/**************************************************************************** ** ** Copyright (c) 2013 Digia Plc and/or its subsidiary(-ies). ** Contact: http://www.qt-project.org/legal ** ** This file is part of Qt Creator ** ** ** GNU Free Documentation License ** ** Alternatively, this file may be used under the terms of the GNU Free ** Documentation License version 1.3 as published by the Free Software ** Foundation and appearing in the file included in the packaging of this ** file. ** ** ****************************************************************************/ // ********************************************************************** // NOTE: the sections are not ordered by their logical order to avoid // reshuffling the file each time the index order changes (i.e., often). // Run the fixnavi.pl script to adjust the links to the index order. // ********************************************************************** /*! \contentspage index.html \previouspage creator-keyboard-shortcuts.html \page creator-editor-external.html \nextpage creator-task-lists.html \title Using External Tools You can use external tools directly from \QC. Qt Linguist, QML preview tools, the default text editor for your system, and the \c sort tool are preconfigured for use. You can change their default configurations and configure new tools. \section1 Using Qt Linguist You can use the Qt Linguist release manager tools, lupdate and lrelease, directly from \QC. The lupdate tool is used to synchronize source code and translations. The lrelease tool is used to create run-time translation files for use by the released application. To synchronize ts files from a translator with the application code, select \gui {Tools > External > Text > Linguist > Update Translations (lupdate)}. To generate from the ts files qm translation files that can be used by an application, select \gui {Tools > External > Text > Linguist > Release Translations (lrelease)}. By default, the project .pro file is passed to the tools as an argument. To specify other command line arguments for the tools, select \gui {Tools > External > Configure}. For more information about Qt Linguist, see \l{http://qt-project.org/doc/qt-4.8/linguist-manual.html} {Qt Linguist Manual}. \section1 Previewing QML Files You can preview the current QML document in the QML Viewer (Qt Quick 1) or QML Scene (Qt Quick 2). The preview tools enable you to load QML documents for viewing and testing while you are developing an application. To preview the currently active QML file, select \gui Tools > \gui External > \gui {Qt Quick} > \gui {Preview (qmlviewer)} or \gui {Preview (qmlscene)}. \section1 Using External Text Editors You can open files for editing in the default text editor for your system: Notepad on Windows and vi on Linux and Mac OS. To open the file you are currently viewing in an external editor, select \gui Tools > \gui External > \gui Text > \gui {Edit with Notepad} or \gui {Edit with vi}, depending on your system. \QC looks for the editor path in the PATH environment variable of your operating system. \section1 Sorting Text Alphabetically To sort selected text alphabetically, select \gui {Tools > External > Text > Sort Selection}. The \c sort tool takes the selected text as input and returns it in alphabetic order. By default, the output replaces the original selection in the code editor. To change the default configuration, select \gui {Tools > External > Configure}. \section1 Configuring External Tools You can change the configuration of preconfigured tools and configure additional tools in \QC \gui Options. You can use \QC variables in the fields that you can select from lists of available \QC variables (1). \image qtcreator-external-tools.png "External Tools options" To configure external tools: \list 1 \o Select \gui {Tools > External > Configure}. \o Select \gui {Add > Add Tool} to add a new tool. You can also select \gui {Add Category} to add a new category. \o In the \gui Executable field, specify the executable to run. If the executable is found in your system PATH variable, do not specify the path to it. \o In the \gui Arguments field, specify optional arguments for running the executable. \o In the \gui {Working directory} field, specify the path to the working directory. \o In the \gui {Output pane}, select how to handle output from the tool. You can ignore the output, view it in the \gui {General Messages} output pane, or replace the selected text with the output in the code editor. \o In the \gui {Error output pane}, select how to handle error messages from the tool. \o In the \gui Input field, specify text that is passed as standard input to the tool. \endlist The category and tool are added to the \gui {Tools > External} menu. If you change the configuration of preconfigured tools, you can later revert the changes by selecting the \gui Revert button. The tool configurations that you add and modify are stored in XML format in the user configuration folder. For example, \c {~/config/QtProject/qtcreator/externaltools} on Linux and Mac OS and \c {C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\QtProject\qtcreator\externaltools} in Windows. To share a configuration with other users, copy an XML configuration file to the folder. */