Book Image

Cross-Platform Development with Qt 6 and Modern C++

By : Nibedit Dey
Book Image

Cross-Platform Development with Qt 6 and Modern C++

By: Nibedit Dey

Overview of this book

Qt is a cross-platform application development framework widely used for developing applications that can run on a wide range of hardware platforms with little to no change in the underlying codebase. If you have basic knowledge of C++ and want to build desktop or mobile applications with a modern graphical user interface (GUI), Qt is the right choice for you. Cross-Platform Development with Qt 6 and Modern C++ helps you understand why Qt is one of the favorite GUI frameworks adopted by industries worldwide, covering the essentials of programming GUI apps across a multitude of platforms using the standard C++17 and Qt 6 features. Starting with the fundamentals of the Qt framework, including the features offered by Qt Creator, this practical guide will show you how to create classic user interfaces using Qt Widgets and touch-friendly user interfaces using Qt Quick. As you advance, you'll explore the Qt Creator IDE for developing applications for multiple desktops as well as for embedded and mobile platforms. You will also learn advanced concepts about signals and slots. Finally, the book takes you through debugging and testing your app with Qt Creator IDE. By the end of this book, you'll be able to build cross-platform applications with a modern GUI along with the speed and power of native apps.
Table of Contents (17 chapters)
1
Section 1: The Basics
6
Section 2: Cross-Platform Development
8
Section 3: Advanced Programming, Debugging, and Deployment

Performance considerations for Qt Widgets

The Qt Widgets module renders widgets utilizing the raster engine, a software renders using CPU rather than GPU. In most cases, it can provide the desired performance. However, the Qt Widgets module is very old and lacks the latest capabilities. Since QML is entirely hardware-accelerated, you should consider adopting it for your application's UI.

If your widgets don't need mouseTracking, tabletTracking, or similar event capturing, turn it off. Your application will use more CPU time as a result of this tracking. Maintain a smaller style sheet and keep it all in one style sheet instead of applying it to individual widgets. A large style sheet will take longer for Qt to process the information into the rendering system, which may affect the application's performance. Use custom styles instead of a style sheet as this can provide you better performance.

Don't create screens unnecessarily and keep them hidden. Create a...