Active Topics
-
The N900 is now 15 years old! (7)
to Nokia N900 by Danct12 - 3 days, 8 hrs ago -
Sailfish OS for the Motorola Moto G7 Power (XT1955-5) - (ocean) (4)
to SailfishOS by Maemish - 4 days, 3 hrs ago -
F(x)tec Pro1x (QWERTY) for sale (0)
to Buy & Sell by aln00000 - 6 days, 12 hrs ago - more...
| The Following User Says Thank You to revamped For This Useful Post: | ||
|
2010-01-07
, 04:41
|
|
Posts: 112 |
Thanked: 122 times |
Joined on Dec 2009
@ London, United Kingdom
|
#32
|
Originally Posted by mmurfin87
Best documentation is and will always be the source code itself (it's precise as hell!). Overcome your fear and download some sources!
The first thing you should know about Linux/Maemo and Open Source is that there is only one rule: THE DOCUMENTATION SUCKS.
The one exception to this rule is when documentation is non-existent.
The next thing you should know is that everything comes from different places. By this I mean there is a lot of code in Maemo that wasn't written by Nokia. The implication for developers is that you will need to do a lot of searching to find out who wrote what part of what API that you need to access, and where on the internet is the documentation for that.
The whole thing is infuriating so be prepared.
__________________
Happy n900 owner!
Check my apps: n900fly, accdisplay and the "desktop command execution" widget!
Happy n900 owner!
Check my apps: n900fly, accdisplay and the "desktop command execution" widget!
 |
|
2010-01-07
, 05:34
|
|
Posts: 101 |
Thanked: 129 times |
Joined on Oct 2009
@ Los Angeles, CA
|
#33
|
@dwould
thanks for the input. I don't belong to Maemo team (research group is where I belong) but we have pointed out the issues quiet often (especially documentation).
Maemo documentation almost depends on wiki however it lacks of man power to make it organized. Especially outdated document and deprecated APIs are spread everywhere. I have collected some people's opinions and reported.
Personally I would recommend to use Qt as starting point because it ships with hildonized Qt4.5 and Qt4.6 is already in extras-devel. You could do almost everything via Qt (and this is what I have been doing and found most easier to use). Another reason to encourage you to follow the path of Qt is to keep your program compatible with upcoming Maemo 6. However, Maemo is so freedom that you have so many option to choose (both good and bad).
And one thing makes Maemo different is the community. If everyone could keep participate in wiki or application testing or development or simply contribute your opinions, everyone will be benefited.
Regards
thanks for the input. I don't belong to Maemo team (research group is where I belong) but we have pointed out the issues quiet often (especially documentation).
Maemo documentation almost depends on wiki however it lacks of man power to make it organized. Especially outdated document and deprecated APIs are spread everywhere. I have collected some people's opinions and reported.
Personally I would recommend to use Qt as starting point because it ships with hildonized Qt4.5 and Qt4.6 is already in extras-devel. You could do almost everything via Qt (and this is what I have been doing and found most easier to use). Another reason to encourage you to follow the path of Qt is to keep your program compatible with upcoming Maemo 6. However, Maemo is so freedom that you have so many option to choose (both good and bad).
And one thing makes Maemo different is the community. If everyone could keep participate in wiki or application testing or development or simply contribute your opinions, everyone will be benefited.
Regards
| The Following 6 Users Say Thank You to bbns For This Useful Post: | ||
 |
|
2010-01-07
, 07:16
|
|
Posts: 754 |
Thanked: 630 times |
Joined on Sep 2009
@ London
|
#34
|
Originally Posted by bbns
QT being hildonized.
@dwould
.....
Personally I would recommend to use Qt as starting point because it ships with hildonized Qt4.5 and Qt4.6 is already in extras-devel. You could do almost everything via Qt (and this is what I have been doing and found most easier to use). .....
Regards
Is there any documentation available regarding this ? I mean if any new QT classes and interfaces have been defined as part of this.
Or is it the already available official QT4.5 documentations ?
I havent seen anything there yet talking about hildon or maybe Im a bad "searcher"
Ive even been trying to make QT desktop widget into a hildon desktop widget so I could add it as a widget in N900, but again found vaccum , no/limited information at all, except gtk desktop widgets.
I was hoping that is also part of hildonization or maybe Im wrong about this one.
cheers
| The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to krk969 For This Useful Post: | ||
|
|
2010-01-07
, 07:57
|
|
Posts: 434 |
Thanked: 325 times |
Joined on Sep 2009
|
#35
|
Originally Posted by dwould
Having done some development for maemo now I would have to echo some of the comments here that it is very hard to do useful things.
By which I mean there is plenty of doc that get you as far as hello world. But that's about it.
Originally Posted by dwould
I agree. I'm trying to use Qt/C++ and up to Hello World, things look very promising when it comes to documentation. But after that, it becomes really tricky. It seems that in the Qt documentation is based on the assumption that after you have mastered the Hello World, you have suddenly become a professional programmer who can figure everything out just by looking at the constructor. After all, simple examples on how to use the different classes are only meant for sissies!
the api documentation does suck. I've found myself looking at the doc for certain hildon types asking 'what does this actually DO' no pictures, no description of what it's for, just the contructor and some method names.
Unfortunately, I seem to be one of these "sissies".
I've never used any other framework than .NET. And coming form that world, I really do miss the plethora of simple code examples on how to do different things. That is. other than just the Hello World. 
To make the matters worse for me, I chose to start using C++ which is a bad move, since all the documentation it is assumed that everyone who uses C++ has already done so for at least several centuries if not for millenniums. Before starting to develop for Maeomo, Visual Basic (yes, I already told that I am a "sissy"
) was more than enough for my needs. Since I had to learn a new language anyway, I thought I learn a good one which is useful on many platforms. But I fear things are going to become only worse for me, because of Nokia Web Runtime and QML. I'm afraid that Nokia will assume that beginners want to use these and Qt with C++ is only for professional programmers and the documentation would be according this.
Still, I'm not going to give up. I'm going to try to learn Qt/C++ despite of Nokia!
Originally Posted by dwould
I'm using Qt Creator and MADDE (on Windows 7) and I'm pretty satisfied on them, considering that MADDE is only a technology preview and is not yet integrated to Qt Creator.
Also there is no focus on development tooling. as a professional software engineer, I expect to be able to code and develop in a good IDE which helps me.
I've never tried developing for apple, but given the number of apps I'm guessing they make it a whole lot easier to do than Nokia is making it for the N900.
However, what I really would like to see, is the ability to make a Debian package that conforms to all the Maemo guidelines straight from Qt Creator by just clicking a button.
|
|
2010-01-07
, 08:17
|
|
Posts: 432 |
Thanked: 645 times |
Joined on Mar 2009
|
#36
|
Originally Posted by krk969
You find some information about Qt for Fremantle in the wiki here and here. But in general you can use mostly plain Qt and it will run on the N900, keeping the restrictions of the device like screensize etc. in mind. Being hildonized in Qt means that everything is styled correctly if you compile it for the device.
QT being hildonized.
Is there any documentation available regarding this ? I mean if any new QT classes and interfaces have been defined as part of this.
Basically you can rely on the normal Qt documentation and the changes and restrictions you will find on the wiki pages I've mentioned before.
Originally Posted by krk969
The widgets are a special case. It is a bit tricky to run it as a widget needs a .so library or a shell script to run. You will find an example in extras-devel called qt-example-hildondesktopwidget. The problem is, that you can only start it from the task launcher and not from the Desktop menu. Ideas how to change that you can find in this talk-thread.
Ive even been trying to make QT desktop widget into a hildon desktop widget so I could add it as a widget in N900, but again found vaccum , no/limited information at all, except gtk desktop widgets.
I was hoping that is also part of hildonization or maybe Im wrong about this one.
Daniel
| The Following 5 Users Say Thank You to danielwilms For This Useful Post: | ||
|
|
2010-01-07
, 08:55
|
|
Posts: 754 |
Thanked: 630 times |
Joined on Sep 2009
@ London
|
#37
|
Originally Posted by danielwilms
Thanks Daniel.
You find some information about Qt for Fremantle in the wiki here and here. But in general you can use mostly plain Qt and it will run on the N900, keeping the restrictions of the device like screensize etc. in mind. Being hildonized in Qt means that everything is styled correctly if you compile it for the device.
Basically you can rely on the normal Qt documentation and the changes and restrictions you will find on the wiki pages I've mentioned before.
But Ive already seen the abve links, doesnt say much does it to just start thinking you can hildonize your apps.
But yes what helps is you mentioned "Being hildonized in Qt means that everything is styled correctly if you compile it for the device. ". Didnt know this when i started out, I always thought there were different classes and apis defined for this purpose.
Im glad somebody said that so I can simply create QT apps now based on the official QT4.5 docs and follwing instructions in the wiki's/
Originally Posted by danielwilms
Ive already seen that example and my widget behaves exactly the same way, cant add it as a widget through menu have to start it as an app, though it appears on the desktop as a widget.
The widgets are a special case. It is a bit tricky to run it as a widget needs a .so library or a shell script to run. You will find an example in extras-devel called qt-example-hildondesktopwidget. The problem is, that you can only start it from the task launcher and not from the Desktop menu. Ideas how to change that you can find in this talk-thread.
Daniel
And the thread link you directed me to for ideas is my post
cheers.
|
|
2010-01-07
, 13:32
|
|
Posts: 432 |
Thanked: 645 times |
Joined on Mar 2009
|
#38
|
Originally Posted by krk969
There are some extra libraries to add some additional functionality to the standard Qt classes for Maemo5. But for the rest use plain Qt and the few exceptions described on the wiki page.
Thanks Daniel.
But Ive already seen the abve links, doesnt say much does it to just start thinking you can hildonize your apps.
But yes what helps is you mentioned "Being hildonized in Qt means that everything is styled correctly if you compile it for the device. ". Didnt know this when i started out, I always thought there were different classes and apis defined for this purpose.
Im glad somebody said that so I can simply create QT apps now based on the official QT4.5 docs and follwing instructions in the wiki's
Originally Posted by krk969
sorry for that, these were the same ideas I got from another Qt developer and I didn't check good enough who wrote it here
And the thread link you directed me to for ideas is my post
I will try it out by myself soon and let you know if I succeed.Cheers Daniel
| The Following User Says Thank You to danielwilms For This Useful Post: | ||
|
|
2010-01-07
, 15:04
|
|
Posts: 101 |
Thanked: 129 times |
Joined on Oct 2009
@ Los Angeles, CA
|
#39
|
If you guys have questions regarding Qt4 on Maemo, here is the mailing list I encourage everyone to subscribe: https://garage.maemo.org/mailman/listinfo/qt4-devel
These troll people are very passionate. Feel free to ask.
These troll people are very passionate. Feel free to ask.
| The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to bbns For This Useful Post: | ||
 |
|
2010-01-07
, 15:14
|
|
Posts: 1,070 |
Thanked: 1,604 times |
Joined on Sep 2008
@ Helsinki
|
#40
|
Originally Posted by danielwilms
AFAIK, these libs are deprecated/legacy in Qt4.6, since the build ships similar ones by default, please correct me if I'm wrong.
There are some extra libraries to add some additional functionality to the standard Qt classes for Maemo5. But for the rest use plain Qt and the few exceptions described on the wiki page.
But i know Linux and open-source is a different world, I'm going to try to get used to it. It is hard to find out exactly where to start when you are used to opening the IDE and hitting F1 for the documentation.