Qt and "Ovi Store publishing tool"

[danhicksbyron]

Can Qt apps be published through the "fast path" "Ovi Store publishing tool"? (And, importantly, has anyone done it?) I know the initial announcement said yes, but the "welcome" note from the tool just mentions Symbian C++ and Adobe Flash Lite -- Qt is conspicuously absent.

[OviJustin]

Dear danhicksbyron,

Thank you for writing in to Forum Nokia.

After reviewing your concern, we would kindly ask if you can clarify what "fast path" means in this situation. Please note that it is possible to publish Qt apps to the Ovi store. When creating a Qt app, please select "Symbian apps" in the drop down box.

Any further questions or comments can be directed to publishtoovi.support@nokia.com

[danhicksbyron]

I mean this: http://www.forum.nokia.com/Distribut...xhtml#article0

And apparently the process can handle the case of Qt with Smart Installer, but can't handle other situations with embedded sis files, however.

[ltomuta]

What the referenced article describes is a cheaper but not necessary faster track. You follow the same procedures as for publishing any native Symbian application (Qt applications are native as well, just as the Symbian C++ ones), i.e. develop, test, certify and publish. The only difference being that in Nokia's free signing offer it is Nokia that takes care of the certification costs.

Ovi Store does have a limit of file size for applications and that is set at 2MB. Any file exceeding that limit is by default rejected and would require a exception to be allowed in the store. Since a Qt application which has the libraries embedded does exceed the limit, the message is that the only way you can publish Qt applications is by using the Smart Installer component. This is what makes Qt exceptional, other than that any application can go through the process, regardless of the technology type.

Should you want to publish a Qt application which targets only Nokia's Symbian^3 devices, which have Qt built in, you should be able to create packages which are below the 2MB limit and therefore which are accepted by Ovi Store without the smart installer wrapping.

[jscurtis]

and don't forget -

Ovi say "Qt developers can upload Qt Symbian apps targeting both the Nokia N97 mini and Nokia X6, as well as Qt Maemo apps for the Nokia N900 mobile computer. The Nokia N8 will be supported when it’s released later this year, and additional Nokia Symbian (5.0 and 3.1/3.2) devices will be supported in the future"

which means today there are only two devices that can get Qt apps from Ovi, the N97 mini and X6.

Not only that, when you try to publish a Qt app on Ovi you get this message:

ISSUE: Description for Qt Smart Installer content requires additional information.
SUMMARY: Items utilizing the Qt SmartInstaller requires an additional disclaimer in the description.
CORRECTIVE ACTIONS: Please add the disclaimer below to the beginning of the metadata description informing users that additional downloads may be required. Note: The disclaimer is needed for all description translations.
DISCLAIMER: “This item may require a one-time download of components as large as 12.3 MB. Use of WLAN is recommended.”

[tamhanna]

Just addf the text to the product description. Look for BallZ in Ovi for a sample: the Ovi team used to do that for you...

[danhicksbyron]

The embedded sis isn't the Qt libraries. And, if you read the referenced section, the claim is made that the process takes approx 2 weeks vs the more common 4.

[ltomuta]

Ok, you're talking about what you read and I'm talking about what I expect Still, the blocking issue is the size, and if it is not caused by the Qt libraries then Smart Installer will not help you. Contact Ovi Publising directly and ask what your options are.

[danhicksbyron]

Ok, you're talking about what you read and I'm talking about what I expect Still, the blocking issue is the size, and if it is not caused by the Qt libraries then Smart Installer will not help you. Contact Ovi Publising directly and ask what your options are.

I did, and they said they can't handle (unsigned) embedded sis files.

[tamhanna]

Then what about firing off ES on it?

[OviAndrew]

Ok, you're talking about what you read and I'm talking about what I expect Still, the blocking issue is the size, and if it is not caused by the Qt libraries then Smart Installer will not help you. Contact Ovi Publising directly and ask what your options are.

Dear Itomuta,

Please be advised that for QT based applications, the file size limit is 350 MB, not 2MB. A disclaimer should be added "This item may require a one-time download of components as large as 13 MB. Use of WLAN is recommended."

@danhicksbyron: If by "embedded sis" you mean that you are packaging your application with the Smart Installer into a wrapper.sis, then the Signing team will accept this. However, any other embedded files types will be rejected.

Hope this helps. If you should have any further questions, please don't hesitate to contact us at publishtoovi.support@nokia.com

Best regards,
OviAndrew
Ovi Store Publisher Support
http://publish.ovi.com/ [^]

Promote your Ovi Store App on the web now!
http://promotions.ovi.com/omt [^]

[danhicksbyron]

I mean other embedded sis files.

Good to hear about the increased size limit for Qt apps, though we had already supposedly received clearance for ours (approx 8MB). Got snarled up, though, when the non-techie who was responsible thought an Ovi Store registration was the same as a Publisher ID, so the publishing schedule got set back a month or so.