. Users can override this behavior and decouple the toolbar colors from the rest of the controls with the following variables:

  • Top toolbar color, light theme
  • Top toolbar color, dark theme
  • Top toolbar text color, light theme
  • Top toolbar text color, dark theme
  • Plugin toolbar color, light theme
  • Plugin toolbar color, dark theme
  • Plugin toolbar text color, light theme
  • Plugin toolbar text color, dark theme

GUI

To change the style at runtime using the graphical interface, on the left menu, choose "Style settings".

A dialog will open, where you can change the theme (Light / Dark) and primary / accent colors. From the color dropdown menu, it is possible to choose one of the pre-defined material colors, and from the button next to it, it is possible to choose any custom color.

Note
Custom colors won't be automatically shaded based on the theme.
Toolbar colors can't be changed through the GUI yet.

Environment variables

See Supported Environment Variables in Qt Quick Controls 2.

You can try running the following command for example: 

QT_QUICK_CONTROLS_MATERIAL_THEME=Dark QT_QUICK_CONTROLS_MATERIAL_PRIMARY=Blue gz gui -v 4
Note
Any previously saved default configuration (usually stored in ~/.gz/gui/default.config) will override these environment variable preferences.
Toolbar colors can't be changed through environment variables yet.
Applications built on top of Gazebo GUI may override custom environment variables.

Config files

Styles can be set on a configuration file's <window><style> tag, using the following attributes:

  • material_theme
  • material_primary
  • material_accent
  • toolbar_color_light
  • toolbar_text_color_light
  • toolbar_color_dark
  • toolbar_text_color_dark
  • plugin_toolbar_color_light
  • plugin_toolbar_text_color_light
  • plugin_toolbar_color_dark
  • plugin_toolbar_text_color_dark

You can try an example just with the material_ variables: 

gz gui -c examples/config/style.config

And an example also configuring the toolbars: 

gz gui -c examples/config/style_toolbars.config
Note
When saving the configuration file through the GUI, the current style will be saved as well.