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Please review the following information to ensure ** the GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 requirements ** will be met: http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html. ** $QT_END_LICENSE$ ** ****************************************************************************/ /*! \page qt4-intro.html \title What's New in Qt 4 \startpage index.html Qt Reference Documentation \nextpage The Tulip Container Classes This document covers the most important differences between Qt 3 and Qt 4. Although it is not intended to be a comprehensive porting guide, it tells you about the most important portability issues that you may encounter. It also explains how to turn on Qt 3 compatibility support. \section1 New Technologies in Qt 4 Qt 4 introduces the following core technologies: \list \o \l{The Tulip Container Classes}{Tulip}, a new set of template container classes. \o \l{The Interview Framework}{Interview}, a model/view architecture for item views. \o \l{The Arthur Paint System}{Arthur}, the Qt 4 painting framework. \o \l{The Scribe Classes}{Scribe}, the Unicode text renderer with a public API for performing low-level text layout. \o \l{The Qt 4 Main Window Classes}{Mainwindow}, a modern action-based mainwindow, toolbar, menu, and docking architecture. \o The new \l{The New Qt Designer}{\QD} user interface design tool. \endlist \section1 Recent Additions to Qt 4 The following features have been added to Qt since the first release of Qt 4. In Qt 4.8: \list \o \l{Qt Quick} 1.1 offers changes to the \l{QML Elements} and performance upgrades \ \endlist In Qt 4.7: \list \o Declarative UI Development with \l{Qt Quick}, technologies for creating fluid, dynamic user interfaces. \o Support for \l{Bearer Management}{network bearer management}, enabling features such as control over network interfaces and support for roaming between networks. \o Feature and performance improvements in QtWebKit, including a new tiled backing store, control over scroll bars used in frames and framesets, accelerated compositing and \l{The QtWebKit Bridge}{support for hybrid development}. \o General performance improvements, including the use of "alien widgets" on Mac OS X, the QStaticText class for optimized text rendering, a new \l{QPainter::drawPixmapFragments()}{API for rendering pixmap fragments} and an updated version of the JavaScriptCore engine for the QtScript module with improved performance. \endlist In Qt 4.6: \list \o Support for \l{The Symbian platform - Introduction to Qt}{the Symbian Platform} as a mainstream Qt platform, with integration into the S60 framework. \o The \l{The Animation Framework}{animation framework} allows animations to be created using both widgets and graphics items. \o The \l{The State Machine Framework}{state machine framework} provides a robust state chart implementation based on Harel statecharts and SCXML. \o Support for \l{QTouchEvent}{touch input} and \l{Gestures Programming}{gestures} enable developers to create intuitive user interfaces for touch-based devices. \o A \l{QWebElement}{DOM access API} for QtWebKit provides a cleaner and safer way to access elements and structures of Web pages without the use of JavaScript. \o A collection of performance improvements, covering QGraphicsView, QPixmapCache, QNetworkAccessManager, QContiguousCache class, hardware-accelerated rendering support through \l{OpenVG Rendering in Qt}{OpenVG}, and the removal of Win9x support. \o A collection of \l{QGraphicsEffect}{graphics effects} make it easy to apply and simple effects to graphics items and combine them to produce more complex effects. \o Support for XML schema validation in the QtXmlPatterns module covering large parts of version 1.0 of the specification. \o Qt3D enablers, including math primitives for \l{QMatrix4x4}{matrix multiplication}, \l{QVector3D}{vectors}, \l{QQuaternion}{quaternions} (client-side), and an API for \l{QGLShader}{vertex and fragment shaders}, GLSL/ES. \o \l{QtMultimedia Module}{Multimedia services} providing low-level access to the system's audio system. \endlist In Qt 4.5: \list \o The WebKit browser engine included with Qt has been upgraded to the latest upstream (trunk) version of WebKit, bringing the latest features and improvements to Qt applications. \o Qt for Mac OS X has been substantially rewritten to use Apple's Cocoa API, enabling Qt applications to be deployed on 64-bit Macintosh hardware. \o The QtXmlPatterns module has been extended to cover XSLT, a transformation language for XML documents. \o Qt Script introduced its debugger, providing error reporting for scripts, and to let users track down bugs in their own scripts. \o Qt 4.5 includes support for writing rich text documents as OpenDocument files via the newly-introduced QTextDocumentWriter class. \o Qt Linguist can load and edit multiple translation files simultaneously. \o Support for ARGB top-level widgets (i.e., translucent windows). \endlist In Qt 4.4: \list \o \l{WebKit in Qt}{Qt WebKit integration}, making it possible for developers to use a fully-featured Web browser to display documents and access online services. \o A multimedia API provided by the \l{Phonon Overview}{Phonon Multimedia Framework}. \o \l{QtXmlPatterns Module}{XQuery and XPath} support, providing facilities for XML processing beyond that supported by the QtXml module. \o Support for embedded widgets in \l{Graphics View} scenes. \o The \l{Thread Support in Qt}{QtConcurrent framework} for concurrent programming using Qt paradigms and threading features. \o An \l{QtHelp Module}{improved help system} that can be used in conjunction with Qt Assistant or as an independent help resource manager. \o Printing system improvements, including the QPrinterInfo, QPrintPreviewWidget and QPrintPreviewDialog classes. \o Support for \l{Windows CE - Introduction to using Qt}{Qt for Windows CE} as a mainstream Qt platform. \o Improvements in performance of Qt for Embedded Linux and extended support for display hardware. \endlist In Qt 4.3: \list \o Support for different \l{The Qt 4 Main Window Classes}{main window paradigms and styles}, such as those found in Visual Studio or KDevelop. \o The \l{QtScript} module, providing support for application scripting with ECMAScript. \o Improved graphics features, including an experimental Direct3D paint engine and improved provision for hardware accelerated rendering with OpenGL, and support for OpenGL ES in Qt for Embedded Linux. \o \l{QSvgGenerator}{Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) export}, allowing SVG drawings to be created using the standard QPainter API. \o Support for arbitrary matrix transformations and set operations on painter paths. \o Native look and feel on Windows Vista; improved look and feel on Mac OS X. \o An improved \l{QMdiArea}{Multiple Document Interface (MDI)} implementation. \o Continuous improvements to \QD, including support for \l{Qt Designer's Widget Editing Mode#The Property Editor}{dynamic properties}. \o Support for Secure Socket Layer (SSL) communications via the QSslSocket class. \o Support for XML Localization Interchange File Format (XLIFF) files in \QL. \o A new font subsystem for Qt for Embedded Linux. \endlist In Qt 4.2: \list \o The \l{Graphics View} framework for producing interactive graphics. \o \l{Desktop Integration}{Desktop integration} facilities for applications. \o \l{Qt Style Sheets} enable easy, yet powerful customization of user interfaces. \o Support for the \l{intro-to-dbus.html}{D-Bus} Inter-Process Communication (IPC) and Remote Procedure Calling (RPC) mechanism. \o An \l{Undo Framework}{Undo framework} based on the \l{Books about GUI Design#Design Patterns}{Command pattern}. \o Support for model-based \l{QCompleter}{text completion} in standard and custom widgets. \o New widgets and GUI features, such as QCalendarWidget and QGLFramebufferObject. \o Classes to provide higher level application infrastructure, such as QFileSystemWatcher and QDataWidgetMapper. \endlist In Qt 4.1: \list \o Integrated support for rendering \l{The Arthur Paint System#SVG Rendering Support}{Scalable Vector Graphics} (SVG) drawings and animations. \o Support for \l{QWidget#Transparency and Double Buffering}{child widget transparency} on all platforms. \o A Portable Document Format (PDF) backend for Qt's printing system. \o A \l{QTestLib Manual}{unit testing framework} for Qt applications and libraries. \o Modules for \l{QtDesigner}{extending \QD} and \l{QtUiTools}{dynamic user interface building}. \o New \l{Proxy Models}{proxy models} to enable view-specific sorting and filtering of data displayed using item views. \o Support for \l{Installing Qt for Mac OS X}{universal binaries} on Mac OS X. \o Additional features for developers using \l{QtOpenGL}{OpenGL}, such as support for pixel and sample buffers. \o A flexible \l{QSyntaxHighlighter}{syntax highlighting class} based on the \l{Scribe} rich text framework. \o Support for \l{QNetworkProxy}{network proxy} servers using the SOCKS5 protocol. \o Support for OLE verbs and MIME data handling in \l{ActiveQt}. \endlist For more information about improvements in each Qt release, see the \l{http://qt.nokia.com/developer/changes/} {detailed lists of changes}. \section1 Significant Improvements The following modules have been significantly improved for Qt 4: \list \o A fully cross-platform \l{accessibility} module, with support for the emerging SP-API Unix standard in addition to Microsoft and Mac Accessibility. \o The \l{qt4-sql.html}{SQL module}, which is now based on the Interview model/view framework. \o The \l{qt4-network.html}{network module}, with better support for UDP and synchronous sockets. \o The \l{qt4-styles.html}{style API}, which is now decoupled from the widgets, meaning that you can draw any user interface element on any device (widget, pixmap, etc.). \o Enhanced \l{qt4-threads.html}{thread support}, with signal-slot connections across threads and per-thread event loops. \o A new \l{resource system} for embedding images and other resource files into the application executable. \endlist \section1 Build System Unlike previous Qt releases, Qt 4 is a collection of smaller libraries. A complete list of libraries in the current release of Qt can be found on the \l{All Modules} page. The following table describes the initial set of libraries released with Qt 4. \table \header \o Library \o Description \row \o \l{QtCore} \o Core non-GUI functionality \row \o \l{QtGui} \o Core GUI functionality \row \o \l{QtNetwork} \o Network module \row \o \l{QtOpenGL} \o OpenGL module \row \o \l{QtSql} \o SQL module \row \o \l{QtSvg} \o SVG rendering classes \row \o \l{QtXml} \o XML module \row \o \l{Qt3Support} \o Qt 3 support classes \row \o \l{QAxContainer} \o ActiveQt client extension \row \o \l{QAxServer} \o ActiveQt server extension \row \o \l{QtHelp} \o Classes for integrating online documentation \row \o \l{QtDesigner} \o Classes for extending and embedding Qt Designer \row \o \l{QtUiTools} \o Classes for dynamic GUI generation \row \o \l{QtTest} \o Tool classes for unit testing \endtable QtCore contains tool classes like QString, QList, and QFile, as well as kernel classes like QObject and QTimer. The QApplication class has been refactored so that it can be used in non-GUI applications. It is split into QCoreApplication (in \l QtCore) and QApplication (in \l QtGui). This split makes it possible to develop server applications using Qt without linking in any unnecessary GUI-related code and without requiring GUI-related system libraries to be present on the target machine (e.g. Xlib on X11, Carbon on Mac OS X). If you use qmake to generate your makefiles, qmake will by default link your application against QtCore and QtGui. To remove the dependency upon QtGui, add the line \snippet doc/src/snippets/code/doc_src_qt4-intro.pro 0 to your .pro file. To enable the other libraries, add the line \snippet doc/src/snippets/code/doc_src_qt4-intro.pro 1 Another change to the build system is that moc now understands preprocessor directives. qmake automatically passes the defines set for your project (using "DEFINES +=") on to moc, which has its own built-in C++ preprocessor. To compile code that uses UI files, you will also need this line in the .pro file: \snippet doc/src/snippets/code/doc_src_qt4-intro.pro 2 \section1 Include Syntax The syntax for including Qt class definitions has become \snippet doc/src/snippets/code/doc_src_qt4-intro.cpp 3 For example: \snippet doc/src/snippets/code/doc_src_qt4-intro.cpp 4 This is guaranteed to work for any public Qt class. The old syntax, \snippet doc/src/snippets/code/doc_src_qt4-intro.cpp 5 still works, but we encourage you to switch to the new syntax. If you attempt to include a header file from a library that isn't linked against the application, this will result in a compile-time warning (e.g., "QSqlQuery: No such file or directory"). You can remedy to this problem either by removing the offending include or by specifying the missing library in the QT entry of your \c .pro file (see \l{Build System} above). To include the definitions for all the classes in a library, simply specify the name of that library. For example: \snippet doc/src/snippets/code/doc_src_qt4-intro.cpp 6 \section1 Namespaces Qt 2 introduced a class called Qt for global-like constants (e.g., \c{Qt::yellow}). The C++ namespace construct was not used because not all compilers understood it when it was released. With Qt 4, the Qt class has become the Qt namespace. If you want to access a constant that is part of the Qt namespace, prefix it with \c{Qt::} (e.g., \c{Qt::yellow}), or add the directive \snippet doc/src/snippets/code/doc_src_qt4-intro.cpp 7 at the top of your source files, after your \c #include directives. If you use the \c{using namespace} syntax you don't need the prefix (e.g., \c yellow is sufficient). When porting Qt 3 applications, you may run into some source compatibility problems with some of these symbols. For example, in Qt 3, it was legal to write \c QWidget::yellow instead of \c Qt::yellow, because QWidget inherited from Qt. This won't work in Qt 4; you must write \c Qt::yellow or add the "using namespace" directive and drop the \c{Qt::} prefix. The \l{qt3to4 - The Qt 3 to 4 Porting Tool}{qt3to4} porting tool automates this conversion. \section1 QObject/QWidget Constructors In Qt 4 we have tried to simplify the constructors of QObject/QWidget subclasses. This makes subclassing easier, at the same time as it helps make the Qt library more efficient. Constructors no longer take a "const char *name" parameter. If you want to specify a name for a QObject, you must call QObject::setObjectName() after construction. The object name is now a QString. The reasons for this change are: \list \o Code that used it looked confusing, for example: \snippet doc/src/snippets/code/doc_src_qt4-intro.cpp 8 \c label1 is a QLabel that displays the text "Hello"; \c label2 is a QLabel with no text, with the object name "Hello". \o From surveys we did, most users didn't use the name, although they blindly followed Qt's convention and provided a "const char *name" in their subclasses's constructors. For example: \snippet doc/src/snippets/code/doc_src_qt4-intro.cpp 9 \o The name parameter was in Qt since version 1, and it always was documented as: "It is not very useful in the current version of Qt, but it will become increasingly important in the future." Ten years later, it still hasn't fulfilled its promise. \endlist QWidget's \c WFlags data type has been split in two: Qt::WindowFlags specifies low-level window flags (the type of window and the frame style), whereas Qt::WidgetAttribute specifies various higher-level attributes about the widget (e.g., WA_StaticContents). Widget attributes can be set at any time using QWidget::setAttribute(); low-level window flags can be passed to the QWidget constructor or set later using QWidget::setParent(). As a consequence, the constructors of most QWidget subclasses don't need to provide a \c WFlags parameter. The \e parent parameter of all QObject classes in Qt defaults to a 0 pointer, as it used to do in Qt 1. This enables a style of programming where widgets are created without parents and then inserted in a layout, at which point the layout automatically reparents them. \section1 Dynamic Casts Qt 4 provides a qobject_cast<>() function that performs a dynamic cast based on the meta-information generated by moc for QObject subclasses. Unlike the standard C++ dynamic_cast<>() construct, qobject_cast<>() works even when RTTI is disabled, and it works correctly across DLL boundaries. Here's the Qt 3 idiom to cast a type to a subtype: \snippet doc/src/snippets/code/doc_src_qt4-intro.cpp 10 The Qt 4 idiom is both cleaner and safer, because typos will always result in compiler errors: \snippet doc/src/snippets/code/doc_src_qt4-intro.cpp 11 \section1 QPointer The QPointer class provides a pointer to type T (where T inherits from QObject) that is automatically set to 0 when the referenced object is destroyed. Guarded pointers are useful whenever you want to store a pointer to an object you do not own. Example: \snippet doc/src/snippets/code/doc_src_qt4-intro.cpp 12 QPointer is more or less the same as the old QGuardedPtr class, except that it is now implemented in a much more lightweight manner than before. The cost of one QPointer object is now approximately the same as that of a signal--slot connection. \section1 Paint Events Qt 4 supports double buffering transparently on all platforms. This feature can be turned off on a per-widget basis by calling QWidget::setAttribute(Qt::WA_PaintOnScreen). A consequence of this is that all painting must now be done from the paintEvent() function. This is also required by the HIView API on Mac OS X. In practice, this is seldom a problem, since you can call update() from anywhere in your code to create a paint event, with the region to update as the argument. To help porting, QWidget supports a Qt::WA_PaintOutsidePaintEvent attribute that can be set to make it possible to paint outside \l{QWidget::paintEvent()}{paintEvent()} on Windows and X11. \section1 Qt 3 Support Layer Qt 4 provides an extension library that applications based on Qt 3, called Qt3Support, that Qt applications can link against. This allows for more compatibility than ever before, without bloating Qt. \list \o Classes that have been replaced by a different class with the same name, such as QListView, and classes that no longer exist in Qt 4 are available with a \c 3 in their name (e.g., Q3ListView, Q3Accel). \o Other classes provide compatibility functions. Most of these are implemented inline, so that they don't bloat the Qt libraries. \endlist To enable the Qt 3 support classes and functions, add the line \snippet doc/src/snippets/code/doc_src_qt4-intro.pro 13 to your \c .pro file. On Visual C++ 7 and GCC 3.2+, using compatibility functions often results in a compiler warning (e.g., "'find' is deprecated"). If you want to turn off that warning, add the line \snippet doc/src/snippets/code/doc_src_qt4-intro.pro 14 to your \c .pro file. If you want to use compatibility functions but don't want to link against the Qt3Support library, add the line \snippet doc/src/snippets/code/doc_src_qt4-intro.pro 15 or \snippet doc/src/snippets/code/doc_src_qt4-intro.pro 16 to your \c .pro file, depending on whether you want compatibility function calls to generate compiler warnings or not. */ /*! \page qt4-8-intro.html \title What's New in Qt 4.8 Qt 4.8 provides many improvements and enhancements over the previous releases in the Qt 4 series. This document covers the most important features in this release, separated by category. A list of other Qt 4 features can be found on the \bold{\l{What's New in Qt 4}} page. \section1 Qt Quick 1.1 Qt Quick 1.1 introduces \l{What's New in Qt Quick}{new changes} such as new properties and better performance. \list \o \l {QML Right-to-left User Interfaces}{Right-To-Left} text support \o Improved image caching \o Text input improvements - Support for split-screen virtual keyboard \o \l PinchArea Element - enables simple pinch gesture handling \o New properties for \l{QML Elements}. \endlist \section1 Qt Platform Abstraction -- \e Lighthouse \e QPA allows porting Qt to different windowing systems and devices easier. It provides a clean abstraction layer for porting QtGui to new window systems. \note QPA is considered an experimental feature in Qt 4.8. In Qt 5 it is a supported and complete feature. \section1 Qt WebKit 2.2 The new Qt WebKit release introduces bug fixes, performance improvements, and greater compiler compatibility. \section1 Threaded OpenGL Many Qt OpenGL functions are now thread-safe. Threads that cater to different situations are now available. \list \o Buffer swapping thread \o Texture uploading thread \o \l QPainter thread \endlist \section1 Deprecated Items in Qt 4.8 As part of Open Governance, modules in Qt 4.8 will receive maintainers and receive different support levels. Currently, a module has an activity classification, the \e{Module Maturity Level}. As well, a list of modules and their maturity level is in the \l{Qt Developer Network}. \list \o \l{Qt Modules' Maturity Level - Description} - description of the different \e{maturity levels} \o \l{Qt Modules' Maturity Levels - Modules List} - list of the Qt modules and their maturity level \endlist \section1 Additions to the Qt API Qt 4.8 introduces changes to the Qt API. \list \o C++11 support: Qt supports some of the features of the C++11 standard. QList, QVector and QStringList can be initialized with initializer lists. Most of the tool classes have a move operator. It is possible to use lambda functions in some of the QtConcurrent functions. \o Localization API Changes to the Localization APIs include improvements to \l QLocale and more support for different language code formats. \list \o \l {QLocale::quoteString()} - for localized quotes \o \l {QLocale::createSeparatedList()} - for localized list separation (e.g. "1, 2 and 3") \o \l {QLocale::bcp47Name()} - for locale names in the canonical form according to \l {RFC 5646 - BCP47} \o \l {QLocale::matchingLocales()} - to get a list of locales that match a criteria - e.g. a list of locales that use French language. \o \l {QLocale::firstDayOfWeek()} \o \l {QLocale::weekdays()} \o \l{QLocale::currencySymbol()} \o \l{QLocale::toCurrencyString()} - number formatting for currencies \o \l{QLocale::uiLanguages()} \o \l{QLocale::nativeLanguageName()} \o \l{QLocale::nativeCountryName()} \endlist \o IP Multicast API \o Multithreaded HTTP \o QThreadLocalStorage can now store simple objects in addition to pointers \endlist \section1 New Classes, Functions, Macros, etc. \sincelist 4.8 */ /*! \page qt4-7-intro.html \title What's New in Qt 4.7 Qt 4.7 provides many improvements and enhancements over the previous releases in the Qt 4 series. This document covers the most important features in this release, separated by category. A list of other Qt 4 features can be found on the \bold{\l{What's New in Qt 4}} page. \section1 Declarative UI Development with Qt Quick \image quick_screens.png Qt 4.7 introduces \l{Qt Quick}, the Qt UI Creation Kit. that enables the creation of dynamic user interfaces, easier and more effective than possible with existing UI technologies. This UI Creation Kit consists of three technologies: \list \i QML is a declarative language oriented on JavaScript that utilizes Qt's Meta-Object capabilities to enable designers and developers to collaborate tightly and create animated and fluid user experiences, using existing knowledge in script language and design. \i Qt Declarative is a C++ library that provides the underlying engine, which translates the declarative description of the UI in QML into items on a QGraphicsScene. The library also provides APIs to bind custom C++ types and elements to QML, and to connect the QML UI with the underlying application logic written in C++. \i Qt Creator has been improved to support interactive editing of QML UIs through drag-and-drop. The text editor supports the QML syntax and provides authoring assistance such as auto-completion, error lookup, help lookup and easy preview of QML UI's. The Qt Quick features in Qt Creator will be released with Qt Creator 2.1 \endlist \section1 Network Bearer Management Bearer Management controls the connectivity state of the system. The new Bearer Management API in the QtNetwork module allows the application to identify whether the system is online and how many interfaces there are, as well as start and stop interfaces, or roam transparently between access points. QNetworkAccessManager uses this API for HTTP level roaming. \section1 Feature Improvements in QtWebKit The QGraphicsWebView class has a new tiled backing store, which improves scrolling and zooming performance. You can even create animated zoom-in or zoom-out effects (see QWebSettings::TiledBackingStoreEnabled). On mobile platforms, it is often useful to avoid displaying separate scrollbars for iframes and framesets. If you switch on frame flattening, QtWebKit will resize frames to fit their content to avoid separate scrollbars (see QWebSettings::FrameFlatteningEnabled). Qt 4.7 adds support for accelerated compositing, which enhances the performance of CSS animations and transitions. Read more in \l{http://labs.trolltech.com/blogs/2010/05/17/qtwebkit-now-accelerates-css-animations-3d-transforms/}{this blog}. For hybrid QtWebKit and C++ projects, Qt 4.7 has added support for transporting \l{QPixmap}s between Qt C++ and WebKit. We have also improved the documentation for hybrid development. Read more here: \l{The QtWebKit Bridge}. \section1 QtWebKit Performance Benchmarks We have introduced a set of performance benchmarks for QtWebKit, and made numerous improvements in rendering performance, page loading performance, scrolling performance and CSS performance. Here are some examples from the benchmarks run on a 64-bit Linux workstation with the raster graphics system. In a benchmark that measures the scrolling performance on popular websites, we found out that Qt 4.7.0 on this platform is 350% faster than Qt 4.6.0, thanks to several rendering related improvements. Our page loading benchmark shows an improvement of 16% in Qt 4.7.0 from Qt 4.6.0. This is due to improvements in text layout speed, image decoding, resource loading and event handling. Several CSS animation benchmarks indicate a speed improvement of 31% from Qt 4.6.0 to Qt 4.7.0. These benchmarks are effectively showing the improvement we get from accelerated compositing (see above). \section1 Other Performance Related Improvements In addition to the QtWebKit module, performance has been a focus area in Qt 4.7 throughout the Qt framework. Here are a couple of examples about performance related feature improvements. On Mac OS X, Qt now uses a different widget implementation (called "alien widgets"), which improves the responsiveness of applications that have complex user interfaces with several widgets. Qt 4.7 introduces the QStaticText class, which can be used to improve text rendering performance. More info is available from \l{http://labs.trolltech.com/blogs/2010/03/01/insanity-is-shaping-the-same-text-again-and-expecting-a-different-result/}{this blog}. The QPainter class has a new API for rendering pixmap fragments (QPainter::drawPixmapFragments), which can improve the rendering performance of applications that need to render \l{QPainter::drawPixmapFragments()}{pixmap fragments}. Qt 4.7 has an updated version of the JavaScriptCore engine for the QtScript module, which improves JavaScript execution performance. \section1 New Classes, Functions, Macros, etc. Links to new classes, elements, functions, macros, and other items introduced in Qt 4.7. \sincelist 4.7 */ /*! \page qt4-6-intro.html \title What's New in Qt 4.6 Qt 4.6 provides many improvements and enhancements over the previous releases in the Qt 4 series. This document covers the most important features in this release, separated by category. \omit A comprehensive list of changes between Qt 4.5 and Qt 4.6 is included in the \c changes-4.6.0 file \l{http://qt.nokia.com/developer/changes/changes-4.6.0}{available online}. A \l{Known Issues in %VERSION%}{list of known issues} for this release is also available. Changes between this release and the previous release are provided in the \c{changes-%VERSION%} file (also \l{http://qt.nokia.com/developer/changes/changes-%VERSION%}{available online}). \endomit A list of other Qt 4 features can be found on the \bold{\l{What's New in Qt 4}} page. \section1 Support for Symbian Qt 4.6 is the first release to include support for the Symbian platform, with integration into the S60 framework. The port to Symbian and S60 provides all functionality required to develop rich end-user applications for devices running S60 3.1 and later. See the \l{The Symbian platform - Introduction to Qt} for more information. \section1 Animation Framework The animation framework helps build highly animated, high-performance GUIs without the hassle of managing complex structures, timers, and easing curves, not to mention the large state graphs that all animated GUIs tend to be full of. The framework makes it easy to animate \l{QObject}s, including QWidgets, by allowing Qt properties to be animated. It also allows creating custom animations and interpolation functions. Graphics views are not left out; one can animate \l{QGraphicsWidget}s and new \l{QGraphicsObject}s which inherit from QGraphicsItem (and thereby enable properties). Animations are controlled using easing curves and can be grouped together. This enables animations of arbitrary complexity. The API is easy to grasp with functions such as start(), stop(), pause(), and currentTime(). Here is an image from one of the examples that come with the framework: \image whatsnewanimatedtiles.png The animation framework also plugs into the new Qt Statemachine by allowing an animation to be played when transitions are triggered. The state machine framework is introduced in 4.6 and is described below. See \l{The Animation Framework} documentation for more information. \section1 State Machine Framework The state machine framework provides a robust state chart implementation based on Harel statecharts and SCXML. Qt's API lets you construct such state graphs and execute them. The key benefits of a state machine are: \list \o Simplify complex application semantics. \o Use of states to reduce code bloat. \o Use states to improve maintainability. \o Makes event-driven programming robust and more reusable. \endlist It is especially the last item here that makes using a state machine worthwhile. A key characteristic of event-driven systems (such as Qt applications) is that behavior often depends not only on the last or current event, but also the events that preceded it. With statecharts, this information is easy to express. The framework fits neatly into Qt by allowing transitions to trigger on signals and \l{QEvent}s. By inserting animations into the state machine, it is also easier to use the framework for animating GUIs, for instance. See \l{The State Machine Framework} documentation for more information. \section1 Touch and Gestures Support for touch input enables users to interact with many parts of a user interface at the same time, and provides the basis for gestures. Additional infrastructure for gesture recognition allows a sequence of touch inputs to be combined to create gestures that can be used to activate features and trigger actions in an application. \image gestures.png This new functionality brings a number of benefits: \list \o Allows users to interact with applications in more natural ways. \o Simplifies finger-based interaction with UI components. \o Combines support for common basic gestures and touch gestures in a single general framework. \o Enables extensibility by design. \endlist See the QTouchEvent class documentation for more information on touch input and QGestureEvent for gestures. \section1 DOM Access API Web pages and XML both have very complex document object models. The W3C selector API provides a very simple way to access and manipulate such structures. This API makes it intuitive to access DOM, helps reuse CSS selector knowledge, and gives little maintenance or footprint overhead. \snippet webkitsnippets/webelement/main.cpp FindAll See the QWebElement class documentation for more information. \section1 Performance Optimizations As always, Qt continuously strive to optimize its performance. For this release, we have: \list \o Rewritten the QGraphicsView rendering algorithm. \o Made QPixmapCache support efficient Key data structure. \o Reduced overhead in QNetworkAccessManager. \o Added the QContiguousCache class, which provides efficient caching of contiguous data. \o Added support for hardware-accelerated rendering through \l{OpenVG Rendering in Qt}{OpenVG} \o Removed Win9x support. \endlist \section1 Graphics Effects Effects can be used to alter the appearance of UI elements such as \l{QGraphicsItem}s and \l{QWidget}s. A couple of standard effects such as blurring, colorizing and drop shadow are provided, and it is possible to implement custom effects. \table \row \o{2,1} \img graphicseffect-plain.png \row \o \img graphicseffect-blur.png \o \img graphicseffect-colorize.png \row \o \img graphicseffect-opacity.png \o \img graphicseffect-drop-shadow.png \endtable See the QGraphicsEffect class documentation for more information. \section1 XML Schema Validation The QtXmlPatterns module can now be used to validate schemas, either through C++ APIs in the Qt application, or using the xmlpatternsvalidator command line utility. The implementation of XML Schema Validation supports the specification version 1.0 in large parts. \img xml-schema.png See the \l{XML Processing} and QXmlSchema class documentation for more information. \section1 Qt3D Enablers As more of Qt, and more of the applications built on Qt go 3D, API's should be provided to simplify this. Mainly, the new API aims to make it more easy to create 3D applications with OpenGL. It will also unify the Qt OpenGL codebase, and enable cross-platform 3D codebase. The main features of the Qt3D enablers are currently: Math primitives for matrix multiplication, vectors, quaternions (client-side), and an API for vertex and fragment shaders, GLSL/ES. Future research will, among other things include stencils, scissors, vertex buffers and arrays, texture manipulation, and geometry shaders. \section1 Multimedia Services Qt 4.6 comes with new classes for handling audio. These classes provide low-level access to the system's audio system. By specifying the audio format (QAudioFormat) and supplying audio data through a QIODevice, you get direct access to the functionality of the sound device. The API also comes with functions to query audio devices for which audio formats they support. See the \l{QtMultimedia Module} documentation for more information. \section1 New Classes, Functions, Macros, etc. Links to new classes, functions, macros, and other items introduced in Qt 4.6. \sincelist 4.6 */ /* \page qt4-5-intro.html \title What's New in Qt 4.5 Qt 4.5 provides many improvements and enhancements over the previous releases in the Qt 4 series. This document covers the most important features in this release, separated by category. A comprehensive list of changes between Qt 4.4 and Qt 4.5 is included in the \c changes-4.5.0 file \l{http://qt.nokia.com/developer/changes/changes-4.5.0}{available online}. A \l{Known Issues in %VERSION%}{list of known issues} for this release is also available. Changes between this release and the previous release are provided in the \c{changes-%VERSION%} file (also \l{http://qt.nokia.com/developer/changes/changes-%VERSION%}{available online}). A list of other Qt 4 features can be found on the \bold{\l{What's New in Qt 4}} page. \section1 Qt WebKit Integration \image webkit-netscape-plugin.png The WebKit browser engine included with Qt has been upgraded to the latest upstream (trunk) version of WebKit, bringing the latest features and improvements to Qt applications. These include: \list \o Support for full page zooming, with appropriate rescaling of images and fonts. \o The CSS-based transformation and animation features provided by a WebKit extension. \o Performance improvements due to faster JavaScript engine and optimized page loading. \endlist Standards compatibility improvements include provision for the Netscape plugin API, allowing most Netscape plugins to be used in-process, support for HTML 5 audio and video elements using Qt's Phonon integration, and \l{Web Application Support}{facilities for client-side storage of Web content}. \section1 Performance Improvements The introduction of the QtBenchLib performance benchmarking library enables performance benchmarking and regression testing. Core parts of Qt itself have undergone focused re-engineering for improved graphics performance, including paint engine and text rendering improvements, Graphics View and style sheet performance improvements. The X11 paint engine now uses XSHM (the X shared memory extension), resulting in reduced overhead for painting operations. A new OpenGL ES 2.0-based paint engine complements the existing OpenGL paint engine, but with a focus on embedded devices. Qt now features a pluggable graphics system, making it possible for users and developers to select raster, OpenGL or native graphics systems to take into account the specific needs of their applications and get the best performance out of them. \section1 Mac OS X Cocoa Support \image mac-cocoa.png Qt for Mac OS X has been substantially rewritten to use Apple's Cocoa API, enabling Qt applications to be deployed on 64-bit Macintosh hardware. In addition, the new QMacCocoaViewContainer and QMacNativeWidget classes provide integration with Cocoa's own features and controls. For many applications, a simple recompilation is all that is required to produce an executable for 64-bit systems. Applications that use specific features may require a few changes first. \section1 Windows CE Feature Parity Qt for Windows CE has been updated to bring features of Qt 4.4 and Qt 4.5 to the Windows CE platform, including: \list \o Phonon Multimedia Framework, using a Direct-Show based backend for audio and video playback and a Simple WaveOut backend for devices without DirectShow. \o The inclusion of Qt WebKit integration features previously unavailable for Qt 4.4 on Windows CE. \endlist Support on all Windows CE platforms; recommended for WinCE 6 and higher. The inclusion of these features enables developers to easily integrate Web and multimedia content into Qt applications on Windows CE Standard Edition while retaining full cross-platform compatibility with other Qt platforms. \section1 XML Transformations with XSLT The QtXmlPatterns module has been extended to cover XSLT, a transformation language for XML documents. A common application of this is the transformation of XML data into human-readable formats for reporting purposes. XSLT makes it simple to reformat XML content without changing data structures, removes the need for an intermediate DOM layer for presentation, and enables rapid solutions to be created; for example, creating reports as HTML or PDF. \section1 Qt Script Debugger \image qtscript-debugger-small.png Developers using Qt Script in their applications can take advantage of the new \l{Qt Script Debugger Manual}{Qt Script Debugger} to provide error reporting for scripts, and to let users track down bugs in their own scripts. Many standard features of GUI debugging tools are present, allowing the developer to step through running script code, inspect variables, automatically catch exceptions, and set conditional breakpoints. \section1 OpenDocument File Format Support Qt 4.5 includes support for writing rich text documents as OpenDocument files via the newly-introduced QTextDocumentWriter class. This provides an generic mechanism for file export that can be used to introduce support for additional formats in future releases. \section1 Improved Network Proxy Support Qt's networking classes have been updated with \l{QtNetwork Module#Support for Network Proxies}{improved proxy support}. This includes improved integration with system proxy settings and the added ability to handle non-trivial proxy cases. \section1 Qt Designer Improvements \image designer-screenshot-small.png Qt Designer 4.5 boasts some improvements on usability, for example: \list \o \bold{Icon Mode} for the widget box which substantially reduces scrolling. \o \bold{Morphing Widgets} which lets you morph similar widget types, e.g., a QWidget to a QFrame, types via the context menu's \e{Morph into} entry. \o \bold{Filters} for the \gui{Property Editor} that lets you find properties or widgets quickly. \o \bold{Find option} for the \gui{Object Inspector} that performs an incremental search on the form's widgets. Also, the objects' layout state is displayed here with using an icon on the left. Broken layouts are represented with the same icon used for the \e{Break Layout} action. \endlist In addition, Qt Designer now features an \gui{Embedded Design} tab that can be found in the \gui Preferences dialog. Within this tab, you can define embedded device profiles. These profiles contains screen settings, e.g., display resolution, default font and default style. Qt Designer will use these settings when you edit forms. More information about these improvements can be found in the \l{What's New in Qt Designer 4.5} overview. \section1 Qt Linguist Improvements Qt Linguist can now load and edit multiple translation files simultaneously. Support for XML Localization Interchange File Format (XLIFF) files, previously added to the \c lupdate tool in Qt 4.3, has been improved and extended to the rest of the Qt Linguist toolchain. This enables files stored in Qt's TS translation format to be exported for use with other tools. The GNU Gettext PO format, which is commonly used in Open Source projects, is now supported by Qt Linguist. Support for a new way to annotate messages, using comments in the source code, has been added to the toolchain. See the QObject::tr() documentation for a detailed description and examples. The new \c lconvert filter tool facilitates conversion between file formats and can be used to perform other transformations on collections of translatable strings. \section1 Graphics Enhancements In addition to the performance improvements in this release, a number of graphics enhancements extend support for existing features to more platforms and expand Qt's core set of features with successful add-ons. Widget style sheets can now be used on Mac OS X, making this approach to theming and styling viable for truly cross-platform applications. Support for ARGB top-level widgets, previously available as a separate solution, is now provided as an integral part of Qt. This makes it possible to create windows with translucent regions on systems with the appropriate support from the user's window system. See the \l{QWidget#Creating Translucent Windows}{Creating Translucent Windows} section of the QWidget documentation for details of this feature. \image gtk-style-screenshot.png Improved GTK+ integration provided by the QGtkStyle class improves the look and feel of Qt applications in GNOME and other GTK-based environments. The screenshot above illustrates this clearly. */