| |
| Welcome to Qt 5 |
| =============== |
| |
| Qt is a cross-platform application and user interface framework. It |
| consists of a number of software libraries and development tools. |
| |
| Qt is developed as an open source project. It is available under both |
| open source and commercial licenses. |
| |
| All information on Qt is available on the Qt Developer Network: |
| http://qt-project.org |
| |
| Be sure to check out the release notes, which will list any known |
| problems or limitations of this version: |
| https://wiki.qt.io/Category:Release |
| |
| |
| Overview |
| -------- |
| |
| You can use the Qt 5 installation program to install the following components: |
| |
| - Qt libraries, prebuilt for a particular development platform (operating system |
| and compiler) |
| - Qt Creator integrated development environment (IDE) |
| - Basic development tools, prebuilt for a particular development platform |
| - Documentation |
| - Qt in source code form (needed only if you want to build the framework and |
| tools yourself) |
| |
| Install Qt libraries to develop or run applications that need the Qt runtimes or |
| to try out example applications built with Qt. |
| |
| Qt Creator is designed to make Qt development easier, but you can also use a 3rd |
| party IDE (such as MS Visual Studio), or just an editor and command line, in |
| addition to basic Qt development tools (Qt Designer, Qt Assistant, qmlscene, and |
| so on). |
| |
| |
| Installing Qt 5 |
| --------------- |
| |
| You can download Qt 5 from http://qt-project.org/downloads. The site provides |
| download links for all supported development platforms. |
| |
| Start the installation program like any executable on the development platform. |
| On Linux, you might first have to make the installation program executable. |
| |
| Select the components that you want to install and follow the instructions of |
| the installation program to complete the installation. |
| |
| Use the Maintenance Tool under <install_dir> to remove all installed |
| components. |
| |
| |
| Directory Structure |
| ------------------- |
| |
| The default top-level installation directory is the directory "Qt<version>" in |
| your home directory, but you can specify another directory (<install_dir>). On |
| Windows, however, the default top-level installation directory is "C:\Qt\Qt<version>". |
| Each Qt version is installed in the <install_dir>/<version> directory. This directory |
| contains subdirectories for the Qt libraries (<compiler>) and sources (Src). |
| The <compiler> directory contains subdirectories for development tools (bin) and |
| examples. |
| |
| |
| Starting Development Tools |
| -------------------------- |
| |
| You can start Qt Creator directly after the installation by selecting the option |
| on the last page of the installation program. You can start most of |
| the development tools, such as GUI designers, compilers, and debuggers |
| directly from Qt Creator. You can also access the installed documentation and |
| example applications from Qt Creator. |
| |
| The development tools are located in the directory |
| <install_dir>/<version>/<compiler>/bin. You can run them from Qt Creator or from |
| the command line. You can also launch some of them as standalone applications. |
| For example: |
| |
| - Qt Assistant, the Qt documentation reader |
| - Qt QML Scene, the viewer for Qt Quick 2 files |
| - Qt QML Viewer, the viewer for Qt Quick 1 files |
| and - Qt Designer, the GUI designer for Qt widgets-based applications |
| |
| You can use Qt Creator to develop with other Qt versions as well: |
| |
| http://qt-project.org/doc/qtcreator-2.6/creator-project-qmake.html |
| |
| |
| Running Example Applications |
| ---------------------------- |
| |
| You can open most example applications in the Qt Creator Welcome mode to build |
| and run them. Additional examples can be opened by browsing |
| <install_dir>/<version>/<compiler>/examples. |
| |
| Building Qt 5 from Source |
| ------------------------- |
| |
| See <install_dir>/<version>/src/README and |
| http://wiki.qt.io/Building_Qt_5_from_Git |
| for instructions on building Qt from source. |
| |
| |
| Developing Qt Applications |
| -------------------------- |
| |
| To develop a Qt application, you need to set up a project. Qt Creator contains |
| wizards that guide you step-by-step through the project creation process. The |
| wizards prompt you to enter the settings needed for a particular type of project |
| and create the necessary files for you. To start, select File > New File or |
| Project. |
| |
| The wizards create projects that use the Qt build tool, qmake. It is a |
| cross-platform system for build automation that helps simplify the build process |
| for development projects across different platforms. You can modify the build |
| and run settings for qmake projects in the Qt Creator Projects mode. |
| |
| Qt Creator provides support for building, running, and deploying Qt applications |
| for different target platforms, or using different compilers, debuggers, or |
| Qt versions. Kits define the tools, device type and other settings to use when |
| building and running your project. |
| |
| The Qt 5 installation program adds the installed Qt version |
| (<install_dir>/<version>/<compiler>/bin/qmake) to Qt Creator and creates a kit |
| that specifies the installed Qt version and compiler. To use the kit, add it for |
| your project in the Qt Creator Projects mode. Then select the kit in the Kit |
| selector before you build or run the project. |
| |
| To compile C++ Qt applications by some other means, add |
| <install_dir>/<version>/<compiler>/include to your build tool's search path |
| for include files, and <install_dir>/<version>/<compiler>/lib to the search |
| path for libraries. |
| |
| |
| Want to Know More? |
| ------------------- |
| |
| Much more information is available at: |
| |
| - http://qt-project.org/resources/getting_started |
| - http://qt-project.org/doc/ |
| - http://qt-project.org |
| |
| |
| We hope you will enjoy using Qt! |
| |
| - The Qt developers @ qt-project.org |