Load file locally

n34rt

Is it possible to use a resource without adding it to the .qrc file? (visual studio).

I mean for example a png file, so if I edit this file I don't need to re-add it to the .qrc.

ChrisW67

Yes, but you need to locate the file reliably.

Bonnie

so if I edit this file I don't need to re-add it to the .qrc

Actually, you don't...
That just need to run rcc after file is modified, which is totally automatic in qmake, not sure how visual studio behaves.

ChrisW67

There are two ways to interpret the original query here:

Can you use a file on the file system in place of a resource that is built into the executable? I addressed this.
Is there a way to modify a file that is included in a Qt resource file and have that change automatically picked up so that rcc is executed? @Bonnie addressed this.

On my Linux box with qmake, the qrc file and any files listed in it are added to the Makefile as dependencies of the cpp file that rcc generates so that it is automatically re-run if any of them change.

qrc_test.cpp: ../test/test.qrc \
                /home/chrisw/Qt/5.15.2/gcc_64/bin/rcc \
                ../test/test.png
        /home/chrisw/Qt/5.15.2/gcc_64/bin/rcc -name test ../test/test.qrc -o qrc_test.cpp

I am not sure how Visual Studio, I assume with a Qt plugin, handles these dependencies but that's the sort of thing you would need

n34rt

@ChrisW67 said in Load file locally:

Yes, but you need to locate the file reliably.

locate the file reliably? hows it

JonB

@n34rt
If you need to read a file at runtime you need to know where that file is. If you are going to supply it as a separate file, rather than embedded into the executable as a resource, one possibility is to use QCoreApplication::applicationDirPath() to locate it relative to where the executable is. Another possibility is to use QStandardPaths to resolve standard locations.

Note that this is talking about using files at runtime. Nothing to do with compile/development/VS time.

n34rt

@JonB No at the end it will be shipped embedded into the executable, i just want an easier way to debug a file, because each time i modify a png i need to save it again in the qrc

JonB

@n34rt
So you want to use a resource via a .qrc for release, but not during development? Then use code to read from file at development runtime time. And/or maybe per @ChrisW67 change your makefile to omit test.png as a dependency requiring running rcc while developing and get right at release time. But don't make a mistake!