Qt for the next billion…

I could not argue that Nokia’s announcements in February about the shift in focus to Windows Phone 7 from Symbian and MeeGo has caused some grief for my latest book. While there are a slew of Nokia developers — and from the looks of sales, plenty of people wanting to target Nokia products with Qt on Symbian and MeeGo — Nokia’s announcement certainly rattled some cages. Especially here in the US, the shift has been perceived by some to be a death knell for Qt, at least in the mobile space.

As a result, I’m especially excited by Nokia’s commitment to powering applications for the next billion using Qt. While Nokia’s been clear about their continued support for Qt, it’s hard to imagine mobile development using Qt without the “mobile” part. And while Nokia’s announcement is light on details, the Symbian and MeeGo platforms remain relevant for Qt developers today, while Qt itself promises a path to the future.

I use Qt at the office every day — both as a user on the mobile and fixed devices I use, as well as a developer. Without exception, I remain pleased with its portability and flexibility; I can’t imagine doing the work I need to do on any other platform as easily.

Creating a new class of declarative item…

(It’s been too long since I’ve posted, and I suspect most people think I’ve either abandoned this again or figure I’m no longer doing Qt/QML work. Neither is true; I’ve just been busy, doing QML with Qt at the office!)

The Qt documentation covers this pretty well, but since it feels a little esoteric, it’s worth mentioning that you can create a new declarative item