path: root/doc/usage.qdoc

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/*!

\page usage.html
\title Usage

\chapter Introduction

The QmlLive system was designed from the ground up to support your needs. It is
structured in a modular fashion to be able to meet various usage
requirements.

In the early phase of a project you normally want to use the \b QmlLiveBench,
which has everything included in a typical desktop application.

Later in the project you may want to test your UI code on a device. For this we
have designed the \b{QmlLiveBench} in combination with the
\b{QmlLiveRuntime}. This combi pack offers you a default qml renderer to be run
on the device and a small remote application on the desktop to control it.

For C++ developers, we also offer the ability to integrate the QmlLive
system into your own custom runtime using our \l LiveNodeEngine class with a few
lines of code and then use the \b{QmlLiveRuntime} to implement it.

\chapter Workbench

The standard workbench is the all inclusve qml live tool. It allows you to
select a workspace to watch over and provides a default qml runtime for the
active selected qml document.

\image workbench.png Workbench

You launch it by just executing the \tt qmllivebench executable

\code
{$(QMLIVEPROJECT)/bin/qmllivebench[.exe]
\endcode


The QmlLive Bench can also be run from the command line

\code
Usage qmllivebench [options] <workspace>
Usage qmllivebench [options] <workspace/file.qml>

options:
  -pluginpath ........................path to qmllive plugins
  -importpath ........................path to the qml import path
  -stayontop .........................keep viewer window on top
\endcode

\chapter Creator Integration

You can integrate the QmlLiveBench into Qt Creator as an external tool. For this
you need to open the Settings/Options dialog from QtCreator and open the
\b{Environment} group. There you will find the \tt{External Tools} tab.

Under exectuble enter the path of your QmlLiveBench executable.

\image creator_tool.png Creator

Now QmlLiveBench is availabe under the menu entry \uicontrol{Tool->External->QmlLiveBench}.
To be able to easier launch QmlLiveBench you can also assign a shortcut to the
tool.

\image creator_shortcut.png Creator

Now when you press \uicontrol{Alt-F8} QmlLiveBench will be launched with the current project root folder open as workspace.

\image creator_result.png Creator



\chapter QmlLive Runtime

The default runtime is meant to be used with the QmlLiveRuntime tool. It
provides a default qml viewer and listens on a given port for ipc calls from
the remote. As such it's ideal to start developing on a target device, when no
extra c++ code is required.

\image runtime.png Runtime

Calling the runtime

\code
$(QMLIVEPROJECT)/bin/qmlliveruntime[.exe]
\endcode

Usage of the runtime

\code
Usage qmlliveruntime [options] <workspace>

 options:
  -ipcport <port> ....................the port the ipc shall listen on
  -updates-as-overlay ................allow receiving updates with read only workspace
  -update-on-connect .................update all workspace documents initially (blocking)
  -pluginpath ........................path to qmllive plugins
  -importpath ........................path to the qml import path
  -fullscreen ........................shows in fullscreen mode
  -transparent .......................Make the window transparent
  -frameless .........................run with no window frame
  -stayontop .........................keep viewer window on top
\endcode

Not all projects are designed so that they allow working on isolated panels or
screens and it may be necessary to deploy whole project to a target device in
order to execute it. Receiving updates normally requires write access to the
deployed files. Depending on the target platform, the project may be deployed to
a location which is not user writable. In most cases hacking on the file
permissions after deployment can help, but a more convenient method is available
- let the runtime store all updates in a writable workspace overlay. Use the \c
-updates-as-overlay option to enable this feature.

Another constraints may exist on updating documents later after application
startup. If this is the case the \c -update-on-connect option can help - when
this is used all workspace documents will be updated prior to instantiation of
any QML component.


\chapter Custom Runtime

You can create your own custom runtime with the QmlLive features. This allows you to use your QML view setup with your additional C++ code together with the QmlLive system.

For this you need to use the \b{LiveNodeEngine} class to be able to receive
workspace changes and active document updates. By default, the IPC will listen
on the port 10234.

Here is a short example of a minimal custom runtime:

\snippet ../examples/app/main.cpp 0

On platforms where pkg-config is supported simply add the following to your
project file if QML Live is installed on your build host:

\code
CONFIG += link_pkgconfig
PKGCONFIG += qmllive
\endcode

Another option is to compile everything directly into your application by
including \c{$(QMLLIVEPROJECT)/src/src.pri} in your project file.

*/