Qt Archive

Introducing QScopedPointer

Qt usually takes the boring memory allocation and deallocation from you, either through its implicitly shared containers, or with QObject's parent child relationship model. But every once in a while, we need to allocate something on the heap, and then the stress starts - where do we delete it, and how do we make sure to not leak the memory? To fix this problem, QScopedPointer was born. It will delete the object it is pointing to automatically when it goes out of scope.

PySide: Python for Qt

"The PySide project provides LGPL-licensed Python bindings for the Qt cross-platform application and UI framework. PySide Qt bindings allow both free open source and proprietary software development and ultimately aim to support all of the platforms as Qt itself." Previously, the PyQt bindings were not licensed LGPL. If one wished to make a commercial application, then one previously had to purchase a commercial license for PyQt. Now it is possible to dynamically link to the LGPL-licensed PySide bindings instead. The PySide bindings are API compatible with PyQt.

Qt 4.5.1, Qt Creator 1.1, Qt Visual Studio Add-in 1.0 Released

Qt Software (formerly Trolltech) released a new version of Qt SDK. Qt 4.5.1 includes bugfixes and optimizations made since the release of Qt 4.5.0. The list of changes can be found here. Qt Creator has been updated to reflect the feedback gathered since the initial release. A full list of changes is here. Finally, after two betas and an RC, Qt Software released the final version of the Visual Studio add-in. It is now available for download.

Qt 4.5, Qt Creator IDE v1.0, New Qt SDK Released

Nokia today announced the availability of version 4.5 of the Qt cross-platform application and UI framework. It also introduced Qt Creator, a new lightweight cross-platform IDE. Qt 4.5 and Qt Creator combined comprises the Qt SDK, an easy to install package that will let developers create applications quickly and easily. "Qt 4.5 is setting the benchmark for application development," said Benoit Schillings, Chief Technologist, Qt Software, Nokia (and for those who remember, one of the original BeOS developers). It's also the first release of Qt under the LGPL.

Nokia To Hand Over Qt Jambi Development to Community

According to a recent announcement, Nokia/Qt Software has decided to discontinue the development of Qt Jambi after the March 2009 release of version 4.5. Jambi is a Java version of the popular Qt toolkit. The library will be made available under the LGPL license, and Qt Software will host and facilitate a community driven continuation of Jambi.

Widgets Enter the Third Dimension: WolfenQt

This blog post on Qt Labs shows how to easily embed regular desktop widgets in a three dimensional Wolfenstein-like maze. The example includes web browser views, a mediaplayer with sound and video, OpenGL integration, and even a soldier scriptable in QtScript. All done in relatively simple code using Qt's QGraphicsView API. The example might not be directly usable by itself, but it demonstrates how easy it is to map 2D widgets to 3D scenes in Qt and could act as inspiration for future user interfaces.

Introducing QGtkStyle

There is a group of consistency freaks out there (like myself) who are not very fond of mixing Gtk+ with Qt applications. The reasons for this are not just graphical, but also behavioural; Gtk+ applications behave differently than Qt applications (menus are different, layout is different, etc.). Trolltech obviously can't tackle the behavioural side of this issue, but they can tackle the graphical one. This is exactly where QGtkStyle comes into play.

Qt 4.4 Released

Yesterday, Trolltech released the final version of Qt 4.4, their graphical toolkit which forms the base for, among a lot of other things, the KDE project. It still features the dual-license model (of course), so proprietary developers can license Qt, while open source developers can get a GPLd version (both GPL 2 as well as 3). Read on for a quick overview of the new features, as well as some findings by Ars Technica.

Qt To Be Supported on Nokia’s Maemo Platform

Nokia will introduce Qt to the maemo platform in addition to GTK+. The first actual step will be the distribution of the Qt libraries for application development in maemo.org during 4Q2008. Nokia wants to explore cross-platform possibilities between S60 and maemo. It is interesting also to check the interest in the developer community for Qt in the tablets. This is also a way to attract more attention from the KDE community, a sensible move especially if the Trolltech acquisition gets completed.

Qt v4.4 Release Candidate Released

A first release candidate of version 4.4 of Qt, the cross-platform C++ development toolkit, was released today. Thiago Macieira says that this is considered release quality and good enough to use for most tasks. Major new features include support for Windows CE, a WebKit-based HTML rendering module (WebKit is based on KHTML and used in Safari), a Phonon-based multimedia module, XQuery 1.0 (and thus XPath 2.0) support in XML, a concurrency framework allowing multi-threading without the mutexes needed previously, and a new help system. Downloads are available (source, Windows and Mac installers) from Trolltech.

Qt/Mac Cocoa Port Alpha Released

"You may have remembered that in the past I've talked about some of the development of 64-bit applications on Mac OS X. The gist of it is that Apple changed their position on supporting 64-bit Carbon, the library we depend on for running Qt GUI applications. It became obvious early on that Apple wasn't going to change their position on this, so it left us with two choices: keep Qt Carbon-only and forego 64-bit support, or create a port of Qt that used Cocoa as its backend. Naturally, since we already support 64-bit on the other platforms and since the idea of using Qt is to help insulate you from changes such as this, we decided on the latter option. It did mean that we had a bit of work ahead of us, since we had to re-write some of the internals of Qt (particularly widgets and events), but most of the other modules were already there. I'm happy to say after a bit of work, we've made progress and we're proud to offer an alpha for curious people that want to try 64-bit applications on Mac OS X 10.5."

Nokia To Acquire Trolltech?

Trolltech, the originator of Qt, which forms the basis of the Linux KDE desktop environment, is being acquired by Nokia, the world's number-one mobile phone vendor. Nokia expects its acquisition of Trolltech to accelerate its cross-platform software strategy for mobile devices and desktop applications, and to enhance its Internet services business. The original press release is also available. Update: "We will continue to actively develop Qt and Qtopia. We also want to underline that we will continue to support the open source community by continuing to release these technologies under the GPL."

First Look: Qt 4.4.0 with Phonon, Webkit

"Trolltech has released the Qt 4.4.0 technical preview, a pre-release that allows software developers to begin experimenting with the new features that the company has implemented for the next version. I compiled the technical preview release from source code and tested it on my desktop computer with Ubuntu 7.10. For testing purposes, I experimented with several of the new features, examined the included demo applications, and created a few simple programs of my own. The 4.4.0 technical preview adds a new concurrency framework, enhanced XML support, the Phonon media framework, and an integrated HTML renderer widget based on WebKit. This release is also the first to include support for rendering widgets on a GraphicsView component - a feature that will enable Qt developers to create richer and more dynamic user interfaces."