[Qt-interest] Hello, regarding the QT mobile widgets

[Kai Koehne]

On 8/26/2010 12:36 PM, ext Patric wrote:
> [...]
> So I would like to ask few questions to clarify the current and future
> idea situations.I'm sure it'll be helpful for other guys like me that
> are trying to comprehend the new aspects of QT.
>
> 1. Currently the official way of doing mobile development for Symbian
> and Maemo is through standard QT widgets.

Yes, kind of. You can also implement your own custom UI with 
QGraphicsView, but then again Qml, which also builds on QGraphicsView, 
is probably the easier path to take.

Check out e.g.

http://wiki.forum.nokia.com/index.php/Porting_Mobile_Applications_to_Qt

for a more in depth explanation.

> 2. Standard QT widgets inherit the UI style of the platform but are not
> optimized for mobile experience.

Yes.

> 3. Qt Orbit (UI extensions for mobile development) is also not official
> widget set.Do they inherit the native UI ? Guess they are not supported
> be UI Designer either.

Orbit builds on top of QGraphicsView, while Qt Designer only works with 
QWidgets. So there is little chance we will ever support them in Qt 
Designer.

> 4. Are these mobile development extensions the future official QT mobile
> widgets ?  Are they gonna be supported in QT Designer and are they gonna
> be common for Symbian and Maemo as official widgets for both platforms ?
> 5. Is QML currently suitable for mobile development as an alternative of
> standard widgets/orbit ?

Depends on the application/requirements :) Qml does not yet feature UIs 
with native look and feel.

> 6. Also I can't really find documentation or Orbit or some tutorial or
> even widget screen shots, apart of some small video on youtube.
> 7. I understand that your advice is to currently go with standard
> widgets, since Orbit still don't have good support neither do QML.

Sorry, I can't tell you much about Orbit. I haven't checked it out myself.

> 8. Are there other alternatives than standard widgets/orbit/qml for UI
> mobile design ?

May I add MeegoTouch to the list? :)

> 9. I'll be happy to receive some general info about the future of QT
> mobile development... since I'm strongly interested in Nokia/QT and
> there is really a lot of misleading information on the net on this topic.

If I'd be you I'd stay with pure Qt/QtMobility as far as it gets me: 
Since they're further down in the stack than e.g. Orbit, it's ensured 
that your app will work on a wide range of devices and platforms. I have 
high hopes that QML will have quite an impact, too.

However, there are obviously still some missing pieces when relying on 
pure Qt. We're working on filling them, but this will take time. Until 
then you might have to (partly) rely on platform specific code, or 
platform specific frameworks like Orbit and MeegoTouch.

Btw, this is just my personal opinion, so no 'official' answer, I'm 
afraid :)

Kai

-- 
Kai Koehne
Software Engineer
Nokia, Qt Development Frameworks

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