path: root/dist/changes-4.1.0-rc1

Qt 4.1 introduces many new features as well as many improvements and
bugfixes over the 4.0.x series. For more details, see the online
documentation which is included in this distribution. The
documentation is also available at http://qt.nokia.com/doc/

The Qt version 4.1 series is binary compatible with the 4.0.x series.
Applications compiled for 4.0 will continue to run with 4.1.

****************************************************************************
*			    General					   *
****************************************************************************

Qt library
----------

  - Integrated support for rendering Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG)
    drawings and animations (QtSvg module).

  - A Portable Document Format (PDF) backend for Qt's printing system.

  - A unit testing framework for Qt applications and libraries.

  - Modules for extending Qt Designer and dynamic user interface
    building.

  - New proxy models to enable view-specific sorting and filtering of
    data displayed using item views.

  - Additional features for developers using OpenGL, such as support
    for pixel and sample buffers.

  - A flexible syntax highlighting class based on the Scribe rich text
    framework.

  - Support for network proxy servers using the SOCKS5 protocol.

  - Support for OLE verbs and MIME data handling in ActiveQt.

Qt Designer
-----------

- Added support for editing menu bars and tool bars.

- Added support for adding comments to string properties.

- Added new static QtForm library with improved
  QForm::Loader API for loading designer forms at run-time.

- Added support for namespaces in uic generated code.

- Added support for dock widgets in main windows.

- Added support for editing table, tree and list widgets.

- Improved palette editing and resource support.

QTestLib
--------

- Added QTestLib, the Qt Unit Testing Library. See the "QTestLib" chapter
  in the Qt documentation for more information.

- Users of older versions of QtTestLib can use the updater utility in
  tools/qtestlib/updater to convert existing autotests to work with QTestLib.

Boost
-----

Added boost compatible syntax for declaring signals and slots. If you
define the macro QT_NO_KEYWORDS "Q_SIGNALS" and "Q_SLOTS" are
recognized as keywords instead of the default "signals" and "slots".

ActiveQt
--------

QAxServer now supports mime-type handling - a ActiveX control can be
registered to handle a certain file extension and mime-type, in which case
QAxBindable::load and QAxBindable::save can be reimplemented to serialize
the object.

Build system
------------

Added support for linking static plugins into the application.

Qt 3 to 4 Porting Tool
----------------------

Q(V|H)BoxLayout and QGridLayout usage is now ported to use
Q3(V|H)BoxLayout/Q3GridLayout, to retain the margin/spacing
behavior as in Qt 3.

Meta Object Compiler (moc)
--------------------------

- Added support for const signals.

Qt Assistant
------------

- Added -docPath command line option for easy setting of the
  document root path.

QMake
-----

- Added support for new FORMS3 profile variable to make it possible
  to have Qt Designer forms from Qt 3 and Qt 4 in the same project.

- Added support for precompiled headers on win32-g++ (MinGW)

Compilers
---------

Added support for Solaris 10 on AMD64 with the compiler provided by
Sun.


****************************************************************************
*			   Library					   *
****************************************************************************


New classes
-----------

- QTreeWidgetItemIterator
        Added iterator to help iterating over items in a QTreeWidget.

- QSortingProxyModel
        The QSortingProxyModel can contain another model and handles
        the sorting of it.

- QFilteringProxyModel
        Allows you to provide a subset of a model to a view.

- QStringFilterModel
        Allows you to provide a subset of a model to a view based on a
        regular expression.

- QSyntaxHighlighter
        The QSyntaxHighlighter class allows you to define syntax
        highlighting rules.

- QAbstractFileEngine
        A base class for implementing your own file and directory handling
        back-end for QFile, QFileInfo and QDir.

- QAbstractFileEngineHandler
        For registering a QAbstractFileEngine subclass with Qt.

- QFSFileEngine
        The default file engine for regular file and directory access in Qt.

- Q3(H|V)BoxLayout and Q3GridLayout
        Layout classes provided for compatibility that behave the same
        as the Qt 4 classes but use a zero margin/spacing by default,
        just like in Qt 3.

- Added qFromLittleEndian, qToLittleEndian, qFromBigEndian and
  qToBigEndian endian helper conversion functions (qendian.h)

- Q_EXPORT_PLUGIN2 macro
        Obsoletes Q_EXPORT_PLUGIN and allows static linking of
        plugins.

- Q3ComboBox
        For enhanced backwards compatibility with Qt 3.

- QGLPbuffer
        For creating and managing OpenGL pixel buffers.

- QNetworkProxy
        For setting up transparent (SOCKS5) networking proxying.

- QDirectPainter (Qtopia Core only)
        Provides direct access to video framebuffer hardware.


General improvements
--------------------

- QByteArray
        Added toLong() and toULong().

- QFileDialog
        Fix shortcut and focus for "Alpha channel" spinbox.

- QLinkedList
        Added conversion methods to convert from/to STL lists.

- QMap/QHash
        Fixed operator>>() to read back multiple values associated
        to a same key correctly.
        Added constFind(), for finding an item without causing a detach.

- QMap/QHash
        Const-correctness in const_iterator's operator--(int).

- QMainWindow
        The saveState() and restoreState() functions no longer
        fallback to using the windowTitle property when the objectName
        property is not set on a QToolBar or QDockWidget; this
        behavior was undocumented and has been removed.

- QToolBar
        Added Qt 3 compatibility signal visibilityChanged(bool).

- QMetaType
        Class is now fully reentrant.
        Metatypes can be registered or queried from multiple threads.
        Added qMetaTypeId<T>(), which returns the meta type ID of T at compile time.

- QMetaProperty
        Added isResettable().

- QSql
        Oracle plugin adds support for authentication using external credentials.
        Added isValid() to QSqlError.

- QThread
        Added setPriority() and priority(), for querying and setting
        the priority of a thread.

- QTreeWidgetItem/QTreeWidget
        Added new constructors and addChildren(), insertChildren(),
        takeChildren(), insertTopLevelItems(), addTopLevelItems to
        speed up insertion of multiple items.

- QTextDocument
        Added the class QTextBlockUserData and added the possibility
        of storing a state or custom user data in a QTextBlock
        Added useDesignMetrics property, to enable the use of design metrics for
        all fonts in a QTextDocument.

- QTextFormat
        Added support for setting the font pixel size.
        Added UserObject to QTextFormat::ObjectTypes enum.

- QMetaType
        The value of QMetaTypeId<T>::Defined indicates whether a given type T is
        supported by QMetaType.

- QAbstractItemView
        Added setIndexWidget() and indexWidget() which makes it
        possible to set a widget at a given index.

        Added a QAbstractItemView::ContiguousSelection mode.
        Added scrollToTop() and scrollToBottom().

- QAbstractItemModel
        Added a SizeHintRole that can be set for each item. The item
        delegate will now check for this value before computing the
        size hint based on other item data.

        Add QModelIndex::operator<() so we are able to use them in
        QMap and other containers.

        Added qHash function for QModelIndex.

- QTableWidget
        Added cellWidget() and setCellWidget() which makes it possible
        to set a widget at a specified cell.

        Added setCurrentCell().

        Added QTableWidgetItem copy constructors.


- QTreeWidget
        Added setItemWidget() and itemWidget() which makes it possible
        to set a widget on an item.

- QListWidget
        Added setItemWidget() and itemWidget() which makes it possible
        to set a widget on an item.

        Added QListWidgetItem copy constructors.

- QMutableMapIterator
        Added value() overloads to Java-style iterators that return
        non-const references.

- QTextTable
        Added mergeCells() and splitCells() to be able to set the row
        or column span on a table cell.

- QStyle
        Added standardIcon() which returns a default icon for standard
        operations.
        Added State_ReadOnly, which is enabled for read-only widgets.

        Renamed QStyleOption::init() to initFrom().
        - QGroupBox is now completely stylable (QStyleOptionGroupBox)
        - Indeterminate (busy) progress bars are now animated properly
          in all styles.

        Added PM_DockWidgetTitleMargin as pixel metric.

- QHash
        Make it possible to use QHash with a type that has no default
        constructor.

- QTableView
        Made QTableView::setShowGrid() a slot, like in Qt 3.
        Added setRowHeight() and setColumnWidth().

- QTableWidgetSelectionRange
        Added rowCount() and columnCount() convenience functions.

- QSettings
        Added support for custom formats in QSettings.

- QTextStream
        Added status(), setStatus() and resetStatus() for improved error handling.
        Added read(qint64 maxlen), for reading parts of a text stream into a
        QString.

- QTextCursor
        Added support for BlockUnderCursor selection type.

- QHeaderView
        Added defaultSectionSize property which tells the default size
        of the header sections before resizing.

- QScrollBar
        Added context menu to the scrollbar with default navigation
        options.

- QScrollArea
        Added ensureVisible(), which can scroll the scrollarea to make sure a
        specific point is visible.

- QDateTime
        Added addMSecs(), which adds a number of milliseconds to the QDateTime.

- QDateTimeEdit
        Added support for more date/time formats.
        Now allows multiple sections of the same type.

- QButtonGroup
        Added handling of buttons with IDs to the buttongroup like in
        Qt 3.

- QIODevice
        Added peek() for peeking data from a device.

- QTextEdit
        Added property tabStopWidth which sets the tab stop width in
        pixels.
        append(const QString &) is now a public slot.
        Added support for inserting Unicode control characters through the
        context menu.
        Added property acceptRichText, for whether or not the text edit
        accepts rich text insertions by the user.
        Added overwriteMode property.

- QDataStream
        Added skipRawData().
        Added support for QRegExp.

- QProgressBar
        Added support for vertical progress bars.

- QImageIOHandler
        The name() function has been obsoleted; use format() instead.
        Added QImageIOHandler::Animation, for determining if the image format
        supports animation.
        Added QImageIOHandler::BackgroundColor, for setting the background
        color for the image loader.

- QImageReader
        Added setBackgroundColor() and backgroundColor(), for setting the
        background color of an image before it is read.
        Added supportsAnimation(), for checking if the image format supports
        animation.

- QImageWriter
        Added support for saving image text.

- QLocale
        Added dateFormat()/timeFormat() to query the date/time format for the
        current locale.
        Added toString() overloads for localized QTime and QDate output.
        Added decimalPoint(), groupSeparator(), percent(), zeroDigit(),
        negativeSign() and exponential(), which provide a means to generate
        custom number formatting.

- QHostInfo
        Added support for reverse name lookups.

- QHostAddress
        Added a QString assignment operator
        Added convenience functions for initializing from a native sockaddr
        structure.
        Added support for the IPv6 scope-id.

- QPrinter
        Added property "embedFonts" for embedding fonts into the target
        document.
        Added support for printing to PDF.
        Added support for custom print and paint engines

- QPrintEngine
        Added PPK_SuppressSystemPrintStatus, for suppressing the printer
        progress dialog on Mac OS X.

- QKeySequence
        Added fromString() and toString() for initializing a key sequence
        from, and exporting a key sequence to a QString.

- QUrl
        Added the port(int) function, which provides a default value for the
        port if the URL does not define a port.
        Support for decoding Punycode encoded hostnames in URLs.
        Made the parser more tolerant for mistakes, and added a ParsingMode
        flag for selecting strict or tolerant parsing.
        Added support for the NAMEPREP standard in our i18n domain name support.

- QDir
        Added the filter QDir::NoDotAndDotDot, for the
        special directories "." and "..".
        Added the filter QDir::AllEntries, for all entries
        in a directory, including symlinks.


- QAbstractSocket
        Added slots connectToHostImplementation() and
        disconnectFromHostImplementation() to provide polymorphic behavior for
        connectToHost() and disconnectFromHost().

- QMenuBar
        Added setActiveAction(), which makes the provided action
        active.

- QProxyModel
        This class has been obsoleted (see QAbstractProxyModel)

- QWidget
        Now supports three modes of modality: NonModal, WindowModal and
        ApplicationModal.
        Added Qt::WindowModality, obsoleted WA_ShowModal and WA_GroupLeader.
        Added Qt::WA_OpaquePaintEvent widget attribute, obsoleting Qt::WA_NoBackground.
        Added boolean autoFillBackground property.
        Child widgets now always inherit the contents of their parent.

- QPalette
        Added QPalette::Window (obsoletes Background) and
              QPalette::WindowText (obsoletes Foreground).

- QHttpResponseHeader
        Added two constructors and the function setStatusLine() for generating
        a response header.

- QBitArray
        Added count(bool), for counting on and off-bits in a bit array.

- QVariant
        Added support for QRegExp

- QRegExpValidator
        Added the property "regExp".

- QTabBar
        Added the property "iconSize", for setting the size of the icons on
        the tabs.

- QLineEdit
        Added support for inserting Unicode control characters through the
        context menu.

- QString
        Added toLong() and toULong().
        Support for std::string conversions with embedded \0 characters.

- QRegion
        Added translate(), like QRect::translated().

- QProcess
        Added systemEnvironment(), which returns the environment variables
        of the calling process.
        Added exitStatus(), and added a new finished() signal which takes the
        exit status as a parameter.

- QComboBox
        Made setCurrentIndex() a slot.

- QFontDataBase
        Added styleString(), for retrieving the style string from a QFontInfo.
        Added support for Myanmar fonts.

- QFontMetrics
        Added xHeight(), which returns the 'X' height of the font.

- QCoreApplication
        Added arguments(), which returns a list of command line arguments as a
        QStringList.

- QTcpSocket
        Added support for SOCKS5 via setProxy().

- QUdpSocket
        Added property "bindMode", for binding several sockets to the same
        address and port.

- QPen
        Added support for custom dash pattern styles and miter limits.
        Added support for QDebug.

- QDebug
        Added support for QVector and QPair output.

- QStringListModel
        Added support for sorting.

- QOpenGLPaintEngine
        Gradients in the OpenGL paint engine are now drawn using
        fragment programs, if the extension is available. Lots of
        fixes, speedups and tweaks.


Platform-Specific changes
-------------------------

Windows:

- Painting
        Added support for ClearType text rendering.

- File Engine
        Added support for long filenames/paths.

X11:

- QWidget
        Added support for freedesktop.org startup notifications.

Mac OS X:

- Improved support for the VoiceOver accessibility tool in Mac OS 10.4
  and later


3rd-party libraries
-------------------

- zlib
        Upgraded to zlib 1.2.3.

- FreeType
        Upgraded to FreeType 2.1.10.

- SQLite
        Upgraded to SQLite 3.2.7