New Features in Qt 5.7

C++11 Support Required from the compiler

Qt has enabled usage of C++11 in Qt applications for a long time, but with Qt 5.7 we are also enabling use of C++11 in the Qt modules. Therefore Qt 5.7 requires C++11 support from the compiler, and has removed support from older compilers not providing adequate C++11 support.

New Features (within existing modules)

• Qt Core
  • QIODevice now supports multistreaming
• Qt GUI
  • QImage smooth scale optimized for NEON.
  • Optimized the OpenGL function wrappers for speed and code size. QtGui library size has been significantly reduced due to a massive reduction in symbols.
• Qt Network
• Qt Widgets
  • QTabBar now delegates placement of tab scroll buttons to the style.
  • Qt Style Sheets can now optionally let widgets inherit font and palette from their parents.
• Qt Test
• Qt WebEngine
  • Based on Chromium 48 or 49
  • Drag'n'Drop
  • Printing to PDF
  • Spellchecking
  • Audio played in tab notification.
  • Support for DRM-protected HTML5 video using Widevine pepper plugin
  • API for evaluating javascript or installing qwebchannel in secure isolated javascript worlds
• Qt QML
  • Added JIT support for WinRT on x86 and x64.
  • Enabled JIT for 64-bit ARM Linux platforms.
  • All debug services now work with QJSEngine rather than QQmlEngine, which allows for non-QML JavaScript debugging or profiling.
  • The JavaScript debug service now supports debugging of multiple QJSEngine instances at the same time.
• Qt Quick
  • The inspector service now supports all subclasses of QQuickWindow, which makes Qt Creator's inspection feature useful.
• Embedded platforms
  • Added support for NVIDIA DRIVE CX boards (Tegra X1, AArch64)
  • Improved theming support with eglfs
• Desktop platforms
  • X11: QMenuBar uses the unified D-Bus AppMenu menubar when the desktop environment supports it (e.g. Ubuntu Unity)
• Qt WebView
• Qt Canvas 3D
  • New version of three.js
• Qt NFC
  • API ported to Android.
• Qt Multimedia
  • Added support for tvOS.
  • Extended QML playlist API.
• Qt Positioning
• Qt Location
• Qt Bluetooth
  • Technical preview for Qt Bluetooth Low Energy peripheral role feature (Bluez only)

New Modules

• Qt 3D
  • Support for Compute Shaders on supported hardware
  • Support for loading multi-image DDS and KTX textures including cubemaps, mip chains, array textures
  • Improved support for compressed texture formats
  • Render surface made explicit - will later allow for multiple renders of the same scene to different surfaces and other use cases
  • Extended Input API and support for device plugins
  • Picking support improved
• Qt Quick Controls 2
  • A new light-weight set of embedded and mobile orientation controls
  • Based on a flexible template system that enables rapid development of entire custom styles and user experiences
  • Built-in styles:
    • Default style - a simple and minimal all-round style that offers the maximum performance
    • Material style - a style based on the Google Material Design Guidelines
    • Universal style - a style based on the Microsoft Universal Design Guidelines
  • Can be mixed with Qt Quick Controls 1.0, but the APIs are not compatible
• Qt Serial Bus
  • First final release following TP release in Qt 5.6
• Qt Charts
  • Previously commercial-only Qt Charts module is now included in Qt under also GPLv3 license for open source users
• Qt Data Visualization
  • Previously commercial-only Qt Data Visualization module is now included in Qt under also GPLv3 license for open source users
• Qt Virtual Keyboard
  • Previously commercial-only Qt Virtual Keyboard module is now included in Qt under also GPLv3 license for open source users
• Qt Purchasing
  • Previously commercial-only Qt Purchasing module is now included in Qt under also LGPLv3 and GPLv3 license for open source users
• Qt Quick 2D Renderer
  • Previously commercial-only Qt Quick 2D Renderer module is now included in Qt under also GPLv3 license for open source users

Technology Preview Modules

• Qt Wayland Compositor
  • Pure QML API
  • Improved C++ API with added convenience
  • New convenient API for making extensions and using them from both QML and C++
• Qt SCXML
  • Completely new module for C++ and QML
  • Static and runtime integration of SCXML models into Qt code

Deprecated Modules

The following modules are part of Qt 5.6 release, but deprecated and considered for removal in subsequent releases of Qt:

• Qt Script

Removed Modules

With Qt 5.7 the following modules are no longer part of the release packages:

• Qt Enginio

Configurations

• Qt 5.7 has deprecated configurations that do not provide adequate C++11 support. For details, please see Qt 5.7 Tools and Versions in the wiki.
• Mobile platforms: Minimum required versions upgraded to iOS 7 and Android 4.1

Known Issues