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@@ -622,9 +622,10 @@
\ingroup platform-specific
\brief Information about the state of support for the Symbian platform.
- As with any port, the maturity for Qt for Symbian has not yet reached the
- same level as other established Qt ports. This page documents the current
- notes for the Symbian port.
+ This page describes implementation details regarding the Qt for Symbian port. To get
+ started with application development for Symbian devices, read the \l
+ {http://doc.qt.nokia.com/qtcreator/creator-developing-symbian.html}
+ {Connecting Symbian Devices} document.
\section1 Source Compatibility
@@ -635,55 +636,108 @@
\section1 Binary Compatibility
- As with every supported platform, we will strive to maintain
- application behavior and binary compatibility throughout the lifetime of
- the Qt 4.x series. However, due to the fact that Symbian support is newly
- added in 4.6.0, there is a slight possibility that minor corrections to the
- application binary interface (ABI) might be required in 4.6.1, in order to
- ensure compatibility going forward. Any such change will be clearly
- documented in the release notes for 4.6.1.
-
+ As with every supported platform, Qt strives to maintain application
+ behavior and binary compatibility throughout the lifetime of the Qt 4.x
+ major version and on the \l {Supported Devices}{Symbian devices that support Qt}.
+ Symbian support in Qt SDK and Ovi Store were introduced with Qt 4.6. Each Qt
+ release contains bug fixes that might change the API behavior and thereby
+ affect application compatibility.
+
+ In addition, Symbian devices have different input methods, such as different
+ keyboard styles or touch input, screen sizes, memory, and CPU and GPU
+ capabilities. Therefore, you must test applications on specific target
+ devices to ensure compatibility. In order to build applications that are
+ supported also on earlier devices, select the target in Qt SDK carefully.
+ Generally, an earlier target (such as S60 5th Edition) is supported on a
+ larger number of devices than a later target (such as Symbian Belle).
+
+ \target Supported Devices
\section1 Supported Devices
+
+ The \l {http://developer.qt.nokia.com/wiki/support_for_Symbian}{Support for Symbian} document
+ details the Qt support on different Symbian devices.
- See the list of supported devices at
- http://wiki.forum.nokia.com/index.php/Nokia_Smart_Installer_for_Symbian#Supported_Devices
+ The \l {http://www.developer.nokia.com/Community/Wiki/Nokia_Smart_Installer_for_Symbian#Supported_Devices}
+ {Nokia Smart Installer for Symbian} document lists how Qt is supported on
+ different Symbian devices through Smart Installer.
- \section1 Supported Functionality
+ Qt versions are supported by Symbian devices as follows:
+ \list
+ \o Qt 4.6 is supported by S60 3rd Edition feature pack 1 and newer devices
+ through \l {http://www.developer.nokia.com/Community/Wiki/Nokia_Smart_Installer_for_Symbian}{Smart Installer}.
+ \o Qt 4.7.3 is supported by S60 5th Edition and newer devices
+ through \l {http://www.developer.nokia.com/Community/Wiki/Nokia_Smart_Installer_for_Symbian}{Smart Installer}.
+ \endlist
+
+ Symbian devices have a pre-installed Qt support as follows:
+ \list
+ \o Symbian Anna: Qt 4.7.3 in C: drive. Note that Qt 4.7.4 is supported in Symbian Anna
+ through \l {http://www.developer.nokia.com/Community/Wiki/Nokia_Smart_Installer_for_Symbian}{Smart Installer}.
+ \o Symbian Belle: Qt 4.7.4 in device firmware (ROM).
+ \endlist
+
- The following technologies and classes are not currently supported:
-
- \table
- \header \o Technology
- \o Note
- \row \o QtConcurrent
- \o Planned for future release.
- \row \o QtDBus
- \o No current plans to support this feature.
- \row \o Printing support
- \o No current plans to support this feature.
- \row \o Qt3Support
- \o No current plans to support this feature.
- \endtable
+ \section1 Functionality Support
+ The following technologies and classes are not supported:
+ \list
+ \o QtConcurrent
+ \o QtDBus
+ \o \l {http://doc.qt.nokia.com/4.8/printing.html}{Printing support}
+ \o Qt3Support
+ \endlist
+
The following technologies have limited support:
\table
- \header \o Technology
+ \header \o Module
\o Note
\row \o QtSql
- \o The only driver supported is SQLite.
+ \o The only supported driver is SQLite.
\row \o QtMultimedia
- \o Although the module itself is supported, no backend for Symbian
- is currently available. However, there is a backend available
- for Phonon.
+ \o For support details see \l {Multimedia Support} section.
+ \row \o QtGui
+ \o QtGui's widgets are deprecated (i.e. they are available but not
+ recommended to use) in the Symbian port. It is recommended to use \l
+ {http://doc.qt.nokia.com/qt-components-symbian-1.1/symbian-components-functional.html}
+ {Qt Quick Components for Symbian} instead, because they provide
+ better look and feel on Symbian devices.
+
+ Moreover, the following classes of QtGui \bold {should not
+ be used} in a Symbian application:
+
+ \list
+ \o QFileDialog with the \c DontUseNativeDialog option
+ \o QColorDialog with the \c DontUseNativeDialog option
+ \o QFontDialog
+ \o QWizard
+ \o QCalendarWidget
+ \o QDateTimeEdit
+ \o QMdiArea
+ \o QDockWidget
+ \o QMdiSubWindow
+ \o QPrintPreviewWidget
+ \endlist
+
+ QScrollArea: The scrolling and focus handling of QScrollArea's all
+ scrollable widgets, for example QListView, differs from native Avkon
+ list widgets' one. Native Avkon scrollable components support
+ touch-gesture-based scrolling by dragging and flicking the UI
+ component but this functionality is not implemented in Qt widgets.
+ Scrolling by dragging and flicking works also in Qt Quick Components
+ that implements the \l
+ {http://www.developer.nokia.com/Resources/Library/Symbian_Design_Guidelines/}
+ {Symbian design guidelines}.
+
\endtable
\section1 Compiler Notes
-
- \section2 GCCE (Symbian)
-
- GCCE cannot be used to compile Qt libaries for the Symbian platform, but GCCE is supported
- when compiling Qt applications for the Symbian platform.
+
+ For the application development the necessary compiler toolchain is included in \l
+ {http://qt.nokia.com/downloads}{Qt SDK}. For instructions compiling Qt
+ itself see the \l
+ {http://doc.qt.nokia.com/stable/install-symbian.html}
+ {Installing Qt for the Symbian platform} document.
\section1 Known Issues
@@ -699,11 +753,14 @@
\section1 Required Capabilities
- The Qt libraries are typically signed with \c{All -TCB} capabilites, but
+ The Qt libraries are typically signed with \c{All -TCB} capabilites but
that does not mean your Qt application needs to be signed with the same
capabilities to function properly. The capabilities your application needs
- to function properly depends on which parts of Qt you use, here is an
- overview:
+ to function properly depends on which parts of Qt you use.
+ In a Qt application Symbian capabilities are defined in the
+ \l {http://doc.qt.nokia.com/4.8/qmake-variable-reference.html#target-capability}
+ {TARGET.CAPABILITY} qmake variable in the project file.
+ Here is an overview for which capabilities may be needed when using different modules:
\table
\header \o Module
@@ -711,7 +768,7 @@
\row \o QtCore
\o \c PowerMgmt if QProcess::kill(...) or QProcess::terminate(...) is called.
\row \o QtCore
- \o \c AllFiles when \l{http://developer.symbian.org/wiki/index.php/Capabilities_%28Symbian_Signed%29/AllFiles_Capability}{accessing specific areas.}
+ \o \c AllFiles when \l{http://wiki.forum.nokia.com/index.php/Capabilities_%28Symbian_Signed%29/AllFiles_Capability}{accessing specific areas.}
\row \o QtDeclarative
\o \c NetworkServices is automatically added for this module if no capabilities are explicitly specified.
\row \o QtNetwork
@@ -720,9 +777,9 @@
\o \c ReadUserData is required to include all the phone's SSL certificates in the system's default CA certificate list
(for example those added by the user or stored in the SIM card),
without this capability only the CA certs built into the phone are used.
- \row \o QtMultiMedia
+ \row \o QtMultimedia
\o \c UserEnvironment if QAudioInput is used.
- \row \o QtWebkit
+ \row \o QtWebKit
\o \c NetworkServices is automatically added for this module if no capabilities are explicitly specified.
\endtable
@@ -733,28 +790,45 @@
For more information see the documentation of the individual Qt classes. If
a class does not mention Symbian capabilities, it requires none.
- \section1 Multimedia and Phonon Support
+ \target Multimedia Support
+ \section1 Multimedia Support
- Qt provides a backend for Qt's Phonon module, which supports
- video and sound playback through Symbian's Multimedia Framework, MMF.
+ Qt Mobility provides a high-level API for multimedia functionality with
+ \l{http://doc.qt.nokia.com/qtmobility/multimedia.html}{QtMultimediaKit}.
+ In addition, Qt provides the low-level \l {QtMultimedia}{QtMultimedia}
+ module that is internally used by the QtMultimediaKit. For more information
+ on developing multimedia applications for Symbian devices, see
+ \l {http://www.developer.nokia.com/info/sw.nokia.com/id/4abf12e7-72d8-45ef-b1a2-46184abe18ba/Guide_for_Qt_Multimedia_Developers.html}
+ {Guide for Qt Multimedia Developers}.
- In this release the support is experimental. Video playback may have
- flickering issues, and support for effects and playback queueing is
- incomplete.
+ Moreover, there is a third multimedia-related module called Phonon. Qt
+ provides two backends for the Phonon module in Symbian: \i MMF and \i Helix.
- The audio and video formats that Phonon supports depends on what support
+ Note that Phonon is a legacy module and the QtMultimediaKit module is
+ replacing Phonon in Qt 5. Although Phonon is supported in Symbian for
+ backwards compatibility and there is no plan to remove Phonon from Symbian
+ any new applications should use QtMultimediaKit in Symbian using Qt 4.7
+ bundle. The QtMultimediaKit feature set is comparable to that in Phonon.
+
+ The following applies to Phonon:
+ \list
+ \o MMF Phonon backend supports video and sound playback through Symbian's
+ Multimedia Framework, MMF. Phonon's video playback may show artifacts when
+ the video is moved or resized (for instance, during device orientation
+ changes from portrait to landscape and vice versa). This problem is present
+ on S60 5th Edition and earlier versions, as well as in Symbian Anna devices.
+ \o The audio and video formats that Phonon supports depends on what support
the platform provides for MMF. The emulator is known to have limited
codec support.
-
- In addition, there exists a backend for the Helix framework. However, due
- to it not shipping with Qt, its availability depends on the Symbian
- platform in use. If available, it is loaded in preference over the MMF
- plugin. If the Helix plugin fails to load, the MMF plugin, if present on
- the device, will be loaded instead.
+ \o In addition, there exists a backend for the Helix framework. However, since
+ it is not shipped with Qt, its availability depends on the Symbian platform
+ in use. If the MFF plugin fails to load, the Helix plugin, if present on the
+ device, will be loaded instead.
+ \endlist
\section1 Hardware Accelerated Rendering
- The default graphics system on Symbian^3 is OpenVG, which uses OpenVG
+ The default graphics system on Symbian Anna is OpenVG, which uses OpenVG
hardware to accelerate \l QPainter functions. There are a few exceptions,
where Qt will use software rendering fallback.
@@ -769,17 +843,18 @@
\o Popups
\endlist
- \section1 QtOpenGL Support in Symbian
+ \section1 OpenGL Support in Symbian
- Qt 4.7 introduces the \l {QtOpenGL} module to Symbian^3. QtOpenGL is
+ Qt 4.7 introduces the \l {QtOpenGL} module. QtOpenGL is
supported on devices which support OpenGL ES 2.0. Symbian platforms prior
- to Symbian^3 are not supported.
+ to Symbian Anna (and Symbian^3) are not supported.
\l QGLWidget usage as a \l QGraphicsView viewport is not recommended on
Symbian. The OpenVG graphics system is not able to manage OpenGL graphics
resources. Also, a QGLWidget object is not able to release its GPU resources
when the application goes to the background. If OpenGL functionality is
- needed, OpenGL graphics system usage is recommended. If an application
+ needed, \l { http://doc.qt.nokia.com/4.7-snapshot/qapplication.html#setGraphicsSystem}
+ {OpenGL graphics system} usage is recommended. If an application
decides to use QGLWidget, then it is the application's responsibility to
destroy and release QGLWidget and related OpenGL resources when the
application goes to the background. Otherwise, the \l{Graphics Out Of Memory monitor}
@@ -790,7 +865,7 @@
QGLShader, and \l QGLShaderProgram are direct GPU resources and it is the
application's responsibility to manage them.
- \section1 UI Performance in devices prior to Symbian^3
+ \section1 UI Performance in S60 3rd and 5th Edition Devices
Qt uses the QPainter class to perform low-level painting on widgets and
other paint devices. QPainter provides functions to draw complex shapes,
@@ -798,11 +873,18 @@
transformations and Porter-Duff composition. If the underlying graphics
architecture does not support all of these operations then Qt uses the
raster graphics system for rendering.
-
- Most of the Symbian devices prior to Symbian^3 use a non-ScreenPlay
- graphics architecture which does not have native support for all functions
- provided by QPainter. In non-ScreenPlay devices Qt uses the raster
- graphics system by default which has a performance penalty when compared
+
+ In Symbian Anna (and Symbian^3) Qt uses hardware accelerated graphics as explained above.
+ This is enabled by \l
+ {http://library.developer.nokia.com/index.jsp?topic=/GUID-E35887BB-7E58-438C-AA27-97B2CDE7E069/GUID-D93978BE-11A3-5CE3-B110-1DEAA5AD566C.html}
+ {ScreenPlay Graphics Architecture} in these devices.
+
+ Most of the Symbian S60 3rd and 5th Edition devices have a
+ graphics architecture that does not have native support for all functions
+ provided by QPainter. In these \l
+ {http://library.developer.nokia.com/index.jsp?topic=/GUID-E35887BB-7E58-438C-AA27-97B2CDE7E069/GUID-D93978BE-11A3-5CE3-B110-1DEAA5AD566C.html}
+ {non-ScreenPlay} devices Qt uses the raster
+ graphics system by default that has a performance penalty compared
to native Symbian rendering.
In order to be able to perform all functions provided by QPainter, the
@@ -813,7 +895,8 @@
offscreen buffer is blitted to the framebuffer via Symbian Window Server.
The following table shows the rendering stacks of native Symbian and Qt in
- non-ScreenPlay devices.
+ \l {http://library.developer.nokia.com/index.jsp?topic=/GUID-E35887BB-7E58-438C-AA27-97B2CDE7E069/GUID-D93978BE-11A3-5CE3-B110-1DEAA5AD566C.html}
+ {non-ScreenPlay devices}.
\table
\header \o Symbian