How do I use Qt in my Visual Studio 2015 projects? - visual-studio

We have large project that used .NET Framework for showing forms/windows. Recently I decided to deprecate CLR dependency and move to Qt.
While learning Qt, we've migrated from Visual studio 2013 to 2015 and then I noticed that there is no qt support for MSVC 14 version which vs2015 use.
Additionally, Qt vs addin was not working jn visual studio express/community edition we use. Is there any chance for me to use Qt and qt addin in our projects?
Searching web did not help, and it looks like no one use Qt with latest Visual Studio?

Building
You can use Qt in Visual Studio 2015 without any problems. As already stated in the comments, you have to build it from source but Qt is pretty straightforward to build. You can download the current (5.5) sources here and then follow this step by step example on building it.
I would also suggest reading more about the configure options, this might save you a lot of time. It might possibly save you some external dependencies as well if you skip components you do not need. My configuration for instance contains -skip qtwebkit -skip qtwebchannel so I do not need ruby or python.
I could totally omit step 3 from the link. Just be sure to open the Visual Studio Command Prompt (32/64 is important here) for configure and nmake.
Usage
For Visual Studio 2015, the Qt Add-In is not available anymore. But there is an Extension (Tools > Extensions & Updates) called Qt5Package or QtPackage which has the same functionality. After installing it, you have the Qt entry on your main toolbar where you have to specify a version and the path to the directory where you built it. This version will also be associated with the current project via the same menu.
If you load an existing project, you also have to convert it so the whole Qt functionality is used automatically. You can do this by opening the solution and right click on it; there should be an entry for the conversion to a QtAddin generated project.
I am using Qt 5.5 on Visual Studio 2015 with an old project and it is working without any issues.

As of now, you can just download Qt for Visual Studio 2015. Here.

Qt have finally added support for Visual Studio 2013 and 2015 although it's only in beta right now. See QTVSADDINBUG-404 for progress and read the blog post From Visual Studio Add-In To Qt VS Tools (Beta).

The Qt Windows could be added to the current project by copying all relating necessary files from the Qt stand-alone project to the current project. Specifically, the following steps must be conducted carefully.
Create an example project of Qt inside a Visual C++ project by using a Qt Plugin Program. The windows must be designed inside this project carefully before adding to the existing project.
Inside the existing project, add carefully the file heloqt.cpp, helloqt.h, ui_helloqt.h, qrc_helloqt.cpp, moc_helloqt.cpp in case of the Qt Project having the name of helloqt.
Add some configurations of Additional include directories and Additional library directories and Additional Dependencies into the existing project.
Compile and add some required *.dll files for running the program.
I have to do that because I want to use a graphic user interface in my big project, and this project is too big to be added into the Qt project inside the Visual C++ Studio.

Related

Linkage error with glui32.lib and libcd.lib on Visual Studio

I am trying to port a (very) old project of mine from Visual Studio 6 to Visual Studio 2010.
The project is an OpenGL application, and as such, it uses the following libraries (amongst others):
glu32.lib
glui32.lib
glut32.lib
opengl32.lib
The glui32.lib library links the libcd.lib library, which is not supported on Visual Studio 2010.
So I need to find a version of the glui32.lib library, which links the libcmtd.lib library instead.
My questions are:
Is there any such version of the glui32.lib library?
If yes - where can I download it?
If no - can I use the libcd.lib library on Visual Studio 2010?
If yes - where can I download it?
If no - is there any other way for me to solve this linkage error?
UPDATE
I'm leaving the answer below as the accepted one, but here is a workaround for porting an OpenGL project from Visual Studio 6 to Visual Studio 2010 (after creating the project in Visual Studio 2010):
Right click the project and choose Properties.
Open Configuration Properties --> C/C++ --> Preprocessor.
In the Preprocessor Definitions entry, add GLUT_BUILDING_LIB.
In the Runtime Library entry, choose Multi-threaded (/MT) or Multi-threaded Debug (/MTd).
Open Configuration Properties --> Linker -->Input.
In the Additional Dependencies entry, add glu32.lib;glui32.lib;glut32.lib;opengl32.lib.
In the Ignore Specific Default Libraries entry, add libcd.lib.
You can rebuild GLUI. The MSVS project they ship converts without issue to VS2010.
You will have to point it at your GLUT build though.

WiX 3.0 with Visual Studio 2010 -- no user interface libs?

I've used Wix before to build installers, and it's great!
I recently re-imaged my machine, and only installed Visual Studio 2010, because I've updated all my projects to that version.
When I download and install WiX 3.0, it complains that Votive will not be installed because I don't have visual studio 2005 or 2008 "or later" installed. That's OK, I don't use Votive anyway (and I don't quite understand what VS 2008 has to do with that, but whatever...)
When I try to link my Wix installer using light.exe, I get a link error, because it can't find the UI wixlibs. Searching various locations on my drive (common files, Wix install dir, etc), I cannot find any wixlib files.
Is the problem that I need to find a separate download for the WiX UI libraries? If so, where? I can't find any promising links on the Wix web site.
Or is the problem that the UI libraries are somehow linked to the Votive installation? If so, how can I install them on a system that only has Visual Studio 2010?
The answer turns out to be that UI has moved away from wixlib files and into the WixUIExtension.dll extension.
Thus, when calling light to link, I can pass -ext WixUIExtension, and all is good.
This solves my problem with "Unresolved reference to symbol 'WixUI:WixUI_Minimal' in section Product"
The exact steps are:
Project Properties -> Tool Settings -> Linker -> add "-ext WixUIExtension"
Alternatively, if you created a WiX Setup Project, right-click on it and add a reference to WixUIExtension.dll, which is found in C:\Program Files (x86)\WiX Toolset [version]\bin\.

Any addins for VS2010 to support VS2005 projects?

Some of the old projects in our company are left to be built with VS2005 in autobuild system (making them build correctly in 2010 cost time). Is it any addins for VS2010 that will allow to open VS2005 project and edit it's files without converting project file itself to VS2010 format (converting will kill autobuild)? Of course i can create a separate project named "xxx_vs2010.vcproj" for each of such products, but that will be a mess :(.
No.
An alternative to consider is to target the VS2005 C++ toolchain from within VS2010. See Native Multi-Targeting and the Project Upgrade Guide. That way, no need to modify source code to appease the VS2010 C++ compiler.

How to convert a regular win32 (VC++ vcproj) project to a Qt project?

How can I convert existing vcproj files to project files that the QT add-in to Visual Studio recognizes and treats as valid Qt projects?
Should I just bite the bullet and create new projects to replace the old ones, and then add existing code?
I am using QT 4.6 and VS 2008 with Qt Add-in 1.1.2.
Original vcproj files have NOT been generated with QMake.
Using Visual Studio 2010+ it is now possible to convert a project to a Qt Addin project, using the "Convert project to Qt Add-in project" feature of the Qt Addin.
The following steps are from the work around in bug QTVSADDINBUG-27. This was tested with Visual Studio 2010, but should work similarly with new versions:
Right click on your project in "Solution Explorer", click on "Unload Project"
Right click on your project in "Solution Explorer", click on "Edit .vcxproj"
Add line <Keyword>Qt4VSv1.0</Keyword> between the tags <PropertyGroup Label="Globals"> and </PropertyGroup>.
Right click on your project in "Solution Explorer", click on "Reload Project"
Right click on your project in "Solution Explorer", click on "Convert project to Qt Add-in project"
If you have header files in your project you are going to have to follow the instructions in this answer to trigger the generation of moc_* files in the "Generated Files" folder.
For editions of Visual Studio older than 2010 see this work around.
Here's the response from Nokia support engineer, name removed for privacy protection:
Hi,
Thanks for the suggestion. I have
passed it on to our developers who
will consider implementing it for a
future release. You can track it using
the following link:
https://bugreports.qt.io/browse/QTVSADDINBUG-27
Regards,
Support Engineer, Qt Development Frameworks, Nokia
>
Original question
We have quite a few legacy vcproj projects that we wish to add Qt to it.
Currently, we don't have an easy way to convert these legacy vcproj
files into a Qt-enabled vcproj.
What do I mean by Qt-enabled?
On a non-Qt-enabled vcproj, when I right click on the project name
under Solution Explorer, all options related to Qt are all grayed-out.
It would be really useful if Nokia adds this capability to VSTD Add-in.
Stackoverflow fellows, if you would like to see this feature implemented by Nokia, please help vote for it at the link above! =)
I use Qt VS Tools instead of Qt VS Add-in.
Instructions
In the .vcxproj file, make the following modifications:
Add <Keyword>Qt4VSv1.0</Keyword> into <Project><PropertyGroup Label="Globals"> (in accord with Benjamin's answer).
Add the following element into <Project> (the root element):
<ProjectExtensions>
<VisualStudio>
<UserProperties MocDir=".\GeneratedFiles\$(ConfigurationName)" UicDir=".\GeneratedFiles" RccDir=".\GeneratedFiles" lupdateOptions="" lupdateOnBuild="0" lreleaseOptions="" Qt5Version_x0020_x64="5.6-msvc2013_64" MocOptions="" />
</VisualStudio>
</ProjectExtensions>
Note that the value of the attribute Qt5Version_x0020_x64 should match the name of a Qt version in Qt VS Tools. You may set an arbitrary value and then fix it in Qt Project Settings in Visual Studio.
My setup
Visual Studio 2013
Qt VS Tools 2.0.0 Beta (apparently a rebranding of Qt VS Add-in)
Qt 5.6 msvc2013_64
Notes
When I follow Benjamin's answer and try to "Convert project to Qt VS Tools project", Visual Studio gets stuck.
The only Qt specific functionality I've tried with the project is exporting a .pri file.
I have reverse engineered the necessary modifications from a fresh VS project created using the template Qt GUI Application.
Converting a regular VC project to a QT project should be easier and the error message displayed by the Qt plug-in when attempting to add a Qt class to a non-QT project is exceedingly unhelpful especially when considering the actual differences between a Qt .vcprojfile and a non-Qt one are minimal. It is often the case that you have existing legacy code built into libraries and Dll's. During migration to Qt you may wish to add a Qt class to an existing module which was previously a non-Qt project. If the module has relatively few source files you may find it easier to re-create the project as a Qt project. If it has hundreds of source files or is complex in other ways it is often be easier to simply hand edit the .vcproj file. By comparing a regular .vcproj with a Qt one it is easy to see what the differences are:
A Qt project has a Keyword="Qt4VS1.0" immediately before
TargetFrameWorkVersion line near the top of the file.
At the bottom of the file you need to add the required Globals (in
particular QtVersion.Win32)
You will need to add the locations of the Qt header files to the
include paths (for all build configurations). You can do this later
via the visual studio user interface
For an exe or dll you will also need to add the Qt library locations
and library files to the linker options.
You actually only need to do 1 and 2 in a text editor and then you can reload the project in Visual Studio.
After setting up include paths and libraries you should be able to build the project as usual. Next you can add a new Qt class or convert an existing class into a Qt class. To do the latter first remove the source files for the existing class from the project otherwise the Qt add class wizard is likely to complain.
The above steps are intended for experienced users and you should always back up existing projects .vcproj files bfore hand editing. Simple mistakes here can render the file unusable.
More answer from Qt support engineer; I think the first pargraph is helpful as I didn't know that before:
i think this is a misunderstanding
really. If you have a Qt project
generated with the Add-in, then you
can change this project into a qmake
generated Qt project - and vice versa;
If you have a .vcproj that has been
generated by doing qmake -tp vc, then
you can convert this to a Qt Add-in
project.
There is no functionality to convert a
regular win32 project into a Qt
enabled project, so the suggestion
created is still valid, see:
https://bugreports.qt.io/browse/QTVSADDINBUG-27
I can see from the history of this
report that it has been closed and
re-opened again, so I assume there was
a misunderstanding regarding what you
were looking for in the first place.
If you create a .pro for you project
using qmake, then you should be able
to create a .vcproj file using 'qmake
-tp vc' on that .pro file. The qmake manual is available here:
http://doc.qt.io/qt-5/qmake-manual.html
I hope this helps.
Regards,
--
Support Engineer, Qt Development
Frameworks, Nokia

Creating a custom project type for Visual Studio to build Borland C++ Builder projects into Visual Studio

I want to start the develop of a custom project type for Visual Studio that builds a BPR project with Visual Studio.
I need some hints to beginning with this project. Where can I find a template for this type of projects?
My target is to remove the Borland C++Builder's ugly and unstable interface from the development process and work enterely from Visual Studio.
Edit: Oops, I didn't really see that you're about to create a new project type for C++ Builder files. In that case, you have to build a language package. The Visual Studio Extensibility site should get you started. Also have a look at this more specific link.
I'll leave my old answer here for reference, because it might help people who just want to build C++Builder projects without creating a whole new project type :)
You didn't specify the version of Visual Studio, but I'll assume a recent one. In Visual Studio 8 and 9, most project files (all popular ones except Visual C++) are actually MSBuild files and can therefore be built by MSBuild. You can add a simple command line task (Exec) to build your bpr on the command line, or you can create a custom task for this (if you don't find one already available - the search terms should be MSBuild and custom task). This way, both Visual Studio and MSBuild can build anything you like. If you don't have an MSBuild file to start with or want to dive into developing a task, the MSBuild project template for Visual Studio will help you.
Oh, and other than that, if you don't actually need C++Builder things, you might as well export the BPR as a solution (or create a new solution and add the files).
Integrating C++Builder projects into a build process should be a lot easier with C++Builder 2007 or 2009 as both use MSBuild as build system. But then, I think that upgrading to a recent version of C++Builder solves your problem the other way :)

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