The author of the Independent Qt Tutorial has published an example-driven article about Qt 4 beta 1. The text touches the new Designer and some of the code-level changes that will affect application developers.
The author of the Independent Qt Tutorial has published an example-driven article about Qt 4 beta 1. The text touches the new Designer and some of the code-level changes that will affect application developers.
Trolltech is really moving now.
Why did they get rid of the MDI in designer? I hate all of those free floating windows! They look cluttered unless that’s the only think in your workspace, forcing you to use more virtual desktops! Docked tools in a consistent & predictable location are a good thing!
I have to say, I hate MDI. It works on Windows because the child windows look like Windoze child windows. Having Windoze-style child windows inside a KDE window looks wierd. Also, Qt3’s MDI doesn’t work well on my Mac. With this, you can make your widget overlap with the Qt Designer windows.
I like the Ctrl-drag way of setting up sig-slot connections – rather like Apple Interface Builder, that, isn’t it?
As the author said, in Qt Designer case, that is probably because they intent it to be integrated on better IDEs.
As far as MDI, well, we still can use it (“http://doc.trolltech.com/4.0/q3workspace.html#details“), but looks like they are phasing it out. Probably we will need a bit more recode to use something similar. This can be a good opportunity to remake the behaviour of child windows, allowing more flexibility (putting it inside or outside the main window and setting it’s properties based on that and using a kind of “grouping”). I by myself, feel a bit annoyed when I can’t set properly the position of some toolbox.
And what do you do with databound apps that have dozens of different databound forms ? SDI ?
Simply use MDI – it is still there, just not recommended anymore. For example, MDI is not very well suited for multiple screen setups.
What’s a modern approach for multiple databound forms – beneath MDI ?
…perhaps a main windows with tabs for document views?
“tabbing” looks “trendy” these days…
Tabs ? And what if you want to compare the values of two forms side-by-side without all the docking trouble ?
Most users can’t get along with complex docking GUIs, thats my expirience … they accept MDI a lot more …
For while, use that MDI they are phasing out.
I’m still investigating, but I hope the will provide some kind of “fit in Parent window bound” flag or a way to group windows in a more tied way (not just by signals or parent-child normal relationship).
Anyway, it’s annoying when we can’t detach a child window from the area of the parent one.
“What’s a modern approach for multiple databound forms – beneath MDI ?”
How about only showing one item in your task bar, and raising all the other associated Windows along with the current window? Ever tried Delphi apps?
Interestingly, the Delphi IDE used the floating window approach. While in Delphi 2005 you still have the option to use multiple windows, the default is more – hmm – integrated now.
It’s a good idea to let the user decide how to organize the layout of the application on his (multiple) desktop environment. But – _don’t_ disintegrate applications, allow users to fuse the components as he prefers instead. I for one favor the Eclipse approach, having perspectives I can switch between.
I wish they’d improve the QTDesigner, it still quite inferior to Delphi’s IDE for example. We’ve been switching part of our GUI work to QT for cross platform-ness. Wish Delphi would work properly with Mac and Linux, maybe the .NET approach will solve this.
This meta-object compiler and non-standard string classes are to be respected, for providing sound functionality ahead of a C++ standard and things like boost.org
Nevertheless, I just wasted time surfing another vast code library, trying to find a way to coax a few characters out of a database record object and into a std::string, and this renewed my disdain for non-standard libraries.
Nevertheless, I just wasted time surfing another vast code library, trying to find a way to coax a few characters out of a database record object and into a std::string, and this renewed my disdain for non-standard libraries.
QString and std::string talks nicely. I cannot imagine what your problem was.
> into a std::string, and this renewed my disdain for non-standard libraries.
Since std::string doesn’t support Unicode, is unusable for user-visible strings.
Since std::string doesn’t support Unicode, is unusable for user-visible strings.
Isn’t is just a matter which type you pass to the std::string template?
Can’t std::string<wchar_t> handle UTF-16 Characters?