Select the version of your OS from the tabs below. If you don't know the version you are using, run the command cat /etc/os-release or cat /etc/issue on the board.
Remember that you can always refer to the Torizon Documentation, there you can find a lot of relevant articles that might help you in the application development.
The Visual Studio Code Extension for Torizon can be used to build, debug and deploy C and C++ applications.
This, of course, includes also applications using the Qt libraries. On the other side, Qt provides not just C++ libraries but also a rich set of tools to design user interfaces using widgets or QML language and specific build tools, as qmake, that use an ad-hoc project format.
To orchestrate those tools, Qt provides a fully integrated IDE named QtCreator and, at the moment, it is not fully integrated with Torizon. To overcome that we make it easier for you to use Visual Studio Code to work on the code and leverage Qt's design tools to design user interfaces. See a comparison below between development on Torizon and other platforms as Boot to Qt and Yocto:
| Design Workflow | Development Workflow | |
|---|---|---|
| Torizon | Qt Design Studio ✔ Enhanced UI design |
Visual Studio Code ✔ Write Code ✔ Build and debug ✘ UI design |
| Boot to Qt / Yocto | Qt Design Studio ✔ Enhanced UI design |
Qt Creator ✔ Write Code ✔ Build and debug ✔ UI design |
To simplify integration between design tools and code editor Toradex provides the QtDesignStudio support for Torizon projects extension. When this extension is installed you can simply right-click on any .ui or .qml file inside your Qt application folder on VS Code and open it in Qt Design Studio.
If you are looking to using Python with Qt, refer to the article How to build a GUI with Qt for Python and TorizonCore.
This article complies to the Typographic Conventions for Torizon Documentation.
The video below illustrates the process of creating and deploying to a module a Qt project using the Visual Studio Code Extension for Torizon.
Creating and Deploying Qt Project
To create a new project you should:
F1 to open the command barTorizon C/C++: Create C/C++ application
Torizon extension command bar
Choose one of the Qt-based templates, three templates are provided:
Qt templates provided by the extension
There is a generic article on How to Import a C/C++ Application to Torizon, and in addition to the tips below, it is highly recommended that you read it.
To import an existing project you will have to:
Importing a Qt Project
You can also read the blog post from May, 2021 Importing a Qt Project Into Torizon Using VS Code.
Existing projects may need to be modified to work on Torizon. Some points you need to consider:
To open a QML file you can right-click on the file in the explorer bar or on the file itself when it is open in the VS Code editor, and select Open QML file in Qt Design Studio.
This will start an instance of Qt Design Studio ready to edit your file.
Learn more about how to use Qt Design Studio in the official documentation.
To open a UI file you can right-click on the file in the explorer bar or on the file itself when it is open in the VS Code editor, and select Open UI file in QtDesigner.
This will start an instance of QtDesigner ready to edit your file.
User interface definition files are processed during build time. This processing generates header files that can then be used to reference the UI elements.
When you finish editing your UI file, you must run the build command - Ctrl + Shift + B in Visual Studio Code - to ensure that changes you made in the user interface layout are reflected in the generated header files.
Learn more about how to use Qt Design Studio in the official documentation.
Qt integration uses Qt5 packages provided by Debian and licensed using the Qt open source license.
Currently, Debian Bullseye provides Qt version 5.14.
The provided templates include only a minimal subset of Qt feature's, those features have been split by Debian into multiple packages, to reduce the overall footprint of Qt and allow users to install only the features they actually need.
If a component required by your application is not found at build time or at runtime you can check packages built from Qt source code and add them to devpackages (build time) or extrapackages (runtime) configuration parameters.
Notice that for many of the components you have:
extrapackagesdevpackages since it provides headers and libraries used at build time.This section has on-demand webinars and videos to help you through development.
Debian Containers for Torizon are subject to updates, including major updates to newer versions of Debian. Learn more about it, including how to update your VS Code project:
The Visual Studio Code Extension for Torizon can be used to build, debug and deploy C and C++ applications.
This, of course, includes also applications using the Qt libraries. On the other side Qt provides not just C++ libraries but also a rich set of tools to design user interfaces using widgets or QML language and specific build tools, as qmake, that use an ad-hoc project format.
To orchestrate those tools, Qt provides a fully integrated IDE named QtCreator and, at the moment, it is not fully integrated with Torizon. To overcome that we make it easier for you to use Visual Studio Code to work on the code and leverage Qt's design tools to design user interfaces. See a comparison below between development on Torizon and other platforms as Boot to Qt and Yocto:
| Design Workflow | Development Workflow | |
|---|---|---|
| Torizon | Qt Design Studio ✔ Enhanced UI design |
Visual Studio Code ✔ Write Code ✔ Build and debug ✘ UI design |
| Boot to Qt / Yocto | Qt Design Studio ✔ Enhanced UI design |
Qt Creator ✔ Write Code ✔ Build and debug ✔ UI design |
To simplify integration between design tools and code editor Toradex provides the QtDesignStudio support for Torizon projects extension. When this extension is installed you can simply right-click on any .ui or .qml file inside your Qt application folder on VS Code and open it in Qt Design Studio.
This article complies to the Typographic Conventions for Torizon Documentation.
To create a new project you should:
F1 to open the command barTorizon C/C++: Create C/C++ applicationThree templates are provided:
To import an existing project you will have to:
Existing projects may need to be modified to work on Torizon. Some points you need to consider:
To open a QML file you can right-click on the file in the explorer bar or on the file itself when it is open in the VS Code editor, and select Open QML file in Qt Design Studio.
This will start an instance of Qt Design Studio ready to edit your file.
To open a UI file you can right-click on the file in the explorer bar or on the file itself when it is open in the VS Code editor, and select Open UI file in QtDesigner.
This will start an instance of QtDesigner ready to edit your file.
User interface definition files are processed during build time. This processing generates header files that can then be used to reference the ui elements.
When you finish to edit your UI file, you must run the build command - Ctrl + Shift + B in Visual Studio Code - to ensure that changes you made in the user interface layout are reflected in the generated header files.
Qt integration uses Qt5 packages provided by Debian and licensed using the Qt open source license.
Currently Debian Buster provides Qt version 5.11.
The provided templates include only a minimal subset of Qt feature's, those features have been splitted by Debian into multiple packages, to reduce the overall footprint of Qt and allow users to install only the features they actually need.
If a component required by your application is not found at build time or at runtime you can check packages built from Qt source code and add them to devpackages (build time) or extrapackages (runtime) configuration parameters.
Notice that for many of the components you have:
extrapackagesdevpackages since it provides headers and libraries used at build time.
