Using Dll created with Qt

epalmero

I have what maybe an stupid question but for me is really important to decide wether I can buy a license of Qt or not. I need to provide some costumer with a Dll that contain mathematical method and some GUI stuff. I was thinking since Qt look native under windows and mac to use Qt for the GUI part. The question that I have is the following, will the user be able to call the DLL created with Qt from any other environment? Of course I will export the necessary functions and the all the QT GUI stuff will be handle by the DLL itself.

Best and thanks
Ernesto

JKSH

Hi,

Yes, you can call Qt-made DLLs from other programs.

You can download and try the open-source version, to help you decide if you want to buy a commercial license: http://qt-project.org/downloads.

If you want to use the Qt-made DLL to provide the GUI, have a look at this "StackOverflow thread":http://stackoverflow.com/questions/22289423/how-to-avoid-qt-app-exec-blocking-main-thread/22290909 which discusses this use-case. Note that Mac OS X has some restrictions on the GUI: Your DLL must inject the GUI code into the main thread.

epalmero

Thanks a lot I will download the non comercial one and give it a try. So far what I have listen from Qt is really good so if I can do it with the trial DLL I will then buy the commercial one.

Thanks a lot

JKSH

You're most welcome :) Happy coding!

epalmero

Dear All:

Thanks for your help now I have a problem. I have create my DLL as a shared Library project. Now when I try to use the DLL in the other project I get the following error:

Error 1 error C1083: Cannot open include file: 'QtCore/qglobal.h': No such file or directory c:\devel\ani\testapplication\opengl\erpmapviewdll\erp3dviewdll\erp3dviewdll_global.h 4 1 ConsoleApplication1

I guess I need to provide that .h file and maybe many others as well as some .dll? Where I can find those file I am using Qt5.3

Thanks a lot for the help
Ernesto

SGaist

It depends on how you wrote your code, your users may need to also install Qt

epalmero

The whole Qt? I can't ask my users to install the whole Qt to be able to use the library that will not work for them. I thought I just need to distribute the dependency. I am making an small test

@#ifndef ERP3DVIEWDLL_H
#define ERP3DVIEWDLL_H

#include "erp3dviewdll_global.h"

#ifdef __cplusplus
extern "C"
{
#endif
ERP3DVIEWDLLSHARED_EXPORT void __cdecl init(void);

ERP3DVIEWDLLSHARED_EXPORT void __cdecl close(void);

#ifdef __cplusplus
} /* extern "C" */
#endif

#endif // ERP3DVIEWDLL_H
@

that is my export function this is the erp3dviewdll_global.h

@#ifndef ERP3DVIEWDLL_GLOBAL_H
#define ERP3DVIEWDLL_GLOBAL_H

#include <QtCore/qglobal.h>

#if defined(ERP3DVIEWDLL_LIBRARY)

define ERP3DVIEWDLLSHARED_EXPORT Q_DECL_EXPORT

#else

define ERP3DVIEWDLLSHARED_EXPORT Q_DECL_IMPORT

#endif

#endif // ERP3DVIEWDLL_GLOBAL_H
@

Thanks for any help

JKSH

[quote]
@
#ifndef ERP3DVIEWDLL_GLOBAL_H
#define ERP3DVIEWDLL_GLOBAL_H

#include <QtCore/qglobal.h>
...
@
[/quote]You included qglobal.h in erp3dviewdll_global.h -- this will force your users to require Qt headers.

Remove qglobal.h from erp3dviewdll_global.h and rewrite your code such that that you don't expose any Qt types in erp3dviewdll_global.h. Then your users won't need to install Qt.

epalmero

Thanks a lot for all your help and support this work like charm. I test to put the .dll in the executable directory and then all work just nice.

Thanks a lot for your help
Ernesto

epalmero

Hi:

Now I can link into the dll and if I just create a simple QWidget then I don't have any problem. But as soon as I try to do something else I get the following exception:

Unhandled exception at 0x77193129 (ntdll.dll) in ConsoleApplication1.exe: 0xC0000005: Access violation writing location 0x00000014.

This is my export function any help will be more than welcome

@void __cdecl init(void)
{
int argc = 0;
app = new QApplication(argc, NULL);
//render3DPanel = new Window();
render3DPanel = new testWidget();
render3DPanel->show();
app->exec();
}@

epalmero

The application that use the DLL goes as follow:

@#include "stdafx.h"
#include "rendercommons.h"

int _tmain(int argc, _TCHAR* argv[])
{
init();
return 0;
}@

SGaist

Hi,

AFAIK, argv can't be null. From the standard argv[argc] should return 0. So you still need a valid argv for that.

epalmero

I have done that but still I get the same error. My guess is that Qt don't like something concerning the thread or something like that but I can't do anything inside the the Widget. I don't think I will be able to use Qt at all for what I am trying to do althouth I am surprise of that.

Thanks for the help
Ernesto

JKSH

Use a debugger to run your program. It will show you the sequence of calls that lead to the crash.

I have used Qt-based DLLs to create complex GUIs in a separate thread before -- it can be done.

epalmero

The problem is that if I use the DLL inside Qt then I don't have problem as soon as I try to use in another program outside Qt the same code simple explode?

Here is the code I am using a very simple one:

@#include "testwidget.h"
#include "vm/vec_mat.h"

testWidget::testWidget()
{
VM::Vec_INT error(1);
std::string filename = "C:/Temporal/OpenGL/errorfile.txt";
error(0) = 1;
error.write(filename);
}
@

This is the method that is cal outside the other application

@#include <QApplication>
#include "testwidget.h"
#include "window.h"
#include "rendercommons.h"

testWidget *render3DPanel;
//Window *render3DPanel;
QApplication *app;

extern "C"
{
void __cdecl init(void)
{
char arg0[] = "TextureRender";
char* argv[] = { &arg0[0], NULL };
int argc = (int)(sizeof(argv) / sizeof(argv[0])) - 1;
app = new QApplication(argc, &argv[0]);
//render3DPanel = new Window();
render3DPanel = new testWidget();
render3DPanel->show();
app->exec();
}

void __cdecl close(void)
{
    app->closeAllWindows();
    app->exit();
    delete render3DPanel;
    delete app;
}

}@

if I remove this part from the testwidget:

@ VM::Vec_INT error(1);
std::string filename = "C:/Temporal/OpenGL/errorfile.txt";
error(0) = 1;
error.write(filename);
@

all work fine but as soon as I try to do anything inside the testWidget no matter what it simple explode. Any help will be really welcome beacuse I really like Qt and I want to use for a professional use but I need this to work really.

Thanks
Ernesto

epalmero

Hi All:

I have maybe a solution in another way. I wanted to use the Shared Memory object that windows has. In this case I will be able to share the Memory between the 2 different processes. The question that I have is:

Can I use the "SendMessage" of windows to communicate with a Qt process?

Thanks a lot
Ernesto

epalmero

Hi All:

I am sorry to comeback to this but after more that 2 weeks it look like I am still without any solution and I have try all what I have read on internet. I know that everybody said is possible to create a Qt DLL for a Non-Qt application but I don't arrive to do it. I get a very nasty error when trying to use the DLL which does not make any sense at all. It said it can't find the .exe of the application which is non sense because the .exe is there. I am posting here the direction to the Qt DLL I am doing. If someone can please help me with this and tell me what can be wrong I will really appreciate it. I really need to find a solution to this to be able to buy the commercial version of Qt since I have make all my development using Qt.

Best and thanks for any help
Ernesto

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/8kmvfphazvpdtnl/AABZNoSh2IrAav_uUEsbpBNSa?dl=0