Editor Window

MainWindow features, virtual hooks, page system, and container editor patterns.

Tags:

The MainWindow class provides a complete graph editor out of the box. Downstream editors subclass it and override virtual hooks to add domain-specific behavior.

Out-of-the-Box Features

Every MainWindow instance includes:

Multi-document tabs — Each graph opens in its own tab with dirty tracking (asterisk * in tab title) and close-with-save prompts
File menu — New, Open, Save, Save As, Open Recent (tracks last 10 files)
Edit menu — Undo/Redo (Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Y), Cut/Copy/Paste
Node palette — Searchable list of available nodes with drag-drop creation
Inspector panel — Auto-generated property editor from node EditContext reflection
Variable panel — Variable declarations, type selection, and default value editing (when enabled)

Virtual Hooks

MainWindow provides virtual methods for downstream customization:

virtual void AddFileNewAction();
virtual void AddFileOpenAction();
virtual void AddFileSaveAction();
virtual void AddFileSaveAsAction();

Override these to replace per-file behavior with container-level behavior (e.g., the Dialogue Editor overrides these to save the entire database instead of individual graphs).

Lifecycle Hooks

Hook	Called When
`OnEditorOpened()`	A graph tab is opened
`OnEditorClosing()`	A graph tab is being closed
`OnActiveGraphChanged()`	The user switches between graph tabs
`OnNewGraphRequested(QString& outTitle)`	Before a new graph tab is created. Return false to cancel.
`OnNodeDoubleClicked(BaseNode* node)`	A node is double-clicked. Used to open sub-graph editors.

Full-Window Page System

The page system lets you add non-graph pages alongside the graph editor in the same window:

AddFullWindowPage("Performers", m_performersWidget);
AddFullWindowPage("System", m_systemWidget);
SetGraphPageTitle("Sequences");  // Rename the default graph tab
SetActivePage(index);            // Switch between pages

The base class creates a tab bar on the first call. When switching to a non-graph page, the graph canvas and all docks are hidden; the page widget fills the entire window. Dock layout is preserved between switches.

Examples in practice:

Dialogue Editor: Sequences (graph) + Performers + System
Unit Action Editor: Layers (graph) + Layer Details

Container Editor Pattern

For editors where multiple graphs live inside a single file (like dialogue sequences in a database, or state machine layers in a unit action asset), MainWindow provides in-memory graph operations:

Opening Sub-Graphs

OpenGraphFromAsset(GraphDocumentAsset& asset, const QString& title, AZ::SerializeContext* sc);

Deserializes a graph from an asset’s byte buffer and opens it as a new tab.

Capturing Sub-Graphs

CaptureGraphToAsset(GraphModel::GraphId graphId, GraphDocumentAsset& outAsset, AZ::SerializeContext* sc);

Serializes an open graph back into the asset’s byte buffer. Used before saving the container.

Creating Empty Graphs

OpenNewGraphTab(const QString& title);

Opens a blank graph tab for a new sub-object.

Clearing Dirty State

ClearAllDocumentDirty();

Clears dirty markers on all open tabs. Called after a container-level save so that individual tab dirty states don’t linger.

Typical Container Save Flow

Iterate all open graph tabs
Call CaptureGraphToAsset() for each to write graphs back to the container
Serialize the container to disk
Call ClearAllDocumentDirty() to clear all tab markers