Qt

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Qt C++ Development Guide

6 minute

Why Learn Qt C++

Qt is a mature, open-source C++ UI framework with commercial support. It is especially well suited for industrial, medical, and other device-oriented software.

  • Stability and maturity: Qt has a long production track record and a large ecosystem
  • Cross-platform advantage: one source tree can build applications for Windows, macOS, and Linux
  • Command-line support: Qt is not limited to GUI apps; it also works well for console tools
  • Learning value: it has rich documentation, clear conventions, and practical examples that help deepen C++ skills

Development Environment

Installing Qt Libraries and Tools

  • Use the Qt Online Installer
  • On Linux, package managers such as apt can install the distribution-provided build
  • You can also build from source. The example below uses Linux:
# Install dependencies
sudo apt install -y build-essential libgl1-mesa-dev \
    libfontconfig1-dev \
    libfreetype6-dev \
    libx11-dev \
    libx11-xcb-dev \
    libxext-dev \
    libxfixes-dev \
    libxi-dev \
    libxrender-dev \
    libxcb1-dev \
    libxcb-cursor-dev \
    libxcb-glx0-dev \
    libxcb-keysyms1-dev \
    libxcb-image0-dev \
    libxcb-shm0-dev \
    libxcb-icccm4-dev \
    libxcb-sync-dev \
    libxcb-xfixes0-dev \
    libxcb-shape0-dev \
    libxcb-randr0-dev \
    libxcb-render-util0-dev \
    libxcb-util-dev \
    libxcb-xinerama0-dev \
    libxcb-xkb-dev \
    libxkbcommon-dev \
    libxkbcommon-x11-dev \
    libssl-dev libclang-dev libbluetooth-dev

# Configure
./configure -release -prefix /opt/qt/6.5 \
    -no-accessibility -openssl-linked \
    -disable-deprecated-up-to 0x060500 \
    -skip qt3d \
    -skip qt5compat \
    -skip qtactiveqt \
    -skip qtdatavis3d \
    -skip qtdeclarative \
    -skip qtdoc \
    -skip qtlocation \
    -skip qtlottie \
    -skip qtmqtt \
    -skip qtopcua \
    -skip qtscxml \
    -skip qtquick3d \
    -skip qtquick3dphysics \
    -skip qtquickeffectmaker \
    -skip qtquicktimeline \
    -skip qtwebengine \
    -skip qtwebview \
    -skip qtvirtualkeyboard \
    -- -DOPENSSL_USE_STATIC_LIBS=ON

# Build and install
cmake --build . --parallel && sudo cmake --install .
cmake --build . --target docs && sudo cmake --build . --target install_docs

# Add Qt to PATH
echo 'export PATH="/opt/qt/6.5/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.profile

Code Editing and Compilation

  • Use Qt Creator or a common editor such as VSCode
  • A minimal CMake setup looks like this:
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.14)
project(test LANGUAGES CXX)
set(CMAKE_AUTOUIC ON)
set(CMAKE_AUTOMOC ON)
set(CMAKE_AUTORCC ON)
set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 17)
set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD_REQUIRED ON)
find_package(Qt6 REQUIRED COMPONENTS Core)
link_libraries(Qt6::Core)
add_executable(test main.cpp)

main.cpp:

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