Shared Library Dialog

TigerBunny

I am new to Qt, ... so new I'm not sure this is the place to ask questions. :-)

I am evaluating Qt to see if it will work for our next project. A major requirement is to create "modules" for our application. In Windows we did this with .dll's, some of which contained resources.

I'm not sure how to do this in Qt, but assuming something similar I attempted to create a library and add a dialog. The code contains the following:

#include <QDialog>

But this generates the error: "C1083: Cannot open include file: 'QDialog': No such file or directory"

I'm not seeing any examples on how to do this or if this is even a reasonable approach in Qt. I would be happy to create "modules" in any manner Qt does it. In the end the goal is to share dialogs, resources, code, data,... etc. at runtime.

Does Qt have this feature and if so, is there an example or documentation on how to do this?

Thanks.

kshegunov

@TigerBunny
Hello,

A major requirement is to create "modules" for our application. In Windows we did this with .dll's, some of which contained resources.

If you mean to load those "modules" at runtime you'd want to research the plugins.

But this generates the error: "C1083: Cannot open include file: 'QDialog': No such file or directory"

Probably you have forgotten to add the QT += widgets line in your project file.

Kind regards.

TigerBunny

Hi @kshegunov

I did add QT+= widgets, but it didn't change the error.

#-------------------------------------------------

Project created by QtCreator 2016-03-03T10:18:32

#-------------------------------------------------

QT -= gui
QT += widgets

TARGET = SharedLibTest
TEMPLATE = lib

DEFINES += SHAREDLIBTEST_LIBRARY

SOURCES += sharedlibtest.cpp
dialog.cpp

HEADERS += sharedlibtest.h
sharedlibtest_global.h
dialog.h

unix {
target.path = /usr/lib
INSTALLS += target
}

FORMS +=
dialog.ui

I have not researched "plugins". I heard the term and assumed it referred to adding functionality to the IDE. I'll take a look at that.

ty.

TigerBunny

@kshegunov, I read the link. Are you sure "plugins" is what I want?

I simply want to start seeing if Qt has the ability to be modular by loading a dialog inside an application where the dialog is replaceable without recompiling the application. Much like a resource .dll is in Windows.

Do you know if there is an example of using "plugins" to load a dialog?

mrjj

hi
please try/read this small sample
http://doc.qt.io/qt-5/qtwidgets-tools-echoplugin-example.html

Plugins can BOTH be to extend the qt. but same method/functionality can also be used to extend any Qt app.
So its like with DLLS just more modern using interfaces.
So it can easy be a modul for sharing Dialogs or what ever needed.

TigerBunny

@mrjj

The example doesn't seem to show a dialog (or any other resource) inside a module. It appears to simply echo text back from a module without any resources to an application.

Ideally I would like an example already done that demonstrates my goal. If there is none, the next choice would be a tutorial on how to do it.

Failing all of that, documentation that will give me confidence this will work. I can work from there to create my own example.

I would very much appreciate a full example.

mrjj

Ok. I know no samples that pops a dialog.
The other examples are about expanding the host application.
http://doc.qt.io/qt-5/qtwidgets-tools-plugandpaint-example.html

So im afraid u must keep looking.

mrjj

@TigerBunny
Hi
I was bored. so I modified echo sample to open dialog
https://www.dropbox.com/s/qzunmovatpbmmai/withdialog.zip?dl=0
dialog lives in plugin.
note the UI file is the resource.

TigerBunny

@mrjj, I don't see a UI file. All I get is an error message. Also, there is only 1 project.

I would expect an example to have 2 projects. One that creates the plugin with the dialog, the other an application that uses it. Are my expectations not correct?

mrjj

ok let me check zip. there should be 2 folders. did u unzip correctly?

mrjj

@TigerBunny
hi
for me all is in zip ?
http://postimg.org/image/hbjkgv7vt/

including the UI file. in the plugin folder

Make sure you unzip it all. do not click inside the zip file.
extract all first.

TigerBunny

@mrjj ,

I must have used the wrong extraction procedure. I'm not up on Windows compression, my mistake.

I'll take a look. This looks much better. Thanks.

mrjj

@TigerBunny
well windows native zip handling, does "help" one by sort of showing like a folder. :)
Note. to add dialog to sample was very little.
Just add Dialog via FIle->New and then add include to plugin and change
interface function to show ( exec) dialog.

TigerBunny

@mrjj

This works, but I can't find the output file. I assume there is something like a .dll this produces. How do I find it and what would it be called?

mrjj

yes its a DLL
for me its in
E:\build-echoplugin-Desktop_Qt_5_5_0_MinGW_32bit-Debug\plugins

The PRO file alters the destination.
Its so the main program can find it.

look for echoplugind.dll

it might also copy to
$$[QT_INSTALL_EXAMPLES]/widgets/tools/echoplugin/plugin

kshegunov

@TigerBunny
It seems @mrjj beat me to it. This thread, however, could also be useful for you.