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JcQt4develop (free software) is a simple IDE for Qt4 Open Source on Linux and Window systems (with MinGW).
The first versions have been developped with Qt4.1.1 Open Source on Windows and MinGW and with Qt4.2.1 Open Source on Linux.
The version 0.4 has been developped with Qt 4.3.3 Open Source Edition on Linux and Windows
This sofware has been developped because it was too difficult to use the "Qt4.1.1 command prompt" (which is supplied with Qt4) on my Widows ME system : the dos windows diplays only the last 50 lines for messages, it is not enough in case of errors during building projects.
It is composed of two principal parts :
- the projects management, that is made with commands which allows to launch qmake -project, qmake and make without using the dos command line. The compiler messages are displayed on a window at the bottom part of the main window, the number of lines is not limited.
- a MDI text editor with text highlighting (deriving from examples which are supplied with Qt4) which allows to edit sources files - the characters' encoding responds to standard ISO 8859-1.
Lastly, commands allow to launch Qt assistant, Qt Designer, Qt Linguist and to generate/update the translations files.
Editing text is done in a MDI editor, derived from examples which are supplied with Qt4.1.1.
The editor allows text highlighting, the cursor position in the active window is displayed on the right of the status bar (line and column number).
Editing texts is concerned by the commands of the menus File, Edit et Window.
Some shorcut keys are mentioned in these menus, and all other editing shortcut keys are avilable and not mentioned in this manual (see Qt documentation).
Configure JcQt4develop (Windows systems only)
The command Configure JcQt4develop allows the user to configure JcQt4develop. It is mandatory to execute it before the first use of the projects commands.
The user have to give the following informations (see Qt documentation) :
- Qt version (for instance : 4.1.1
- environnement variable QTDIR (for instance : C:\Qt\4.1.1)
- environnement variable QMAKESPEC (for instance : win32-g++)
- path for MinGW (for instance : C:\MinGW)
These informations are saved in the file jcqt4develop.cfg placed in the same directory as jcqt4develop.exe and they are read on each startup of JcQt4develop.
Rules for projects management
Projects management follows these simple rules :
- A working directory may be defined with the Tools/Preferences JcQt4develop command. It will contain the directories of the projects.
- A project is a set of files placed in a directory (sub-directory of the working directory) with the same name as the project (for instance : the files of the project "my_project" are placed in the directory "my_project" which is a sub-directory of "my_working_directory")
The steps of project development with JcQt4develop
The successive steps are described here with a project named my_project as example (for more details, see Qt documentation) :
- Define the directory of my_project : Project/Project directory command. This directory will contain all the project files (sources .h, .cpp, project file .pro, translations files .ts, ressources files .qrc etc...)
- Create the project file my_project.pro : Project/Project file command which runs qmake -project. This command has to be run each time a new file is added to the project.
The Makefile files are then generated (it is not necessary to run the Project/Makefile command in this case).
- Create the Makefile files : Project/Makefile command which runs qmake and create the Makefile files. It is necessary to run this command if you edit the file my_project.pro to modify it (that is necessary to add a .rc file for the application icon on windows).
- Build the project : Project/Build command which runs make to create the executable file (my_project.exe on Windows, my_project on Linux).
The compiler's messages are displayed on the "Compiler messages" window at the bottom of the JcQt4develop main window. To allow the user to find easily the errors which are indicated in the compiler messages, a double click on the error message give the focus to the source file where the error occurs, and the cursor is placed at the beginning of the line which is signaled in the compiler's message.
(the "Compiler messages" window can be hidden, there is then more place for editors)
- Launch the executable file : Project/Run command which runs the executable file previously created by make
- Launch the executable file : Project/Build and Run command which runs make to create the executable file and then launch it
The menu Tools' commands allow the user to launch :
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