In the two previous posts (Part 1 and Part 2), we looked at how to build bindings between C++ and Rust from scratch. However, while building a binding generator from scratch is fun, it's not necessarily an efficient way to integrate Rust into your C++ project. Let's look at some existing technologies for mixing C++ […]

The importance of updating your product after it’s in the field cannot be overstated. Not only is it essential for customer satisfaction with feature updates and bug fixes, but also for addressing security vulnerabilities. In this post, we’ll look at some key considerations and methodologies for updating embedded systems. Selecting an update approach Choosing the […]

Recently I was tasked to come up with an architecture for remote real time instantiation and updating of arbitrary QML components. This entry shows how you can use a simple variation of the factory method pattern in QML for instantiating arbitrary components. I’ve split my findings into 3 blog entries, each one covering a slightly […]

With the Qt WebEngine module, Qt makes it possible to embed a webview component inside an otherwise native application. Under the hood, Qt WebEngine uses the Chromium browser engine, currently the de facto standard engine for such use cases. While the task of writing a brand new standard-compliant browser engine is infamous as being almost […]

Developing embedded software is notoriously difficult – how can we simplify the process? Fortunately, there are lots of techniques you can use daily to help streamline your development. Embracing Automation The specialized nature of embedded systems extends the ramp-up time for developers and necessitates a higher level of expertise. Automating hardware-specific tasks, such as deploying […]

Managing the timing and context of signals and slots in multithreaded applications, especially those with a GUI, can be a complex task. The concept of deferred connection evaluation offers a nice and easy API, allowing for controlled and efficient signal-slot connections. This approach is particularly useful when dealing with worker threads and GUI threads. A […]

In today’s pervasively digital landscape, building software for a single platform is a 1990s approach. Modern applications, even those designed for specific embedded targets, must be adaptable enough to run seamlessly across various platforms without sacrificing efficiency or reliability. This is often easier said than done. Here are some key points to consider when developing […]

If you work on C++ projects on Windows that need to be built with multiple Visual Studio C++ compiler versions, you need some way to manage the installations of all these build environments. Either you have multiple IDEs installed, or you know about build tools (https://aka.ms/vs/17/release/vs_BuildTools.exe) and maybe keep only the latest full VS IDE […]

KDAB’s newest open-source library is now publicly available: KDSPDSetup! KDSPDSetup is a small library written in modern C++ (≥ 20) that initializes objects from the spdlog library by reading a toml configuration file. This makes setting up loggers more convenient and results in cleaner-looking code. Let's take a look at an example to see how […]

The robustness of Linux is widely acknowledged, but it can't quite match the microsecond management of a real-time operating system (RTOS) for time critical situations such as CNC machine instructions, vehicular control, or health sensor collection. If your software must record, manage, or control events within a narrow and precise time window and you’re invested […]

For the 14th time, KDAB exhibited at Embedded World - The meeting place for the global embedded community! Here, as expected, you got three days of pioneering technologies, solutions, new ideas, and intelligent concepts. Embedded World took place in Nürnberg, Germany from 9 - 11 April 2024 and the KDAB booth was in Hall 4-302 […]

The Need for Simple & Modular QR Generation in QML Recently, our designer Nuno Pinheiro needed to generate QR codes for an Android app in QML and started asking around about a simple way to do this. The best existing QML solution was QZXing, a Qt/QML wrapper for the 1D/2D barcode image processing library ZXing. […]

Choosing the right system-on-chip (SoC) is probably your first consideration when designing an embedded product, followed closely by deciding whether to use an off-the-shelf board or design your own. The case for commercial boards in initial designs For the first product in a new line, consider using a commercially available board that features your chosen […]

When designing an embedded product, there’s a lot riding on those crucial first decisions of choosing a hardware vendor and board. Clearly, the hardware you select must be powerful enough to support your product, a challenging determination given that software is usually still in the planning stages at this point in the process. Plus, planning […]

In the beginning, there was C. That sentence actually could serve as the introduction to a multitude of blog posts, all of which would come to the conclusion "legacy programming conventions are terrible, but realistically we can't throw everything out and start over from scratch". However, today we will merely be looking at two ways […]

We're pleased to announce the release of KDSoap version 2.2.0, an update that brings new enhancements to improve both the general build system and client-side functionality. What is KDSoap? KDSoap, a SOAP (“Simple Object Access Protocol“) component rooted in Qt, serves as an essential tool for both client-side and server-side operations. Tailored for C++ programmers […]

This article walks through an implementation using C++11 or later, Qt 6.5 or later for WebAssembly (multithreaded), and CMake. The browser environment used was Mozilla Firefox 119.0.1 (64-bit) provided by the Mozilla Firefox snap package for Ubuntu. Overview & Motivation Lately, I’ve been working on a small Qt Widgets project to help manage some weekly […]

Recap Recall that in Part 1 we discussed the differences between OpenGL and Vulkan when it comes to the fixed function parts of the graphics pipeline. We looked at how OpenGL's use of a left-handed set of coordinate axes for clip-space meant that projection matrices for OpenGL also incorporate a z-axis flip to switch from […]

We’re happy to announce KDDockWidgets version 2.0, a major milestone that brings many improvements and architectural enhancements to our powerful docking library. KDDockWidgets is a versatile framework for custom-tailored docking systems in Qt written by KDAB’s Sérgio Martins. For more information about its rich set of features, take a gander at its GitHub repository. What […]

For quite some time, I have been bothered by this thought: Individual programming languages (C++, Rust, Go, etc.) are traditionally viewed as walled gardens. If your main() function is written in C++, you had better find yourself C++ libraries like Qt to build the rest of your codebase with. Do you want to use Flutter […]