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diff --git a/dist/changes-2.2.0 b/dist/changes-2.2.0 new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..cbae9a97f4 --- /dev/null +++ b/dist/changes-2.2.0 @@ -0,0 +1,223 @@ + +Qt 2.2 introduces new features as well as many improvements over the +2.1.x series. This file will only give an overview of the main changes +since version 2.1. A complete list would simply be too large to be +useful. For more detail see the online documentation which is +included in this distribution, and also available on +http://qt.nokia.com/doc/ + +The Qt version 2.2 series is binary compatible with the 2.1.x and +2.0.x series - applications compiled for 2.0 or 2.1 will continue to +run with 2.2. + +As with previous Qt releases, the API and functionality of Qt is +completely portable between Microsoft Windows and X11. It is also +portable between Windows 95, 98, NT and 2000. + +**************************************************************************** +* Overview * +**************************************************************************** + +The greatest new feature in the 2.2 release is the Qt Designer, a +visual GUI design tool. It makes it possible to cut down on +development time even further through WYSIWYG dialog design. The +designer makes use of improved runtime flexibility and a revised +property system. Please see $QTDIR/doc/html/designer.html for a +feature overview. + +Qt 2.2 integrates now fully on MS-Windows 2000. This includes fade +and scroll effects for popup windows and title bar gradients for MDI +document windows in the MDI module. As with all Qt features, we +provide the same visual effects on Unix/X11. + +Two new classes QAction and QActionGroup make it much easier to +create sophisticated main windows for today's applications. A QAction +abstracts a user interface action that can appear both in menus and +tool bars. An action group makes it easier to deal with groups of +actions. It allows to add, remove or activate its children with a +single call and provides "one of many" semantics for toggle +actions. Changing an action's properties, for example using +setEnabled(),setOn() or setText(), immediately shows up in all +representations. + +Few people consider the original OSF Motif style the most elegant or +flashy GUI style. Therefore several attempts have been made to come up +with a slightly improved Motif-ish look and feel. One of them is the +thinner CDE style, that was supported by Qt since version 2.0. In the +2.2 release, we now added support for SGI's very own Motif version on +IRIX workstations. With its more elegant bevelling of 3D elements and +mouse-under highlight effects, it is quite appealing. For Linux users, +we added a Motif plus style, that resembles the bevelling used by the +GIMP toolkit (GTK+). Optionally, this style also does hovering +highlight on buttons. + +Last but not least we added support for multi-threaded +applications. The classes involved are QThread to start threads, +QMutex to serialize them and QCondition to signal the occurrence of +events between threads ("condition variables"). + +Another major change was done regarding distribution. In order to +address the steady growth of functionality in the Qt library, we +split the source code into distinct modules that can be compiled +in (or left out) separately. This also makes it possible for us to +keep the cost of entry into the commercial Qt world as low as possible. + +The modules available in Qt 2.2 are: + +- Tools: platform-independent Non-GUI API for I/O, encodings, containers, + strings, time & date, and regular expressions. + +- Kernel: platform-independent GUI API, a complete window-system API. + +- Widgets: portable GUI controls. + +- Dialogs: ready-made common dialogs for selection of colors, files, + printers, fonts, and basic types, plus a wizard framework, message + boxes and progress indicator. + +- OpenGL 3D Graphics: integration of OpenGL with Qt, making it very + easy to use OpenGL rendering in a Qt application. + +- Network: advanced socket and server-socket handling plus + asynchronous DNS lookup. + +- Canvas: a highly optimized 2D graphic area. + +- Table: a flexible and editable table widget + +- IconView: a powerful visualization widget similar to QListView and + QListBox. It contains optionally labelled pixmap items that the user + can select, drag around, rename, delete and more. + +- XML: a well-formed XML parser with SAX interface plus an + implementation of the DOM Level1 + +- Workspace: a workspace window that can contain decorated document + windows for Multi Document Interfaces (MDI). + + +Network, Canvas, Table and XML are entirely new modules. + +Below is a list of the major new features in existing classes as well +as short descriptions of all new classes. + + +**************************************************************************** +* New major features in existing classes * +**************************************************************************** + +QApplication: - "global strut", an adjustable minimum size for interactable + control elements like the entries in a listbox, useful for + touch-screens. Popup window effects ( setEffectEnabled() ) + and more threading support ( guiThreadTaken(), lock(), + unlock(), locked() ). + +QCheckBox: - "tristate" is now a property. + +QClipboard: - text() supports subtypes. + +QComboBox: - "editable" is now a property that is changeable at runtime + +QDialog: - support for extensible dialogs ("More...") with + setExtension() and setOrientation(). Optional size grip. + +QFont: - new functions styleStrategy() and setStyleHint() + +QIconSet: - new constructor that takes both a small and a large pixmap + +QKeyEvent: - numeric keypad keys now set a Keypad flag + +QLabel: - support for scaled pixmap contents, "pixmap" as property + +QLayout: - improved flexibility with setEnabled(), access to the + laid out menu bar with menuBar(). + +QListView: - "showSortIndicator" as property. New function + QListViewItem::moveItem() to simplify drag and drop. + +QMovie: - new functions pushSpace(), pushData(), frameImage() + +QMultiLineEdit: - new functions pasteSubType() and copyAvailable() + +QObject: - new function normalizeSignalSlot(), tr() now supports a comment. + +QPicture: - streaming to and from QDataStream + +QPopupMenu: - new signal aboutToHide() + +QRegExp: - new functions setPattern() and find() + +QRegion: - new function setRects() + +QScrollView: - new property "staticBackground" to define a pixmap + background that does not scroll with the contents. + +QStatusBar: - "sizeGripEnabled" as property + +QStyle: - themable menu bars with drawMenuBarItem(). New functions + buttonMargin(), toolBarHandleExtent(), sliderThickness() + +QTabWidget: - new functions currentPageIndex(), setCurrentPage(), new + signal currentChanged(). Similar extensions to QTabBar + and QTabDialog + +QTranslator: - new algorithmen for faster lookup. No more risk of + "hash collisions" when many translators are loaded. + +QVariant: - new subtype QSizePolicy. Necessary for QWidget's + new sizePolicy property. + +QWidget: - new properties "sizePolicy", "ownPalette", "ownFont", + "ownCursor" and "hidden". The size policy is now adjustable + at runtime with setSizePolicy(). Added convenience slot + setDisabled(). Fast geometry mapping functions mapTo() and + mapFrom(). On X11, support for a new background mode + X11ParentRelative. + +QWizard: - runtime changable titles with setTitle(), new signal + selected() + +QWorkspace: - support for more widget flags like WType_Tool. Titlebar + blending effects on MS-Windows 98/2000. + + +**************************************************************************** +* New classes * +**************************************************************************** + +QAction - Abstracts a user interface action that can appear both in + menus and tool bars. Changing an action's properties, for + example using setEnabled(),setOn() or setText(), + immediately shows up in all representations. + +QActionGroup - Combines actions to a group. An action group makes it easier + to deal with groups of actions. It allows to add, remove or + activate its children with a single call and provides + "one of many" semantics for toggle actions. + +QDial - A rounded rangecontrol (like a speedometer or + potentiometer). Both API- and UI-wise the dial is very + similar to a QSlider. + +QDom - [XML Module] DOM Level 1 Tree + +QMotifPlusStyle - This class implements a Motif-ish look and feel with more + sophisticated bevelling as used by the GIMP toolkit (GTK+) + for Unix/X11. + +QMutex: - Provides access serialization between threads. + +QSemaphore: - A robust integer semaphore. Another way of thread + serialization. + +QThread - Baseclass for platform-independent threads. + +QWaitCondition - Provides signalling of the occurrence of events between + threads ("condition variables") + +QCanvas - [Canvas Module] a highly optimized 2D graphic area. + +QTable - [Table Module] a flexible and editable table widget + +QXML - [XML Module] XML parser with SAX interface + |