On the way of making an app installable

tomy

Hi all,

I finished my app and ran it in both Debug and Release modes. And then made a folder named Cal on my desktop and brought the .exe file from the Release folder and put that .exe plus some .dll files onto it so that made it executable.

My machine is a win 7 x64 and use Qt Creator 5.7.
My Cal folder is on this path: C:\Users\ME\Desktop\Cal
And the Debug and Release folders are on this path: C:\Users\ME\Documents\Qt

My purpose as the title says, is making the app installable to send it to others and be sure that it will be installed on their Windows machines as well.
For this, I was advised to see and follow this Docs

I read the first page and until now I have a question. It says: "All you need to do is to build Qt and your application in release mode..."
Building the application means running it (because when we run some app it first will be built then run), but what does "building Qt" mean? Is Qt build-able!?

After reading that page I went for the next Qt For Windows page there.

I found the windeployqt.exe file in this path: C:\Qt\Qt5.7.0\5.7\mingw53_32\bin\windeployqt.exe

Now I'm at the beginning of the dark cadre on how to use that executable file.
It says: "The simplest way to use windeployqt is to add the bin directory of your Qt
installation (e.g. <QT_DIR\bin>) to the PATH variable and then run:
windeployqt <path-to-app-binary>"

Does it mean I should run that .exe file from some folder's path (say, the Release or Cal folder)?

Have I gone the way right?

SGaist

Hi,

If you opened a Qt development console then you don't have to toy with path.

Then, yes, windeployqt is the simplest to make your application "independent".

No you don't have to build Qt yourself.

Once you have that, you can use a package creator like the Qt Installer Framework, NSIS, Inno Setup, etc. to make an installer and thus make your application easy to install.

tomy

@SGaist said in On the way of making an app installable:

Hi,

If you opened a Qt development console then you don't have to toy with path.

Hi,

What is a Qt development console please? Is it a command prompt?

Then, yes, windeployqt is the simplest to make your application "independent".

No you don't have to build Qt yourself.

Once you have that, you can use a package creator like the Qt Installer Framework, NSIS, Inno Setup, etc. to make an installer and thus make your application easy to install.

OK, that's a good news, but, should I run that windeployqt file from a command prompt or just double click on it?

SGaist

Command prompt pre-configured for you. IIRC you may have it in the start menu.

Command prompt also.

tomy

@SGaist said in On the way of making an app installable:

Command prompt pre-configured for you. IIRC you may have it in the start menu.

Command prompt also.

I didn't find IIRC ( and haven't heard this) but have a normal command prompt and also MinGW 5.3.0 32 bit.

So I go to my Release folder's path by ones of these command prompts and write windeployqt and hit enter. Right?

MinGW 5.3.0 32 bit's path: C:\Qt\Qt5.7.0\5.7\mingw53_32

command prompt's path: C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe

Carmoneer

@tomy Just a heads up - "IIRC" is an acronym for "If I remember correctly". :)

tomy

@Carmoneer
Ow thanks. :D :D
I'm not a native speaker of English, so informal speaking may make misunderstanding cases. :)

tomy

I did these:
1- Using a Command Prompt went to the windeployqt's path and pasted the path of Release folder into <>:

C:\Qt\Qt5.7.0\5.7\mingw53_32\bin>windeployqt <C:\Users\CS\Documents\Qt\build-Cal-Desktop_Qt_5_7_0_MinGW_32bit-Release\release>
Result: The syntax of the command is incorrect.

Once again this time I pasted the path of the Cal folder:
C:\Qt\Qt5.7.0\5.7\mingw53_32\bin>windeployqt <C:\Users\CS\Desktop\Cal>
Result, again: The syntax of the command is incorrect.

If this is the simplest way to make an app installable, so how to run that .exe file please??

SGaist

Remove all these < and > from your command

tomy

@SGaist
GOOD, something happened.
My Release folder changed. It's now as follows:
http://uploads.im/ViqNX.jpg

Now what to do with them please?
I mean what is the rest of the process? when I will reach the end please? It's a week I'm just looking for a way to make my app installable on other machines (and mine as well)

SGaist

I already suggested in a previous post to look for an installer creation framework.

tomy

Yes, you are right, sorry.

I have all of these:
qt-installer-framework-opensource-2.0.1-x86.run
qt-installer-framework-opensource-2.0.1-x64.run
qt-installer-framework-opensource-2.0.1-src

And also two folders (Cal and Release) that I have used them for windeployqt by a Command Prompt.

Now how to use these?

tomy

I have questions:
Should I follow the process using here?
If yes, which one of the above qt-installer-framework-opensources is pre-built, or which one should I use?

Then should I follow from Setting up Qt Installer Framework there?

SGaist

Those ending with .run are pre-built, which one you use depends on your OS.

tomy

@SGaist said in On the way of making an app installable:

Those ending with .run are pre-built, which one you use depends on your OS.

OK. since my OS in a x64 Windows 7, I choose qt-installer-framework-opensource-2.0.1-x64.

So I don't need the Building from Sources section and go directly to: Setting up Qt Installer Framework, yeah?

I just don't understand these two:
1- Clone the Qt Installer Framework source code from http://code.qt.io/cgit/installer-framework/installer-framework.git/ to get the sources for the tools.
2- Build the tools by running the "qmake" from the static Qt, followed by "make" or "nmake".

for (1-) since I want to use a .run one so I don't need the source one, yes?
But I don't know how to do (2-) at all. :(

I would be appreciative if your guide me on the way.

SGaist

Since you are installing the pre-built package, you don't need to do these.

tomy

Good, thanks.
It seems that I should go here now. but isn't it for OS X?

I want my app for Windows.

SGaist

No it's not. It just describes the various possibilities you can use.

tomy

OK. So I follow it.

It says: Starting Installer

When end users start the installer, the introduction page opens:
Where is that installer please?

SGaist

These are just screenshots to illustrate the documentation. They don't necessarily indicate anything special except when there's an OS specific feature like Selecting Windows Program Group.