We are now a Nokia Qt Ambassador

We are happy to announce that we have become an official Nokia Qt Ambassador. This is very flattering for us because Nokia's Qt is our technology of choice as it emerges as the most sophisticated C++ framework available.

Our new product: J7Goodies

Today we are releasing another product for Windows 7 integration. J7Goodies is a Java library that provides Windows 7 features like jump list, taskbar thumbnails, thumbnail toolbar and more, the Java way. This is a complete package, it does everything you can think of in terms of the new Windows 7 taskbar extensions.

Sketch - an unbloated sketching app released

We are happy to announce the release of Sketch - a simple application for drawing drafts. Stop fine-tuning your drafts and get the job done. Finally a prototyping application that focuses on productivity. Sketch by its simplicity forces you to think about the big picture.

How to connect a Samsung Syncmaster P2270HD to your PC with a HDMI cable

If you connect a Samsung Syncmaster to your PC/laptop using a HDMI cable the quality isn't very good. It looks a little blurry. It took me a lot of research to find the solution.

You have to go to the Source menu in your Samsung, then choose Rename and select a PC as the name. After this you will get a crystal clear picture.

Q7Goodies evaluation version released

We just created and uploaded an evaluation version of Q7Goodies. This version has the same features as the full one but it works only for 30 days and appends the 'Q7Goodies' string to window title, jump list entries, taskbar thumbnail title, etc.

The evaluation version contains dynamic and static libraries for both: Microsoft Visual C++ and MinGW (QtCreator). There are also two demo applications and their source code. The header files are self-contained, it means that you don't need to install the Windows 7 SDK.

Ok, where to download it? Just go to the demos section.

Embedding Application Manifest and Version Information using QtCreator

Modern applications for Microsoft Windows should include an embedded manifest and version information. The version information is used for example by the UAC dialog and it is displayed in Explorer's file properties. The manifest is even more important because without it Vista and Windows 7 will virtualize your application's access to the registry and file system. Unfortunately it is not obvious how to embed such information using QtCreator, so we publish this post in hope it will save you time.

Application Manifest

First, we have to prepare an application manifest file. This one below is for application that does not require administrator rights:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<assembly xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" manifestVersion="1.0">
  <assemblyIdentity version="2.0.2.0" processorArchitecture="X86" type="win32"/>
  <trustInfo xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v3">
    <security>
      <requestedPrivileges>
        <requestedExecutionLevel level="asInvoker" uiAccess="false"/>
      </requestedPrivileges>
    </security>
  </trustInfo>
</assembly>

Second, we need the MT.exe tool from the Microsoft Windows SDK to embed this XML in our executable. To do it use the following command:

mt.exe –manifest MyApp.exe.manifest -outputresource:MyApp.exe;1

Our company has received funding from the European Union

We are very happy to announce that our company has received funding from the European Union. The money come from the Human Capital National Cohesion Strategy within the European Social Fund. We hope to put the funds to good use that will allow Strix Code to grow and introduce a few more interesting products.

Luabind converter for QString

Luabind is a very convenient tool for binding C++ code to Lua. If you want to use Lua inside your Qt project then support for QString type is a must. By adding a little C++ template you can teach Luabind how to convert between QString and Lua string types. Just copy and paste the following code.

namespace luabind
{
    template <>
    struct default_converter
      : native_converter_base
    {
        static int compute_score(lua_State* L, int index)
        {
            return lua_type(L, index) == LUA_TSTRING ? 0 : -1;
        }

        QString from(lua_State* L, int index)
        {
            return QString(lua_tostring(L, index));
        }

        void to(lua_State* L, QString const& x)
        {
            lua_pushstring(L, x.toAscii());
        }
    };

    template <>
    struct default_converter
      : default_converter
    {};
}

Windows 7 or Vista UAC Shield Icon in Qt

(For a way to embed an application manifest with QtCreator see here)

In a Qt application you cannot use the BCM_SETSHIELD message to show the UAC shield icon on a QWidget. This is because Qt does its own painting. The good news is that, it is very simple to access this icon in Qt.

QIcon icon = QApplication::style()->standardIcon(QStyle::SP_VistaShield);
pushButton->setIcon(icon);
commandLinkButton->setIcon(icon);

The above code will return null icon on systems older then Windows Vista.
If you are developing for Windows 7 then check out Q7Goodies - a Qt add-on that provides Windows 7 features like jump list, taskbar thumbnails, thumbnail toolbar and more in a Qt way. It integrates seamlessly with existing applications by using Qt design patterns and API style. It comes with the full source code and a royalty-free license.