RFC: Consider Qt Quick + Qml?

[Ghabry]

Qt Widgets are consideres as outdated since Qt 5 and don't really receive updates anymore, besides bugfixes.

The new hot shit since Qt 5 is QtQuick + Qml which is a declarative Ui language. Gives some nice features like e.g. data binding without writing any C++ code, saves repetitive code and makes it easier to create custom Ui elements if necessary.

Native UI elements are available: https://doc.qt.io/qt-5/qtquickcontrols-overview.html

Can't be that bad because KDE 5 migrates currently everything to Qml.

Just mentioning this because our editor is not that advanced yet from a GUI perspective, so it's not too late to discuss this.

[MarianoGnu]

I thought QtQuick was for phone apps...

What about lisence? Qt is every time more restrictive imo :( damn Microsoft

[fdelapena]

What about lisence? Qt is every time more restrictive imo :( damn Microsoft

Qt licensing is "okay". The only "issue" is the copyright holding, but a minor one really. Qt developers need to sign a contribution agreement but this happens with a lot of free/open source software. A fork can be made in any moment if they try to do nasty things when this happens (e.g. Oracle with OpenOffice -> LibreOffice; MySQL -> MariaDB, etc.).

By the way, wxWidgets has a more liberal license than Qt. It is a modified LGPL2+ which allows to be used in modified software in binary form with your own terms, making it compatible with GPL and commercial programs even with static linking or library modifications (remarks).

[Ghabry]

@MarianoGnu
Correct the initial version of QtQuick was targeting phone only. But the newer also feature desktop widgets.
That's why I think it is worth a look.
And porting to chrome os/android is easier because it offers native looking widgets.

Well license is GPL doesn't really matter for the editor.

[MarianoGnu]

I meant the "buy me if you want upgrades" thing 👅

[fmatthew5876]

I'm still brushing up on QT so my opinion may change later. For now I would stick with C++ widgets. It'll interact with our C++ liblcf easier.

C++ widgets will be around forever. Qml/QtQuick could be hot today and then left unsupported years later when the new hotness arrives.

I'm not sure Editor on mobile would ever make sense, would it?

[fdelapena]

Qt Quick 1 has been deprecated in just 3 years and the whole module will be removed some day. Qt Quick 2 drops native widgets support and a lot of useful stuff, e.g. the toolbar needs to be designed mostly handmade because by default uses the triple dot button (burger-like dropdown menu).

Because it is focused for mobile and Qt Widgets are still available for mobile if really needed and they are supported long term, I guess we may stick to Qt Widgets.

[MarianoGnu]

Yeah, Qt deprecates APIs so ofter, it doesnt make sense to switch tecnology imho