QtDesignStudio/build QDS

Instruction on how to build Qt Design Studio.

Qt Design Studio is based on Qt Creator

The Qt Design studio consists of:

• Qt Creator
  • The branches are prefixed with qds. e.g. qds/dev or qds/4.6
• Studio components which are necessary for the used kit

We build with CMake + Ninja by default.

Windows notes:

• We use MSVC2019 on Windows, but MSVC2022 should also work. MinGW is not activly supported.
  • you need "Desktop development with C++" + "Windows * SDK" (which is not default)
• Also, do not use a build path that is too long. For example, if you have a long user path or if one drive is involved, it can result in crazy build errors
  • a good path is, for example, c:\dev. It is also good that it is not synced to one drive, which makes the machine slow during a compile.

Since Qt Design Studio 4.6.0 we use Qt 6.7.3 to build it. Make sure to enable BUILD_DESIGNSTUDIO in the CMake options.

In case you use your own Qt there is the need to get Studio Components that are used in any wizard-created project

The Studio Components are necessary to create a new project with the wizard, and also it contains components for the Simulator, EventList, and FlowView:

https://codereview.qt-project.org/q/project:qt-labs%252Fqtquickdesigner-components

• without you are getting QtQuick.Studio modules not found errors, for example:

module "QtQuick.Studio.Components" is not installed
module "QtQuick.Studio.Application" is not installed
module "QtQuick.Studio.Effects" is not installed

Therefore, you should install the qtquickdesigner-components in the qt you use (match also the CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE especially on Windows):

git clone "ssh://username@codereview.qt-project.org:29418/qt-labs/qtquickdesigner-components"
mkdir qtquickdesigner-components_build && cd qtquickdesigner-components_build
cmake -G"Ninja" -S ../qtquickdesigner-components -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=/Users/tijensse/Qt/6.2.3/macos/ -DCMAKE_MAKE_PROGRAM:STRING=/opt/homebrew/bin/ninja

The important thing is to use ninja. Then, it will find the used Qt and know where to install it

For building qtquickdesigner on Ubuntu, I've used the following workflow. Before that, you need to check out the repository mentioned above. For this to work, it must be placed in its default folder (defined by the repository) called qtquickdesigner-components. From its parent folder, do the following:

mkdir qtquickdesigner-components-build
cd qtquickdesigner-components-build/
cmake -G Ninja -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=~/Qt/6.2.4/gcc_64 ../qtquickdesigner-components
cmake --build .
cmake --install .

• set/manage the correct kit
• remove Kit from HideOptionCategories in the installsettings
  • installsettings location in source: qt-creator\dist\branding\qtdesignstudio\QtProject\QtDesignStudio.ini (will be copied by building to, for example: C:\dev\build\qtcreator\share\qtcreator\QtProject\QtDesignStudio.ini )