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Tools
You can make a Barry Launcher app with any text editor, but a few tools make it much easier. All of these are free.
| If you… | Use |
|---|---|
| are new to QML | Qt Creator |
| already live in VS Code | VS Code with the Qt Qml extension |
| like designing visually | Qt Design Studio, then finish in code |
Qt Creator is Qt's own
editor: QML completion, error highlighting as you type, a QML debugger and
a profiler. It comes with the Qt Online Installer on Windows and macOS, and
as a package on Linux (qtcreator).
Open your app's main.qml with File → Open File or Project, and run
barry-app run in its terminal pane to try it.
Install the Qt Qml extension (by The Qt Company) from the marketplace.
It brings syntax highlighting and the qmlls language server (completion,
go-to-definition, warnings), using the Qt installed on your computer.
Qt Design Studio lays out
screens visually and writes QML. Good for a first look. Its projects
include extra modules, so copy the parts you want into a plain main.qml
rather than shipping the project.
Barry Simulator opens your apps in windows shaped like the Thor's bottom screen, with Qt 6.8 (the version on PB-OS), their services and stand-in games, and their log. It reopens an app when you save a file.
They come with Qt 6:
qml file.qml |
runs a QML file (barry-app run uses it, with Barry's host around your app) |
qmllint file.qml |
finds mistakes before you run: missing properties, typos, unsafe lookups |
qmlformat -i file.qml |
tidies the layout of a QML file |
qmlls |
the language server editors use |
Run qmllint on every file before you share an app. A clean result is a
good sign; the Dice example is clean.
python3 tools/barry-app run myapp opens your app in a 1240 × 1080 window,
hosted exactly as on the Thor, with a fresh data folder (or
--data somefolder to keep one). It's the quickest loop: edit, save,
close the window, run again.
| Inkscape | draws SVG icons; set the page to 24 × 24 to match Barry's grid |
| Tabler Icons | 5,000+ line icons, MIT licensed, in Barry's style |
| Penpot or Figma | design screens and export icons |
| GIMP, Krita | pictures and textures |
| oxipng | makes PNGs smaller without losing anything |
Audacity for editing; keep sound effects as
short WAV files for SoundEffect, music as OGG or MP3 for MediaPlayer.
- Git and GitHub: keep your app in a repository, and let GitHub build the zip. This repository's workflow checks and packs every app on each push, and attaches the zips to a release when you push a tag. Copy it. See Sharing your app.
-
Desktop Mode has a terminal (Konsole) with
barry-app, and Qt, sobarry-app runworks there too. -
SSH from your computer: copy zips over, install with
barry-app install, and read logs (~/.cache/barry_launcher/ID.log).
- First steps with QML, from Qt's documentation
- The QML Book, free and thorough
- The Dice example, and Dino: a whole game in one file