Getting Started

This page will help you to get started when using Qtilities for the first time.

The following topics are covered:

• Supported & Tested Environments
• Getting and Building Qtilities
  • Required Software
  • Dependencies (Optional)
  • Build Qtilities
  • System Specific Instructions
  • Qtilities Library File Names

Supported & Tested Environments

Qtilities is supported on the following:

• Qt Versions: 4.7 onwards
• Operations Systems: Windows XP, Windows 7 and Linux
• Compilers: Mingw32, gcc, MS Visual Studio 2010

Getting and Building Qtilities

To start, create a folder that will contain all the libraries used. This location will be referred to as [YOUR_LIB_PATH]. It is assumed that the Qt SDK is installed as well as git (see Required Software).

Required Software

Qt & Qt Creator

1. Get Qt and Qt Creator from http://qt-project.org/
2. Run through the downloaded installers.

git (optional)

git is a fast version management system for distributed development. This installation uses git to get the required source files.

1. Download git from http://git-scm.com/downloads Download the msysGit binary for Windows

• Run through the downloaded installer.

Dependencies (Optional)

Set up dependencies (Optional, disabled by default so you can skip to "Build Qtilities". See Dependencies.pri for more information)

Qtiliites can be build against a few other libraries to extend its functionality. The following will list the dependencies as well as describe how to get them installed.

Qt Property Browser

1. Get the qt-solutions Qt Addons from http://qt.gitorious.org/qt-solutions. Run the following command: git clone git://gitorious.org/qt-solutions/qt-solutions.git qt-solutions

• Build qtpropertybrowser, located inside the newly checked out qt-solutions folder. Open the project file located inside the "buildlib" folder of the qtpropertybrowser. It is advised to disable the "Shadow build" option in creator. Lib files created should be in the "qtpropertybrowser/lib" folder.

Connection analyser for Qt

1. Download the Conan for Qt from http://sourceforge.net/projects/conanforqt/ To make things a bit easier later on place the conan code in "[YOUR_LIB_PATH]/conanforqt/Conan/".

• Build Conan. It is advised to disable the "Shadow build" option in creator. The lib files should be in the "Conan/lib" folder after a successful build. Build Debug and Release (note for Conan v1.0.2) When building against latest SDK it can complain that it does not find the qobject_p.h file. Locate the file in your Qt installation and put absolute path in to get it to build.

Build Qtilities

1. Get the source code from GitHub. Run the following command: git clone git://github.com/JPNaude/Qtilities.git qtilities

• Open the Qtilities.pro file in QtCreator located in the src folder.
• Check your project paths:
  • Open the "Dependencies.pri" file located in the /src folder and check that the paths are set up correctly.
    • QTILITIES_DEPENDENCIES should point to [YOUR_LIB_PATH]. Most probably "$$PWD/../../../".
• Set up Qtilities build options
  • If the dependencies were build correctly as described above, open the "Dependencies.pri" file located in the /src folder.
  • Uncomment the following lines if they are not already commented out.
    • DEFINES += QTILITIES_PROPERTY_BROWSER
    • DEFINES += QTILITIES_CONAN
• To build the Qtilities Examples and Plugins the following must be done:
  • Using Qt Creator open the 2 pro files in the /src/Examples and src/Plugins folders.
  • Go to the Project mode and click on the QtilitiesPlugins tab at the top.
  • Click on the Dependencies tab just underneath.
  • Make sure that "Qtilities" is checked in the Dependencies window.
  • Do the same for the Examples but both "Qtilities" and "QtilitiesPlugins" must be checked in the dependencies window.
• Qtilities should be able to build now.

System Specific Instructions

Linux & Mac

Qtilities will not be able to run if the following steps are not followed.

1. Create new file in /etc/ld.so.conf.d/. For example Qtilities.conf. One can be made for all of the shared libraries grouped together or one can be made for each shared library seperately.

• Edit the *.conf file and add all paths to shared libraries to the file, including the dependencies. The following should be added:
  • [YOUR_LIB_PATH]/Qtilities/bin
  • [YOUR_LIB_PATH]/Qtilities/bin/plugins
  • [YOUR_LIB_PATH]/conanforqt/Conan/
  • [YOUR_LIB_PATH]/qt-solutions/qtpropertybrowser/lib
• Update the libraries path Run the following command: sudo ldconfig

Windows

Qtilities will not be able to run if the following steps are not followed. The libraries created by the dependencies as well as Qtilities must be in your Windows PATH.

1. Add the library locations to your Windows PATH variable. The following must be added:
   • [YOUR_LIB_PATH]/Qtilities/bin
   • [YOUR_LIB_PATH]/Qtilities/bin/plugins
   • [YOUR_LIB_PATH]/conanforqt/Conan/
   • [YOUR_LIB_PATH]/qt-solutions/qtpropertybrowser/lib

• Close Qt Creator and re-open it to make the changes to the PATH variable take effect.

Qtilities Library File Names

All library file names, and the names of all example projects has the QTILITIES_FILE_VER variable appended to it. The format is as follows: -0.1.b1, meaning major version 0, minor version 1, beta version 1. Alpha versions will have an a character appended in the place of the b.

When you build the libraries in debug mode, a small letter d character is appended to all library names. In release mode this character is removed