Qt Creator and adding plugins - kindly help

Dcqt

I heard there is a plug-in for eclipse IDE for running android mobile applications.

i want to do the same with Qt Creator, does it allow us to do the same.

i read that Qt creator allow us to develop plug-in's( i am having hard time doing that) , but does that give an interface where we write some code to run applications contained in plug-in.

if needed i am going to elaborate the requirement..
please kindly reply..

koahnig

You might want to have a look "onto the wiki":http://qt-project.org/wiki/Qt5ForAndroidBuilding However, there are more articles on Android using Qt in the wiki.

Dcqt

I don't want to do any thing on Android.
I just want to know , in Qt creator can i add my own plug-in?
that plug-in is going to contain some applications, and then i want to write some code to run the applications present in the plug-in.

sergey-shambir

Actually QtCreator plugins are modules. In other words, there are no stable API and ABI, any method can be renamed or it's behaviour can be changed in future version. So, you will have to update plugin for each new version (~once per 4 months) or add it to upstream.

In the other hand, methods of any exported class are API, and you can send patches to codereview in order to extend plugins API.

About your compile error: are you using latest sources from master? If you are, I know where is problem. Most of QtCreator plugins depend on other plugins: ProjectExplorer depends on Core, CppEditor depends on ProjectExplorer and CppTools, etc. A few weeks ago Oswald Buddenhagen commited patch that changed a way to specify plugin dependencies. Now if you have plugin PluginName (and project file pluginname.pro), you should create pluginname_dependencies.pri similar to this:

@
QTC_PLUGIN_NAME = ClangCodeModel
QTC_LIB_DEPENDS +=
utils
QTC_PLUGIN_DEPENDS +=
coreplugin
cpptools
texteditor
@

tobias.hunger

bq. I heard there is a plug-in for eclipse IDE for running android mobile applications.
i want to do the same with Qt Creator, does it allow us to do the same.

You can develop for android phones using Qt Creator, yes.

bq. i read that Qt creator allow us to develop plug-in’s( i am having hard time doing that) ,

Yes, you can develop plugins for Qt Creator. In fact Qt Creator is basically a plugin loader only that comes bundled with a list of plugins that implement almost all the functionality you see.

bq. but does that give an interface where we write some code to run applications contained in plug-in.

Applications contained in a plugin? I don't understand what you are going at here, sorry.

bq. if needed i am going to elaborate the requirement.. please kindly reply..

That might help, yes:)

Dcqt

[quote author="sergey-shambir" date="1366298783"]Actually QtCreator plugins are modules. In other words, there are no stable API and ABI, any method can be renamed or it's behaviour can be changed in future version. So, you will have to update plugin for each new version (~once per 4 months) or add it to upstream.

In the other hand, methods of any exported class are API, and you can send patches to codereview in order to extend plugins API.

About your compile error: are you using latest sources from master? If you are, I know where is problem. Most of QtCreator plugins depend on other plugins: ProjectExplorer depends on Core, CppEditor depends on ProjectExplorer and CppTools, etc. A few weeks ago Oswald Buddenhagen commited patch that changed a way to specify plugin dependencies. Now if you have plugin PluginName (and project file pluginname.pro), you should create pluginname_dependencies.pri similar to this:

@
QTC_PLUGIN_NAME = ClangCodeModel
QTC_LIB_DEPENDS +=
utils
QTC_PLUGIN_DEPENDS +=
coreplugin
cpptools
texteditor
@
[/quote]

this is the place where i downloaded the Qt Creator sources.

http://qt.gitorious.org/qt-creator/qt-creator/trees/master

i really dont know about the dependency files until today , and i read it as used to specify the sub folder in project.

but dont know how to create one.

do i need to add the above mentioned code to make it work.

sergey-shambir

You can create it manually: if you plugin and *.pro file named SomethingBeautiful, create file somethingbeautiful_dependencies.pri and add all this code (but of course, QTC_PLUGIN_NAME should be SomethingBeautiful). In this case, plugin will depend on Core (coreplugin), CppTools (cpptools) and TextEditor (texteditor).

Each plugin depends on others, and most important plugins are Core (core functions like MIME-type, session and UI management), ProjectExplorer (base for all project managers and build settings), CppTools (provides both interface and most part of reference implementation for C++ support in editor). Also you can look at Android and QtSupport.

Dcqt

[quote author="Tobias Hunger" date="1366299639"]
if needed i am going to elaborate the requirement.. please kindly reply..

That might help, yes:)[/quote]

this is not a mobile , but Desktop *

The plug-in i am going to add to Qt Creator will have some applications(games, facebook, media player , address book, etc..)

which are all controlled by some gui that is embedded as default main application.

now when i load my plugin which should just display the gui for controlling apps.

after that i will specify what ever app i want to run and it should run.

not exactly , but it is some thing like this..

@int main()
{
ControlWindow CW;
CW.show();
}
@

default, which displays the Controlwindow.

@int main()
{
ControlWindow CW;
facebook Fb;
CW.show();
}
@

should run facebook on the window

@int main()
{
ControlWindow CW;
Mediaplayer Mb;
CW.show();
}
@

should run media player on the window

Dcqt

[quote author="sergey-shambir" date="1366488549"]You can create it manually: if you plugin and *.pro file named SomethingBeautiful, create file somethingbeautiful_dependencies.pri and add all this code (but of course, QTC_PLUGIN_NAME should be SomethingBeautiful). In this case, plugin will depend on Core (coreplugin), CppTools (cpptools) and TextEditor (texteditor).

Each plugin depends on others, and most important plugins are Core (core functions like MIME-type, session and UI management), ProjectExplorer (base for all project managers and build settings), CppTools (provides both interface and most part of reference implementation for C++ support in editor). Also you can look at Android and QtSupport.[/quote]

i have created _dependencies.pri file with the same name as .pro

now it is saying
Project LOAD(): Feature /home/Plugs/qt-creator-qt-creator/src/qtcreatorplugin.pri cannot be found.

TARGET = appshub
TEMPLATE = lib

DEFINES += APPSHUB_LIBRARY

appshub files

SOURCES += appshubplugin.cpp

HEADERS += appshubplugin.h
appshub_global.h
appshubconstants.h

Qt Creator linking

set the QTC_SOURCE environment variable to override the setting here

QTCREATOR_SOURCES = $$(QTC_SOURCE)
isEmpty(QTCREATOR_SOURCES):QTCREATOR_SOURCES=/home/Plugs/qt-creator-qt-creator

set the QTC_BUILD environment variable to override the setting here

IDE_BUILD_TREE = $$(QTC_BUILD)
isEmpty(IDE_BUILD_TREE):IDE_BUILD_TREE=/home/Plugs/qt-creator-qt-creator/qtcreator-build

uncomment to build plugin into user config directory

<localappdata>/plugins/<ideversion>

where <localappdata> is e.g.

"%LOCALAPPDATA%\QtProject\qtcreator" on Windows Vista and later

"$XDG_DATA_HOME/data/QtProject/qtcreator" or "~/.local/share/data/QtProject/qtcreator" on Linux

"~/Library/Application Support/QtProject/Qt Creator" on Mac

USE_USER_DESTDIR = yes

PROVIDER = MyCompany

include($$QTCREATOR_SOURCES/src/qtcreatorplugin.pri)
include($$QTCREATOR_SOURCES/src/plugins/coreplugin/coreplugin.pri)

LIBS += -L$$IDE_PLUGIN_PATH/QtProject

OTHER_FILES +=
appshub_dependencies.pri

sergey-shambir

Where are placed QtCreator sources exactly?

Dcqt

Thanks for staying with me..

The location of qtCreator sources is

/home/Plugs/qt-creator-qt-creator

and build is
/home/Plugs/qt-creator-qt-creator/qtcreator-build

which is inside qt-creator-qt-creator

i checked for qtcreatorplugin.pri file and it is present in the src folder.

for your reference :
i dint mention this before, i dint follow these steps

@ cd <QtSources>
configure -developer-build
make@

i directly followed steps

@cd <QtCreatorSources>/..
mkdir qtcreator-build
cd qtcreator-build
<QtInstall>/bin/qmake -r <QtCreatorSources>
make@

mentioned here
http://doc.qt.digia.com/qtcreator-extending/getting-and-building.html

does it cause this problem .

sergey-shambir

Please check exact path with 'ls' utility: /home/Plugs/qt-creator-qt-creator/src/qtcreatorplugin.pri

Dcqt

yes, i checked it and i am 100% sure it is present in the location. but how come it is not able to be found.

this is the procedure i am following.
1.Download the qt creator sources from
http://qt.gitorious.org/qt-creator/qt-creator/trees/master

Extract the tar.zip you get folder
qt-creator-qt-creator

cd qt-creator-qt-creator
mkdir qtcreator-build
cd qtcreator-build
<QtInstall>/bin/qmake -r QT_PRIVATE_HEADERS=<QtSources>/include <QtCreatorSources>

QtInstall = /usr/local/Trolltech/Qt-4.8.0

QtSources = Qt4.8 sources path

QtCreatorSources = /home/Plugs/qt-creator-qt-creator

substitue the above values respectively and press enter

after the step the qtcreator-build directory gets below

app libs Makefile plugins tools

while creating the project
i am creating my plugin project inside
/home/Plugs/qt-creator-qt-creator/src/plugin/

and the source and build directories are specified as below.

Qt Creator sources: /home/Plugs/qt-creator-qt-creator
Qt Creator build: /home/Plugs/qt-creator-qt-creator/qtcreator-build

open a text file save it with pluginname_dependencies.pri
and copy the conetents of pluginname.pro into it and add lines

@ QTC_PLUGIN_NAME = pluginname
QTC_LIB_DEPENDS +=
utils
QTC_PLUGIN_DEPENDS +=
coreplugin
cpptools
texteditor@

above all the contents in the _dependencies.pri and save it.

now run

/usr/local/Trolltech/Qt-4.8.0/bin/qmake

Project LOAD(): Feature /home/Plugs/qt-creator-qt-creator/src/qtcreatorplugin.pri cannot be found.

*Request : *
I am doing all this to achieve my ultimate goal as mentioned above( to run my own applications using the plug-in)

Is that achievable?

Dcqt

sergey-shambir kindly reply
i need to update the result to my superior.

tobias.hunger

Are you talking about writing plugins that are meant to be used in Qt Creator or are you talking about using Qt Creator to write an other application that is using its own plugins?

Dcqt

Thanks for the reply..
I think the second one you mentioned suits my requirement.

when we create a project in Qt, generally we are asked for QMainWindow,QWidget and QDialouge, and based on what we select basic appilcation is created with some .cpp and .h files. , if i run this application a defualt window is shown. we can build up our own application on this.

I want to develop the same(like QMainWindow or QWidget or QDialouge but with my own container ) using Qt Creator and also want to add that to Qt Creator, upon running my basic application i want to display a keypad and a display window.
display window is used to display my furthur applications(need to code for that), keypad is used to control that applications.

an application can be a video player( i can do play , pause ect using keypad) or a game (i naviagate using arrow keys)

i hope it is clear now.

tobias.hunger

So you want "Dcqt's special project" show up in File->New Project?

Check this for information on how to add "project wizards": http://qt-project.org/doc/qtcreator-2.7/creator-project-wizards.html

If you want to do something more complex you can also do that, but that will require some C++ coding in Creator then.