[Tutorial] - QT Apps without nickel

[koenieee]

Sorry for my bad english

We can run QT standalone apps without using nickel.
I created this tutorial for other people to learn and make something nice for our Kobo's.

First I want to thank the following people:

- sergeyvl12
- tonyv
maybe others, tell me if you belong to this list.

First, make sure you have a fully working Kobo Development enviroment (besure to compile QT 4.8.0, not 4.6
This tutorial requires also telnet/ssh!
Look at the attachments for all the files!

Step 1
Unzip the QT_drivers.zip package to /usr/local/Trolltech/QtEmbedded-4.8.0-arm/plugins/

Step 2
Create a little example QT application
(run qmake in the dir, then make)
or use my one.

Step 2a
Because my fonts weren't working (rounded squares, no text), I used the fonts sergeyvl12 provided, look at the attachments file.

Step 3
make somewhere on your Kobo a new Sh script and edit it to your needs:

#!/bin/sh
#Optional: export QT_PLUGIN_PATH=/mnt/onboard/checkers/qt_plugins
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/Trolltech/QtEmbedded-4.8.0-arm/lib
export QWS_MOUSE_PROTO=KindleTS
export QWS_DISPLAY=Transformed:kindlefb:Rot90
#unzip fonts to /mnt/onboard
export QT_QWS_FONTDIR=/mnt/onboard/fonts
killall nickel
#run your app
/mnt/onboard/Kobo_QT_Example -qws

Step 4
Run the sh script you just saved

To exit the program tap CTRL+C, to go back to nickel you need to restart the device or run the SH script from here: http://pastebin.com/gEuQpaU5

If all went well you see something like this:


Messagebox:


Ofcourse not in color


Let me know if you got problems or tips, I hope I didn't forget something.

[sysKin]

This is great!

Is there any hope to make a program that can be run from nickel (ie. started from the plugin), suspends nickel somehow, runs until it's closed, and then the device goes back to nickel?

It would be much more practical because it would run like one of the "extras" apps.

[koenieee]

Well, using the the plugin interface from 'ah-', you can start the shell script, and in QT you make a button to another shell script to start nickel again.
Shell script to start nickel again: http://pastebin.com/gEuQpaU5

void App::on_pushButton_2_clicked()
{
    QMessageBox msgBox;
    msgBox.setText("Wait for nickel");
    msgBox.exec();
    QProcess *proc = new QProcess();
    proc->start("/home/admin/nickel_start.sh", QStringList());
     QApplication::quit();
}

The only thing is, the wifi doesn't work when you restart nickel, only after a reboot everything is back to normal.

[sergeyvl12]

Thanks!

Here I've created a topic that describes Kobo Launcher. It it more convenient way to run Qt applications because it acts as qws server. KoboLauncher also can be customized to run your own applications (it creates dynamic menu).

I've also shared KoboLauncher and Qt plugins sources.