Qt Development for Windows

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I’m a long time user of the Qt Development Framework. But every few years, it seems to change hands and everything about how to install it changes.

I recently installed it on Linux Mint, and while it looks like it is built in, the install was anything but simple.

But now I’d like to add a feature to one of my personal programs for Windows, so here we go again. I started by trying to look up a recent YouTube video on the subject and while it was only a year or so old, and all the domains were active, it failed miserably after the install in the same way that the Linux install failed. It was unable to find a valid “Kit”. A Kit for Qt is a set of definitions so that the IDE – integrated Development Environment – can find the other tools like compilers, framework libraries, debugger and make program. Well the Youtube video I found had the same problem. The install looked like it worked, but it brought along no tools, framework or valid kits.

Well I’ve solved that, so I’m making a post here so that I remember, and maybe it will help you too.

Installation of Qt Tools and Framework

You probably want the Open Source tools. After all, unless you have $250 per month per developer, I’m guessing you want the free version, which requires you make your source available.

You’ll probably need to sign up on the site, and I have a bunch of different email addresses I use depending on the type of site I’m visiting, which I get from gmx.com, and I use LastPass to create and save all those pesky passwords. Just say you want the Open Source or GPL licensed version of the software.

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This is the link to the open source code that I found. Don’t use the “Online Installer”. It downloads QtCreator, but none of the other stuff. The Windows installer that is about 2.2GB is the right one. The one I got was named qt-opensource-windows-x86-5.9.2.exe.

 

 

 

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Once that downloads, install it to your HD. It defaults to somewhere like: C:\Qt.

During the install it looks like this:

Be sure and check to see that the right tools and frameworks are selected. Note the check boxes that I used in case the defaults are different.  MinGW is an Open Source compiler suite for Windows. The VS options are for Visual Studio, which unless you are a Microsoft Developer, you don’t have.

Once the install finishes you can fire up QtCreator and build a test project. Here’s the little Hello World project that I built.

Notice that the kit is filled in for the Widget project. Now you can build your GUI, type some code into the slots – code that is run when you do something on the GUI, and build the code to run it.

After the program ran I noticed that the window title was wrong, so I went back and fixed it.

I haven’t tried the debugger, so I’ll try that later.

So if you are trying to use QtCreator to build a Desktop project on Windows 10, and you are getting “No Valid Kits”, this is how to fix it.

Cheers and enjoy,

:ww