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title_blocks
The title block is the framed panel of drawing information in the corner of a
sheet. Its layout is not hard-coded — it is a template, a .titleblock
file, and you can edit or write your own.
QElectroTech ships ten templates and includes a dedicated editor for them.
Source: sources/titleblocktemplate.cpp, sources/titleblockcell.h, and
sources/titleblock/ for the editor.
A template is a grid of cells. Each cell is one of three types:
| Type | Shows |
|---|---|
| Text | a label and a value, either of which may contain variables |
| Logo | an image stored inside the template file |
| Empty | nothing — it reserves space |
Cells can span neighbouring rows and columns, so a wide title cell across the top and a stack of small cells below is just spanning.
This is the part of the format worth understanding, because it is what makes a
template fit any paper size. The grid's cols attribute is a list of lengths,
each with a prefix:
| Written | Means |
|---|---|
120px; |
absolute — always 120 pixels |
t22%; |
22% of the total width available |
r100%; |
100% of the remaining width, after absolute and total-relative columns are taken out |
So cols="t22%;r100%;t22%;" — the shipped default — is: a column of 22% of the
width, then a column that absorbs everything left over, then another 22%. The
middle column stretches and the outer two stay proportional, whatever the
sheet's width.
Rows are always absolute, given as plain pixel heights: rows="25;25;".
There is no relative row height.
A text cell holds two pieces of text, and both are translatable:
<field row="0" col="0" name="author" align="left" valign="center"
displaylabel="true" hadjust="true">
<value>
<translation lang="en">%author</translation>
</value>
<label>
<translation lang="en">Author</translation>
<translation lang="fr">Auteur</translation>
<translation lang="de">Autor</translation>
</label>
</field>- The label is the fixed caption — Author — and is normally translated into every language the template supports.
- The value is what changes per sheet, and normally holds a variable. It
usually needs only one entry, since
%authoris the same in every language. -
displaylabeldecides whether the caption is drawn at all. A big title cell typically sets itfalse. -
nameidentifies the cell inside the template. It is not drawn. -
hadjustshrinks the font when the text does not fit, rather than letting it overflow.
The shipped templates' English captions follow the English interface, which
calls a folio a sheet: since
PR #1216
(2 October 2026) their Folio caption reads Sheet in English. Only the
English caption changed; the variable stays %folio, and the other languages
are as before.
Title block cells use their own substitution, and it is more permissive than
anywhere else in QET: every key in the sheet's context is replaced, in both
the braced and bare forms. %{author} and %author both work.
Standard keys are the sheet's own fields: title, author, filename,
folio, plant, locmach, indexrev, date, display_folio. Project
properties and any custom sheet fields are substituted too — which is how a
template can carry a field QET knows nothing about.
Two details:
- Keys are substituted longest first, deliberately, so a key named
plantcannot eat the front of%plantcode. - Only the braced form
%{name}can be discovered. The editor builds its list of variables in use by scanning for%{…}; a bare%namestill renders but nothing can enumerate it. Prefer the braced form when writing a template.
Every sheet's title block can also show these, which come from the project rather than the sheet:
| Variable | Shows |
|---|---|
%{projecttitle} |
the project's title |
%{projectpath} |
the full path of the project file |
%{projectfilename} |
the project file's name without .qet
|
%{savedfilename}, %{savedfilepath}
|
the file name (without .qet) and full path at the last save |
%{saveddate}, %{saveddate-eu}, %{saveddate-us}, %{savedtime}
|
the date and time of the last save: in the system's short format, as dd-MM-yyyy, as yyyy-MM-dd, and as HH:mm
|
Only the .qet is taken off a file name, so a project saved as
plant.line2.qet shows plant.line2. (Builds before
PR #1140,
merged 29 September 2026, cut the name at the first dot and showed plant.)
The saved… values are worked out as the file is saved, so a project just
opened shows those of its last save.
A template can use variables of your own, such as %{doc-type}. When a sheet
uses that template, Propriétés du folio (Sheet properties) lists them in
its Personnalisées (Custom) tab with an empty value, ready to fill in.
Until you give one a value, the cell shows nothing. (Older builds printed
the variable's own name, %doc-type, on the sheet until the sheet's properties
had been opened and saved. Fixed by
PR #989
and PR #1121.)
Only the template's own text is blanked like this: a value you type that
happens to contain a % is shown as typed.
To fill a custom variable on many sheets at once, use Chercher/remplacer (Search / Replace) and its Folio (Sheet) button: the Personnalisées (Custom) tab of the window it opens lists every custom variable the sheets and their templates use. Fill only the ones to change; a variable left empty there is left unchanged on the sheets. See Search & Replace.
Full variable reference: Variables & formulas.
Logos are stored inside the template file, so a template is self-contained and can be shared as one file.
The <logo> tag is used for two different things, which is worth knowing before
you hand-edit a file:
<logos>
<!-- the stored image itself -->
<logo storage="xml" type="svg" name="qelectrotech.svg">
<svg …>…</svg>
</logo>
</logos>
<grid cols="…" rows="…">
<!-- a cell that displays one -->
<logo row="0" col="0" rowspan="1" name="" resource="qelectrotech.svg"/>
</grid>Inside <logos> it is the image; inside <grid> it is a cell, referring to an
image by resource.
Two storage forms:
storage |
For | How |
|---|---|---|
xml |
SVG only | the <svg> tree is embedded directly as XML |
base64 |
any bitmap (and SVG, if you insist) | the raw bytes, base64 encoded, as text |
Bitmaps can only be stored as base64 — QET forces it regardless of what
you ask for. SVG can use either, and xml is the sensible choice: it keeps the
file diffable and lets the logo scale.
When you add a logo through the editor, QET tries SVG first and falls back to bitmap, so the storage form is chosen for you.
Known defect. A
<logo>whosestorageattribute is neitherxmlnorbase64loses its image data when the template is saved: the element is written with its attributes and no content, silently. The code contains the fallback that would prevent this but does not use it. Only hand-written or generated files can hit this — none of the shipped templates do. Keepstorageto the two valid values.
Four collections, in QET's own vocabulary:
| Collection | Location | For |
|---|---|---|
| Common |
titleblocks/ next to the binary |
the templates that ship with QET |
| Company | <data dir>/titleblocks-company/ |
an organisation's shared templates |
| Custom | <data dir>/titleblocks/ |
your own |
| Embedded | inside the .qet file |
templates carried by a project |
Embedded is the one that matters for sharing work: a project that uses a template you wrote carries a copy, so it renders correctly on a machine that has never seen your template.
<titleblocktemplate name="default">
<information></information>
<logos/>
<grid cols="t22%;r100%;t22%;" rows="25;25;">
<field row="0" col="0" name="author" align="left" valign="center"
displaylabel="true" hadjust="true">
<value><translation lang="en">%author</translation></value>
<label><translation lang="en">Author</translation></label>
</field>
…
</grid>
</titleblocktemplate>| Element | Holds |
|---|---|
<information> |
free text about the template — author, purpose |
<logos> |
the stored images |
<grid> |
cols, rows, and the cells |
<field> |
a text cell |
<logo> (in grid) |
a logo cell |
<empty> |
an empty cell |
The cell's tag name is its type: field, logo or empty. Common
attributes are row, col, rowspan, colspan and name. A field adds
align (left/center/right), valign, displaylabel, hadjust and
fontsize — the last written only when a size has actually been set, so an
absent fontsize means "default". A logo cell adds resource.
-
Design against the stretch, not a fixed width. Give the cells that must
keep their proportions a
t…%width and let one column taker100%. A template built from absolute widths only will look wrong on a different paper size. - Translate labels, not values. A value is usually a variable and the same in every language.
-
Use
%{braced}variables so the editor can list them. - Keep a template self-contained. Logos live inside the file; do not rely on an external path.
-
A custom sheet field is enough to add a row. You do not need to modify
QET to show project-specific information — add the field to the sheet and
reference it as
%{yourfield}.
See also: Variables & formulas · Auto-numbering · Project XML
