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= Qt Plugins = | = Qt Plugins = | ||
Plugins for Qt (e.g. designer, iconengines, image formats) are automatically discovered and loaded by Qt based on the directory plugins are into. There are [http://doc.qt.nokia.com/4.6/plugins-howto.html#locating-plugins multiple ways] to tell Qt where to scan directories containing plugins. <code>addLibraryPath</code> would probably be the easiest, but because plugins (e.g. designer) must be localized by Qt Designer when designing UIs, the solution is to have the environment variable <code>QT_PLUGIN_PATH</code> set by the [[Documentation/{{documentation/version}}/Developers/Launcher|Slicer launcher]] (or using a ''qt.conf'' file when no launcher is available (e.g. MacOsX Slicer installs)). | Plugins for Qt (e.g. designer, iconengines, image formats) are automatically discovered and loaded by Qt based on the directory plugins are into. There are [http://doc.qt.nokia.com/4.6/plugins-howto.html#locating-plugins multiple ways] to tell Qt where to scan directories containing plugins. <code>addLibraryPath</code> would probably be the easiest, but because plugins (e.g. designer) must be localized by Qt Designer when designing UIs, the solution is to have the environment variable <code>QT_PLUGIN_PATH</code> set by the [[Documentation/{{documentation/version}}/Developers/Launcher|Slicer launcher]] (or using a ''qt.conf'' file when no launcher is available (e.g. MacOsX Slicer installs)). |
Revision as of 01:40, 12 June 2012
Home < Documentation < 4.1 < Developers < QtPluginsQt Plugins
Plugins for Qt (e.g. designer, iconengines, image formats) are automatically discovered and loaded by Qt based on the directory plugins are into. There are multiple ways to tell Qt where to scan directories containing plugins. addLibraryPath
would probably be the easiest, but because plugins (e.g. designer) must be localized by Qt Designer when designing UIs, the solution is to have the environment variable QT_PLUGIN_PATH
set by the Slicer launcher (or using a qt.conf file when no launcher is available (e.g. MacOsX Slicer installs)).
A limitation of qt.conf is that it only handles 1 plugin path, this is why Slicer installs must have their plugins in a unique top directory.
Configuration
To create a plugin, use one of the macros in ctkMacroBuildQtPlugin.cmake:
ctkMacroBuildQtDesignerPlugin
to build a Qt Designer plugin.ctkMacroBuildQtIconEnginesPlugin
to build an Icon Engine plugin.- ...
They are built in the bin/PLUGIN_TYPE directory where PLUGIN_TYPE is designer, imageformats... Only on Visual Studio they are also automatically in XXX-build/bin/PLUGIN_TYPE/BUILD_TYPE where BUILD_TYPE is Debug, Release... Refer to
Mac Bundle
Because Qt plugins are not direct dependency of Slicer (discovered and dynamically loaded at run time), Qt plugins need to be compiled as MODULE and need to be manually bundled at package time (see SlicerCompleteBundles.cmake.in).
Build
QT_PLUGIN_PATH
must points to 2 paths: Slicer-Superbuild/CTK-build/CTK-build/bin and Slicer_QtPlugins_DIR
=Slicer-Superbuild/Slicer-build/bin.
The default Qt plugins (such as svg image format or sqldriver plugins) are in the Qtdir plugin path.
Plugins locations for Slicer builds:
- Slicer-Superbuild/CTK-build/CTK-build/bin/designer/CTK??????WidgetsPlugins.{so|dll}
- Slicer-Superbuild/Slicer-build/bin/designer/qSlicer??????WidgetsPlugins.{so|dll}
- Slicer-Superbuild/Slicer-build/bin/iconengines/qSlicer??????Plugin.{so|dll}
- QtDir/plugins/imageformats/*.{so|dll|dylib}
On Windows, they also are in the following paths but are ignored by Qt:
- Slicer-Superbuild/CTK-build/CTK-build/bin/designer/Release/CTK??????WidgetsPlugins.{so|dll}
- Slicer-Superbuild/Slicer-build/bin/designer/Release/qSlicer??????WidgetsPlugins.{so|dll}
- Slicer-Superbuild/Slicer-build/bin/iconengines/Release/qSlicer??????Plugin.{so|dll}
Install
QT_PLUGIN_PATH
points to a unique path: Slicer_INSTALL_QtPlugins_DIR
=Slicer/lib/QtPlugins. However, on MacOSX, there is no launcher, so environment variables can't be set prior to launching Slicer. A qt.conf containing the Slicer/lib/QtPlugins path is used for the mac bundle.
In order for the plugins to be installed at the right location, CTK_INSTALL_QTPLUGIN_DIR
must be passed to CTK (see External_CTK.cmake, this is internally used by ctkMacroBuildQtPlugin.cmake)
Because Qt is packaged within Slicer, the plugins must also be packaged (see SlicerBlockInstallQtPlugins.cmake)
Plugins locations for installed Slicer:
- Slicer/lib/QtPlugins/designer/CTK??????WidgetsPlugins.{so|dll}
- Slicer/lib/QtPlugins/iconengines/qSlicer??????WidgetsPlugins.{so|dll}
- Slicer/lib/QtPlugins/imageformats/*.{so|dll|dylib}
- Slicer/lib/QtPlugins/sqldrivers/*.{so|dll|dylib}
See Install directory structure
Extensions
Extensions need to provide their plugin paths to the Slicer launcher.
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