Friday 25 July 2008

How to install eclipse+Qt 4+ MinGW

After trying to install Eclipse + QT integration +minGW with some trouble for the last 3 days I decided to put together a small guide to help newbies like me not to go through the same problems.
So you can follow the next step to install Eclipse under Windows vista with QT4.4.0 and minGW and its g++ libraries.

1. Download "Automated MinGW Installer" with filename “MinGW-5.1.4.exe” from http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=2435, Install MinGW-5.1.4.exe ( Notice you select and download “MinGW base tool” “g++ compiler”, and “MinGW make” during the installation)


Fig 1: MingGW installation.


Note: I selected the standard C:\MinGW\ path


2. Download "GNU Source-Level Debugger" from http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=2435, Filename is “gdb-6.8-mingw-3.tar.bz2” decompress it to the directory where you installed MinGW. (to decompress you may use the 7zip program) Please choose no when the decompression software asks you whether to cover the file with the same name.

Only the 2 files; gdb.exe and gdbserver.exe in the /bin/ have to be copied to the QT\4.4.0\bin\


3. Download "Qt/Windows Open Source Edition", filename “qt-win-opensource-4.4.0-mingw.exe” from http://trolltech.com/developer/downloads/qt/windows. Install it. It will put everything in C:\qt\4.4.0\

mingw message saying that it want to use mingw version 3, ignore the message. the version already install is newer and worked for me.



4. Download "Eclipse IDE for C/C++ Developers" filename “eclipse-cpp-ganymede-win32.zip” from http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/, decompress it to a directory no install involved, works directly from the exe file.



5. Download "Qt Eclipse Integration Downloads" with filename “qt-eclipse-integration-win32-1.4.0.exe” from http://trolltech.com/developer/downloads/qt/eclipse-integration-download, install it.

6. Set your system's Environment Variables.

Start\computer\system porperties\advanced system settings\ Environment Variables (under Vista)


Add C:\MinGW\bin and C:\Qt\4.4.0\bin to PATH
Add C:\MinGW\lib and C:\Qt\4.4.0\lib to LIB (create one if needed),
Add C:\MinGW\include and C:\Qt\4.4.0\include to INCLUDE (create one if needed),



Fig: Environment of vista.


Reboot your computer.(especially under windows XP or lower)
Note: If you forget this path the build of the debug libraries may give some errors.


7. In Start menu\All Applications\Qt by Trolltech v4.4.0 (OpenSource), please find Qt 4.4.0 (Build Debug Libraries) and execute it.

Note this will take around two hours on a celeron and few GBs on the hard disc where you installed Qt.



Fig: Building debug libraries and Qt\4.4.0\lib directory .


8. Now we are almost ready write a new Qt project in Eclipse. Just need to go to “Window\Preferences\Qt” to write the QT4 path “C:\QT\4.4.0\bin\” and “C:\QT\4.4.0\include\”


To run a program go to the main.cpp file select the green arrow \ run as local application.


Fig: Run eclipse with Qt project

It worked (this time) for me. It should work for you.

Have fun and all the best QTs


Tuesday 22 July 2008

An advanced Programming tool - Eclipse with QT

For the fans of open source and all the developers, you can now program your QT4 software using an advanced developer platform: "Eclipse".

Eclipse is well supported when using java coding. And recently Trolltech developed their own plug-in so that you could program on the platform using QT4 libraries and designer tool.

As eclipse is based with Java it is platform independent and can run under linux or windows.

Offcourse there is few setup to go through, but it is quite easy to install. (remember to add to the PATH the "C:/qt/4.4.0/bin/" and "C:/MinGW/bin/"

It runs with QT4 and the MinGW libraries.

I used to program with eclipse before under Java coding, and I will say that it is not as good using the Qt4/c++ but is much better than the "text editor" way. the debugger is still not working (at least with my setup) and "control+over" help is still not as good as for the java libraries.

It gives you a very good view of your program code and it much easier to navigate through your code.



Well done Trolltech. Continue the good work.