class Window : public QMainWindow { Q_OBJECT public: Window(); }; Window::Window() : QMainWindow() { QAction *action1 = new QAction(tr("&ACTION1"), this); QAction *action2 = new QAction(tr("&ACTION2"), this); QMenu *appMenu; appMenu = menuBar()->addMenu(tr("MENU TITLE")); appMenu->addAction(action1); appMenu->addAction(action2); connect(action1, SIGNAL(triggered()), this , SLOT(doAction1())); connect(action2, SIGNAL(triggered()), this , SLOT(doAction2())); // add widgets to your main window once you have them, you dont need the below dummy blank widget. // later you can do setCentralWidget(blank); // QWidget *blank = new QWidget(); // QHBoxLayout *layout = new QHBoxLayout(); // blank->setLayout(layout); // blank->show(); } int main(int argc, char *argv[]) { QApplication app(argc, argv); Window window; window.show(); return app.exec(); }