Normal (desktop) user-interface controls with QML?

Question

I'm currently porting one of my applications to C++ with QT as a GUI. The QML-samples look pretty darn good, but the user-interface controls don't look like the normal ones on Windows and MacOS.

I would like to use the many cool features QML offers (like animations), but also have controls which look similar to the normal ones (as if I'd use standard QT).

Can I find some styled QML-controls somewhere or which approach would you recommend.

Answer 1

Hedge, there are 2 reasons why your UI didn't look native:

1) Qt Quick (QML) now is in a stage when only basic primitives are available. That means there are no actual UI elements (like Button, Tool Bar, etc.) available yet. There are just some of them like list views which are included in the basic set of components. There is some work that is going on by Qt guys and you can find some of the desktop components that are available here:

http://qt.gitorious.org/qt-components/desktop

Those will be look native on you desktop but they are in a very early and unstable stage at this moment.

2) Qt Quick (QML) is developed by a company named Qt Development Frameworks (former Trolltech) owned by Nokia which is in its turn is one of the largest cell phone manufactures in the world. Qt Quick is created for touch user interfaces on mobile and embedded platforms and initially was targeted for MeeGo platform. A set of QML components for MeeGo is being developed but according to Qt Development Frameworks blog is not available to the public by marketing reasons. The version that is available to the public is not outdated but you can get some idea about what is going on. Its available here:

http://qt.gitorious.org/qt-components

If your application is developed for desktop, I'd recommend to use C++/Qt for desktop framework which will provide the native look and feel for your application. Although Qt Development Frameworks recently stated that their main strategy becomes Qt Quick while passing the commercial licenses and support to a company named Digia. So maybe it makes sense to think about whether its worth to use the desktop version of Qt or not.

Hope that helps