1 /****************************************************************************
3 ** This file is part of Qt Creator
5 ** Copyright (c) 2011 Nokia Corporation and/or its subsidiary(-ies).
7 ** Contact: Nokia Corporation (info@qt.nokia.com)
10 ** GNU Free Documentation License
12 ** Alternatively, this file may be used under the terms of the GNU Free
13 ** Documentation License version 1.3 as published by the Free Software
14 ** Foundation and appearing in the file included in the packaging of this
17 ** If you have questions regarding the use of this file, please contact
18 ** Nokia at qt-info@nokia.com.
20 ****************************************************************************/
23 \contentspage index.html
24 \previouspage creator-keyboard-shortcuts.html
25 \page creator-faq.html
26 \nextpage creator-tips.html
30 This section contains answers to some frequently asked questions about Qt
31 Creator. You might also find answers to your questions in the
32 \l{Known Issues} and \l{Tips and Tricks} sections, or the Troubleshooting
33 sections for a special area, such as
34 \l{Troubleshooting Debugger}{debugging}.
36 \section1 General Questions
38 \bold {How do I reset all Qt Creator settings?}
40 Qt Creator creates two files and a directory:
52 The location depends on the platform. On Linux, Unix, and Mac OS, the files
53 are located in \c{~/.config/Nokia}.
55 On Windows XP, the files are located in
56 \c{<drive>:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Nokia}, and
57 on Windows Vista and Windows 7 in
58 \c {<drive>:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Nokia}.
59 For all versions, try the path \c{APPDATA\Nokia}.
61 \bold {Qt Creator comes with MinGW, should I use this version with Qt?}
63 Use the version that was built against the Qt version.
65 \bold {Qt Creator does not find a helper application, such as Git or a
66 compiler. What should I do?}
68 Make sure that the application is in your system PATH when starting Qt
69 Creator. Also select \gui {Tools > Options} to check the settings specified
70 for the application. Many plugins specify either the path to the tool they
71 need or the environment they run in.
73 This is especially relevant for the Mac OS where \c {/usr/local/bin} might
74 not be in the path when Qt Creator is started.
76 \bold {How do I change the interface language for Qt Creator?}
78 Qt Creator has been localized into several languages. If the system
79 language is one of the supported languages, it is automatically selected.
80 To change the language, select \gui {Tools > Options > Environment} and
81 select a language in the \gui Language field. The change takes effect after
82 you restart Qt Creator.
84 \bold {Has a reported issue been addressed?}
86 You can look up any issue in the
87 \l{http://bugreports.qt.nokia.com/}{Qt bug tracker}.
89 \section1 Qt Designer Integration Questions
91 \bold {Why are custom widgets not loaded in Design mode even though it
92 works in standalone Qt Designer?}
94 Qt Designer fetches plugins from standard locations and loads the plugins
95 that match its build key. The locations are different for standalone and
96 integrated Qt Designer.
98 For more information, see \l{Adding Qt Designer Plugins}.
100 \section1 Help Questions
102 \bold {The Qt API Reference Documentation is missing and context help does
103 not find topics. What can I do?}
105 Qt Creator comes fully integrated with Qt documentation and examples using
106 the Qt Help plugin. The integrated Qt Reference Documentation is available
107 for Qt 4.4 and later. Qt Creator, \QSDK, and other Qt deliverables contain
108 documentation as .qch files. All the documentation is accessible in the
111 To view the documentation that is available and to add documentation,
112 select \gui {Tools > Options... > Help > Documentation}. For more
113 information, see \l{Adding External Documentation}.
115 \section1 Debugger Questions
117 For information on troubleshooting debugger, see
118 \l{Troubleshooting Debugger}.
120 \bold {If I have a choice of GDB versions, which should I use?}
122 On Linux and Windows, use the Python-enabled GDB versions that are
123 installed when you install Qt Creator and Qt SDK. On Mac OS X, use the GDB
124 provided with Xcode. For a custom target, you can build your own
125 Python-enabled GDB. Follow the instructions in
126 \l{http://developer.qt.nokia.com/wiki/QtCreatorBuildGdb}{Building GDB}.
128 You must use at least Python version 2.5, but we recommend that you use
131 For more information on setting up debugger, see \l{Setting Up Debugger}.
133 \section1 Code Editor Questions
135 \bold {How can I get code-completion to work on the standard headers and
138 Install a build from March 31, 2009, or later.
140 \section1 Compiler Questions
142 \bold {How can I make use of my multi-core CPU with Qt Creator?}
144 On Linux and Mac OS X, go to \gui Project mode, select your configuration
145 in the \gui {Build Settings}, locate the \gui {Build Steps}, and add the
146 following value, where \c{<num>} is the amount of cores in your CPU:
149 On Windows, nmake does not support the \c{-j} parameter. Instead, we
150 provide a drop-in replacement called jom. You can download a precompiled
151 version of jom from \l{ftp://ftp.qt.nokia.com/jom/}{Qt FTP server}.
152 Put jom.exe in a location in the %PATH%. Go to the \gui {Build Settings}
153 and set jom.exe as the make command.
155 \note: Unlike GNU make, jom automatically detects your cores and spawns as
156 many parallel processes as your CPU has cores. You can override this
157 behavior by using the \c{-j} parameter as described above.
159 \section1 Qt SDK Questions
161 \bold {I cannot use QSslSocket with the SDK. What should I do?}
163 The Qt build in the SDK is built with QT_NO_OPENSSL defined. Rebuilding it
164 is possible. For more information, see
165 \l{http://www.qtcentre.org/forum/f-qt-programming-2/t-qssl-19222-post94842.html}.
167 \bold {Which development packages from the distribution are needed on
171 sudo apt-get install libglib2.0-dev libSM-dev libxrender-dev libfontconfig1-dev libxext-dev
174 If you use QtOpenGL, you also need:
177 sudo apt-get install libgl-dev libglu-dev
180 \section1 Platform Releated Questions
182 \bold {Where is application output shown in Qt Creator?}
184 \bold {On Unix (Linux and Mac OS):} \c qDebug() and related functions use
185 the standard output and error output. When you run or debug the
186 application, you can view the output in the \gui{Application Output} pane.
188 For console applications that require input, select \gui {Projects > Run
189 Settings > Run in terminal}.
191 \bold {On Windows:} Output is displayed differently for \e{console
192 applications} and \e{GUI applications}.
194 The setting \c {CONFIG += console} in the .pro file specifies that the
195 application is built as a console application using some other runtime.
196 When you run a console application, you can view the output in the console
197 window of the calling application. If the
198 calling application is a GUI application (for example, a release-built
199 version of Qt Creator), a new console window is opened. For this
200 type of application, \c qDebug() and related functions use standard output
203 We recommend that you select \gui {Projects > Run Settings > Run in
204 terminal} for console applications.
206 For GUI applications, \c qDebug() and related functions use the Windows API
207 function \c OutputDebugString(). The output is displayed in the
208 \gui{Application Output} pane. However, only one output pane tab may be
209 open at a time or the output is not displayed correctly. You can use an
210 external debug output viewer, such as the
211 \l{http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896647}{DebugView for Windows}
212 to display output from GUI applications.
214 \bold {On Symbian OS}: \c qDebug() and related functions use the native
215 \c RDebug::Print functionality.
217 When you use the Symbian emulator on Windows, the output is redirected to
218 standard debug output. To view it, you can use a Windows debug output
219 viewer, such as the DebugView for Windows.
221 On devices, the \c RDebug output is intercepted by \e CODA or \e {App TRK}
222 and then propagated to Qt Creator, which displays it in the
223 \gui {Application Output} pane.
225 Symbian OS provides no support for differentiating between standard output
228 \section1 Questions about New Features
230 \bold {Will a requested feature be implemented?}
232 If it is a scheduled feature, you can see this in the task tracker. If a
233 feature already has been implemented, it is mentioned in the
234 \l{http://qt.gitorious.org/qt-creator/qt-creator/trees/master/dist}{changes file}
235 for the upcoming release.
237 \bold {Why does Qt Creator not use tabs for editors?}
239 This question comes up from time to time, so we have considered it
240 carefully. Here are our main reasons for not using tabs:
244 \o Tabs do not scale. They work fine if you have 5 to 6 editors open,
245 they become cumbersome with 10, and if you need more horizontal
246 space than the tab bar, the interface does not work at all.
248 \o Tabs do not adapt to your working set.
250 \o The common solution is to give the user the ability to reorder
251 tabs. Now user has to manage tabs instead of writing code.
253 \o Tabs force you to limit the amount of open editors, because
254 otherwise you get confused.
258 Consider the following use case: \e {Developers want to switch editors.}
260 In fact, developers do not want to switch editors, but might have to do so
261 to accomplish their tasks. We need to figure out what the tasks are to
262 provide developers with better ways to navigate while performing the tasks.
264 One common factor in many use cases is switching editors while working on a
265 set of open files. While working on files A and B, users sometimes need to
266 look at file C. They can press \key Ctrl+Tab to move between the files and
267 have the files open in the correct editor according to file type. The list
268 is sorted by last used.
270 Typically, users also work on multiple classes or functions that are
271 related, even though they are defined or declared in different files.
272 Qt Creator provides two shortcuts for that: \key F2 to follow the symbol
273 and \key Ctrl+Shift+U to find usages.
275 In addition, developers can:
279 \o Press \key F4 to switch between header and source.
281 \o Press \key Alt+Left to move backwards in the navigation history.
283 \o Use the locator (Ctrl+K) to simply tell Qt Creator where to go.
287 The locator can be used to open files, but opening files is also just a
288 step on the way to accomplish a task. For example, consider the following
289 use case: \e {Fix AMethod in SomeClass which comes from
290 someclass.cpp/someclass.h}.
292 With a tabbed user interface, developers would search for someclass.cpp in
293 the tab bar, and then search for \c {::AMethod}, only to find out that the
294 method is not located in that file. They would then search for someclass.h
295 in the tab bar, find our that the function is inline, fix the problem, and
296 forget where they came from.
298 With Qt Creator, developers can type \c {Ctrl+K m AMet} to find the method.
299 Typically, they only need to type 3 to 4 characters of the method name.
300 They can then fix the problem and press \key Alt+Back to go back to where
303 Other locator filters include \c c for classes, \c : for all symbols, and
304 (thanks to a community contribution) \c . for symbols in the current file.