This article aims to compare and contrast three applications related to Qt development, namely Qt Designer, Qt Quick Designer, and Qt Creator. These tools are designed to facilitate the creation of graphical user interfaces (GUIs) for Qt applications.
Qt Creator, being the recommended integrated development environment (IDE), offers a wide range of features such as intellisense, autocomplete, and debugging. It has the capability to open and modify both .ui and .qml files, making it versatile for different types of GUIs.
On the other hand, Qt Designer serves as a graphical tool specifically for building QWidget GUIs, while Qt Quick Designer is tailored for QML GUIs. These two tools are integrated into Qt Creator, allowing developers to edit both graphical elements and C++ logic.
It is worth mentioning that Qt Design Studio, another tool, focuses on simplifying the interface design process using QML and Photoshop integration.
As Qt Designer is gradually becoming part of Qt Creator, this article aims to provide an objective analysis of these tools’ features and capabilities, ultimately recommending the most suitable IDE for Qt development.
Comparison of Tools
One key difference between Qt Designer, Qt Quick Designer, and Qt Creator is that Qt Designer is primarily used for creating and editing widget files (.ui) for PyQt applications.
On the other hand, Qt Quick Designer is integrated into Qt Creator and is used for editing QML files.
Qt Designer provides a graphical interface for designing QWidget-based graphical user interfaces (GUIs) by dragging and dropping widgets onto a canvas. It is limited to editing graphical elements and does not handle C++ logic.
Qt Quick Designer, on the other hand, is specifically designed for creating and editing QML-based GUIs. It allows developers to visually design QML components, layouts, and animations.
Qt Creator, on the other hand, is the integrated development environment (IDE) for Qt development, providing a full suite of tools for creating Qt applications in C++. It includes both Qt Designer and Qt Quick Designer as built-in tools, allowing developers to choose the appropriate designer for their application type.
Features and Capabilities
Qt Designer:
- Primarily focused on building QWidget GUIs
- Provides a graphical interface for creating and editing widget files (.ui) for PyQt applications
- Allows for the design and arrangement of graphical elements
- Does not handle the C++ logic
Qt Quick Designer:
- Specifically designed for building QML GUIs
- Integrated into Qt Creator
- Provides a visual editor for creating and modifying QML files
- Allows for the design and manipulation of QML components and properties
Qt Creator:
- Powerful IDE
- Encompasses both Qt Designer and Qt Quick Designer functionalities
- Additional features like intellisense, autocomplete, and debugging
- Supports both Qt Widgets and Qt Quick applications
- Can open and edit both .ui and .qml files
- Recommended tool for Qt development
Recommended IDE for Qt
The recommended integrated development environment for Qt development is Qt Creator. It is a powerful IDE that provides a comprehensive set of features and capabilities for creating Qt applications.
Qt Creator offers a user-friendly interface and supports both Qt Widgets and Qt Quick applications. It includes the Qt Designer tool for editing .ui files, allowing developers to create and modify graphical layouts.
Additionally, Qt Creator integrates Qt Quick Designer, which is specifically designed for editing QML files.
Qt Creator offers advanced features like intellisense, autocomplete, and debugging, making the development process more efficient and streamlined.
With its seamless integration of Qt Designer and Qt Quick Designer, Qt Creator is the go-to IDE for Qt developers, offering a unified and versatile environment for creating high-quality applications.
