Visual Studio Add-in
French translators see also: http://qt-devnet.developpez.com/tutoriels/add-in-visual-studio/compiler/
Qt Visual Studio Add-in
Getting the source
The source code of the add-in is hosted on qt.io at http://code.qt.io/cgit/qt-labs/vstools.git/
To create a repository clone, execute the following command:
git clone git://code.qt.io/qt-labs/vstools.git
Instructions for Qt 5.x
As the addin is a Qt app itself, make sure that you have the following software installed:
- Visual Studio 2008+
- Perl
- Qt 5.0+
These instructions refer to Visual Studio 2012. Replace any references to VS2012 with the appropriate file for your VS version (2008, 2010 and 2012 supported).
Building the addin
Open a command shell with a Qt build environment (Visual Studio built-in prompt configured with Qt in appropriate environment variables, 32 or 64-bit) and cd into your add-in source directory.
Execute the following commands:
cd Qt4VS2003
createUserFiles.bat
This sets up reference paths and debug settings.
cd ..\tools
qmake
nmake
cd qt5appwrapper2012
devenv qt5appwrapper2012.sln /useenv /Build release
This builds the required tools, that are used by the Add-In (qtappwrapper, external QRC editor).
At this point, the addin can be built. Open Qt4VS2003\Qt5VSAddin2012.sln as an administrator (the build will fail if you don't), and build the entire solution.
cd ..\..\Qt4VS2003
devenv Qt4VS2012.sln /Build release
Build Instructions for Qt 4.x
Make sure that you have the following software installed:
- Visual Studio 2005 or above
- Perl
- Qt 4.7.0 or newer
Open a command shell with a Qt build environment (Visual Studio build, 32 bit) and cd into your add-in source directory.
Execute the following commands:
cd Qt4VS2003
createUserFiles.cmd
This sets up reference paths and debug settings.
cd ComWrappers\qmakewrapper
qmake
nmake
cd ..devenv qtappwrapper2008.sln /useenv /Build release
Adjust the number in qtappwrapper2008.sln according to the VS version you're using. Duplicates of the addin's project files exist for every supported Visual Studio version.
cd ..
qmake -r
nmake
This builds the external QRC editor which is launched from within Visual Studio. Now we're ready to open the main solution which contains the actual add-in.
start Qt4VS2003\Qt4VSAddin2008.sln
Now you should be able to build the solution. Before trying to run your freshly built add-in, read the next section.
Running and Debugging
To run and debug the development version of the Qt Visual Studio Add-in we need to do a little setup work once again. Note that you can have the Add-in's release version installed. You can switch between these two installations as you will see soon.
Installation
Open the Qt4VS2003\Qt4VSAddin folder, and copy Qt5VSAddin.AddIn to your VS Addins folder- by default this is "%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Visual Studio 2012\Addins", but this can be changed under Tools->Options->Environment->Add-in Security.
Open Qt5VSAddin.AddIn in your favorite text editor, and find the Version tag. Change it to the version appropriate for your VS version - 2008 is 9.0, 2010 is 10.0, and 2012 is 11.0. Find the Assembly tag and change it to reflect the location of the Qt5VSAddin.dll file within the binary folder, i.e. <git checkout of the Add-In>\Qt4VS2003\Qt4VSAddin\Release\Qt5VSAddin.dll.
Start Visual Studio, and open Tools->Add-in Manager. Select the addin and restart VS. You should now have a QT5 menu, to the right of VIEW.
Your installed release version of the add-in is now turned off and cannot be loaded into Visual Studio anymore. To restore the old state, rename the file extension of Qt4VSAddin.AddIn to some bogus value like Qt4VSAddin.AddIn.foo. This ensures that it will be ignored by Visual Studio and the original add-in will be loaded.
Configuration
You should probably configure the addin for your Qt installation. Open QT5->Qt options, and add any versions of Qt you have installed. The rest of the options should be fine for normal use.
Run the Add-in's Development Version
Now that the .Addin file is in place, we're ready to try out the development version of the add-in. Open the solution file (e.g. Qt4VSAddin2008.sln) and press F5.
Another instance of Visual Studio is started. We will call this instance VS2 and the Visual Studio Instance where the add-in's solution is loaded VS1.
The add-in is not yet loaded in VS2. To load it, select "Tools/Add-in Manager…" click the first checkbox in the "Qt4 Add-in Development Version" line and press OK. Now you should have a "Qt" menu entry in the menubar of Visual Studio which means that the add-in has been successfully loaded.
In VS1 you can set breakpoints and do all the debugging you need. In VS2 you're controlling the add-in.