1. Chapter 1 Introduction

   1. Why GUI Toolkits?

   2. Why Portability?

   3. Why Qt?

   4. Implementing Cross-Platform GUI Libraries

   5. Acquiring Qt

   6. Compiling and Installing Qt

   7. C++ as Used by Qt

   8. Getting Help

2. Chapter 2 First Steps in Qt Programming

   1. Hello, world!

   2. Using the Qt Reference Documentation

   3. Adding an Exit Button

   4. Introduction to Signals and Slots

   5. Event Handling and Simple Drawings with QPainter

3. Chapter 3 Learning More About Qt

   1. Adding Menus

   2. Adding a Scrolled View

   3. Adding a Context Menu

   4. File I/O

4. Chapter 4 A Guided Tour Through the Simple Widgets

   1. General Widget Parameters

   2. Widget Styles

   3. Buttons

   4. Selection Widgets

   5. Widgets for Bounded-Range Input

   6. Scrollbars

   7. Menu-Related Widgets

   8. Arrangers

   9. Tab-Related Widgets

   10. Text-Entry Fields

   11. Labels

   12. Widgets for the Office

   13. Progress Bars

   14. Scrolled Views

   15. List Views

   16. Icon Views

   17. Widgets for Tabular Material

   18. Widgets for Displaying Rich Text

5. Chapter 5 A Guided Tour Through the Qt Dialog Boxes

   1. Predefined Dialog Boxes

   2. Building Blocks for Your Own Dialog Boxes

6. Chapter 6 Using Layout Managers

   1. Layout Manager Basics

   2. Laying Out Widgets in Rows and Columns

   3. Nested Layout Managers

   4. Grid Layout

   5. Implicit Geometry Management

7. Chapter 7 Some Thoughts on GUI Design

8. Chapter 8 Container Classes

   1. Available Container Classes

   2. Choosing a Container Class

   3. Working with Reference-Based Container Classes

   4. Working with Value-Based Container Classes

9. Chapter 9 Graphics

   1. Animations

   2. Printing

   3. Managing Colors

   4. Basic QPainter: Drawing Figures

   5. Advanced QPainter

   6. Double-Buffering and Other Nifty Techniques

   7. Independently Movable Objects with QCanvas

   8. Working with Styles

   9. Loading and Saving Custom Image Formats

   10. Setting a Cursor

10. Chapter 10 Text Processing

    1. Internationalization and Localization of On-Screen Text

    2. Validating User Input

    3. Working with Regular Expressions

    4. Reading and Writing XML Files

    5. Rich Text

11. Chapter 11 Working with Files and Directories

    1. Reading a Text File

    2. Traversing a Directory

    3. File Information

    4. Reading and Writing Configuration Data

12. Chapter 12 Interapplication Communication

    1. Using the Clipboard

    2. Drag-and-Drop

13. Chapter 13 Interfacing with the Operating System

    1. Working with Date and Time Values

    2. Loading Code Libraries Dynamically

    3. Spawning Child Processes

    4. Playing Sounds

14. Chapter 14 Writing Your Own Widgets

    1. Implementing a Coordinate Selector

    2. Implementing a Browse Box

15. Chapter 15 Focus Handling

16. Chapter 16 Advanced Event Handling

    1. Event Filters

    2. Sending Synthetic Events

17. Chapter 17 Advanced Signals and Slots

    1. Signals and Slots Revisited

    2. Connecting Several Buttons to One Slot

    3. Actions

18. Chapter 18 Providing Help

19. Chapter 19 Accessing Databases

    1. Installation of the SQL Module

    2. Connecting to a Database

    3. Simple Data Retrieval

    4. Data Retrieval with Cursors

    5. Data Display

    6. Data Manipulation

    7. Anything Else?

20. Chapter 20 Multithreading

    1. Configuring Qt for Multithreading

    2. Using Qt's Multithreading Classes

    3. Multithreading Pitfalls

    4. Alternatives to Multithreading

21. Chapter 21 Debugging

22. Chapter 22 Portability

    1. Why Portability Is Desirable

    2. How to Write Portable Programs

    3. Danger Ahead: When Even Qt Is Not Portable

    4. Building Projects Portably with qmake

23. Chapter 23 Qt Network Programming

    1. Low-Level Socket Access

    2. Higher-Level Network Access

24. Chapter 24 Interfacing Qt with Other Languages and Libraries

    1. OpenGL Programming with Qt

    2. Writing Netscape Plug-ins

    3. Integrating Xt Widgets

    4. Interfacing Qt with Perl

25. Chapter 25 Using the Visual C++ IDE for Qt Programs

    1. Importing an Existing Makefile

    2. Creating Your Own Project from Scratch

    3. Using qmake to Create a Project File

    4. Using the MS Visual Studio Integration

26. Chapter 26 Visual Design with Qt Designer

    1. Why Do You Need A GUI Designer?

    2. Creating a Simple Application with the Help of Qt Designer

    3. Adding Functionality to a Dialog Box by Subclassing

    4. Using Layout Management

    5. Useful Techniques

1. Appendix A Answers to Exercises

   1. Answers to Exercises in Chapter 2

   2. Answers to Exercises in Chapter 3

2. Colophon

Our look is the result of reader comments, our own experimentation, and feedback from distribution channels. Distinctive covers complement our distinctive approach to technical topics, breathing personality and life into potentially dry subjects. The bird featured on the cover of Programming with Qt is a toucan. Thirty-eight species of toucans are found in tropical America from southern Mexico to Bolivia and northern Argentina. The most obvious feature of the toucan is its bill. The biggest bill is that of the male toco toucan, reaching a size of nearly 10 inches, which is more than the body without the tail. In spite of its immense size, the bill is surprisingly light in weight. A think horny sheath of hard keratin encloses a hollow that is crisscrossed by many thin supporting rods. However, the bill is so out-of-proportion that the bird seems to be handicapped during flight, leading to a quite awkward flight pattern with bursts of flapping followed by a glide. It is still unkonwn why toucans have such an exaggerated bill. It may be useful to reach berries or seeds from twigs too thin to bear the bird's weight, but a thinner and less vividly coloured bill would serve the same purpose. A funtion as a signal during courtship seems to be more likely. Hornbills, which can be found in Africa and Asia, have similar-looking bills, but they are not related to toucans. Toucans are related to woodpeckers, having a characteristic feature in common: Their feet are arranged in a pattern with two toes forward and two toes back. Toucans are primarily fruit eaters, but they also take insects, frogs, lizards, and eggs and nestlings of smaller birds. They are social birds and can often be seen in flocks of six or more individuals, making croaking noises similar to frogs.They live in rainforests and more open woodlands, where they nest in natural tree holes, often old woodpecker holes. Clutches are of two to four egges which are incubated by both parents. The eggs hatch after two weeks. The young are quite ugly and very helpless. They have no feathers, and even in the age of more than three weeks, when they open their eyes for the first time, they show a lot of naked skin. Toucans have a lifespan of approximately 10 years. In captivity, they sometimes become quite tame. Native Indians used to keep toucans in their villages, but they also appreciated their feathers as ornaments. Elke Hansel was the editor and production editor for Programming with Qt, and Claire Cloutier LeBlanc organized the copyediting with Mitzi and Debby. Margrit Müller was the production manager. Kalle Dalheimer wrote the index.

Edie Freedman designed the cover of this book, using the original illustration by Lorrie LeJeune. The cover layout was produced with QuarkXPress 3.32 using ITC Garamond font.

The inside layout was designed by Margrit Müller and Nancy Priest, and implemented in FrameMaker 5.5 by Stefan Goebel. The text and heading fonts are ITC Garamond Light and Garamond Book. This colophon was written by Joachim Kurtz.