Make Qt Designer look like a Mobile app

[MatuX]

Hey guys,

I'm fairly new to Symbian C++, Symbian in general and Qt... I however come from a strong background on general C++, iPhone, Android and some others...

When I create a new project all I get is a Windows form which I get is ok given that I'm coding on a Win machine... But I would really like to look at it like a Symbian^1 form given thats my target platform. More over, our designers here will provide me all the images to create the customized GUI for the application. Even when I try to change the styleSheet, the changes like background color appear on the Simulator but nothing happens on Qt Designer...

How can I make Qt Designer be more "WYSIWYG" on my particular case? Am I doing something terribly wrong?

Thanks a lot for your help!

[MatuX]

Hey everyone!

No replies? This question can't be that ridiculous! Or perhaps the obvious answer is eluding me

Anyways, it would be nice if I wouldn't have to create the GUI blindly

Thanks a lot anyways!

[danhicksbyron]

Sometimes Qt is like the dog that walks on its hind legs -- it doesn't do it well, but the fact that it can do it at all is remarkable.

[MatuX]

I'm about to desist from using Qt and go straight to Symbian C++. I find it very difficult to wrap my head around Desktop UI concepts on a Mobile environment.
I guess I'll have to wait until Qt matures a bit more so I feel more comfortable using it to create Mobile apps!

Not saying Qt is bad! Just that, I don't know, perhaps I'm too used to iPhone/Android/RIM or even Java ME way of doing things.

[danhicksbyron]

It's possible to build some fairly sophisticated touch-based phone apps with Qt. You have to be prepared to work around the rough edges and do some roll-your-own widgets to work around the missing/defective ones.

I'm guessing that doing non-touch phone apps is much harder, but then non-touch apps are a problem with any tool set.

Qt is definitely more "humane" to the programmer than Symbian C++ or Objective C, and much more productive when the right interfaces are there and the tools aren't broken -- far less boilerplate devoted to leaves and exceptions and the like, and fewer traps laying wait.

And of course you have to separate the support tools from the language/environment itself. No doubt Designer has flaws in terms of representing your actual target environment, and the various emulators/simulators are slow and buggy. But several other platforms (including iPhone and Android, from what I've heard) have no WYSIWYG GUI designer at all.

The worst thing about Qt, from my viewpoint, is that it's such a moving target -- it never stabilizes long enough to learn the tool set, distribution mechanisms, etc. I used to think this was just teething pains, but now I suspect the situation will continue unabated for years (or until Qt dies). (Java suffers from much the same problem, though on a different level.)

[divanov]

I'm about to desist from using Qt and go straight to Symbian C++. I find it very difficult to wrap my head around Desktop UI concepts on a Mobile environment.
I guess I'll have to wait until Qt matures a bit more so I feel more comfortable using it to create Mobile apps!

Qt is around since 1991 and S60 was released in 2001. Also note that Qt is cross-platform toolkit.

[dpurgin]

Why not trying not to use the Designer then? :-) In my opinion mobile development doesn't need some sophisticated user interface, which could be hardly kept in mind or could be hard to code, especially if you are familiar with the other platforms.