Qt/QML Project Template by 219 Design, LLC

A template for building a Qt/QML application with many batteries included, such as:

• project folder layout for creating one custom app that uses one or more of your custom libraries
• clang-format checking of C++ code
• qmlfmt checking of QML code
• runtime "flexible asserts" to ensure you do not miss any QML runtime warnings
• a wrapper script to make iterating on QML layouts painless with qmlscene
• test-runner code to run any unit tests you add. (googletest is provided)
• a basic '.github/workflow' to run tests on github for each commit
• a basic GUI Test that launches the app in CI using Xvfb
• automated Linux deployment via AppImage folder

The minimal application that this project initially builds is the demo app that we originally blogged about at https://www.219design.com/a-tale-of-efficient-keyboard-navigation-code-in-qml/

When using this template project, you can build that app once or twice to make sure you understand the project structure. Then delete main.qml and replace it with your own app (adding supporting C++ view model classes as you see fit).

Higher-level rationale was discussed in our hello-world-template-toolchain blog post.

How to Start Using this Template Repository

There are two supported ways for you to begin your own project based off of this repository. You need only choose one.

Use via GitHub

Note: While GitHub indeed provides a one-click solution that will result in a fully-functioning copy of this project, we nevertheless recommend the Cookiecutter method (next section) due the flexibility it provides for renaming the whole project (and C++ namespace) at once.

To use via GitHub, log in at github.com, visit this project's hompage (https://github.com/219-design/qt-qml-project-template-with-ci), and click the "Use this template" button in the GitHub web UI.

In response to your button click, GitHub will create a copy of this repo that is owned by your GitHub account.

You then need to clone your new repo using the normal GitHub procedures.

You must also read "Your first commit" (below) before continuing further:

Use via Cookiecutter

(Skip this section if you chose to click GitHub's "Use this template" button.)

Get cookiecutter.

Pull down our cookiecutter-ized branch using cookiecutter directly, like so:

cookiecutter https://github.com/219-design/qt-qml-project-template-with-ci --checkout origin/cookiecutter

Follow the cookiecutter prompts to provide your own project name and author information. Doing so will customize the source files with your own authorship/copyright information.

You must also read "Your first commit" (below) before continuing further:

Your first commit:

Once either the GitHub "Use this template" button or cookiecutter has completed its work, make sure you have clang-format-12 installed:

sudo apt install clang-format-12

Then cd into the project directory and:

• If you used cookiecutter, then run:

./init_repo.sh

• If you used GitHub's "Use this template" button, then run:

cookiecutter/init_repo.sh

The final line of output from the init_repo.sh script will be:

Examine git status to see if clang-format made changes.

Please do as it says, and run git status and choose to commit any clang formatting changes.

After that, please proceed to "How to build" (below) before continuing further:

How to build and launch the app

1. Use one of these operating systems:

   • Ubuntu 18.04 LTS "Bionic"
   • Mac OS X 10.15 "Catalina"
   • Windows 10; or Windows Server 2019 (PLEASE SEE "Windows Notes" section, below)

2. Run one of the following, depending on your host platform (the second one is for Mac OS X):

   • tools/ci/provision.sh
   • tools/ci/provision_mac.sh
   • tools/ci/provision_win.sh

   Do not run as root, but do be prepared to enter a sudoer password when prompted. Visually inspect the file tools/ci/provision.sh (or provision_mac.sh) to learn which apt (or homebrew) packages are required. If you prefer to install the required libraries via other means, then feel free to use your own preferred apt commands or equivalent methods to install those required packages. (provision.sh is executed in the GitHub action runner instance prior to running the continuous integration build-and-test routines. We know that it works well there.)

3. (Optional) To enable the Android build and/or the linuxdeployqt step, you can set the following variables before proceeding. This will add several minutes to the build time, so only enable it if you need to.

   • export MYAPP_TEMPLATE_BUILD_ANDROID=1 # optional
   • export MYAPP_TEMPLATE_BUILD_APPIMAGE=1 # optional

4. In a terminal, run ./build_app.sh

5. Assuming step (4) was successful, you can launch the app at ./build/src/app/app (or on Windows: start build/windeployfolder/app.exe)

   For the iOS version of the app, one of the outputs of build_app.sh will be the xcodeproj. Open the xcodeproj in Xcode and from there you can choose a simulator or a device as the "Destination" and then choose "Run" (or command R). The xcodeproj is created at: build/for_ios/src/app/app.xcodeproj

   If the app fails with a message such as qt.qpa.plugin: Could not load the Qt platform plugin "xcb" in "/home/daniel/Qt/5.15.0/gcc_64/plugins" even though it was found., you need to set QT_QPA_PLATFORM_PLUGIN_PATH to the correct location. And when you set that, you must ensure that LD_LIBRARY_PATH also points to the same Qt build.

    export QT_QPA_PLATFORM_PLUGIN_PATH="$(pwd)/dl_third_party/Qt_desktop/5.15.0/gcc_64/plugins/platforms
    export LD_LIBRARY_PATH="$(pwd)/dl_third_party/Qt_desktop/5.15.0/gcc_64/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH"
   

6. (Optional) Assuming step (4) was successful, you can also invoke run_all_tests.sh to check that the binaries you built pass all their tests.

Windows Notes

"Pre pre bootstrap" actions

This project is designed to mostly bootstrap itself.

For example, you are not expected to install Qt before interacting with this project. This project contains provisioning scripts to do that for you.

However, on Windows in particular, there are a small set of tasks you must do manually before interacting with this project.

There are three fundamental tools you must obtain manually:

• Python 3 for Windows
• Git for Windows (Msys based git). https://git-scm.com/download/win
• Microsoft C++ Build Tools for Visual Studio 2019
  • Note: The full-blown VS IDE is optional. The mandatory items are simply the tools (cl.exe, nmake, etc)

Once you manually install Python, Git, and the MSVC Tools, you can perform a scripted build of this project in a terminal. To configure the terminal, you must initialize a basic cmd.exe prompt with vcvars64.bat, then instantiate the git-bash (msys bash.exe) instance nested therein.

To see how this 'nested terminals' approach can be automated, refer to this project's github CI config:

• .github/workflows/windows.yml

To clarify what this cmd.exe/git-bash dance looks like when you perform it interactively, here is a video:

• https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UjC7wvUYnS6PEzhMfLWpKRsBrYK-UUAo
  • (TODO: as of Feb 2021, we could benefit from making an even better video demo.)

Notes About Qt Version

The build scripts of this project download pre-built Qt modules using aqtinstall on Linux and a local copy of the script provided by Qbs on Mac OS X.

Because the Qt modules are downloaded during the build, you do not need to install Qt before using this repository. Just follow "How to build" above.

To Use Your Own Qt Version Instead

To use your own Qt version, simply edit path_to_qmake.bash as you see fit.